Salt Lake City Half Marathon

I have to admit that I was lukewarm about running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon this year.  I had run it once before, and while it was a great race, it was in my hometown.  I’ve lived in the Salt Lake City area for almost 40 years.  Where’s the adventure?  Where’s the excitement?  But the timing was right, and the SL Half would be a good training run in preparation for the Red Rock Relay in May and the Yellowstone Half in June.  As the race date approached, I started to realize what a great race this was going to be.

The race expo was held at the Fairgrounds.  As we rode the local light rail, Sue and I reminisced about the last time we’d run the Salt Lake Half.  We’d stayed together the entire race.  I’d set a PR.  It had been warm enough to have beer after the race – not always possible with Utah’s fickle weather.   It was my first time actually attending the race expo, which was well staffed and quite fun.  There were lots of vendors, a few good deals, and the opportunity to see some of the latest and greatest in running gear and nutrition.  Lots of people milled around.  Everyone was excited about the upcoming race.  Walking away from the expo, we overheard two gentlemen speaking French.  They were a father and son who had come all the way from Montreal to run the Half Marathon.  Wow – this race is a bigger deal than I thought.

The Marathon organizers had partnered with the Utah Transit Authority to offer free rides on Trax (the light rail) to the start line.  We took them up on it, and got to the start line just in time to check gear and get to our corral.  Then we were off. 

The course is truly beautiful.  It begins at the University of Utah, climbs into the Avenues where it runs through some historic neighborhoods and past an old cemetery, then descends through Memory Grove and into the city.  It runs up South Temple to 9^th East, up 8^th South to 11^th east and into the Sugarhouse area.  We turned east before I got to my first apartment in Salt Lake City, but we ran past the little house where my husband and I lived when we were first married.  At 21^st South the marathon runners turn east; the half runners go west to 6^th east, then through Liberty Park, then down to 2^nd east with the finish line at Library Square. 

Me and Sue after the race

At 59 years, 11 months and 17 days, if I wasn’t the oldest in my age group I was pretty close to it.  I had no chance whatsoever of placing in my age group, so I made the decision to just give it my best.  Race day adrenalin kicked in and I was able to keep up with Sue for the first six miles (no easy feat).  I slowed down on the first major hill.  Sue didn’t.  I didn’t see her again until the finish line.  She finished in less than two hours, set a PR, and took first place in her age group.  Sue is a rock star.  But between keeping up with her and accelerating my own pace on the downhills, I was able to set a new PR as well.  OK, it was only 7 seconds faster, but hey – it still counts! I checked the stats after the race.  If I had been 60 I’d have taken 3^rd place in my age group.  Oh, well.

The finish line was festive and family friendly.  There was a good assortment of post-race snacks for the runners.  Disney princesses and Marvel superheroes entertained the kids at the playground area.  While we made a beeline for the beer tent, we did pass several other vendors on our way.  Live music played, and the racers and their families reveled in the sunshine and the joy of achievement.

I read the results this morning in the Salt Lake Tribune.  Of the top 5 male finishers, all were local.  Of the top 5 female finishers, 4 were local.  Yes, this is a hometown race.  And now I proudly claim it as my hometown race.  Want a great race?  Come to Salt Lake City next year!  I’ll see you there.

Champions

The race invitation sounded fun.  The Recycle Run was pitched as a 5K where you get a random medal and a random t-shirt at the end of the race.  Even better, it was a fundraiser to support Addict to Athlete (AIIA), and an opportunity to donate gently-used running shoes to the program.  My running buddies and I were in.

We were familiar with AIIA – a good friend and fellow Girls’ Day Out teammate is a strong supporter of the program – but since not everyone has heard of it, here are the details:

Addict to Athlete is a community support program available to anyone touched by addiction.  The organization’s mission is “to establish and maintain sobriety by promoting lifestyle changes through erasing addiction and replacing it with something of greater value.”  The organization is local, with chapters in Salt Lake, Utah and Davis Counties.  They run strictly on volunteers and donations, and everyone is welcome to participate.

We signed up.  And we waited for more information on a critical detail – the location of the race, which wasn’t emailed to the participant list until the morning of race day.  And then, early afternoon of race day, another email came – the location had changed.   Yet another email came later that afternoon – the location AND the time had changed.  Did we really want to participate in such a disorganized event?

We arrived at the final location about 20 minutes prior to race start.  Several runners were already there, including a few handicapped racers in strollers from Team Kid Courage.  The race director kicked off the race in what we learned is the usual beginning of all AIIA gatherings – a moment of silence for the addicts who are still suffering.  The silence was broken by a shout, “Athletes, who are we?”  The crowd responded, “Champions!!”  And at that moment, the confusion and disorganization on the location was forgiven and forgotten.

The race began.  Some ran, some walked, and some took turns pushing the beautiful children in the strollers.  Everyone encouraged one another.  There were no awards for being fastest, and nobody cared how many laps around the course anyone made.  Everyone was a winner.

I came away inspired by the courage and tenacity of the AIIA members.  While I cannot even begin to imagine the suffering that addiction can bring, I am a first-hand witness to the joy that running brought to these athletes.  Who are they? Champions!

Tricks of the Trail

One of the easier sections of the Wall Lake Trail

Sue and I are planning to run the Yellowstone Half Marathon in June.  The Yellowstone Half is sponsored by Vacation Races, a fabulous racing company – and it’s a trail run.  13.1 miles of dirt road and trail.  Running on trails is different from running on roads, and I find it quite challenging.

My first trail run was Patia’s Race, a 10K trail run in Eureka, Utah.  The race was great –except for a steep downhill stretch where I found myself walking – no, stumbling – as the rest of the racers blew by me.  Why?  Fear of falling.

I have a rational fear of falling.  Along with Blythe Danner, Sally Field, and thousands of other post-menopausal women, I have osteoporosis.  If I fall I could break something – and that would seriously interfere with my running.  So imagine my chagrin when one of the articles I find on downhill trail technique includes this sentence: “Some call downhill running “controlled chaos.” I call it ‘falling in control,’ because that’s more of what it looks like. Falling.”

The author, Doug, goes on to refer to downhill trail running as “dancing with the mountain.”  OK, I can get behind this. Here are his five key components to proper downhill technique.  I am pleasantly surprised at the strong ties to the Chi Running technique I’ve been working on.

1.  Quick foot and leg turnover.  (There’s that cadence again).

2.  Lean forward, not back. (Lean for speed, but apparently also to prevent stress on your legs and quads.)

3.   Look straight ahead – not down.  Keep your gaze about 5 – 7 feet ahead of your steps.  Trust that your brain will process the information and put your feet in the right places. (The concept of Y Chi – focusing on a distant point to channel your running in the direction you’re going.)

4.  Use the upper body for balance.  (Another Chi Running concept – amplified in trail running by allowing the upper body to float as needed to balance your footsteps.  Dancing with the mountain…)

5.  Descend with confidence.  (I think Doug was looking directly at me when he wrote this sentence.  I have all the confidence in the world going uphill; I need to reach out for that confidence on the downhills.)

You can read Doug’s full article at:  http://www.rockcreekrunner.com/2015/08/27/downhill-trail-running-technique/.

He closes the article by reminding his readers that they need to practice.  A lot.  And to dedicate time to strictly practice running downhill.  Queue the music - it’s time to start dancing with the mountain.

Running Faster

I am a very consistent runner.  I pretty much run the same pace no matter what distance I’m running.  This is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact in many ways it’s a good thing.  But somehow deep down inside I’m feeling like I should be able to run a shorter distance faster.  Running faster is a goal of most serious runners.  We runners measure improvement in increased distances and faster paces. 

Last fall, after I returned from three months in the mountains, running at 10,000 feet, I should have been a running superhero down at a mere 4200 feet.  But I wasn’t.  I found myself running about the same paces as I had at altitude.  Why wasn’t I faster?

My answer came in an old email from Brian Corbett, an RRCA-certified running coach and my former coach at the Wasatch Training Group.  In his email dated 5/31/2013, Brian advised the group, “… many of us would like to run faster than we have before or do currently.  In almost every case, this is a goal that can be reached with an appropriate WILLINGNESS to train and the understanding of HOW to train. 

The first component involves a willingness to run at a pace that is somewhat uncomfortable, at least some of the time.  In other words, in order to run faster, you have to run faster.  It seems a bit obvious in plain English, but it always amazes me how many runners epitomize the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.  While a beginning runner will improve dramatically without intentionally altering their training pace, the point of diminishing returns for this type of training comes quickly for the more experienced runner.  The key is a willingness to ‘step outside the comfort zone’ (I hate that cliché) and push ourselves harder.”

To run faster, you have to run faster.  Who knew?  Oh, wait.  Brian knew.  So I tried it.  I set out from the trailer park with the intention of pushing myself as fast as I could go for about a minute, then scaling back for a couple of minutes, then doing it again.  I felt my heart rate go much faster than in my normal training pace, and came back from that run totally spent.  What was I doing wrong?

This time the answer came from Danny Dreyer, the author of Chi Running.  In the Chi Running technique, you control your speed though your lean and your cadence.  Leaning into your run will lengthen your stride, and as long as you take just as many steps per minute as when you’re running upright, you will go faster.  And with a lot less effort.

I’ve been practicing this a little, and it does seem to work, but nothing beats the adrenalin that comes at the starting line of a half-marathon.  Salt Lake City Half Marathon – April 16 – here I come! 

Snowbirding - A Review

We pulled the trailer home yesterday after our four-month stay in beautiful Hurricane.  It’s cleaned up and back in storage.  So what was snowbirding really like? 

Well, we were truly rookies.  If we had been experienced snowbirds, we would have brought a coordinated bistro set, a small gas grill, and a plant or two.  We would have also known that our trailer didn’t fit in the smaller driveways with the cutout, and would have missed the fun of vacuuming dust and mud every other day.  Now we know.

It was great not to have to shovel snow.  Yes, it did get cold in Hurricane but it never snowed.  It was also great to be so close to so many activities: Zion National Park, three state parks, and so many backroads that it would take years to explore them all.  It was also great to be able to run any time without worrying about falling on the ice or breathing the bad air.

Being in Hurricane felt like a four month vacation, and that’s just too long to be on vacation.  Every day we made a plan to go do something, because it just didn’t work sitting home in the trailer all day.  This was a good thing – we’ve seen a lot of beautiful country and done a lot of fun things.  But there were no projects to work on, and in such close quarters I didn’t feel comfortable taking time (and hogging the shared laptop) to write or scrapbook.  I even neglected my blog.  And this trip reminded us that three months in the trailer is pretty much our max.  We thought we could handle longer if we didn’t have a job, but having a job actually gave us some structure to our days.

We volunteered for VITA in St. George, and found ourselves doing far more instruction than production.  They needed Paul to be a site coordinator for an established site at the Red Rock Center for Independence, so that was our regular spot.  It was appointment only, and we only had six appointments each session for three preparers, so it was a much slower pace.  We were also asked to help a new preparer at the Deaf Center.   He was deaf, as were his clients, so we worked with him through an interpreter and helped him learn the program.  He’ll be able to do this on his own next year.  That was an amazing experience.  American Sign Language is so beautiful.  Learning it just may land on my bucket list.

What I really learned about myself is that my life is in Salt Lake City.  For better and for worse.  The air may be bad, the traffic may be bad, but our kids, our friends, our extended family, and our volunteer work are all in SLC.  I guess Dorothy had it right – there’s no place like home.

That said, we won’t rule out snowbirding again.  After all, now we’re experienced.

Tri-State ATV Jamboree

One of the biggest annual events in Hurricane is the Tri-State ATV club’s Jamboree.  Jamboree attracts riders from throughout the US, Canada, and even a few foreign countries.  The three day event features guided rides each day, breakfast every morning and a fun event each evening.  Headquarters, at the Washington County Regional Fairgrounds, also hosts a number of ATV vendors displaying the latest and greatest in ATVs and gear.

This year we were among the 500+ participants.  We weren’t sure how the logistics of this many people and machines would work, but the organizers have it down to an art.  The large parking lot had plenty of room for the riders to line up each morning for their rides, and the lines moved one by one as the riders trailered to their respective staging areas.

There were 22 guided rides to choose from, with difficulty ratings quite similar to what you’d see on a ski slope.  Or so we thought.  We’d been riding for a couple of months, so signed up for Intermediate rides, thinking they would be challenging enough without getting us in over our heads.  Or so we thought.  We learned the code on the rides.  What we would call “Oh, s__t!” they refer to as “Intermediate plus.”  We managed one such section with me riding on the back, but I had to hop off and walk for the other two so Paul could maneuver the ATV.  Of course, in hindsight, our machine is somewhat underpowered and not built for a rider.  Yes, it’s true – the Queen’s Chair is an add-on. 

Other than the “Intermediate Plus” sections, which were just a small part of the rides, the rides were fabulous.  We rode some incredible trails and saw some fantastic scenery.  We got to know people from all over the country.  We met sisters from Beaver, one a cancer survivor, who drove the “Oh, s__t” sections like champs, and even had breakfast with a Huntsman Senior Games gold medalist in pickleball.  

There are similar jamborees all over southern and central Utah during the spring and summer months, and many participants know one another from past jamborees.  While we were the new kids on the block, we were welcomed with open arms.  How open?  On one of the rides we ran out of gas.  Seriously.  We started out with a full tank but between the sandy conditions and the climbs we used more gas than we had.  One of our guides came to the rescue.  He put his spare gas into our tank and refused to take any money for it.  I promised him that someday I would help another rider.  I hope to someday be able to keep that promise.

Hurricane, Utah, USA

Now that we’ve been in Hurricane for two months, it’s time to share the best and brightest about this beautiful little city of 11,000. The city name is pronounced “Hurr-i-kin” as opposed to “Hurr-i-cayne.” Local lore states that it was named after the wind that blows fiercely every afternoon. Other lore states that the area was settled by English converts to the Mormon Church, hence the British pronunciation.   Many of the city streets honor the names of the founding families.

I love small town grocery stores.  And small town hardware stores.  And even small town Walmarts.  Really – haven’t you noticed that small town Walmart stores are SO much nicer than their big city counterparts?  But I digress…

Lin’s Market is a delightful little grocery store, walking distance from WillowWind.  Lin’s carries most of the products I buy and has a great selection of meats and produce.  But the best thing about Lin’s is the deli.  All their salad entrees and dinner items are homemade.  They make fresh sandwiches to order.  They seem to be the alternative to the Hurricane High cafeteria; we’ve often seen high school students munching on chicken, corn dogs, and potato logs at one of the several tables in the deli area.  Best of all, they are fully stocked and ready by 8:00 AM. 

Hurricane’s Buck’s Ace Hardware has a little bit of everything.  And I do mean everything.  They were able to match our ATV key.  They carry fishing and hunting gear, trailer supplies, and of course, the usual hardware.  What’s that delightful smell as you pass the front door?  Fresh popcorn – free to customers.

The local movie theater is Coral Cliffs Cinema 8.  It offers stadium seating and has a VIP Theater.  What’s that?  It’s a fabulous concept that I haven’t yet found in Salt Lake City.  The tickets are about double in price, but the price includes recliners with tray tables and the ability to pre-order both theater concessions AND Mexican food from the Durango’s restaurant across the street.  Your food is delivered to your seat.  About halfway through the movie they pause for a bathroom break and bring in mint truffles.  A great date night experience.

Hurricane has curbside recycling.  It’s on the curb at 400 South and 700 West.  We’ve brought our recycling several times.  The bins are regularly emptied and the area is always clean. Add to this a view that I’ll never tire of looking at, two golf courses (it’s getting warm enough to golf), the close proximity to both Sand Hollow and Quail Creek Reservoirs (it’s getting warm enough to fish) and of course, the miles and miles of ATV trails, and you’ve got a great place to visit.  Or vacation.  Or snowbird.  Or live????