Moab 2010

I love how it looks like a refugee camp for spandex at the race start

I had a last minute offer to run the Moab 1/2 Marathon. I spent all of maybe 5 minutes thinking it over. Of course I did it. Technically Saturday was my rest week and I only needed to run 10 miles. I figured I would just run it for fun. Sadly I came down with a cold on Thursday and it's still lingering on a bit.

This guy is wishing he had bought the 13 gal garbage bags, tight fit

Here's a note for future reference for any aspiring new runners. Whenever you read "I probably shouldn't have..." in my blog, don't do whatever it is I did. Just because I didn't die doing it doesn't make it the smart thing to do.

So, I probably shouldn't have run with the cold, but I did. I've read if the cold is in your neck up (head cold only) it's ok to run, but if it's below the neck (in the chest/lungs) don't do it. It was basically only in my head. I did start coughing a tiny bit Friday night, but it felt primarily in my sinuses.

As this was a last minute I had no accommodations set up. I was thinking about camping, but that didn't seem the safest bet as a solo lady. So I threw a 2" foam mat in the back seat of the Dynasty and parked at the shuttle pick up at the city park. There were probably a dozen other people doing the same thing. With the foam mat, I was surprisingly comfy. It was retched cold in the morning though. I wanted to stay snug and warm in my down sleeping bag.

I decided to take it nice and easy. I started out at about a 11 min/mile pace just to see how that could go with the breathing. After a couple of miles I was feeling good and went up to about a 10 min/mile pace. Did I mention how cold it was at the start? Seriously, uncomfortably cold. My toes were numb until mile 2. It was nice for running, but for waiting, not so good.

I remember last year, I couldn't wait to get out of the sunny parts and back into the shade. This year it was the opposite. I loved the sunny sections. You just can't please everyone.

It was fun how many people I ran into that I knew. I saw lots of friends, people from my old WBR team, people from this year's WBR team, people from the Salt Lake Track Club. Good times.

The best part about doing this race this year was to see that my current training style has improved my time. Despite having a cold, I got a PR for this particular race. Not my best time ever, but I was happy with my time for just taking it easy. I am totally motivated to keep on strong with my current training plan. Theoretically, I am predicted to finish my marathon around 4:30:00, 39 mins faster than my first try. That's a big deal.

I placed 1895th out of 3282. With a chip time of 2:08:22. Moab is usually one of my slower races because it's the first of the year. My previous PR for Moab was 2:12:49.

After the race I went for a short hike (2.5 miles each way) up Negro Bills Canyon. It was a nice mostly flat hike up to Morning-something Arch. The trail follows a little stream pretty much the whole way. I'm guessing in about a month when the trees along it break out their leaves, it's going to be amazing.

I love Moab.