So, the grand question for me was what
to wear. Yes, I've got the standard running shorts, cool logoed
shirts, but I was trying to decide what to use for water bottles. My
plan was to go Euro-style, pushing on the legs, while trying to
propel myself up the mountain. I decided to just go light, since I
figured any extra weight would slow me down on the mountain. On the
upside, I knew that Trail Glovers are amazing uphill shoes (no
weight, enough traction), so I did have the shoes.
Anyway, the race swag bags were
awesome. I got a cool Asics logo running shirt, a cool set of socks,
a cool shirt with the race logo, a cool Nathan handheld water bottle,
a cool Pearl Izumi water bottle, and the obligatory Hammer gel.
There was the chip thing, which I tied into my shoes, and I realized
that I really need to just start wearing an ankle pouch for these
things. I'm obsessive about the lacing systems, and putting a chip
in there is annoying for me.
My plan for Mount Helena race was to
get a sweet start, and keep it strong on the uphill. I did manage to
get a cool start during the flat section, but I had a harder time
than I would expect doing the uphill. For some reason, my legs were
miserable on the uphill angle, and my arms are really not in the
propelling shape that they were back when I still had the gym
membership. The other problem was that the temperature was just hot
enough combined with the smoke that I was really getting dehydrated
fast. I though that I'd be fine to storm up the mountain and back,
but I usually ran Mount Helena during the days of good air and in the
cool of the evening. So, I ended up not having as much leg strength
as I expected and doing the uphill climb much weaker than I expected.
So, overall, I was ever so slightly disappointed in my performance,
but think that I've got a decent amount of time to get ready to do
straight uphill hiking, probably with a sweet ballistic vest for
weight.
Overall: 1.52mi, 29:31.84 1378 feet of
ascent.
For the second part, we ended up doing
a cool part of Mount Ascension that I never had experienced before.
There's a really nifty trail off of Lime Kiln that meets up with the
saddle, and is in amazing shape. There's something about running
fresh, rather than beaten trail that just softens up the body. I
decided to carry both handhelds, not because I was super worried
about water, but rather because I was worried about having something
to take the rocks when the inevitable slings and arrows of misfortune
call. I ended up getting a bunch of water on two nifty gals on the
trolley, which made me feel super sheepish. Also, I ended up using
quite a bit of arm to keep stable while standing on the trolley (this
will be important). I did a nice .67 mile warm up with the fast
crowd, which felt really good. I feel the importance of warming up,
I just usually fail at it. It's probably better to get a nice,
leisurely, mile in before the starting line, especially as today's
athletes are so gelled up that calories aren't an issue for distance
races.
There was quite the spring at the
start, since there was only about a quarter of a mile before hitting
the singletrack trail. I ended up being further back than I wanted,
so I got to do the strange hill passing thing. The problem is that
passing is difficult, and there are three parts, uphill, downhill,
and flat, where certain people are faster. I did get some sweet
assistance from my fellow runners when the tree took out my hat. So,
I spent most of the first part passing the galloping horses of the
first section, and then once we hit the new trail that wraps around
the North part of Mount Ascension running with the crew. I did pass
of the lovely ladies on the 2006 switchbacks, and got passed once we
hit Little Moab. In fact, I did see one of the lamer things on the
day, where one lovely lady with headphones was basically blocking the
same gal who cruised by me. I was almost frustrated, as it was on a
downhill technical section, and its dangerous not to let people pass
on those sections. I don't know if it's bad karma, or bad racing,
but headphone girl ended up slipping on the Moab rocks, which my
strong New Balance Minimus Trails held strong. Love that downhill
grip!
There was a cool uphill part on
Acropolis where I realized that I was pretty much set in where I
would finish, so I enjoyed 30 fine seconds of walking the uphill
before settling into the final stretch. It was a good rest, since my
legs basically had nothing left, and I'd just been running on
technical downhill skill. Plus, I was really low on calories, but I
didn't have the opportunity to Gel up.
Vital Stats: 3,48 miles, 29:53.43,
total ascent 503 feet and decent of 1587 feet.
The most race food and festivities
were mostly cool. The Pearl Izumi rep was really nice, even if the
shoes were way tight on me (foot swell, and general tightness).
Plus, they have a lot of midsole, and I run in Minimus and Trail
Gloves. It's too bad, although I hear that Izumi is going to do the
Hoka One One route (which my local running store needs to carry
before I try a pair at Runners Edge and have a spare $160). Inov8
had stuff more my style, but the rep was actually a real jerk, who
seemed to have no interest in me, but had interest in the gal and her
hipster (trucker hat and torn off jean shorts / plaid flannel wearing
hipster) boyfriend. So, I'm not buying anything from Inov8, since
they have really bad reps. Take that Google sentiment!
I did manage to come in first in my
race division, which was a good feeling, even if there probably
weren't a lot of people in it. I did run much faster than all the
people who stayed home. I got some cool compression socks for it,
although I think I'd like the bragaddocio of having a cool medal to
go along with it.
I was asked by the race director if it
would be cool to make a running weekend of it. I completely agree.
Maybe a running movie on Friday along with a casual beer run and a
cool running workshop with someone would be a good thing. There's
talk of adding a long Sunday race to go along with it. There's some
cool things that can be done with that, such as doing the Centennial
trail (which could make a sweet out and back) or bringing back the
The only that I actually question is
if the race needed to give prize money to the winners. I suspect
most of the people who ran did so because they wanted to do the race,
rather than because they needed / wanted the money. One option,
which might be worth considering, would be to divvy up the money for
the local running clubs and let people represent those. It's far
enough from the Montana Cup, and I suspect that the first time the
Bozeman runners come up and take $1500 for Bozeman will get all the
Helena runners going strong. I didn't seem to bring out the elite
runners the way the Icebreaker does. As the race gets bigger,
splitting up the crowd on the singletrack is going to be a real
issue. Adding another mile before hitting the singletrack would
probably do a decent job, without being unfair to anyone. Wave start
may or may not be a good option, although doing starting times based
on a set of qualifying races might be worthwhile.
So, next year, y'all should do the
series. It's awesome, the people are awesome, the swag is awesome,
the post race food and beer is awesome.
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