Haunted Hustle Half Marathon 2013

I ran the Haunted Hustle this past Sunday, and this will probably be the last time I run this race.  I don't know who puts on the Haunted Hustle, but it occurred to me after this race that they may not be runners.

This was my slowest half marathon yet.  I could feel it Saturday night that I didn't have it in me to go fast Sunday morning.  I was hoping for maybe better than 2:10, but I felt like I had lost a lot of the strength I had built over the summer.  My running became nonexistent after the Quad Cities Half marathon.  The weather's turned cold and the lure of warm blankets and pillows have made me soft.  I need to remember, no long races after the first week of October in Wisconsin. The temperatures are comparable, but 40 degrees in the fall has a different effect on my running than 40 degrees in the spring. 

I felt the slowness and the reluctance to run even Sunday morning and lined up with the 2:10 group.  Part of me thought about running the whole way with them, wondering what it might be like to run an even paced half marathon.  But I left them early.  Turns out, I should've gone with my original plan since I finished with a 2:14:07.  I've certainly lost that competitive drive.  I walked more of this race than I should've and when the 2:10 group passed me again around mile 9, I didn't care.  I was half hoping that the 2:20 group wouldn't catch me, but the lure to walk the last two miles was stronger than posting nearly a 2:30 time.  I've learned in the last year and a half that having one bad race means little about one's fitness level.

I'm done with the Haunted Hustle.  If you'll remember I didn't have a great time last year with the race either.  My complaints last year were the hilly course and the lack of sports drink at the end. This year, I was reluctant to sign up with them again, but I decided to give them a second try.  They are a local race, and they had changed the race course.  I hoped that I would have a better experience.  No such luck.  The course was still unnecessarily hilly and despite my complaint from the year before, there was neither chocolate mile or sports drink at the end.  After a race, that's really all I want.  I had water as the only liquid recovery option.  Well, water and beer.  Moreover, there are no splits on the course.  Nearly every half marathon I've ran will at least post a 10k split.  The only exception has been the small town Fort Atkinson race.

No more Haunted Hustle.  There are much better race experiences out there.