by Mike Roberts
Twitter: @baldroberts
Fruita Double
Marathon (52 miles)
Three weeks ago, I had the pleasure of running the Fruita
Double Marathon. This is a great trail run that runs along the Colorado River.
There is some climbing involved (about 8,500 feet), but nothing too severe.
Besides being an awesome course, this run also holds
significance to me because it is the only run I have ever DNF’d (did not
finish). See, last year when I ran it, it was 90 degrees (no joke!), and I got
WAY dehydrated. As a result, I had to drop out at mile 38 (along with a bunch
of other people).
But this year, the weather forecast called for cloudy skies
and temps in the mid-50s. So I loaded up the car, drove the five hours to
Fruita, and found myself standing on the start line. My plan was to run slowly,
eat at every aid station, and stay hydrated.
Everything was going according to plan (even the weather)
until I hit the last aid station at mile 47. Figuring I only had five miles
left, I assumed I would be ok to just run this one in without refueling at all.
Big mistake.
See, what I didn’t realize is that the next three miles of
the race included 1,300 feet of climbing (yes, this was a loop course, but my
brain isn’t as sharp as it should be after 47 or so miles). By the time I had
dragged myself to the top, I bonked in a serious way. As in, “I think I might
pass out” serious.
Luckily, I had a pack of shot blocks on me, and after a few
minutes, things were back to normal…as normal as things can be after 50 miles.
In the end, I shuffled down the last decent, and crossed the
finish line in 11:33:03.
Having avenged my DNF, I can now rest comfortably at night.
I’ll See Your Double
Marathon, and Raise you a Half (and change)
Feeling good about my double-marathon, this past weekend I
once again loaded up the car and heading to Moab to take part in the Red Rock
Relay. This 70-mile relay race has teams of six rotating throughout the run as
a way to keep everyone fresh.
Me? I was running it solo.
The race started in town, headed up the canyon for a few
miles, then connected with the La Sal mountain loop. There were lots of
run-able hills, and the weather was perfect (mid 60s) until about 2:00. After
that, things heated up a bit, but nothing too scorching (peaking out at
80).
I’m doing a charity run for my school in June where I’m
running from Salt Lake to Las Vegas (http://www.mikesrun4rowlandhall.com/),
and I was going to use this as my last long training run. My plan for the Vegas
run is to run two miles, then walk one mile so as to cut down on recovery time
each night, and this was the schedule I planned to implement for this run.
I tried to stick to my run two miles, walk one-mile
routine for the first few miles, but I felt too good to do that for the whole
run. Plus, I really didn’t NEED to recover for another long any time soon, so
instead, I just ran most of the course very slowly. This isn't to say that I
didn't walk from time to time and on the long hills, but it wasn't as often as
I had planned.
And as crazy as it sounds, it was a fairly easy run. I
only hit one "rough" patch (from miles 50-55), but it didn't last too
long. I soon recovered, and I was even able to run the last six miles of the
race (if you call a slow, 12 minute per mile shuffle running)
In the end, I finished in 12:29:10. I was hoping to
simply make it in under the cutoff (14 hours), so I am super psyched about my
time. Plus, I can still walk today. It's a slow, hobbling walk, but a walk
nonetheless.
