Black Hawk Trail Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Saturday, July 29
Golden, CO
Half Marathon #168
Weather - Overcast, misty, perfect

Last year, Heather came out and ran the Black Hawk trail half marathon with me.  We took an early start and tied for DFL. It was a blast.

A few days before the race, Jeff emailed a few of us asking if we could carpool. I offered, since we were headed up anyway, as long as people knew that we would be arriving early and leaving late.

With that in mind, we met up with Chris at 5 am in the shopping center near our house. The drive flew by with someone new to chat with, and were parked at 5:40. That gave us plenty of time to pick up our stuff and get everything ready for the 7:00 start.

Beautiful full rainbow near the start

A began her volunteer shift with running race day registrations from the red barn to the timing guy, and I chatted with Annette, who was assisting with packet pick up. Phil arrived shortly before 6:30, and A and I helped him set up the tent. Before I knew it, it was time to use the bathroom and line up. It was lightly misting, and I hoped it would stay that way since I had not brought a rain jacket.

The race started just a minute or two late, and I was in the back. Since we had done the early start last year, I didn't realize how much bottle necking there would be in the first quarter mile. Didn't bother me though, since I don't typically warm up for a few miles, and I was fine keeping the pace slow. We moved off the single track and onto the road. Quite a few people passed me in this section. When we turned to go onto the jeep trail, I was in second to last place, with only Francesca behind me. She caught me at the first aid station, and we sorta ran together for maybe a quarter mile. About when we hit the first mile marker I stopped to screw around with my shoelaces, and she kept going. I never would catch her the rest of the day.

This section of the course has some pretty views, but I think is actually my least favorite part. There was some decent climbing, and then the turnoff for the 10k, and we kept heading out. The glorious downhill just meant that the uphill would come when we turned around. I managed to pass just one person on this climb.

No, that is not snow on the ground

On the way back, I managed to spot Lynette and Tom as they were taking the turn. Came back through the aid station and then we got into my favorite part of the course. It is the most heavily wooded section and runs alongside a creek. There are lots of crossings, either with the option of a bridge crossing or going through shallow water. In most cases, I went for the bridge.

Then the most challenging section of the course - the switchbacks (which I think is when Heather was threatening to DNF last year). It was "hard," but not as hard as it felt during the Dirty 30 (which a lot of this course mirrored). 

We had some nice downhill, and then when we got to mile 8, I could tell where the additional mile was added in that we had not done last year. Shockingly, it was a climb up, and then we came right back down. I spent a few minutes talking with a girl from Illinois - she was running her first half marathon ever - and what a challenging one to pick!

The course jumped onto the single track near the lake, which is really pretty with all the wildflowers. 

We then had to go down the trail to the road, hit up the aid station, then come right back up. I had seen Francesca at the turn around and she did not seem that far ahead of me. I never did see her again after that, so she must have really been moving up the hill. I chatted for a bit just before mile 12 with a man from Texas - these flatlanders are amazing to run these races! I live here and can barely breathe on thee climbs. Just after mile 12, I tripped over nothing and skidded on my palms. Luckily, nothing else happened. A few tiny climbs, but mostly downhill single track to the finish.

I didn't really have much of a goal in mind since I hadn't really "run" the race last year. I was pretty pleased to come in under 3.5 hours!

Official time - 3:17:12

Official pace - 15:03

Overall place - 76/86

Gender place - 33/40

Division place - 16/18

Elevation gain - 2,776'

Garmin time - 3:17:31

Garmin distance - 12.51 miles

Garmin pace - 15:47

Mile 1 - 16:52

Mile 2 - 11:17

Mile 3 - 17:16

Mile 4 - 15:30

Mile 5 - 15:49

Mile 6 - 23:53

Mile 7 - 20:44

Mile 8 - 13:15

Mile 9 - 12:52

Mile 10 - 12:36

Mile 11 - 16:07

Mile 12 - 15:45

Mile 12.51 - 10:58

A, Phil, Francesca and Susan were at the finish line, and we quickly got in our team  picture.

Francesca, me, Phil, A, Susan, Carl

We then headed down to the red barn for the finish line party - this time, there was plenty of Avery beer left. I wasn't hungry (again), but had a beer before heading out. (By the way, the guy we carpooled with ran a 2:06 for his first official half marathon. Holy crap).

Thoughts:

• This is legitimately the most difficult half marathon I've ever done. It is fairly technical, there is a TON of climbing.
• With THAT said, it is also one of the prettiest courses I have run. I will likely run this one again, especially if I start to see an improvement on my climbing/trail times. This is a fun course.
• The course was exceptionally well marked, there are markers at every mile (except mile 4, but that is only because someone stole the sign). Flagging or chalk or a sign anywhere there was a turn.
• Three aid station, which is pretty good considering how remote the course is.
• The finish line party was fantastic, like always. Lots of food, and of course, BEER!
• Cool medal (although I think I liked last year's a little better).

• Run this. You won't regret it.

Dirty 30 50k (Race Recap)

Golden, CO
Saturday, June 3
Ultra Marathon #23
Weather - perfect!

The Dirty 30 is one race I had never done because it always seemed to conflict with something else. Back in February I decided to make this my "A" spring race. And then the same thing happened that seems to happen every single time I have a goal race. I didn't properly train and the weather was shit in the month leading up to it.

Unlike my last "A" race, Lean Horse, I wasn't injured going into it. But with 11 months of anti-treadmill running under my belt, a super chaotic schedule, new job, etc., I simply did not get in the proper training. I didn't get in any really long runs (I think I maxed out at 18 miles... but that was two months before the race) and I *certainly* didn't get my trail running in. With all the moisture (both rain and snow), I think I only hit the trails 2-3 times ALL TRAINING CYCLE.

So it should come as no surprise that I pretty much fell apart during this race... but let's rewind.

About two weeks prior to the race I figured I should start planning my race day. That's when I realized that in order to do the early start I would need to carpool - WITH AT LEAST TWO OTHER RUNNERS. Awkward, since I didn't know of two other idiots like me that were running the 50k - all my friends were running the 12 miler. Luckily, there was a ride share link and I managed to connect with some runners that allowed me to tag along. Also a stipulation for doing the early start was picking up my bib in Golden on a week day, which I managed to do the Thursday before the race. Phew.

Race Day

The plan was to meet at Amy's house in Golden at 4:30 in the morning. I unfortunately woke up before my alarm went off (at 2:57) and opted to not go back to sleep. Turns out the extra time was helpful. 1). I forgot my purse and had to go back to get it and 2). the on ramp for the highway was closed, so I had to take more side streets than expected. I still arrive at Amy's house a few minutes early. Jesse and his girlfriend, Brit, arrived a minute later and we loaded up all our gear. I tried to offer them gas money and they wouldn't take it.

I was very glad someone else was driving, as it was dark, there is no cell phone service once you enter the canyon and I had NO idea where we were going. (I'll refer to my lack of reading information more than once in this post).

We were parked with a little less than an hour until the start. Used the bathroom a few times, and then with maybe 15 minutes to go we headed down the hill to the start line (where I used the bathroom at least two more times). Amy, Brit and I were all doing the early start, but Jesse wasn't, so he offered to take my coat back to the car with him. (Seriously, these guys were the best random strangers!)

Listened to the last minute race instructions (follow the pink flags), and at 6:01, we were off. We headed up the road to the trail head and then the first of many MANY walking segments began. We bottle-necked a bit here as we were quickly thrust into single track. Sadly, only a few days later, I can barely remember anything about the course itself.

I recognized the early sections of the course as being the same as the Black Hawk half from last summer. Lots of green, and we got to run beside the creek. We hit the first aid station around 5 miles in. I took only a cup of coke and kept going.

And this is where memory fails me. All I can seem to remember is that the course was either up or down, there did not seem to be any inbetween. Since I haven't mentioned it yet, the scariest part of the race is the amount of climbing. We were supposed to climb over 7,200' over the course of 32ish miles. Holy crap.

Somewhere around mile 8, just before all the elite males ran by me (remember they started an hour later)

I can't remember the difference between the second and third aid station, other than I knew there was climbing right out of the gate after the third one. And that's pretty much when the race really started to fall apart for me.

One of my teammates captured this as I was coming into an aid station

I felt pretty good the first 15 or so miles, you know, because I was adequately trained for that kind of distance. And then shit got real hard, real fast. As I've mentioned before, I'm a terrible climber. And there was a LOT of climbing. And for me, not the kind of climbing where I just keep hiking and plugging along. It was steep and it was unrelenting. I had been keeping a pretty steady pace for a while and then I just kept getting passed. I saw my teammate Kaitlyn a few times on the course, she ended up running in 7ish hours and looked awesome on the climbs. Meanwhile, I'm wondering what superhero gene these people have that give them the ability to run up these hills I can barely walk up.

The trail also got exceedingly more technical. There was a section where we had to climb over boulders, and then, when the climbing FINALLY stopped, it also became ROCKY. Where I lack in my ability to climb hills, I'm normally able to compensate with bombing the downhills. Unfortunately, my quads were like liquid lava. They were shaky and hot and exhausted. I cautiously tried to run down, only to roll my ankle on a loose rock. Not what I want to happen going into peak trail running season! I made the decision to take it easy on the downhills, which really hurt my overall place, but at least I wasn't going to hurt myself.

And the sky was ominous...

As the afternoon wore on, the sky started to look scary. Sure enough, we were heading into aid station 4 when it started to rain. And then it POURED. Turns out, my windbreaker is just that, a windbreaker. I was completely soaked within a minute or two. The temperature dropped quite a bit and I grew concerned that if the storm got worse that they could cancel the race and pull us of course - we still had not climbed Windy Peak!

I was ecstatic to see Terry and Ben volunteering as course marshals! I had been in a dark place and it was so awesome seeing some friendly faces. As I headed down (WHY ARE WE GOING DOWN JUST TO START CLIMBING AGAIN??) I was thinking, shit. I'm going to be coming back up this way in a bit.

My jacket is NOT a rain jacket...

In a bit... I'm hilarious. At mile 25 of this race, we had to climb Windy Peak, which is something like 1800' of climbing in just a couple miles. I thought I suffered in the early climbing? No. This was like nothing else I've climbed, with maybe the exception of a 14er, but maybe with a bit more air. All of the runners I had been able to stave off were passing me as I was pulling over to breathe and will my stupid noodle legs to continue. I was struggling to maintain something like a 30 minute mile pace. I was now worried about cutoffs that should not have been a concern, ESPECIALLY with an early start. Yet here I was.

Finally I saw Brit on her way down - she looked fantastic and was in good spirits. And then finally finally FINALLY, made it to the summit. My bib was marked and scanned, and then headed back down. I again ran into the same issue with the trail being a bit too technical to really run down (lots of tree roots and rocks), but at least I could breathe, and at least my legs were functioning.

The hill to get back to Terry and Ben that I was dreading THANKFULLY didn't seem long or terrible. (I mean, it wasn't a walk in the park, but not was bad as I thought it would be). Gave Ben a hug and he said it was "mostly downhill" to the finish. Ben is a liar. There was a decent amount of climbing for a half mile or so (although very tame compared to what we had done earlier) and then the last 3/4 or so was rolling and downhill - FINALLY. It was also NOT as technical, so I was able to run this part. I was able to run into the finish, and was really happy to see Alison (who had run the 12 miler) still at the finish line. She got a few pictures of me running in.

Elevation profile... see flat anywhere?

Official results:
Official time - 10:16:49
Overall place - 339/353
Gender place - 101/110
Division place - 44/49

Garmin splits:

I immediately saw Jesse and Brit, and they had brought my bag so I was able to get out of my shoes and into my oofoos. Went to the finish area and got my beer and burger. We headed out shortly after 5 and they drove me back to my car in Golden.

Thoughts:

• This course is not to be taken lightly. I took the early start option because I really *am* back of the pack slow on trails. Had I not taken the early start I would have DNF'd because I would not have finished in the TEN HOUR TIME LIMIT. 
• There are a ton of spigots and turnoffs on the course. The course was marked exceptionally well. There was only one section (near the bouldering) where I had to look around for the next flag. Granted, I'm slow and walked a lot, so it may have been more of challenge for the faster people.
• Pretty low-key event. Other than my bib and race shirt, I got nothing. There are no medals or general finisher awards, although I'm sure the winners get something.
• Post-race festivities were great - beer and burgers.
• Would I do this again? Probably not... not because it was a bad event, just because it's a little bit "more" than I like to have in a race (difficulty-wise).