Moab Red Hot 50k Report

My family and I headed down to Moab for the annual Moab Red Hot races. I felt lucky to go down since the day before the race was my 6 year anniversary being married to my very supportive and beautiful wife. I registered for the 33k and had been waffling with the idea of doing the 50k. The night before we left I decided to stick to the 33k and packed accordingly. I only took what I would need for the 33k so I couldn't change my mind at the last minute. Once we got down there we drove over to Eddie McStiff's for check-in. I stood in the 33k line and told them my name---I wasn't on the list. They checked the 50k list and there I was. So, I decided to just do the 50k. Why not?

After check-in we got a table and enjoyed the "runner's special". Athletes started piling in to check-in and I got the chance to see some familiar faces and good friends. This helped make it official- I was back. Sitting out since June of 2009 was tough and I started to get those butterflies in the tummy.

We went back to the hotel and I got my stuff ready while the family hit the hotel pool. I didn't sleep well- partly due to excitement as well as nerves.

Race morning was a balmy 14 degrees. The race kicked off at 8 am and it was cold. You could see all the runners trying to figure out what to wear. I opted for shorts, shirt and a long sleeve. When the race started I settled into a pretty comfortable pace knowing it was going to be a long day. We hit the incline right off the start and there was no dirt to be found. Snow everywhere. Combined with the slickrock, there were quite a few falls all along the course. About 5miles in we started our next little climb and the snow was easily mid shin deep for close to 4 miles. This made it tough. I felt good up to the 20 mile mark and was pleased with my pace. The sun was out now and the temps were rising. I shed the long sleeve and just had my short sleeve to work with. As i hit the 2nd to last aide station, I started to feel the heat a abit and needed to get more fluids. I pulled into the aide station to fill my bottles and get out. Problem: they ran out of water. Damn! The next aide station was close to 6+ miles away and I was already behind in the fluids. Some runners shared some choice words and a group of us left the aide station. I was no more than 100 yards out and started to cramp up. First my right calf then my left. Perfect. We were starting a nice downhill section on slickrock and I had to walk a majority of it. Unfortunately for me, I was forced to walk a real good chunk from here. I stopped a couple times and gobbled down some snow but it didn't help much. I kept reminding myself that I just wasn't "born to tun". A mountain biker came by and I was only about a 1/4 mile from the aide station so I asked him if he had seen it and how much farther. He replied- "about 2.5 miles to 3", my face sunk. He mentioned due to the trail conditions they couldn't make it to the original location. Well that was just perfect I thought. When I finally made it to the last aide station, they were out of water as well. By this point I wanted it to all be over. A rush of adrenaline/anger kicked in and I took off to the finish. I would be curious to know my actual pace to the finish cause I felt like I was movin.

When I got to the line, the clock read 7:24. I was relieved to be done but pissed at my time. I was hoping for at least an hour off that.

All in all, I got time on my feet and got to run with some great people. We got in a quality family vacation and hopefully it helped me more for the Buffalo Run 50 miler in March.

When you go that slow in races they do have an award. Here it is below.....kissin a camel on Valentines Day!