Moab Trail Marathon

Mark and I went to Moab to run a trail marathon with some of the other Idaho Falls Trail Runners. We left at about noon on Friday to drive down. We got there at dark, and drove straight to the starting line, so we'd know where to go early the next morning. We parked at a campsite right down the road and slept in the back of my car. It was freezing! We woke up at 1:30 to go to the bathroom, and there was ice on the inside of the car. Brrrr!

 We were up bright and early the next morning for the race. There were so many people that they had to start us in waves. We started in the 4th wave, which was a mistake for me. I should have started in the 3rd, because I was frustrated for the first 6 miles. So many people, so you basically had to go slow whether you wanted to or not. I'm not real fast, but it was sooooo slow! The course was incredible though! It was so beautiful, unique, and fun. To be able to run a marathon on the trails of some of the most beautiful red rock landscape in the country was awesome! I highly recommend it! The course wound through canyons, went along crazy ledges, went through sandy washes, up big hills, over fun slickrock, through caves, along the Colorado River. Towards the end, we had to use ropes to climb up and down slick rock walls. I loved it all!

It's crazy how a season of trail training has toughened me up. I wasn't even phased by this race. The distance and course weren't even hard for me. I didn't run it fast, but it was still 26 miles. I had lots left in me at the end, and I feel like I could have kept going for another 10 miles. I didn't get one bit sore, and when I ran my recovery run on Monday, I felt great. My legs weren't even tired or heavy. If my back could handle it, I think I'd be up for trying a 50 miler next season.

We already have a different race picked out for that area next year, and I'm so excited about it!

Twenty degrees at the starting line!

This was taken in the first 3 miles. This line of people stretched on forever. It was kind of cool to see.

After mile 6, we ran along the coolest ridge. It was a little crazy when we dropped down off the ridge. We had to climb down some stuff that was not meant for my short little legs. We eventually ended up on the road you can see in the picture.

On the road you could see in the picture above.

We had a really cool out and back section up a narrow canyon.

This was the start of a pretty big 2 mile climb. Mark wasn't a fan of this part. Once we got to the top, the view off the other side was amazing! It's the same area you look out at from the end of Dead Horse Point. 

Still climbing the hill!

Looking back down the hill we were going up. This shows how far we had climbed so far, and we still weren't to the top.

So pretty!

I wish the sun would have been in a better place for this picture. It was so red and looked awesome!

The top of the hill! You could see miles of red canyons with the Colorado River running through it.

 After the hill, we started down the coolest trail, and ended up on a maze of slick rock. I loved this whole section.

We had to squeeze through that! It was tight!

This was the coolest little arch along the trail.

This whole slick rock section was amazing, and so fun to run on.

This part was cool too. We were coming down a ledge that overlooked the Colorado River. I took this section nice and slow, because one trip and they would have been fishing me out of the river.

Veronika, Johanna, and cute little Ellie greeted at the finish line.

Mark finishing!

Yay!

That night all the IFTR went to dinner. Veronika, Jason, Mark, and I had already run. Georgina and Angie were running the next day. Good times, with great people! 

That night we drove up the road about an hour and found a place to park and sleep in the car again. We layered up our clothes way better, plus in was 4 degrees warmer, so we slept better. 

I'm really bummed the trail running season is over. I'm going to try to run more through the winter this year. We'll snow shoe a lot too, but I'm gonna try some snow running.

Happy Trials!