FAST! That is the best thing about this race. If you are
trying to hit a PR that you haven’t been able to hit, this is the race for you.
It’s downhill almost the whole way, the last three miles or so have a slight
incline. I was able to beat my goal time by two minutes and beat my previous PR
by 6 minutes! The bad part is, I am pretty sure my time will only go up from
here.
Along with fast, it is a really pretty race. It’s the
perfect time of year, end of summer, the leaves in the canyon are starting to
change and the temperature is optimal for runners.
The race director has put together an excellent website that
has all the information you will ever need. They also respond really quickly to
questions. The communication was really top notch. Well, except for at the starting
line, but we’ll get to that!
Packet pickup was super-fast, kind of like the course. There
weren’t many vendors there and the ones that were had empty tables. Kind of a
disappointment but not much can be done if the vendors don’t want to sell
anything at the expo.
The shirts are comfortable and not bad to look at. I love
the navy blue color. We even got to pick if we wanted long or short sleeves. I
picked short sleeve but regretted it during the long wait up the canyon. The
long sleeve shirts had the thumb hole and looked pretty warm on that cold, cold
morning. Alright it wasn’t that cold considering that they provided gloves and
a Mylar blanket. You don’t know how warm those small pieces of tinfoil keep you
until you take it off to do a port-a-potty run.
Buses to the start were great, there was no waiting to get
on. Of course, no one wanted to get off when we hit the top. We even tried to
talk our bus driver into letting us sit there for a little while.
Someone should have warned me to do some neck strengthening
exercises before this race. The medal was so heavy I thought I might strain a
muscle. The thing is HUGE and it spins. Yup you read it correctly, the middle
of the medal spins! Just another great thing about this race.
Just the other day, I got a post card from them with my
time, pace and finishing place overall, gender, and age division. That was
super cool! I am totally keeping that for proof of my PR (because apparently
the hubby needs official proof before I get my award for hitting my goal).
Regrettably, there were a few things that needed
improvement. The start line; I was seriously confused. They dropped us at a
spot up the canyon that had enough room from all the runners and the 40 plus
porta potties (yeah that was awesome!). Unfortunately, we were unable to hear
whatever announcement was made about heading to the start line. I am not sure
how many people actually heard the announcement because everyone I talked to
didn’t know what was going on. The baggage truck with the huge spotlight
started heading down the canyon, and 1500 runners started following. A quarter
of a mile later, we see the start line. It was a nice warm up but caused me a
little anxiety when the gun went off and I was still in the long line to drop
my bag. Yes, I know gun time and chip time are different and it doesn’t really
matter. But I like it when there is plenty of warning before the gun goes off
and runners have been warned and warned to get their bag in the truck.
While there was a ton of food after the race, there was an
even bigger line. I wasn’t willing to stand in the line but I was told they had
heaps of goodies provided by Whole Foods. Jimmy Johns was in a separate area
and their line was small so I grabbed a sandwich and water. I know there were a
lot of runners, but there had to be a better way to get food to the runners
quickly and easily.
If you want to know if I will do this one again, YES! It was
an overall fantastic race. I give this race 4 shoes and hope that next year we
see an improved start and finish line experience.
