Race Report: Moab's Red Hot 55k

Moab. Love.

I have been putting off sitting down at my computer to do my race report from Moab's Red Hot 55k that I ran last Saturday, mostly because I am still soaking in the whole experience. Ah, Moab. It was love at first sight. I had a pretty packed weekend, so I will take y'all through it in sections. If you are primarily interested in my recap of the race, feel free to skip to that!









Pre-Race

Colorado River

Gracie girl!

I originally decided to plan this trip because my birthday fell on the Friday before Presidents' Day weekend, which was the day before the Red Hot. Over the last few years, I have tried to do something cool and memorable for my birthday, so when I came across the site for the race, my interest was piqued. The entry fee was steeper than I usually find feasible (a bit over $100), but when I started looking into local hotels and realized that rates were significantly reduced during the off-season, I realized that the trip could still be done pretty inexpensively. I decided to go for it! I left Boise on Thursday right after class to get half of the 9ish hour drive out of the way. (I did this mostly because I didn't want to spend my whole birthday driving.) I hit the road pretty early on Friday and made it to Moab in the early afternoon.

On the rocks.

Since the pups were traveling with me, I stopped to take them for a hike before even getting to the hotel. The national parks are not very dog-friendly, but fortunately the Moab Area Travel Council has a neat list of hiking trails where all three of us would be welcome. I parked the car and we made our way up the Portal Overlook trail.

This is what a trail could look like.

I had never been anyplace like Moab before. The scenery is so bold and beautiful, and I am still struggling to find the right words to describe it. The ground varies from sand to packed dirt to loose rock to, of course, slick rock. If you step your way across it, the slick rock seems so light and porous that it could easily break. It carries on for long sections where the trail must be marked by paint on the rock or with a wall of smaller stones.

So majestic.

Jake surveying the valley.

Although the trail was only about two miles one-way, I found myself HOT and sweaty by the time I got to the top, something that is pretty usual for February. The weather was perfect- in the low 60s- and it felt great to have sun on my skin for the first time in a few weeks. I was happy (and so were the dogs) to be out of the car and breathing some fresh air. We lingered for a few minutes at the top to soak in the view and made our way back to the car and into town.

The cutest hotel room ever at the Kokopelli Lodge (for $31 a night!)

I got myself situated at my hotel and walked over to packet pickup, which was held in a local restaurant, Eddie McStiff's. The line was long, but it is always a fun atmosphere when you are so close to all the other runners and can feel everyone's excitement and nerves. I picked up my packet and headed over to the Altra booth, where some lovely Altra folks had the ambassador schwag set aside for the ambassadors running the race. It was cool to see that so many other runners were checking out the new line of shoes and talking with Zac and Caitlin about getting some new sneaks on their feet.

Back at the hotel, I laid low with the pups and wound down my birthday with an early bedtime and the ever-appreciated puppy snuggles.



RACE DAY!

The colors...

Milling about at the start.

Reppin' the 208!

Even though the race had a very reasonable 8am start time for the 55k, my day began at 5am as I needed to take the dogs out for some exercise before leaving them inside for a while. We did a nice loop through the town and I gathered my things to head out to the race start. I parked around 7:30am, which meant that I missed the 7am pre-race briefing. I usually try to catch those, but the longer the pups could be out, the better I felt about leaving them behind. There is a short 3/4 mile walk from the parking lot to the race start, and I happily wore some extra layers over to the starting line. Since the finish and start were not in the same location, drop bags are shuttled to the finish so that you can have some sweats. Even though I knew it would warm up, the morning was chilllly! I ran into a few Boise folks that had also made the trek down to Moab, and we chatted for a few minutes before the race STARTED.

Runners up the hillside

It was really neat to start off the race with so many other runners. Most of our Idaho races are very intimate, so the group spreads out pretty quickly. I am not sure of the number that started the race, but Ultrasignup is telling me that there were 301 finishers of the 55k. We had a long, low-gear grind up and over the first hill, and even though I only started in a running skirt, tee, and sleeves, the sleeves were already coming off by mile 2 or 3. The views were just spectacular- the contrast of barren red rock formations with the backdrop of the snowcapped La Sal mountain range made it hard to keep eyes on the trail. I promised myself that I wouldn't stop for too many photos, but that first part of the race seemed to require it.

Beautiful.

The whole first loop went very well and very quickly. I was efficient at the aid stations at mile 5.5 and 13, spending no more time than what was needed to fill my bottles and grab a snack for the road. I originally was hoping to be in the 7:30 range for time, but I reevaluated since I was feeling well through the first sections, and decided that I would like to have a faster overall pace than I did at Wilson Creek back in January, where I clocked about 13-minute miles. The mantra in my head became "no thirteen minute miles!" and I kept a close eye on my pace. Most of my racing and training has been without the use of my Garmin, as I don't want to become too attached to numbers. However, on this day, the strategy worked well for me. I tried to keep my miles below the desired pace, but whenever I clocked a mile that was a bit over the time, I started over when the mile was up and tried to keep my pace down for the NEXT one.

Mile 19-20ish

I felt great and sailed smoothly until about mile 18, when I felt a bit off and allowed myself some time. I  walked a bit and then began to climb up to the aid station at about mile 22. This was about 4 miles of steady uphill that was not super runnable. I just buckled down and ground my way up the slick rock, though I did pause for one photo (much to Dennis's chagrin) when I came across some other runners that were taking some pictures. Up the hill, up the slick rock, and I was finally topped out at the aid station. I grabbed some electrolyte tablets and a PB&J quarter sandwich. The aid station workers were, as they usually are, very sweet and helpful. I turned out of there ready to log some running miles on the downhill, and quickly encountered the best race sign I have ever seen: "You are NOT almost there!"

Most of the miles immediately after the aid station were downhill, but they were downhill on slanted slick rock. It was easy to pick up speed, but the image in the back of my head that slowed me down was that of me tumbling down the concrete-like hill. I kept a steady pace and was able to make up some time that I lost while climbing. Six easy miles to the last aid station. In and out. Five easy miles to the finish. Early in the race, I thought that sub-7 may have been in my sights, but I thought I may have lost it during the climb at 18. I decided to push anyway. If I was going to miss 7 hours, it was only going to be by a few minutes. I even convinced myself that 7:05 would have been just fine. If I needed to stop and walk, I counted out 50 steps and then ran again. I came into the last mile and a half and gave it a solid push to the finish, which was a nice runnable downhill. I knew when I could see people walking up the hill from the finish line that I was close, and I closed the race strongly. 6:58:59. Close, but definitely sub-7.

Dave from Boise found me at the finish line (he had been waiting for me and his friend Scott on the hill, and I passed him on my way down). He was very kind and brought me some chili- VEGAN chili! I give extra love to races that supply runners with vegan food at the after party. He had also grabbed some delicious dried mangoes that hit the spot, and I sat and vegged with him for a few minutes before catching the shuttle. I wish that I could have stayed at the finish for the rest of the day, but I had to get back to the hotel and get the pups outside. I caught the shuttle back to the start, soaking in my little victory and enjoying a delicious vegan protein shake.

The pups were happy to see me and have a little walk. I think that the secret to speedy recoveries is being a dog owner. My muscles had stiffened up a bit after sitting and driving back into town, but after being out with the dogs for a few minutes on a walk, everything felt nice and stretched. I enjoyed a nice shower and relaxed for a little bit before heading back over to Eddie McStiff's..


Post-Race Party

I think that it would have been a hard sell for me to leave my bed the night of a race, but since the party was only a block away from my hotel, I didn't have much of an excuse. I got there a little before Jenn Shelton was slated to speak and met a bunch of cool people that had come into town from all over to run the race. Jenn Shelton got up and spoke to the group about a book proposal she has written about her three attempts at the FKT on the John Muir trail. It was neat to hear part of her story, and I sincerely hope that there will be a book in the works. Most people didn't hang around for too long after she was done talking, but there were plenty that stayed for a little while. I chatted with folks for a bit, but since I didn't really know anyone and was eager for more puppy snuggles, I made it back to my hotel and called it a night.



That's not all!

I was super happy to finish in under 7 hours, and I have really been thinking about the things that made that possible. If I hadn't counted out steps when I wanted to walk or if there had been only a few more moments that I allowed myself to meander, that minute of wiggle room would have disappeared. I don't like to run my races glued to the clock or with too much invested in my time, but it was neat to see myself give it a little push. Another happy note about this race- once again, no blisters and happy feet. My Lone Peaks carried me through the day without any problems, despite the uneven terrain all day.

That's not the end of my adventure, but I have decided that it is enough for one post. The RDs were awesome and led a group run the day after the race, which I think should get its own entry since I have even cooler photos from that day. Moab's Red Hot 55k was awesome, and I would definitely consider going back if it could work into my schedule. If you are thinking about putting this race on your calendar, I would tell you to do so without hesitation.