Salida Race Report

Jen, Ander, and I jumped in the car at about 4pm on Friday and headed for Salida.  We took 285 which in most cases is a great drive, but the twist and turns wore me down, especially after a long work week. Pulling into Salida I was relaxed to see the familiar sights of the red S and Heart blinking on Tenderfoot Hill.   The fact that I had been here before made me realize that even though this was my third visit, I still had not had a chance to walk around and truly see much of the town.  Our friends, Matt and Shelley, had planned a two night stay and it sounded better than ever.  At this point, I was not ready to accept the idea that I would be spending most of Saturday consuming gels, exhausting my muscles, generally feeling like shit, and then getting back in the car for our return trip. 

Saturday morning was calmer than expected.  We got a bad night sleep but nothing note worthy.  Jen, Matt, Shelley, Ander, and I had a simple yet tasty continental breakfast together. At the pre race meeting, everyone was shuffling to get ready.  We finally caught up with the rest of our Denver contingent.   It was race time and as the clock counted down, I felt even less ready for this race/season to begin.

At 8:55, I knew there were no breaks on this bus and the race was going to get started with or without me.  I wanted to feel ready, but it was too late for that.  The conversations around me stopped and the race started.  I could feel my heart beating and hear the excited pace or runners around me.  We stared up a relatively rolling section of dirt road. The pace was fast, but it didn't feel like anyone was working as hard as me. We made a quick loop and turned back towards the start.  I found Kyle and Brandon and tried to stay with the pace they had set.  The course quickly took us up a winding set of switch backs.  We locked in a good climbing pace and kept with it for the next 2 miles.  At that point the trail picked up an good mix of rolling single track.  The running was fast but the ups and downs made it feel much easier that expected.  After about 7 miles of rolling hills, we hit the dirt road from last years course.  It felt good to be on something I recognized.  We eventually caught up with Patrick a mile or two up the road.  At that point we had a group of Patrick, Kyle, Brandon, Eric, and Mike all running together. The day felt less like a race and more like a group run with all of the familiar faces.

Running on last years course for the second half of the marathon and seeing friends renewed my energy levels.  I picked up the pace a bit and started to picture the finish line.  My pace felt good and I thought I saw PG in the distance.  I set that as a goal and started to work towards catching up.  After about four miles of chase I realized that it was not Garcia, but another runner just ahead of me at the turn around.  I made the turn and hit the down hill.  It was a great feeling to have a bit of kick as gravity started work on our side.  We rounded the turn off from the road and onto single track, I knew I was in trouble.  The flat sections started to feel like work.  I felt the time ticking  away and hung in for about another five miles of gravity fed endurance as I passed one last runner.  I started to remember all too quick the rolling and even steep climbing sections that were coming.   My pace had more than reached its half life and I stared to see familiar faces once again. Nick passed with a strong and steady passe. Erick and Kyle ran by and I tried to cheer as much as I could as my mental and physical race stared to slip.  Next, I saw Brandon and he added some motivation about keeping a top ten position.  I ran the rest of the race with what I had, and it was enough for a 3:33 finish.  I cant say how much of a difference it made to have friends out on the trails this year. Up Next FoCo