A few years ago when we first moved to Colorado and before I started doing ultra marathons, Jennifer and I learned about this race and its reputation as one of the hardest 50 mile races. From that point, it remained in the back of my mind...could I actually do this? Well, I finally had the experience and it WAS hard and it WAS rewarding.
Here's how the day looked from a numbers perspective. Lots of ups and downs in the terrain and in my mojo.
THE START: Alpine Gulch to Williams Aid (Miles 0-15.7)
The first couple miles on the road were uneventful. Only concern was whether I'd made the right decision not to wear a headlamp for the 5am start. Fortunately, I was able to glom enough light from my fellow runners who did use headlamps for the 15 or 20 minutes until natural light took over and the road was in good shape and I didn't twist an ankle.
After the turn off the road, we were on single track and very soon negotiating the first of approximately 10 or so stream crossings. Many had ropes to hold onto and some were about mid-thigh deep and running very strong. My feet got numb after 5 or 6, but my biggest challenge was the slippery nature of my orthodics when my shoes get soaked. The orthodics are hard plastic and make for a slick surface for my shoe insoles to ride upon, so my lateral stability gets very shaky. This is a problem for me, as my ankles are typically my weak link to begin with. Other than that, the 4000' climb up Alpine Gulch went pretty well on mostly single-track through the woods. I passed by the first aid station without stopping and continued up to about 12,500' where it opened up on the wide ridge. The views were amazing and more than one runner stopped to take pictures.
There were plenty of snowfields to cross along this section. The snow was generally packed with steps kicked in, but the footing was a bit treacherous, where a careless step would lead to a long and fast descent. Soon enough, the descent to Williams Aid Station began and I looked forward to seeing Jennifer there at mile 15.7. I was already pretty sure that my dream goal of breaking 12 hours was not going to happen, as I arrived at 8:38am, just past my target of 8:30am. I know myself well enough that making up time on an aggressive goal like that on a long and very hard course like this is unlikely. Expectation resetting is a constant in these events for me and I try not get too hung up on them.
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| Mile 15.7-Entering Williams Aid Station |
At Williams Aid, Jennifer immediately sat me down and tended to refilling my water bladder & food, removing layers, getting me into dry socks and insoles, while I downed a can of pineapple, a 5-Hour Energy, Fritos, and grabbed a Pop Tart as I left, feeling pretty decent. It would be almost 7 hours before I'd see her again at mile 40, and 20 of those 25 or so miles would be a struggle.
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| Leaving Williams Aid with Pop Tart In-Progress |
BREAKING DOWN: Carson and The Divide to Slumgullion (miles 15.7-40)
The next section, ran steeply up a Jeep road and I was mostly by myself, occasionally passing people on the long power hike ascent from 9,200' to 13,000'. The wide road was generally rutted and footing wasn't the best with a good deal of loose rocks. At about 10:30, I stopped for a few minutes in the Carson Aid Station (~mile 22) to get my bladder refilled (the volunteers were outstanding, taking care of the entire refill for me, while I ate and drank) and ate half an avocado, some salted boiled potatoes, Coke, a few handfuls of potato chips and a whole cup of ramen noodle soup. After the aid, I continued up probably another 1000' to the Continental Divide, which the course follows for over 10+ rolling miles. As the day was getting warm, the snowfields got softer and there was a significant amount of post-holing up to the knees and even hips that just sucked the energy and pace out of me. I also twisted my already tender left ankle in the depths of one of these cold and wet abysses. Plus, the melt-off created huge wet and muddy sections, which once again soaked my feet and led to instability and tiring of my cranky ankles.
At mile 31, I dragged myself into the Divide Aid, had my bladder refilled, sat down and ate more ramen soup, had some Coke, listened to the thunder claps, as afternoon storms threatened, but thankfully did not fully get their acts together to my great relief, at 12-13,000' and totally exposed along the Divide. At this point, I pretty much accepted that coming in under 13 hours was becoming unlikely and, I was trying to figure out how I was going to finish this course with everything from my chest down (abs, hips, quads, glutes, ankles, feet) hurting. It was still 9 miles to the Slumgullion Aid, where Jennifer would be waiting to crew me. I looked forward to that in a big way, but was wary of getting ahead of myself. It was 5 miles more of high and rolling Continental Divide trail before a 4 mile decent. It was a struggle just to run on the flats and descents, but I did a decent job of keeping the promise to myself that I would do so. Sometimes it feels like running at a very slow pace is slower than a brisk walking pace, but that's generally not the case. Running whenever possible makes much better time over the long run.
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| I'm somewhere up there |
What I did well during this tough stretch was not to get too far ahead of my self, mentally. I didn't lose many places, I managed not to fall down, didn't roll my ankles too badly and kept moving. The decent to Slumgullion finally did end at 3:26pm, 10:26 into the race with 10 miles and 2000' ascent to go. Jennifer sat me down, asked only the necessary questions, got to work on getting my feet dry, shirt & hat changed, and gave me pineapple, Fritos, Pringles, curry cashews, Salt Caps, a 5-Hour Energy and a grape ice pop from the aid station (brilliant!). I sat for maybe 20 minutes and allowed Jennifer to talk me off the ledge of getting too down about how I was feeling. It's a little hard to admit that during that section from 25-40 miles along the Divide, the thought of quitting came into my mind. I never actually considered doing it, but it's the first time it's ever even crossed my mind during a race. Jennifer told me I came into aid in 88th out of 250 place.
Jennifer told me how trashed many people were coming into this aid station, so I knew I wasn't the only one suffering. Many others were probably worse off and there were also 50+ drops along the way. This helped put things in perspective as I got prepared to continue on.
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| Mile 40-Just trying not to fall coming into Slumgullion Aid |
THE PUSH: Vickers' Ranch to The Finish (Miles 40-50)
When it was time to leave, I had to cross a road and a volunteer locked eyes with me just before I re-entered the woods and asked if I was OK. I said "Nope" and continued to try to get my legs moving again. I remember looking up and waving to Jennifer as I descended into the wooded trail and feeling extra determined not to fade in the final section. Amazingly, I quickly started to feel better and a bit more nimble very soon out of the aid station. I knew I had one more 2000' climb ahead of me and then it was all downhill (which isn't necessarily so easy and isn't my strong suit) after that. Over the next 90 minutes or so on the climb, I passed several people, who I perceived were stronger than I was. At least I still had my climbing mojo! Then when the trail leveled out, I still felt able to move pretty well and I passed several more people before beginning the decent. At this point, I just hoped I had the quads to get me down the long descent.
Fortunately, the trail in this section was generally pretty good, especially on the final 5 miles or so of steep downhill. Going downhill on tired legs isn't my forte, but on this day, I was able to let gravity do its thing and made pretty decent time and passed another 5-6 people. Glancing at my watch in the last 30 minutes, it became clear that a sub-13 hour finish was not going to happen, but it was more important to me that I was finishing strong, which was my #1 goal coming into the race.
Coming off the mountain and into town, I saw no one behind me, so was pretty certain I wasn't going to lose any spots I'd gained and in the final mile or so through the town of Lake City I passed a couple more people. When I had my bearings and knew I was two blocks out, I did the best I could to sprint, but I'm sure it didn't look that way. Knowing my condition at Slumgullion, Jennifer was expecting me to be later and I caught her by surprise, but she did manage to get a picture of me just as I had completed my leap at the blessed Finish Line at 13 hrs 7 minutes, good enough for 93rd of 250 starters.
Full results here.
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| Hallelujah! |
POST RACE
It's hard to explain the feeling to finish an event like this. Relief and release are probably the best words. I tend not to put a ton of retrospective thought into rethinking every moment of it, but rather let what's natural flow though my mind. As you can see, it was a beautiful day in a spectacular location, so Jennifer and I grabbed a spot of grass, chatted with some people, finished my post-race Muscle Milk protein drink, had some Pringles, pizza, soup, re-hydrated and watched and cheered other runners as they came in over the next couple hours and just enjoyed the sense of completion and accomplishment.
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| Gotta Do the Pose |
This is a great race. It seems like the entire town of Lake City was involved, it was impeccably well-organized, the volunteers at the aid stations and along the course were always upbeat and tremendously attentive. one could get by without crew support here very nicely, as volunteers refilled hydration bladders and even helped runners with untying and tying shoes. It sounds trivial, but it's far from it when you are in the condition you are during these races. So, thanks to everyone who makes this race happen for doing such a wonderful job.
On Sunday after the race, a great breakfast was put on in the park, awards and raffle gifts were given out and each and every runner (amazing) was announced and applauded. Just a great vibe all around!
Over the winter, I started thinking about how to approach bringing some good to others via these events that I do. Our trip to Nepal in April and the subsequent disaster there brought that objective into clear focus and Jennifer and I have been so very touched by the generosity of everyone who donated to
The Juniper Fund at our request! We had set a goal of raising $3000 and to date you all have donated over $3200 and counting! The majority of these funds are going to three Sherpa families who lost their fathers and husbands at Everest Base Camp on April 25 and the remainder will go to support the families of other Sherpa's who have lost their lives helping people climb Mt Everest.
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| Thank You! |
