Red Rock Relay 2012

I know it has been a few weeks since Red Rock Relay but I was waiting to share my re-cap until the video came out.. ---We had a videographer hang out with us throughout the race.
So without further ado.. buckle up my friends your in for the review of a lifetime.. Seriously, its long and photo loaded!

Red Rock Relay Zion was pretty great this year! This was my second time doing this race and my third Red Rock Relay. I’m a huge fan of this relay. The race support is amazing and the the folks in charge of this are the bees knees.
We headed out on Thursday morning to help with registration in Cedar city. We got all packed up and ready to go. The back of the Suburban was packed and all the bags strapped down on the roof.
OR so we thought… It only took from zero to sixty until one of the bags flew off the top of the car on the freeway and was hit by a few cars.. I was driving, so I pulled over quick and we called highway patrol. Once we received the bag and gathered as much of her stuff off the side of the freeway we decided it would be best to just take everything off the top of the car..

Great start, eh?
The rest of the trip down was full of fun music, treats and girl talk.
Once we got to registration we got put to work!
We organized cute, awesome, and affordable clothing—seriously I wanted one of everything!! I also helped with and each teams race bags and assisted with check in and any questions that runners had about the race.

We got to bed around 11pm.
The next morning, our start time was 7:30ish. We all headed to the starting line to send of our runner #1. The race starts at 11,000 feet at Brian Head Ski Resort and makes it way through Dixie National Forest.

As runner #1 was running her leg we decorated the burb!
GPPsuperfits!

Each of us took on a superhero character- Bat girl, Super girl, Robin, Wonder Woman, Cat girl and Spider girl.
There was a few scooter rides in between legs. ---Next year I’m bringing roller blades..

First Transition DONE!

Wonder Woman powered up a crazy hill known to the relay as El Diablo.

It’s a steep climb but a short leg, so we headed to the next exchange to get Robin ready to go!

Off she went.. I won’t blog about each exchange but if you haven’t done a relay race before you pretty much continue to pass off to one of your team mates until you pass off to the next van.

I was the last runner in my van for my first leg and it was absolutely beautiful!! It was pretty hilly and was raining as soon as I got started but it quickly cleared up and was perfect! I couldn’t of asked for better weather! Running through Cedar Breaks was amazing!

After I passed off to our van #2 we rested, danced, swam and ate until it was time for us to meet with the other van to start our 2nd legs. It was about 11pm, when we started running. The night run was my shortest leg 4.7 and it was a great run, I am always surprised how great I feel when I am running at 2 am? 


I have no idea why my hair is crazy..

I get a little lazy at night with picture taking.. Sooooo, that is that for those legs.

To start off our last legs we decided to go ALL out. I mean we ARE professional relay runners and we don’t hesitate to dress up when needed.

Our friends had a hotel room and let us go clean up and dress up for our last legs.

When we got to the exchange, we immediately felt like Disney characters. We took pictures with everyone and cheered on the runners coming into the exchange.


This is my friend Marly, she lives in my neighborhood and just started running last year, has lost a bunch of weight, and now is addicted with the rest of us crazies! I love seeing her reach her goals and having her around in the relays!
I picked up an extra leg or half of a leg, one of our runners wasn’t feeling to well so super woman and spider girl covered her leg.

My last leg was 6.2! (which served as my longest training run for the marathon..)
Some folks use Gels, Jelly beans, or Gatorade—my supers use ice cream popsicles and Diet coke.Oh, and swedish fish. I know Janae would agree with that!

It felt great to be done! Once all the other superfits were done running we waited, slept, showered and got ready at my MIL condo in St. George, UT for the other van to make it to the finish!


Neil was the DJ/announcer/cool guy talkin’ at the finish.

There was even a slip n’slide at the finish!


We wrapped up the race in 28:34. Relays are not competitive to me at all. They simply are a good time! I had all my girls and we enjoyed supporting, cheering and laughing at each other all weekend.
You finish this race at Zion's National Park. Seriously, could it be any more amazing?

Here is the Video to wrap it all up!

I hope to see you guys at a Red Rock Relay next year! The cool thing about RRR is that they have one day relays! I did Moab this year and next year they will have two more ONE day relays if the two day thing isn’t your thang. Relays ARE for everyone! They are
Come run with me!
This week has been full of tough workouts and big things happening! I’ll fill you all in tmrw.
Have a great day or night..
PS. Don’t anyone dare say anything about Greys Anatomy.. I haven’t watched it yet! Can’t wait!!

Upcoming Races And pre-race eats.

Hey guys! Hope your having a great week so far. Good news is we are Half way to the weekend!
Woo hoo!
Most of my summer is usually scheduled around race events. But due to my quad injury that was proven to be quite the set back I skipped out on a few of my favorite half marathons and relays. During my recovery, we transferred my bib to my husband and he got run his first half marathon, which I actually enjoyed watching him make that achievement.
I’ve decided to wrap up this summer in a big way. I have two more races lined up and I’m so excited about them! One marathon and one last relay!
I will be running in the Red Rock Relay Zion again this year. I did this relay last year with my girlfriends and we are all in the game again. This year we will be representing GPP and will have a news crew following us and capturing all the craziness that comes along. Our theme this year is awesome and I can’t wait to share it with you guys, but you will just have to wait and see!

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The Marathon I am running is the Big Cottonwood Marathon.

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This is the first year for this marathon and I’m more then excited to be part of it. It is going to be a fast marathon. Check out that elevation map!

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Goodbye toenails. On a positive note, this marathon IS a Boston Qualifier! It is my goal to qualify for Boston some day. Probably won’t happen this year for various reasons, but I think this race would be a great course to give it a shot. You can still REGISTER for the Full Marathon! Come race with me!
I’m taking a different route on my training for this marathon. I’m not following a training plan. I am not going to tackle long runs every weekend. I’m simply going to do what I am doing right now. Some people might think that is crazy but I am confident that my GPP training will give me the endurance to get through 26.2. I will continue to run in addition but nothing over 14. With my last marathon, I ran, did GPP and was teaching. It proved to be to much on my body and I ended up injured. I believe this will be a smarter approach for me.
Big Cottonwood canyon provides cool temps and a very scenic course. It will be unforgettable that is for sure.
What I  eat pre-workout/ morning of a race.
I often get asked what I eat the morning of a race or before I workout. I keep it pretty simple and the good thing is these things you can find at any grocery store anywhere you are.
Everyone is a little different and this is what works for me, I find if I eat a carb and a small amount of protein prior to a race I don’t have any bathroom issues prior to or during. Luckily, I have never had to “pinch the penny” during a race.

What I eat 1 hour prior to race.
Different options: Maybe try and see if one of these works for you!
Eggs and Fruit:

• Each whole egg has about 6 grams of protein and contain 1.5 BCAA
• Easily digested
• Boiled easy travel easy if needed and are quick to pull and peel from the fridge.
• Combine egg protein with a low fiber fruit
• Banana, peaches, cantaloupe, honeydew or watermelon.

*You want to avoid fibrous fruits day before and day of race such as, apples, berries, dates, figs, pears and grapes!
Apple sauce with protein powder

• Apple sauce has low fiber compared to a actual apple due to fructose content
• I mix in 2 tbs of vanilla egg protein powder which adds BCAA.

Okay, this one your going to think I’m a crazy mother runner, but it works.
BABY FOOD

• It is easily digested at any age! fruit, veggies and meats! My favorite our of course my kids favorite.

Ella's!

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On one of my long training runs at the beginning of the summer I went to grab a gel and didn’t have one so I grabbed a these instead and it was the best run I have had in a long time! They taste a whole lot better then gels too!
Protein shake:
If I have the pre-race jitters and my stomach just isn’t feeling to hot. I’ll have a small protein shake

• Easily Digested
• 2-3 tbs of protein powder
• 1/2 banana
• water/ice

About 10 minutes before gun time or even a early morning workout I will drink about 150 calories of a coconut water or Gatorade and drink 8 ounces of a water.
I hope that gives you a few ideas!
Question of the Day:
Do you have any races coming up your excited about?
What do you eat pre workout or before races?