Top of Utah Marathon race recap

This is me putting my thoughts into words, five weeks post-race.

I’m not quite sure where to begin, so I’ll unconventionally begin at the end.  I’ve never felt stronger at the end of a race, and it feels so good to be able to say that.

That Saturday morning, after being rushed and panicked at the start line with too few port-a-potties, my gear bag unchecked, my fuel not ready and stuffed in my sports bra, my ipod not ready to go in my armband, I finally made it to the start line with three minutes to spare.  The weather was cool and crisp, ideal race-day conditions.

I didn’t have any goals for this race until about four days before race day.  You see, I wasn’t planning on training for a marathon this summer, I thought I’d save it until just before the end of the year.  My only summer running plans were to keep my weekly mileage around 35-40 miles.  For my body to maintain the new{ish} mileage, I couldn’t focus on speed work until I adjusted and was feeling comfortable.  When I signed up for the race, I had 4 or 5 weeks to get in a couple longer runs, with my highest weekly mileage peak at 50 miles.  Basically, I wasn’t training for a PR, but [spoiler] I was by no means complaining when I walked away with one.

My only real concern going into this race was the altitude being at 5,500 ft compared to my training at sea level all summer, so I wanted to be conservative.  I was only running this for the miles, right?  I started the race with the 4:00-hr pace group and felt comfortable.  My legs felt good, lungs felt good, I was enjoying myself and the mountain scenery was beautiful.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of the 4-hr pacers [they were pacing about 30 seconds/mile faster than they should’ve in my non-professional opinion] and I was feeling great, so I caught up with the 3:55hr pace group.  At about mile eight my IT band started bugging me–I was caught off-guard and was trying hard to not let it psych me out so early into the race.  I rolled with it and figured I’d know if it was of real concern later.  Mile 11 rolls around and I felt my stomach churn.  Fantastic.  This is what happens when you don’t have time to finish your business before a race because the port-a-potty lines were forever long.  My time at the half-marathon split was 1:58:xx and I thought it was as good time as any for a pit stop.  Once I was out and running again, I spent the next few miles slowly trying to catch up to the 3:55 group, but I never quite caught up.  Instead I comfortably coasted right in front of the 4-hr group.

My IT band pain never quite left me.  From the time it started hurting at mile 8, the pain was a constant 4-5 on a scale out of 10 [on a scale of ‘how bad my IT band could have been hurting’ and not ‘worst pain I could ever imagine’] with surges of pain that were 8 out of 10.  Make sense?  It’s amazing what adrenaline and a little determination can get you through.  Had my IT band been bothering me this bad on any training run, I most likely would have stopped and called for a ride home.

The miles rolled by, I turned my ipod on just after mile 17, and I was still feeling good.  The first 15 miles were a rolling downhill terrain, that turned into a flat course with a couple hills at mile 19 and 22.  It could have been in my head, but I wasn’t feeling much effect from the altitude until the course was flat and had those two hills at the end.  That or I was just getting tired from already running 20 miles.  Probably both.  Yeah, definitely both.  But I’m convinced the beginning downhill miles made all the difference for my victimized lungs.

I saw my main squeeze cheering for me at mile 22, which made my eyes tear like a little girl.  I always get excited to see him on the course, it’s just the boost I need.  At mile 24 I realized I was most likely going to break 4 hrs and I can’t even describe what I felt.  It was a combination of excitement, disbelief, and confidence. I knew my body was capable of doing it, my mind just needed the proof.  Hope that made sense.  I crossed the finish line with a PR of 3:59:09.  I was elated.  I was sweaty.  I was emotional.  The areas on my body that chaffed, they were stinging.  It was a magical moment to say the least.

Once I stopped, my IT band hurt even more.  After grabbing my banana, a handful of goldfish, and chugging a chocolate milk, I had the race medics wrap ice packs around my knee.  When I saw my husband I got teary eyed all over again.  I could see it on his face that he was proud of me, and that look just makes a girl feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  I’m so cheesy.

marathon #3…done!

 

Trail Quake Half-Marathon Recap

I was out of bed by 4:30am, busy getting dressed, eating a bagel with banana, and going over my mental check list, for the millionth time, of everything I could need for the race.  After forgetting my garmin at a race last month, I was super paranoid I’d forget something incredibly important again and not have anyone to save the day.

We were gone by 5:25am and on our way for our hour and a half drive to Saratoga, CA.  The race didn’t start until 8am and I wanted to get there by 7am, when bib pick-up started.

Small group of ‘half-marathon hikers’ about to start (30min before standard half-marathon started)

Honestly, I didn’t have a clue of what I was getting myself into.  And I underestimated the course elevation.  No joke.  Now on to more pictures.  I took a few pics of the scenery the first few miles, then felt I was putting my safety at risk with the multitasking while running on crazy terrain.

After the first quarter mile we hit our first hill climb and almost immediately, every single person was walking.  I don’t know that this photo even does the ‘steepness’ of these elevation climbs justice.

I swear there were some parts I could practically put my hands in front of me and crawl up.

But I was too embarrassed, so I refrained.  This is about the time I started thinking my time might be a whole lot slower than I had anticipated.

Remember how I joked about there being cliffs??  Um, no joke.

I wish I could have run with a video camera, maybe then you’d get a better idea of just how beautiful and earth-y it all was.  Definitely a change from the city/suburban scenery that I’m used to.  It looked better than some old forest in real life, trust me.

I believe this was the first downhill after over three straight miles of steep uphill.  My calves and lower back were harmoniously singing praises of relief.

 This was just past the 9-mile marker, almost to the last few miles of a very steep downhill, quad-tearing, shoe-skidding adventure.  The 64-year-old man behind me was a friend I picked up about mile 7.  We chatted during a couple miles of rolling hills before I lost him after an aid station and picked up the pace.  He helped distract me from my muscle soreness as he told me about his 40 half-marathons and 80 full marathons he’d completed.  He’s my hero.  When I asked if he had run this particular course before he said, “No I definitely haven’t, this is the hardest half-marathon I’ve ever run, and I’ve run 40 of them!  This is one of those races you just try to finish, you don’t run for time!”  Amen veteran runner, amen.

See that couple crossing the finish line behind us, I found a close up of them while browsing through the race photos…

I wonder how long he was carrying her..

 You’re not hardcore without a dirt-line

 I was excited when I found out I’d be receiving a second medal for placing 2nd in my age group.  But I was mostly laughing because I knew there must have been only one other person around my age.  I checked, there were four.  Score.  I was 1 minute and 20 seconds behind the girl who beat me in my age group and almost 20 minutes ahead of the girl who placed 3rd in our age group.

The race had the most intense and exciting course that I’ve run.  There were many areas where the trail was too narrow to fit more than one person, making it impossible to pass anyone.  There were many areas that were so steep, all you could do was walk and pray it would plateau soon.  Aside from running on dirt, these are things that made this course different than any other I’ve run:

  -the patches of rocky areas that were only safest to walk through

 -stretches of windy and zig-zag turns you had to stop and walk the corners of

 -a fallen tree completely blocking the path so you had to climb over

 -areas that fallen trees were partially blocking the path so you walked around it

 -a few areas of bushes to literally push yourself through

 -hundreds of tree roots sporadically dotted the course, random boulders and wet patches to leap over

 -hearing a guy tell someone {as we all walked up the longest, steepest hill} how in the last few times he had run this same course, there was a person or two who had torn their calf muscle from all of the steep uphill climbs–um, ouch.  Now I’m literally, rather than unreasonably, nervous my calves are going to explode for real.  Oh and my ears popped several times from the elevation change.

 -skidding on the downhill and trying to stop/slow down, especially during the final 5k, because it was that steep

 -stopping at mile 11 for a girl who had fallen, busted her knee open down to the bone and was waiting for medics to come.  I offered what little medical advice I could to her and her friends waiting with her, then continued running when they reassured me they’d be fine and someone was on their way.

-seeing several runners at the finish line with bloody scrapes all over them and feeling lucky I didn’t fall

 -The aid stations were awesome.  Each station had water, sports drink, orange slices, banana chunks, watermelon slices, pretzels, skittles, gummy bears, bite-sized cookies, m&m’s, salt capsules, and gu gels.  Who said you couldn’t please everyone?!  I had two cups of water and a watermelon slice at practically every station, banana chunk at one station, and pretzels at two stations.  Basically, I went all out for a 13-miler.  I mean heck, why not.

Just to show you how slow I am give you an idea of the intensity of the course, I finished this race exactly one full hour {down to the second} slower than the half-marathon I ran May 5th {while slightly injured w/shin splints}.  And the elite runner who took first place for women at this race set a new course record of 1:55:15, six minutes slower than the half-marathon I ran May 5th.

By the end of it all, I felt excited and so glad I was able to experience my first trail race.  The environment felt nothing like a road race, but it still emanated the same type of energy, excitement, and accomplishment of one.  My calves and lower back were tired and sore from all of the uphill while my quads were tired from the downhill.  But what I noticed most afterwards was how tired and sore my feet felt from running on rocks at random areas of the course, they felt all beat up–no wonder they make specific shoes for trail running, hello, news-flash.  I thought my body handled the run very well considering I was sick throwing up just a few days before the race, I had no complaints.

I’d love to do another trail race, maybe one with less elevation gains [or actually train on a trail with lots of hills, I’m sure that’d help], but I’d love to do another one.

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Any trail runner veterans out there?  I need advice.

Firsts and Chocolate – San Fran style

Our town may be small, but it couldn’t be in a more convenient location.  Thirty minutes in any direction gets you to a full-scale city.  Even better, an hour southwest lands you in San Francisco.

This past Memorial Day we decided to head to San Francisco.  This would be Zuriel’s very first time and my first time since I was five or six.  Just ten minutes into our drive, there were signs for fresh local cherries for cheap.  Zuriel loves cherry flavored anything.  I only love fresh cherries, nothing baked and nothing artificial, no cherry medicine, just the fresh stuff.

 It’s no golden gate, but it was exciting to cross over the bay from Oakland to San Fran

 A pier at Fisherman’s Warf

 On our way to Ghirardelli Square

 A few months ago my chocolate-lover mother introduced me to salted caramel chocolate–it was seriously amazing.  This stuff looked pretty similar and I had planned on buying it but got distracted and forgot!

 Just in the last couple of months, Zuriel has unexpectedly become a fan of chocolate.  What the what.  He was just as excited as I was to share something from the Ghirardelli shop.  I chose a peanut butter fudge sundae and it was so so good.

I would be so nervous to somehow fall off, especially with all of those steep hills!

 The guy who, with his strategic and carefully choreographed and rehearsed movements and sound effects [making him look and sound like a legitimate robot], performed to techno/trance music for money and gave kids candy.

 Fisherman’s Warf

 This lobster was still alive, body parts and eyeballs moving galore.  I was freaking out!

 Plain oysters with lemon and hot sauce.

 I was hesitant because they weren’t seasoned and were totally raw, like literally straight from the ocean, sand particles in there and everything…and because even cooked ‘right’, I’m not a big oyster fan.  It wasn’t that bad….ok yeah, it was pretty gross.

 We didn’t visit Alcatraz this trip, but we saw plenty of shirts advertising it

 We enjoyed our first day trip to San Francisco together.  We’ll be back soon, don’t you worry.

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Have you been?  What are your sight-seeing and food recommendations??