Race Report: Canyonlands 1/2 Marathon

Whenever someone asks me how the race went I'm not sure how to respond. Good? Hard? Fun? Yes, it was all of those. I didn't finish as fast as I'd hoped but I did finish. In a nutshell, the first 10 miles were great, the last 3 miles were utter hell.

The weekend in general was fantastic because not only did I get to cross off something from my 30 for 30 list and my TDBID (To Do Before I Do) list, but I got to play with 3 fabulous running friends and see some of the amazing natural sites of Utah, my beloved home state.

As for the actual race- I took lots of video so I could remember everything. I apologize in advance for those of you who will watch them because I'm looking even worse than in the photo from the last post. But come on! Running in tight clothes, sweaty, no makeup on and in the morning? Do you really expect me to look all that great?

I drove up to Moab on friday afternoon. A good 6-1/2 hour drive, but it went by pretty quickly. Chloe, Anne and Jen arrived just a bit later and we headed out to pick up our race packets then on to enjoy a pre-race pasta dinner and ice cream. It was a great way to prepare to run farther than I'd ever done in my life. Back at the "posh" Ramada Inn we got everything ready for the next morning. We had shoes, fuel belts, shot blocks, Gatorade and ipods and more strewn about everywhere. Our early bedtime turned into Chloe serenading us with tunes from her ipod which then turned into the most amazing moment of the trip- 4 girls listening to The Flight of the Conchords doing "The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" on 2 ipods with 2 of the 4 girls singing along. It was pretty amazing and would turn into our theme song for the entire weekend. If you see us and you can't remember our names you can just call us "Wildslutangel22 at yahoo".

Luckily the race was a late start-10am, which meant that we didn't have to be at the buses until 7:30am. It was freezing when we got to the buses and we knew it would be even colder up the canyon (and we were more right than we knew).

We got to the top around 8:30am then had to stand around freezing for the next hour and a half. We kept ourselves pretty entertained and had fun people watching. After the obligatory porta-potty visit we were herded up to the start line only to wait some more and continue freezing.

Finally we were off! Being the slow runners that we are, we were at the back of the pack and crossed the start line about 5 minutes after the official start. I'd debated about whether or not to use the potty one more time before the start but thought I'd be fine once I started running. Well, I wasn't and not 2 minutes after starting the race I stopped to use the potty. But once I did I was feeling great and was on my way.

TMI?

The first 2 miles went by pretty quickly and was a nice gentle downhill start. I ran with Chloe and Anne for most of the time. After our Gatorade stop at mile 2 I ran the next 2 miles with Jen. It was so great to run with the girls and I really should have stuck with Jen so that I could have some moral support for the rest of the race. I didn't realize how important this would be until around mile 11.

I took 2 shot blocks at miles 6 and remembered how much I hate gummy things. It was my first time taking them which I realize was risky during a race but I wanted to have at least a little something in me to get me through after my initial fuel burned off. I'm not sure if they worked, if the caffeine in them was a problem or if I should have taken more. I'll definitely be trying some GU before my next 1/2 to try it out. I hit a wall around mile 10 and I need to figure out how to get past it and I think the shot blocks or GU might help me out (yes? no? suggestions?).

The next 4 miles were pretty much uneventful. I ran around the same group of people, looked at all the gorgeous scenery and just felt like I was in the zone. At mile 10 I was getting excited that I was nearing the end of the race but was also a little nervous about arriving at a distance that I'd never gone past. I was already feeling a little disappointed in how slow I was running (not sure how much of that was due to the altitude or how much I'd slacked in my training the 2 weeks prior to the race) and was just hoping I could tackle the next 3 miles at a decent pace.

Mile 10 was pretty rough. Mile 11 I realized I was in the depths of Hell. There was nothing difficult about the terrain but it proved to be the hardest, longest mile I'd ever run. I was so tired that I couldn't even run for a 1/4 mile without a walk break. My brain was telling me that the finish line was a million miles away and I'd have to crawl in long after everyone else had already finished. But the followup thought always went a little something like, "oh suck it up and keep running!" Which I did. I'm not gonna lie. I almost broke down in tears 3 times during this mile. I really needed my girls to get me through and I seriously considered just stopping and waiting for Chloe and Anne and finishing with them. But I also knew that Jen was in front of me and I'd later regret not giving it everything I had in me to just keep going. Mile 12 was an interesting one because we started seeing a lot of the locals sitting on their porches watching us all shuffle along. One group of people kept telling everyone, "Only 5 more blocks!" But, damn! Do you know how far 5 blocks sounds when you've just run 12-3/4 miles? It definitely wasn't as encouraging as they intended to be I'm sure.

I turned the last corner and finally saw the finish line. It felt like a mirage, never seeming to get any closer. Just before the corral at the finish line my awesome, exercise-crazed friend, Sarah, jumped out from the crowd and started screaming at me to "SPRINT, CHRISTY! SPRINT!" My only retort was, "Sarah! This IS sprinting!" And even though her screaming startled me a bit, it was just what I needed to carry me through to the finish line. Finally I crossed it! 2:45 minutes after I began I finally accomplished one of my life goals to run a 1/2 marathon! I did it!

The best part about finishing were the AMAZING orange wedges at the finish line. Seriously they were so sweet and delicious! The worst part was that there were no finishers medals. I LOVE finishers medals and will always proudly wear it for the whole day following a race. So I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to advertise that I'd just finished a long old race.
As I said before I didn't finish as fast as I would have liked. I was really aiming for a 2:30 finish. But considering it was my first 1/2 and perhaps the elevation didn't help, I was still proud of my time and just darn right proud of myself for finishing at all.