♠ Posted by Paul Naylor in Half marathon,recap at 6:43 AM
The Big Cottonwood Canyon Half 2014 is in the books, this is a race that keeps getting better every year. I really love this race! This is an event that I'll be coming back to every year. I know that for my goal is traveling around to run a race in every state, but this is a race that I'll come back to. It is very well organized, the volunteers are amazing, and the scenery is beyond incredible.
Even that this was a great race, there was a different feel to it through out the training leading up to the event, during the race, and even after the race. I think that focusing so much on a PR for this race had a lot to do with how I viewed everything, but overall, a great race with great memories. There were many adventures that led up to the start line.
I left work early on Friday to make the journey from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. I wanted to give myself a lot of time because a section of I-15 was closed due to flooding. There was a long stretch of the highway that looked like this:
This caused travelers to take detours, I won't get too much into the detours, but I got to see parts of Utah, Nevada and Arizona I never knew existed. This detour took a couple extra hours to get to the St. George Area. After finally getting to Salt Lake City, great friends of mine were good enough to let me stay are their place for the night.
I helped them move a few items in their new house that they were moving into, then we headed to Zaxby's for dinner. Now I know that its up for debate whether the Kickin' Chickin' is food that should be consumed the night before a race. I leaning toward that its probably not, but still, really good food that I eat whenever opportunity presents itself.
I got a great nights sleep and I woke up at 4:00AM to check my gear and made my way to start line for bus pickup. This is where my morning got a little interesting. I got to the parking lot early and they were not going to be loading the buses for about 25 minutes. So I though that this will be a great time to make sure I have all that I need for the race, also, a great time to eat something. Then I realized my first mistake; I had brought nothing to eat. Well, this is a rookie mistake if I ever saw one, how many races have I ran, and I forget to bring food to eat? From where the parking lot was, I realized that I was close to a Smith's, which is open 24hrs. This is great I thought, I have enough time to run over and pick up a few things and make it back before the buses load. I reached in my bag for my wallet and.......couldn't find it. I was thinking that I was sure the grab it on my way out, but must have forgot it. I was thinking if I had enough time to drive back and get it, so I started to look for my keys.....and then couldn't find them. This was not the morning I would have picked to start loosing things. To make a long story short, It took me almost 1/2 hour to find these items, and I was very aggravated, and somewhat relieved that I found them. Now I have to worry about getting to the pickup area.
I saw that I had a few minutes to the last bus, so I grabbed my gear and made a mad dash to the buses, only to find......a very, VERY long line for the bus. That was weird. It seemed that there was some mis-communication with the buses, which caused delays with the pickups. I thought about running to the Smiths at this point, but then I really didn't want to miss the bus if it showed up. So after waiting for a few minutes, the buses finally arrived and we were off to the start line.
The gun sounded at 7:20 AM, slight delay from the buses, At this point, I was really anxious to start the race. The sun was starting to rise, the air was really crisp and the temps were cold. The leaves were already starting to change color. I was really trying to calm my nerves since I had no food in my system and spent a lot of nervous energy trying to find my wallet and keys. But the race went on, and we were off.
Slightly cold morning....
Things from the race I remember:
-I remember not being able to warm up since the buses got to the start line late, and there was enough time to take a restroom break, then they were asking everybody to head to the start line.
-The benefit of being late to the start line was that at least were not up the canyon freezing to death waiting for the race to start.
-Because there was no warm up, my legs felt like tree trunks for the first three miles.
-Cold weather + no warm up +no food = long day of racing.
-Seeing all the trees that where turning color was amazing, and a reminder of one of the reasons I love this race.
-First 8 or so miles, I felt great and moving at a great pace.
-I was really happy to have the sun shinning towards the last four-ish miles of the race.
-The volunteers at the aid stations are always great. The stations handing out Swedish Fish made my day like you wouldn't believe.
-The last 5k or race, this is where the no food before, no warm up, and nervous energy spent looking for stuff finally caught up with me. I was completely out of energy, and every step was like carrying a bag of cement.
-The finish line was a great site to see.
-Tried to run as hard as I could to the end, but I was cramping up like mad, and there nothing in the gas tank.
After all the events that happened before and during the race, I still managed to get a PR for the day.
This was my first goal, to at least run 1:30 or better.
I have downed my fifth cup of chocolate milk right before this photo was taken.
Had to stop by the pizza booth.
Got to see some great people after the race!
Overall, this race was phenomenal, and I'll be coming back next year. And even though I had a rough last three miles of the race, I was able to manage a PR, which will only make me more hungry to improve my time. I honestly can say that I left everything on the table to finish the race, and that ultimately felt great. I did feel a little bad that the turbo died after 10 miles, and almost felt that I did not deserve the finisher medal. Yet there were many factors that made the last three miles harder than it needed to be. Later on that day, I felt different, I felt a lot better, and was really glad that I did not give up and fought to finish.
Many played a part to help me be successful during this race, I want to thank all those that were involved and know that I really appreciate the love and support!
Big Cottonwood Canyon Half Marathon still remains my personal favorite of half marathons.
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