Big Cottonwood is a gorgeous canyon that we often have training runs in as there are three races which use this canyon throughout the year.
Weeks before, I had decided to just run this race for fun and not attempt a PR or PB or anything, just take lots of pictures. I had spent the week prior recovering from Nebo which totally thrashed my legs for a time that wasn't anywhere near a PR and I've always thought Revel wasn't as fast as Nebo so why kill myself at it. But by Friday my legs were feeling pretty good so thought, ah, why not at least see what I can do.
As usual race morning means getting home from work around 1am and if I actually sleep, getting up a couple of hours later. The alarm was set for 3:30 and I was out the door by 4:05 to try to meet one of the first buses heading up the canyon at 4:30. All morning I kept thinking why am I doing this. I didn't recognize anyone on the bus so figured it would be a quiet drive to the starting point. I sat by a guy who was doing his first half so he was pretty excited about it even though his sister who goaded him into it cancelled out.
The old school bus we were riding in, after awhile was following a number of other buses who were stuck behind one bus that struggled on the hill. It finally gave up on the chore and pulled over to the side. The congo line of vehicles going up the canyon finally sped up. Our drive must have been so concentrating on the other buses he didn't see the start line, or the guy with the light indicating him to pull over and let us out at the campground, until the runners started yelling at him. I was wondering if we accidentally got on the full marathon bus and were going to be running 13 miles to get to our start line! He finally pulled over and attempted to back down the hill which wasn't very successful and then he decided to just let us out and we'd walk back down to the start.I trudged straight to the porta-potties knowing they'd still smell good at this time of the morning. The camp ground where we wait for the start is always quite dark so its difficult to find friends. I was standing around the porta-potty area and a girl popped up in front of me and said "Hi" with a big smile. I didn't recognize her at first but I was so happy to see Mercedes! We wandered over to the area near the trucks for the drop bags while wrapped up in our emergency blankets. It was COLD! Probably around 30'F. We then met up with Mark, Jill, Timothy, Dulcinea, Camille and I'm sure there were others.
After one more trip to the porta-potties it was time to head out to the start line. With close to 3000 people you never really know when the race begins but the crowd keeps moving and while it did I grabbed a picture of myself with Carla Bassano and her hubby Raoul.
My Garmin was set to a 7:20 pace for the virtual partner, and my MP3 player was cued to play approximately 93 minutes of music with a cadence of 92 bpm and then two of my favorite songs at races.
After shuffling for a while and dropping the emergency blankets with all the others we crossed the start line, the race had begun.
I was away's back in the race and passed a lotof people as I worked my way down the canyon. The first mile was done in 7:57. Slower than I wanted but I felt good. I passed the 2:20 pacers, London and Katie. Usually I've run to music which is 90-91bpm, the 92bpm was new to me but felt fine. Mile 2 was 7:34 and the third mile was 8:08, I was falling behind my goals which were 7:20 for a PR and 7:43 for a PB. Those first miles were cold on the face, I kept breathing into my gloves to try to warm up my mouth and nose. I had thought about wearing arm warmers, but my arms seemed to be okay and my gloves helped my hands. I passed the 2:00 pacers and then the 1:50 pacers Jorge and someone else. I think I heard him comment, I didn't recognize Robert as he has his shirt on.
The next three miles were a lot faster and I gained some of the time back. 7:19, 7:16 and 6:48. I stopped at most aid stations for water. At one I grabbed a GU and slid it inside my glove. At the next aid station I ate it as I got there and then got water to try to flush it down.
I think it was around mile 7 I took off my gloves and tucked them into my belt. I struggle with dropping clothes on the ground, I'm just too cheap.
The next three miles went pretty good too, 7:36, 7:15 and 7:35. I was feeling strong, not pushing it hard, but running comfortably and trying to use the downhill to my advantage.
By mile 10 it was warming up and I had started dumping the water from the aid stations into my hat and cooling my head. The shirt also came off at this distance. We were out of the canyon and into the flat area that usually kills me in this race. I pushed hard trying to avoid walking unless it was through an aid station knowing around mile 11 there was another downhill stretch. On that section I was able to get a mile done in 7:21 which for me is amazing so late in the race on this course. The last two songs started playing on my player, Fight Song by Rachel Platten, which always makes me think of Meridith and the fight she went through, and Come With Me Now by Kongos and they helped me run the final mile which was done at in 7:54 and I could finally see the banner around the finish area.Two tenths to go and I ran them in silence, I heard someone yelling to me on my left and it turned out to be my friend Janet who wasn't racing but came to cheer her daughter Nicole and all her friends.
My camera battery went dead and I grabbed my phone from my car but its not good to keep on while watching people and slow to start back up when it falls asleep so I missed getting pictures of lots of people I knew, but it was still great being there to cheer them on as they finished the half marathon, then the full marathon. There were smiles, high fives, tears and grimaces as people entered the chute but they finished and every one of them were champions to me.
I love the running community.
Finish times for Revel Big Cottonwood, probably my favorite race in 2016.
2013 1:48:31
2014 1:41:21
2015 1:45:29
2016 1:39:43
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