First of all, Mapleton is south of Provo, not adjacent to Alpine. Figured that out as Mrs. 'Hat Rack and I were racing to the second annual Mapleton Midnight Half Marathon from SLC Airport on Friday. I landed (delayed) at 8pm, and she was to start the race at 9:40pm. We steamed down I-15, up Hobble Creek Canyon to some campground where we parked the minivan in a tight space (we'll come back to that), donned lots of light-up garb to go running 13.1 miles with a goal of ending at midnight. That's right... start when you want, but try to finish at midnight. By the way, no watches allowed.
Teri left around 9:50pm (10 minutes later than her intention)... I found a group of four Mapletonians (?) leaving at 10:10pm and jumped in with them, fearing that my impeccable sense of direction might be compromised by the dark canyon, unfamiliar trail and/or mind racing from a busy couple days in Colorado Springs.
Turned out to be a great fit for me. They weren't really Chamber of Commerce members, but might as well have been. Lyle told me all about the big houses we ran by (you could sort of see them in the dark), the "city of arts", the running community, the Hobble Creek Half Marathon and much, much more. It was a nice, fun, social run.
When we ran into Mrs. Hat Rack and her friend around mile 7, I slowed down to join her for about the first time ever in a race. It was fun even if she kept shooing me away worried that I was going to miss my own goal. Of course, as soon as I took the lead, I also took a wrong turn and took us into a cul de sac with a dead end. So off I went to find those Mapletonites who actually knew their way around these roads.
I blazed through the last four miles in what felt like sub-7:15 pace... Legs felt strong. Air was crisp and cool. I was passing people left and right. And, in my favorite water stops EVER in an organized race, we actually got to run THROUGH someone's garage. In one side, out the back, across the yard, and back on to the road. How cool that the race organizers (I think) opened their own home for a water stop.
Anyhow, I felt like I was at a pace that would put me over the finish line just shy of midnight. I passed the final dozen runners in the last 100 yards, cruised under the clock and turned around to see I'd finished at 12:01:35. 95 seconds too late. Oh well. My new Mapleton friend Lyle finished at 11:59:59 - too early by one second. Some other dudes finished as the first four at midnight - and Jan's wife, as you can read here, finished fifth after midnight (although there's controversy).
Great race, fun night, and we got home at 2:45am. (Where did 2 hours and 45 minutes go? Scraping aforementioned minivan - pretty badly - leaving the campground to go pick up Mrs. 'Hat Rack at finish line... getting lost all over Springville and Mapleton trying to find my way back to her... making five phone calls to people to try to figure out where I was... then reuniting with Teri and our friends for the trek back to SLC.)
Ahh, as we say around the handball office, "good times."
How fun that you found my blog and made a comment! Too bad we didn't hook up after the race, so you could join our little group picture! Sure enjoyed meeting you and you are welcome to come join us on any future runs :) Did you tell us that your wife is signed up to run the Hobble Creek Half, or am I completely making that up? Well, if so, possibly we will see you again in our fair town. (Lyle's not running it, but I am.)
Posted by: Jan Hadlock | August 09, 2009 at 02:39 PM
P.S. I think you meant to write "Lyle's wife" instead of "Jan's wife." Alas, I have no wife - just a good husband.
Posted by: Jan Hadlock | August 09, 2009 at 02:43 PM