Lucky Number Thirteen

The Beaver Creek Half marathon is described as having an ascent of 2,859 feet with a maximum elevation of 8,926 feet above sea level!! I put that extra exclamation point in there to emphasize that it is a really BIG deal. I mean, I knew it was a big deal but I really couldn't conceptualize what a big deal it real was. As a flatlander, I seriously didn't know what I was getting myself into!

Prior to my trip, I did a little research about high altitude activity. The take home message was "hydrate, hydrate, hydrate"  and "you never know how you'll respond till you are there". I looked into altitude training masks but ultimately decided to do effort based training. Which just equated to removing the mm/pace field from my watch and paying attention to my heart rate.

Once in Colorado, I talked to a barista that was in nursing school and she encouraged me to sip on pedialyte over the next few days in preparation for my race. For those that are concerned about their time, Endurance Race Series offers the option to start the race 30 minutes early. Taking into an account that it was a double loop course, I showed up well hydrated, planned to start early and promised to allow myself to "quit" at the 10k mark if needed.

When the "early start time" rolled around, it was cold (real of 38), raining, and thundering (and lightning too of course).

I checked in with the timing company, he said I could start but wasn't sure which direction I was supposed to go. I asked a volunteer at the check in desk, she wasn't sure either but had a very wet, smeared aerial map. I had seen one woman start ahead of me so I just went in the direction that I saw her. She was much higher up a hill but I could see her for the first mile or so. Then were in different curves of the road and I couldn't see her for awhile. The only signs indicating the course were going in the opposite direction. I stopped, called Henry and tried to figure out what to do. Ultimately, I felt safe and decided to just continue going the opposite direction of the signs.

At around 1.5 miles, that woman and one man were running towards me. The man had done the course before and successfully got us both were we needed to be!

So, basically after that...it got harder and harder. Even taking out the starting elevation, the course itself was steeper than anything I have done before. It just kept going up, and up. There were several points that I had to stop and just focus on my breathing. There were also times that my legs were so tired that I had to use my arms to push off of trees to keep going up. People started passing me around mile 4 or 5. First it was the crazy strong athletes and eventually it was other people that seemed to be struggling too.

At the 10k mark, I made the decision to continue on to the course instead of going across the finish line.

The course was technically the same, but this time the sun was out and it felt even harder. It was still beautiful though! The view from the top was amazing!

Mile's 4.5 to 6 and 11.5 to 13 were very steep downhill but my feet were so sore and my IT band was acting up so I still didn't really run. I just hiked quicker. The boy was waiting for me at mile 12.5 and took a quick picture before getting me to the finish line. I was runner #44/dead last (the originally lady that started a little ahead of me pulled herself out of the race) and I didn't mind one bit!

I have no desire to do the Beaver Creek Half Marathon again, but I am very glad I did it and I highly recommend it!

After soaking my feet in freezing river, we headed back to Denver to see Joe Bonamassa at Red Rocks.

What a day!