On June 13, 2015, Lacy and I ran the Drop 13 Half Marathon in Salt Lake City. To be more accurate, the race is actually held down Big Cottonwood Canyon, not in Salt Lake proper. It is a beautiful course, and the canyon is one of my favorite training runs of all time. Lacy and I ran the canyon a couple of times prior to race day, and we were both glad we had done that. Running downhill can take quite a toll on your body if you aren't trained for it. It is just as important to train downhill for a race as it is to train for distance and uphills in a race. It all requires different muscle groups, and your body needs to be prepared.
Back to race day. This half starts at 6am, which means there is a very early bus loading window. Lacy picked me up at about 3:50am and we headed to the bus loading area. When we parked to go board the bus, it was about 60 degrees. I knew it was going to be colder up the canyon, but given how warm it already was at 4am, I made the decision to leave my running jacket in the car, and go with just my tank. We did have survival blankets to take up with us, so I figured that would be sufficient for hanging out at the start area, and then I would warm up nicely when we started running. That turned out to be a bad decision. At any rate, we boarded the bus for the ride up the canyon, and were dropped off at about 4:45-5:00am (I think).
It was SO cold. I immediately regretted leaving my running pullover in the car. And at the same time, I was so happy that we at least had our survival blankets. We claimed a little square of asphalt as our own, and settled in for the hour wait before the race would start. As a little side note, the survival blankets, although not quiet, do keep you surprisingly warm. Here we are up the canyon, in the dark, snuggled up in our foil blankies.
Once it got a little closer to the official start time, we ditched our space blankets and made our way to the start line. It only took me about 3 miles to warm up and be okay without having a warmer layer on top. And at the end of the day, I was glad that I didn't have to finish the race with a jacket tied around my waist, so it ended up being okay.
I started off feeling pretty good, but my stomach quickly let me know that things were not copacetic. I won't go into any detail about it, but once I stopped at about mile 3 to use a restroom, things got a lot better afterwards. I didn't have to stop anymore after that, and didn't need any walking breaks either (which is a notable achievement for this runner). The rest of the race was pretty uneventful and beautiful. The finish line was closer to the mouth of the canyon this year due to some construction, so it was nice to be done sooner than I thought I would be. I came through the finish around 2:14, and was pleased with that result. My A goal was to be between 2:00 and 2:10, and my B goal, which admittedly was more realistic for how I trained leading up to this race, was to be between 2:10 and 2:20. Nailed it. Overall, I was happy with my performance at this half marathon, and will definitely be back to run it again next year! Finally, here's Lacy and I at the finish in our matching outfits.
If you're looking for a fun and fast half marathon, check out Drop13. It is a very well organized race, and very reasonably priced.
