Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Moab Red Hot 55K race report


Moab Red Hot 55K Race Report
2/16/2013

Well, ready or not the 2013 race season is upon us and Moab Red Hot 55K was a great way to kick things off.  The cool temperatures and sunny, cloudless skies were a welcome break from the toxic air and snow covered trails that I have attempted to train on over the past couple of months.  The red rock and dirt covered with just a skiff of snow was truly a sight to be seen.

A little about the course:  First off, I underestimated it.  For some reason the vision I had in my head of running along red dirt single track with a few rolling hills was nowhere near reality.  It was more like running a few jeep roads combined with running across, over, around, under a giant piece of rock all day long.  Much of the course was like playing a seemingly endless game of find the flag.  These flags were hanging in branches; laying under rocks and in some cases seemed to be hiding from me.

I started out with a comfortable pace that I felt I could maintain and pretty much stayed at this pace for most of the day.  The aid stations along the way were well stocked and helpful.  Overall, this race was fairly uneventful and enjoyable with the following exception.

I fell not once or twice but THREE times!  WTH is wrong with me?  I have gone out of my way in cross training to work on balance, core strength and flexibility.  I have even incorporated yoga into my regimen over the past few months.  I ran 33.5 miles and suffered no residual soreness other than a sprained wrist, scuffed up knee and bruised ego. ALL FROM FALLING!

One of the first things I learned when brewing beer is that you can never take your eye off the boil.  The problem is every time you turn your back on a boiling batch of water hops and barley it boils over.  Well, I have developed a new motto…Never take your eye off the trail!  My third and most embarrassing fall happened about 100 yards from the finish line when I looked up to acknowledge a few people cheering for me.  In a split second I went from elated I was about to finish to complete humiliation. 

My finish time was 6:58 and I’m fine with that.  This brings me to a point I have forced myself to explore over the past few days.  Why am I perfectly content being average when it comes to ultra running?  I hear people talking about how disappointed they were in their performance or beating themselves up that they didn’t hit a projected time.  I often wonder why I don’t feel this way.  Am I not a competitive person? Am I running these insane distances for the wrong reason?  Should I be pushing myself harder?

The conclusion I have come to is NO.  I may not be the fastest, most graceful or skilled but I run ultra’s for the exact reason I want to.  In fact, I am doing things now that I didn’t even realize were humanly possible 5 years ago.  For me, it’s all about the journey and finish times do not diminish my pride of accomplishment.


This may sound strange for someone who is lucky enough to be on a sponsored ultra team.  Aren’t sponsored athletes supposed to be up on the podium or at the very least running somewhere near the front of the pack?  Well, maybe I was just in the right place at the right time and a voice from the middle of the pack was given a chance.



I want to offer Aric Manning a big Thank You for pulling together the HUMR ultra team.  If you’re wondering, HUMR stands for Happy Utah Mountain Runners.  There are 10 athletes on our team and I sometimes wonder how I ever made the cut.  We have received gear and financial support from the following:
·         Pearl Izumi
·         Smith Optics
·         Petzl
·         Rooster’s restaurant & brewery
·         Bomber Athlete
·         Buffalo Run
·         Stuart Roofing
·         Arete
·         I hope I didn't forget anyone

Finally, just a few words on fueling strategy and gear, for carbs and calories I used strawberry Perpetuem that I pre-loaded into 5 oz flasks.  I supplemented the Perpetuem with whatever sounded good at aid stations.  Gear wise I used Altra Lone Peak shoes, smart wool socks and Adidas compression socks.  All of my clothing (shorts, shirt, jacket and beanie) were Pearl Izumi.  As it turns out, the beanie can be converted to a yamaka (it’s a long story).  The final piece that I was grateful to have was Smith Parallel sunglasses.  It was extremely bright out there!

Well, I guess that’s about it.  This has proven to be more of a self exploration than a trail report.  I’ll be checking back in a few weeks.  Next on the race schedule is The Buffalo 50 miler.  It will be my third year in a row running this race.  I finished in 10 hours flat last year and would like to shave an hour off that time this year.  If I don’t, oh well.   I’ll enjoy the adventure!  Thanks for reading and I’ll see you out on the trails.