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Red Hot Moab 55K

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Location:

Logan,UT,United States

Member Since:

Apr 08, 2005

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Former Course Record Holder (it was a good run while it lasted...)

Logan Peak Trail Race

Completely addicted to trail running

 

 

 

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

2016 Race Schedule

TBD...

 

 

 

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Who knows?

 

 

 

 

Personal:

Link to my Wife and I's Photo and Running blog

 

 

 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
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2015 Trail Miles Lifetime Miles: 2047.50
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Race: Red Hot Moab 55K (33 Miles) 05:01:13, Place overall: 15
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.0033.0033.00

Moab Red Hot 55K (or so).  

I am pleased I survived!  It was windy, rainy, sunny, but mostly just windy.  I am not going to provide too many details as I am now on vacation, but just a few.  

The big news was that Aaron has the hand up in the first of our 3 part race off.  But only by just over a minute.  It could have been much worse. I am pretty pumped for our impromptu race series we have now begun.  Yes its true that the current score is now, Aaron 1, Cody 0.  But just watch out for race #2 (Logan Peak). I may have a surprise or 2 for him there.  I have a feeling that it will come down to the big showdown at RRR 50 in Sept.  Fun stuff.

So, the nitty gritty.

I woke up a few times during the night to howling winds outside our hotel.  A bad omen for a 5 hour race.  It rained off and on before the start and while waiting at the start line, I was torn on how to dress.  I feared another "Pocatello" (freeze fest) and wore my St George Running Center Jacket over 3 shirts and arm warmers.  There were times in the first 17 miles that I was glad that I had the extra jacket, but I was happy to shed the jacket at mile 17 in Aaron's drop bag.  Turned out that rain was not the issue, it was just the wind.  Man, did it howl.  Since most of the race is spent on top of a large plateau, there wasn't a lot of shelter from the wind.  Alright, whinning is over.  At least for now.

The race started off with a nice gradual climb up to the top of the plateau.  I was consciously holding back and conserving for later.  The lead pack was GONE and I was happily in my own world 20-25 people back.  I soon found myself running with Anita Ortiz stride for stride for a good 2 miles or so before she pulled away and won the women's race.  That first section of the course was actually pretty quick despite holding back as it was on a packed dirt road (Gemini Bridges Road).  I hit the 5 mile point in about 40 mins flat.  Up to that point things had felt easy.  Well, things got much harder as we turned onto the Metal Masher Loop.  Its a 12 mile or so loop that takes you up about a thousand feet over and around slickrock.  It wasn't as hard as what was to follow, but it was a kick in the pants compared to the easy road stuff.  It was spectacular though as the views from that trail are amazing.  All through that loop I fought the wind, my jacket, and my body as it started to complain as well.  I even had to watch Aaron (my new arch nemesis) pull away from me as I puttered along at a snails pace.  

Miles 5-10 were covered in 45 mins.  Not too bad, since it was a net up-hill.  The problem was that miles 10-15 were covered in 42 mins and gave all that elevation back.  I noticed a disturbing trend at this point.  I didn't have a fast downhill gear.  I could tell my lack of proper training and lack of consistent vertical had not trained my quads to handle the load.  

In my option, the lamest part of the course was the 4 mile stretch from Mile 14 to 18 as it was right into the stiff wind.  Sure, it was pretty flat and smooth, but the wind just sapped my strength.  Never mind though as the race was half over, Aaron had 2+ min gap (by my last glimpse on a long straight section) and I was tired and ready to get this thing done already.  Not a good attitude to carry into the toughest section of the course.  Goodbye road and say hello to Gold Bar Trail.  It consisted of soft sand and hard slickrock.  Nothing in between.  Sure, it was pretty, not as windy, but we were climbing again.  Miles 15-20 were covered in

45 mins again.  Miles 20-25 took an even hour.  It was ugly.  Relentless climb, descent, turn, climb, descend, turn etc.  The good news was that Aaron was taking it so easy through here (or so he claims), that I caught him with a bit of a push to spend some time chatting.  It was sure nice to have someone to help out the navigating duties as it takes full concentration to make it to the next marker without getting lost.  It sure helped pass the time as well.  While running with Aaron, I noticed that he was much quicker on the downhill sections and I had to work hard to keep up with him.  In fact, once we hit some mild downhill that finally wasn't what most people call jumping off huge boulders, he was gone.  It took him about a quarter mile and then he was out of sight.  Crap.

Oh well, at least I was catching a few runners here and there and I felt like I was going to make it the the finish without a helicopter ride.  Miles 25-30 were covered in 49 mins.  Not great considering that we were now descending, but in my defense it was pretty rocky and technical (slickrock) as were were now on the Golden Spike Trail.  

The final push to the finish was sparked by catching the #2 girl.  Plus there was this guy (I should look up his name) with a green jacket who had been about a minute ahead of me for half the day and I was going to beat him, even if it killed me.  That plus the nice downhill DIRT road (Poison Spider Road) made all the difference as I started to get some of my downhill gear back.  My last mile and a half was at 7:37 pace.  It sure felt faster than that, but at least it wasn't another 11 min mile.  I passed green jacket guy and I even thought I saw Aaron way off in the distance, but I wasn't sure.  The finish line happily came and it was all over.  I had quietly predicted 5 hours and was really trying to make it under that mark, but just missed it.  Oh well, I gave it all I had from about mile 5 to the finish and I have to be pleased that it turned out as well as it did.  

I was able to even enjoy the whole weekend as my wife and I had left the kids with my mom and enjoyed some time together.  We hiked Delicate Arch and the window arches (about 4 miles of walking) the day after the race in the sunshine.  The only complaints I had were a horrible pain in my "other" knee and my two big toe nails that will probably fall off now (I guess slamming my toes into the front of shoes while running down slickrock is hard on them).  Time will tell how those injuries turn out.  Its all worth it though.  Despite being the hardest (literally, since the slickrock is hard) course, it is also the most scenic (this side of El Vaquero Loco).  I would recommend this race to anyone crazy enough to consider a silly thing as this.

T-5:01:13 3900' Vert Climbing 4300' Vert Descending



- Pics

Finishing

Tired!

Aaron and I at the finish

Glad To Be DONE!

Pics of Arches -

Balanced Rock

Delicate Arch

Me and my better half

What a gorgeous day!

Cascadia 5 #2 Miles: 33.002011 Trail Miles Miles: 33.00
Comments
From jun on Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 20:07:53 from 97.126.239.167

Congrats on a good finish in a tough race. I heard it was supposed to be dodgy weather down there today.

From Scott Ensign on Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 18:29:03 from 67.41.176.69

nice job Cody, looks like a lot of fun. good to see you and Aaron place so well.

From Jon on Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 21:21:00 from 74.177.118.24

Nice job, Cody. It looks like you've got another series again this year, too- better get to work for Logan Peak!

From jun on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 00:21:26 from 97.126.239.167

I enjoyed the detailed race report. Nice to push through the hard parts and really do well. I obviously need to get in this game by signing up for Logan. I'm ready to get my butt handed to me.

From jtshad on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 09:00:21 from 184.48.165.195

Nice job on a strong race.

From ultrajim on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 11:36:54 from 67.137.236.106

Great job Cody. Saw you there but didn't get a chence to say hi. That wind was tough to run in.

From Jim Kern on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 14:25:17 from 192.107.247.6

Thanks for the report. Congrats on a great finish.

From Paul on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 19:45:27 from 204.113.19.55

Good job, but why are you always picking fights with other runners?

From Rob Murphy on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 22:34:10 from 24.10.248.6

Great pictures!

Hope the rest of your long weekend/vacation went great.

From Jon on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 00:24:30 from 74.177.118.24

Love the hair in the second picture.

Come on, Paul, it's Cody. Do you really need to ask? He's the most make-up-your-own-competition runner there is! That's where a lot of his motivation comes from! And it seems to work.

From Scott Wesemann on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 17:20:24 from 66.239.250.209

Nice report and pics. You will have to sign up for Quest for Kings to give yourself another shot at Aaron. I think I want to to Logan Pk as well.

From Aaron Kennard on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 18:38:04 from 98.245.117.176

Nice report, and good job out there, despite being less trained than you'd have liked. You still busted out a solid performance, though I wouldn't have expected less. I'm going to need to up the ante for Logan, I can already tell. Don't worry though, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for that one also (not the least being a little place called green mountain in my back yard that will be frequented often in the next few months....you better get those down hill legs back before then!)

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