Bryce Canyon Half and 5K

 

BRYCE CANYON - One of our favorite races/places. 

Our first year was 2007.  We started going because the Rogel's and my parents were going and they would stay in the teepee's at Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon (This is where the half marathon starts) and it was so much fun but then they stopped and we loved it and kept going.  It's a tradition that our kids absolutely will not let us miss.  We have changed it up a little these last 2 years because last year they gave our teepee to someone else so we had to spend twice as much and get a hotel room.  It was really nice and Joel said that he had a great night sleep for the first time before the race. This year JoEllen gave us her room in Cannonville, at the end of the race course, at the one and only hotel in the city.  Well, when we got there to check in they said that since we didn't call them to confirm when JoEllen had just talked to them a week earlier so they gave it away to someone else.  So...we freaked out and they called around to see if anyone had anyplace for us to stay.  There are 5 of us, remind you, with no linens, pillows, towels, not even a bar of soap with us.  We wanted to stay at the bottom of the race because we were all signed  up to do the 5K in the morning.  But we had NOTHING with us.  We were destined to sleep in the church parking lot in the van.  One of the biggest problems was that we were expecting to shower and get ready for Ashley's wedding that was at 2:00 the next day right after the race.  Hard to do if you don't even have a place to pee.  BUT...they said that right around the corner at the KOA they had one Deluxe Cottage available.  We took it and took it fast.  The hotel let us borrow linens, towels, pillows and gave us two little dinky bars of soap.  THANKGOODNESS!  So we checked into our cute little cottage and went to go pick up our running packets.  This is what it looks like on the outside and inside.  I meant to take a picture of us standing on the porch of this cute little thing but because of the huge rush we were in it never happened. So this is off of the internet.   In fact while putting this together right now Ben just walked by and said, "Wait!  There was a lake behind our cabin?"  We were so rushed this trip he actually thought that he had missed something that big.

At the other end of the room there was a roomy little bathroom with a toilet and sink. If you look close you can see a door knob.  All it needed was it's own shower and we were in business.  There was a shower house directly behind our cabin so it was super easy to run back there and shower.  It turned out to be really fun.  The kids enjoyed it.  We don't know what we'll do for next year.  We'll have to wait and see. 

So we picked up our packets and registered for the 2nd annual Canyonland Music School Fund Raiser Color Fun Run.  It's like a Color Me Rad race except it is only 1 mile and you can sign up to run and get a shirt or you can sign up to throw color.  I am a thrower so I can take pictures. 

David's objective is to win.  I try to tell him to go slow trough the color but he doesn't listen.

 

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Ben dodges the color throwers.  Good thing the money goes to a good cause.

 Then bringing up the rear are Sophie and Joel.  Everyone gets an Otter Pop for running and a guy with a leaf blower will blow off all the extra chalk if you want him to.

 Then it's over to the spaghetti dinner to carbo load for the run in the morning and then off to bed.

This is everyone's number pinned to their shirt, folded up on top of their shorts, placed on their shoes, ready to go in the morning.  And cool looking mile marker 13 with some rain clouds behind it.

 

This is us before the 5K.  Thanks to a stranger.

 This is me running trying to take a picture of Ben and David up ahead of me.  I don't like this at all.  Sorry there will be NO pictures of this race.  Bummer.

This is us AFTER the race.  Again I had to ask another stranger to take our picture.  I really don't like that.  Also, since we had to run back to the cottage to hurry and shower for the wedding we only got a picture of John headed to the finish line instead of a bunch of fun pictures of everyone running as we drive past them down the course from the top of Bryce Canyon.  Oh Well.  By the time Sophie and I showered and got down to the fish line we had missed seeing Brian and Joel finishing.  We decided to check to see what place the boys came in to see if they by any chance placed and sure enough, just because we were in a hurry, they did.  They crossed the finish line at the same exact time which timed them for 3rd!  So we had to sit around for an extra half an hour to pick up their Bronze medals.  It was really cool.  John took 2nd in his age group and took a Silver.  1st place in his age group was the guy in the wheelchair!

 If Sophie had only ran a little faster she would have placed.  She took 4th and I took 6th in my age group. 

 Fun stuff!  When Josh heard that the top three overall 5k winner were Hurricane High School Cross Country Runners and that they got HUGE trophies he was pumped to win it next year.  He just has to make sure that he doesn't have another 50 mile scout hike to go on that weekend.