This race had been a primary objective of mine for this year, so I was understandably a bit nervous before hand. Lots of variables come into play during an event like this, where one runs from Ouray, CO at 7,000' the 10 miles it takes to get up and over the 13,100' Imogene Pass, and then 7+ more miles down into Telluride at 8,000'. It's an awesome race, despite the story I am about to relate.
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| Telluride celebrating the race, with the pass in the background. |
Unfortunately, this year I had a less than awesome experience with the race. After a fine drive from Boulder to Ouray, a normal pre-race day, and sedate evening, I attempted to go to bed around 9 for my planned 4:30 wake-up and 7:30 race start. This didn't work out as planned. Dunno if it was worries about work, nervous stress, or not a long enough run that day, but lying in bed staring at the ceiling worrying about how being awake is going to ruin your race is not a good way to either a) prepare to race, or b) get to sleep. Long story short, I got 2.5-3 hours of intermittent sleep.
Despite this, I managed, with some trepidation, to make it to the start line. Unlike last year, when I had no clue what the heck I was doing, this year I had some expectations, lined up at the front, and sleep or no, planned to give it a shot.
This attitude worked, sort of. I started out well, with Mike Smith (the eventual winner) and some other guy taking off ahead in mile one. No worries, I thought, my climbing tends to get stronger at higher altitude and then I've got the descent. But 3 miles in, my lack of sleep and prior week of not feeling ideal crept up on me, and things went bad, fast. My legs started feeling as heavy as concrete, and my muscles were burning like I was in the midst of a set of over-weighted squats. Add on to that, I was having issues getting my nutrition down, and the remaining 7 miles didn't look like they were going to be pleasant, let alone possible. It took some serious self-abuse (and an embarrassing amount of walking in the last 2 miles to the top) to get myself to the pass far slower and in worse shape than I had been planning on. A few people had passed me (I was sitting in 5th position, I think), and 3 people were close on my heels, closing the gap fast on the climb. Not a good spot to be in.
At this point in the race, however, things can't get worse in an exertion sense, so there was some consolation in that. Still hoping to make the most of it, I did what I'm good at, and dropped out of the sky on that descent, passing in the first 2 miles of downhill running all but Smith (who was astronomically further ahead). Things looked good at this point, until I took a wrong turn. The course basically runs down a jeep road that winds up to the pass, but there are occasional offshoots that, at certain points, may or may not be the right way. Hitting a particularly confusing fork, I saw port-a-johns off to the right, and so took that way, only to run into a gate, realize it was the other road, and have to run back and get onto the correct path. Add 3 minutes to my time right there.
Following my wrong turn and correction, it was a pretty straight-forward run into the finish, only to find myself second by....19 minutes, and my time almost the same as from last year, when I was in far less refined shape. Pretty disappointing. I had been hoping to run around 2:20, which I think would have been possible (particularly considering my wrong turn adjusted time was 2:26) had I not had sleep and nutrition problems, and better been able to capitalize on my fitness. It was not my best day ever.
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| Anthony, Cara and Alice, post race in Telluride |
Despite all that, Anthony, Cara, Alice and I had a nice weekend, and Telluride and Ouray were once again beautiful and impressive. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep the night before next year, and have a better go at this tremendously awesome race.
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