Red Rock Relay 9/7-9/8

When 5 of some of my favorite coworkers, invited me to do a relay race, it was hard to hold back my reservations.  The race began at 11,000 feet at Brian Head Ski resort then traveled through Dixie Nat’l Forest, Cedar Breaks, Snow Canyon, St. George, and ended at the entrance to Zion National Park.  I loved working as a forester in southern utah and attending SUU, so I was excited about the course.  A beautiful 187 mile 2 day adventure.  If you have never run a relay this youtube video might help explain the rely race. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL1hLU_LBvs  

Well actually our adventure started on Thursday afternoon at Devonee's place.  Once we managed to fit all our gear, including Dev's big old sleeping bag, and Heather's air matress we had to stop and eat at Costa Vida.  The perfect way to start out an adventure-good food!  So on the way down we listened to some good music, and some country.  But the most entertaing was the you tube video I need to poop. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_I4yHAQGJ8   Six nurses listening to pooping jokes, turned into a great time by all...However, the driver was a little distracted and forgot her speed.  Unfortunately the cop thought we were headed to Vegas.. He delivered a 15 minute lecture about being safe was more important than holding our bladders...  We finally found the little cabin, were we met the other half of our team.   Jen, a great organizer,was in a van with 5 guys for 2 days.  Lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it.  The 5 guys were super kind and helped us open our luggage container on top of our van.  They proved to be some of the best cheerers on the course.

The Cabin was great and close to the start of the race.  There were tons of stars, so nice to be away from Salt Lake City.  We were all ready for bed when we finally decided where to sleep and Kirsten (Momma K) had her Teddy bear, and big purse.  We woke up early, took some photos at the race start of our team Double Slap.


Brooke was our first runner, and missed her morning coffee.  She was amazing working a night shift Thursday and then running Friday morning.  I ran with here for the first mile, and then rode the ski lift at Brian Head.  The lift was a little chilly, but provided beautiful scenery.  Unfortunately Brooke had a little altitude sickness and threw up near the end of the ride.  Quite the trooper.  She ran downhill on a trail and passed off the slap stick to me.   Here is Karen and Devonee, waiting to cheer me on.

For my first ran I ran 3 miles uphill from Brian Head.  First of all I don't really like running uphill, and I think the altitude made the run some really tough.  My second mile was 11:25 pace.  Averaged a 9:43 pace.  Then I handed off the slap stick to Dev who had an 8.4 mile run, thankfully her knee did very well.  The Aspen leaves were just beggining to change colors, which made for beautiful scenery.  We saw this amazing runner carrying a flag, for the whole 8.4 miles.  Our pharmacist Karen was able to provide him with some drugs...
 
We also saw a hot dog guy multiple times



We went to see cedar breaks, which was breathtaking. 




Kirsten's turn, somehow she managed to run without her purse. we drove through some beautiful lava fields, and our other van found us in the lava fields. The other van had an awesome blow horn to cheer the runners on...And there is our pharmacist K with some pills and sunscreen, or maybe just markers for our van. 





Then pharmacist K, with an amazing running form ran through some Aspens...Here she is taking a water break with Momma K
  

Coach Heather always wrote down our splits and recalculating our estimated finish times.  She finished our last leg of the run and passed the slapt stick to the other van. 



Drove Down the beautiful Canyon to Cedar City, we could see Zion in the distance...


Found some time to swim in the awesome gym at SUU, that had an indoor climbing gym.  Man why didn't they have this gym when I went to SUU.... I saw my good friend Liz outside the gym and talked to her for a while.  My second run started at 6:18 pm.  It consisted of a fairly flat 4 miles (7:17 pace) Here I am hydrating before my run, next to my sexy coach ;)

Mile 1 was easy and then I turned into the wind for mile 2 and mile 3, the last half mile was uphill.  My van was amazing with their support at every mile.  I wish every training run I had a support crew to hand me water, and cheer me on!  Had to run in a sports bra, I just hate being hot when I run...




The sunset was amazing!  We watched Kirsten run the long dirt road while we took pictures. 


Thankfully I didn't have to run on the dusty road.  After we finished up our second leg we found some flat grass by a church to sleep for a few hours.  I managed a night of camping without my Bivy.

The other team called us when they were 10 minutes out, so Brooke had no time to get ready. But she looks perky despite not having coffee.


 I started my third leg at 3:42am.  The 10k was uphill and then most of the run was downhill so I had a fast pace (6:54), despite having a broken head lamp.   When we finally met up with our other team, we found out their bare foot runner had twisted his ankle.  So I volunteered to run his leg.  Inwardly,  I was kind of excited, because then I would almost have run a marathon with in a few days, and I like a challenge...Around 8 am, I ran 7 miles and at 7:43 pace...


Below is Heather waiting to hand me my water bottle, and Kirsten drinking her Target health drink to stay strong and slim.


Then we went to kneaders for a delicious all you can eat french toast!   Afterwards we drove to the finish.  Our team finished in the heat of the day.  The other van was smart and bought a hose to keep their runners cool.


 We finished in about 30 hours.  Here is our stinky running vehicle, that we decorated the last day.  As you can see we were very creative :)

We received these super cool black marks on the back of our legs whenever we finished a section, because it is so much fun!


We received these unique knecklace medals.  And of course took photos at the finish line. 



We had to do a picture with our Johnny shirts we received from a patient who inspires us all. 



 Somehow I convinced my teammates to go for a little hike through narrows in Zion!  Then took the bus through Zion and I tried to convince them to do Angels Landing, but it was hot and we were exhausted and hungry! So the narrows was a perfect ending, to a relay race...





We had some delicious mexican food, and then crashed at Devonee's grandfather's place in St George..  Sunday we had an uneventful drive home, staying awake with caffeine...Momma K drove the the whole way back.  Turned out to be a fun little weekend adventure, filled with laughter.  I work with some amazing nurses! 

Utah Half Ironman 8/25/2012

I had a good bike the week before at Jordanelle Olympic Tri, so I was excited for the Utah Half.  I wanted to redeem myself from the first half ironman of the year in Texas.   I trained and tapered for the race and was ready except that on Thursday night I worked a night shift at the hospital, so headed into the race sleep deprived... I woke up early Saturday morning, had some breakfast and drove to Provo.  When I first arrived, they didn't have a number for me, so I was a little nervous, because I signed up on Wednesday, but everything worked out.  The first person I met at the tri was Brandon, at the race.  One of the sweetest guys ever!  Set my bike up next to his.  Put a pink duct tape x next to my stuff so I knew how to find my bike.   Besides the mosquitos, it was a beautiful morning.  Thanks to Mike for the awesome pictures!  So great to have a photographer at these events.

Swim 1.2 miles-35:23
The swim took place in the harbor of Utah Lake State Park.  They set us off in waves, which made for a nice swim.  The females were in the last wave. Saw my friend Leslie in the water, right before starting.  It is always nice when you are racing with friends.  We entered the water from the eastern boat ramp and swam through two buoys, then we made two clockwise loops. The swim went well, besides heating up a little in the wetsuit.   The water was murky, but it was not black like Jordanelle last week.   I was a little confused where to head on the second loop, to exit for the bikes.   I lost some time meandering, with the sun in my eyes, during that last section..The lake was shallow, my hand hit some rocks a few times.  When I finally got to the exit I struggled stripping off my wetsuit...My friend Michelle is an awesome cheerleader, which helped me forget about my stupid wetsuit.  My swim was slower than usual, I think either the course was long or I meandered a lot from the last buouy to the bikes...



Bike 56miles (2:29:51)
The bike course is a flat 56-mile out-and-back that headed out to West Mountain. The weather was perfect, with some cloud cover.  In Provo there seemed to be a lot of turns that were a little confusing. Soon I realized the turns had big signs, not just a painting on the road. In Provo, because of construction, we went off this one dip, that I thought for sure I was going to flat on. However thankfully I didn't flat the whole race! Yay!

My friends were not so lucky. Leslie and Chris both had flat tires. Unfortunately Brandon was hit by another cyclist...Once we got out to the country roads, it was much less chaotic, however they didn't have the big signs where to turn. At the first aid station at Mile 15, I grabbed some water. My quads started loosening up and I was just starting to feel the rhythm, when I made a wrong turn...I didn't go far, before I realized my mistake, and so I had the chance to repass some guys.  The second aide station was at the turn around had no fluids.  So I should have put some gatorade or water in my special needs bag.  I struggled turning around on the narrow road and actually clipped out, you think I would be more coordinated on my bike by now, thankfully I didn't fall.  I ran out of fluids returning back to the first aide station....I saw Leslie which always helps with motivation to keep pushing hard.  So grateful for the gatorade and water when I arrived at the aide station, I gulped down a ton of fluid, trying to rehydrate..I passed a ton of guys on the bike-one positive of starting in one of the last swim wasves.  Once back to Provo, I slowed down with the turns and gravel.  Finaly made it back to transition.  I was excited about my PR bike!  Nutrition wise, I had 5 gus and one honey stinger waffle on the bike. 



Run 13.1miles (1:40:58)
The Utah Half run course was a flat 2 loop course along the asphault trail along the Provo River. There was an aid station every mile. Along the trail, there were shady sections which were nice!  I was excited to finally catch Chris on the run and chat for a little while.  There was a female in front of me cheering who was really kind, and I wasn't sure if she was in a relay or not, I never ended up catching up with her, but turns out she was in a relay.  Loved seeing my happy friend Ashley out on the run, she actually ended up running 20 miles for the day. Saw Tracy smiling out on the run course too.  One day I will learn to look happy when I am running..I caught up with Brandon's frined Tony around mile 10, and ended up running a half mile together, which was pleasant.  Mile 12, I was starting to struggle, but tried to focus on my form and positive affirmations.  I hit mile 13 and knew, I still had a ways to go which was a little discouraging.  By the end of the race my garmin read 13.6 miles, so my run time was a little slow.  I think it would have been a 1:37 instead of a 1:40.  My PR run was at Boise half ironman last year 1:35.  So I was a little discouraged about this, but am happy with an overall PR 4:49 and a bike PR, and no bowel problems on the run!  I was very excited to have a much better race than I had in Texas.   First female, and 10th overall.   Thanks to my coach and friends who helped me to improve over the year. 



Sleep Deprivation finally caught up to me...