The Moab Trail Marathon

This was the most technical/dangerous race I've ever done by a long shot. And the fact that it rained for the 12 hours leading up to the start didn't help. A few sections of the course had more than a little 'exposure,' and one section went down about 700 feet in less than half a mile which meant dozens of 3-4 foot drops from slickrock onto slickrock and shuffling over soaking wet switchbacks. The few parts of the course that weren't rock or sand were so muddy that they might as well have been ice.

This post has taken me a while to get up because I didn't bring a camera during the race and I ended up with only a few mediocre pictures of my own. -all the pictures in this post were taken from other runners off facebook. I just might be posting more pictures as i find them.
The night before the race was spent in the back of my car listening to the rain. It started raining around 10pm and didn't let up until the race started.

My pre-race dinner was the usual bacon cheeseburger and a salad.
Breakfast was half a piece of Ezekiel sesame (sprouted grain) bread with peanut butter and virgin coconut oil, along with some Awake tea with Grapefruit Seed Extract and a piece of ginger.

The start of the race took us into Pritchett Canyon and through some beautiful, rolling, canyonlands

I had a little nauseousness during the first five miles or so, but Vespa does that to me a bit so I wasn't
concerned and it passed quickly. After mile eight or nine, the course opened up to follow a wide, sandy track and lost some altitude giving me a chance to settle into a more controlled effort. I drank my first 10 ounces of water over the next few miles and enjoyed the view before the trail got technical again.

open, soft, beautiful

to the side of the trail I saw my first waterfall of the day

the last part of soft trail for the rest of the day, excluding the slick muddy sections

At roughly the two hour mark I took an S!Cap. From just before the three hour mark until just before the four hour mark I took a Strawberry Stinger gel, with another 10 ounces of water. Right after finishing most of it, I took another S!Cap and tried to keep drinking. During the last few miles (I had only a vague idea of how much was left) I took a mouthful of Blueberry Pomegranate Roctane for the amino acids, just to try to boost recovery, but it sat like a rock in my stomach so I left it at that and stuck to water until the end.
Other than the nauseousness during the first few miles, I had no major GI problems. But taking in a meager 120-130 calories and about 30 ounces of water is hardly a lot by almost anyone's standards but my own.

I finished 13th overall in 4:21. Nowhere near where I need to be. But for now, for this race, it'll do.
The course lead through tight squeezes and open rock ledges. There was a huge climb right in the middle that had virtually everyone walking. Parts of it had rappel lines that took you up and down sheer rock formations. The course seemed to drastically change every half hour...
It's hard to describe exactly what was so special about this race. It was the most hardcore trail running I've ever done. 

gently heading back onto the course, down the hill by the finish line to get the last few miles

I'm excited to go back next year for sure.

thoughts going into the Xterra Marathon of Trail Races

I'm extremely excited about the trail marathon this weekend! and with another rugged, trail marathon coming up on November 5th, this weekend will be a great chance to master my game-plan and develop myself as a trail runner.
as far as pre-race food goes, the plan is almost identical to my last few races, but during the race I'm trying something new to attempt to avoid gastric problems, and the crash i had at Bear Creek.

dinner: bacon cheese burger and a late salad, along with a lot of water
breakfast plan: strong awake tea with hemp milk and ginger, and one piece of Life Bread with organic, creamy peanut butter and virgin coconut oil

during the race:
-S!Caps (electrolyte pills) at around miles 5, 14, and 21
-half a caffeine pill at miles 10 and 20 (100 mg each)
-plain water or very diluted gatorade throughout*

I'll probly end up with well under 100 calories taken in during the race, for better or worse. my high-fat diet along with Vespa will stop me from burning through my glycogen too quickly, so energy shouldn't be a problem for marathon distance, even if it has more than 3000 feet of gain.. hopefully.
*I've never had a hydration goal, but I've also never taken in enough fluids, so this time the goal is to take in at least 60 ounces of water during the race. so i need to fill my bottle at three aid stations per lap and down it in between.

I'm not planning to go out too hard, but I'm also not going to leave anything left in the tank. I'd rather crash than feel like i wasted a race. plus, this one is 5 miles shorter than a 50k... my number one goal for this race is to get my hydration/electrolytes dialed in. if that happens, i should have a great day... i have no time goal, but a top-5 finish at a race like this would be a good step forward...

I'm planning on trying the pills and the pre-race meal during my run tomorrow. if that goes well, I'll be confident about race day.