Saturday July 11 2020
I’d been looking at a website analysing which of the US states were the least restricted by governor mandates, and of those states listed highly that I hadn’t yet run in, Utah was up there. So I jumped on runningintheusa, and found the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon – still on! What a great find it was.
I flew out from Charlotte early on the Friday, changed in FTW, and picked up a rental in Vegas. It was a Mustang, so that made the 4.5 hour drive north to Tropic, Utah, all the more enjoyable! Once off the freeway and into the arid wilds of Utah, it really is like another world out there.
Upon arrival in Tropic, I headed straight to the park, to sign up at the Packet Pickup, because registration had closed by the time I’d found the race online. With that sorted, I checked into the hotel I’d booked (opposite the bank where bussing departed the next morning), and walked next door to get my tea in a quiet restaurant adjoined to the local grocery store. I got ready for the morning and tried to catch some rest.
The school busses left the bank at 0500 and headed up the downhill course to the start line high above the canyon. It was still pitch black but there were a lot of runners. I was just so glad the race was happening! I did a small warm up, drop bags were left with UPS, and the race started promptly at 0600.
I was still half asleep but the field looked strong. I dropped in with the 1hr30 pacers, three college grad guys based out of the Provo area, with a sign, in the bright orange running vests assigned to pace teams… and I trusted them to stop me going out too fast. The first mile and a half was a little up and the 7652′ elevation air seemed thin. Mile 2 to 7-8 was all downhill, and beautiful. The race actually had an 1800′ net elevation loss, which was great. It turned out the guys were on a stag do (‘bachelor party’), good for them, we talked as we ran, mainly discussing all my state runs – completed & planned. I had a Maarten gel at 4.5 then another at 10. The first miles seemed to go past quickly, they went well and I felt pretty good, I think mainly due to the pacers keeping us going smoothly, they really did a great job. At about 8-9 miles I started to stretch away, ground up the hill at 12 miles and pushed through to finish in 1:28:31 – a new PR for me.
Descending the Canyon –
Running with the pace team –
Finish line –
And I might have been able to go even faster had I not had a slight problem on the run… From about mile 4, I started to feel a pain in my Achilles heels, left especially, and thought my socks must have fallen down below my shoe line. These mint Balegas had dropped a little once before in a race when very wet. Alas, when I stopped for a second to pull them up, they were in place – it was in fact the new pair of Zoom Fly 1 running shoes I was wearing (the pair where one is black one is white) that were just rubbing on my heel. I had felt a bit of movement in them when I first put them on, but just laced them up really tight after warm up (I had elastic laces in them) and put it to the back of my mind. After all, I didn’t have any other shoes anyway! In hindsight, when packing my race bag back home, I was stupid to think these Zoom Fly 1s were the same as my normal pairs, they had a different upper material altogether. It just hadn’t crossed my mind. I had worn shoes for the first time when racing before – and it’d always been perfectly fine – but those new pairs had always been EXACTLY the same shoe I normally race in. I thought these were…but no.
So I was bleeding a lot from my heels and in a lot of pain for most of the race. I considered stopping to ask for band aids but didn’t. I think that was the right call, it would have really disrupted my rhythm, hurt my time, prolonged the pain somewhat, and probably not done much to help with the actual issue anyway.
Anyway, unfortunately, probably not a pair of shoes I will run in again!
I still placed first in my age group, and 34th overall. In a big race like this (600-700 runners), with such a strong field, I was happy. The elite group’s winning times were crazy. I think a lot of very good runners out west zeroed in on this race because it was still on, respectfully organised, downhill, scenic and very well regarded in the race community. http://www.runsum.com/results/results.php?raceid=423
After picking up my medals, I headed back on a bus to Tropic, showered and packed up, had my lunch (leftover from yesterday’s dinner), and got on the road. I stayed in the Flamingo in Vegas Saturday night and flew out to Charlotte direct early the next morning. Tiring weekend, lots of driving, lots of running!
I had a mooch about in Vegas after arriving but it was so hot, particularly disgusting with the mask on, and whether it’s a result of Corona reaction restrictions or not I’m not sure, but Vegas seemed to have less energy to it than I was used to. It just seemed full of complete specimens. Maybe my perceptions have changed, I used to love that place.
Anyway, a long, sapping, but great weekend. Really happy with how the race went. State 28 down, now on to finding another event that has resisted the temptation of cancelling!
Crossing the finish –
Racing Americana 