The race is very well run. From the pre-race dinner, to the course markings and aid stations, to the post race breakfast and award ceremony it is one of the best run races I've run in. I hope to be back.
I managed through the first climb without any issue. I had a little trouble pushing pace down from that climb but felt pretty good. The second climb was pretty brutal. I kept good pace but it took a lot out of me. This climb tops out above 13,300 feet and it was a long time coming. Once on top I had looked forward to making some good time for the 11 high altitude miles. The affects of 2 major climbs and altitude slowed me down considerably. I didn't have a chance to get much high altitude training prior to the race and I think it hurt me in this section.
By mile 30 I was feeling spent. I stopped at the aid station fueled up. They had some instant potatoes that I took down. It reenergized much like they did at Leadville. It is my power food. I need to put this stuff in a flask! I rolled the next 10 miles at a really good clip. I felt great as I descended down to the final climb.
As I dropped down from 13,300 feet to 9,550 the temperature increased significantly. I would guess it increased by over 25 degrees. My stomach turned a bit and I lost all energy. The final climb up Vickers Ranch was disastrous. It took me 1 hour and 22 minutes to climb the final climb of over 1,700 feet over 3 miles. At that point I reconnected with David for a few tough miles. It was nice to have company. I took it easy dropping into town and finished in 13:39:44. The last 10 miles took me 3 hours. I'd like to have those back but overall I was very happy with completing a very difficult race. About 200 runners started the race. 169 runners finished. My time was good enough for 107th.
Dakota Jones crushed the course record set by Matt Carpenter by over 24 minutes with a time of 7:35:09. He ran an unbelievable race.
Here is a short clip of photos from the race.
