A Run in the Park

On October 22nd I (Aaron here) ran my 2nd half marathon. Unlike my 1st one back in Wichita in 2008 this one was anything but flat . It was along a road in South Mountain Park in south Phoenix.

This is the last 100 yds. of the race. Notice the wild race fans!




Afterwards I accepted requests to pose with my fan club


Lessons Learned

1. When going for a training run in a park with "Mountain" in the name, know what roads you should be taking.  
• One week before the race I went to South Mountain Park to do a 10 mile training run, missed a key turn, and ran the 3 hardest miles of my life doing switchbacks and curves up the face of a mountain. By the time I realized I was on the wrong road I had talked myself out of coming back for the real race one week later.
2. What goes down must come up
• The 2nd half of the race was mostly up hill. The grade and length of which I've never run. After running my fastest mile on record during the downhill portion it was all I could do to catch people that were walking up the hills on the 2nd half of the race.