I wanted to do this race last year but ended up out of town the weekend it went off. This year I made sure we'd be around -- this was to be the "athletic event" of the summer for me. The race starts somewhere around 7300 feet in elevation and winds its way around on the flats for about 3 miles before heading up hill for the next 5, with the last 2.5 miles be pretty darn steep -- particularly when it happens at over 8000 feet. Once you summit and get your bid drawn on, you tun around and head back to the bottom. The surface is as rough and crappy as can be -- the only thing worse is actually running on a scree slope. This was a lot like that at time, and there were at least two twisted ankles by the time the 44 finishers made it back to the start. It ended up quite hot by the time we finished and the sun was as intense as you would imagine at altitude -- and there was no shade.

I started out at what I thought was a comfortable pace and by the 3-mile mark I was sitting in 11th place. Soon after the 6-mile water stop I passed the guy ahead of me as he was clearly gassed. I didn't feel as comfortable going up hill as I expected (being primarily a bicyclist after all) but still managed to hold off everyone behind me while keeping those ahead of me from running away entirely. As this is largely an out and back course, you meet the leaders of the race coming back down as you're heading up -- I was surprised that they weren't further ahead. As I hit the top a 10-year-old boy was checking off on the numbers with a maker. I slowed to let him mark mine and stumbled as he stepped in front of me and almost flattened him. His dad (I presume) asked how I was feeling in a concerned voice -- I suppose he thought I was going to die on the way down or something. On the way down I stretched it out as best I could and increased the lead on those behind me, but those in front increased their lead on me. Frankly, I thought I was on the edge of "control" down the hill, but those in front clearly were more in control. The last 2 miles or so of relatively flat were a pain -- your legs are dead and there's no more gravity helping you. None-the-less, I finished in reasonable comfort in 10th place in 2hours 11 minutes and 0 seconds -- about 8:11 minutes/mile on average. I had hoped to average 9 minutes/mile over the course of the 16 miles, so I was quite pleased. I hit the 3 mile mark at around 23:30 and the top (about 8.75 miles) at around 1hr 14 min. I know I checked other splits, but I can't remember them -- my mind was not so quick out there. It was the furthest I've ever run. I thought I was pretty tough until I talked to Rob Hamlin after we had finished the race and he was telling me about the 32 mile mountain run he had done last weekend up in northern Wyoming...

The first male came in at 1hr 50min. The first female came in at 2hr 2min. They were both accomplished runners and what little I saw of them I enjoyed because they looked so smooth and had good form. There was a guy who showed up for the race who was in the middle of a bicycle trip from San Francisco to New York. He was English and just taking some time to see the US. He had heard about the race, and thinking it was a bike race he entered. After finding out it was a foot race, he decided to do it anyway. Despite not running in a year and a half (he had been a triathlete), he finished in 6th place overall -- I just hate people who have that sort of talent!

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