Moab's Red Hot 50K 2009

At lunch, I headed straight from work towards Moab. Lunch was half a Chipotle chicken burrito. I nibbled on the second half of that burrito all the way.
I stopped at the BrewPub in Glenwood Springs to have one of my favorite beers, the Vapor Cave I.P.A. Then I hit the road again and arrived in Moab with plenty of time for another beer.
I parked my CR-V in my usual spot (top secret location - I could tell you but, of course, you'd all have to DIE!!!)
It wasn't very cold, in spite of some flurries.
The next morning, I grabbed a 20oz. coffee in Moab and was parked with plenty of time. More flurries. The forecast everyone looked up said cold, flurries, 60% clouds, 12-15mph winds. The RD's email said it would be 40-50 and mostly sunny. The RD was right! Okay, so the start was cold, but the rest of the day was great weather.
Joy R. parked next to me and we "caught up". Bill and Sandra from Leadville were there, Ryan Burch and fiance, Cindy Stone-Smith, and lots of very impressive elite runners, including Anita Ortiz and Dave Mackey.

All I brought on the run was one 20oz bottle and two gels. I should have brought four, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Apparently I'm fatter and in worse shape than I thought. I expected to shave 30-45 minutes off of last year's time because last year I gave up a pint of blood two days before the race. All I managed was 20 minutes.
Excuses: I didn't know what last year's time was. And I wasn't really watching the clock that closely.
I'd had so much stress from my job that I didn't feel like filling my lungs with foam and coughing up both lungs afterwards. So I kind of wimped.
It was still a very excellent time for me.




My only regret was, if I was going to wimp, then why didn't I bring my camera? These photos on the rocks are from the morning after the race. There's this one view that is STUNNING! You get way up and start dropping, and then you notice out to the west you can see the shimmering Colorado river miles away. There's the La Sal's to the east and spires, bumps, canyons, walls, arches, cracks, etc. It was heaven! And we got to run all over them!!! Yeehah!
This time I wore my road shoes, and I could tell the difference. My feet didn't get nearly as beat up as last year.

Dave Mackey was incredible! He broke 4 hours. Seems humanly impossible. New course record. He also won $100 for breaking the record. That guy is amazing.
I still don't know my finish time exactly. It was something like 6:04?? So, yeah, I sucked. I should be capable of 5:30/5:40. If I want it, I need to train, but I've have virtually no training since Thanksgiving.
On the good side, I kept very good running form all the way. I ran straight, relaxed, on my toes, feet, legs, arms aligned. I just need to warm up before the race with a mile or so of jogging, and then put the hammer down and keep it down.
So my mission for next year is, take my camera and get 5:30-ish.

The post race party was nice. I think I might have eaten as much as everyone else combined. They had beer and wine, too.