Mount Nebo Half Marathon

Mount Nebo Half Marathon

Race #29 of 2013 
My fastest half marathon to date

This will be, hands down, one of my top 3 favorite half marathons, and as long as I continue running I will continue to sign up for this race.  In all my racing so far this is the only course that I can achieve a sub 2 hour run and so of course it's going to make me a happy lady.  This was my second time running it and both this year and last I was able to beat that 2 hour mark.

Packet pick up was super easy, right at the bus pick up spot.  Josh picked me up on his way down from Bountiful and we headed South to Payson.   We saw our friends Cindy and Brad from the RA group and my other friends Jody and Doran.  They hopped on our same bus just in time to find a spot near the back with only a couple spots left.  We visited on the way up to the top of the mountain.  Because this course is so steep (3800 elevation drop) the buses travel pretty slowly getting us up to the starting line.  It was probably a good 40 minute drive to go 13.1 miles.  That's no hurry for sure. 

By the time we got there and unloaded it was light outside.  There were fire pits for us to keep warm and only a small handful of portapotties.  I quickly got that business out of the way and went for a walk further up the road to enjoy the gorgeous mountain air and leaves changing colors. I also wanted to just breathe big and not near the fires while doing so.  I also wanted to focus my energy on this race ahead of me.  I've been trying to eat a little more healthy and take my vitamins and iron and so I was hopeful for a fun, feel-good run.  The last few have been not so good feeling.

Doran and Jody are my good buds from up North a couple hours.  We ran Ragnar together this year in the same van and had a blast!!  I'm so glad they came down and ran a race in my neck of the woods.  I've run Top of Utah 3 times now in their neck of the woods and think It's time for me to retire that race.  I think I'm wearing out or wearing down.  Still trying to figure that out. 

 

The time had come to throw our drop bags in the vehicle and line up.  Adrian was pacing the 2 hour group and I told him I never wanted to see his back side.  My goal was to stay in front of him for the entire race.  He is a fun person to hang out with though and really knows how to make you just love running.  Josh hung out with him during the race and learned a lot of great things about running.  Not only does Adrian do a great job at pacing and keeping you motivated but he helps people one-on-one who may be struggling.  What a good guy.  Too bad I never got to run with him today. 

The gun went off and we were zooming down the canyon road.  I love this canyon because it's so gorgeous, but it's also got a very small, quaint little feeling about it.  It truly feels like you are in the middle of nowhere.  The road is small, no 4 lane canyon road like some of the bigger canyons.  Even no painted 2 lane roads.  Just one road that is black top.  I don't have any mile by mile info to share but at mile 4 or 5 I caught up and passed the 1:50 pacers and told them I didn't want to see them again either and that if they came upon me then to please slow down and don't pass me, or else bop me with their stick.  Well, that lasted until about mile 10 and there they were again.  Shoot!!  The last few miles of this race have a few rolling hills and I just couldn't keep that pace to stay ahead of them.  I certainly tried but it wasn't happening.  So I saw them continue on ahead of me (they had a job to do) and just tried to stay focused and keep pushing.  As I came into the finish line area I was pretty happy to end with this time.  I had beat last year's time by 3 minutes 14 seconds.  I'll take it!!  

Happy Smiles all over the place!

My friends Melanie and Denise :)  So fun to see them at a lot of races.

Nebo with a hidden 13.1 in there.  See it?

 Jonathon Crampton.  What can I say about this guy?  Oh, there's plenty, but I'll just say I appreciate being able to pace a few of his races and I also ran a relay, the Top of Zion Relay, this Summer with him.  He's a nut!  He's also run over 100 marathons, which completely blows me away.  Carry on little JC.

 Definitely a thumbs up race for me.  I should have stuck two thumbs up.  I will be back again.

Heading back to the car and getting in a final pit stop only to discover some pretty raunchy smelling, disgusting port-a-potties.  It baffles me how people can be so messy in their business.  Seriously, how hard is it to just do your thing and leave things nice and tidy?  I quickly headed to a different john.

My Stats for my fastest half to date:

Mile 1 - 8:16
Mile 2 - 8:10
Mile 3 - 8:30
Mile 4 - 7:25
Mile 5 - 8:23
Mile 6 - 8:23
Mile 7 - 8:01
Mile 8 - 8:27
Mile 9 - 8:47
Mile 10 - 9:16
Mile 11 - 9:58
Mile 12 - 9:44
Mile 13 - 9:38
Mile 13.16 - 1:31

Half Marathon Total 1:54:35
Average Pace 8:42 min/mile