12 Glory Laps in 12 Hours

12 Glory Laps in 12 Hours
Last February 20th, I hiked and skied 12 laps on Mt. Glory. 19,638 feet climbed with skis on my back and 19,638 feet skied to raise money for Camp To Belong. It's snowing again and I'm ready for the 2nd edition! Click the logo for more info and ways to support camp!

Camp To Belong - Elk Mountain Grand Traverse

Camp To Belong - Elk Mountain Grand Traverse
We're racing the Elk Mtn Grand Traverse this March, a 40 mile ski race across the roof of Colorado in the middle of the night! Click for updates on our training and fundraising progress!

Peaked Sports

Peaked Sports
Driggs, ID

Saturday, September 11, 2010

GTR Marathon

Wow. What a week it has been.

It's been a week now since the GTR Marathon and I'm already looking forward to next year. I had my eyes set on the course record, a speedy, yet fairly attainable (I thought) 3:49. I knew it would require a big push, but after some good training in the prior months, I felt I was ready for it. I had three goals set in the following order of importance to me: 1. Set a new course record. 2. Run the entire 26.2 miles. No walking allowed. 3. Win.

I set into a comfortable pace off the start beginning the 2.5 mile, 1,810ft climb up to the top of Fred's Mtn. I felt like I was running right at my AT. Not too fast as to not be able to recover, but at the absolute fastest I could go while still looking ahead to the remaining 23.7 miles. I hit the top in 31:30, grabbed a cup of water, and quickly began the descent feeling surprisingly light on my feet. 15 minutes later, I was on the extra 1.2 mile loop for the marathon course and I breezed through the base area at 6.8 miles in 57 minutes. I was down Mill Creek and past the Teton Canyon aid station at mile 12.5 in 1:42. Smooth. 29 minutes later, I turned off Ski Hill Rd at mile 15.8 and while I was still right at my AT, I felt that I still had enough juice to maintain the pace. I was back at the Base area at mile 20 in an exhausting 3:06 and off onto the last 5 miles around Rick's Basin with 43 minutes to spare. The effort had caught up to me on the climb back up to the base area, but I was still hanging in there. Rick's would be tough, but I had been running this loop during training in a comfortable 40 minutes so I figured I had it. Just keep things together and there'll be a 3:46 course record at the end. Nope. I was working harder than in my training, but going slower. Every time check I had created for myself during my training showed I was losing time. Big time. And then I got a side stitch. And then my hip flexors began seizing up. And there was the wall. The climb out of Rick's contained 100% running, if that's what you want to call it, but it wasn't pretty. I was cooked. Finish time: 3:55:10. 49 minutes for the last 5 miles. Woof.

Next year...

No comments: