Race Preview: Canyonlands ½ Marathon

AA's magnet creation...on the fridge for months now!

  Before the quick preview, I’ll mention a few things from this week

1 – I went on a mini shopping ‘spree’ on the Kohls website last week when I was allured by promises of deep savings. The email proved true. Of course I went straight to the activewear section. I got 9 items for $99 total – most items were 40% off then I found another code for an additional 15% stacked on top. Nothing for spring motivation better than some new outfits! I was excited when they arrived yesterday! I got AA a long and short sleeve tech tee and the rest were for me :-) shorts, capris, a fleece thing, shirt for the race this weekend!, long sleeve and then 2 tanks :-)

New running/yoga clothes...ahhhh

 2 – AA surprised me with an AWESOME Broncos Jersey! Sporting the bright orange and #18 Manning :-) I guess he had a hookup from work for some discounted prices :-) Who doesn’t love a good deal!?

PS you see Wes Welker coming to the Broncos?

AA is not too happy! (as a Patriots fan)

3 – Since the last post I had my long run moved inside on Saturday – the blizzarding gusts of wind and snow were too much for me. AA and I headed to my work to get in the workout. I did 8 miles on the treadmill. This was my first long run on the treadmill for training, so I can’t complain about the Denver weather!

running in Middle Earth

4 – I’m really liking Yoga. Sunday I went to Yoga, and Monday I did too! Tuesday was an easy 3 miles on Treadmill and another yoga class for tonight :-) I bought a 20 class package from Groupon and am loving it! When I was younger, I was so flexible because of gymnastics, so I like that I get to work on my flexibility again. I also love the strength component of it. I love to test what your body can do. It amazes me sometimes what the instructors can do and motivates me to keep trying!

So now on to the preview…

Aaron and I are set to leave tomorrow after work for the 5+ hour drive from Denver to Moab, UT. We will have Friday to explore a little and then are set to race Saturday at 10 AM! The race seems very well organized. There are shuttles that leave around 8 AM to bus all the runners to the start (point to point). Lucky for us, it is about a ½ mile walk from where we are staying!!

Friday we hope to check out the town, and of course – the arches! I signed us up for the pasta dinner at night, which will be my first for a race!! Our place has a full kitchen so we can make our own coffee and maybe some oats the day of the race :-)

On to expectations…I was emailing with my friend today and was thinking back how my first half was all about just finishing! My main goal was to finish and not walk :-) Looking back I was dead on with my expectations. I wanted best case for a 10:45 pace…2 hrs, 21 min. Worst case was 2 hours 24 min for 11 min pace. I had a 10:55 pace and 2 hours 22 min finish :-)

This time seems a lot harder. When I look at my recent races I had a 10K at 9:48 pace and a 10 miler at 9:58 pace. With these it seems like my pace should be quite a bit faster. I think I am going to hope for about a 10:15 pace which would be just over a 2 hr, 14 min finish. The high end of my range would be a 10:30 pace, so I think my range that I’d be hoping for would be 2:12 to 2:17ish finish. A lot of things could play in to this so I will be happy with any finish at all though! There is water every 2 miles which is awesome and energy or gu thing at mile 6. Last race I had a gu at mile 4 and 8 which worked out really well. I wish I could have it at 5 and 10 but there is no water. So I'll either do 4/8 or 6/??

My goal is to start out slow - about 5-10 seconds slower than race pace for the first 2-3 miles and then kick it in to race gear until mile 10. At that point if I am feeling great - full speed ahead and cruise past some people to the finish line! Otherwise try and keep my pace and finish with a smile!

Right now the weather is calling for winds at about 9 mph, partly cloudy and 68 degrees. The wind is supposed to pick up to 20 mph on Sunday so hopefully it stays on Sunday! I heard last years race was very windy as well!!

Here we come, Moab! Can't wait to run this race with 5,000 of my closest friends :-)

Any one have any good racing tips or racing experiences to share?