Timpanogos Half Marathon, 10K & 5K (aka Timp Half)

As a local, it’s really surprising it took me 9 years to run this. Now, to be fair, if you live in SLC and you have to be on a bus in American Fork between 4 and 5 in the morning, that’s harsh. I was a wuss and stayed in a hotel down in Lehi to make the morning drive only 15min and it was worth every penny.

The buses leave from a park (hint, drop a pin on google or you will never find your car given you are arriving in pitch dark and the finish is a way from the parking, you’ll be completely turned around to find it after) and take you up the American Fork Canyon. I had never been up there and going up in the dark kept it a surprise for the run down. At the top, be smart and realize there a couple of different pit toilets available so don’t stand in line forever at the portalets. There is a guitarist who apparently doesn’t mind early morning gigs. They have a minute of silence where you use your flashlight (from the swag bag) as a remembrance of those who have died from cancer.

The start unfortunately was a little chaotic. I do not understand people who do not understand how to queue up. You are a hazard to others and in danger yourself when you are slow or a walker and try to start with the sub 8min crowd. The first 8ish miles are in the canyon and it is staggeringly beautiful. The cliffs soar above the road, right up next to it. There is a creek running down the side of the road (we still have a LITTLE water out here…not much). In addition to portalets at aid stations, there are also pit toilets along the way at campsites or picnic sites. If you can bob and weave around the crowd and find a gap, you can run and look at the amazing rocks all around you. It was hard to maintain a tangent because the cant of the road was very exaggerated in places making it almost painful to run the best path and you’d be forced up or down the lane to find a more flat surface. There were definitely some steep downhills that you need to know how to handle (if you are a flatlander, find a hill to practice on. Fighting grades this steep will TRASH your legs. If you work WITH the hill, it will boost your split and you won’t be dying tomorrow. As you leave the canyon, you have to do a U turn and head straight back towards the canyon where there are down canyon winds, right in your face, as you are now heading up hill. That was a bit harsh…this is also when you meet up with the 10K crowd, who unfortunately were running 2-4 abreast (or walking) and did not understand yielding. You then enter the golf course and it becomes hilly. As you move through the golf course (dodging walkers with headphones), you eventually come out and jump on a bike path. They had a mist station which was nice…and then…the impact sprinklers that someone had on. This was welcome because it was getting hot and you were working hard but wow, it was a lot of water and for at least 0.1-0.2 miles so you will get thoroughly soaked. I looked like I jumped in a pool! Leaving the bike path, you’re nearly down as you round a farm and run through a neighborhood and finally come up on the park where the finish is. The sun never really broke over the mountain till nearly the end which was a welcome relief because it was only when the sun came up that the heat started kicking up.

The finish line was a little skimpy on food, only half bananas, cuties, granola bars and water. The medal was incredible (all Runtastic medals are!). The swag included a really nice shirt with a great design, a string bag and some fun stickers and tattoos.

I always love Runtastic productions and would definitely do this one again. If you do 3 Runtastics in a year, you get a trilogy award that a medallion from your medal goes on. Definitely check this one out!