Monday, August 11, 2014

Telluride Mountain Run!

          I said it last year and I will say it again this is hands down the best race that I have gotten to run. Maybe its because it has the coolest race directors or its because in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Last year I did the Hill Climb (5 miles up and 5 down on on Telluride ski slopes) last year, this year I decided to go for the big 38 mile run. Between the uphills where I was cursing the RDs Reese and Dakota and the quad destroying downhills it was a spectacular day in the mountains. A short description of the course would be. Five giant climbs and five giant downhills for a total elevation change of around 28,000.
         I felt good on the first climb and descent, the day was still cool and I was eating and drinking well. The second Climb my body started to fall apart and I was starting to have problems with food and any calories for that matter. I started to get better on the 7.5 mile downhill but that was short lived as we soon started climbing one of the biggest climbs of the day. By this point it was already super hot out and food wouldn't go down. so for about 8 miles I just suffered through and once I got through those 8 miles of pain I got to the aid station at mile 25 and was able to eat and drink a little bit. From there I felt good and ran along all the way to about mile 32 where the final climb begins. This was by far the toughest part of the race for me because of the eat and only being able to get in a few calories. But once I started the downhill and knew I was almost there I got sorta of revived and ran the downhill as hard as my tired legs would let me. It was such a great feeling to cross that finish line in 14th overall and sit down.
        Thanks again Reese and Dakota for making this race so much fun.