Monday, March 21, 2016

Red Mountain 50K

(p.c. Cody) - The Rest are p.c. Bethany

Winter in cache valley can be pretty rough.  We spent much of the time laying around watching netflix and eating ice cream.  Yep ice cream while its 5 degrees outside.  Nothing to blog about...

Needless to say, when an opportunity to race in St George presented itself, we jumped at the chance to touch that foreign red/brown gritty stuff.  It's like snow, but much warmer.  And Dirtier.



So, the first weekend of March we were off and enjoying 70 degree weather down in scenic Southern Utah.  I sure do love visiting down there when it isn't a million degrees.  As a bonus, I got to run on all new trails and experience the Desert outside of Ivins/Santa Clara for the Red Mountain 50K.


There weren't too many trees (zero), but the scenery was still spectacular.  It was tricky keeping my eyes on the trail.  The course had vistas and more vistas.  The race itself had 3 different distances (Half Marathon, 30K, 50K) and so it was chaos for the first few minutes until everyone settled into their paces.  No problem though, I just followed Mike.  I had no idea my place but knew a few speedy guys were way out front.  I had the privilege of running the first 20 miles with Mike until he started to bonk and fall back.  Though to be honest, I was hanging on for dear life for the first 13 miles as he set a solid pace.  He even had time to pose for pictures at the aid station while I tried to stuff my face with food.

I think he could have run faster if he didn't keep his chew the whole time!


This is my awesome support crew.  They were great!



Who cares how my race went, check out the next generation Draper's in-action!


Like Father Like Son/Daughter

After Many/Many/Many Hours and Much waiting (on the kid's part) and tribulation, 
I eventually finished (4th Place 4:45 for 33 miles) but was happy with the strong effort and the result.

After a hearty meal at Arctic Circle, we headed back to the hotel for shower then off to play in the best playground of all - Zion National Park.




On the way home (the next day) the weather turned sour keeping us from going for a stroll in Kolob Canyon, but we still got to enjoy the sights.




Wow! That is why I love this place!  Nice job Bethany!

I guess we will have to come back...