The only hitch was finding the Chipotle, which my GSP really did not want us to find. My sisters said I pizazzed a bit. Thankfully we did find it in the end (because, there are no Chipotles in Moab).
We got into Moab around 3 and packet pick up was easy and well organized. After a trip to City Market, there wasn't much to do so we just headed back to our not-so-swanky Super 8. We dined at the adjacent Denny's and I got my almost perfect pre-race meal of tilipia, rice and green beans, just drenched in much more butter than I would ever use. In fact, the green beans had so much butter that Becky took hers off her plate and tried wiping them off with a great deal many napkins. At one point our waitress came over and didn't say a word about the pile of napkins or the green bean car wash.
That night we watched Did You Hear About the Morgans and we all agreed it was subpar and that SJP still looks like Skelator.
Our alarm was set for 6:30 the next morning, though I think we all woke up before it. Thanks to City Market, I had a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, then we headed over to the shuttle buses. The race was not a loop, so the bus had to shuttle 4,000 people 13 miles away. Becky and Laura on the bus:
We got to the start around 8:15, meaning that we had to stand in the freezing cold for one hour and 45 minutes. And by freezing, I mean FREEZING. I'm sure the temperature was not over 30 in the canyon. The race did allow us to bring a bag to put extra sweat clothes in, but none of us brought enough. And, they made you put your bag on a truck about 20 minutes before the start. So we huddled around and I drank more coffee and we used the port-a-potties 3 times. I had bought my preferred Gatorade the night before at City Market and then had split it with Laura. I didn't get the lid on right and it all leaked out in my extra clothes bag. It was a good thing that I had already committed to the capris I was wearing and not the shorts I brought along just in case. And the race provide gatorade with the coffee, so I was set there too.
Here we are finally lined up at the start with the 10 minute mile pacers.
I will say for a race that you stand around waiting in the cold for almost 2 hours, the course is very forgiving. The first mile was very downhill and I took it very easy so that I felt almost warmed up by mile 1 where, coincidentally, the sun finally broke through. My heart rate monitor decided not to work (or suddenly I was able to perform 300% better) so I had to ignore my race advice of running at certain heart rate zones and just go by exertion and pace. I ran the first 5 miles very easy, walking the water stops that were every 2 miles. Laura stayed with me and I was a bit concerned that my miles were faster than the plan - I was aiming for 9:45 miles and we we ended up averaging 9:32. We picked up the pace for the next 5 miles, again walking the water stations and the Happy Hump between miles 9 and 10. Here's the course around 5 miles, it was very pretty and the temperature was just about perfect:
We averaged around a 9:24 pace for the second 5 miles. Laura stayed with me for the first 10 miles. We ran by several photographers and I tried to smile and look happy, but this was really the best of the best:
At mile 10, I enacted my final race strategy - all out 5k to the end. The last two miles were hard, but as you can see by the below elevation profile, they were mostly uphill.
I did not see this photographer and I was no longer happy and smiling (though I thought being happy for 11 miles was a pretty decent feat):
And here's the finish. I averaged a 9:14 for the last 5k and I felt pretty good about that, since the course was so much harder at the end. And by running negative splits, I passed a TON of people the last 5 miles.
Here's Becky with a very strong finish:
And Team Bee Rad:
See, Team Bee Rad. But only 1 person asked me and Laura about our shirts:
My final time was 2:03:36, almost 90 seconds faster than my goal time of 2:05. But sadly, this race goes by gun time and not chip time, so my official time was 2:08 (our wave was held back 3 minutes from the gun). And being the anal person I am, I counted back through the results and I beat 108 people who had faster gun times than me. And only 8 people ran faster than my gun time. But given that I came in around 130th in my age group, it really doesn't matter. The winning female runner's time was 1:20, and she averaged 6:06 miles. I am very sure that I couldn't run *one* 6:06 mile, let alone 13.1.
After the race, we went to the Moab Brewery for beer and hamburgers, as we agreed on the night before. Sadly, I could not stomach a burger, so I made do with a beer. It was the unfiltered kind with lots of B vitamins, so it was a good recovery drink. I also bought my husband a growler:
After lunch, Becky had the great idea of going to the General Store to buy swim suits so we could sit in the hot tub (because no one had the foresight to bring one). And major score, I got a suit for under $7. So worth it for the hot tub!
That night I got to enjoy Fun Day at the all you can eat pizza buffet. Luckily, they had buffalo chicken, which my expert sisters rated #2 (behind Woody's):
Mmmmm, buffalo chicken:
And our not so swanky Super 8. Becky is not a big person, why would this table be stuffed in there?
Hanging out:
That night we were going to watch Yes Man on HBO, but I'm apparently not so good at reading TV schedules and it was on the week before. Scrubs was a poor substitute.
And all good things must come to an end. The next morning we ate breakfast and packed out. I got dropped off in Frisco for the start of my snowboarding Spring Break.
2 comments:
Why WAS that table so close? Why?? Smaller table, Super 8!!
Super fun trip, I would do it again :)
I would do it again too. Just not in October ;)
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