Stats:

State #8

50k #7

Marathon/ultra #18

Finish time: 8:16:14

3/12 women

12/30 overall

You wouldn’t think a finish time of over 8 hours would win any kind of hardware – just shows how tough this race was!

The race is run by Ultra Adventures. Nice bunch of folks. The race was in the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Arizona. Normally you can’t run there because it’s on the Navajo reservation, so this was a unique opportunity.

I drove to Monument Valley on Friday, and it took about 8 ½ hours – roughly the same amount of time it took me to run the race! I camped the night before, and the weather was beautiful and calm. Here’s a view from camp. It was so nice to see leaves on the trees!  All the other campers were runners. I camped next to the guy who had marked the course – he said the last Ultra Adventures race, at Antelope Canyon, had some “issues” with course markings, so he took extra care this time.   There was also a guy who had come all the way from Maryland to run his first 50 miler.

The 50 mile race started at 7 am, and the 50k started at 7:30. There was some confusion about the start time, because daylight savings time had just started the weekend before the race, and Arizona does not switch to DST, but the Navajo Nation does. It ended up that the race was on Mountain Daylight time – the same as Colorado, so it was fine.

There was a Navajo prayer service at 6:45, so I went early to see it.   A Navajo elder explained the prayer in English, and then chanted the long prayer in Navajo.   They face the four directions - east represents morning and beginnings, south represents your goals and dreams, west is your life and family, and north is wisdom and spirituality. Very cool way to start a race.

The forecast was for strong winds developing throughout the day, so the RD announced that they were moving the aid station a few hundred feet into a Hogan (traditional Navajo dwelling) so the tent wouldn’t blow away and the food wouldn’t get all sandy. There was just the one aid station, with four different loops to run, all intersecting at the central AS.  It was nice to go inside out of the wind at the end of every loop! This is the hogan.

It was light enough at the 50k start that we didn’t need headlamps, and the sun rose behind the left and right mitten formations at about mile 1.

The wind didn’t get really bad till mile 17 or 18 – lots of sand and small rocks were flying in the air.  You could launch a snot rocket and it would go straight out horizontally - they could have gone miles for all I know! 

These are some views from the course. Some of it was on dirt roads and some on single track.  There were some parts with deep sand but it was mostly pretty runnable.  Still, I got so much sand in my shoes that I got blisters on 3 toes, and I stopped to dump out my shoes every 5 miles or so.  I wore trail shoes with mesh tops, so gaiters wouldn't have helped, but more enclosed shoes with gaiters would have been a better choice.

One of the loops went past several arches. This is called the Big Hogan - there was a self serve water station in this arch.

This is called Ear of the Wind:

This is called the three sisters:

The course mainly went around the base of various formations, but there was one big climb up onto the top of Mitchell Mesa, which is on the right in the picture above.   It was about a 1300 ft climb in 2 miles.  Here are a couple of pictures on the climb:

The view from the top was amazing!

Once at the top, the course went about a mile along the top of the mesa to the turnaround point at mile 25.  There was a Navajo guide with his horse up at the turnaround point.

From there, we returned to the AS one final time, and then headed back to the start/finish line.  The 50 mile runners did the whole course in reverse from the 25 mile turnaround.   The last 3 1/2 miles from the AS to the finish were some of the toughest I've ever encountered.  The wind was fierce and it was a full headwind and uphill.  There were places the gusts brought me to a dead stop, and parts I walked backwards because the sandstorm was so fierce I couldn't see.    I just put my head down and trudged up the hill, and eventually made it to the finish.  Imagine my surprise when the RD said I was 3rd!

The finish line food and awards were moved into the trailer that Ultra Adventures drives to races, because their tent would have blown away.  There were some Navajo women making frybread, and they made all the awards too.

This was an epic race.  Very beautiful, but very tough conditions, at least for the 2nd half of the race.  The RD said that out of 54 starters in both races, amazingly only 3 dropped out.  Ultra runners are a tough bunch, and I'm proud to be one of them.

Tough is right.  18 marathons/ultras!  That's what gets me.  Has even been 2 years since your 1st one?

Great photos and great report.  Congratulations!

My first marathon (Wyoming) was 22 months ago, and my first 50k (Gorge Waterfalls) was 11 1/2 months ago.  I didn't think it was possible for a race to be windier than Wyoming, but I guess I was wrong!

Here's a picture of the finishers necklace and the 3rd place award:

And here's one more really cool photo, taken by a 50 mile runner (Jack Jewell) of the three sisters by moonlight.

Excellent report and wonderful pics, I especially like the moon one!

That's a great adventure, congrats!

You are so tough Carolyn! Great race - and the pictures were so beautiful. The work that went into making the awards must have been considerable. Something special you'll always have. Thanks for sharing your race with us.

Wonderful!!  Those pictures are amazing!  Thank for this report and sharing.  You're tough, 'cause that kind of wind sucks.

And congratulations on your placement.  Very cool and unique awards.

Have the RDs said whether or not they'll be doing this particular race again?

A few years ago while on a three-week vacation in that area, we tried to go to Monument Valley, but the allowable drive was closed for half the due to extreme fog. 

Carolyn, I don't know the right words for this one!      What an incredible accomplishment, and what an incredible experience!    Like Jeanne said, thanks for sharing it with us.   Hugh congratulations!!!

I can't believe you hiked the Grand Canyon after this!  

Completely Amazing! Thanks wildchild and congratulations.