Moab Trail Half Marathon

This weekend was my second half marathon and my first TRAIL half. It was an amazing experience and I loved and hated every minute of it. I had the full range of emotions while out there. Excitement at the start. Frustration at the first four miles of intense inclines. (I really need to become better friends with those!)  Relief when I finally reached the top and saw some downhills. I found a new appreciation for even flat spots at that point. At one point I swore to myself I would never do another race and then a while later thought, "next year I'll be able to run this whole hill." I had to fight back tears a when my daughter's favorite song came on and I realized I wouldn't see her or the rest of my family at the finish line.  

There were times when I was too tired to run. Times when I couldn't run because I  had to climb up or down giant rocks. Times when I flew down hills and others when I wanted to, but could sneak past the person in front of me on the single track. 

At about mile ten my feet began to really hurt. And that's when the water came. Due to busy beavers, what is usually a small drainage creek was a decent sized, knees deep river. Almost a mile dredging through the ice cold water numbed my feet just enough to make the final couple miles completely doable. 

Just after the mile 12 marker I could hear the crowd at the finish line and upped my effort. Then we had to take a small quater mile jaunt back into the water, climb up an almost vertical dirt hill and there it was. The finish line!

I had a hard time not being emotional as I crossed. Compared to The Big Cottonwood half (which felt like a piece of cake compared to this half) I really felt like I earned every bit of this finish. I didn't just switch onto auto pilot and cruise to the end. I fought tooth and nail to get there. (And in all honesty, there were times in the race I didn think I'd make the cut off.) 

Amazing day. I still surprise myself sometimes...

Lindsay and me at the start line waiting for wave 5 to start. 

Shadows off the side of the ledge. Down at the bottom is where we had to climb up from to get to the finish line. 

Lindsay flying down a hill. 

The scenery wasn't half bad! ;)

Some of the single track climbing. 

And then the single track down. 

We had to run about a mile uphill on a road. This was my view of a beautiful meadow I really wished I was running through instead!

And the ice bath water. 

Earned this one!

Mileage: 13.1

Time: 3:39

Pace: 16:45

The Electric Run

It occurred to me today that I never reported on The Electric Run... So here goes. 

Over all, it was a fun 5k. Kids 8&under are free so I brought along my cute girly and let her bring a friend. I volunteered for packet pick up the day before so I got free admission as well. Nice, huh! 

It was actually a pretty long and slightly frustrating night. They held the race at Thanksgiving Point which is a HUGE venue. My biggest complaint was there were NO signs saying where to park, so we literally parked as far away from the start/finish line as possible. (And we totally thought we had rock star parking when we parked!) They were also filming for the new Bachelor there that night which meant LOTS of barricades and people yelling, "you can't go that way!" while we were searching for the starting line. Thirty minutes later we finally found the massive line of people waiting to start and waited...  

The race itself was pretty cool. The girls enjoyed it besides the fact that it'd taken us so long to start that it was now 9 pm and they were both starving... Those darn kids and their need to be fed...

The finish "celebration" would have been really fun if I were about 10 years younger and didn't have two 8 year olds in tow. We pretty much by-passed it and made the loooooooooong trek back to the car. 

In the end, I'm really glad this was a free gig for me. I'd be a tad annoyed if I'd shelled out almost $70 for it. I'll put it on the list for next year if the kids want to do it again... as long as I sign up early and get the good rates!

The massive hoard waiting to start

Its hard to see but I LOVE Indy's face in this one. So full of wonder...

The girls running to the finish line... Probably the fastest I saw them go. They had fun, but were ready to be done. I'd promises them snacks from 7/11!

Big Cottonwood Half (aka. My First Half!)

Have I mentioned this weekend was my first half marathon?  I can't remember if I have. 😜 So let me just make sure everyone knows... I RAN MY FIRST HALF MARATHON THIS  WEEKEND!

There were definitely times in my training that I was convinced I'd never be able to run 13.1 miles. A week before the race I ran the distance and put some of the nerves at ease, but there's something about the official race that still scared the sh#* out of me. 

It scared me so bad that I completely psyched myself out of a good night's sleep. I knew I had to be up at 3 am(!!!), so at 8:30pm I headed to bed.... And laid there forever (it seemed). I slept off and on and fully got ready for and drove to the race in my dreams. Think I had something on my mind? 

The race had arranged buses that left from Cottonwood high school from 4-5am and took us up the canyon. We got there early on and hopped on a bus. I've ran 13 miles before, but when you're driving it up a winding canyon, trying to anticipate your run down, it seems very daunting!

 

The bus finally stopped 9 miles up and left us on the cold, dark side of the road. And there we waited.... 

Finally, it was time to start. Like a herd of cattle, we all mooshed our way towards the starting line and took off. I tried my hardest not to get caught up in the herd's pace, but I knew I was still running faster than I normally do. Tehra's iPod decided to not work... of course, so we chatted. Then about a mile in, it hit me.  This was it. What I'd been working for for so long. This wasn't just another practice run. I was officially joining the 15% of America who can say they've run a half marathon! 

The first 5 miles flew by and Tehra stuck right with me even though her natural pace is quicker than mine. I'd told her from the get go that I did not want her holding back for me and would be mad if she did. I call her a crazy mountain goat because the girl LOVES inclines (bleh!) so when a small incline came just after mile marker 5, I slowed a bit and she took off. I watched her like a proud momma! You go, little goat!

I continued down the canyon and every time my Nike+ told me my pace I knew I was going too fast. I'd try to pace back a bit, remembering so many stories of runners burning themselves, but with the momentum of the crowd and the help of the slope, there was only so slow I could go. 

I finally reached the mouth of the canyon and hit the more level course. I fully expected my pace to take a blow, and it did, increasing by almost 20 seconds a mile. 

I brushed that aside and refocused on the goal I'd set for this race: I wanted to RUN the whole race. I didn't need to focus on my pace as long as my feet were both getting off the ground at the same time. 

I kept it going, but I've never had a mile last longer than that last one. As much as my first mile flew by, this last one was dragging on. Finally I turned the corner on 1300 East where the finish line was. I could see the finish chute, but more importantly, I could see Tehra. She'd finished and walked back on the course to finish with me. One more corner and there was the finish line and there was my family!  I charged the line and looked at the clock as I did, 2:12 (unofficial time), 22 minutes faster than my practice run. 

All and all, my first half was a great success. It was an amazing race that could not have been more organized. And they had popsicles! Who doesn't love a Popsicle after a long run, c'mon!

A few things I learned:

1. Walking across wet grass before you get on a bus to wait at the top of a freezing canyon, dumb!

2. Even if your iPod worked the night before, it won't necessarily work now.  lame!

3. Peeing in pitch black porta potties is easier than I thought. Win!

4. Wide mouthed cups of water and maintaining your pace do not go hand -in-hand.  Fail!

5. When you feel a rock in your shoe on your way out the door, don't think "I have plenty of time before the race starts. I'll remember to get it out later." You won't. And you will remember as you start running and you will fixate on it all 13.1 miles. Ugh!

Trying to keep warm. 

Look, I even remembered to snap a few shots of the scenery!

Hey, this guy's taking a picture of me taking a picture! Hah!

Post race

With the peanut gallery!

Almost to the finish line!

I'll postulate official stats when I get them.