Well, we made it. Race day. The big show! The culmination of a summer's worth of long runs and
Honey Stingers and training to run with a pack. All for this day. Seventeen miles, gaining 10 miles from Ouray (7810 ft) to the top of Imogene Pass at 13,114 feet and down to Telluride. We talked a bit of strategy the day before the race. Trent's prediction for my overall time was 3-3.5 hours and mine was under 4 hours. Personally, my training did not go as well as I would have liked and four hours sounded about right. Fast or not, I knew I'd be able to make it through the race.
The day was picture perfect: we woke around sunrise and the temperature was 30 degrees with a forecast of 65 and sunny by noon. We dressed in layers, packed our gels, chews, raincoats and whatever else might be needed during our climb and headed for the start line -- which was, oh, 100 meters or so from our doorstep.
Robin, Ben and me at the start line.
Before we knew it, the gun started the race and we were on our way up the mountain!
We ran for approximately two miles before hitting the trail. The pace was relaxed, the course crowded. Once on the trail, people began to separate out a bit and there was plenty of room to run. My first four miles averaged just over eleven-minute pace and I was happy with this, not wanting to go out too hard. I felt really good and continued on as the pitches grew steeper by the minute. For the first seven miles I was just ahead of Ben, but shortly before our first time checkpoint he passed me as I struggled on a particularly steep climb. At one point around mile six I was crawling up a 15% grade climb and looked ahead of me to see 100% of the fifty or so competitors I could see
walking. It had not yet occurred to me that I should stop and walk. I knew there were many people around me switching back and forth between walking and running, but everyone? This sort of baffled me. But, my exhaustion urged me to fall in line and take a breather. A man next to me said "wow, I actually thought you were going to run this whole thing." I thought, so did I.
I met up with Ben again at an aid station and we ran through the checkpoint at Upper Camp Bird (mile marker 7.65) together at 1:44 (official time). That would be 13:30 pace. As you can tell, things escalated quickly after mile five! No longer was I concerned with pace or competing, I was simply surviving the thing. After Upper Camp Bird we had 2.5 miles left to reach the summit. It was at this point that things sort of went to hell. The last stretch included pitches anywhere from 16% to 22% gradient. There is a lot I could say about these last couple of miles -- the torture, the pain, the emotion, the cramps, the confusion, the dizziness, the views! All in all, it was awful and wonderful all at once. Ben was way out ahead of me, reaching the summit six minutes before I did. The King of the Mountain. I reached the top of Imogene in 2:40, just shy of an
hour for 2.5 miles! Robin was just behind me, too. She was having a spectacular race day!! We all downed some food and drinks (and ibuprofen), Robin snapped a few photos and after about ten minutes of rest we headed down to the finish!
To my dismay, the descent wasn't nearly as smooth and easy as I had hoped. The footing was treacherous and the trail was unrelentingly steep. My legs were exhausted and trying to put on the brakes for miles on end was frustrating and borderline dangerous as I had nothing left in them. Ben and I pretty much ran the last seven miles together, first easy and then, after a little recovery walk, picking up the pace and taking turns pushing one another to the finish.
Robin's amazing finish! This girl has come a long way and she is one competitive trail runner!
Finally, the finish line. We crossed, hand-in-hand, in three hours, fifty-four minutes -- just as I predicted. What a feeling.
I'm so happy that Ben and I could share this race the way we did: running our own races, then running together and pushing one another to the end. I loved having his support through the most challenging event I've ever completed.
And, a special thanks to Trent and Joel for
their support. Seriously, this race would not have been half as enjoyable without them! Thanks for the photos, the shuttle, the cheering and overall great company!
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