Race Recaps: Black Canyon North Rim 20K & Global Hope Apple Cider 10K

And with this post - I am officially caught up on blogging! It feels so good (remind me never to run 6 races in 6 weeks again...)

I am combining 2 races that I've done before, since I figured I wouldn't have as much to write about given that I've already blogged about them in the past. So without further ado - I will begin with the Black Canyon North Rim 20K that I ran on October 3rd, followed by the Global Hope Apple Cider 10K which I ran on October 24th!

Race Recap: Black Canyon North Rim 20K

This race is the only race I have done EVERY single year since I started running (how cool is that? And because of that, I think I have to keep it up). The 8K course was only my second race ever back in 2012! I ran it again in 2013 - this time my running had progressed enough that I jumped up to the 20K. Unfortunately, it was also moved that year to a different location because of the Government Shutdown that closed down all of the National Parks (although, I actually really liked the course that year). Last year, 2014, it was back at the Black Canyon and I once again did the 20K (although only the first time on the "real" course).

I went into this race with the only real goal of beating my previous years time of 1:57:23. Now, that's not a super fast pace for me (9:26 per mile), however this is a VERY hilly course. That being said, I still really thought I could do it - I had just ran a 3:44:26 Marathon only 3 weeks prior (8:34 per mile). Surely I could run this race in under 1:57 without a problem, even if it was hilly. I could not have been more wrong....

The race started out okay. I ran my first few miles at a respectable pace (8:58, 8:43, 8:44), however from the very get-go I could tell something was off. Yes, I was at a higher elevation (about 8000'), but I felt like I was at a SIGNIFICANTLY higher elevation (I'm talking like 12,000 feet). I just felt like I had barely any oxygen. I was facing a headwind for those miles, so I thought maybe that had to do with it? But even after we changed directions I will still suffering immensely. 

Nevertheless, I was here to run a race, so I just kept at it. The more I ran though, the more worn out I felt. Finally at about Mile 7, I started taking walking breaks. Every time there was a significant hill, I just walked it (this isn't a trail run, but is on dirt roads - in the past, I've been able to run the whole thing - albeit slowly given the hills). 

I spent the remaining 5 miles of the race just trying to figure out what in the world was up with me today. The only thing I could think of was that I had recently started a DietBet to get my eating back under control (I had been eating terribly lately), and so I had eaten at a fairly large calorie deficit all week. Now, that might have been part of it, but then, all of a sudden while talking with someone post race, a light bulb went off: I had just donated blood 2 days prior. I hadn't thought much of it at the time because I used to donate regularly - however this was my first time in over a year since I got my tattoo. I felt pretty stupid though - especially because now that I knew what it was, I even remembered the Phlebotomist telling the guy next to me about how the amount of oxygen in your blood drops significantly (or doesn't replenish as fast as the actual blood I think - something along the lines). I'm no expert in that kind of stuff, but I do know that the more oxygen in your blood, the better you run...so, with that in mind, I decided not to be too concerned with my negative performance!

Picture taken from the race Facebook page.

I stopped and took a selfie with my friend Randee along the way!

Randee took this of Rochelle - it shows the course well!

I ended up finishing in 2:08:51 - which was actually, much to my surprise, good enough for first place in my age group (gotta love small races!) - I'll take it! This was also the second year in a row that I ran all 3 of the Black Canyon races in one calendar year (this one along with the Winter Rim Romp in February and Black Canyon Ascent in May), so I got an awesome Pint Glass (I am getting quite a collection of these)!

RACE STATS:

Race: Black Canyon North Rim 20K

Location: Crawford, CO (closest town - really another 15-20 minutes south of here)

Distance: 20K / 12.4 Miles

Bib Number:

Weather: Not as warm as I was expecting because it was WINDY, but not cold - 60's and sunny I think.

Official Time: 2:08:51

Average Pace: 10:23 minutes per mile

Elevation Gain: 860'

Overall Rank: 23 of 31 

Gender Rank: 13 of 19

Age Division Rank: 1 of 2 or 2 of 3 depending on how you look at it! (the overall winner was in my age group, so that's why I got the award for "1st" in my age group)

Garmin Splits: 8:58, 8:43, 8:44, 9:47, 11:02, 10:38, 10:28, 10:28,  11:14, 10:16, 10:50, 13:50 (can you tell I was ready to be done?), 9:31

Map & Elevation Profile

With my age group award!

Rochelle, Randee, Ed, and Myself

Now onto Race #2 for this post....

Race Recap: Global Hope Apple Cider 10K

This race is a fundraiser for Global Hope - an organization I donate to and sponsor a child through, so  even though it's a bit of a long drive for a 10K, I wanted to go support it (and P.S. they need sponsors - so go sign up to be a God Parent and make a difference in a child's life!!). Last year was the first year they had a race - a 5K in Broomfield. For the second year, they changed it up a little and ran on the Big Dry Creek Trail in Westminster instead, while also adding the 10K option. I was trying to keep my mileage up for Rim Rock training, so not only did I do the 10K, but I also did a 9 mile warm-up prior to the race starting - so needless to say, I wasn't going in on fresh legs, and I could definitely feel that in the last mile!

However, I also knew it was a smaller race, so thought, MAYBE, I could still sneak in a top 3 finish (within Women)....yeah not so much. The women were actually faster than the men - with all 3 top women finishing before the second male. But ohwell - I still managed to get in some faster miles (for me) in while enjoying the scenery (Big Dry Creek is a great place to run if you live in the area!).

Picture from the race website - all of the runners shortly after the start!

Carrying cups for 1 1/2 miles...NBD.

(They weren't sure they would have enough cups at the first aid station, so I volunteered to carry them out on my way)

Views from the course - taken earlier that morning while on my warm-up.

Another view of the course.

Finishing!

I had also convinced some friends of mine to come out and do the 5K too and my friend Amy ended up finishing first female! And to top it off, I ended up winning 4 huge bottles of hard cider - so overall it was a win! 

I managed to recruit all of them! :)

One of the best raffle prizes I've won!

RACE STATS:

Race: Global Hope Apple Cider 10K

Location: Westminster, CO

Distance: 10K / 6.2 Miles

Bib Number: 112

Weather: 40's and sunny (perfect racing weather!)

Official Time: 53:47

Average Pace: 8:38 minutes per mile

Overall Rank: 12 of 31

Gender Rank: 6 of 18

Age Division Rank (F20-29): 1 of 3 of 2 of 4 depending (2nd overall was in my age group - so that's why I'm ranked as 1st in the results - they did not do individual Age Group awards though).

Garmin Splits: 8:19, 8:31, 8:22, 8:47, 8:41, 9:09, 8:35 (last .2)

Elevation Profile

Course Map

Race Recap: Durango Double Half Marathons

Once again - WAY late on getting yet another blog post up! The good news is that my racing has slowed down a bit, so I can hopefully catch up finally ;)!

I honestly can't really remember how/when I found out about the Durango Double - but I've wanted to do it for the past several years now. So when they announced a special "April Fool's" Discount of running the Double for the price of a Single - I decided it was be the perfect excuse to finally do it this year!

The Durango Double is a running event in - you guessed it - Durango (southwest corner of Colorado - about 3 1/2 hours from me, 6+ from Denver). It consists of a Trail Half Marathon on Saturday and a Road Half Marathon (or 5K option available too) on Sunday. I hadn't been to Durango since I was a kid (and really it was just passing through) so, ever since moving to the Western Slope, I've wanted to go check it out. This would be the perfect opportunity!

My next question was finding someone to go with me! My friend and co-worker Taryn and I went halvsies on a National Park Pass this year and had been talking about how we needed to use it some more. Well Durango is only about 30-40 minutes from Mesa Verde National Park - so I asked if she wanted to go for a weekend trip there with me and she said yes! Problem solved!

We left work about 3:30 on Friday and headed down. Thankfully the weather was great the entire drive (driving to Durango involves driving the Million Dollar Highway which is a lovely section of road where you're on the edge of a cliff with no guard rails - I can handle it in good weather...snow...yeah not so much) and we made it into town around 7. I went and picked up my race packet and then we checked into our hotel (which ended up being perfect - right in the middle of town with views of the Animas River and walking distance to all of the downtown shops and restaurants) before hitting the hot tub for a bit. Then it was time for bed, and of course getting my #FlatRunner's ready:

The races started at 9:00am each day, so I got up at about 7:00am and headed out at about 7:30 (note - I did not need to leave this early - Durango is not a huge town - 8:00 would have definitely sufficed). Despite it getting quite hot later in the day, it was still nice and chilly when I got there, especially in the shade, so having the extra time allowed me to walk around and check out the starting line and make a bathroom trip before shedding my many layers.

So without further ado, recap of The Trail Half:

The website for this race did not have an elevation profile, so I really had no idea what I was getting into - as without that you really have NO IDEA how hard a race is going to be. I went in naively thinking this was on the southern end of the San Juans - on the outskirts of the mountains - surely it wouldn't be TOO difficult and surely I could beat my time from Golden Leaf Half I had ran two weeks prior. Boy was I wrong...

It started out well - the first mile or so looped around the starting area before heading north where we got onto the first part of trail. Around mile 2 was when the initial climbing really started. As I believe I mentioned in the Golden Leaf Half recap, I really have not been doing much trail running. At all. So I just kept it easy - walking the steep uphills and taking pictures as I went. That first climb ended up being about 1000 feet over about 3 miles before we finally made it to the top. Unfortunately one of the volunteer's made the mistake of saying, "it's ALL downhill from here". OKAY let me stop you right there, volunteer... For starters, thank you for volunteering, BUT - do NOT tell people it's all downhill from here, when there is another 1000 foot climb two miles later.... but we'll get to that in a minute.

So we start heading back down around Mile 5. I had a feeling that volunteer was wrong because surely there can't be THAT much downhill when you still have 8 miles left in a Half Marathon - but I figured, it's probably just no more "significant" climbing. Yeah...no...it was. As I mentioned above, about another 1000 feet of up from Miles 6 to 8 - including, the absolute WORST uphill I have ever endured in a race - I mean this was Manitou Incline steep (although thankfully this section was only for about 1/4 mile):

The steepest EVER! That's me at the bottom!

Yeah...no joke there. Thankfully once we were done with that, we ACTUALLY were done with the majority of the climbing and the rest of the race was very runnable back into town. Unfortunately my time had really suffered during both climbs, and once you combine that with the fact that the course was VERY rocky (making fast downhill miles almost impossible) and I was still in for a LONG Half Marathon. Not only did I not beat my Golden Leaf Half time, I didn't even come CLOSE! I ended up finishing in 2:58:45 - just under the 3 hour mark. Ohwell though - it was by far my toughest half this year, and I got to see some of the Durango trails (including a LEGIT Tarantula - see below), so it was overall a win!

Some of the many pictures I took on the trail course!

TRAIL HALF STATS:
Race: Durango Double Trail Half Marathon
Location: Durango, Colorado
Distance: 13.1 Miles (Garmin clocked it at 13.52)
Bib Number: 307
Weather: 50 and sunny at the start, probably mid-60's at the end (and still sunny - so HOT)
Official Time: 2:58:45
Average Pace: 13:38 minutes per mile
Elevation Gain: 1979'
High Point: 7664'
Overall Rank: 145 of 222
Gender Rank: Unknown
Age Division Rank (F20-29):
Garmin Splits: 9:33, 11:19, 13:36, 15:37, 14:57, 11:49, 13:59, 15:55, 19:39, 11:52, 12:34, 11:13, 11:41, 9:33 (last .1)

All finished! And MORE pint glasses for my collection!

Elevation Profile - yeah, NOT easy...

Course Map

In the afternoon on Saturday, Taryn and I went to check out Mesa Verde:

Now onto the Road Half:

Once again, I went into this not knowing what to expect. I did figure it would at least be easier than the day before's race... which I was right about - although I still would not call this an easy road Half, in the slightest.... Thankfully, while waiting for the race to start, I found a friend from Instagram who had ran it from last year, and she warned me that the you had to run up to Fort Lewis College at the beginning of the race (which was supposedly up a big hill). Well at least that left me with the understanding that this wouldn't necessarily be an "easy" one either - so I just settled on having fun for this one as well.

The race started out heading north into town (both races started on the southern outskirts of town at the Animas Surgical Hospital) and just like I was warned, was uphill from the get-go for the first 3 or so miles until we reached the Ft. Lewis College campus (which is located about 700 feet above the town of Durango). We ran around the campus until about Mile 5, had one last uphill and then got about 1 mile of steep downhill. I used this downhill to try and make up some of my time, but also didn't push it too hard given the fact that I was on Day 2 of racing. I had kind of been hoping for under 2 hours, but once I experienced 700 feet of gain in the first 3, that kind of went out the window and I instead just enjoyed the views and took several pictures along the way.

Despite the elevation profile showing that it really is all downhill from the 5 mile mark until the finish - it really felt pretty flat after mile 6.5 - so I just did my best to maintain a moderate pace as best as I could. Around mile 8 or 9, we got onto the Animas River Trail for the remainder of the race. This is a paved bike path running along the river with several bridges along the route - so we crossed back and forth multiple times which was fun.

One of the professional pictures - not me, I just wanted to show the river trail!

I ended up finishing today's race in 2:02:52 - not quite the sub-2:00 I was going for, but close enough!

Pictures I took from along the course!

ROAD HALF STATS:
Race: Durango Double Road Half Marathon
Location: Durango, Colorado
Distance: 13.1 Miles (Garmin measured it at 13.04)
Bib Number: 307
Weather: 48 and sunny, probably high 50's, low 60's by the end
Official Time: 2:02:52
Average Pace: 9:22 minutes per mile
Elevation Gain: 689'
High Point: 6954'
Overall Rank: 77 of 202
Gender Rank: Unknown
Age Division Rank (F20-29):
Garmin Splits: 9:51, 10:28, 9:47, 9:44, 9:42, 8:22, 8:40, 9:27, 8:50, 9:12, 9:35, 9:27, 9:32, 7:46 (last .1)

Done with Race #2! The "Doublers" got these Trucker Hats!

Elevation Profile

Course Map

DOUBLER STATS:
Combined Time: 5:01:39
Overall Rank: 53 of 101 (didn't quite make top half - but better than I expected, so I'll take it!)
Gender Rank: Unknown
Age Division Rank: Unknown
Average Pace: 11:30

After the race, we grabbed some Starbucks and then hit the road to head back home. I had originally wanted to drive over Lizard Head Pass on the way back - since it's part of the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway that I have yet to drive - but it was going to make for a much longer drive, so we went back the same way through Silverton. I didn't mind too much though because it had been dark for some of the drive on Friday, so I got to see some more fall color this time! I also took a quick detour up to Dallas Divide once we got to Ridgway so I could catch my favorite Colorado Mountain view while there was still some fall color out!

View from Molas Pass - just south of Silverton

Dallas Divide in the Fall! (My favorite view in all of Colorado)

The magnificent Mt. Sneffels!

Rim Rock Marathon

Let me start out by bringing up something that I am somewhat struggling with lately. I've been running for 3 1/2 years now and in those three and a half years I've done a few races (58 - but who's counting?). When I first started running, getting a PR was easy. The more I ran, the faster I got, I PR'd all the time. Now? Well it's a lot tougher now.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I am NOT a naturally fast runner.

(Okay, so maybe that wasn't much of a secret).

(Also - side note and disclaimer so no one gets mad at me for calling myself slow: the term "FAST" is, of course, always relative. There will always be people faster than me and there will always be people slower than me - and my fast is some people's slow, whereas my slow is some people's fast, etc. etc.).

That being said, 2015 was an interesting year. I trained a LOT in the first half of the year and had some great PR's (HUGE PR's honestly) - I took 21 minutes off of my Marathon time when I ran my current PR of 3:41:35 in February and I took 17 minutes off of my Half Marathon PR over the course of a few Half Marathon's running a 1:39:44. HOWEVER - guess what? I worked my butt off for that...and unfortunately, since, as previously mentioned, I am not naturally fast, I have to KEEP working my butt off to remain fast. So when my training declined over the past few months (mostly for my well being - I was burned out!), guess what... I lost a TON of that speed. And my last few races have clearly shown that. So...I just want to clear the air (both for myself and the few people reading this) because I have 2 more races this year: I will not be PRing them. I am not in shape to PR them. So please stop wondering why my races have been so "slow" lately. Thank you ;)!

Now onto the race recap. I am still behind on some other posts I need to do, but I took a ton of pictures at this race I want to share and so I just figured I might as well just do this recap while it's all still fresh in my mind. So without further ado, the U.S. Bank Rim Rock Marathon:

Since it's a pretty well known and larger event on the Western Slope, I've wanted to run this since I first started running marathons (well, I actually wanted to do the relay even prior to that). Unfortunately, the last few year's it just didn't work out, so I had to jump on the chance to do it this year. The race runs through the Colorado National Monument, starting just outside of the East/Grand Junction entrance, heading into the Park, where you then get to ascend about 2000+ feet in the first 8 1/2 miles (although, the majority of the climbing is actually in 2-5, the rest of the miles are more gradual), then you get a few downhill miles, before the last major climb of another couple hundred feet to the half-way point and then it's finally (for the most part) downhill from there until exiting at the West/Fruita side of the Monument where you then make your way to the Finish Line in downtown Fruita. Needless to say, it's not the easiest Marathon course out there. However, it is on the scenic side, which makes it all worth it.

I knew going into this that I wasn't in my best, or "fastest" shape, so I didn't set much of a time goal (and yet there I was getting all bummed about my time - hence the beginning of my entire post...ugh). I just wanted to go out and enjoy it. Which is what I did during the race - it was actually the post-race - hearing other people's speedy times - that got me somewhat depressed. Seriously though..."Comparison is the Thief of Joy" - MUST remember that!!!

Enough of my rambling already - let's get to recapping the darn race already, right?

The gun went off about 1 or 2 minutes early (a little weird, but I was there and ready, so I didn't care). The first mile starts off at a gentle incline as you make your way into the Park (and yes, I know it's a "Monument" and not a "Park", but Park is shorter, so just go with it, okay?) before the real climbing starts at about Mile 2. Miles 2-5 are the steepest sections, as mentioned previously, but luckily I felt like they went pretty quickly. The first aid station was at about 2.5 and, even though it was only 30's out, with the uphill, I had warmed up a lot already, so I tossed my long sleeve and gloves. Tossing the long sleeve shirt was fine, but the gloves? BIG MISTAKE (but we'll get to that later). I grabbed a piece of banana and some water and continued on, making my way up to the tunnel.

Only a quarter mile or so into the race.

Shortly after getting into the park.

Looking back down at a previous section of the course.

On regular days (i.e. when training on the course), pedestrians aren't allowed in the tunnels, so I was pretty stoked to finally be able to run through them - and it was just as neat as I was hoping. There's one tunnel on the uphill climb (east side of the park) and two on the descent (west side of the park). The east tunnel was longer than I was expecting and I couldn't see much during the middle of it - but thankfully I could see the light from the other side to direct me as I made my way safely through (it's just a good thing there weren't any banana peels on the ground).

Just before the east tunnel - this is typically my turn-around when training.

Looking back again.

Running through Tunnel #1! It would be a LONG way until the next one!

You're left with approximately 1 more mile of steep climbing once you exit the tunnel before it flattens out for about 1/2 mile. Enjoy that 1/2 mile, because it's back to some more uphill until about Mile 8 1/2 when you FINALLY hit the high point of the course at 6,640 feet. After that, you get about 2 1/2 downhill miles before the last "big" climb through Mile 13 (back up to 6500-something). During this entire section - and I believe it was because we A.) made it to the top of the first major climb, and B.) switched direction, it got PRETTY chilly - and I was majorly wishing for my gloves again (seriously, my hands were FROZEN for a few miles)! The wind had picked up a bit (and kept at it for awhile). Too late now though - thankfully I had at least kept my ear warmer/headband on!!

One of my favorite pictures!

Curvy roads for the next 20 miles!

There was still snow from Thursday in some of the shady sections!

Shortly after Mile 12, is where the Relay-ers switched off so, of course, some of the speedier second-leg relay members would speed by me pretty quickly. I just tried to keep in mind that they were on fresh legs (albeit - COLD legs too - apparently the relay-ers have to wait around for 2+ hours in the 30-something degree weather!!). By this point, however, I wasn't too focused on them, as I was feeling SO happy to finally be headed downhill for the majority of the remaining miles!

In all honesty though, I had hoped to run my downhill miles MUCH faster than I did. I had put my Garmin in my pocket (so I wouldn't be too distracted by my slow uphill miles) so I really had no idea what pace I was running these at. Looking at them post-marathon, I am surprised I wasn't running them faster - I am wondering if it was the wind? Typically on downhills, even if I'm not putting a hard effort into them, I can do sub-9:00's, but I only ended up with 3 x sub-9:00 miles over the entire course - just an interesting observation for me. That being said, I was also on pretty tired legs by that point - I think the early climbing miles wore me out WAY more than I was expecting - even if I was trying to "take it easy".

So anyways, with the uphill out of the way, I continued with my "enjoy it" attitude and took several more pictures. The views get pretty great in the last several miles before the Visitor Center:

I believe the rock formation on the right is the "Kissing Couple"

These are the Coke Ovens (don't ask me why they're called that)

Independence Monument - the finisher's medals are of this formation!

One you get passed the Visitor's Center at Mile 19, it's a lot of steep downhill until 23. I was definitely feeling kind of tired by this point, so I just let gravity carry me down these miles and continued to take in the views. The two west side tunnels were around 21 or 22 and were just as fun to run through as the earlier one:

I believe this one was taken in between the two west tunnels.

You finish most of the descending and exit the park shortly after Mile 23. I was worried the last 3 miles would be really tough for me, but I did still manage to have some energy in me and kept my pace up pretty well (well as well I typically can when in the last few miles of a Marathon) as I headed into Fruita. You've still got some downhill until about Mile 25 when you head over the Colorado River, and then it's flat with the exception of the horrible part where you have to cross over I-70 (tons of traffic and it was, of course, uphill - at mile 25). Thankfully though, once you get over the I-70 bridge, the finish is SO close, you turn right onto Aspen Ave (essentially the "Main Street" of Fruita) and it's only about one short block away! It was awesome (I hate when you can see the finish line for a really long time - this was a nice surprise - turn and all of a sudden you're basically there!).

Once you get out of the Monument, the road isn't closed anymore.

I ended up finishing in 4:28:31 - my slowest Road Marathon thus far (by 1 minute), however, also my most difficult. I know it has the downhill to make up for the uphill - but honestly, it was definitely tougher than just running a flat marathon (for me anyways). I really feel like the uphill took a lot out of me in the first half and I struggled to run the downs fast (granted, I definitely wouldn't say I pushed as hard as I could have on the downs - but even still - I could tell I didn't have much more in me even if I had wanted to). That being said, I'm glad I ran this - it's an awesome local race and I love the beauty of the Monument. I know I will run it again so long as I continue to reside on the Western Slope (although, there's a good chance I will be doing the Relay next time!).

RACE STATS: (The only negative to getting this post up right away, is that results aren't posted yet - so I will have to fill in a few blanks later)
Race: Rim Rock Marathon
Location: Grand Junction to Fruita, Colorado
Distance: 26.2 Miles (my Garmin was very accurate on this one - clocking it at 26.29)
Bib Number: 106
Weather: Chilly and a bit windy depending on direction: 30's at the beginning, 40's at the end, VERY Sunny
Official Time: 4:28:31
Average Pace: 10:13 minutes/mile
Minimum Elevation: 4469'
Maximum Elevation: 6640'
Elevation Gain: 2684' (it may be slightly less than this - as I think it messed up when I was in the tunnels, but still - a lot for a Road Marathon!)
Overall Rank: 73 of ?
Gender Rank:
Age Division Rank (F20-29):
Garmin Splits: 10:07, 11:29, 13:06, 12:41, 11:22, 9:55, 10:40, 10:56, 10:45, 9:03, 9:43, 10:27, 11:43, 8:47, 9:23, 9:05, 9:37, 10:41, 10:01, 9:54, 8:48, 9:08, 8:48, 9:57, 9:43, 10:15, 9:35 (last .2).

Side note: I just realized that some of my "downhill miles" are probably not as fast as I was expecting because I opted not to carry any of my own water or fuel and instead walk through all aid stations (to give myself a minute or so to eat and drink - so between that and taking pictures, I probably added, at minimum, 5 minutes to my time).

LOVE the Finisher's Medals!

Elevation Profile

Map

Marathon #12 in the books!