Gothic to Crested Butte Run, Walk or Crawl 1/3 Marathon Race Report

I spent the weekend in Crested Butte Colorado.  I’ve lived in Boulder for five years now, and had never been.

Wow, what a place.  Small town charm, big town activities. I will be back.

On the drive up Rich told me that our friend Amy would be running this 1/3 marathon starting at 11,000 feet or something.

Rich is also the guy I started training with during the first 120 day project.  We got to camp and it took Amy about three words to convince me to do it with her.  $35 and a 6am wake up and I was in.

The start was under Mt. Gothic, and impressive and massive peak.  I really wish I had some sort of lightweight (ring sized) that takes smaller photos.

Anyway, early morning, and it was a cold one, start.  I didn’t stretch much deciding that a nice easy two miles would be the perfect warmup.  The start happened, with 500 or so on a dirt road.  Crowded.  They started the race and I just got really tired of going slow in a pack.  I ditched Amy finding the perfect seam through the crowd to pass around 300 people in the first two miles.

When you do something like that, you feel like a million bucks.

Really, the best I have ever felt running.

Then the hills came and all those folks ‘pacing’ started to kick my ass.  Miles 3-6 were slow, painful and only good because of the beautiful area around.  Mile 6 is when Amy caught up to me, and that was enough for me to get out of my funk.  If it was two miles of pain to finish with Amy, then that is what I was going to do.  Her paced felt like 8 min miles (most likely slower, but that is damn fast at 10,000 feet.

I kept up with Amy until the last turn, in which I started to feel my stomach really turn.  I had the acid taste in my mouth and slowed down quite a bit to avoid puking in front of the finish line crowd.

Really a strong race.  8.55 miles, 1:18:35 time (9:15 pace).

Bracken, Darcy and Rich took care of me after the race.  I wasn’t thinking much in that post race zone of needing food and not being able to really walk in a straight line.  We went to the gas station cafe for greasy sandwiches and coffee at Camp 4.

A great race, I will be back.

Next up is the Triple Bypass then the half iron.

I need some help with vehicle support for the Triple Bypass next weekend, anyone want to spend the day in the mountains?