The Winter Sun in Moab...

Definitely winter, not so much sun!

Tired of my blog posts about running?  Too bad.

This should be it for a little while, though.

I decided back in October that I wanted to run the

Canyonlands Half Marathon in Moab

this coming March.

However, so do lots of other people.

There is a lottery and they select 4000 people

who can participate.

So I signed up for the 

Winter Sun 10k.

If you are one of the first 100 to register,

you get a guaranteed entry into Canyonlands.

I totally did it... number 100.

We had recently discussed wanting to take more little trips with our kids, so this worked out well :).

Run 6.2 miles...

visit Moab, Arches, etc.

Win, Win.

The night before the race, they had a little tree lighting 

at Moab City Hall.

I do mean little.

It reminded me of one Christmas episode of The Office.

When they turn off the light, plug in the tree...

and it's super lame..

Michael says "NOT great".  :)

Santa was there, though...

Brandon wanted the candy cane without having to sit on Santa's lap.

Too bad, buddy.

Dominic said that what he wanted for Christmas was for

everyone to have a Merry Christmas.

Silly boy.

We got 2 hotel rooms.

I slept in a room

BY MYSELF.

Mark kept all 5 kids with him in the other room.

It was FABulous.

I love that husband.

I did have some kids in my room the next morning...

...watching Enchanted.

Then came the whole race thing.

It wasn't nearly as cold as that LAST race...

but it was still cold enough- low 30's at the start.

But I survived and finished.

There I am, in the green shirt, coming onto the track 

for the final lap to the finish!

(Notice the girl in front of me...)

Here I am... finishing...

yes, I totally passed her.

I'd been right behind her for most of the race.

I wasn't planning on passing her right before the finish.

I just got a burst of energy at the end.

The reason that it matters (to me) and made me feel a little bad

is because I got THIS...

and then saw the results page and realized that

she would have been in 3rd if I hadn't passed her.

You see, it was 3rd in the 30-39 age group.

We were both in that group.

Oops.

Oh well... I WIN!

ok, I win 3rd, but I'll take it!

AND I totally beat my previous 10k time by over 3 minutes!

45 min 36 sec.

The course had just one big hill and was mostly flat and downhill after that, 

so that's where the faster time came from.
Also, it's a fairly small race... there is no way I would EVER place in a larger race.

Totally ridiculous pose.

So grateful to Mark for putting up with all our crazy kids

while I do these races.

I'm enjoying myself so much and I wouldn't be able to

do any of it without his support.

Canyonlands, here I come!

The registration for the Canyonlands Half (or 5 miler) lottery is open NOW, but closes on December 10th.  

Who wants to come run with me??   

Arches pictures to come :)