Road trip to Utah!!!!

Tapering for the upcoming race in Utah! I haven't run much this week - about 5 miles yesterday, and I walked the dogs this morning for a little bit. I'm having some tweaky pain in my left shin the last 2 weeks. The old familiar shin pain always rears around when I run on concrete for a little bit, which I did several weeks ago with the gals on a road run. I've been icing and resting, so I'm hoping it won't bother me during the race. I've also got some sort of pain right below my kneecap on my shin, but it is very light and intermittent.

I'll be leaving tomorrow to drive up to St. George, Utah for the Red Mountain 50k. I'm super excited. My friend Sarah (a non-runner) and I will be traveling about 8 hours or so in my 4-runner to St. George. It will be the first time I've traveled in that area of the country. We'll go over the Hoover Dam, which is supposed to be really cool, and then skip by Las Vegas (never been) and give it a wave, and then into Utah. Since the Grand Canyon is in the way, we have to travel from Arizona into Nevada, back into Arizona and then into Utah. I can't wait; I absolutely love road trips.

Race day weather - scattered thunderstorms (30% chance) and a morning low of about 41 degrees in Central, Utah, which is where the race starts (a little North of St. George). Should be warming up to about 68 degrees in Ivins, the end of the race (near St. George). I'll probably wear my arm warmers to start and then pull them off as I warm up. I'm really hoping there is no rain. I'm going to wear the same clothes I wore for Zane Grey; I had no chafing and was super comfy.

I'll be up early on race day! The race shuttle starts loading at 4:20am and leaves at 4:30am from Ivins; runners will be shuttled up to the race start in Central. Ivins is about 20 minutes from the hotel where we are staying in St. George, so I'll be getting up around 3:15am to get ready. I'm hoping to get some rest tonight, because I'm not expecting much sleep on Friday night. The race starts at 5:30am.

The course is 12 miles on jeep road (see picture above), following by 19 miles on pavement. I'm hoping the 19 miles on pavement will not injure me! It is supposed to be very pretty. Here is the elevation profile:

Lots of downhill action, so I'm hoping for a fairly fast race (well, for me). Goals:

1. Finish without injury
2. Finish in under 7 hours
3. Finish in under 6 hours. Given all the downhill and my marathon finish of 4:35, I think this goal is doable. What's 5 more miles? Ask me that on race day!