I raced my second half-marathon, the Zion Half-Marathon, on March 14, 2015 in Springdale, Utah. Springdale is the small town that sits immediately outside the boundaries of Zion National Park.
This is where the finish line was located
The race began at 7:30 in the morning, but because of parking limitations at the start area, racers were asked to be there no later than 6:30. I was there by 5:45 a.m. Ugh.
Right before I left my hotel room and drove about ten minutes to the starting area
Festivities began at 5:30 a.m. in a huge warming tent with great music and giveaways. Thankfully, they also had bananas! That is my go-to race-morning fuel, but I'd forgotten to get some the day before. It was very, very cold that morning and I was so grateful for the warming tent! At 7:00, though, they kicked us out of the tent and had us make our way to the starting line. By that time I'd checked my warmer clothes and I was miserably cold! It was windy, too, and eventually, I was hopping in place with my arms pulled into my shirt and trying to discreetly huddle behind people that were between me and the wind.
I felt a little lonely that morning, since I was traveling solo, but I ended up meeting two very nice guys at the starting line that were also from Washington and talking to them (and bonding over how stinkin' cold we were!) helped the loneliness fade. I love being part of the community of runners!
By the time the race began the sun was just beginning to lighten the eastern horizon and outline the mountains all around us. After four miles of running, I finally felt semi-warm and by then the sun was peeking up above the horizon and highlighting the craggy ridges and peaks all around me. It was stunning. Many, many times, racers all around me paused to whip out their phones and take pictures of the scenery. It made me wish I had a smart phone and could do the same. But, honestly, I'm too competitive to stop for any but the most dire of reasons. I'd rather finish ten seconds faster. :)
This race was cup-less (damn environmentalists! Ha.), so I had to run with a hydro pouch. I didn't like that very much. It easily clipped onto my waistband, but it was a bit hard for me to drink out of. I suppose with practice, I'd prefer it to a little paper cup. Maybe. :)
Sporting my hard-earned, very comfortable race t-shirt
The race went really well for me. If it had been run at sea level, I would've expected to finish with a time of 2:10 or faster. But at an elevation of 3953 ft., I ran it in 2:14:08! I was so thrilled! That's an average pace of 10:14 min./mile. I am now really itchin' to run another half at sea level and see how fast I would be able to go (my next goal is a sub-2:00 half-marathon). I finished in 633rd place, out of around 2100 racers.
Me!
I highly recommend this race! It was very well organized, afforded some of the most beautiful, breathtaking views and all the staff I interacted with were helpful, friendly and enthusiastic. Hopefully, I'll be racing it again in 2016!
I did it!
