Yosemite Half Marathon Race Report
Convinced by Joseph’s sister Allison, Lena signed up Team Sheeple for the Yosemite Half Marathon. She then roped in Avery and Morgan in December. Morgan was an easy sell!
5 months later, in the weeks leading up to the half, Team Sheeple realized they had not done much (if any) training. Lena and Joseph were on sabbatical, traveling the world. Avery and Morgan were having baby BlueB.
Avery and Morgan were the last to arrive at the Airbnb in Oakhurst. Team Sheeple played a few games of Blank Slate and Wavelength and then hit the sack so they could get up at 4am for the shuttle.
They planned on walking 15 minutes to the high school in the morning. It turned out there were pick up points all along School Rd. Allison and Ryan were directed to the closest one and Morgan warmed up for the race by running down Joseph, Lena, and Avery who had turned down the street for the school.
The closer pickup point turned out to be the vastly superior choice due to the overcrowding that happened at the school. After a few full buses went by, an empty bus came and turned into the dirt parking lot. Team Sheeple was a little concerned that it backed into a ditch during this maneuver, but they all got on anyway!
When they arrived at the start line, it turned out that they didn’t have to start in their scheduled waves after all. Lena, Joseph, Avery/BlueB, and Morgan left the line together.
The race was mostly downhill and warmed up quick from the chilly starting temperatures. Simon went for a PR, dashing down the hill and ending with Team Sheeple’s only sub-2 hour time! Morgan tried to keep up with Simon, but cramped up after mile 10 when the course flattened out around Bass Lake. A friendly runner gave him a salt stick, but it was too late to uncramp. Morgan finished in 2:13. Still a respectable time!
Ryan, Lena, Joseph, Avery, and Allison who were all “taking it easy” finished at 2:25, 2:32:31, 2:32:34, 2:45, and 2:59 respectively.
The race organizers ran out of medals somewhere in between Avery and Allison’s finishes which meant that Allison got the fancy metal Yosemite shot glass. Joseph and Ryan wanted to trade their medals for a shot glasses, but the medals were a little sweaty already.
Ryan said his favorite part of the race was the dead fish at mile 12. Morgan, who also saw the fish, agreed and added the downhill as a big perk. After 2 days of being sore, Lena said “never again” to another half marathon. Avery thought running with a passenger was not so bad after all and might do another race next month!
