Last Saturday I ran. I was going to Utah, that’s right salt of the earth kind of gal, and I started looking around on the Internet for a race or run of some sorts. I was due for 13 miles according to my plan. I stumbled across the N.U.T.S trail run. It was in Ogden not to far from my sister’s house. I waited to sign up the day of the race because I was not sure if I would. I put my pitch out there to see if I could get any friends to go but no such luck. Well that has never stopped me before. I emailed the race director and he said if I can do Leadville I could do this. I made the mistake of thinking it would be easier if only a little. So I made arrangements for my daughter to hang out at my sister’s house with her cousins in order to go. I wake up early and show up. There were about 76 people running this inaugural run. It was windy and a bit cloudy. For some reason the weather cooperates with me quite a bit. So I get my bib and overheard this gal talking about bailing. I said” you can’t do that! Be bold go for it!” She wanted to know how long it would take her but she was an experienced runner. I had once heard if you have never run a trail then it might be reasonable to take your pace and times it by 1.5 but then I added my disclaimer and said but I don’t know what I’m talking about. Perhaps that was the Leadville equation. I still consider myself a novice because the first time I have gone over 8 miles was January of this year. The race starts and its uphill right away. This is something I find takes it out of me quite a bit. Also I hear to walk up the hills but every one who has ever said that to me I have not actually seen do that. So I immediately feel tired but keep on going and I am discouraged because I’m at the tail end of the pack. There were a few people behind me and one was 60. She was pretty darn tough though is you ask me. The trail seemed to go up and down mountainous areas the entire way. It was a weird surface because it was the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. This is an area that is on a mountainside but used to be a shoreline many moons ago. It felt like a shell beach at times and at one point a few miles in it looked like an area that had a mud/rock slide that we had to climb. There were water stations at two points in the race and at the halfway point there was goodies and a gal with a spray bottle. When I got there I stayed for a while and the 60 year old woman made the comment that she stopped to get a rock out of her shoe and realized it was the bones in her foot, we laughed. My feet felt the same way. I had listened to Chi running on the drive from Colorado to Utah and I was trying out the breathing and the C formation but I kept just falling out of that position into what the trail dictated. At one point I looked out into the distance and saw Antelope Island. That is a special place to me because some of my mother’s ashes are spread there. It’s comforting to think about her and I do frequently. This was one of those moments you don’t plan they just happen and your grateful when they do and most often they occur when I’m running. I saw a blue jay again …and another bird I think is called a mountain blue bird. There were some nice folks at the water station that gave us organic dehydrated fruit. It turns out it was there own personal stash and it was wonderful! Nearly ever single person said something encouraging. Oh I almost forgot…the gal who wanted to bail was among the top women finishers for sure. So there are a few things I became aware of during the run. One is I do not give myself nearly enough credit for my small and gradual improvements. This is the right way to improve and intuitively I know this. Another is my run is enough for today. This one is kind of like “I’m exactly where I need to be” thinking. Its sane and good and I need to just be with that. Also, if I finish and I can take the gift from that experience then I have won. This one is hard to articulate. By the gift I mean what is the goodness in that? Well I can say that being at the back is enough to ruin some people’s relationship to running. Not me! This will be that tool, or better yet one of the tools I use to help other new discouraged runners and or walkers to keep on going. Plus, right now I’m working on my baseline data, lol. Improvements will happen! What success looks like for me and what it might look like for the front of the packer could be entirely different. Sometimes for me success is just showing up to my mid week runs. For real that is big for me and I need to celebrate that. I’m going to be kinder to myself.
Back to the race…. So I get within a quarter of a mile to the finish after veering off on the wrong trail I see a very large snake. I can’t tell if it’s a rattler but the pattern looks like it and its so big I cant see the tail end because that part is in the bushes. I first tried to roll a rock to get it to move. It is his home though so I did not what to hurt it. So I start yelling that I can’t go any further. Pretty soon the race director comes running up but before he got there a trail runner coming up the trail that was not part of the race got close and I yelled snake! Snake! He stopped and said “where?” and it was gone. He looked at me with disbelief and picked up a stick that looked nothing like the snake and said, “was it this?” Ah NO! It was a real snake and I had seen a smaller one earlier but it only crossed the path very quickly way out in front of me. I ran to the finish with the race director. I stayed a few minutes and talked with him and his wife. I liked that group. They supported all levels and abilities and were nothing but encouraging. I’d like to run with this group again someday. It felt good to show up to a group of complete strangers and feel so welcome. So I would recommend a race from this series for sure! If you just happen to be in Utah that is.
Thanks Aric!
This race was part of the northern Utah trail series. It was my third half marathon. My first: canyon lands (road)13.1
My second Leadville 15.5 (trail)
My third (trail) NUTs 13.5
All of these were 2010 races
Back to the race…. So I get within a quarter of a mile to the finish after veering off on the wrong trail I see a very large snake. I can’t tell if it’s a rattler but the pattern looks like it and its so big I cant see the tail end because that part is in the bushes. I first tried to roll a rock to get it to move. It is his home though so I did not what to hurt it. So I start yelling that I can’t go any further. Pretty soon the race director comes running up but before he got there a trail runner coming up the trail that was not part of the race got close and I yelled snake! Snake! He stopped and said “where?” and it was gone. He looked at me with disbelief and picked up a stick that looked nothing like the snake and said, “was it this?” Ah NO! It was a real snake and I had seen a smaller one earlier but it only crossed the path very quickly way out in front of me. I ran to the finish with the race director. I stayed a few minutes and talked with him and his wife. I liked that group. They supported all levels and abilities and were nothing but encouraging. I’d like to run with this group again someday. It felt good to show up to a group of complete strangers and feel so welcome. So I would recommend a race from this series for sure! If you just happen to be in Utah that is.
Thanks Aric!
This race was part of the northern Utah trail series. It was my third half marathon. My first: canyon lands (road)13.1
My second Leadville 15.5 (trail)
My third (trail) NUTs 13.5
All of these were 2010 races
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