Three weeks, three races. And more to come!

I like to do this thing where I race every weekend for a month or more. I like it for two reasons: lots of medals and shirts in less time, and it makes my mom upset. She thinks that it will turn out like last year where I wanted to die for 7 weeks straight. I keep telling her this is only 5 weeks worth and last year was 7. No comparison at all, right?

I completed my fourth relay, the Grand Teton Relay with the team Bear Bait.  Here we are at the end, looking quite unmauled.

I'm chewing on my medal while everyone else is being normal. Story of my life right here, people.

The Grand Teton Relay is a nice small relay. I enjoyed that my night run was basically by myself. I was off on my own on a rails to trails section. I could see the vans on the road a ways off but I was only passed by one runner that whole leg. And she was running scared. I had my can of bear spray but I really wasn't worried that anything would happen. And nothing did happen. It was incident free and really quite pleasant. We finished in 31 hours and 18 minutes. I'm assuming that's an amazing time, because, let's face it, we're amazing.

The next weekend brought the Run Elevated Half Marathon down Little Cottonwood Canyon. This was a great race. The canyon was gorgeous. I honestly can't remember the last time I was even in that canyon... It rained on us for a bit around mile 2, then hailed on us for less than 30 seconds but you should have heard the whining!  I found it quite refreshing, and the hail wasn't that big. Just tiny little pellets that didn't even sting. It was over quickly and I continued to sail down the mountain. I rocked a nice finish of 2:37:something and then couldn't walk down stairs normally for the next 3 days. That down hill will really rough you up.

I was recovered enough to feel sassy for my race last Saturday, the Hel's Half Pound. Let me show you what that course looked like.

There was no time limit for this race. It's their first year so they weren't sure how long it would take people to complete this beast of a course. I took them at their word and signed up. I could walk the first uphill part and then make up time on the downhill. Which is exactly what I did, which is exactly why I came in last. Last place. As in everyone beat me. But let me tell you something. I was the only "average' runner there. I was surrounded by ultramarathoners, Boston qualifiers, and crazed trail runners. I knew right when I got there that I would be last. And that's okay. There were a total or 38 runners, there would have been 39 but that guy DNS (does that mean I beat him at least?). In a pool that small, I don't stand a chance.

I really didn't mind coming in last. I made it look good. And the best part was the way everyone was cheering me on, they all knew my name, and at least three people were snapping pictures. I was basically a running celebrity right then. I even got a bunch of extra swag they had because they didn't want to take it with them. Who doesn't love free stuff?

The course itself was really beautiful. It helped take my mind off of how much it sucked to run straight up and then straight back down a mountain with 16% grade. I saw some squirrels fighting, some grouse grazing, a fish in the stream, baby goats in a field, some cute chipmunks, and lots of confused townsfolk (they were all wondering why I was running the streets of their fair city with a number on and no one around).

I still haven't decided if I'm coming back for this one next year. I may actually have to try running some of that uphill if I did... We'll just wait and see.

The next two weekends bring two more races, the Mt. Nebo Half Marathon and the Big Cottonwood Marathon. I may be dropping down to the half at Big Cottonwood, we'll see how I'm feeling. I may just be feeling crazy enough to take it on, despite my lack of 20+ mile training runs as of late.

Until then, happy running!