My first race of 2014!! My plan for signing up for this race was to use it as a training run for my Buffalo Run 50 miler. I ran Moab Red Hot 55k last year, so I knew that the course was going to be a challenge, but the views are worth all the climbing! Our good friends, the Krommenhoeks came down to Moab as well. Jeff signed up to run the 33k, his first trail race. He is always up for an adventure and a challenge! We were both excited for a beautiful trail run in Moab!
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| sporting our funky race hats |
Last year I came in at 6:23:32, so my goal was to break 6 hours. The 55k started at 8 a.m. and the race day weather ended up being perfect!! As I started off, I decided not to look at my watch and track my pace, but just to run by feel. And it would turn out to be a good run day! The first mile of the race was a climb, but I started at a steady pace and was at the top in no time. The first 10 miles flew by. It was awesome running up Metal Masher road up to the rim where you could look down and see the start line. An absolutely amazing view! Then it was downhill from there to the 2nd aid station at mile 13. I made sure that I ate at every aid station, either a chunk of a banana or part of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was on top of my nutrition the entire race and even though my legs did get tired and sore, I felt that I had the energy to keep going.
Hitting aid station #3 was the halfway mark of the race and I was feeling great. I knew the tough part was about to begin - the Gold Bar Rim trail. Lots of steep climbs, which meant a lot of power walking/hiking. And then the challenging ups and downs on slickrock of the Golden Spike trail. On this section it was like a game - "sight the race trail flags." The course was well marked, thank goodness, because I am known to get lost. The last aid station was at mile 28. My legs were starting to really feel it, but I didn't feel totally wiped. I kept on moving forward to the finish. I told Chad that my estimated finish time was 6 hours. I ended up coming in at 5:26:24. Almost an hour faster than last year! As I crossed the finish line, I looked for my family and couldn't find them. They ended up at the finish line 15 minutes after I had finished and were shocked to see that I was already done. I ended up placing #10 out of the women, which I was excited about since it was a stacked field. Jeff had a strong finish in his 33k completing it in 3 hours 5 minutes. Way to rock it Jeff on a challenging course! A great race day in Moab!!! I would love to come back in 2015!
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