My Canyonlands Experience

Canyonlands Half Marathon: March 08, 2005

Having finished the race earlier in the day, and being rather hungry, I was willing to pull out the credit card to pay for a nice, sit-down-and-be-waited-on lunch. But nooooo. The boy wanted Subway!

I had planned on coming down to this race alone, but Corbin has a way of playing things his way--and despite dismal grades and a poor attitude, he did what he needed to do to get his mother's blessing and my permission. And so it was that the boy and I went to Moab for the Canyonlands Half Marathon.

I'm amazed at the size of this race! Between the half and the 5-mile, there were an advertised 4800 participants! 2899 finished the half and 931 finished the 5-mile race. There's just under 1000 DNS's and DNF's in there as I figure it. Still, that's a whole lot of people!

I managed to find a seat on the first bus up and a straight, unimpeded shot to a potty at the start. And then it was 2 hours of waiting and I was ill-prepared for the cold.

Thursday afternoon I checked the forecast for Moab and learned of an expected high 20's/low 30's for the overnight low Friday night. I ended up getting a tent spot and became fearful of a repeat of 2002, my first Canyonlands experience--we spent half the night in the laundry room at the campground trying to stay warm. This time around I decided I'd run over to Cabela's and pick up a Mr. Heater Portable Buddy to stay warm. It's supposed to be safe to use them inside a tent so long as the tent is well ventilated. Uh-huh. Sure. It works nicely out on the picnic table though! After about 20 minutes Friday night, in a well ventilated tent, both Corbin and I began feeling a bit ill so we turned Mr. Heater off and climbed into our sleeping bags a bit earlier than planned. Way earlier than planned.

Anyways, back at the top, I'm 13.1 miles from being done and 2 hours from getting started and I'm freezing! It was considerably warmer in 2003, the last time I was here. I should have listened better to the advice that was proffered here. By the time the darn race got started my legs felt rather fatigued! I don't know if it was from shivering for 2 hours or possibly the effects of 20 minutes of exposure to carbon monoxide in my tent the night previous. Either way I didn't think it was a good way to start the day.

The last time I was here, in 2003, the pee-patrol was out in force patrolling the hillsides. This year, I don't know that I saw anyone being called off the hill for an improper urination. There were plenty of POP's at the drop-off area and more still at the start. The start was about a 1/2 mile walk from the drop-off zone and we got called up to the start with an hour to go. Most everybody procrastinated the walk up, but when everybody got there it was standing room only.

The first year I ran this I had a migraine the night before and had unknowingly chased my Excedrin with some non-potable water. I woke race morning with a really queasy stomach and ended up walking much of the second half. An ugly race. This year I was feeling the effects of CO exposure or shivering induced fatigue in the moments before the start--I didn't' quite know what to expect of myself. I was hoping for 1:40-ish.

The race began and we were off. Yeah, I went out too fast. I wanted to average between 8 and 8:15 minute miles for the first couple of miles, but with the first 3 effectively being well under 8, I pulled back on the reigns, but it may have been to late--the fatigue became a major issue the last 4 miles. I finished with a 1:50:10 chip time. It was a course PR for me but not one I'm particularly happy or satisfied with.

The course, of course, was beautiful. The towering red-rock cliffs above us and the Colorado River running along our right makes for a run that is hard to beat.