As I am sitting here enjoying this uncommonly warm winter weather in Colorado I can't help but to reflect on the races that I have done this year. Many races were new to me due to the fact that I was running under the Brooks name so I definitely entered into more 5K's than in the past. Easily the biggest race that I had marked on my calendar early in the year was the Barr Trail Mountain Race, more commonly known as the BTMR. In 2009 I took part in the Pikes Peak Ascent which lead me 13.32 miles up Barr Trail to the top of Pikes Peak after gaining almost 1.5 miles in altitude! While I had already crossed this off my bucket list there remained the BTMR which was a mini-version of the Pikes Peak Marathon which heads up and down the mountain. I guess my main goal was to see what my body would feel like running downhill after spending all that energy struggling to get up. If all went well maybe the Pikes Peak Marathon would be added to my bucket list of future races. Unfortunately I spend very little time on the mountain trails this summer training for the BTMR and as a result I arrived at the race with the goal of just making it up and down the mountain in one piece.
Many racers on race morning were excited to see at the entry of an elite Kenyan marathoner, but by the end of the race it soon became a laughing matter as it was discovered that he turned around less than 1 mile into the W's and was refused a race shirt by the event organizers since you must finish to "earn your shirt." For me this race played out much different than the Ascent since there was no longer 2 separate waves. As a result I was packed in a line of runners for the first few miles as we navigated the steep W's which lead us up the mountain. Once at No Name Creek I was feeling good as this was also the farthest part of the trail I had decided to run during my training. Everything after this was still a bit unknown since I hadn't been on it for over 10 months. As usual the trip from Bob's Road Aid station to the Barr Camp Turnaround seemed to take much longer than anticipated and by the time of the turnaround I could feel the exhaustion in my upper legs. Now I was faced with the part that scared me the most - the downhill - since I have never trained to run downhill at this steep grade for so many miles.
The first few miles flew by as I had several runners to keep pace with ahead of me, but it all just seemed to by controlled chaos as we barely had time to dodge the huge rocks along the terrain. (By race end many people had bloody knees, arms, shoulders from clipping this rocks and literally eating the trail, these are a tough bunch of racers!) Unfortunately my smooth sailing hit a rough patch right at No Name Creek again as the entire path was blocked my an Ambulance! How they got up there I may never know. Quickly 7 runners along with myself were struggling to squeeze by this car which barely fit on the trail itself. It became increasingly frustrating as every time I had a gap to get by it was either filled by another runner of the ambulance would also speed up downhill and I couldn't overtake it. After about 5 minutes of wasted energy I was able to make it past, much to the anger of the paramedics as we were all endangering ourselves by running right by a moving car, but it was a race! Unfortunately I found out that I could not get back into my smooth pace and my legs were dead. I struggled to jog down to the top of the W's were the rougher terrain and ever-changing direction made me slow down to a walk several times. It was at this point that I decided to keep to my goal of making it down the mountain in 1 piece because I knew if I tried to run I would easily clip a rock and slide face first down the hill. Thankfully after about 15 painful switchbacks I made it back to the asphalt and resumed my running speed as the finish line was only 1/4 of a mile away.
Another reason that the BTMR was such a tough race is how they make you finish. Just when you think you are done you realize that the finish line is up a huge hill which takes you to a dirt parking lot for the Manitou Incline. On a normal day this hill would be daunting enough, but after almost 6 miles of running up the mountain and another 6 running down, you really feel every muscle in your legs start to ache!
Thankfully the fans were great and I, along with hundreds of other finishers, made it to the finish line for my t-shirt, medal, and well deserved rest. What a race!
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