I'm not much of a runner, but I signed up for the 2011 Wasatch Back and thought it would be wise to run a few races between to keep in shape. Well, Darcy and I decided to run the Layton 10k on Saturday - it was a good race to start with because it's so flat. Anyway, we met at 6:30 on Saturday morning, so we could get to the course by 7:00 and have time to warm up because OUR race didn't start until 7:30. When we arrived, we took a quick potty stop - didn't want nature slowing us down... and when we got done with our break, tons of people were lined up at the starting line, so we figured it was our time to start as well and didn't bother checking a clock. We started the race and ran for awhile and noticed that our numbers were way off from any of the other racers, but didn't think too much about. I guess we figured we just registered way earlier than the people we had seen. We kept running and running and running. After about 4 miles Darcy asks "How are we supposed to get back? Is there some sort of short cut?" and I answer "I don't know, lets just keep running." So, we continue. After another mile, we realize that we can't possibly get back to the finish in another mile. We asked a few runners and find out that we started with the 1/2 marathon group and are on the WRONG course - or rather we started at the wrong time and didn't make the turn-around. By this time, I'm thinking we may have to run another 8 miles. We kept running until the 1/2 marathon turn- around where an extremely nice person let us use his phone. Craig and my mom ended up picking us up and driving us near the finish line where we "finished" the race. Craig dropped us off on a corner where we were accused of cheating by multiple people. Very funny.
Other side of the story: 4 minutes after Darcy and I start the race, the 10k race is announced. Jill, who drove us that morning, hears the announcement and realizes that we started at the wrong time! She made several phone calls, so our families knew we were running with the 1/2 marathoners before we did. We had tons of fun, and now have a good story to tell! Maybe we'll run the entire 1/2 marathon next year!
At the 1/2 marathon turn-around, just after Craig and my mom came to pick us up :)
At the real finish line and me being a dork.
Another post-run shot!
