Completely outside my comfort zone, I ran the Wahsatch Steeple Chase today. I really had no idea how brutal this race was going to be beforehand (i.e., I knew it was going to be challenging, but no idea). Thankfully, due to our enormous snowpack, they altered the course cutting it from sixteen miles to what was supposed to be thirteen miles, but ended up being fourteen miles. This alteration was called the “Dude Peak Route” which eliminated the extremely difficult terrain that caused runners to be airlifted to safety two out of the last three years. Arriving at the Memory Grove starting line (after a 0.9 mile jog down from the mouth of City Creek Canyon) five minutes the 6:00 am start (I know, cutting it close as always), I’m glad I did not have that much time to think about the race ahead of time.
After the starting gun sounded, the first three miles I cursed; that is, one mile up the Memory Grove road then two miles up a solid, but pretty steep trail on the west side of City Creek Canyon. I actually held back knowing that it was going to get much more difficult and I would be no match for the experienced trail runners. Looking back on it, I should have held back even more because it seemed like over the next ten miles everyone passed me until we returned to the City Creek Canyon road for the final mile in which I was able to cruse back down to Memory Grove.
I have never walked during a race until now because the steepness was way too steep at times. These extremely steep inclines were like a roller coaster, straight up, straight down, then up again, and so on. The worst part is that after I got all the way to the top, I did not have the opportunity to enjoy all the hard work that I put into climbing on the way down. I was breaking it all way down in order not to spill out like some of the very brave runners that flew by me. Due to the technical terrain, it really seemed like I was going at the same speed down course as I did going up. The chopping sound of the life flight helicopter above served as a good reminder that I just needed to be in survival mode. However, it was different having so many runners pass me on a downhill run. To sum it up, it was like a solid road cyclist entering an extremely difficult mountain bike race with very little experience off of the road.
With all of this said, trail runners are a neat crowd and it was really cool to hang out with them for a few hours at the post-race festivities and just enjoy the beautiful Saturday afternoon.
Before catch the Trax back home, I did recover from this beyond challenging trail race with a 2.20-mile jog to the Gateway Mall to pick up a Rag Mag for the Wasatch Back.
Finally, for my daily non-running workout, I was able to get in 300 sit-ups.
Five-Minute Plank Challenge: 2:00
Trying-To-Go-Out-Of-My-Way-To-Eat-Healthy Challenge: a blueberry smoothie
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