Coronavirus Quarantine Half Marathon

Okay, virtual races are the new it thing.  I won't lie, I have never been one for virtual races.  ENTER QUARANTINE.  Virtual half marathons have been the thing that has gotten me through the hardest months of the stay at home order.  Its even been more fun since I have been able to register for some awesome medal bling to thoroughly memorialize "that time we had a Pandemic."  May it not be forgotten.

Last month Bob and I found this spectacular 13 mile course up by my parent and I will not lie, it was amazing and such a fun run.  

The Los Burros Trail was up at over 7000 feet so the altitude was challenging, but the weather was cool, it had rained the day before, and the area was completely ours.  We didn't see a single soul throughout our entire run and I cannot iterate enough how magical the trees and setting were!

Ellie puppy was living the high life with no leash, mud puddles, and endless forest to run in.  I am quite sure she ran near 20 miles to our 13, but the joy of watching her bound through the forest was nothing short of perfect.  This little puppy, she makes us so happy.

We ran, walked much of the distance because it was hard, and high altitude, but it was a fantastic morning spent with each other doing what we do.  MOVE.  

And seriously, how about this medal to remember it by.  I mean come on.  These COVID-19 medals make me smile.  Such a fun way to earn its placement on our medal wall.

We finished our morning run with a lot of smiles and later found ourselves out drinking a beer at our favorite mountain brewery.  I can really get on board with this whole virtual racing thing!

Underground Half Marathon......of death

Call it quarantine, call it bad idea Friday, call it whatever, but a few months ago Bob came to me and said he wanted to put together a half marathon for all of the runners who were unable to run due to races being cancelled.  Bob decided it was his time to shine and from start to blasted finished ran his own covert half marathon.....but I'll let him tell you about it.

I made this race HARD... On purpose... Because suffering is fun!

Bethany let me take over the blog to recount the race we did during the quarantine due to Covid-19

Over the past few months Joe and Kirk had been teaching me the trail system around Hawes and it's brutal. 

We started scouting routes and found a way to get over 3,000 feet of climbing in 13.1 miles (turned out to be closer to 13.8, but whose counting). 

 That's half the Grand Canyon, and 2,000 feet of the climbing comes between mile 7 and mile 14.

We all metup in the parking lot of Walgreens. 15 of us attempted the race and 8 finished! Like I said, it was hard! 

Bethany was doing her own journey with Jen and Russ who did a hike on the last half of the half.

We took off pretty quick and I found out I'd have no hope of keeping up with Kirk and the former ASU cross country champ who has 95% calfs by body weight. So, Gabe and I battled it out for an honorable 3rd place! 

The race finished on top of EJ Peak, so people had to run past the car, beer, and shade in the parking lot to head uphill for another 1.5 miles to finish up on top then hike down. 

It took legit courage to leave the last checkpoint and head uphill! 

At this point, we were all in and safe. We had tracked everyone who dropped out and where they exited the course for the safety of water and houses. 

Bethany, Jen, and Russ were still on the course and making their way up the final peak. 

They rocked it and learned the number 1 lesson of distance, just keep moving. 

Ellie puppy was a little hot after the run, and she was really happy to be back in the shade! 

All in all, it was a great day with tons of awesome runners! It's going to be an annual event! 

Here's to 2021 and making this a full marathon of suffering!