26.2 Grandma: Canyonland's Half Marathon

Every successful race day begins with lots of preparation but I'm just going to start at dinner the night before. We stayed in Green River about 45 minutes from Moab. Their was no room at the "Inn" in Moab. Anyway we ate dinner a little late 'bout 7pm. Dinner: grilled Halibut, baked potato, steamed broccoli.
Back to the Robber's Roost to unpack and lay out all my racing clothes, etc. on the pink towel. On the computer for the last time to check the weather for Saturday. We were in bed by 10pm.
Phone alarm went off at 5:30am. Getting dressed for a race is quite a process in itself. It starts out with sticking the little Innergy energy plus & energy & endurance disks on me and then putting Myomed on my legs. Because of the weather I also had to put on sunblock protection. Then running skirt and shirt and getting the Ipod wires all in the right place. Garmin, headband, visor, sunglasses, gloves, Gymboss, camera, cell phone, water belt, fuel, I could get exhausted just dressing. And this sport, you could probably just go out there with good running shoes and socks - just like in agility you really only need a dog and a leash. But what fun is that? Using all the gadgets and gizmos make it more enjoyable for me.
At 6am I was ready for breakfast: 2 poached eggs and sunflower & honey slice of bread. More finishing touches on getting ready, packing, loading the car and then off at 6:32am for Moab and bus loading.
We arrived at Swanny City Park around 7:30am and I walked over and boarded the bus. Sat in the front seat and introduced myself to Sheli Craven who was sitting in the seat alone. We had a nice visit on the way up the canyon to the drop-off point. I invited Sheli to come train with me sometime. The drive up the canyon was beautiful. It felt like it was all downhill. I was a bit concerned. The driver slowed down at the 5 mile run drop off and offered to let any of us out who had changed their mind... no takers. Note to self: riding the bus early was very nice.

Just dropped off, only a few buses so far.

Once I got off the bus I put on my down coat and began hanging out. Got myself a drink of water. Sat on the rocks and watched people. Ate my Bonk Breaker bar. It wasn't long before I saw a Desert Shark, Steve Avery, so I followed him and found the other shark friends to hang out with. Got to know Sue Pope and see Bill Hirstius new green shoes.

Desert Sharks attack Canyonland's Half Marathon.

Being with the Sharks made the wait enjoyable. We were able to talk and take pictures and be cold together. They are an inspiring group of friends.

Bus load after bus load after bus load of runners were dropped off. I have not been in a race this big. At 9am they announced it was time to walk up the hill to the start line. We walked up together dreading that we were going to have to put our coats and blankets into the swag bag and put them on the truck.

I get to run in this canyon with no cars!

Race start time 10am. I decided to put on my long sleeve tech shirt over my race shirt because I would have been too cold with more waiting to do.

Bill's shoes and Cindi in her princess blanket.

My shark friend Cindi Glenn walked with me to my pace time... which they didn't have 12:00 so I went in the one marked 10:00 near the front because then it started going downhill and I didn't need that! It was windy so when Cindi left to be with the faster runners I found a big guy to stand behind to block the wind. Soon all the runners filled in and it was a little warmer. I met and talked with a couple of ladies from Colorado who were race walking the course, Donna Bergman and Terra Anderson.

Notice all the green swag bags.

Finally 10am and race starts. The wave of the start finally gets to us and we start moving. But after about 10 seconds we come to a halt. Some guy says "false alarm!" But then we do start a walk and then a slow crowded jog as we head for the starting line. Soon I am off and running down the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Hwy. Right away I had some technical problems with Gymboss. Somehow it got set on 3/1. So I had to fix it. Then during the race it kept stopping. I finally figured out I was bumping it when I drank from my water bottles. Note to self: find a new location for Gymboss on belt not near water.

About 4 miles out I took off my long sleeve shirt. Now this is a shirt I like and did not want to throw it by the road with the many other jackets and shirts and hats and gloves. So I tied it around my waist. Note to self: bring disposable clothes if I need to stay warm for a while. We had wind the whole run. I have run a lot in the wind so this was just no problem for me. And the running temperature with no sun was perfect also. The wind blew my visor off so I added that to my race belt.

Race fuel on board: 2 Clif Shot Bloks, 2 Hammer Gels, 16 oz water with Prolytes. During the race I kept with my running plan of run 2 minutes walk 1 minute. Got off a few times because of the technical difficulties but just kept on. Took a few scenery pictures during my walk breaks.

Me during a walk break.

Drank water at all aid stations. On mile 6 I began to feel a bit uncomfortable. I decided I needed a bathroom. Saw a few others who had the same idea. Did I want to go along the road in almost full view???? I was getting close to doing that when I remembered the 5 mile drop-off for the group who were only running 5 miles. It had lots of beautiful blue outhouses. So I did some quick calculations on my fingers.
Mile 8 is where they would be. At that time that was only about a little over a mile out. I now had another reward for that mile. How happy I was when they came into view!

Mile 10 greeted by drummers. Very nice!

When I was out of the canyon and on the main road I got a shout and a wave from Mike and Kelli Davey. Kelli was already finished with the race. lol. Faster runners just get it done.