No pictures from this final run. 12 miles up to about 11,000 ft and back down to about 9000. Twin Lakes to Treeline for those who know the route.
Gear comments. It gets cold in the mountains, even in summer. High 30's maybe overnight low, with 60's as a high. Two layers long sleeve tech, jacket tied, hat and gloves. Headlamp and flashlight.
Lesson learned. Little el-cheapo headlamp not so great. Flashlight better, but carrying light and hand bottle and running up/down jumping over rocks too much tension in shoulders and arms. Disrupts natural gait. Next gear purchase - a really powerful headlamp. Think highbeams on your car. Landing aircraft. You get the idea.
Out of the woods, onto gravel road for 3 miles down hill. Let it all out, 8:30's down passing those who pass me on the climb. Read rules - oxygen bottles are illegal. Damn.
Burritos and beer at the end. Trip back to Leadville snoozing in the back of a SUV over rough roads.
Up at dawn, long drive home. The definition of nuts moves down the field a few more yards. I came humble, and leave even more so. The idea that someone could design a race like this, rather astonishing to the flatlander. To hear or read, one thing. To feel the burn of altitude and a 20% grade up another.
Night run on trails a foot wide with a fall hundreds of feet to the side. "Search and rescue is at the runner's expense" from the race manual.
Roughly 8 weeks to train and stay healthy. Some gear to buy, a lot of long slow training runs and walks to finish. Maybe 70 miles of power walking, a wise man told me.
0 comments:
Post a Comment