Moab Trail Marathon
In the bright sunlight and crisp air of Moab, Utah, my calf starts to cramp up. I yelp in surprise, and pause for a second during my unrelenting climb. I’ve been hiking up the “Scorched Earth Wall” for about forty minutes now, and the steep ascent up the cliff isn’t ending anytime soon. My muscles are tired and I’ve already run 14 miles by this point. Somehow, I’ve still got a big grin on my face, especially when I turn to look around. The La Sal Mountains are capped with snow, and below them is an endless stretch of brilliant red rock, cliffs, and plateaus sprinkled with bright yellow aspen trees. I take a deep breath. God, I’m so lucky to be up here. This weekend I raced the Moab Trail Marathon to close out a year of racing for Epic Experience. I use the word “race” loosely, because that really wasn’t the point of this final training milestone. Since becoming a triathlete, I’ve focused heavily on the aspects of becoming as fast and as strong as I could be. This time around, I wa