Collegiate Peaks Trail Run

If you've been paying attention at all, you've probably figured out that I like hanging around with studly athletes. Not only are they positive role models and upbeat people, but they occasionally do crazy stuff that provides me with blog fodder. And there's always the hope (however faint) that some of their studliness might rub off onto me.

(And some of the girls have really nice legs, which is not a bad thing, either.)

Three of my friends decided to do the Collegiate Peaks trail run. Sue ran the 25-mile course, while Jean and Katie did the loop twice for a total of 50 miles. Certainly, running that far under any circumstances is an amazing accomplishment, but this particular race occurs at high altitude, spends most of its time deep in the woods, and has LOTS of hills. (OK, mountains.) Hey -- Steep inclines, low oxygen supplies, and the possibility of being eaten by bears -- what more could you possibly want in a springtime Saturday morning?

Oh, I don't know...how about high winds, cold temperatures, and a forecast of snow? Oh yeah, now we're talking. This event had it all.

The race started at 6:30 am in the lovely town of Buena Vista*, which is more than 2 hours away from Denver. Joe and Kristen and I are part of Katie's ultra-marathon support team, so we got up at 0-Dark thirty and drove up into the mountains to be there for the start. My support role is photographer/videographer/documentarian, so I expected to run my camera batteries down and fill up my hard drive capturing every little nuance of the event.

I left home shortly after 3am. It was dark and I was sleepy. I don't think anyone can blame me for forgetting my camera. Oh, I remembered to fully charge the batteries and pack all the accessories into the bag...I just forgot to pick up the bag as I hurried out the door. D'oh!

Oh well. We arrived a half hour before the start. It was interesting to contrast our bleary-eyed "what am I doing here?" morning shuffle with the focused gazes and enthusiastic energy displayed by the racers. These folks wanted to GET GOING!

Fortunately, Joe remembered his camera, and Katie let me use hers to take a few photos of my own. Our shutters were snapping as the race started right on time, and I think we captured some excellent race pix. And if I end up getting my hands on the photos, I'll try to post some of them here.

The runners took off, chatting and smiling --almost as if they were doing something fun. Kristen and I were freezing in the mountain breeze, with numb toes and fingers (even though we wore jackets and sweat pants)...yet some of the runners wore nothing but shorts and t-shirts. OK, maybe I need to take back that comment about them being role models. Maybe they're just nuts.

Of course, we were standing around cheering and taking pictures; these folks were working. They were out of sight within a couple of minutes.

We drove down the road to the spot where the runners would leave town and head up into the mountains. The road made a sharp turn to the right, and an abrupt change in angle as it headed upwards. It was a good spot for photography; the snow-covered peaks and nearly-full moon provided a beautiful backdrop for the smiles and long strides the runners still held at this early part of the race. Again, we cheered and took pictures and froze our tootsies off as the athletes trotted by us to head into the woods. It was the last time we'd see them for more than 4 hours. The scenery was gorgeous, and the runners were enjoying themselves. As they disappeared into the trees, we piled back into the car, turned the heater on full blast, and went to get breakfast.

We had plenty of time, so we found a sit-down eatery that offered the standard small-town cholesterol-laden breakfast fare. I had "country biscuits 'n gravy", and somehow was able to suppress any guilty feelings about stuffing myself with hot gooey nutrition while my other friends were trotting through the icy woods with nothing to eat but gummi bears and Gatorade. (Hey, it was their choice, right?) Our support-crew plan was to get warm, get fueled, and then go for our own training runs while we waited for the racers to complete the first 25-mile loop. The park where the race had started featured coin-operated showers, so we figured we could clean up and be back in position for the photo ops when the runners returned.

I'm not sure if it was the altitude, the 2-hour-plus car ride, or residual stiffness from Thursday's yoga class, but I was really hurting on the run. Joe took off immediately, and I didn't see him again until I returned to the park. Kristen ran with me for a mile or so, but we eventually became separated, too. I ended up following the race course as it began its ascent, and tried to imagine what this section was going to feel like for the racers on the second lap, after they had already done 25 miles. It seemed to be going straight up, and there just wasn't enough air to breathe!

I was hoping to do a 10-mile workout, but realized that I'd spent too long at breakfast to make that distance at the snail's pace I was going. I turned around after 4 miles and headed back down the hill. Back in my youth, I loved flying down steep inclines, but these days my knees are a tad too tender for that sort of gravity-driven abandon. Therefore, I descended with caution, and wasn't able to go much faster than I had on the way up.

The good news is that I was able to finish the run and position myself for additional photography by the time the runners came through the turn-around. Because the wind and cool temperatures had kept me relatively sweat-free, and the showers were kinda grungy anyway, I decided to skip the cleanup and go directly back to the start/finish line. Along with the other spectators and fans, I clapped and cheered as each runner came through, and snapped as many pictures as I could when my friends ran by.

Several people who had signed up for the 50-miler dropped out after 25. But Jean and Katie barely took the time to grab some additional snacks and hydration before they went flying back out onto the trail. They both looked great at the halfway point, and Sue was all smiles when she came in for the finish, too.

I really wish I could show you the pictures so you'd get an idea of what a cool experience it was. It was inspirational and joyous and, well...beautiful. Oh, don't get me wrong...it won't inspire ME to go run something crazy like that. But it certainly might motivate me to work just a little harder at the things I am doing, and will serve as a reminder that we live in a beautiful state -- and that summer will provide many opportunities for me to get out there and enjoy it.

It has also made me even more of a fan of these wacky ultra-distance runners, so I intend to go to more of these kinds of races in the future. And next time, trust me -- I'll put my camera in the car the night before.

Until then, I'll go back to writing about mundane daily events and filling the blog with YouTube video clips, etc. Stay tuned, and have a great day!

*As Colorado natives know, the residents of Buena Vista pronounce the name of their town as "Byoona Vissta", rather than the traditional Spanish pronunciation of "Bwayna Veesta". I have no idea why. I suppose for the same reason that Kansans pronounce "El Dorado" as "Ell Dough ray dough" and call the Arkansas (Ar kin saw) river the "Arr Kan Zas" river. It provides a handy way to quickly identify foreigners so you can laugh at their ignorance, I guess.