Photo Frenzy
We thought you might enjoy this little slideshow of photos from the 5k on June 25th. We also thought it might help in getting you super stoked for the 10k coming up this Saturday. Enjoy!
5k Results
Thank you for making your way out to the Park City Mini Trail Series 5k yesterday! The energy there was incredible! The 10k is shaping up to be just as exciting. The course is slightly more challenging but the views are also more rewarding.
Photos to come soon!
Final 5k Fodder
You may be wondering, “What’s the dish for this Saturday’s race?’
An email should arrive in your inbox on Friday but just in case you gave us your junk email address, here is everything you need to know…
Schedule of Events
7:00-7:45: Packet Pickup and Day-of Registration
7:50: Pre-race Announcements
8:00: Gun Fires (that means you start running)
9:00: Raffle off Free Stuff!
9:15: Award Ceremony9:30: Race Area Closes
Directions to Start Area
View a Map of the local area
From I-80 (Salt Lake City or Coalville):Take exit 146 off of I-80 onto Highway 40. Take exit 4 off of Highway 40 and a right onto SR-248/Kearn’s Blvd. Turn right at the first stoplight, onto Round Valley Way. Take your first left. Pass the Dog Park (turning onto Gilmour Way) and look for the R-U-N? Events banners and set-up area. read more…
Preview the Park City Mini Trail Series
by Rhielle Widders- race director
Trail running is one of the fastest growing divisions of the sport of running. People have discovered that getting out of traffic and into the open air is more relaxing, trails are being made more accessible to urban spaces, and trail running equipment is becoming highly diversified to meet the needs of every runner. Traditionally, trail races consist of a 13-20 mile run that takes you from a mountain valley to a mountain peak and back down. After getting out of shape one season, I wanted to do a trail race and couldn’t find anything that was short or easy enough for me to join in on the fun. So that is what this series is designed for, to provide a race series for beginners, out-of-shapers, speed-workers, and all other types of -ers that can be used to meet their needs.
The series is made up of three races, a 5k, 10k, and 15k. The races are spread out to last all summer helping you stay motivated to keep training. The races take place on the Round Valley Trails in Park City, UT. This trail system has a reputation for catering to beginning to moderate level trail runners and bikers. It is popular for a wide range of recreationalists, including cross-country skiing in the winter. Instead of a t-shirt, you receive a signature pint glass at registration (who needs another shirt?!). Do all three races, and you will receive a bonus fourth glass to round out a 4-glass set. Worried about water or where to go? There are aid stations manned with friendly volunteers about every 1.5 miles and every trail intersection is marked to prevent anyone from getting lost.
The 5k start you out on June 25th. The trail is pretty much all double-track (a wide trail that can fit a car or two sets ofwheels on it) and is covered in gravel so there are no puddles in this early season. Don’t let the double-track deceive you, however. This race has plenty of up hill running in it. You should plan to make your way up about 500 feet of vertical gain during this race. But, as you know, what goes up must come down and the last full mile is all downhill.
The 10k, on July 9th, is a great way to step up the challenge level a bit but I always say that with challenge comes reward. Cammy’s Hill will take you to a scenic outlook of the entire Round Valley area. After passing the second aid station, you will descend down into the valley and get your first taste of single-track trail (wide enough only for one pair of wheels), and switchbacks. Adding distance and challenge is a great a great way to add to your trail running resume.
The final event, a 15k on August 13th, steps up the challenge level one more time. Last year, this race won title of ‘favorite.’ A section of the race is a 1.5 mile uphill followed by a 1.5 mile downhill, all single-track. 9.3 miles is nothing to bawk at, but if you are well-trained and have learned to enjoy a little uphill challenge, this race will prove to be very rewarding. Being the final race in the series, the finish line of this event has more of a party ambiance. Those athletes who completed all three races will be honored with extra swag. Post-event refreshments will be boosted a notch to provide more flavors and awards will be extra-great.
Overall, you don’t want to miss out on this great trail series. Even if you can’t do all three, get yourself out to the trails for at least one of these great events! Your running legs will never be the same. For more information and to register, visit www.R-U-Nevents.com
Stay Inspired
When it comes right down to it, what gets us into our running shoes and out on the trails every day is inspiration. Perhaps what drives you is views of beautiful places, or wildlife, or wildflowers. Maybe you’re motivated to move fast and become faster. Or, perhaps you’re inspired by the camaraderie of running with friends and folks of like minds. And, maybe you don’t entirely know what motivates you.
My buddy, Matt Hart, is a fanatical trail runner and he loves documenting the adventures of he and other trail runners in video. He has gobs of great trail running videos loaded to YouTube, but there are two that every trail runner NEEDS. TO. SEE. Sit back, relax, watch, and stay inspired with these videos:
Matt Hart’s 2009 Ultrarunning Video
Matt Hart’s 2010 Ultrarunning Video
Meghan Hicks, a Park City-based trail runner and writer, is a guest poster to the R-U-N? Events blog. Look for more from her this spring and summer.
This was a big weekend for racing in Park City with the 41-mile Running With Ed Relay Race, Walk-A-Thon, and Kids’ Race. There were 125-ish relay teams (each with five runners), gobs of folks in the Walk-A-Thon, and several dozen kids running their own race.
After a week of foul weather on the Wasatch Back, the skies cleared on Saturday morning for an awesome day of running play and a big ol’ party afterward at the Snyderville Basin Recreation Fieldhouse. I’m not gonna lie and say I didn’t see any sunburns at the after party! This was a day for making tan lines, it seemed.
With a couple friends and loved ones out there racing, I spent a day in the sun playing spectator, and what good fun I had! I saw some amazing acts of athleticism, including the super-fast ZB Sports relay team, who put down the fastest time of the day in the relay race. I also witnessed some beautiful displays of humanity, from kids duke-ing it out with fun competitive spirit to one relay team member helping someone from a rival team when they tripped over a curb.
This was a day to celebrate being active, a community of like-minded folks, the importance of education, and good, old-fashioned, spring!
Here are a couple of reports coming in on the day, where you can get more information on what went down:
Running With Ed’s Facebook page, which includes photos from the race and after party
Park City Education Foundation’s Facebook page, with some words and photos on the day
Snyderville Basin Recreation’s Facebook page, also with reports from the race and party
Congrats to everyone who participated in this race and other races from the weekend!
Meghan Hicks, a Park City-based trail runner and writer, is a guest poster to the R-U-N? Events blog. Look for more from her this spring and summer.
Hey y’all! We’re getting pretty stoked that the first race of the Park City Mini Trail Series is a little more than a month around the corner on Saturday, June 25th. We took ourselves to the streets (Er, trails!) this week to check out this 5k course for the first time since the snow melted.
We’ve got all the beta on the course here if you want to have a look-see yourself. Otherwise, check out the video below and take a virtual run around Round Valley!
Meghan Hicks, a Park City-based trail runner and writer, is a guest poster to the R-U-N? Events blog. Look for more from her this spring and summer.
Electrolyte Bliss
by Rhielle Widders
Electrolyte is one of my favorite words. I can drop it in normal conversation to make people think my IQ is much higher than it actually is. But the reason why I really like the word is because electrolytes are responsible for keeping my muscles comfy on my longer workouts. Let me explain.
Electrolyte is the medical/scientific word for salts. Ion-ically speaking they are responsible for carrying
electrical signals across nerve impulses and muscle contractions. Unfortunately, we also use these up when we work hard and/or sweat heavily (your sweat comes out salty, right?). A depletion of electrolytes can lead to cramping of the muscles, or more severely, a condition called Hyponatremia. This occurs when there are too few electrolytes in your cells and they become swollen with water. Swelling doesn’t seem to dangerous, right? Wrong, it becomes super dangerous because brain cells swell just as much as all the other cells. Hyponatremia is actually the leading cause of those dehydration summer deaths you hear about. It isn’t that someone wasn’t drinking water and staying ‘hydrated’ in the heat. Hydration is more than just drinking water. Instead, you should drink products that contain a careful balance of electrolytes to keep your cells in check and prevent swelling. How? I thought you’d never ask!
It is really exciting to announce Nuun as the official hydration sponsor of the 2011 Park City Mini Trail Series. Nuun is a little tablet that you drop into your water and it effervesces (another word I love to use in normal conversation!) like alka-seltzer into your water leaving you with a tasty, electrolyte beverage. Some electrolyte beverages, such as Gatorade or other -ade drinks are designed to contain similar electrolytes. The difference is they also load the drinks with sugar for flavor and calories. When exercising, you actually do want these calories, you just don’t have the ability to regulate them very well in a beverage. The instructions might read, “Drink 4 oz for a 50 calorie punch.” When was the last time you stopped in the middle of a workout or a race to measure out 4 oz of anything? It is much easier to regulate these caloric needs with gels or other forms of real food. When you are drinking something, it is nice to have a little flava-flave without all the sugar. Plus, the balance of electrolytes makes it so your body actually absorbs more of the water you are drinking. Less peeing, more racing – sounds like my kind of thing!
A little more about Nuun. There are now 11 scrumptious flavors for your drinking pleasure. Instead of carrying 12 bottles of your -ade product of choice, just drop this little tube in your bag and you have a lightweight electrolyte solution with you any time you have water around. My favorite part? The flavor is light and refreshing, not strong and syrupy, and each tablet has only 6-8 calories. This means I can take it with me and drop it in my water-bootle throughout the day. The light flavor stimulates the thirst mechanism so I actually drink more water all the live long day.
Find out more about the product here, here, or here. Better yet,check your local running store. The experts on staff there can tell you all about the product and which flavor they prefer.
Note from the folks at R-U-N Events: This guest post is authored by local runner Nick Halliday. If you have suggestions for future guest posts, or if you’d like to hear more from one of our authors, tell us in the comments section!
Nick Halliday snowshoe running in winter. He's ready for spring now, though (Meghan Hicks photo credit)!
After a long winter of freezing temperatures and blizzards aplenty, we are finally greeted by spring! As the wildflowers push their way through the soil to bask in the sun’s warm rays, wildlife and colorful birds join us to celebrate another great year of summer adventures!
One thing the winter has left us is mud and water on our glorious trails, preventing us from fully enjoying what we know and love. Unlike most people, trail runners have a deep passion for our sport that pushes us through any obstacle. With a bit of advice, we can still run on trails when they are a little muddy.
To make your mud-running experience more enjoyable, wear a nice pair of shoes with a good fit, mud-shedding lugs, and good traction. One example of a great mud shoe is the Salomon Speedcross 2, which is able to tackle muddy terrain and other trail obstacles.
We all know how fun splashing through the mud can be, but here are some tips to help you stay safe and keep your trail in tiptop shape:
- Avoid muddy trails if you can.
- Always go through puddles, never around them. By going around a puddle, you can destroy vegetation and increase the trail’s width.
- If there are two trails side-by-side, run on the most-used trail.
- Always watch your step in water and mud, as they are slippery!
Nick on a trail run in Park City's Round Valley (Meghan Hicks photo credit).
Another thing to be aware of this mud season is runoff water on trails. This water can make the trails slippery, so take your time when passing through water to avoid a fall.
As you enjoy the trails, be on the lookout for animals like moose and elk who are also trying to enjoy the newly-uncovered Earth! If you see a wild animal, give it a wide berth as you pass.
Mud season doesn’t last long, so enjoy getting dirty while it’s here. Get out there and start running!
Nick Halliday is a fourteen year old runner, nordic skier, writer, and eighth grader from Park City. He records his adventures on his personal blog, Nick’s Trail Adventures. He also runs a website geared toward trail running in Park City called PCTrailRunner.com. Nick is currently in training for some fun trail races this summer!
Nick plays the viola (Meghan Hicks photo credit).
Note from the folks at R-U-N Events: This post is authored by local superstar runner Rachel Cieslewicz and is the first in a series of guest posts you’ll find here this spring. If you have suggestions for future guest posts, or if you’d like to hear more from one of our authors, tell us in the comments section!
Trail and road runner Rachel Cieslewicz uses her sport to, in part, enjoy natural environments (Eric Wynn photo credit).
People start running for a variety of reasons. Weight loss, stress release, time to think, getting in touch with nature, the list goes on. For me, running has become a favorite aspect of life. As a child, I loved running barefoot through my desert backyard. Then, as a teenager, I understood that running needed a forever place in my life. I have been running ever since.
I learned the hard way not to let running be my only identity. I allow running to enhance my love of physical movement and the natural environment, as well as to increase my spiritual awareness. Running, thus, plays an important role in my journey to discover my own potential.
From the surface, running is simple. Put on a pair of shoes, or not, and run. But, like anything, as one feels the urge for more, there are balancing factors we must learn. In a typical runner’s scenario, the wish is to increase mileage and speed. In order to run longer or faster, we must incorporate other non-running activities that help our running. We must discover and adopt the things that balance our running ways if we want longevity and joy for life in our amazing sport.
Through time and miles, I have experienced injury, burnout, and discomforts of many varieties in the name of running. Lucky for me, my heart tells me to keep evolving. Partially due to running issues and injuries, I found many non-running activities that continue to lead me to personal records. This is despite having entered into my 30′s and being a single mom to an amazing child.
Know that what you find works for you and keeps you out of injury may change. Be flexible and strong in your mind and heart. Notice that if something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Let any setbacks act as a platform for jumping to new heights. A mantra I love especially if I am on the learning curve of change is, “be where you are, yet know where you are going.”
Major balancing components, a strength and flexibility program, are two of the greatest gifts that I learned through running injuries. These, in turn, brought me to a stronger, faster, happier body. Just like running shoes and styles, there are a variety ways to develop strength and flexibility. The classic American way is to circuit train in a gym or work with a personal trainer. This does work for some. Part of the problem is training with weights can over stress already taxed joints. Some runners put on too much muscle that can also slow a runner’s body. I have found that, for me, I am better off with body-weight exercises.
Rachel has achieved her economical and artful running form through a combination of running, strength training, and flexibility exercises (Art O'Connor photo credit).
An example is squats. Using your body weight only, begin with one, slow, two-minute squat. Start with your toes straight forward, knees over the ankles, and abdominals engaged. Get to the point you can take an entire minute doing the down part of a squat. Then take an entire minute coming back up. This is a very adaptive exercise. You will fire every muscle that needs to work in the squat movement, thus eliminating compensation issues. Once you master this, move to fast squats. When the body is ready for more, jump squats and other varieties come naturally. You will find many of the muscles used in the squat partially translate into a strong, fluid running stride.
I also do the same with lunges, push-ups (shorter down and up times), and core work. By learning to handle one’s own body weight, you find delight in developing a fast, lean running body.
Rachel uses yoga and Pilates to help become a balanced runner (Art O'Connor photo credit).
My other loves are intense yoga, such as Ashtanga, and Pilates training. Both provide much needed strength but with the added benefit of flexibility. Learning how to breathe properly and calm your mind, even when the body is working hard, are amazing added benefits which may directly benefit your running.
As with anything, begin your strength and flexibility training slowly. The body needs time to adapt to new movements, especially if you are injured. Be certain to work with a professional who has specific knowledge of a runner’s needs. It is worth it to sign up for good private or group yoga or Pilates lessons to learn basics and proper form. Think of it as an investment in your health and longevity of running. You will learn through yoga and Pilates many great tools to allow the feelings joy and flow in your running.
If you do nothing else with yoga, I suggest learning Sun Salutes A and B. They are perfect dynamic stretches linking breath, movement, and core strength. Many yoga classes utilize Sun Salutes for warming up the practice. Before most runs and every race, I use Sun Salutes to help me warm up. I am able to dynamically and safely stretch my hips, the fronts and backs of my upper and lower legs, and open my lungs for the run to come. I also enter the run or race calm yet excited and motivated to move with grace.
Rachel has been injured, too, but finds her way back to her sport through other disciplines (Art O'Connor photo credit).
Find the things that work for you. If you are experiencing setbacks, remember why you started running in the first place. Why do you still want to run? Is it to improve health, or maybe to create happiness and joy? If so, think of the balancing factors as enhancements leading you to the next level of whatever motivates you. If running is bringing you pain, consider it an invitation to allow that pain to transform back into the heaven you imagine it to be. This will help you make it through until you find your rhythm again.
Rachel finds her rhythm on the trail (Art O'Connor photo credit).
Rachel Cieslewicz is a Salt Lake City-based trail and road runner, cyclist, motivational speaker, and freelance writer. This spring, she set a new PR in the 10k on roads, a blazing 36:19. In 2010, she was second in the La Sportiva Mountain Cup, a series of trail races held all over the country. Rachel teaches yoga, Pilates, and natural forefoot running form. She thrives in life by connecting mind, body, spirit, and sport and helping others do the same. Visit Rachel’s website to learn more about her and her services.