Race Recap: The Phoenix Marathon

I signed up for the Phoenix Marathon back in July after I had officially decided I wanted to go for a Boston Qualifying Time (AKA "BQ") this year. I had just ran Aspen Valley Marathon in 4:03:10 - a HUGE PR at the time, despite not training much for it (now don't get me wrong - I had been running long distances - but I just hadn't been doing any specific road training with speed work), so I figured the gentle downhill course had a lot to do with it. So I decided that was what I would look for in the race courses I chose for #Operation BQ.

I still had a lot of races on my schedule for the remainder of 2014 and I knew I needed a full 18 weeks to really train and do consistent, dedicated Speedwork before I came anywhere near attempting to run a Boston Qualifying marathon - so I picked Phoenix. The late February race date was perfect, it was semi-close - so traveling was easier, and the course was downhill with a net elevation loss of about 1000 feet.

A few months later my friend Kellee decided to do it too - which made it more exciting! (There's something kind of anti-climatic about traveling to races by your lonesome self). Her parents also live in the Phoenix area so we had a place to stay (added bonus!).

I started the Hansons Marathon Method training plan around the beginning of November and immediately started seeing significant improvement in my speed. I obtained HUGE PR's in the 5K (22:41), 10K (46:29), and Half-Marathon (1:44:17) distances so I knew I was on track to a BQ. However, I also knew running a full TWENTY SIX point two miles was a LONG distance and I had my work cut out for me. So I signed up for 2 additional back-up marathons (Colorado Marathon on May 3rd and Revel Rockies Marathon on July 19th) to ease the stress - I knew it was going to take time to get to a sub-3:35 marathon. I figured if all conditions were absolutely perfect (weather, course, fueling) I could MAYBE do a 3:35 at Phoenix - but even if that did happen I knew I wouldn't have enough cushion to actually get into Boston (because so many people apply to get into Boston, you actually need to run a few minutes faster than the standard qualifying time). So I decided to go into this race with my main goal being to run sub-3:45 and to just see how I did. I figured no matter what, I had put in the work and unless something went terribly wrong, I should PR for sure - seeing as this was the most intense training I had ever done.

Before I knew it, race week was here. I flew in on Thursday night, then on Friday, Kellee and I went to the race expo for packet pick-up, where I also had the opportunity to meet a few friends from MyFitnessPal in real life - Amanda and Shirley. It was really fun to meet them and we chatted it up just like we had known each other forever - I just love the running community in that sense (after all I also met Kellee on Instagram - and now here we were traveling to a race together!).

Kellee and I with the BMO Mascot? We guessed? Or just some random Lion?  :)

My name is on there! (x2 - it was so weird - there was also a Katie Avery from Aurora, Colorado who ran the 10K)

Meeting my My Fitness Pals!

Kellee and I with our bibs!

After filling our race packets with tons of swag, we headed back to Kellee's parents house and rested up for the next day. I attempted to get sleep (without a ton of luck) before getting up at the lovely hour of 2:30am. We were out the door around 3:30 and I got dropped off at my bus pick-up around 4:30 - I had now been up for 2 hours and still had 2 hours before the race start (you had to be on the bus no later than 5:00 AM!).

Despite the bus ride being fairly long, I still had about an hour and a half until the race start by the time I got to the starting line. So I circled through the bathroom line once where I saw Andrea Barber (the actress who played Kimmy Gibbler on Full House) and embarrassingly asked for a picture with her (I knew she was running it, so when I saw her I had to get a picture - after all I always regretted not getting a picture with Anton Krupicka at Red Hot last year).

Running a marathon with Kimmy Gibler! :) 

After that debacle, I found Amanda and we chatted for the remaining hour we still had left. She was planning to run a similar pace than me so we talked strategy a bit. My problem was that I wanted to go out conservatively and save energy for the second half - but at the same time I knew that the downhill grade was much more significant in the first half - and I wanted to take advantage of that. In the end I settled on just going off of feel - I would let myself run a little faster than my planned pace at the beginning, but only if it felt easy.

After what felt like an eternity, it was finally time to line up at the starting line. This was a smaller race (just under 2000 finishers) so there weren't any starting corrals - just the pace teams with their signs so you could line up somewhat near the finish time you were going after. We squeezed in between the 3:40 and 3:45, wished each other luck and then got ready to go!

Giant cactus!

Starting Line!

Before I knew it, we were off! As I had decided earlier I just settled in at a comfortable pace and was happy to look at my watch and see I was running about an 8:10 pace. I kept right around this pace for the first 4 miles. The sun was coming up, but because it was so overcast out it wasn't much of a sunrise (bummer!). I also chatted with a couple of Colorado runners about Imogene Pass Run (there was a guy wearing last years race shirt) for a bit.

Miles 4.5-6 brought the only significant uphill of the course. It wasn't too bad in that it wasn't very steep, however it was pretty consistent for the entire duration. I slowed a bit - mostly just making sure I maintained the same effort, and ran a few miles in the 8:30 range. Right after the uphill ended came some pretty significant downhill - so I decided to use it to my advantage and really picked up my pace, working to make up for my two slower miles. I passed Amanda somewhere in here (she had been ahead of me for the first 6 miles) and even passed the 3:35 pacer. Part of me worried I was going too fast, but I felt so good. I wasn't breathing hard at all - so I just kept at it - running a 7:30 and then some low-8:00's.

Around mile 10 we changed direction slightly and all of sudden, oh my WIND. It was bad. Luckily I knew we changed directions several times so I would hopefully have a break from it soon. I slowed my pace a bit for these miles and just kept at it. We switched directions a mile or so later and I just kept on going.

Then all of a sudden we were in sight of the half-way point. With the wind showing me down, I had been leap frogging a bit with the 3:35 pace group, but did cross the half marathon timing mat right on track for a 3:35 finish. I was still feeling pretty good at this point but I also knew the second half was going to be harder than the first half - not only was the downhill significantly less noticeable, but the wind really felt like it was picking up.

Somewhere around mile 17 was where I started to feel myself fading. I was running 8:30 miles with the same effort that I had been running 8:10's earlier with. I made sure to keep fueling and continued on. Shortly after, Amanda caught up to me. We ran a couple of miles together and then she was long gone ahead of me. Miles 22-25 were the toughest - my quads were really aching at this point but I knew I had to just keep going.

Somewhere around mile 21?

Finally, I hit mile 25 - only one more mile to go! The crowds got bigger and bigger as I got closer to the finish line - which motivated me to pick up my pace. I also had several spectators notice my Marathon Maniacs shirt and ask me what marathon I was on (Marathon #8, or 11 if you count ultra's). Then FINALLY I turned a corner and there it was - the finish line! I sprinted as much as I could (even passed one guy!) and finished in 3:41:35 - a 21 minute PR!

Shirley took this picture of me heading towards the finish line! Probably my favorite from the race!

Kellee's mom took this one!

My face looks terrible in this, but if you look through the text, my left leg looks pretty beastly!

Amanda and I at the finish! She finished in 3:41:00 (a BQ for her!)

Finisher!

Kellee and I all finished!

Elevation Profile - you can really see the change in steepness from the first half to the second half.

Course Map

RACE STATS:
Race: The Phoenix Marathon
Location: Mesa, Arizona
Distance: Marathon (26.2 miles)
Date: February 28, 2014
Elevation: 234' gain / 1098' loss
Bib Number: 8733
Weather: 60's, overcast, WINDY
Gun Time: 3:42:24
Chip Time: 3:41:35
Average Pace: 8:28
Overall Rank: 441 of 1881
Gender Rank: 128 of 851
Division Rank (F25-29): 20 of 99
Timing Mat Splits:
First Half: 1:47:31 (average pace: 8:12)
Second Half: 1:54:15 (average pace: 8:44)
20 Mile: 2:47:58 (average pace: 8:24)
Last 10K: 53:38 (average pace: 8:39)
Garmin Splits: 8:27, 8:11, 8:14, 8:08, 8:35, 8:26, 7:33, 8:08, 8:07, 8:08, 8:20, 8:15, 8:21, 8:19, 8:28, 8:31, 8:26, 8:31, 8:32, 8:33, 8:43, 9:01, 9:11, 8:59, 9:29, 8:56

The rest of the weekend we relaxed, checked out Glendale on Saturday night and went on a short hike on Sunday morning in the Estrella mountains:

Glendale

Celebratory post-race food!

Checking out the Estrella Mountains

More giant cacti!

Poking the cactus!

The awesome sign that Kellee made for me!

Post-Race Summary:

Overall, this was a good race. I've been training my butt off and I was SO happy for it to pay off! A lot of people expected me to go into this trying to BQ - but honestly my goal wasn't to BQ (YET) - I've got several more races for that!! - but rather to run a good race, have fun, and do the best I could. And that's exactly what I did. Had the wind not been so intense, I think I could've maybe ran sub-3:40 - but I don't think I was quite ready for a 3:35. I hope with more experience and training I will get there!

What Worked / Likes:

• Great size - this race had just under 2000 marathon finishers which was perfect - large enough for big crowds and good course support, but small enough that waves weren't needed and you could run from the get-go.
• Well Organized - the half marathon and 10K started at the same time. While I did not like this about Rock-n-Roll Denver, this race did an excellent job at it - because they all started at different points (Rock-n-Roll was a huge cluster with everyone starting at the same place).
• Nice swag - the shirts were cute and the arm warmers were awesome! I picked up a couple of last years arm warmers at the expo for only $1 - perfect for tossing at some of my next few races. I loved the finisher's medal as well!
• Course Profile - the downhill course was great for pursuing a PR. There was one uphill from miles 4-6, but it's early enough in the race that it's not a big issue (plus you've got enough downhill to make up for it). I only wish the gradient would stay as steep during the second half!
• Starting Line - not a huge fan of having to be there so early (see "dislikes" for that), BUT at least they had a ton of heaters for everyone!
• Aid Stations - I wore my hydration vest so I didn't necessarily need aid stations, but it was nice to know they had a ton of them, and a lot of stations with Clif gels (finally!! the last few marathon's I've done have had barely any aid stations with fuel).
• My outfit - everything about my outfit worked excellent this time around - I didn't have any chafing issues and only one small blister! My hydration vest felt a tiny bit loose at the beginning (I was used to running my training runs with a long sleeve in the backpack portion which makes it feel tighter, but didn't have that this time) but I got used to it quickly and it didn't bother me.
• Chairs at the finish line - surprisingly there are very few races that have chairs right after you cross the finish line - most of the races make you walk through the finishers chute for what feels like FOREVER before you can sit down...but not this race! They had a nice little row of chairs, and when I crossed the finish line and immediately came to a walk - it must've looked like my legs were going to give out because the volunteer there ushered me into a seat right away. It was nice (although very hard to get up afterwards)!

What Didn't Work / Dislikes:

• Early Start - I had to get up so early for this. The race started at 6:30 - which is a great time, but you had to be on the shuttle bus no later than 5:00am - that left a ton of time sitting around at the start line and meant getting up extra early.
• Weather - I'll be honest - the weather wasn't terrible, but it definitely wasn't ideal. It was SO windy during certain sections and I was just not used to that. It slowed me down pretty significantly for some miles (although it did keep the temperature down which was nice).
• No Food at the Finish Line - now, I'm not positive on this one - we didn't stick around long enough for me to really look (plus I could barely walk - so I would've needed it much closer, had that had some anyways, lol) - but it didn't seem like there was really any food at the finish line. They did have water bottles (right away!!) though which was nice.

So would I do this again?

Probably - dependent upon travel costs. If I lived in Phoenix, definitely. Since I don't - maybe, maybe not. 

Black Canyon Rim Rimp 10K & Fruita Sweetheart 5K

I ran a couple of smaller low-key races over the past few weeks - the Black Canyon Winter Rim Romp 10K on February 7th and the Fruita Sweetheart 5K on February 14th. Both went pretty well if I do say so myself! So without further ado - recaps:

Black Canyon Winter Rim Romp 10K

On normal years, the Black Canyon Winter Rim Romp offers snowshoe and cross country skiing categories in 8K and 16K distances. Well this was not a normal year. We had WEEKS of 50 degree weather (in January and February!!), which left the rim of the Black Canyon with not-so-much snow, despite it's 8000' altitude. I signed up in January to do the 8K snowshoe race - but after seeing some photo's on facebook a few days prior to race day, I decided to just run it in Yak Track's and not even worry about the snowshoes. There were sections of the course that were completely bare with no snow - so this worked out nicely. Several people decided to do this as well, so an entirely new "running" category was added to the race. They also changed up the distances - having a 5K and 10K option instead of the typical 8K/16K (although a few brave souls did do the entire 16K).

In January I had talked with my friend Rochelle about doing this and so we both signed up. Then Rochelle managed to recruit a bunch more people - so we ended up with a giant SUV full of Grand Junction folks carpooling down to Montrose for the event! We made it to the Black Canyon with about 15-20 minutes before the start of the race, so I made a quick trip to the rest room, picked up my packet, and debated what I was going to wear before heading to the start line. I chatted with a few old friends from Montrose before starting the race!

My original plan was to take the whole race easy, as I had my last long run before the Phoenix Marathon scheduled for the next day. Well despite running the first mile or so easy, my competitive juices started flowing and I picked it up a little from thereon out. I had a light long sleeved shirt on at the beginning which I had to take off fairly quickly - leaving me running in a tank top (at the "Winter" rim romp)! The weather was seriously gorgeous!

The course is pretty rolling with a long gentle downhill on the way out - that ends up being a very long uphill on the way back (feels never ending while you're on it), but it was a nice challenge and I just kept pushing through. The terrain was actually kind of rough to run in - the snow was packed down, but not even at all, so it was a workout. I tried to run on the pavement as much as I could whenever there were melted sections.

Finally with about 1/2 mile to go it's downhill to the finish! I picked up my pace as best as I could and finished in 1:05:25 - which to my surprise was good enough for 1st place female (there was one women in front of me on snowshoes - but they ended up doing the snowshoe race as a separate category - good thing too because she was SPEEDY!).

STATS:
Race: Black Canyon Winter Rim Romp
Location: Black Canyon National Park South Rim (Montrose, CO)
Distance: 10K (6.2 Miles)
Date: 02/07/2015
Elevation Gain/Loss: Probably several hundred feet? (My garmin says 1,592 - but there's no way it was that much - I'm thinking when I got close to the edge of the canyon, it must have thought I went over the edge or something!)
Bib Number:
Weather: Beautiful - 50 and sunny!
Garmin Time: 1:05:26
Official Time: 1:05:25
Overall Rank: 2 of 10
Gender Rank: 1 of 8
Division Rank: Unknown (not enough participants to have this)
Garmin Splits: 10:47, 10:57, 9:12, 10:12, 11:48, 10:05, 8:22 (last .2)

The Start!

The snow was almost gone in a lot of spots! (Very unusual for this time of year)

Stopped to get a picture around Mile 2

Coming in to the finish!

Post-race! We wore pink for Valentines Day!

My major award for being 1st Place Female!

Course Map

Elevation Profile - I think this is accurate other than the huge dips - that's where my Garmin must've thought I was falling off the edge of the canyon!).

Fruita Sweetheart 5K

Ever since I ran the Winter Sun 10K last December and destroyed my previous 10K PR, I've been wanting to run a 5K again. It's been driving me CRAZY that my 10K PR average pace (7:29 per mile) was faster than my 5K PR average pace (7:40 per mile). So, I decided to sign up for the Fruita Sweetheart 5K. This race has a 5K and 10K option. Two years ago, I ran the 10K as my first "official" 10K, but skipped it last year, as it was the same day as the Rim Romp.

I showed up to the start line fairly early so I could get a nice warm-up in prior to the race. I hadn't ran the day before - which I usually don't like to do - but I was feeling really worn out and not recovered after my marathon training "peak week" (my highest mileage week in my current training cycle - which was 63 miles and included a 20 miler, a pretty intense speedwork session and 10 mile tempo) - so I had decided to take Friday off. I warmed up for about 25 minutes before lining up at the start.

Now I'm not sure if I missed some directions because I was warming up, or if they just didn't make any announcements, because without a single word - they just fired the starting horn - and we were off - just like that. My goal for this race was to place in my age group. Looking at last years results I figured it was probably do-able - especially since this race had the 10K option too - I think typically when there's two options like that, most of the serious runners will do the longer distance (also helping my case was that Moab's Red Hot 33K/55K was also this same day - so I'm sure people were at that one too!). I started out pretty fast - my race strategy for today was to "go out as fast as I possibly could and hang on for dear life." It seemed to work pretty well :). (In all honesty though, I've been getting advice from other runners lately and apparently you don't want to negative split a 5K - that just means you had more left in you and you should have ran faster!).

About 1/4 mile into the race I got to experience some excitement! There was a guy outside his house with his dog - who apparently got loose and started chasing the runners. It was coming up to me and the guy yelled "STOP RUNNING, HE'S GOING TO BITE YOU." Me being all gun-ho about trying to PR and place yelled back, "NO - I'M IN A RACE!!!" Haha - probably would've regretted saying that if I had gotten bit - but thankfully I didn't. The dog kept on running and the owner kept running after him - it was kind of funny.

Eventually I passed the guy and his dog, so not sure what happened, but hopefully no one got bit! I kept my pace up as much as I could and ran the first mile in 6:51! Now if only I could keep that up for 2 more miles! At around the half-way mark there is an aid station as the course turns onto the Big Salt Wash Trail. This was when a course volunteer yelled at me, "First Female!" - which was kind of exciting (and good to know - I hadn't been sure whether or not there were any other women in front of me or not). This kept me motivated to keep my pace up and I finished mile 2 in 6:58.

Now the tricky part - maintaining that pace and/or my lead for ANOTHER mile. I knew I was getting extremely tired - I have only ever ran a sub-7:00 mile one time prior to this race. I did the best I could, but I could feel myself slowing a bit. I also wasn't sure if there was anyone behind me - but I also didn't want to look either. So I just kept at it and finished mile 3 in 7:23. Only .1 to go! Well kind of - my Garmin was (as usual) showing the distance as farther than the course had it. But I kept pushing and finally the finish line was in sight! I finished in 22:41 - a PR by over 1 minute and good enough for first place female!!!

STATS:
Race: Fruita Sweetheart 5K/10K
Location: Fruita, CO
Distance: 5K (3.1 Miles - Garmin measured it at 3.21)
Date: 02/14/2015
Elevation Gain/Loss: 40 Feet Gain / 34 Feet Loss
Bib Number: 8
Weather: Mid 40's and sunny! (Once again, PERFECT)
Garmin Time: 22:42
Chip Time: 22:41
Overall Rank: 13/434
Gender Rank: 1/289
Division Rank: 1/45
Garmin Splits: 6:51, 6:58, 7:23, 7:09 (last .1)

My award for winning overall female - a blanket and water bottle. I had to get to a lunch meeting, so I had already showered by the time they did the awards! Forgot to get any other pictures at the finish line :(

Course Map

Elevation Profile - relatively flat!

Arctic Prairie Dog Half Marathon

Race swag!

This past year was filled with so many long races and trail runs, that I hadn't "raced" a Half Marathon since the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half in the summer of 2013. So after I'd been consistently doing speed work and running high mileage as part of #OperationBQ (translation: "operation run a marathon fast enough to Boston Qualify" - will probably be using this term a lot over the next few months, so better get used to it!), I knew I wanted to race a half marathon prior to the Phoenix Marathon - to give myself a better idea of what I could achieve come February 28th.


Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of options for Half Marathons in the dead of winter in Colorado, and the few that are around, are of course, all on the Front Range. I had my eye on doing this Prairie Dog Half Marathon - but didn't want to commit until I knew what the weather forecast was going to be - both on the course, but more importantly - through the mountains, since I would have to drive over them to get to it. Thankfully, I checked the forecast the Monday before the race, and it looked awesome - so I went ahead and signed up (and glad I did because it sold out by the end of the week!).

I drove to Denver on Friday afternoon, then had a leisurely day on Saturday - went for a nice run at Davidson Mesa in Louisville (very close to where the race would be the next morning), then spent some time at the Flatirons Mall with my mom before heading to church that evening, and eating burgers for dinner (which worked very well as pre-race fuel I must say!). 

Saturday easy run at Davidson Mesa

The race started at 8:00, and since it was just 10 minutes away from my parents house, we didn't need to leave until 7:15. We headed there and quickly found parking before walking over to the start. I dropped off my donations (they had a raffle with some pretty cool prizes if you donated items to their charity partner), then got in line for the bathrooms. The weather was feeling pretty awesome. I had been worried - the night before the forecast had said 32 at the start, 42 at the end - which left me at a crossroads on whether to wear tights or a skirt with long socks. Luckily, I checked it again the next morning and it had completely changed - it was now already in the 40's before the start - making my decision much easier (and I was so grateful - I ended up being incredibly HOT on this race despite wearing a tank top and a skirt!).

Before I knew it, it was 15 minutes until race start. I had wanted to get a quick warm-up in, so off I ran to squeeze in a little 1/2 mile and get my legs moving. I was still pretty nervous on what kind of pace I would be able to do. My goal was to shoot for somewhere between a 1:45:00 (8:00 pace on average) and 1:50:00 (8:23 pace). Ideally, much closer to 1:45, and given my training, I was pretty sure it was doable, EXCEPT for the fact that this course was pretty hilly by the looks at the elevation profile. I decided I would just go out strong and see what I could do.

After my warm-up lap, I shed my long sleeve and made my way towards the front half of the crowd at the starting line with just a few minutes to spare. Before I knew it, we were off. I was thankful I had somewhat studied the elevation profile, as I knew the first 3 miles were a very slight downhill. So I kept my pace at a steady but hard effort running all 3 at around 7:50 minute miles.

Starting!

After mile 3, you run through old town Louisville and a gentle uphill began. I tried my best to keep my pace up and ran mile 4 in 8:01. Then the worst hill EVER came. Miles 4.5-5.5 were on a dirt path that officially felt like the biggest hill in the world (okay maybe not the world, but considering the effort I was trying to put into this race, it was SO hard to keep it up). My pace slipped a lot despite still really pushing and I ran mile 5 in 8:27. But wait - the hill wasn't over - despite my best efforts, I had slipped to a mid-9:00 mile. Thankfully about half-way through mile 6 there was a nice downhill which I used to try and make up some time - this allowed me to run an 8:33 for mile 6 - my slowest of the day, but still pretty good considering.

Despite surviving the giant hill, I still had my work cut out for me. I felt like I wanted to die, but I also knew I just needed to catch my breath. I kept running strong and eventually got back to a steady pace running miles 7-9 in 8:12, 8:05, 7:56. And then, the greatest blessing of all - a HUGE downhill. I knew I had to just trust in gravity and fly if I had any chance of going sub-1:45. And so I did. I ran mile 10 in 7:19!!!

Unfortunately the downhill subsided and it was back to flat / gentle uphill - but at least I had caught my breath for the most part. I was definitely getting tired, but there was light at the end of the tunnel! I ran a 7:53 for mile 11. I slowed a little in mile 12 - running an 8:04, and then really pushed myself for the last 1.1. The course looped around, but ended with the same stretch we started with, so I knew how much further I had - this allowed me to really start pushing and I ran mile 13 in 7:46, then sprinted the last .1 at a 7:22 pace, for a, drum-roll please, 1:44:17 finish!!!

Finish line picture (and not a bad picture if I do say so myself)!

STATS:

Race: Arctic Prairie Dog Half Marathon
Location: Louisville, Colorado
Distance: Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)
Date: 01/18/2015
Elevation: 476' Gain / 472' Loss
Bib Number: 1513
Weather: AMAZING (40's-50's and sunny)
Gun Time: 1:44:23
Chip Time: 1:44:17
Average Pace: 7:57 per mile
Overall Rank: 67 of 424
Gender Rank: 21 of 256
Division Rank (F20-29): 4 of 46
Garmin Splits: 7:49, 7:49, 7:48, 8:01, 8:27, 8:33, 8:12, 8:05, 7:56, 7:19, 7:53, 8:04, 7:46, 7:22 (last .1)

Course Map - lots of turns!

Elevation Profile - see the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad hill!

After the race I hung out for awhile waiting for the results to get posted. While waiting I tried some delicious protein chocolate milk, but refrained from all the food as I was meeting some friends for lunch in a little while. Unfortunately I didn't win anything from the raffle (they give away some cool stuff!).

About 15 minutes later I checked the results again to see my official finishing time (1:44:17), and to see that I had gotten 3rd place in my age group!!! I was so excited about this (I never win anything unless I'm the only one in my age group), so when the time came for them to announce the awards I was all ready, front and center. And then they didn't call my name. They called some other girls name.

I went back and checked the results, and no I hadn't been mistaken - there was my name with a "3" next to it under division place:

So after the results were all done I went and asked about it... and apparently some girl didn't put her age in when she registered - so they had to verbally ask her when she crossed the finish line - and OF COURSE she was in my age group - bumping me down to 4th.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm still very happy with my time - this was a HUGE accomplishment for me, especially on a tough course like this. But to see that I had gotten 3rd and to get really excited about it, to then have it taken away?! That was hard. It would've been one thing to have seen 4th and just been like "oh darn, maybe next time." But this was being told you place (and were going to get stand on a podium for the first time EVER), and then it got taken away! It was depressing. And I felt like the organizers who I had inquired with about it were kind of rude to me about it. So I guess the moral of the story here is to never ever trust race results until they are finalized I guess...despite seeing them on paper.

So OTHER than that depressing part, the race went extremely well. I was really happy with my time and proud of myself for pushing through this despite how tough it was. I'm learning to get better about pushing through the uncomfortableness of fast running, and as a result am truly getting faster! With every race I do, I am feeling better about my goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon! Most people probably thought I was a crazy when I said I wanted to try for a BQ, but seeing results after working my butt off is really helping. This really is the hardest training I have ever done, so it is very rewarding to see results!

I also felt it very appropriate to wear my "Run with Endurance" tank. I'm trying to work on being more open about my relationship with Jesus this year - and I know for a fact that I could not have ran this time without him. When I was feeling like slowing down and giving up, I recited some of my favorite verses including my favorite:

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar high on 

wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary."  - Isaiah 40:31

Likes / What Worked:

• I PR'd! So obviously, my training is working (Hanson's Marathon Method in case anyone is curious)!!! So happy to be seeing results!
• I liked the shirt, medal, and pint glass
• Free race photos (they didn't really take any on the course, but had a few at the start and finish line)
• The weather (SO nice for January!!!)
• In general, 3W does put on a good event - aid stations at every mile (although I had my handheld bottle so I wouldn't waste time stopping - so didn't really use this, but it's a nice thing to have), very well marked course with lots of volunteers, lots of awesome post-race food, the indoor expo would've been extra nice had it been cold out
• Pricing is decent - I signed up late, so it was $80, which is fairly high for my tastes, but at the same time for signing up one week prior isn't terrible (and I had a black Friday voucher of $40 for $25 - so I did technically save $15).

Dislikes / What Didn't Work:

• This course went through a lot of neighborhoods, making it very curvy and windy with tons of turns. Not my favorite (oh and there was this really weird section of very sharp, steep, and short switchbacks, that was honestly almost dizzying trying to run up!).



See my garmin (red line) couldn't even register it, it was so nuts!

• The horrible hill from miles 4.5-5.5 was rough.
• I had horrible chafing under my arms for the last 3 or so miles....must remember to apply the body glide when wearing tank tops! Thankfully this was only a half marathon and not a full!
• The 3rd place / 4th place debacle was depressing, so I must mention it here.

Fisher Towers Hike

At the beginning of January, I got invited to join a group of friends for a hike to Fisher Towers, outside of Moab Utah - and what an incredible hike it was! This might just be one of my new favorites! And the neat thing, is that since the trail was a bit snowy, if I hike it again in the spring or summer, it'll probably feel like a whole difference experience!

The hike is about 4.6 miles round trip, but with some snowy and icy sections it felt a lot longer than that. It was absolutely incredible though! We were hiking in honor of my friend Randee's birthday, so we all celebrated post-hike with food and a campfire. It was a great way to spend a chilly but gorgeous January day!

And as with most of my posts these days, I am once again, going to let my pictures speak for themselves rather than mumbling on for an hour:

We stopped at an overlook to view the red rocks against the icy Colorado River!

View from the trailhead.

All the puppies had a blast!

This just shows how massive the rocks are compared to us tiny people!

Everyone waving at the turn around point of the hike!

I love this picture!

Argie photo-bombed me!

Mesa Lakes - Snowshoeing

While I did absolutely nothing on New Years Eve (didn't even stay up until midnight), I did still manage to kick start 2015 off right with a gorgeous day snowshoeing at Mesa Lakes up on the Grand Mesa.

I joined the Western Slope Adventurers, a meet-up group based on the western slope, a little over a year ago and have since gone on a few "adventures" with them. It's a nice way to explore new places when Scott is working, so I don't have to do this stuff by myself (plus I hate driving in snow - so I can usually get a ride, which is always nice!).

We all met in Grand Junction around 9:30 and drove up to the Mesa. The weather was overcast and cold, but not snowing. We got up to the mesa in about an hour and after getting all situated with our snowshoes on, headed out onto the trail. We snowshoed for a few hours, covering about 3 1/2 miles total. Doesn't seem like much compared to running for a few hours, but it was tough work, and the views were unbeatable. It felt like being in a snow globe!

Overall, I enjoyed this area for snowshoeing, and would love to head up there again this winter if I get a chance. Randee and Rochelle, two friends from the local running club, were also there which was a nice surprise, and Rochelle and I did a little running towards the end (which, not going to lie, is a little tough - especially with a full backpack on!).

Other than that, I am going to let my pictures describe the rest of the trip: