My approach to this race was a relaxed one.  I didn’t focus on ‘racing’ at all, but just took it as an opportunity to get some more experience at this distance in a beautiful setting.  I carried a camera and shot 300 photos and 90 minutes of video.  Hopefully, the finished product conveys a little bit of what it was like and allows the viewer to go along for the ride.  Buckle up.

The music is from my running buddy, Kirk.  Turns out he was a rock star back in the day.  Good stuff!

(Also, see the extended version here.)

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Despite being in my 5^th year of running, and only living 2 hours away from Buena Vista, I had never been able to line things up in order to run the Collegiate Peaks 50 mile race. Part of it was scheduling, and part was apathy. For some reason I was under the impression that this was a ‘boring’ course and maybe wasn’t really worth the time and effort. While the course is definitely not twisting singletrack swooping through the aspens, I ended up loving it. Most of it was dirt road of the decomposed granite variety – but the topography and views were most excellent!

View of the Collegiate Peaks range across the Arkansas River valley. (photo credit: Woody)

I headed down to BV after work on Friday and settled into a nice campsite, that actually ended up being right on the course at the mile 20/30 point. I scooted into town in time for the pre-race meeting which had some good info on the course markings (orange tape, red pin flags – which would be at turns arranged on the inside of the corner), and got to say hi to Speedgoat Scott for a bit.

I had read a few reports of runners getting lost on the course in previous years, and some cases of vandals removing the flagging. This motivated me to do some actual homework in the week leading up to the race and I used the course map along with the written directions to memorize the layout using Google Earth. I also made up a small cue sheet and map that I kept with me as a backup. Probably overkill, but it made for one less thing to worry about during the race. The course was well marked and I didn’t have any issues in that regard, but it is located in a web of roads and trails with many intersections so it pays to be a little bit careful.

GPS track overlay on satellite image.

Click for monster-sized view with mile markers.

50.19 miles according to the Garmin 310XT.

Course profile. 6,050′ total elevation gain (using corrected GPS data).

I felt great on race morning and enjoyed running with Jody and Scott in the early miles. My expectations were modest based on my fairly light (but consistent) training for the year. I still hadn’t hit 900 YTD miles which worked out to a 52 mile/week average after starting cold from a foot injury layoff last fall (plus about 500 miles on the bike). I felt like a realistic target for me at this point was somewhere in the 8:30 – 9:00 range, and maybe a little faster if things went well.

Well… Things didn’t go well. As soon as the climbing started at mile 3, I felt a familiar tightness in my left calf. Usually, by backing off the pace and changing my stride I can get it to relax a little. Not so this time. I slowed down even more, and tried to loosen it up on the short downhills that were present in the climb. No luck. It just would not go away. After dealing with it for quite a while, and giving it ample time to let go, I finally stopped at mile 12 and spent a few minutes gently stretching it out. When all else fails, this does the trick and I can run without any problem most of the time. Not today.

I felt two small pops in my lower left leg and with the associated pain, knew my race was over. I’m not sure exactly what gave out, but it hurt.

Aid station #3 was close by, but for some reason I didn’t stop there. It seemed fairly remote in terms of getting a ride back to town anytime soon, and I figured I could just walk the rest of the loop (10 more miles), or get a ride from an aid station that was a little more accessible. Going uphill, which stretched out the calf, was very bad. I had to walk slowly to the high point of the course taking an hour to cover that 3.2 miles to the next aid station. I think I was passed by roughly 2,936 runners in that section. It didn’t matter, though. I was just trying to get back to town so I could drop out.

I grabbed a handful of cookies at the top of the climb and continued walking as the course started the 7 mile descent to finish out the first 25 mile loop. I discovered that walking downhill actually wasn’t too bad – relatively speaking, of course. Soon I started shuffling, then jogging, then I was running again. Hmmm…

Coming into town I was having a blast! I saw several running pals as they were heading back up the climb on their second lap and gave/got high fives and many encouraging words. Awesome. It was a beautiful day in the mountains to boot. Except for the throbbing leg, my slower pace left the rest of me feeling fantastic! I realized that I didn’t want to stop at 25 miles.

Knowing I’d probably pay dearly for it, I decided to hit the turnaround and keep on going. I reasoned that it was about 3 miles back uphill to the next aid station. If things were really bad, I could easily drop out and get a ride there, or simply turn around and hike back down. I also rationalized that the damage was already done – I may as well enjoy the day the best I could. Plus, dropping out SUCKS SO BAD!!! I’m still pissed about dropping out of Leadville 72 miles into the race 3 years ago – and I’ve since learned to embrace the suck. Onward, then.

Yeah, I’m definitely idiot material…

Climbing was no picnic, but I was able to jog the easier grades and then resorted to hiking when it got steep. This might work. I don’t want it to sound like an endless painful grind. I had a pretty good pity-party earlier when the leg popped, but got over it and was really enjoying my day for the most part. I just had to slow down and tread lightly.

Everything else was perfect! The weather was spectacular. I had no problems with the heat, or blisters. My feet felt great. My energy levels were as good as could be expected. It was no walk in the park, but I was managing to cover some ground. Hydration was good. Electrolytes were good. Fuel was good. I stayed focused on taking care of myself and moving as well as I could.

I did have plenty of time to contemplate whether

I should save my race entry fees

and just get someone to do this for free instead.

Time passed quickly for some reason and I even managed to go by a dozen or so runners in the final 10 miles. Once I topped the last climb I ran as fast as my leg would allow for the final 90 minutes and crossed the line in 33^rd place out of 90 finishers in 9:17 (results). Very satisfied with that considering the circumstances, and my second lap was only 9 minutes longer than the first.

The aftermath:

This is what the leg felt like on Sunday morning.

This is what it looked like.

It remains to be seen what the final toll for finishing this run will be. 5 days later and the swelling is finally subsiding a little and I am able to walk without too much problem, but running is out of the question for a while. The rest of my body felt cheated. Not sore at all. I was looking forward to being absolutely hammered from a good, hard effort. Not to be this time.

I truly had a very enjoyable day. It was great to see so many friends and watch most of them absolutely rock that course. Can’t wait to do it again!

And to paraphrase Jack Handey:

I bet if you were in some old west gang, and you were dragging a guy along the ground with your horse, It’d probably make you really mad to look back and see him reading a magazine.

The Cheyenne Mountain 50K is a welcome new addition to the growing collection of Colorado ultras. The race is held in Cheyenne Mountain State Park, a 1700 acre trail running and bike riding playground just south of Colorado Springs. The park became fully functional in 2008 and contains about 20 miles of winding trails. The trail surface is mostly decomposed granite, and is primarily buffed and smooth, but there are several rocky sections to change things up. While the trails are singletrack, it is very wide singletrack (think ATV size, though they are not allowed). The trails are fast, and the climbing is plentiful but moderate in grade for the most part.

I have held a state parks season pass for many years now, and have visited several. CMSP definitely caters to the trail running and mountain bike crowd. The facilities are modern and well kept, there are trail signs everywhere (color-coded and with GPS coordinates), and they have done a very good job of utilizing the space they had to work with. In short, a great place to run!

My son Malcolm and I made the drive down Friday after work to camp overnight at the park. We goofed off in the Garden of the Gods area for a while, and then made our way to the race venue. After a short jog on the course, I was very excited by the prospect of racing on such a great trail system in a cool place like this. We quickly set up the tent in the last light of the day, ate some dinner, and turned in.

Race day was cold and cloudy, ideal for running. We would have periods of snow flurries and then sunshine during the race. Some words of instruction were given before the start, the most important being to avoid going on any trails marked with a purple sign. These were spurs to overlooks and most were taped off, but some might not be. I only saw one that they had missed, but thanks to the purple sign I knew not to take it. The instructions were followed by the National Anthem and presentation of the flag by a color guard from the Air Force Academy. That was a first for me at an ultra, and I thought it was a very nice thing to do.

Starting at the low point of the couse, we had about a half mile of pavement and a climb to get ourselves sorted out before hitting the trails for the rest of the day. This worked out well and I was able to find a comfortable spot in the group without any problem. After being sick with a fever, chills, and a cough most of the week, I planned on a very easy effort kind of day. Knowing that just completing the event would be enough for my questionable condition. As long as I didn’t push too hard, which would result in a hands-on-knees coughing fit, I knew I would be able to make it through. My daughter had just been diagnosed with strep throat and was on meds, I was hoping to dodge that one. Luckily, my throat didn’t hurt at all. My ears were plugged all day and I could not get them to ‘pop’ no matter what I tried.

I ran what I thought was a very reasonable and conservative first lap, but deteriorated rapidly after that and averaged 2 minutes per mile slower on the second lap resulting in a 30 minute positive split. Ouch. My heart rate average of 144 showed just how slow I was going – it seemed I was stuck in first gear. Even though walking would have been faster in some cases, I kept a ‘run’ going the whole time and just chalked it up to a good long effort. I was happy to have been able to make the trip at all considering I had been curled up in bed and missed work a few days before. My middle name is Edward (after my grandpa), so my mantra for the day was Steady Eddy.

It would have been convenient to drop out and ‘save myself for another day’, but the only reasons I could come up with were that I was tired and not able to run as quickly as I would have liked. Ha. Ha. Good one. Keep on jogging, buddy. At least my various injuries were being fairly quiet and I didn’t have to deal with those pains – that was SUPER. I reminded myself constanly during the tough times that if I had stayed home and skipped the run, all I would be doing is wishing I was out here doing this very thing. Even if it was tiring and uncomfortable. Time to suck it up, buttercup!

The bright spot of the day was having Malcolm along. He was such a trooper. He scouted out various trails he could use to intersect the race course and cheer me on while running all over the place in his orange Vibrams. He also helped out at an aid station and then ran the last 3 miles of the race with me putting his total at around 7 for the day. He kept repeating how awesome his day had been and it made me very happy to hear that. I was afraid he would get bored just waiting around for me the whole time, but he chose to go out and make his own experience happen. Sharing those last few miles together was a special treat that I won’t soon forget.

The course was a long 33.5 miles (by my GPS) with 4,300 feet of climbing. I rolled across the line in 6:10 which landed me in 34th place out of 76 finishers. I would have very much liked to hang out at the finish to congratulate my friends on their great results, but my body had other plans. I used up all the reserves I had and it was time to hit the road and get home.

I came away with a very positive experience and a great impression of this first-year race.

Since this was a first-year event, I’ll add a few comments about what I liked or thought they could change. At the risk of helping to contribute to the popularity of the race, and making it harder for myself to get back in, I’ll say up front that this was one of the best managed and well executed ultras that I have run (two dozen and counting). There are a few tweaks that I would suggest, but it was refreshing to have things run so well.

Positives:

Cash for the winners. $500 is a pretty hefty payday for the top man and woman in a ultra. I would suggest paying 3 deep, though.

Chip timing.

Quick results, nicely formatted (easy to see overall/age/gender placing).

Plentiful aid stations. I ran with one small bottle and it worked out great. I think some even ran without carrying any fluids. HUGE kudos for having water pitchers – so nice to have a volunteer quickly fill your bottle that way rather than waiting forever for the water to drip out of a cooler.

Great PA system. So many races I go to it is impossible to hear the last minute instructions. No issues here. Good announcer during the races.

Course marking. I was concerned enough about this to carry a small folded up map of my own. There were so many intersecting trails I didn’t want to have to guess which way to go if the markings (typically a weak spot in a first year race) were poor. The markings were excellent, no issues at all other than the one missed spur/overlook which was mentioned in the announcements.

Awesome volunteers.

National Anthem. Great touch.

Fast, but challenging course.

Great venue and calendar slot. The trail system was closed to all other users during the race, how sweet is that?!? You can tell the state park really embraced the event.

Splitting the 25K and 50K starts. When running the longer race, it’s nice to know that everyone around you is doing the same.

Neutral:

Two way traffic. There were a couple of sections with fairly heavy traffic as people were entering and exiting the two loop sections on the course. The trails were definitely wide enough to handle it, though. It was fun to greet other runners and see some of my friends running such great races.

Negatives:

A couple of aid stations ran out of gels.

T-shirt color. Powder blue? meh.

By all accounts, the course was substantially longer than 50K. It’s an ultra, so no big deal. There are plenty of long courses out there. However… with the prize money, the ‘elite’ field, and overall champoinship-type vibe of the event, why not dial that distance in and make this a true 50K testpiece? There are so many trails to choose from, the necessary modifications would be very easy to do.

Website info. The course map, elevation chart, and aid station information could have been much better.

As you can see, there was a lot to like about this event. Congrats to everyone involved in putting on such a high quality race!