Sorry. I'm late. I've meant to post this WEEKS ago, but I got a little busy. Alright, so let's talk about my weekend in Fruita on April 19th through the 21st. I had planned on going out to good old Fruita, Colorado with some friends for nothing but pain and fun. What is painful and fun, you ask? Running. Yes. We all set some big goals and headed out that way. Fruita is way the heck out there. It's as far west as you can go in Colorado. You may as well be in Utah at that point. Honestly, I didn't even know it'd be pretty or what. I know people usually go mountain biking there but I guess it was a good opportunity to go explore.
I left work at 1:30pm on Friday and started driving west. Picked up Lindsay in Vail and we continued on. Met up with Kevin and Courtney in Fruita at our hotel and picked up my race packet. We walked a whole damn mile to the Hot Tomato... a pretty sweet spot to have dinner where I ate an endless salad. We went to bed fairly early since our race started at 6:30am.
I woke up on Saturday morning and showered, we left the hotel room at 6 and were at the start area at 6:10am. It was overcast and chilly, but not cold enough to bring a jacket. Off we go. Both Kevin and I were running the marathon and Courtney was running the double marathon (ouch). Lindsay was there to make sure I got a hug at the finish and she'd be mountain biking and exploring. We would run together on Sunday the 5-mile race. So race starts, it starts with a small downhill, flat, then up. Up, up, up. But a mellow up. Then we get off the main road, onto the trails and up we go, now SERIOUSLY up. for 2 miles straight (or more). A bit of walking for me, but I was told that it was ok. Once at the summit, you go down. Down, down, down... for 3 more miles. And you get to the first aid station. I ate a GU.
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| Before running, when life was good |
Off I go, tromping along. Uh oh... tummy ache. Wait, no. NASTY stomach ache! I'm pushing through. Get to mile 9. GORGEOUS view. Attempt to eat a GU and can only get a half. I try to settle my stomach with ginger ale, but nothing. Should I stop? HECK NO! Just go, see how you feel. Downhills and flats for 3 miles. Mile 12. Life is miserable. I grab some napkins, no water, no food, no GU, just go. My stomach was feeling horrible. I keep going. No aid stations for a good 7 miles, the next one was at mile 19. I kept moving walking the climbs, jogging the flats and downhills. I still don't eat at all. I get to mile 19, drink some water, keep moving. Now up AGAIN. UP, UP UP. I'm tired of going up. I walk. I hit the ridge. Amazing views, time to jog. Then hit mile 23, down I go. Steep and technical downhills and I see the road. Get to the road, pick up the speed, I'm ready to be done.. NO! uphill, AGAIN. DAMN! Ok, take it easy, now... 1/4 mile after, I get to the top and NOW it's all down to the finish. I finished roughly 10mins off of my goal time. It was a bummer, BUT I didn't eat anything since my stomach was so angry. So I'm content. We go get some food while waiting for Courtney to be done. I start to feel better.
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| Gaby struggles (yeah, we started all the way down there, we eventually run by the river and THEN go all the way back up... IT SUCKED!) |
Later that night I am exhausted and ready for bed. I was bummed since we wanted BADLY to explore DTF (downtown Fuita), but I was so tired I didn't care THAT much. The next morning we wake up and back to the start line. Lindsay and I were running the 5-miler. It was her race and I was there to keep her company. We had estimated 1h5m (I think) since it seemed to be technical. We finished just under 1:06 which was good enough for us, since the course was ACTUALLY 6 miles. We both felt pretty good and the best part was that Lindsay was super happy with her performance and got her all excited for more races!
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| 5-miler day. I look and feel better!! :) |
I made that look so good!
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