Saturday, March 9, 2013

2013 Salida Run Through Time Trail Marathon


My dad, Wyatt, and I enjoyed an excellent trip to Salida for the Run Through Time Trail Marathon today. Our 1975 Rancho el Rio trailer held up great for the winter camping conditions, and we had a blast on the road trip.

The event was well-organized and fun.  The no-frills atmosphere was perfect for Salida, and the full field brought some solid competition.  The course itself is dynamic, combining climbing, descending, flats, roads, and technical, windy trails.

I usually try to put time into competitors on the trail climbs, but pushing the pace early on did nothing other than give us a group of six. We hit the road at 7.8 miles, and I lost a bit of time to the top five (gotta think about training on a road one of these days), eventually falling to 8th on the roads and two-track. As we reached higher elevations (almost 9200' at the turnaround, I think) and some solid snow on the ground and in the air, I began to feel a bit better. A large swing of Vitargo and a FEIN at mile 20 gave me a strong second wind, and I felt great on the last 10k of technical singletrack, reeling in two guys on the way to 3:18:28 for 6th.  I think the winner was about 3:13, and I was fairly pleased to be in the thick of it in a field that was quite strong. A fast finishing stretch and not feeling totally hammered afterwards are good signs before my run across Zion National Park next month.

Thanks to the organizers for a great event, and to the competition, as always!

The route is here: http://app.strava.com/activities/43806699




In hindsight, I probably should not have lead the first six miles on the trail.  It was fun though!



Driving home through a blizzard on 285 with a swaying trailer was definitely the most gripping part of the day.

I saw Sage Canaday out there doing some filming, so you might check his excellent video channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/Vo2maxProductions) soon for some race coverage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAhhye612HI 

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