NicoleBut first…my ultramarathon history
Ultramarathons (anything over the 26.2mi/42.2km marathon distance) have been around quite a while, and if you are in the endurance sport world, you probably know a good number of people who have done them. I’ve coached a handful of ultrarunners in the last 8 years or so, have crewed at twice at Badwater Salton Sea, once at the epic Badwater 135, yet I had never run the distance myself. This year (pretty much on a whim*) I signed up for the Crested Butte 55k.
*Side story… my husband ran the Leadville Marathon this year, and his good friend asked him sometime in July if he wanted to do the 55k in Crested Butte. We discussed and it was feasible so he signed up. I got to thinking that I’d be writing his training plan and we were both still training for the Pikes Peak Ascent in August, so I might as well run Crested Butte, too. I can’t have him run his first ultra before me, right? So we’ll do it together!
Crested Butte is a only a 3.5 hour drive from Colorado Springs, and is one of those Colorado towns that everyone seems to love. Now I know why! In the 17 years I’ve been in Colorado, I’d not made it over there, and neither had Rudy. After this weekend, I’m sure we’ll be back even if we aren’t running a race. (My brother often goes for the wildflower photography.)
Day before the race.
The weather had been cold and rainy for several days before the race, so we were preparing for some wet conditions. Fortunately the forecast improved the closer to the start we got, even though it did rain quite a bit on Friday. We left Colorado Springs right after lunch, dropped Kimber off with my dad, and then headed west. The trip took us over Cottonwood pass, which I hadn’t been over in years. I was used to seeing it in the winter on snowmobile rides, so the summer view was new, yet familiar.
The fall colors on the drive were amazing. Once we got to Crested Butte, we stopped first to get our race bibs and then went to the house we were renting with our friends. At this point it was about 5pm, so it was dinner (our usual pre-race meal of salmon, brown rice, and broccoli) and get our packs/vests ready for the morning, before heading off to bed.
Race morning.
For some reason a 5am alarm doesn’t seem so bad anymore! Crested Butte is at an elevation of nearly 9000ft; pre-race nerves and altitude isn’t the best recipe for solid sleep, but I still slept reasonably well. Fortunately we were just a 5-minute walk from the start line so we didn’t need to plan for extra time for parking or bathrooms. We just needed to show up a few minutes before the start.
It felt like fall. The temperature was around 30 degrees (F) and foggy. We had our layers on knowing we’d likely be stripping during the race when it warmed up. However, the race climbed to over 11,000ft, and in shade or overcast skies that can still be pretty chilly.
It was a long day out there so I’ll break it up as best I can remember, and I may get the order of things wrong. I am glad I stopped and took some pictures (with time stamps) to help jog my memory.
The start.
There wasn’t a lot of fanfare, just some announcements and calls to line up. Ultramarathon start lines are definitely a lot more relaxed than triathlon starts! At 7:00 we were off and running into the fog. There is always the risk of starting off too fast, and this course started with a few flat miles, so the struggle was real. I kept my pace around 11:00min/mile to start. It was going to be a long day and there was no need to pound the legs to save a few minutes. Our friend took off at a sub-10 pace, but I didn’t think that was good for us. Rudy stayed with me as he has a tendency to go out too fast as well. (Teamwork!)
Despite the fog and cold temperatures, it didn’t take long for me to warm up, although I didn’t strip any layers for a few hours. I had gloves with hand warmers in them, and I was glad for that! Around mile 5 there was a cattle fence with a stile (a ladder to get over the fence – I had to look that up) and then a nice climb up the hill. This got us a little higher for some views, although we were still in some foggy and cloudy conditions.
Aid Station #1
The first aid station was about 6 miles in, where I diluted one of my bottles of Skratch. I accidentally made them double strength, so it was sweeter than I wanted. Grabbed a few pretzels (Dots twists, actually) and we kept going. Somewhere after that I made a pitstop (cold morning)! I know a colder start can leave you susceptible to not hydrating properly, especially if it warms up later. So while I didn’t drink as much as I had planned, I did make sure to drink regularly.
Creek crossings.
Just prior to the 2nd aid station there was a creek crossing. One guy was on the other side putting his socks back on, so I think he had taken them off to cross. I rock hopped as best I could, but did get a foot wet. However, with wool socks, it dried pretty quickly! A bit later there was another section we ran maybe 50 yards up the creek. After the 2nd aid station there was a crossing that was a bit deeper. I was following Rudy rock-hopping and ended up slipping and getting my right (gloved) hand wet. The air was still cold so Rudy and I swapped a glove until it was mostly dry. [He’s sweet that way!] Hooray for Smartwool socks and Hoka Speed Goat shoes for working really well. I had no issues with the wet or cold feet.
Mountain running.
Rudy and I stayed together for a lot of the race, although around mile 17-18, when the climbing got a lot steeper, he had a little more power and pulled ahead. (Maybe I shouldn’t have waited for him after I stopped to get these photos?) This was an exposed section of trail and was just a grind. As it got closer to the top, it entered into some trees and cooled off a bit. There were a few mountain bikers working the trail as well. I knew around mile 20 the descent was to start, although mile 19 was a teaser! The descent down was pretty steep and my left knee/IT band was starting to get aggravated, so I was a bit more cautious. A couple other runners passed me on the descent which gave me a little motivation to try and pick up the pace. Once we got out of the aspens, I saw Rudy in the open field not too far ahead, and caught him at the 3rd aid station.
Read part 2 with the rest of the race!
Nicole
