I got to the starting line with about an 1:15hr to spare and had a bagel, some coffee, and I left my dropbag. Rested a bit in the car since it was a bit chilly (3-5C or ~40F). I started with shorts, regular shirt, sleeves, gloves, nathan vest, 2 waterbottles and a headlight. I had been there the day before looking at the starting line just to have an idea and I knew the first section is mostly downhill. The race started at 6am sharp and I was feeling nervous but pretty good.
Start to AS1 (Juan Tomas), Dist:5M, Time:47min
First section of race was easy, mostly downhill some minor hills just before the end but I was feeling great no sign of pain on my lower legs and my breathing was fine. Parts were very rocky with tons of roots and all single trail. Just 20min into the race (sunlight was halfway out) all the front guys (including me) missed a turn and I lost about 3-5min, great. No major issues but still kinda sucks when you are cruising and you have to head back. Soon enough I was at AS1, no stop for me since I had enough water.
S1 (Juan Tomas) to AS2 (Cedro), Dist:7M, Time:1:14min
Tough section, about 1000ft of both gain and loss. Very technical portions as well, I already started thinking to myself that this section is going to be hell when I come back. Still felling pretty good, no indication of any issues walked the toughest parts but got to Cedro feeling fine and dropped my headlight, sleeves, gloves and drank a boost before refilling and heading out quickly. My plan was to hit the AS at 2hrs and I was exactly on time, man I was thinking this elevation thing is not that bad.....how naive!
AS2 (Cedro) to AS3 (Powerline), Dist:4M, Time:59min
Holy crap this section was technical. The beginning started easy enough and I ran for about 15-20 minutes with a local guy named Mike and we missed a turn (damn it! that is why I'm not social) and lost another 10min easy (that is about 15min f#@$ minutes of total lost time) and yes it was our fault the course was marked perfectly, and of course once we got back on course it was ugly, very ugly. Imagine walking inside a rock quarrie and someone blew up everything and then you had to run through it, and yes lost of ups and downs too. No major change in altitude, in fact the net was downhill, but continuos rolling hills that had you by the balls. By the end I was starting to feel my breathing getting really heavy.....hmmmm where did that come from. Filled my water bottled at the unmanned aid station and headed out into the abyss! Literally this thing was going downhill fast, very fast. 3hrs into the race now and 16 miles done.
AS3 (Powerline) to AS4 (Four Corners), Dist:4M, Time:58min
Ok, remember what I said about the last section being technical at the end? Well multiply that by 2 then you have something like this section but ALL OF IT! All 4 miles were treachorous. About 5min in I see the trail where I'm supposed to come back once I do the loop, its scary to just to look down!!! Unbelievable, well I'm not worrying about that now. About 30min in I had to stop and put on another sock for protection since my feet were getting destroyed (it helped going forward but I ended up with two small blisters on my left foot, and I have never had any issues with my feet). This is where the race really started to take a toll on me big time. I was feeling strong in terms of my legs and stamina/energy but any type of inclination made my heart beat race up like I was sprinting. This is the point (and until the end of the race) were I had to walk all uphills even the "easy" ones. Well I at least through all this I kept eating, drinking and had no stomach issues. Finally I got to Four Corners and to tell you the truth I don't remember anything about the AS, maybe my brain decided to shut it out for some reason. So that is 4hrs for 20M, 5mph was my goal, but I was definitely thinking that is goign to be difficult to maintain anything similar to this going forward if my body does not adapt.
AS4 (Four Corners) to AS5 (Coyote), Dist:6M, Time:45min
My favorite portion (exclduing the beginning 5 miles), I needed something to change and this portion really helped me. It was still very technical, but by now my brain had accepted that and it was all downhill. I was cruising, I passed everyone that had passed my on the last 2 portions and really enjoyed the 6m run here. Looking back now, I also know that this was the portion of the race where I destroyed my quads. Even though I didn't feel it at the time, it came back to haunt me on the last 2 portions of the race. So now I was at 4:45 for 26miles, maybe I have a chance at 9hrs!
AS5 (Coyote) to AS3 (Powerline), Dist:2M, Time:?
I told the volunteers I didn't need any water b/c Iwas full and how long could 2miles take me right? Hahaha....it started easy enough and then you could see where you were going, you were literally following the powerline and the thing was going up the mountain fast! This is where I remembered I had the video camera...see a small video below
I took me a long time to finish this, and yeah remember all the people I passed on the last section well they went passed me on this one while I was sucking wind big time! It was very very very tough, I was on all fours at times going up and with loose rocks goign down and I could not breathe, crap it was like breathing from a straw. All I could think about was Hope Pass, WTF!!! I do remember a race coordinator coming down saying he had just left some popsicles at the unmanned AS on top....really? Why the hell are coming down to tell us that. Anyways, I finally made it up filled my water bottles and walked away with my price, a popsicle!
AS3 (Powerline) to AS2 (Cedro), Dist:4M, Time:1:50 (this time includes the prior section)
Soon after I left the AS I had to sit down for about 5min to catch my breath and stood up after a runner passed along and I just tried to keep up with him. After some more suffering we were out of the tough section and on to the jeep road up (all uphill of course) that takes you to the highest section of the course Powerline Tower then down to the Cedro. Somewhere through this section I got some energy and got to the Cedro AS with energy and somewhat up beat. I quickly ate something filled the water bottles, thought about changing shoes but the feet were feeling better so I decided not to. I passed several people on this section again and some resting at the AS. This was the first time I saw someone really out of it on the floor completely drained. In a sick way, I felt better looking at him because I knew things could be much worse for me. Ok, I have 12-13 more miles and I'm 6:35 hours into the race, I think I can still be close to the 9hr goal. I know I made it here in 2hrs on way out but I also know that I was feeling fresh and it's basically all uphill from here. And yes I just did almost 2hrs on the last 6 miles!!!! Holy shit....ok no time to loose, lets get out of here.
AS2 (Cedro) to AS1 (Juan Tomas), Dist:7M, Time:1:30
I knew this section was going to be tough so I took advantage of the first part of the section which has a bit of downhill. The legs by this time were hurting big time, but I could still run. I knew that all the downhill running had put in a dent on my quads and I thought that maybe the lack of oxygen also did some damage or at least didn't help my legs recover. On top of being a tough section it is the longest of all and it took even longer this time around. I had energy and I power walked most of the uphills but I was still sucking wind on the steepest sections. Damn altitude. This section was tougher that I could remember on my way out (maybe because it wasn't totally daylight?. I got passed again by a couple of people and I passed a couple or so, can recall much. I ran out of water at about the 1:15hr mark and I wasn't very happy. I was just thinking about the last AS and from there on out its only 5 miles. I got to the AS at around the 8:05-8:10 mark and now I knew that I would not break the 9hr mark but it would at least be close. Filled up just one water bottle and off I went quickly.
AS1 (Juan Tomas) to finish line, Dist:5M, Time:1:05
This part went relatively well, once you know you are almost there you feel much better and I was smiling and enjoying the terrain. Quads were nearly done and I wondered if I could go further if I really had to. At this point I was thinking ahead to Leadville and I knew that if I was feeling like this at the 50M mark there it would be a massive undertaking to finish the 100M. Last mile or so is all uphill so I had to walk to about 200m from the finish line. I crossed the line at around 9:09. I'm trying to upload a video here on the last 2-3min of the race but having issues, I'll try later.
Great experience at this race, I'm happy I did it. Everything was new to me, the terrain, the elevation and very dry conditions (only10-15% humidity). I had no idea how any of these would affect me and the combination could have been pretty bad. Did I make mistakes, for sure I did: 1) I would have gone out a bit lighter at the beginning, only one water bottle would have been enough or maybe just the pack; 2) I kinda panicked once the elevation hit me, and it took me a while to get over the fact that I just had to slow down; 3) I overcompensated by going too fast on the downhills and flats and that hurt my legs, maybe not too much for a 45M race but if its Leadville forget it; 4) I got lost twice and lost 10-15min, concentrate damn it!; 5) I really didn't use anything from my dropbag so I really didn't need it, I just took out 2 boost shakes from it. I also did some good things: 1) I drank and ate well, and I always had energy to keep going except for the lack of air things! no issues with the stomach; 2) Always kept moving even if I was going slow, I only sat down once for 5min and that was it, quick in an out from all AS; 3) Even though it did not start well I focused on the trail and did not fall even once! I mean, if you just lost focused on the trail for 5sec you would go down hard very quickly.
I did a little background check on several runners that participated and there are lots who have done Leadville anywhere between 22-30hrs who I beat on this race, and of course many others that beat me. Many have participated in tougher courses like Zane Grey 50M (the toughest 50 miler in the USA) and some of them said the Cedro Peak course, except for the elevation gain which is double at Zane Grey, is very similar to this one. All these races are tough to compare and each runner has its own abilities, but I also spoke at length with a Spanish runner that has finished, between many others, 5 100M UTMB's and he also mentioned that the trail was tough and the elevation hit him hard. In a weird way I felt good hearing that others also had a tough time. The Canadian Jason Louttit won the race with 6:35 and he posted a small summary here. I finished 17 out of ~70 45M entrants and as far as I know only 49 finished. I would think that if I would not of had any issues with the elevation I could have easily done 1hr less, but then again there is an if in that statement. Next up is Bear Mountain!
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