On Saturday, Jake and I headed down to Mona, Utah for the Run Through the Lavender Half Marathon hosted by the Young Living. The course is basically a loop around the Mona Reservoir - first mile on a dirt road, then on paved roads until ten miles, and the last 5K weaves through the lavender fields on a rough dirt road. It's not an easy course but a great one for a hard workout - our first harder effort or workout since the USA 1/2 champs a month ago.
The night before the race, Rachelle was nice enough to let us crash at her place so we wouldn't have to make the long drive in the morning. Then we all headed to Mona, boarded the buses for the 5 mile ride to the start, and warmed up a little. It was at this point that we realized a lot of the top runners in the area had the same idea that we did - generous prize money (which this race had) bring out top-notch competition! With Jake back to running 140 miles/week and my "off season" the last 4 weeks, we weren't quite in our top racing form. That's okay - it was still fun to mix it up and compete... and its always easier to get in a hard workout during a low key race, rather than doing it solo.
Jake and I both ended up running marathon-ish pace for this race (although it felt harder!). My time was 1:24:19 for 2nd place and Jake's was 1:12:36 for 4th place. We won enough prize money between the two of us to cover our Jackson Hole vacation next week so I call that a success!
 |
| Through the lavender fields |
 |
| Rachelle on her final kick! |
 |
| Our reward for running the race - a lavender week and lots of cookies |
 |
| Top 5 women |
 |
| The top 5 men |
 |
| Enjoying the smell of lavender |
 |
| Rachelle and me |
Posts
NICE WORK! I live and run in beautiful Montana and have been dying to race in Utah!
ReplyDeleteAli there are some great races in northern Utah (The Top of Utah 1/2 and Full marathons in Logan are the first ones that come to mind). Still a haul from Montana though! :-)
Delete