What can I say, it was a beautiful fall run in my own backyard!
I will start with race packet pickup. You
had two options before race day. First at the Run Gr8 store in Riverton. I
opted for the Friday pickup at the U of U Health Center in Daybreak. There were
no lines when I arrived. The staff was great. The pack consisted of a bib and a
wrist band for a sandwich from Chick-fil-A at the end of the race. (You had to
show wristband to get a sandwich). The rest of our swag was virtual coupons
which we had to log into the internet to get. While cool in technology it was a
little disheartening to not receive any in hand swag, but that isn't the
primary reason we sign up, right? The shirts were great this year though!
The race started at the U of U in Daybreak.
You had the option of riding a bus or having someone drop you off at the start
line. I opted for getting dropped off. At the start it was chilly, mixed with
race day jitters I decided to stop one last time at the Porta Potty station.
Well after standing in a line for an eternity, a race director came to announce
there was only 5 min before gun time and to hurry. Hardly anyone budged!
Quickly deciding mine was more just jitters than actually having to go I left
and headed toward the start line.
The race started and we were off. The race
starts heading east on 114th South, you run through Daybreak past
the lake and up "temple hill"; it’s a good little climb. You then
continue to head east on about 3200 west. Make sure when you do this, you
better have sunglasses because you are running directly towards the sun. While
running in the sunrise is wonderful and it helped to warm us up quickly. Once
you reach 104th south, you hit another hill. This is around mile 8. Reserve
some energy for this hill; it differentiates between the well trained and the
not well trained.
The aid stations along the way were
wonderful; although lacked volunteer support. Some had just one person sitting
at a table. Most offered a choice of water or Gatorade. I believe it was at
mile 6 and 8 they also had Gu and some additional supplements like banana’s and
apples. Once you get to mile 11 you head north on the Jordan River trail. It
was beautiful with the fall foliage around you. It was easy to forget it was a
race. At the finish the time clock was over by about 2 minutes. Which was a
great surprise the day they posted the results on their page.
At the finish it was very organized, they
had a drop bag pickup, Chick-fil-a, Dr Pepper (which I thought was funny) and bananas.
I didn't get a chance to hang around long after to enjoy what else they had to
offer. If you are wanting to PR this is not the race for you, but if are
wanting a bit of a challenge and a fun course then give it a try, you will not
be disappointed.
Overall I would give this race 3 shoes. The
reason for not scoring it a full 5 would be lack of swag, traffic on roads was
frustrating, as much as cops would hold traffic but there were times when have
to wait for a car to go. Not a lot of volunteer support on aid stations. But
that wouldn't stop me from wanting to do it again next year to try and beat my
time!
