An Easy Day after a Race

 

I had been focusing a lot of my extra time into training for a half marathon. Having run the Zion Half Marathon last February, I was feeling inspired to keep running races. I trained on weekends with trail runs and long runs around the neighborhood. Then the time came on Saturday morning of February 1. It was the Washington City Half Marathon which was the local half marathon for where I lived. The starting line was only a few miles from my house and the race went right through my neighborhood. I drove down early in the morning to the finish line at Staheli Farms and grabbed a shuttle bus back to the start line.

 It was chilly at the start and I had to wait what seemed like too long of a time. When the starting gun went off, I was ready to go. I had never really trained for a race before, but this race I was trained for. I could tell because for the first couple miles, I still had the leaders in my view. The first four miles saw us take on the only significant hills the entire race. After that I knew it was smooth sailing with much flat terrain and even some downhill. I found myself in a comfortable pace as I went through Coral Canyon and waved at Jacqueline and the kids as I passed. I think they were surprised to see that I was still near enough the leaders and definitely near the top of the pack.

 I crossed Telegraph Rd. onto the Landfill Rd. and I was feeling good. Down the Cottonwood Wash Trail and into Hell Hole, I was just cruising. When I came out at the Sullivan Virgin River Soccer Park, I was feeling good enough to just pass right by the water stop. The road flattened out along Washington Fields and this is where I was starting to feel it. I knew I only had a couple of miles left to go, so I had to keep the juices flowing. My miles were increasing from 7:17 to 7:28, then 7:47, finally I had an 8:11 and I knew I had to pick up the pace. Not many people were passing me, but a few started to catch me. I dropped it down to 7:53, then I came down the last hill. It was only going around one big block, so I gave it all I had. The last mile was 7:34 and I even had the footsteps of another runner behind me to inspire me. In the end, I finished with 1:36:04 and in 20th place overall, first in my age group. I waited around and got my medal, though, no one I knew was there to cheer me on.

 That was fine because my family was proud of me when I returned home. That meant that the next day I was due a rest day. The best day to have a rest day is to for a hike with the kids. I decided to take them to one of my favorite spots with lots of iron concretions. This was near Cottonwood Wash with a turnoff on the Heath Trail. It had open vistas and narrow canyons. For the most part a non-descript hike out in red cliffs with just a few obstacles to negotiate. The kids enjoyed the little climbs and the narrow canyons. Our destination was just a couple of miles in where we were able to find many interesting iron concretions in various different shapes. 

The canyon continued for many miles more, but this sandy wash was the final destination on this day. We found a few rocks that we couldn't live without and then headed back down the trail feeling lucky that Red Cliffs was so close to us so that we could enjoy it any weekend we felt like going. The bonus on this day was that it was Groundhog Day. I would say if I had to relive a weekend over and over and over again, this would be a pretty good weekend to relive. You have to love Southern Utah in February.