This was the first race in a long time I did not get nervous over and my stomach thanked me for that. Going into the race I knew if I pushed myself I could possibly place but was it worth the pain if I wasn't feeling 'it' the day of the race. Probably not. So I decided I will start the race and then decide how I would run it. I knew my body would tell me within the first couple miles.
Race morning arrived and I was excited! As the race started I knew immediately it was going to be a good day. It has HOT though! I am definitely not used to running in heat this time of year. I carried a hand held bottle of water, one gel and a couple S caps. I knew this heat was going to drain me. Running along the scenery was surreal. I love the Utah desert! The first 4.5 miles were an up hill jaunt to the top of the mesa where the first aid station was. I drank some Heed and off I went. At this point, I knew I was towards the front of the pack. My friend Sue and I had only seen a couple other girls in front. I was a bit excited but knew I was still a long way from the finish. Just past the aid station came the 'Stairs' a 650 ft elevation drop rock scramble. Sue and I cruised down the scramble passing the 2 girls in front and met a new friend on the way down who came up from behind us. She was a lady from Colorado who we got to know very quick and we were chatting it up with her. Getting to the bottom, the trail disappeared and after some looking around we decided we would straight shot it though the desert to where we thought the dirt road was that we were supposed to be running on. This was the first time we got lost. As we reached the dirt road and got back on track we look back and realized we overshot the trail by long ways. Dang it, we had added some extra ground that we needed to make up some time on. On the dirt road the Colorado gal, Sue and I were pushing hard and fast. There was a man in front of us we were gaining ground on but it was shortly after this I looked down at the trail and asked why there were only 2 sets of footprints and not a bunch like there had been previously. Suddenly we all stopped and looked around and noticed that something was wrong. I knew that the map of the course had us make a loop and it was only 4 miles and we had been running for 32 min already and we hadn't looped yet. OH NO!! Looking backwards I see the direction we should be going. OH NO again! Once again we straight shot it through the desert towards hopefully the trail we were supposed to be on. In and out of washes and climbing up and down rocks we finally see people(the smart ones who didn't get lost)! Happy that we were on our way back to the right trail and unhappy about the excess mileage I just put on and wondering to myself how we missed the markings to go the other way I was frustrated. The Colorado gal and I pushed hard and fast back to the trail and then back up the 'Stairs', the rock scramble we had come down earlier. It was getting very, very hot but I knew the aid station was at top with more water and food! Getting to the aid station I knew I had lost my chance at placing but I didn't want that to stop me from finishing this thing with full effort. I walked for a minute and got the gel in me and then took off slowly. The last five miles or so were fun slick rock and single track. The Colorado gal and I played leapfrog and ran fast the rest of the course. With a few little wrong turns here and there but once we made it to Jackson trail it was smooth sailing. During these last five miles I started passing a few gals not knowing which race they were in but hoping they were in my same race. Right near the end was a creek crossing which was almost chest deep but felt amazing on my overheated body. I could have stood there longer but right on my tail was that Colorado gal so I opted to head out of the water to the finish line. Got to the finish line clocking in at 2:50 and running 1.7 miles longer than I should have! I had come to terms with myself and my mistakes along the course and was happy with my time. Then a few minutes later my friend came up to me and told me I was third, I was ecstatic. I had done it! I had pushed hard and regained a top three spot.
I have to thank the Colorado gal for this. She had pushed me the whole race and was an amazing runner! She was a great sport and honestly one of the nicest people I have ever met in a race. This race was fun and challenging, even though it was short and I will never regret having done it! It made me learn to push past my personal comfort zone and fight for something.Thanks Grass Roots for another fun race!
Huge lesson learned in this race is to keep your head up and watch for course markings!
I later learned that I took 2nd and there was a mistake with someone else who ran a shorter race! YAY!! Perseverance paid off!!
