If you recall, we ran this race last year. We thought it was ... okay, but probably wouldn't do it again unless the medal was a T-Rex (our spirit dinosaur, if you will).
Last year, they announced the medal design in January. This year, it was, I believe, in late March. I saw the medal design and texted Brandon something along the lines of, "M'fer it's a T-Rex."
(The one time in our lives I will probably swear about it being a Tyrannosaur.)
We didn't take nearly the amount of time of this year as we did last year. I got off work Friday morning, we drove up to Utah, we raced Saturday morning, and drove back that night. We stopped and got delicious BBQ at Smokin' Yards in Idaho Springs on the drive up and dealt with pockets of torrential rain.
We got up to Vernal with enough time for packet pick-up - which was a fairly disorganized disaster again, but at least it went until 8 that night - and then grabbed dinner at a local joint.
We don't bother with breakfast-for-dinner before races anymore, really.
Then, bed.
Saturday Morning
We stayed at the same Holiday Inn Express as last time in probably the same room, actually. Or not. Maybe they all look alike. In any case, we were down for breakfast just after 6am and unlike last year, they had pretty much all the food out. I choked down some eggs and papery bacon, Brandon stuffed something in, and we were off to the school to catch the buses.
Unlike last year, we also caught the first wave of buses ... which meant we got up to the race site and froze our asses off for a good 30, 45 minutes, if not more. I'm so glad a brought an old mylar blanket from a race with me because we huddled underneath it to get warm.
Race started late (again), and we were off.
This year, we were smart and paced ourselves out of the gate. We knew we were going into this race on virtually no training - I'd run maybe thrice in the few weeks leading up to the race and I hadn't run more than five miles at one time the whole year.
We didn't walk for the first time until mile five, at the tail end of the first big hill.
I started to feel my stomach eating itself (read: I was hungry) at around mile seven; I knew there would be orange slices at mile nine - I knew I just had to get to mile nine. I did, I snarfed several orange slices, washed the stickiness down with water, and kept going.
Soon after, the lack of training caught up with me and the wheels started to fall off and fall off hard. My hips at been hurting slightly since somewhere between miles seven and eight (that's lack of strength, right there), but I'd been able to help hold that at bay by really sticking to proper form. That failed me later and I started to need to walk more and more.
By mile 12, I started to pull away from Brandon - I couldn't run much, but what I could run was stronger than what he could. I think I ran that entire final 1.1 miles, picking it up for my usual sprint to the finish, passing a few people in the chute in the process.
Final Stats:
Time: 2:17:31
Pace: 10:30/mi
Overall Rank: 186/301
Gender Rank: 94/178
Division Rank: 26/47 (F30-34)
I hurried back to the car to grab dinosaurs and camera to hopefully snag a picture of Brandon finishing, but unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough.
We went back to the car and Brandon about died; the exertion plus the weather (chilly and overcast) did him in.
I'm not quite as dead.
I was able to drag Brandon out of the car for some food (all the bread was gone; all they had was fruit. FAIL.) and a picture in front of the sign.
After that, we found out our official times, headed to a gas station for more substantial food, back to the hotel to shower and check out, off to lunch and then back home to Denver.
We also both decided that it's really nice that we can B.S. our way through a half-marathon (something I learned last year), earning our third-fastest time. Mid-40s and overcast helped us out a lot though, given that we're both non-stereotypical runners and hot runners. Add 10 degrees and/or sunshine? That time is at least a good 10 minutes slower.
Garmin splits for the interested (13.08 miles; stopped my watch just after crossing):
Mile 1: 10:15
Mile 2: 9:56.5
Mile 3: 9:43.8
Mile 4: 9:51.3
Mile 5: 10:37
Mile 6: 10:18
Mile 7: 9:57.6
Mile 8: 10:34
Mile 9: 10:49
Mile 10: 11:59
Mile 11: 11:04
Mile 12: 11:45
Mile 13: 10:15
Finishing Bit: :26.9
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