A Made Up Half Marathon Plus 1 More Mile=14 Miles

Let's admit it.  
I am a half marathon addict.  
I'm searching for them year round.  
I sign up for them way ahead so I can get them for the cheapest price available.  

Well along comes June 1st.  
The only half marathon in the whole state of Utah that I could find was the Thelma and Louise, down in Moab, 4 hours away.  It was a pricey race even with early bird pricing.  I've been to Moab already twice this year and will be going again in the Fall for a trail marathon.  So I decided not to head down to this one.  So that left me with a big dilemma.

No race to run.  
What was I going to do?  
I can't imagine a Saturday without a race.  
No bus pick up, no portapotties, no pre-race jitters, no medals and shirts, no standing around for an hour and a half waiting for a race to start.  
How would I manage not getting to experience all of this?

I just hopped onto Utah Running Guide.com Facebook group page and organized my own, inviting anyone and everyone that wanted to join me.  I wasn't sure if I would get 2 people or 25 people.  The Facebook group page has over 1500 members on it.  I told everyone to meet at the mouth of the canyon at 7:00 am and we would take my son's truck and haul everybody up the canyon 10 miles away.  There were 7 of us total going to run and we all squished into the truck. 8 people (including my hubby) in a truck is pretty awesome. Of course our entire conversation up to the starting area revolved around running.  AWESOME! My kind hubby drove us up there and took our photo and then said goodbye and left.  

Here we go, seven of us.  Five of us were local and two drove down about a half hour away.  It was a crisp and cool morning and perfect for running.  I told the group right from the get-go that I would bring up the rear and to please not worry about waiting for me and my slow self.  Well, the first 4 miles of this run were pretty downhill.  I was running under 10 minute miles which is so not me.  I was keeping up with the gang and having a blast.  At mile 4 when it levels out I stopped to use the potty and 2 of the friends said they would wait.  Wow!  Wasn't expecting that.  I am so grateful for Hillary and Mike and running 10 miles with them.  The miles flew by with great conversation.  When we reached the parking lot and met up with the other runners who had waited till we came in we visited for a good 20 minutes and then said our goodbyes.  It was truly an awesome morning.  

I wasn't done though.  I didn't bring a car to the parking lot.  I told hubby that I would just run home.  I thought it was going to be about 3 more miles which would give me my half marathon for the day.  It ended up being 4 more miles, which was ok with me.  When I reached my half marathon mark at 13.1 I had run it in 2:12:45.  I was thrilled!  That definitely is one of my fastest half marathons to date.  

Mile 1 - 9:12
Mile 2 - 9:20
Mile 3 - 9:28
Mile 4 - 9:18
Mile 5 - 11:31 (pit stop-me)
Mile 6 - 9:50
Mile 7 - 11:14 (pit stop-Hilary)
Mile 8 - 9:44
Mile 9 - 9:45
Mile 10 - 10:20
Mile 11 - 11:19
Mile 12 - 10:18
Mile 13 - 10:27 Half Marathon 2:12:45
Mile 14 - 11:12

Total run 2:23:57

I think I need to run this canyon again.  This was just way too much fun! Who wants to go with me next time?