Park City Half Marathon by Jesus Castaneda

Just want to say thanks to Jesus, one of our SLRC employees, for sending in this race report. I am sure it is no surprise that one of my favorite things about this post is his nutrition choices for dinner the night before and breakfast. Great stuff! No wonder you ran so much faster!

Seriously though, isn't it great to remember our race experiences? What worked, what didn't and why we do it? Time to think back at 2009 and start planning for 2010. Maybe more Half's for Jesus. How 'bout you?

So there I was at the starting line of the park city half marathon. It was a chilly Saturday morning and weeks of training were about to pay off. It was my second half marathon of the year and I was eager to better my time from my first one.

The course of the half marathon was nice and very challenging for me at times. With great views of the area that made me feel sheltered by the mountains as I run as fast as I could. The first half of the race was pretty much all uphill which meant that the second half was gonna be all pretty much downhill, so I took it a bit easy the first few miles just to make sure I was gonna have enough gas on the tank to have a strong finish.

At mile 9 I took my last gel and I was ready to start my strong finish so I started pushing a little bit harder in every stride. Up to that point I was pretty comfortable with my performance and I didn't have any major set backs (no upset stomach or bathroom breaks). I attribute that to a great dinner the night before, my father in-law grilled some salmon and served it with grilled sweet potatoes (it was delicious). For breakfast I had a bowl of quinoa with hemp milk and a sweet potato from dinner plus lots of water. It was great to see my wife Jenn with my kids at the finish line and even greater when I looked at my watch and realized that I had improved my previous half marathon time by almost 10 minutes. I love running, I love the good days and the bad days and I am most thankful for the people who make it possible for all of us to compete in such a great environment. My goal was to better my time and to set a good example for my kids. Their smiles and big hugs at the end was the best feeling after a great event. Thanks to everybody involved in the Park City Marathon and ½ Marathon. I am looking forward to making it a tradition for years to come.