Run
Comments: My goals for this race was to complete it in 5:00 hours, not walk, and pace well. I had no idea what to expect never running something like this before. I really wanted 4:30 finish time as a goal but needed to be realistic. I didn't have a lot of long runs under my belt but have been doing hill work which paid off. Honestly, I don't know what part of my brain keeps wanting to do climbing races either on the bike or run. The fact that I'm weighing in at 197 lbs and I keep trying to defy gravity. I just don't understand. Anyway, to be on the safe side I would stay in zone 2 HR, which for me is 150-160. The start of the race was smooth; with only 400 runners the road cleared in a half mile. I knew early on that I should keep a low zone 2 HR and was good about that. My first self doubt kicked in at mile 6 wondering if I could keep this up for another 20 miles. Not much I could do about it so I started my nutrition which consisted of a pack of Shot Blocks. I ate one cube every couple of miles and didn't seem to need anything else. I've come to like them but on one of the higher grade climbs I took a block but also desperately needed air which caused the block go down unchewed. Strange sensation but oh well. The early part of the race I was heating up so I kept splashing water on myself until we got higher and the temperature started to drop. By mile 10 the road cleared to the point of a runner every 100 yards or so. There was some passing both forward and backward but I kept focus on my HR monitor. After the half way point my HR jumped up to zone three and there was nothing I could do except walk and that wasn't an option. I figured I could recover at mile 20 where the road finally goes downhill for a few miles. So my goal at this time wasn't the finish line but mile 20. Sure enough the downhill helped a lot. I could have gone faster at this point but my knees recommended against it. At mile 22 the road goes back up and I thought that since my HR recovered there shouldn't be a problem but my legs went a bit wobbly. I think a lot of people had the same feeling with a lot of people walking that hill. It was only another mile climb and knew the finish wasn't too far away. Almost to Summerhaven I see Kim which made me smile but that quickly turned into a frown when a volunteer was pointing right up Ski Run Rd. You've got to be kidding me. After all this I wasn't yearning for another mile at at 8% grade. At this point I said to hell with HR and went for it. That was a very ugly mile and the trip back downhill was painful. The nice part was the finish line was at the end of the road. Yippie! What would you do differently?: Nothing significant. It turned out like I thought it may. Post race
Warm down: I tried to get a massage but my calf and quads started cramping so bad that I needed to just wonder around a bit until taking the bus back down. Rick and Shelly also ran the half and it was good to see them. What limited your ability to perform faster: Weight Event comments: For an inaugural race I think it was very well done and I would highly recommend it, if you like this sort of thing. Last updated: 2010-07-29 12:00 AM
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United States
60F / 16C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 54/394
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 11/43
This one was an early start even for us. Set the alarm for 2:25 AM to take the shuttle from our hotel to the drop point and take a bus to the race start. Kim had to take a different shuttle since the half started obviously half way up the mountain. Once I got to the race start we hung out for 1.5 hours chatting and relaxing. No point in getting too worked up yet.
Walking a quarter mile to the race start which was about a mile from Mile 0 on the Mt. Lemmon road.