I planned on heading down to St. George for an extended weekend in following with tradition, for my wife's birthday. She enjoys getting away from the cold, smog, and snow of Salt Lake this time each year. I enjoy it too and it is a great excuse to do some running in beautiful southern Utah.
Just before packing up and heading down last Wednesday, I did my daily ritual of scanning through Facebook. It was then that I saw a posting about the Dogtown Half Marathon, 9K and 5K races. As luck would have it; the timing was perfect for my weekend excursion. I gained approval from Melissa, and signed up just before heading down south. She has always been supportive of my participation in running events, and for that I am truly grateful.
The race start was just off I-15, at the Hurricane/Zions National Park exit, within a business complex next to a Harley-Davidson dealership and a Holiday Inn Hotel. It couldn't have been more convenient, as my wife and I stayed with my father in-law whose home was only ten minutes away. The starting time of 9:00 a.m., was perfect as well for a full night of sleep. I arrived with about twenty minutes to spare; just enough for the port-o-potties, and to line up at the start.
The first couple miles were a gradual downward slope that wound its way through an area called Coral Canyon, past nice and fairly new homes. My pace felt really good and I was excited to be racing for the first time in about 4 months. The weather was near perfect for runnning, with temperatures in the high 30's and very little wind.
Just out of Coral Canyon, runners crossed a dual lane roadway, and then to a service road for the local landfill. Fortunately; a trail system forked off to the west, and that's where we headed. The next couple miles were run along a mostly paved, descending and winding pathway through a narrow canyonway. The turn-over in my legs was my limitation through this section, as I felt easy with my breating, but lacked some downhill speed.
The trail came out of the narrows, and then followed the Virgin River for a short distance. There were some gentle rollers from around miles 6-9, but they were not all too cumbersome. I played leapfrog with a runnner from Ogden, and he pointed out three women up ahead that we could try to latch on to.
Just prior to mile 10, a slight hill raised my pace for the slowest of the race, however a downhill shortly followed. The course held a fairly flat trend from then on until the finish, with a few turns here and there. I latched on to the Ogden runner until mile 11, and then put in a surge in an attempt to reel in the runners in my sights. I passed one of the women runners around mile 11.5, and then another of the women just after mile 12. The third woman, attired in bright neon pink, was running strong and was just out of reach. She finished about 30 seconds ahead, and was the first female finisher.
It was a really fun and well organized race. I am impressed with the course and all the scenery the area has to offer. I would definitely like to put this race on the calendar for next year!
I received a first place finish in my age group, which came as a surprise, and was definitely beyond my expectations. My splits were:
1. 6:27
2. 6:22
3. 6:27
4. 6:03
5. 6:17
6. 6:39
7. 6:53
8. 6:20
9. 6:46
10. 6:59
11. 6:35
12. 6:13
13. 6:28
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