Collegiate Peaks 50, Uh 25 Miler

Mt Princeton - photo by Tad Nordstrom

I kicked off my Spring/Summer running season by signing up for Collegiate Peaks 50 mile run. Held in and around the Buena Vista, CO area, it offers breathtaking views of the Collegiate Peaks (Mt Yale, Mt Princeton, Mt Harvard) Wilderness. The race this year was held on May 1st, 2010 and the weather was looking reasonable, but cool. Ron Wright and I had to deal with shitty road conditions on the way down Friday afternoon on the east side of Eisenhower tunnel, and over Fremont Pass. When we got to the Copper Mountain/Leadville exit, they had a snowplow blocking the interstate diverting all traffic off onto the Copper Mountain exit due to multiple accidents on Vail Pass. It was white out on Fremont Pass, with the winds kicking up the snow and blowing it across the road. Ron was hesitant to pass some semis ahead due to the wind, snow and poor visibility. By the time was got to Leadville, it was just flurrying and soon it was sunny and void of any snow all the way to Buena Vista.

We rolled into town around 4 PM, so we decided to check in to our hotel first before heading to the packet pickup at the BV Community Center, where the race starts and ends. Picked up our packets and met Pat Homelvig and Karen Pate, and we sat with them while they ate their prerace meal. Ron and I opted out this year to find something else. Not long after, Rick and Jill Hessek showed up. After a bit, Ron and I decided to head over to the new brewpub just south of the community center. There we ran into Bill and Sue Hintze, sat with them, ordered some beer and had a nice conversation. Bob called a bit later saying he was in Leadville. I told him where we were and made a table reservation for all of us for dinner. Ed Green, Michele and Adam Bierstedt showed up with Bob, and we sat down for eats.

Ron and I went back to the room and got stuff ready for next day. Bob showed up not long after. After doing some pre-race stuff we hit the sheets.

Ron and I headed over to the race start, got primo parking right out front so as have easy access for the second loop. Went inside and mingled with old friends, met new ones until it was time to line up outside for the fun to start. It was fairly cold at the start (upper 20’s) so I was bundled up: two short sleeves, a long sleeve and a fleece long sleeve (my RR100 shirt from this year), a face buff, thin beanie with ball hat and gloves. It turned out to be just right during the run.
With the words “GO!” we were all off like turtles in the early morning light. The first ½ mile is on single track, so it is hard to get around the throng of runners. It then hits the city streets and more open to run. I was running with Bob’s friend Tad Nordstrom but we lost sight of Bob behind us. The next few miles are on pavement then dirt road and fairly rolling, so it’s an easy effort to run. I did walk a few of the shorter hills. I hit the trailhead and that’s when it hit me: my breathing sucks. It was all I could do to walk the hills as my breathing was pretty labored. Yep, my old friend Mr. Asthma has made an unwelcome visit. I suspect the cold temps at the start played into that as well. I ran some but walked more of the trails. After about a mile or so of this nonsense, the trails lead to a dirt road and is more flat and runable. Bob and PumpMeHarder caught up with me and I told Bob it’s gonna be a slog, as my breathing is becoming more and more difficult. Soon after Anita Fromm caught up with me and we talked a bit, then she pulled away as well. I got to the first aid station, mile 5.8 and kept going, as I still had plenty of water to go on. I took a couple more hits on the albuterol, that made it 6 since the race started.

Runners On Trail - photo by Tad Nordstrom

The next section is fairly rolling: runable on the flats and downs and a walk on the ups. Soon the rollers became roller coasters: short but steep climbs and moderate downs. I got to the next aid station, 5.6 miles distant in about an hour. From here, it continues to roll. But, then a miracle happened: I started feeling better, I was running more consistently now, and it was warming up. By the time I got to the next aid station I was really feeling great. Once again, I decided to not stop and hunker down to the 3.5 mile climb to the top, mile 17.8.

I walked the whole way along the sandy trail. People were running past, but I kept the walking going. It took 60 minutes to trudge up the hill to the aid station at the top, elevation 9400’. It was fairly breezy and cold up here. I stopped to fill bottles and thanked the aid station volunteers for hanging out. I was looking forward to doing some downhill running, since the past hour was spent walking and gasping.

From here to the end is mostly downhill, 8 miles of rocky trails to an old narrow gauge railway bed, then along a slightly downhill dirt road (part of the old railroad up here). The road section can be a bear at times, 2 miles of fairly boring downhills overlooking the valley below and of Buena Vista and the state prison facility. This year, I was able to run most of this part, walked a few bits, until the final downhill trail descent to the river and into town.

It was along the road that I decided that 50 miles wasn’t going to happen today. I got to the top of the course in 4 hours, and it would take about 1.5 hours to get to the finish line. That makes for a pretty tight cutoff, and with my breathing as it was, I didn’t want to deal with the 8.5 miles of uphill grind.

I saw Ed Green starting the big climb up the trail and told him I was done. I had no energy (or desire) to run the last ½ mile in so I walked it. Finished 25 miles in 5:23:35. Ironically, this was only a few seconds slower than last year’s effort, and I seemed to be struggling more this year than last. Last year I seemed to not be such a slug, but with the time difference of 26 seconds, I’m not sure what to make of that.

Yours Truly Trucking On In - photo by Bill Blasek

I got my finisher’s medal, said hello to Michele and Adam, sat down next to Tad and his wife and waited for Bob to come in. I would leave it up to Bob to tell me if he was interested in going back out for some extra miles. Frankly at this point, I was good either way. Bob finally made it in over 6 hours, and said that was it. Great! Time to break out the beer!

Well, not the race I had hoped for, but this race is always good in that it tells me what I need to work on (or not work on) for the coming summer races. I only had 5 weeks of good training to get ready for this, as I was sick for 6 weeks following Rocky Raccoon. This was also my first time at altitude this year, so that was a factor as well.

Now I know what I need to work on (more hills, more climbs, and more altitude) before San Juan Solstice in mid-June. I only hope it starts warming up soon and the snow starts melting up high so I can get in a few high-altitude runs before then.