Race #6/17 Sour Grapes Half & Half Trail Run

This marked race number 6 in the UMTR Trail Race Series. This was also the start of my much needed vacation to the Grand Canyon and Southern Utah. Just a quick car ride (well okay it was about 3 1/2 hours in the wrong direction!) to the race and then once complete many hours in the car driving to the Grand Canyon.

Weather for this race was looking wet. Up at 3:30 am and out the door (with family in tow) by 4 am to make it in time for the start at 8:15. My husband did the driving so I was able to sleep just a little bit longer. When I awoke it was raining cats and dogs! This did not bode well for a dry race. It turned out, however, as we continued to drive north the rain stopped and the roads were dry!

After arriving at the race I sent my husband and son on their way to find something to do as I expected to be running for several hours. I met up with several other UMTR members and we chatted as we waited for the race to start. After brief instructions we were off.

The trails were surprisingly dry and relatively flat. The total elevation gain was only about 500 feet. (not complaining as flat trail races can be a nice change of pace) 

This race was mostly ran alone. It seems that each of my races I find myself running my own pace that does not seem to coincide with others running. This is okay though as I am finding it nice to run alone and spend this time thinking. With all the stress this summer this is working well.

I wore my rain jacket for this race expecting it to start raining on us at any minute. Should have left the jacket behind! The weather was good and the rain held out until the very end. After my initial warm up with tight calves everything felt great. I could tell though that it was time to invest in some new shoes. This race marked about 400 miles on these trail shoes and my heels were starting to feel it.

The only mud to be seen and they brought in wood chips to cover it up!

Even when it did start raining towards the end of the race it was light rain and not cold at all.

A rare half decent race picture!

Erica, Nora and I at the finish.

My official finish time for this race was 2:31:50 which is a PR for a HM trail race. I went into this race without pushing myself too hard as just getting to the race was the difficult part.

Results Stats:
Overall 96/125
Division Place 9/15
Sex Place 40/65
Age Graded Place 86/125

Next race is the William O'Brien 10 Mile Trail Race (this race was postponed until Sept. due to severe rains and the potential for runners damaging the trails)