You’d have to be living under a rock to not know that several bloggers were invited to run the Utah Valley races. Of course I jumped at the chance and signed up for the half. I’d never been to Utah!
I arrived Friday afternoon and found Marybeth and Zenaida waiting at my gate. We got our rental car and were on our way to the expo, where we met up with more bloggers.
Left to right Judy, me, Marybeth, Holly, Zenaida and Teresa.
After an early dinner at CPK we hit the hay in anticipation of a very early wake-up call.
Race Day
We were up dark and early (3am) to head to the shuttle buses that would take us up the mountain to the start line. This is a downhill, point-to-point race. Don’t get too excited about that downhill, remember too much of a good thing isn’t so great.
The bus left us on the side of the highway-turned-starting area. The full moon in a clear black sky as well as several fire cans burning brightly cast an eerie glow. We’d go off at 6am, just as the moon was setting in the canyon ahead of us. Breathtaking.
Goals
It’s no secret I didn’t come here to race. I knew my endurance wasn’t where I wanted it to be yet plus there was the whole altitude thing. I came up with 5 goals:
- Run happy
- Soak in the experience
- Enjoy the scenery
- Enjoy friends old and new
- Pinch myself because I’m lucky enough to have experiences like this
The first couple miles ticked away easily on a winding highway course. I took in the scenery and was grateful for the amazing opportunity to be here. My reveries were rudely interrupted by the buzz of my Garmin counting down to power save mode. What? Somehow I’d failed to start it. What’s up with that? I know I clicked it. Oh well, my mileage would be off. Not a big deal.
Mile 3 was a long, uphill affair I did not appreciate. Let the record show I did lots of leg, hip and glute strengthening work to prepare for Utah Valley. But actual hill training? Not so much. Mile 3 was my opportunity to heed my heart rate, slow down and enjoy the view.
This pic of Bridal Veil Falls when taken during our visit later that day.
As the sun rose behind us casting a golden glow on the mountains, we were treated to a refreshing tailwind to boot. Perfection. We ran past Bridal Veil Falls, which we’d come back and hike later. That’s how we do recovery.
I was clipping along, happy as a clam grateful for this experience when at mile 7 I noticed the little fastener on my bib holder belt was very close to the edge. As I reached down to tighten it, the fastener snapped off and went flying, rolling almost into oncoming traffic. Of course my bib flew in the opposite direction. I spent some time chasing down both items and reassembling myself before continuing on. Good thing I didn’t come to race. The course is mostly gradual downhill with some screaming downhill and some hills too. The spectators increased once we got into town. So did the walkers. So many walkers I had to weave a lot to get around them. I realized later they were doing the 10k. In a perfect world they wouldn’t walk 3 and 4 across. This was not that world.
At the 10 mile point I was ready to be done. My ankles, hips and ITB were tired of the camber of the road. My brand new handheld bottle (that I was using for the first time) had run dry and I filled it as needed at the water stations. Carrying it sort of bugged me and made my hands tingle, probably because I wasn’t used to it.
Finally, far in the distance I spotted the finishing arch. Or was it a mirage? The home stretch is a loooong one. Probably the longest one I’ve ever seen. It was both welcoming and tough to see the finish arch from so far away. Patiently I brought it in for the finish.
Finish time: 2:13. I’ve been much faster and I’ve been slower too. Even though I feel like I ran this one easy breezy, somehow I ran it faster than any half I ran last year.
Final words: I loved this race. It’s very well organized and the conditions were perfect. The medal is top notch and I loved getting the 10th anniversary jacket instead of a race shirt. Women got the fun bright green you see in the pic while the men received a nice turquoise one. Finish line food consisted of fruit, Jamba juice, popsicles and chocolate milk. There was a nice finish line festival complete with massages and a band. This is one of the, if not the most scenic half marathon course I’ve ever run. The Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half in Colorado is quite similar and amazing as well.
The race itself was fabulous but we did SO much more over the weekend. If you’ve seen my Instagram you already know we made good use of our long weekend in Utah and packed it with adventures. Stay tuned for more!
Have you run a net downhill race? Raced in the mountains?
I’m linking up with Meranda, Lacey and Rachel for the Friday Five.
Great recap!!! I hope I get in the loop of “invited” runners (LOL) next year. This looks like a beauty! Grandma’s is a net downhill course…I personally thought it was more flat than “rolling,” but I’m used to hills. We’ll see just how accurate my memory is come Saturday 😉
Well, you’d better get your hiney out here for the GTIS half in August, Lou!! I promise you, I’ll be slower than 2:13! 🙂
I’m glad you had a fantastic time….I’ve been thinking about you and meaning to text (stupid life!!!!). I need to hear all the dets soon, but from the sounds of it, it appears it was a really fun weekend. And that jacket is to die for!
And, you have a new puppy???????
xoxo
This looks like an amazing race experience! Im glad you were able to relax and take it all in, and you still ended up with a great time! Ive never raced anywhere with altitude or downhill so Im not sure wha that would be like. I think for a race like this its smart to just enjoy the experience!
Very nice recap and I was so excited to get to share this experience with you! CHEERS my friend!
Sounds like a wonderful race and I sure wish I had decided to do that instead of Grandmas, which I am not running after all. The scenery looks amazing! Did anyone struggle with the altitude? 2:13 is a great time, especially for altitude and hills. Congrats!
Great recap! I still cannot get over the whole thing with the bib!!!
I had serious FOMO seeing you all together! Looked like such a gorgeous place to run. The prospect of a downhill race sounds good but I can see how that might be hard on your knees and hips at the end. Love the jacket 🙂 Congrats
I’m always done at mile 10, which is great for 10 milers! I’d love starting a race before dawn and running with the sunrise- even with a 3 am alarm. Sounds like such a great experience!
An amazing race experience and you had a great time too! Running downhill just kills my quads so i don’t know how you did it for the whole race – kudos to you! I love the race jacket as well!
SO FUN!!! I love your pics. And dang that Garmin. It crushes my soul a little bit when that happens. Great job, mama!!
Sounds like a great race and a fun time. Wish I could have gone!!!
I have visited Bryce & Zio Canyons years ago and loved them. I have never run in altitude or a downhill race!!
Congrats on running a smart race. You will rock Berlin!!
What a wonderful and beautiful race! I’m hoping to do all of the halfs in the Destination Races Wine Country series. It is so serene and peaceful to be running through the vineyards. I’ll be doing Napa to Sonoma for the second time next month. It’s their premier race in the series and sells out in less than an our. I did their Santa Barbara Half last month–also beautiful but waaayyy to hilly! Glad you had such an amazing time.
Nice jacket! What a beautiful place to run, wow! Congrats on your race!
I never raced on a mountain before. Great job. Looks like a beautiful course.
Loved every minute of it! It was great to hang with you again. Let the record (my Garmin) show it had 459 feet of UP hill. That shocked me. It’s not an “easy” race, for sure.
Congrats on doing so well with the race – and glad you liked Utah! It is beautiful there.
I did a lot of hill training — even though this wasn’t a goal race for me, I knew a PR was possible (although I certainly didn’t plan on it and for much of the race really didn’t think it would happen). The hill training definitely paid off.
Even if you’re not racing having your bib fly off would absolutely be annoying! How come the falls didn’t look so full in the morning?!
It was nice to meet up with you again — and thanks again for the lift to the start! Mr. Judy definitely appreciated that. Have a great vacation!
I’ve been anxiously awaiting all these recaps! I hope I get to do this race some time soon. It looks beautiful, and it sounds like you had a great time despite the bib mishap and the long finishing stretch! Congrats!
I have not ran a downhill race but I love point to point races! Utah looks beautiful! This will be on my bucket list for sure! And your time was awesome! Glad you enjoyed it and had a great race!
My FOMO grows reading it all LOL Great recap and what a wonderful experience all around, it is fun to have friends to recover with. It is a good thing you caught your bib!! It would have been rough to run it and not have a time.
I love the jacket, looks great 🙂
Downhill is great fun, but steep enough it’ll tear up the quads for sure.
I hope I get to run it one day!
Oh my god! you had to chase down your bib!! What?? that sounds like something that would happen to me! and it made me laugh!
I got very jealous of all of you beautiful strong ladies out there!! You all rock!! congratulations!
It looks so nice out there, but I do see the hills in the picture. My parents live in the mountains, but I’ve never run up there. Holy hills!
Great recap – sounds like a great race. And I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to make this race work but alas I couldn’t bail on a lax tournament I help to organize 😉 Hopefully we’ll catch up at a race one of these days!
Sporting that awesome jacket with style lady! I can’t wait for fall down here in Mississippi so that I may have the opportunity to wear mine!
I somehow missed your “fly-away” bib fiasco! Sounds like several of us had an unexpected delay or two. But in the end, we all had an amazing experience!
Looking forward to our next adventure!
I’m still sad that I couldn’t join you all. I hate it when life gets in the way of fun LOL.
Nice job on the race and glad you guys had a lot of fun.
Congrats on another great race! How fun that you got to enjoy the weekend with so many other lovely ladies! Your pictures from the course are absolutely gorgeous.
Looks gorgeous!! Def a race I would like to run someday! I love the jacket1
Thank you for sharing your experience! I might have to add this race to my bucket list for next year since I couldn’t make it this year and I haven’t been back to Utah since we moved from there in 1985. Congrats on a great finish despite having to chase down your bib! Just curious if the altitude bothered you?
Congratulations!! I so wish I could have participated in this race, you did a great job considering all the stops and bobbing and weaving you had to do! I think this would have been the only race that I would have taken pictures along the way – it looks so beautiful! But I could definitely see the camber and downhill running taking a toll!