For those who know me, the hardest part of this race was getting on the plane...my daughter was in tears at the airport, I was leaving for 8 days, while my husband was working and managing three different camps for the kids. This was my first time flying out of country alone. I was meeting up with Stacey at race check-in. I spent one night at an airport hotel in Denver and met up with other runners (who became great friends) on a shuttle bus to Buena Vista.
Day 1: 20.8 miles, 2800 ft
No time for acclimating to altitude for this girt, the only advice I had to follow was drink as much as possible. Day one started on a short road segment that led out of town. We hit nicely groomed single track trail and dirt roads right away. The scenery was amazing, red rock, pine, beautiful mountains. The altitude was most challenging on Day 1, I felt light headed if we pushed too hard, so I just kept drinking :) We went back and forth with Team FitSocks, a speedy team during the run.
The last part of the day was 5-6km on flat dirt road, we planned to hold our pace and let the speedsters go if they passed us. At 800m we could hear them coming and decided to push and get Stage 1!!
Our first night in camp city followed, I'm not much of a camper and thought it best to choose a tent close to the line of portapotties, that was a mistake, as I heard the "creek and slam" of the doors all night...Then early the next day morning got a wake up call at 5:00am from an excited runner...
Stage 2: 13.4, 3200 ft.
I was looking forward to this stage from the beginning. This stage involved climbing over Hope Pass, close to 13000 ft !!! The trail up the side of the mountain was entirely single track, so of course getting to that trail head in a good position helped. Although the distance was only a 1/2 marathon, there was one climb, one descent and then about 6 miles flat and rolling. The climb was beautiful, we passed through forested areas, across small creeks and then above the tree line. The air was breezy and cold. We power hiked most of the climb and then opened the legs on the descent.
The run ended near the town of Leadville, where we spent the afternoon in the only coffee shop and met up with Tina Lewis, a friend running the Leadville 100m later that week. We avoided tent city that night by staying in Stacey's friends cabin. I have to say I prefer a couch to the tent, just to wake up warm...
Day 3: 24.3 miles, 2800 ft.
Day 3 was probably the most challenging for me. I knew it was a long stage with some long grinds on dirt roads. I wanted to be over half way through the race. We started with a climb and I needed to put my head down and work it out. I told Stacey, "it's not you, I might just be grouchy for the first hour every day now..." Luckily, after the climbs there is always descents, and I love to hit "runnable down". The weather was perfect, sunny and hot at times, but there was always a wind to cool off. Dave, Stacey's hubby followed us along this stage which was super encouraging. We spread our lead and chatted most of the way (while after the first hour). We ran into Nova Guides, our camp site for the next two nights. I booked a massage to celebrate being 1/2 done and have some lotion rubbed into my dried out legs!!
Day 4: 14 miles, 3700 ft
For a strange reason I woke up today feeling like I was ready to go. Sure my legs felt tired and a bit sore, but no worse than any other day....We didn't have to pack up our tents so had a bit more time in the morning. Team Fit Socks had been trying to stay with us the start of each day and unknown to my dear partner I decided "not today". It was a short stage, why not??? I took off hard and fast and Stacey tagged along. We pushed the climb, the craziest and steepest jeep road I've every seen, and had a blast descending. The last section of descending was down a creek!!! Awesome!
The run ended in Red Cliff, a small mountain town with one restaurant, one hotel, etc. We enjoyed tacos and beer and felt ready for bed by 11:30 :)
shuttle in/out of Red Cliff
Day 5: 33.6 miles, 4100ft
Day 5 started early again, 5:00 am wake up call from the "neighbour", putting my clothes in my sleeping bag to warm up, getting dressed with a camp light, layering in a down jacket, carrying our 50lbs. bags to the transport vans, breakfast, shuttle back to Red Cliff to wait for the start. I was excited again, but promised Stacey no sprint starts today....We were running to Vail. The trail was a combination of single track and road. The single track was amazing. Beautiful wild flowers, bright mushrooms, creeks to cross. Stacey and I were feeling good and cruised through most of this run. Once we hit the top of Vail, there was a short rock scramble and down-down-across and down- to get to the finish. We could see the finish for a least 30 minutes before getting there!!
Vail reminded me so much of Whistler, same type of shops/restaurants/tourists. They were shocked to see a group of us emerge from a creek and walk thru town to catch a shuttle to camp. We showered at camp and had decided to and check into our hotel in Beaver Creek one night early.
Day 6: 21.7, 5200 ft
Yeah!!!! Day 6, I was so excited for today, unfortunately, Stacey had developed a head cold and was not sharing the love....we probably should have gone for the hotel sooner. This was my favourite stage; in every race I feel best towards the finish. We climbed great single track out of Vail and ran with some friends we had made along the way. Again the weather was fantastic, sunny, warm and windy. At the top of the climb there were jeep roads for several miles and then a descent through a gorge of huge wild flowers (thistles) and creek crossings. The difficult part was a second climb with sun exposure. Stacey's cold was taking it's tole and it sounded like Darth Vator was chasing me....We slowed down and took our time on the climb and then blasted the descent into Beaver Creek!!
Overall, we won our stages and placed first female team. Each stage has an awards ceremony and we received pink leaders shirts to wear all week. This made for an exciting week. I was so proud of our team work throughout the week. I had incredible support from home (friends and family) and my sponsors, Wild Mountain and The North Face!!
What did I learn from this experience: I love running in the mountains, the cold air, streams, and fast trails, the beauty all around. The expressions and joy of other runners finishing the stages and sharing stories of the trail with my new friends, joy and beauty from the inside. I am so happy to have this experience, travelling alone, and working on a team.
Let the beauty you love be what you do~
Congrats on a great run Mel & Stacey! It was exciting 'watching' you guys throughout the week.
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