REVEL Big Cottonwood Presented by Albion

Aimee Ferrell

2017 REVEL Big Cottonwood Half Marathon
Published: Sept. 9, 2017, 10:23 p.m.

Overall Rating

5/5 Stars
Describe your race day.

The best race I've done by far. So much fun and so well organized. I will definitely be coming back next year. Big Cottonwood is my new favorite half!
Did you PR?

Yes
How would you describe the course?

Beautiful scenery, first 10 miles are essentially all downhill. A few flat and mild uphill areas toward the end. There are several places where the grade is quite steep and it's hard to slow down.
Tell us about your training.

I trained by running in a local canyon with hills to prepare for Big Cottonwood. This worked well for me. I also did a lot of strength training and I feel like that contributed a great deal to my pr.
What advice would you give future runners?

Bring warm clothes for the starting area. I wish I had brought sweats and a sweatshirt. Get a hotel well in advance. Ours reservation was made a month in advance and most of the nearby hotels were already sold out by then.
What fun things did you do in the area before or after the race?

We traveled about 2 hours. We came from Millard County in central Utah. We loved the Kodiak cakes at the finish line. We were looking forward to sodalicious but didn't know we needed money to pay for drinks and cookies and didn't have cash on us. Will prepare better next time!