What makes this unusual is the distance (14.5 miles) and where you are running (you start at above 10,000 feet elevation and finish at above 14,000 feet at the top of Mt. Evans).
I signed up for this race because a friend told me about it (she had already signed up) and I thought it would be an interesting challenge along with it fit into my race calendar. For this race you run up a paved road all the way to the top so it is not on trail but the elevation and going uphill is what makes it tough.
Colorado has had very wet and cool conditions in the month leading up to this race so training for it has been difficult. The highway department did not get the road to the top cleared of snow until a couple days before the race. Typically the road opens on Memorial Day but it has been closed because of snow and also because they are going to do construction on it until late July this year. I was able to go do a training run last week part of the way up to get an idea of how I was going to tackle the race. I went up almost 7 miles then turned around and ran back down (I carried a bottle of water but there is no other water stops along the way). I wore winter running gear and it felt about right for conditions because it was windy and cold in spots. My strategy for this race was to run at an easy pace and if my heart rate got too high I would power walk until it went down to reasonable level then run again. There are a few spots in the first 5 miles that are very steep and it didn't make sense to run those areas because it would just wear down your legs. All in all I am glad I was able to do a training run because it gave me an idea of what to expect for the race.
The day before the race we had some rain and cooler temperatures and my friend who had signed up for the race was getting discouraged. She does not like running in rain or snow and was getting concerned we were going to be cold and miserable. I spent a good part of Friday trying to get her excited for the race via text.
Saturday morning's forecast was for the possibility of rain but overall good weather. I ended up wearing shorts along with a long sleeve top. In hindsight I could have worn a short sleeve top but I'm glad I didn't because there were no clouds so I would have gotten sunburned (the sun is really intense above 10,000 feet). We got to the race start pretty early to pick up our packets and ended up getting a prime parking spot right at the start.
After waiting around we finally got started at about 7:30 in a mass start of about 3-400 people. I ran the first several miles before encountering the first steep area, power walked, then ran again and just kept that up for the whole race. There were parts about 8-10 miles into the race where I was able to run for extended periods because the road was flat or seemed to be going downhill. My goal was to make the 9 miles mark before the cut off which was 2 and 1/2 hours and then just to finish. As I was running I was keeping a good enough pace that I thought I could finish in under 3 hours but my pace slowed at the end and I finished in 3:06 in 147th place out of 374 finishers and 15th in my age group. Overall I was happy with the result. After you finish you can hang around the top for a bit before taking one of the shuttle vans back to the bottom. They do bring up your bag if you checked one at the beginning in case you wanted clothes or something but it was so nice out at above 14,000 feet I could have hung out in shorts and a t-shirt.
A few pictures from the race (taken by someone else):
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| The road ahead |
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| Marmot! |
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| How deep the snow was in spots |
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| Mountain goats after the finish line |
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| Bib and Finisher's medal |
If you are interested in a unique race that will challenge you then this is a good one to try. You need to sign up early because it is somewhat small and does sell out. Just remember the pace on this race is slow (my pace was just under 13 minutes per mile). I think the strategy I took is the same as most of the runners in that they ran intervals and then walked. Some people did run up the whole or nearly whole way but I am not sure if this was the best philosophy because when I was power walking I passed people who were trying to run but just had nothing left and their legs were dead. Note: I used to climb mountains in Colorado and other places a great deal so I have a good idea of how altitude is going to feel. There is no amount of training that you can do that cam mimic what trying to run above 13,000 feet feels like, the best comparison is that it is like trying to breathe through a very small straw.
Most times the weather is not as good as we had it this year, one of the van drivers told us she has volunteered for 10 years and had never seen it this nice. We got a very neat long sleeve, lightweight hooded top in addition to a goody bag along with a good post race lunch. All in all this was a very good race for the price and very well organized. They kept us very well informed with frequent e-mails in the weeks leading up to the race about the road conditions.
In summary if you are looking for a challenge I would highly recommend this race.
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