2022 // Zion on Film
Springdale
Utah, March 2022
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I’m just an idiot.
Gina convinced me to sign up for a half marathon where the course ran right outside of Zion. One of my goals for the year was to run a half, and I figured that I might as well cross it off early. I am clearly a fool though. This would be the second year in a row where Gina pitched a dumb idea to me for the first week of March. Last year, we were backpacking the Lost Coast Trail.
I blindly signed up ten weeks out from the race and began training. I went too hard too quick and ended up hurting my foot, which put a damper on things. After an X-ray and no sign of a stress fracture, I had to rest for 2 weeks, then slowly transition into low-impact exercises. Throw in a last-minute trip to Luxembourg, (where I did bring my shoes and manage to squeeze in some runs) I was most definitely underprepared.
Still jetlagged from Europe, I flew to Vegas in an absolute daze. I met up with the fam, and we drove the two hours to Zion. As we passed through the small, isolated, desert towns, the landscape quickly changed and the iconic red mesas began to emerge. I will admit, Gina did a great job on picking the rental property. It would be nice to revel in luxury before I decimated my body on the run.
I wasn’t nervous about the race, really. I more so had the mentality of “okay, let’s get this over with”. I knew I would finish, but how I would finish would be a mystery. Gina and I made the conscious decision to run the race together since she had not trained as much as she would have liked either. On top of the physical aspect, the weather forecast predicted SNOW on race day which wouldn’t be ideal. We made the choice to choose our clothes in the morning based on how the elements were currently performing.
The morning of, we were dropped off at the starting line and kept questioning what we were doing while we stood in the warming tent. Everything felt quite “matter of fact”. Each mile served as a little win. I felt strong for the first 6 miles, especially as we made our way over the major hill of the race. It did rain on and off, but it was a light rain that was actually refreshing and eventually subsided. There was a point after the hill where it began to hail and I could have done without that. At mile 8, we declared it a critical point in the race for passing that mile marker exceeded the longest training distance either of us had achieved.
I felt like I was in another world running - both mentally and physically. I was surprised by how good I felt. When I had been training by myself, post-injury, I lacked a semblance of motivation and would often do a run-walk to try and hit the goal mileage. During the race, I fell into a groove and was able to maintain it. The landscape we were running in was otherwordly. We kept admiring the mesas in the distance and the streaks of red. Had it not been a timed race, I’m sure we would have slowed down a bit to soak in our surroundings.
The last few miles we powered through and sprinted over the finish line. I went straight for the chocolate milk and assessed the fact that I didn’t feel too bad! We ended up coming in at 2 hours and 9 minutes which I’ll count as a win with the limited training and the 3,500 feet of elevation we were running at. No amount of sea-level training truly prepares you for that.
The rest of the day was relaxing as you might expect. It felt strange to have nothing else to do after 11 am other than lounge about. To fill the afternoon, we drove around the park taking in the remarkable, snowcapped geology.
Sunday, we ventured into the actual park and went on a few short hikes since we were sore from the previous day. While roaming the park we spotted a condor perched on a barren tree and marveled at the stark red rock looming over us. Monday, we drove back to Las Vegas, making a detour for Ugo Rondinone's Seven Magic Mountains before posting up at the airport to return home.
Though I am slightly bitter, I’m glad Gina persuaded me to race. I’m happy that my parents and Peter were able to come out and support us as well. I can’t wait to go back to Zion one day and truly take the park in and the iconic hikes like the Narrows.
I don’t know if I’ll be as easily swayed for next year’s adventure, but I’m eager to see what Gina comes up with. It will probably be stupid and I’ll probably still go along with it.
[Run the National Parks through Vacation Races! They put on a great race and you can’t beat the locations they choose.]
