And Colorado makes number 5!

After running in Utah, I was kind of addicted to running in beautiful places.  When the Rocky Mountain Vacation Races became a go, I decided to take advantage of cheap airline tickets and fly to CO.  In fact, we decided to take a family vacation!  The race was held in Estes Park, CO which is a great little town at the edge of the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Saturday morning was my race day!  I was nervous about running in the hills and at such a high altitude, but the scenery was worth it!

       

To maintain races during Covid, we had a staggered start.  And that also meant I didn't have to start running super early in the morning!  Although while waiting for the start the runners tended to stay away from each other, I was able to talk to a couple of other runners at the start...it was nice to talk to people like the world was normal again!  

The first part of the run was a gradual uphill, but I knew the downhill was coming.  To help with running in high altitude, I also drank a lot of electrolyte drink.  Either the altitude didn't affect me too much at the beginning or the electrolyte drink helped, but I was able to keep a decent pace during the uphill part of the race.  Or maybe the view kept my mind off of running pains!

And I even saw some deer while I was running!

The downhill section was a place that I actually did pick up speed!  Not only was it downhill, but it was also running toward the mountains!  The last two miles were pretty flat and around the lake, so I thought I would be able to keep up my speed and finish extra strong.  That didn't happen though.  I think running in high altitude finally caught up with me and I felt like I was barely moving!  But I did finish in less than 2.5 hours...seconds less, but less nonetheless!

While I went out there to run state 5, Dave and Camden also ran. They both ran the 5K on Friday night...and both placed in their age division!  

Camden with his finisher medal and his third place medal (sorry Dave, no pics of your place medal!)

It was a great weekend for running and spending time with family!  A great combination!

The vacation in Vacation Races!

To make my first Vacation Races a lot of fun, I took Nathan and Camden with me!  We flew into Las Vegas and the boys were super excited to head to Vegas Baby!!  Our night in Vegas was the first night in which hotels were open again after quarantine, so I figured the rooms would be nice and clean!  We booked our night at the Paris hotel, but were moved to Caesars Palace!  I was fine with that!  

Caesar's Palace is an enormous hotel with lots of restaurants and shopping on its property.  Not everything was open, but it still had a lot of cool things to see.  One thing I was especially thankful for was that Vegas was not totally open.  There is a reason it is called sin city and we saw advertisements for shows that I was glad weren't happening!

But we did have fun looking at all the hotels, eating at Wahlburgers and seeing the Bellagio Fountains.  That was the only thing I have ever wanted to see in Vegas and was glad they were performing! 

Inside the Bellagio

 

Bellagio Fountain

Our hotel room was very luxurious and we were able to find a divine Italian restaurant for our Thursday night dinner.  One thing that I noted was how hot it was and how thirsty I was all the time.    

The view from our room

Dinner time!

Friday morning we left for Utah after a dip in the cold waters of the pool at Caesars.  We had been ready to swim the night before after walking around all day, but the pool closed at 6.  

On our drive to Utah, we saw a sign for the Valley of Fire.  Not knowing what it was, we drove into the state park and were very happy we did! We climbed on the red rocks and went for a short hike through the sandy desert.  It was different from any place I have ever been.  Another hot place and there was no water around.  I am used to waterfalls when hiking!  

The red rock formations

Views from our hike

We arrived in Springdale, UT on Friday night and then got up super early to get a parking spot in Zion National Park.  We weren't able to get near the Narrows hike, but we were able to hike to the Emerald Pools.  It was another group of mountains that were so different from what we have in the east.   

Zion is a beautiful place!  A great example of God's handiwork!  Between looking up at the mountains and looking around at the deer who were very tame and walked right near you, we had a great time at the park.  And that night I ran the half!  It was a great weekend of spending time with my boys and enjoying the great outdoors.  So thankful to be able to visit and run in Utah!

The Race that Saved my Sanity

There have been so many things that people have lost out on because of Covid and the things that I have lost out on are minor compared to many people's losses.  I think of weddings that didn't happen as planned, graduations that were missed, loved ones that had to be in the hospital by themselves and funerals that could not be attended.  So I can't complain when I think of how much I have not lost because of Covid.  But my mom said that disappointments are still real for those who are disappointed and one disappointment that affected me was the postponement or cancellation of races.

After my NC race in February, I had a half planned in April that was postponed until June 6.  This was the race that Camden also was planning on running.  Then I had a series of three races planned for Memorial Day weekend in KY, WV, and OH.  I was going to take Nathan with me on that road trip.  Then those were cancelled/postponed until 2021.  And after training for the second time for the Memphis race, this one was, of course, postponed until 2021!

Bummed and disappointed, around the middle of May I saw an advertisement for a Vacation Races half marathon at Zion National Park in Utah on June 6!  I had not stopped my training schedule for that long, so I felt confident that I could handle the race.  I looked into plane tickets, which were cheap, and asked Dave about it, and he said go for it!  Dave has been my biggest supporter in this crazy goal of mine and I am very grateful for his support!

I decided to take Nathan since we missed our road trip; and then decided to take Camden too since he was the main one in our family that was always stuck at home!  So the three of us headed to Utah by way of Vegas so that I could run in state number 4!

Vacation Races did a great job throwing together a race so quickly.  I heard of it about 2.5 weeks before it happened!  It was a staggered start night time race through a desert trail near Zion National Park.  I started the race at 7:00 on Saturday night and finished around 9:45.   Although I ran the whole way, even slowly up the hills, I did stop several times to take pictures.  It was truly the prettiest place I have ever run! And the first time I have seen this area of the country.  Of course, pictures do not do justice to this place! 

 I was glad I had started at 7 and could see the sunset and that I didn't have but about 30 minutes of real darkness.  The last 2 miles of the race were down hill and I thought I could go faster then, but because it was super dark (I had a head lamp), I had to run very carefully through the sandy and rocky trail.  It was a full moon that night, but also overcast so there was not much light from the sky.

My dusty shoes after I finished

It was super cool to run pretty much alone over a trail I had never seen before.  And although they asked spectators not to congregate at the finish line, since there were so few runners, Nathan was able to stand at the end and cheer for me!

I am very grateful for my family who was there for me.  And glad to have moved Utah to the finished list!  I have now completed 4 states!         

Because the race was planned so quickly, they did not have time to get the finisher medals for us at the race.  So several weeks after it was over, I received this awesome bling in the mail!  And it glows in the dark!  I have to say, Vacation Races races are starting to become addicting!