Jill and me before the race start!
It didn't take long after the race started for me to see that my original thoughts were correct. Just do your best and enjoy the experience. I have not been inactive of late and I could quickly feel it on the first hill. I took out my camera and began taking some pictures. I also did a lot of walking up the hills. I am a fairly fast walker and thought that was the best use of my energy. I was surprised at how many people were walking the hills.
People ahead of me as far as you can see on one of the first long hills
Eventually the trail narrows and becomes a single track. It is not an area you can pass anyone on. At this point it was downhill and I was running. I felt someone breathing down my neck but I was behind someone I couldn't pass so there wasn't much I could do about it. Eventually we crossed a small footbridge and came out onto a road. I had been making myself drink at each water stop and continued to do so.
The Path begins to narrow
Once we were on the road it was a very long road uphill. The first part was the steepest and I walked all of it. There was a woman ahead of me running but I didn't feel she was making any forward motion ahead of me. I asked people around me if they knew how much farther it was to the top. When you finally see a water station you still go around one last corner and up one more (small but steep) hill. Then YES you start going downhill. I will have to put my splits in. They have never been so varied.
Now we're coming down the hill
Headed toward the finish
This was a good race to have negative splits in! So much of the second half was downhill. I found myself around several of the same people for the whole race so I was holding my own. I was able to cheer for Jill as she was coming down the long dirt road when I was still on my way up! I loved it when I could hear the announcer as I knew I was getting near the end. As I approached the finish I heard Jill and Kathleen cheering. Kathleen took a picture of my finish. Yeah for support from bloggy friends and meet ups! Then I get to the very end and there is M cheering me on. I am miles from home and I have support! M hangs my medal around my neck and I am done!
Kathleen, myself and Jill
After breakfast - Steve, Kathleen, Jill, myself and M!
The t-shirt and medal - love the medal!!!Here are my splits - probably my strangest splits ever - but I PRd because I had never done a 12K and a negative split! Life is good.
Mile 1 12:57
Mile 2 12:55
Mile 3 14:02
Mile 4 15:12
Mile 5 9:14
Mile 6 11:13
Mile 7 10:45
last .5 8:51
I think it is pretty clear I am NOT a hill runner! I had a great time though being in Colorado, racing in a new state, racing "with" M after all the running talk we exchange and meeting some bloggy friends.
22 comments:
Awesome! Like we said earlier, it most certainly was a wonderful pleasure to meet you (and M, too!). Did you get some rest in today so you can attack your last days??? You certainly have gotten a lot of things done in a fairly short amount of time! Have fun - hopefully you will take home a treasure chest of fun memories!!! :-)
How fun was your day?! I love those trails and the hills do look challenging, especially with that elevation.
Thanks for the pictures, you were fortunate to meet such wonderful women and I know you had a great time!
I love that medal, too!
That race must have been tough with all those hills. They would have kicked my butt! I'm glad you kicked theirs though. Congrats!
Ah girl, I am sooo proud of you, I can't believe what an Energizer Bunny you have been during this trip to CO, you ran a great race; that was NOT an easy course even for me who lives out here and runs that stuff frequently. It was a pleasure to meet you and I hope our paths cross again soon; I've never been to VT so that's a must-do for me sometime soon! Have a great time at Garden of the Gods tomorrow...I, for one, am taking the day off of running, my glutes are killing me (haha).
Well done! Great pics as well! Hills on the trails are tough. You have to train specifically for them. I'm glad you had such a wonderful time. Looks like great fun.
Awesome! Those pictures are amazing and bloggy meetups are so fun!
I love the pic with everyone running up the hill! Nice medal ;-)
You are a brave woman to run such a hilly course (said the wimpy flatlander). Love that you got to meet some bloggy peeps and what a cool medal!
Is it hard to run at altitude?
Congrats on running a wonderful race, and thanks for sharing all the pics! What an awesome trip you're having!
You have the most awesome header - Great race - you are brave!!
Looks like a challenging race, but also a beautiful run! Glad you enjoyed the experience and soaked it all in. CONGRATS!!!
Looks like it was a tough course. Congrats!
Wow! That does look like a tough course! Super fun thought and great weather. I love trail races. Just came across your blog and can relate to falling in love with running!
So cool that you had a race to jump into and got to meet some light friends! Looks like a tough one but I know you had a good time.
Wow that sounds (and looks!) like a tough race. I don't know if I could stand the breathing down my neck- good job and especially on the hills!!!
Ps- I bet Jill is awesome...lucky you two had a meet :)
Awesome! It looks like a tough course and I am not a fan of hills. I like your negative splits.
I'm right there with you on not being a hill runner. I am not fond of hills! Good for your for getting this one done! Congrats!! Sounds like you enjoyed the run and the scenery is beautiful. Thanks for sharing the pix!
What a fun race and how fun to meet people!
I am so proud of you for your awesome job of taking pictures! This trail run looked absolutely stunning! I am so glad that you were able to experience this race and do so well!
I really like the picture of all of you after the race:) It must have been so fun to meet Jill and Kathleen!
how fun to meet Jill!! Great job on that hard course!
so fun!
Wow! What a cool course! SO very jealous you got to have such a fun bloggy meet-up, too! Great job on the negative splits!
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