3 months down, 3 months to go.  Time for a half-marathon.

Left work early on Friday to get a start on the 6 hour haul to Moab.  Surprisingly I didn’t mind the drive as much as I had been dreading.  With Ro at Camp Bow Wow in Boulder, I took time to take in the view.  Nothing like the drive on I-70, crossing the Continental Divide, followed by the winding curves through Glenwood Canyon to Utah.  Beautiful.

Arrived in Moab, found my hotel sold out and was given a voucher to the Ramada – where they had reserved a room for me literally feet from Highway 191.  ARGH!  Luckily I was super tired; put the TV on low to drown out passing 18-wheelers causing my door to rattle & door to shake 🙁  Wake-up call never happened (double ARGH!) but luckily brought a back-up alarm.  Ready to flee my Ramada rental space — looking forward to Saturday race day!

Race packet pick-up at 630am then parked at Swanny City Park where school buses shuttled runners to Canyonlands for the start of my first half marathon.  A bit cooler than expected but soon forgot the chill.  Gorgeous rock caverns made this race by far my most scenic run to date.  Hard to peel the smile from my face.

Half marathon didn’t start ’til 10am – so had a few hours to kill.  Could have carried a negative attitude about the wait, but looked around – WOW! – & decided to immerse myself in my geo- surroundings.  There was time, I am strong, I could do this.  Hiked up the canyon wall – the natural rock providing several easy hand-holds.  No worries.

Who hikes before a half marathon?  I do!  What’s the point of a life journey if you don’t stop and enjoy the ride.  AMAZING!

Grabbed a hot chocolate & lined up in time for our race gun start.  Was placed in the last wave (no pre-qual time) – but on a positive note, passed more than 2,000 people before crossing the finish line 🙂

Overall pace was slower than expected but finished strong, literally sprinting the last hundred yards.

Devoured post-race oranges & bananas, then caught some zzzz’s in the park…soaking up the day’s sunshine.

Hooray my half is in the past – 13.1 miles to go and I’ll be marathon ready!

Got something even bigger planned for April – before my 25K trail race in Colorado Springs.  Sky diving for the first time on April 13^th!  How cool (& scary) is that?  LOVE LOVE LOVE my Colorado life!

Here are your results for the Canyonlands Half Marathon:

Your final time is 02:05:15 at a 00:09:13 pace.
You finished 1379 out of 3189 in the HALF MARATHON.
You finished 75 out of 129 in your class.

Moab Half Marathon (pre-race clip)