We had every intention of blogging this trip as we went along. However, we ended up being without internet connection and are now a little behind on the blogging! One entry will have to do.
After our ski day with Gary and Sue on Wed 4/7, Corb and I began our long drive. We got in a good few hours and spent the night near Salt Lake City. On Thursday, we took a scenic route, through Mount Pleasant, UT, where we seriously considered taking jobs at Wasatch Academy right before we got married! It was fun to revisit the area, which hasn't changed much and makes Driggs look like a regular metropolitan area! We made it to our hotel, South Point, in Vegas Thursday evening.
After a morning visit to scope out the race course, Friday was spent exploring the hotel (casino, restaurants, etc) and chilling at the pool. There were 6 of us planning to race on Saturday - 3 (Tammy, Sharon, Corina) doing the marathon, 2 (Susy and me) doing the 50 miler, and 1 (Heather) doing the 100 miler. Only Heather and I had our husbands along for support. We all gathered Friday evening for dinner and then it was an early night to bed for all of us.
Friday also brought the sad news that Uncle Ted passed away. While I felt far away, I was able to text and talk with my family. It was a day (and weekend) filled with many emotions!
Saturday morning we all started our races at 7am. Tammy rocked the marathon and won her age group. Sharon and Corina ran comfortably and finished (Corina was to return later to help pace Heather during parts of the night and early morning). Susy and I had not planned to run together, but since we run about the same pace, had the same race plan and were on an out and back course, we ended up running about 43-44 miles together. The morning was relatively cloudy and not too hot. By mid-day the sun was out and temps were in the 70's. The wind picked up and was strong for most of the afternoon. All in all, the race conditions were not bad, even pretty good considering what they could have been! Unfortunately, I did not feel very good for most of the run. I had stomach issues throughout the day, and I felt the energy draining faster than usual. I tried to increase my fluid intake and was able to stay right on my eating plan, but I finished the race pretty drained. In general, I found myself feeling more negative than I usually do running or racing. I had to make great efforts to turn my "self-talk" from negative to positive, something that is rarely a struggle for me! At about 43 miles I had very little energy left and slowed way down. Susy went on and had a great finish and won her age group! My last 7 miles were pretty slow with more walking that I'd planned. However, I did manage to get back onto my race plan and run most of the last 3 miles. I was hoping to finish in close to 10 hours, but realistically gave myself a window of 10-12 hours. I ended up finishing in 10 hours, 51 minutes ... not too bad! Plus, the real goal was to finish and be able to recover well. And, although I felt really lousy on Saturday evening, I woke up Sunday feeling great and was able to return to help pace Heather through her last 6-7 miles! She was the real hero of the group, out running and walking for over 30 hours straight ... with terrible blisters all over her feet!! I attribute my quick recovery to a number of things, none as important as Corbin's post-race support - he pushed recovery liquids and fuel, brought me ice and made sure I iced a ton, and just generally catered to me completely!
Sunday afternoon Corbin and I ventured to the Vegas Strip - neither of us have ever been there. We enjoyed exploring, people watching, eating dinner at Cabo Wabo, and riding the gondolas in The Venetian!! Monday morning we began our drive back. We visited Sundance and then spent the night in Park City, with a fun dinner at the Wasatch Brewery. Once inside, we remembered eating there with Corb's aunt and uncle, Barb and Pete, during our 1997 spring break! Tuesday we picked up our new kitchen island cabinets in Idaho Falls and then made it home to Driggs.
All in all, it was a good trip. Corbin and I shared some nice time away alone, I shared a special experience with my running friends, and I accomplished one of my big goals. As a post-script to the trip ... I gathered with my running friends on Friday (4/16) and Heather shared the news that she just found out she's pregnant! Yikes, 100 miles without knowing that ... I can't even imagine!
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