2013 USA Half Marathon Trail Championships....Another title, a new location in the rocks

 The smoke has settled now and the USA Trail Half Marathon Championships are over. I came into this event with an abundance of confidence as training has been solid and with the addition of training partners such as Justin Ricks (pictured above) I have been able to explore new areas and suffer through humbling workouts.

~The rundown~

 

Headed West to Moab, Utah a few days early to check out the beautiful and unique land scape with red rock and endless canyons sprouting every which way out of the city. My abilities on technical terrain left me overly confident after checking out a few spots on the course. I figured if most of the course is like this, well I should be pretty strong. Little did I know there were a few surprises. To boot, a few dark horses showed up with top credentials in road, cross country etc. One guy came in with a 62 half marathon PR, another guy I figured would do well came in with great road times as well as a decked out resume from college cross country days. Then there was one of my training partners who I knew would be strong on the technical descent. Also, Jared S. whom has been on the World Mountain Running Team with me a few years back and has been running strong lately. I recently raced him so I knew he would also be strong in many of the areas of this course.



The race took off quite aggressive if you ask me. By the first mile I thought if this continues we are going to run waaaay under the course record. I wore my MIO Alpha watch to make sure I didn't go too hard during the first half as I knew the second half would include pure craziness. I was in 2nd and looked down when my watch was beeping and a red light blinking. I was going too hard, so I backed off and planned my next move. The pack was still tight with all of the contenders still in the mix around the 2 mile mark. I started to slip away from the pack then a few others surged to create a 2nd group just behind Jared and I. As we reached the technical descent the surprises blossomed. The route I had taken pre-race was a little less technical and not as steep. The descent for the race however was quite technical and included some rock jumping and climbing over and around huge boulders the size of a Pinto.

Arches National Park

Half way down the canyon on this technical bit, I found myself running safe as a few days before the race I rolled my ankle and again rolled it on a hidden rock under the sand at the half way point. I felt like a child and couldn't help myself smiling a few times as we swung around some steep pitches only to be welcomed by the most beautiful views during a race you could imagine. Running through the canyon was bizarre.

It was quiet and all you could hear was your breathing and the occasional low gliding eagle. You feel completely isolated from society and the rest of the racers because all you can focus on is the huge red mountains and what laid beneath the cliffs of Pritchett Canyon. I bounced my way down the canyon and made my way to the new area of the course that I had not explored a whole bunch. Many more interesting surprises came. The race director was a stellar Adventure racer and added areas that resembled her specialty. We made our way down into a drainage system and into the frigid water. I ended up being one of a few runners who found the "hole" in the drainage. The deep drop was not to the knees, not to the hips but all the way up to my chest. The impact was so hard from my velocity when I hit the hole that I got a mouthful of tasty drainage juice. I've been spitting sand out for two days! The water was so cold that my feet were numb the remainder of the race. The cold was shocking that it made you hyperventilate for a few seconds and even once you stepped out of it.

I sprung out after a brief swim and made my way out of the drainage only to end up back down in it for the final portion of the race. Was very happy with my decision to wear my SCOTT Kinabalu's as they drain very well and have amazing grip! I managed to win my 7th USA National Championship and its probably safe to say had the most fun out of all of 7 in doing so. Never ran through water in a race before so that was a first and made the race one of a kind. In the end there were some wrong turns by athletes but no changes in placing really. The top 4 all ended up going under the old course record which included less climbing even. I was about 8-9 mins under it. In all honesty, the guy who set it last year didn't have such an elite field to help push him to a faster time.

After the race I explored more of Moab and couldn't help but think it would have been nice to have my mountain bike out here. Next time!



Training partners



Top 3. My signature is right behind my right shoulder. The autograph wall! Cool idea

Thanks to Rich Bolt who was the liaison for the National Championships and Danelle for putting on such a great showcase of what Moab had to offer. Also big shout out to my new friends the Harlans who were awesome company this week!