"The Other Half"

This was a stellar weekend for me. First I got to watch the University of Kentucky football team finally pull off a win against Steve Spurrier and South Carolina (while sitting next to my good friend Jason, a South Carolina alum). Then I finally got to run the half marathon (13.1 miles) that I have been training for over the last few months, and it went swimmingly. The race is called "The Other Half", and it takes place in Moab, UT. I ran it with my friend Jason, which is who you see me standing with in the picture above. We both felt really good throughout the race and had a blast.

Since the race was bright and early Sunday morning, we drove into Moab Saturday afternoon, picked up our packets, and found a place to eat and watch the game. After the game we went to the grocery store to pick up some bananas for the morning and some Vaseline to prevent race chaffing (I had forgotten the stuff I normally use). While standing in the checkout line I turned to Jason and said "Does it look bad that we are buying bananas and Vaseline and nothing else?". Jason responded by immediately moving to the next lane with the bananas while I remained in mine with the Vaseline.

As far as results go I was ecstatic. As I have mentioned before in the blog I am not exactly a fast runner and my goal for this race was to run somewhere between a 9:45 to 10 min/mile average pace. Well I have to say that training at nearly 3,000 feet higher than the race's elevation helped me out tremendously. I ended up running at a pace just under 9 min/mile and finished with a time of 1 hour and 58 minutes. This got me 427th place overall out of 1537, and 37th place in my gender and age group out of 204. I was really pleased!!!!

But I have to say a few things about the race venue itself. The backdrop for this race is just amazing. The entire race is on a road running right next to a river in a gorgeous desert canyon. It was unbelievable. At one point I looked to my left and saw the La Salle mountain range in the background and nearly stopped running to stare at the view. And at the beginning of the race we were getting to see all of this as the sun came up. It was without a doubt the prettiest race I have ever done.

However, there is a downside to running a race in a place so far out and beautiful. Number one is that there is no easy was to get to the starting line. All runners had to meet at one of two locations in the town of Moab to catch a shuttle to the start at 6:30AM. From there we took the shuttle about 40 minutes out of town to get to the start. Secondly, because it is so remote, you don't have as many encouraging spectators on the side of the road cheering you on. And finally this course is pretty flat for about the first 7 miles and THEN the hills start. Having to do all of your hills in the second half of the race kind of sucks, but at least the last mile was downhill.

Tomme came to cheer me on and take pictures and I was so happy when I saw him near the finish line. After the race Jason and I got our complimentary post race beer and relaxed. It was a really great day, and as excited as I am for the race to be over I enjoyed it so much that I am already considering doing another one next year.




Me seeing Tomme near the finish.




Jason at the finish.

Mediocre tip: Buying Vaseline and bananas at the same time looks shady.