Diamonds and Titanium RED HOT PINK CHICKS 2nd Annual Half Marathon
OK, so I got 4 hours of sleep but was really glad we'd placed the signs the night before. Driving home last night, it rained hard, like tropical big fat drops of rain. I wondered if the signs would still be up in the morning. I picked up Catherine at 6:00 and headed up the canyon. When we arrived we spied several pink tutus, hot pink demi-gloves, diamond and titanium bling-bling rings, pink tights, pink bandanas, and all manner of Red and Pink combinations (Michelle won for the best red/pink combo--especially the lipstick). Ericka and Karen were pinked out as well (loved the pink and the pink and black tiger stirpes!). Everyone really dressed for the ocassion, which was fun. Kelly gave us our awsome new RHPC t-shirts and Marion gave us our race instructions; and we were off! Catherine and I were taking it easy, ran a bit with Smooth who very quickly caught up to others. Cath and I went slow and just ran it like a training run. We drank from my favorite mountain drinking fountain on the way up. Most of the regular runners had already hit the turn around point when we were still about a mile away from it. We stopped at the half way point and I could really feel my glutes/hams, so I streched for a bit at the fence on the lake. I've dropped my mileage the last two weeks and going up that canyon was noticeable. But overall, I felt better and stronger than the last 12 miler a two weekends ago. I credit the iron. We ran down the canyon with some nice easy 9's. Catherine had to find a potty (Usually that's me!) but we were way beyond the park and not quite at the mouth of the canyon. It was a very nice, easy run. A back-on-the-horse kind of run from Utah Valley marathon. I think I can hold onto 9:30's at Park City. But the multiple Spring marathons (and training) wore me down these past few months. I really lost steam after Boston. I don't know how others train with such prolonged inetensity and run back to back marathons. I think it will take a few more years to ease into multiple marathons run with any amount of grace. Even in my attempt, I have been careful to avoid injury (except for that little achilles thing). Anyway, got back to the park where we received our enormous diamond ring finisher's medals and titanium tiara's. Once the majority of the racers were in, Marion told the legend of the multi-colored glitter rooster and gave it to McKenzie to pass the gauntlet to the new winner Michelle. There were cheers and applause, and Michelle became the pround new owner of the coveted Red Hot Pink (and orange,yellow, purple, and green) Chick. We then ate quinoa fruit salad, garden salads, fresh salsa, fresh fruit and dip. And some smart-alick brought a bag of Reeses Peanut Butter cups, which I tried to avoid lookit at for very long. Hey, I ate half a sheet cake this week by myself from my daugter's birthday. I did not need more sugar. Catherine got to meet the other RHPC, we had a yummy breakfast, I sat in the river with Michelle, and chatted with Rachel and her sweet new baby. I love this race, I love coming to see these girls run. There are some really amazing runners in this group. When my company visiting from California asked me how I did it (How I got up so early, ran a half marathon, and then hiked the rest of hte day). I said it's easy when you're excited to do it, and it's something you've really looked forward to. I had great energy the whole rest of the day and enjoyed seeing the photos of the event posted later. It was a great day. | 