Turned this one into a bit of a road trip with Malcolm and introduced him to the finer points of being a running bum and traveling to small towns in the middle of nowhere for some race.  With lots of time to kill in Green River, Utah, we had to get a bit creative.  We were camping overnight before driving down to race the Goblin Valley Ultra in the morning.  Our plans to play some golf were foiled by a steady rain that fell all afternoon.  Instead, we poached some wifi from a hotel parking lot and watched Paul Blart, Mall Cop on my laptop plugged into the car speakers via Netflix.  After that we hung out at a coffee shop for a while, got some less-than-good dinner, watched some more Netflix, then hit our campsite to get some sleep.

Luckily, the rain abated and we were greeted with great running conditions on the day of the race.  This would be Malcolm’s second 25k, and this time I put him in charge of everything (pacing, nutrition, hydration, etc.).  I had done it all at Gunnison, and wanted him to put into practice what he had learned.  I was just going along for the ride.

As someone who only runs in the less than 5 mile range, he was a little intimidated by the prospect of going 16.  He started out VERY slow and I kept asking him if he was feeling alright.  Turns out I should just keep my mouth shut (big shocker), he was only doing what I had advised him to do and was pacing himself smartly.

His smart pacing would pay off as he would gradually pick people off for the rest of the race.

He settled on taking 2 Clif Bloks at 20 minute intervals and that seemed to work very well.

The course traverses a wide open expanse that is very exposed.  Luckily it wasn’t hot and the wind stayed on the mild side.

The running surface is mostly dirt road which would be very boring if not for the views

Once we hit the turnaround our pace picked up and I could tell that Malcolm was more confident about going the distance.  The course was an out-and-back, so we knew exactly what we were up against to get back to the finish line.

The 25k turnaround point

After a quick stop at an aid station, we set off to cross the wide open valley again.  There were a few rolling hills in this section to break up the running stride a bit.  Malcolm kept a great pace on the ups and downs and ran all of it.

Aid Station #3

The views are a double-edged sword.  Nice to look at, but you can see that you have a long way to go!

Runners were spread pretty thin by this time, the pack was spread out over several miles.

Feeling good and running strong

It was a lot of fun to watch Malcolm do his thing and get himself through the race in such good shape.  Never a complaint or frustration, just constantly expressing how cool this is.  I could tell he is really starting to get why I do this stuff.

For the final mile, we diverted down into the actual Goblin Valley to run through the maze-like formations.  There are no trails, so we followed plastic jack-o-lanterns as our guides.  Malcolm ran this part so hard I had a tough time keeping up.  I was sick earlier in the week so that is probably why I was dragging a bit (at least that’s the story I’m sticking with).

Fun way to finish

Lots of short climbs and drops in this part

Kicking it into gear, 1/2 mile to go

Only one more hill after this

Looking back on the section of Goblin Valley that we just ran through

The race was a lot of fun for both of us and I was so happy that he had a good time.  I’ve been having a lot of fun sharing experiences like this together this year.  Two 25k trail races, a week-long backpacking trip, some 14ers, and a few other hikes and campouts.

On the way home, we stopped off to explore the Sego Canyon area which is just 4 miles north of the Thompson Springs exit on I-70.  We spent a couple of hours hiking around and checking out some really cool petroglyphs.  Some are thought to be 2,000 years old!

These are more recent

These are the really old ones

Pretty creative work

The lasting image of a great weekend

The season is over.  Giving an atta-boy to the boy for sticking it out and seeing great improvement over the past couple of months, finishing off with a personal best time in the last race of the year.  Good work, son!

Liberty Bell - Huge meet with runners from as far away as Wyoming and New Mexico

Pushing hard in the best race of the season up to that point

So exciting to see the starts of these races. These kids know how to get after it!

Little sister running alongside (on the left) cheering on her brother, with maybe a little egging-on as well...

Our family participated in the 2nd annual Rox Trot this morning, which is our local community 5k/10k fundraiser for the elementary school.  The race was actually free to enter, they were just asking for donations in the form of reams of paper.  Mom and the girls volunteered, and Malcolm ran the 10k along with Jessica and I.

Right this way

We got there a couple of hours early to help set up the registration area and to get the course marshall assignments.

Cold and windy while we were setting up.

I’ve been feeling pretty decent this week.  Really only took Monday off.  I did some easy jogs in the Vibrams on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a quick 6 miles on Thursday where I felt far better than at any time in the week before Leadville.  Crazy how that works.  I guess one benefit of the slow race I had is that the legs seem to have bounced back pretty fast.  I also got back on the bike again for the first time since June and put in three nice 20 mile rides.

Umm, where was I at this time last week?

To call this race ‘low-key’ is a huge understatement.  It doesn’t draw from much of the outside world (although the 10k winner was from PA!), making it truly a neighborhood event.  A nice change from the usual races.

The official race clock. No joke.

When my buddy heard about the race clock, he asked me if we used sun dials for timing chips.  Love it.

Lindsey and Natalie - awesome helpers!

There were only about a dozen takers in the 10k (which was newly added) this year.  Many more would stick with the 5k option.

Dad and Jessica, ready for takeoff

I lined us up at the back of the pack, truly intending to just jog the course and maybe snap a few photos.  I was bummed to see the low battery message on my watch – I was hoping to gather some more huge heart rate vs. slow pace numbers pushing that 70 pounds of kid & stroller up the hills.  Last year I held my heart rate over 180 for the last 5 minutes of the race.  Hard work!

Soon after the start, though, I found myself weaving through the other runners and was up into 3rd place before I knew it.  We ended up holding that spot to the finish.  Well, Jessica likes to say she took 3rd and I took 4th, but whatever!  This was a VERY hilly course and I didn’t feel too bad on the normal inclines.  There were a handful of short killer hills that really took it out of me, though.  At one point I was basically in a prone position on my tip-toes with my arms fully stretched out with my face about 12″ from the pavement trying to drive that thing over the top.  Ouch!

The sun came out and it got blazing hot for a while.  I was glad to see the finish!  Malcolm came in running strong just a few minutes behind us in his first 10k.  It was great to see Mom and the girls out on the course as we ran by, lots of fun.  Big thanks to them and to all the volunteers!

Jessica and Dad, 3rd place overall.

Jessica loves to chat the whole time in the stroller.  Unfortunately, my responses are like – daddy…….can’t……….talk…..right……….now….  It was a great workout!