Mayan End Of Days Race

On Saturday I had the pleasure of participating in the Mayan End Of Days race organized by Underground Runner. I am thankful the Mayans were wrong about the end of the world because I would have been sad missing out on this race.

I was excited about this run because most of the 12 miles were on dirt. We passed a big grove of trees which made for an awesome sunrise picture:

I had a blast running with this fun group of friends including Polli, Cherie, Will, and Karrie.

I pulled out the ol' Utah Valley Half Marathon Nacho Libre mask for the race. Partly because it was cold outside and partly because the mask was purchased in Mexico, moderately close to Mayan temples. I know. That's quite the stretch in logic. Sorry about that. Photographer Alex Santiago caught Nacho out on the course.

During the race I realized that Will Shake, owner extraordinaire of High Knees Cycling has some serious ninja jumping skills.

Since the race was pretty laid back and causual we decided we'd do a little mid-race exploring. It's like this alien force: see big hill.......must run up it.

The craziest thing we saw all day was a full-fledged Mayan runner. This guy was hardcore! No shirt and no shoes - and it was freezing out there! Serious props to him.

There weren't any actual trails during the race but the dirt road had some beautiful scenery along the way.

By the time we finished the race my fingers felt like Otter Pops, due in large part to my choice of bringing the $1 Walmart gloves instead of real gloves. I love this picture from Alex with the Pine Valley mountains in the background. I'm anxious to run another race with this gang:

Thanks to Underground Runner for another low-key, casual race. I'm hoping there will be more of these trail races in the future.