About 200 of us lined up for the start on a beautiful July morning. From the maps on the race website and a hike I'd done the day before, I knew it was all uphill (constant 7% grade!) for the first 9.5 miles. Knowing that I hadn't done a ton of training and that this was even higher altitude that I was used to, I decided to start out easy.
I hit the first mile marker at 13 minutes and decided that, if I could keep that pace on the uphill for the first 10 miles, then kick it up to 8 minutes miles along the ridge, I could finish in under 3 hours. I'm just glad I didn't look back because there were probably only 20 people behind me! I kept plugging along methodically -- careful not to get anaerobic on the climb. Unfortunately, my pace started to slip a bit as the miles wore on and I clocked a few 14 minutes miles. I knew I has some work to do on the ridge.
After enjoying the incredible views of I-70 over Vail Pass at the water stop at mile 9, I cranked it to the top. But there was no time to take in the gorgeous wildflowers that were all across the top of China Bowl. I began the descent along the ridge and really picked up the pace. This was gonna be fun!
My legs were still feeling great as were my lungs -- taking it easy on the way up turned out to be a great strategy. I passed tons of people and was having fun all the way to the finish at the top of the gondola.
(Me at the finish.)
My official time was a 2:55:36 and that was good for 116th place. Nowhere near the leaders, but a good race for me. It left me eager to run again and feeling almost ready for the Park City Marathon in August.
'til later,
- Jeff
