Mid Mountain Marathon Race Report

The only difference between heaven and the Mid Mountain Marathon is that in heaven they will serve Twinkies at the aid stations. This race in the mountains of Park City, Utah really was a slice of heaven.

I was happy to see my friend Marty at the starting line. Me and Marty helped each other through some dark times (both literally and figuratively) at the Antelope Island Buffalo Run earlier in the year. I wore my pink shirt from that race. I ran 100 miles to get that shirt!

Aside from a little blip of road at the first, this entire race is on pristine single track. It is my ideal type of trail - not overly technical but enough rocks and roots to still keep you on your toes.

These trails are so different from the ones I usually run. I'm used to desert and red rock. I loved running through seas of green.

In addition to having so much fun on these amazing trails, I also had a blast running with my friend Catherine. We will be running the Javelina Jundred together next month (her first 100!) so we treated this like an enjoyable training run. (We ran a few extra miles before the race to get in 28 miles for the day.) You won't find nicer people than Catherine and her husband.

There was around 3,000 feet of climbing throughout the race but no crazy hills. There was also around 4,000 feet of descent and the ups and downs were all spread out and manageable.

We knew it was going to be a hot day when we were warm at the starting line. The temps just got warmer. But it seemed like whenever we started to overheat, we would get to a section with cooling shade.

It felt like Catherine and I kept a smooth, steady pace throughout the whole race except for a little patch around mile 20 where we both started to bonk a bit. As for myself, I think I got a little behind on calories and electrolytes. Once we got in some calories and a few S-Caps we felt much better.

Catherine and I ran the Corner Canyon 50k together a few months ago. Just like that race, I think I laughed the whole time. We compared horror stories from past races. (My horror story? Wearing a traumatic clown suit at an ultra last year.)

With about a mile left in the race we could see the finish line down below. We could hear loud speakers cheering people on. That finish line gave us a strong pull.

We had a happy, triumphant finish. And remember how I told you about Marty? When I crossed the finish line Marty came up and said "I got it!" I didn't even know Marty would be there. And then he showed me this picture he took. Serious props on his photography skills.

Who needs sun screen when you have this kind of protection on your legs?

If I were to write a script for the perfect marathon, it would have looked like my race on Saturday. I had an awesome running partner. And this course is simply spectacular. The scenery was incredible, race support was great, and there was a fun party-like atmosphere at the finish line. I have run around 13 marathons and Mid Mountain has become my favorite. This is definitely one to add to your calendar next year. I'll bring the Twinkies.