Wow....where to start. We got on the bus at 5:15 for what was supposed to be a 6:30 start. It was raining/snowing and wind in Moab. The RD said it was going to be "iffy" at best because there was over 6 inches of new snow on the top and the wind was nasty. When the bus turned to go up highway 313 we were plowing through 6 inches of slush that turned in to 6 inches of blowing snow as we climbed higher. The bus driver was basically following the reflectors on the side of the road to keep going. It took us almost an hour and a half to get to the bathrooms at Deadhorse point, only 30 miles from town. At this point the RD told us the race was cancelled and we were driving down to the halfway point and just running a half-marathon. A bunch of us talked and decided we would go the full distance anyway.......just crazy I guess. I decided that this would be just a training run due to the conditions and the fact that I am running Salt Lake in 2 weeks
The bus drove back to the start and the RD told us we were officially on our own and gave us each a water bottle as there would be no aid until past the halfway point, if any. 10 of us got off the bus and watched it drive away. The wind was nasty 20-30 mph and pelting us with snow. I was dressed fine for this but would pay later as my clothing would get soaked and heavy down the road. The first 3 miles were NASTY. We had a gradual uphill with snowdrifts on the road and we tried to keep moving by following the tire tracks of the bus without slipping and falling. I took off and another runner went with me. I found out later that it was Nate from the blog, he lives in St. George. Nate pulled ahead of me and was looking pretty good. We made the turn back on to highway 313 around mile 3 and Nate stopped for a nature break. I noticed a bunch of footprints and realized that a majority of the people on the bus decided to start their race here because the wind was more at our backs and the downhill started. Nate passed me again by mile 4 and started picking up the pace. We were running downhill in deep snow and had to be careful not to fall. We started catching the runners that started around mile 3 and I had a hard time seeing where Nate was as we worked our way through the other runners. I passed what turned out to be the last of those runners around mile 9. By this time the roads were just deep slush and I was getting SOAKED. We were also getting splashed by passing cars. The bottom half of my pants were heavy and I was bothered by having to carry that stupid water bottle as I could not use my arms like I wanted. By mile 14 the roads were just wet but I could feel the fatigue of the downhill coupled with the stress on the legs from trying to run without falling in the slick conditions. I could see Nate ahead of me but he had a good 3/4 of a mile on me by now. We got our first water station (un-manned) at mile 15 so I tossed the stupid water bottle. At about 17.5 we turned on highway 191 in to a HEADWIND that would dog us the rest of the way. We would be going uphill the next 3-4 miles. At mile 19 we went under the highway and were on a dirt road. Actually it was that special Moab red mud with slush on top of it. The footing here was bad and my pace showed it. We then ran on the old highway that was probably last used in the 1950's. It was so broken-up that you could not get a good pace going like running on a bad cobblestone road. At mile 23 we got a better path and I just coasted in to the finish. They gave me a 2nd place overall picture at the finish and I talked to Nate for a couple of minutes before walking back to the motel. An interesting day for sure. I have 1 bloody toe from the rubbing wet socks but otherwise I am good.
| 