Last weekend my friend Shelley and I traveled to El Paso, TX to participate in the 3rd annual Michelob Ultra El Paso Half Marathon. Why you ask? Of all places to run 13.1 miles, why El Paso you wonder? I don't blame you.
The answer is the Pikes Peak Ascent. In order to qualify to run the Pikes Peak Ascent in August, you need to have run a half marathon in the past two years under 2:30. I have not run any half marathons in the past two years, thus I did not qualify. This case was true for Shelley as well. The registration date for Pikes Peak is coming up fast, and the El Paso Half Marathon was the only one within driving distance we could squeeze in.
The "race" was on Sunday, March 1 and we fled Albuquerque at about 3pm on Saturday. After a 3 1/2 hour drive we navigated "beautiful historic downtown El Paso" to pick up our race packets. We found our hotel shortly after, which was conveniently only 1/2 mile from the start. We checked in, got issued a room smaller than we reserved, and went in search of dinner at about 7:30pm. Turns out we were staying about 3 blocks from the border. No matter how we turned - north, south, east, or west - we kept finding ourselves on one way streets that led to border crossings... and talk about a dodgy neighborhood!
We eventually found food, settled in for the night and before we knew it we were up and ready to head out the door for our wonderful 13.1 miles. It was frigid outside so we snuck out some hotel blankets and with our version of the serape we headed to the start line.
It should be noted here that I had done nearly the equivalent of zero training for this event. I'd run a total of 16 times in the past 3 months. To add to it, I purchased new shoes only 10 days prior to the run. Shelley was in a similar, if not the same, boat.
The gun fired and off we went. We had no desire to push it or try and run a PR... only to finish under 2:30 and avoid injury. Wanting to avoid injury kept our pace reasonable and comfortable. We thumped through downtown El Paso, traversed through UTEP, and out to the river. When we reached the river we also reached the 8 mile marker which was the turn around for the half marathoners. We gracefully took the turn, and wham. I had realized it was gusty during the first 8 miles, and at this point we realized the entire last 5 miles would be directly into a horrendous headwind!
We ran along the river ducking behind larger men as best we could, and I took notice of the really large rod iron fence we were running beside. We are talking 12-15 feet tall. I peered over the edge and saw underneath it the rolls of barbed wire on top of another 10 foot tall chain-link fence. I realized then that we were running along the US/Mexico border (I also realized that I had not bothered to look at the route map - another indication of lack of preparedness).
We found ourselves back in "beautiful" downtown El Paso at the finish line in 1:56. Not too shabby for 80% effort and 20% fitness! We met our two goals of 1) qualifying for Pikes Peak and 2) avoiding injury. Oddly enough our blankets were where we left them, and we jogged in warmth back to the hotel. We left as quickly as we came.
For anyone interested below is a map of the race course. I do not recommend this event. The scenery is unremarkable, and the water/aid stations were terrible (no water at the last 3 and no food at any of them). However, if you're squirming for a last minute way to qualify for the Pikes Peak Ascent in future years, go for it! Just look up where to eat and how to get there before you go.
