Spitfire 25K (Race Recap)

Menan, ID

Saturday, April 17

Weather - Cold and windy at the start, sunny and warm at the end

After the fun racecation I had going to The Drift in Wyoming, I'd been half-heartedly looking for something "fun" to do out of state. Of course the problems are finding something that fits into our schedule, doesn't cost a ton, and somewhere we would feel comfortable traveling. After going to Omaha and realizing that flying seemed fairly safe, I started looking for something. After checking out airfare, I landed on the Spitfire (Ultra) 25K in Menan, Idaho. We signed up ten days before the race, so we didn't have much time to plan going into it, but it was "only" a 25K, so how much planning did we even really need?

Race Day

We arrived at the start line with about 40 minutes to spare. I wanted to get my bib and use the bathroom, and then get everything ready to go for the 7:40 mandatory meeting. We got our bag/bib (nothing exciting, not even a shirt!) and headed back to the car to get everything ready. All we really had to do was put water in our packs and decide how many layers we were planning on wearing. In my old age I REALLY hate to be cold, so I planned to wear my R1, even though I knew it would warm up pretty quick.

We headed back over to the start and attending the meeting, which was actually helpful - I liked to be walked through the general direction of the course and hear about markings. As confusing as the course looked on paper, it seemed like it would be pretty simple once we got out there.

I opted to use the bathroom one more time before we started. Lined up towards the back with a minute or so to spare - with Ben heading closer to the front.

There was a little bit of a bottleneck right at the start as we all had to go through a fairly narrow gate. Then we were off! While the race director had emailed me the caltopo and I had put it into my watch, I really had no idea what the course was like, or what to expect in terms of terrain. Except of course, that we were going to "dance on the rims and in the belly of the worlds largest tuffed volcano!" (From their website).

So the course started out on a wide dirt trail, and headed UP. Like up the side of the volcano. I figured it was going to be a big climb, and I thought that maybe there would be, oh I don't know, switchbacks or something, but no. Straight up. I made it like two minutes before I started mall walking. Holy crap this was hard. And it was COLD. I was glad I was wearing gloves and that I had the warmer jacket on. OMG, how long was this hill?? I think I'm going to pass out and I know I'm breathing really hard. 

Finally get up to the top of the hill after a really steep section of rock that even had a chain to help keep people upright. Made sure to note the amount of elevation gain and distance. 649' and .79 miles. OK, unless my watch is wrong, I didn't imagine how tough that first climb was! Pause for a minute to get a picture of the adorable llama before heading out for my first jaunt in the caldera. 

We ran along the rim, down a pretty steep descent (so I was penguin-ing down) and then across the caldera! This section was pretty cool as we were in a runnable area that had sagebrush and single track. 

At the far end of the caldera we had to run up a hill and then we had a rocky section that I wasn't expecting that included some bouldering and climbing. It was really pretty, but I was really beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into...

When we looped back around we were at the llama, and then we ran down the hill and through the caldera again, only this time when we emerged, we turned to the left instead. We had another pretty big climb to get back to the rim.

We were on a wider dirt trail again, and ran up to the radio towers before making a sharp right turn and heading down a pretty steep descent. The views were amazing from this section and I really enjoyed breathing easier and running down. Of course in the back of my mind, I'm remembering that we will have to come back up this later...

When we got to the bottom we had a nice, rolling section of single track that I ran 90% of. We got to the first aid station, and I didn't stop since I had barely used any of my water. I had eaten a few pretzels on the climb, into the aid station, but I still had plenty of food left. After leaving the aid station we had about 3/4 of a mile to run on road, which was actually nice because it was a gradual downhill and not at all technical. This race has a fall race and a spring race, and apparently the spring race changed a tad, so in this section my watch beeped that I was off course, but I knew better. We ran along a farm, which smelled pretty terrible, and then once we exited there were a few volunteers with a radio. We head up into the hills towards the other volcano. At this point, about mile 7, I stupidly thought this was when we were starting our loop around the rim. I was wrong.

I was playing cat and mouse with a few runners along the section by the water. They stopped to walk and eat, and I never saw them again (until the finish). Just before mile 8 we had a pretty big hill - this was obviously up the side of the volcano, and I saw the faster runners bombing the downhills and I was wondering when I would see Ben. Had I been even a few minutes faster, I would have missed him! I was at about 8.5 miles in and he was just under 11 miles, and after I saw him it was less than a quarter of a mile until he started the loop around the rim. 

I really liked the section around the south rim. It was wide and runnable and a gradual downhill. There was an aid station on the far end of the rim and I had thought about filling up my water, but I still had a decent amount left and they didn't have cups for coke, so I breezed through. I passed another few people I had been trying to catch and never saw them again after that. There was another climb out, which I ran about half of, and then I had to stop for a second time to dump sand out of my shoe. I'm glad I had asked Ben what mile he was at because I was at the same mileage at the same point and knew exactly what I had to go (or so I thought).

I was getting a little hot and tired, and I kept thinking that the people I had passed at the aid station were going to come out of nowhere and pass me, but they never did. The only people who did pass me were people on the second loop of their 50K. (Which, by the way, I can't believe that anyone did. I would never have been able to go out and do another loop after knowing what it was like). The section by the farm wasn't as smelly as the last time, and even the gradual uphill on the road wasn't terrible. I did stop at the aid station for a cup of ginger ale and a few small pickles. At this point, I was already past mile 14 on my watch, and I asked how far to the aid station. OVER THREE MILES. WTF. And "it's mostly uphill." My fears were realized! That nice downhill at mile 3? We'd be going up that now... I had secretly hope that we would be veering off somewhere before then. I was wrong. It was just as steep as I feared and I really didn't like this section. I was FINALLY not happy and I was just wanting to be done, and these stupid hills never ended!!

R is for RIDICULOUS!

FINALLY, I got to the turn at the top of the hill.  Unfortunately, by now, my legs were toast. The volunteers said "now you get to run the pretty part!" Well, the pretty part was actually weirdly technical, and my legs were jello. I was more just stumbling along and trying not to fall. When I got to the very last set of volunteers, I knew it was .8 miles to the finish (because I had been smart enough to look at the start of the course). It was even steeper on the downhill, and I really struggled at the top because the rocks were covered with sand and it was SO STEEP. Finally, with maybe a half mile to go, I was able to run all the way into the finish. Ben at least got a picture of me crossing the line. Woot!

No beer at the finish, supposedly they had a potato bar, but I didn't feel like eating anything. I downed a bottle of Powerade and took a La Croix for the road.

This was NOT an easy course! I felt some redemption when Ben and I compared stats and we both had nearly exact mileage and elevation gain (which ironically, was about 1,000' more than the Caltopo the RD had sent me!)

Official Time - 4:27:47

Garmin Time - 4:27:46

Garmin Distance - 17.74 miles

Garmin Pace - 15:06

Elevation Gain - 3,509'

Mile 1 - 22:56

Mile 2 - 15:53

Mile 3 - 16:26

Mile 4 - 11:07

Mile 5 - 12:07

Mile 6 - 11:08

Mile 7 - 12:37

Mile 8 - 14:08

Mile 9 - 19:16

Mile 10 - 13:34

Mile 11 - 13:31

Mile 12 - 12:20

Mile 13 - 14:10

Mile 14 - 13:50

Mile 15 - 15:55

Mile 16 - 19:08

Mile 17 - 18:54

Mile 17.74 - 14:38

We left the race and headed into Idaho Falls where we had a delicious lunch, and "ok" beer.

Thoughts:

• Very low-key race. Our $80ish (last minute) race entry didn't give us anything except the race and a buff. No shirt, or medal, although we did get a cowbell at the finish. 
• Course was very well-marked, although I still felt better having the route loaded into my watch.
• Course was also not quite what was advertised, so be prepared for... surprises in terms of elevation gain and mileage.
• Overall, a good time, and the race director was very responsive to the questions that I emailed her.