Park City Marathon (#13) Race Ratings!

Ratings...
Registration Fee: $65 (Early Reg., $75 after)

Overall Race Rating (weighted): 3.0/5.0
Average Calculated Rating: 3.3/5.0
~ The course was a big determinant here. Such a flat, straight, course with so much heat and no shade was definitely hard. The area, however, is definitely worth running 26 miles to see! Beautiful mountains and great host resort!

Race Director: Let's place race director...
~What would I have changed if I were race director? The first thing would be the course... too much open space with a very hot sun-- Although, I now know what it feels like to be cooked. Also, GU! If any races choose anything other than GU they're crazy. Post race food... for 400 marathoners and a lot more half-marathoners, you need to get some bagels and more fruit and sugary item. Port-a-johns were far and few between in the last 6 miles (pretty important spot I would say)-- add more at the end and don't worry about them every other mile in the first 10.

Event Organization: 5.0/5.0 (now broken into 2 parts, see below as well) As far as "event organization" we'll go ahead and include things like Host hotel, website use, ease of travel to the event and to the actual race, etc.
The EVENT organization was great. The airport (Salt Lake City) was large, but still easy to get into. Park City is only a 20 minute drive from the airport and I believe the hotels have shuttles. Also, the host resort was fabulous with good prices and hot tubs on the balconies! The start/finish is right outside the hotel doors with a GREAT restaurant adjacent... Maxwell's East Coast Eatery (great homemade pastas and 5 am pre-marathon breakfast served!). There is also a Massage Envy on sight for post-marathon stress relief.

Some pictures from the hotel :)

(Picture left to right: 1) View from our balcony- Olympic Luge slides, 2) View OF our balcony-- hot tub and all! 3) View of our bathroom-- LOVE this bathroom!)

Race Organization: 3.0/5.0
The race organization was decent. There were lots of water stops, and port-a-johns, but there were a couple of downsides too. Hammer Gels were provided (ick! I hate them almost as much as my pure HATRED for Carb-boom, scratch that, I don't even want to mention that name on here!). Also, they were supposed to have snack at certain miles in the race and they ran out :( No snacks for me. And the post-race food after was scanty... although some great peaches!

Course: 2.5/5.0
~ Not a great course, but it has to be hard to plan something that loops around large mountains. There were a lot of long periods of gravel trails that just went straight for miles and there was VERY little shade-- not great since most of the race was run in 80 or 90 degree heat. The mountains and the different "park cities" we went through were really cute. Kind of boring, but if you like very quiet & scenic, this is the course for you!

Spectators: 4.0/5.0
~ There were long runs of empty gravel trails, which spectators couldn't really get to. Where there could be, there were some spectators, but it seemed like a lot of them were out to cheer on a particular person and didn't really clap or anything for anybody else. This was NOT everybody... there were some areas that were fun and the water stop people seemed REALLY excited about their jobs! They did everything the could to help us in the heat.

Pace Group: /5.0
~ DNE and didn't need

Runner/Corrals:

5.0/5.0
~ No corrals, obviously, but the runners were pretty nice. It was extremely hot and I know IIII wasn't the most pleasant person to run by! Didn't want to talk at all... MB found a friend though (what's new). Also, when the man went down, about 10 runners stopped and immediately started CPR-- handing off every couple rounds. I'll give them a 5.0 for that!

Expo: 1.0/5.0
~ The registration table had a SMALL table next to it with things like: T-shirt, picture frames, old age group awards, old race t-shirts... WAIT! Did I just say "OLD AGE GROUP AWARDS?" Yes, yes I did. They had some leftover age group winner awards that you could purchase.... this is definitely bizarre! The race was small (about 500 marathoners), but it had a BIG group of halfies and it was big enough to have SOME race gear or goodies. Would have been nice to pick up some GU or sports beans... little things like that. Its UTAH for goodness sakes, every other store out there is an outdoor sports store... you couldn't find one that wanted to sell stuff at the registration/expo? F for effort there Park City!

Swag: 2.5/5.0 (and that's rounding up!)
~T-Shirt... HOLY GREEN! The womens Tshirt were NEON green! Like, I'm going to blind drivers as I run past them outside. Like, I have to ask my running group to bring sunglasses when we run together. Like, I may get confused for a crossing guard or an airport control person! The mens were dark green, with the same bright green stripes down the side under arms. They were ok. Sweat wick material, thin and easy to run in. mmmm... 2.5?

~Medals (Pictured left): MB is going to flip out but... I'm sorry, they're plastic! It's a cute idea. They are supposed to be sun catchers, but they are plastic and kind of ugly and on lanyard string... the handmade-ness was thoughtful and definitely different, but kind of cheap looking (sorrrrry). They also came in lots of ugly color combos (eek) 2.0 out of 5.0-- 2.0 for effort only

~ As soon as you were finished you were handed a PINK CARNATION (Gamma Phi Beta!!!) with your medal. Definitely Adds a+1 point

~ Goodie Bag: Not much to the goody bag. I think there was a random health bar in there, but that was about it. I know they were trying to be more green by NOT hanging out papers, but it could have been nice to have gift cert's to some of the local shops and eateries that helped put on the marathon. -1 pt

(Below: MB & I Post Race)

Park City Marathon... Post Race Thoughts

Complete: UTAH!

Getting there and... staying there??
The ride into Park City was smooth. The airport is in Salt Lake City and the airport was very easy to transition through. Turns out Park City is VERY pretty. There are a ton of mountains with ski slopes down them. We stayed at the host hotel: Newpark Hotel. The rooms were UNreal. We have a full living room and kitchen, and a patio with our own hot tub on them. MB has informed me that prices were very reasonable. I imagine they would go up a little more around ski season, but it's a great place to visit! MB wants to stay here.

Pre-Race... i.e. Freezing and can't breathe
When we got up this morning, the weather was a littttttle cold! But have no fear, by the end of the race it was in the high 90's and eventually got up to 102... a record for the year!!!! PERRRFECT timing mother nature. I know you're mad about my NOT planting a tree after I tried to bribe you in my race RUNdown for the Leading Ladies marathon. Ahhh... oh well.

We stayed at the resort that put on the race so the start was all of 5 ft away from our building. Right downstairs, Maxwell's East Coast Eatery had opened early to support the racers and had a full buffet breakfast as well as a cold breakfast with quick bagels, fruit and cereal. PERFECT! Got a bagel then headed the 10 ft over to the race.

Racing... i.e. Attempting to "run" and really can't breathe
The race went off with a simple "go" beep. Within the first quarter mile I realized that air... or I should say lack of O2, was not going down so easy. I was running around a 9 min mile and felt like I was starting my race off my typical way at 7:45. Breathing immediately got heavy from the altitude and my legs already felt a little lead-like. I expected this, so I wasn't too put off. I only had about 18 hours from landing in Utah (at 7,000 ft)-- not nearly enough time to get acclimated. So I slid off to the side and waiting for MB to catch up, then I ran relaxed with her for the first 12 miles or so.

The course was a lot of VERY open "rail track"-- dirt road. Very little shade and lots of hills, both rolling, and steep. The sun got very hot within the first half hour, making this high-altitude challenging course into a scorcher!

Mid Race... people STOP breathing!!! UH-OHHHH
Around the start of "THE hill" for Utah (around mile 15) I came around a corner to see a bunch of runners gathered toward the side of the road making a lot of commotion. At first I thought they were goofing around in the short patch of shade we saw, but then I realized a few of them were leaning toward the ground... over somebody. A man had passed out and apparently stopped breathing and had no pulse. They were giving him CPR while also trying to direct the ambulance to our location. After that I slowed down even more, but I was concerned they would cut off the race once they found out about the gentleman. Fortunately, they did NOT cut off the race. I haven't heard about the man, but if I do I'll post it! Hopefully he's alright!

Race Endings... FINALLY I can breathe... and get some corona!
The race ended and I rested passed out in the grass waiting for MB to finish. They had great fresh peaches, drinks, etc in the runners post-race corral. After the race we went BACK to Maxwell's since... well it was right there! They also had very comfy Adirondack chairs that I could tan in!! Perrrfect. Unbelievable food and a great staff... if you do this race, you'll have to stop by. They also had cornhole! I beat MB... of course. :)

Race ratings to be posted soon!

Park City Marathon (#13)... Race RUNdown

Hello from...
UTAH!!!

Yes, I just posted my Race Ratings from last week and now I'll be posting my RUNdown for THIS weekend! It's another back to back Marathon week, and this time I"m traveling to Park City, UT.

Inspiration Points...
1. This is my 10th Marathon this year! No extra Spinny stars, but I think that's still pretty big!
2. MB will be meeting me in Utah to run as well
3. Altitude what? This is going to get interesting

Race RUNdown...
Park City Marathon
Registration Fees: $65 Early then $75 after

When: Saturday August 22, 2009
Where: Park City, UT
Year Running: 10th
2009 Expected Field: Sold out race! 500
2008 Field: 411 Finishers
... Females: 160
... Age Group: 32
2008 Avg. Finish Time: 4:36:00
Weather:
When I landed it was 102 degrees!! Yikes!! Last weekend I ran a race starting in the 40's and 50's! Fortunately, it's supposed to drop down to the 50's tonight then start picking up around race start time. We should be running in the 60's and 70's with little humidity.

Course:
Excerpt from their website...
• 17 miles of wide gravel or paved bike paths; balance on quiet streets
• Scenic vistas and wildlife, no “urban ugly” sections
• 8 mile mostly downhill finish
• Loop course marathon and out-and-back half marathon—no shuttle!
• Music on course
~Also, we've been warned that there are a few monster "hills" that may be better known as mountains. Also that nobody runs up mile 18!
~The mountains out here are beautiful! It's definitely an "wild west" meets "hiking mountains" type of a scene. This should be very pretty to run through.
~It seems that a lot of people rave about the course (Marathonguide.com) but it's for everything EXCEPT a PR! This is ok since I had my "hard run" last weekend.

A little ALttitude Adjustment:
This race goes up to about 7,ooo ft. Being from Cincinnati, I'm definitely not used to that. I know the altitude will have an affect on me, but as of now I'm not sure how bad it will be. I've taken the following steps in precaution:
~ Drink Water! Lot's of it.
~ Stay away from salt
~ Swam a few times this week... breathing under water helps your lungs adapt similarly to thin air
~ We found some pills that are supposed to help your body adjust faster to altitude
~ Taking it especially easy for the first few miles. Let my body adjust

Race 411:
~Remember the winter Olympics in Utah? We'll be running all around some of the old olympic sites/equipment.
~This is another GREEN marathon! There's been a big push for marathons to "go green." How are they doing this? Among other things, recycling all water cups, no paper inserts in your goody bag, Courses designed to run without Buses (no C02!), and much more!
~Aid stations GALORE! There are water stations all through the race (which will need with the heat and altitude) and there will be SEVEN GU stops! LOVE IT.

Race Plan:
Run easy and run smart! The altitude and heat will be big factors, so I plan to at least start out easy. It will be nice to relax and enjoy a race for once.