Snow Mountain Trail Half Marathon

Snow Mountain Trail Half Marathon


At the last minute today I signed up for the Snow Mountain trail half marathon. The race is part of the Colorado Endurance Race series, which hosted seven trail half marathons around the state. Earlier I had run the XTERRA Snow Mountain 20K, in which I placed 6th. I figured that this might be the same course and so I might have a chance to improve my time since I would know all of the hills. However, this time the course was totally different, involving two laps on a rolling course that had about ~1,400' total gain over the 13.1 miles. There was also a 10K at the same time, so when the gun went off I was out with the lead 10Kers. The course was great, with some grass running, rolling hills, single track, and a few sections of dirt road. After the initial mile or so I was in 5th and stayed in that position until the second lap, at which point I ended up in 3rd (as two of the runners were in the 10K race). From here, I could see the two other people in front of me, and tried to stay just behind them until closer to the end. This plan worked, as on the final climb before the descent and then the final crossing of Pole Creek to the finish I kicked it a bit harder and passed the guy in 2nd. Then I really let it fly, and as I was coming down the hill people were telling me to not let up as he was right behind me. I kept my pace, but on the final ~100' climb to the finish line I almost lost it as I tried to really put in a final push. Turns out the guy had dropped off and came in about a minute behind me. I finished in 1:37:05 which was good for second place overall (out of 175 people according to the RD). This could be a fluke, or I could finally be getting the hang of racing. My adrenaline was still high, but not nearly as bad as previous races. Either way, a super fun race on beautiful trails - and the big bull moose on the course sure gave a few people a good scare! I would recommend this race, and according to the RD there will also be one in Winter Park next year, which could be really cool (and hard).

XTERRA Snow Mountain Ranch 20K

XTERRA Snow Mountain Ranch 20K


This morning was the XTERRA Snow Mountain Ranch 20K trail race at Snow Mountain Ranch just outside of Tabernash. Although there was frost on the ground and I had to use the ice scraper on the car this morning, the day got hot fast. The course was really nice, winding through aspen forests, meadows, willow thickets, some lodgepole pines - all on trails with a few sections of dirt road. I would recommend this race to anyone; the course is really nice, the location is spectacular, and the volunteers and crew were great. Next year they are going to offer a full trail marathon, and not the 20K, so that may be something to put on your radar.

I started off with the lead group, keeping pace with them through the first couple miles, but had to drop back a bit on the initial 1,000' climb. Although I had tapered and rested, I'm still trying to figure out just how to race. I thought I was rested and would be good, but for some reason I wanted to hurl on the climb and was having trouble getting my breathing into a rhythm - I think it was mostly adrenaline as after about mile 5 I got into a good groove and was able to run the flats and hills really well. It surprised me a bit, as I didn't feel too nervous prior to the race, but obviously I was and need to keep working on the mental and physical game of racing. After the first big climb, the course was mostly rolling with some steep downs and a couple short ups. When I let the lead pack go on the climb, there was no one behind me so I ran the rest of the race solo, which was nice but I think I might have been able to get a slightly better time if there had been a rabbit in front or someone closing in on me and pushing me to go faster. Again, learning to race - something I have never done but find really quite interesting in all of its complexities and nuances.

Anyway, a great race on a killer course. The trails are open to the public if you buy a day pass at the Ranch, which is something to do now that fall colors are starting to show. It really is a beautiful setting. I got 6th place with a time of 1:50:49. Pretty happy, but obviously there is room for improvement; improvement that I think will come with more racing experience.