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Angel Fire Endurance Run - Run


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Angel Fire, New Mexico
United States
http://friendsofmultisport.com/event/angel-fire-endurance
84F / 29C
Sunny
Total Time = 12h 04m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Run
  • 12h 04m 4s
  • 36.5 miles
  • 19m 50s  min/mile
Comments:

Lower Loop has gnarly and long climbs near the back of the rectangle, just like my brother had said.

But the real issue was the "Angel's Plunge" trail we used to climb the Mtn is just not runnable, and dangerous to descend. I overheard couples strategizing how to try and climb them, taking Photos and exclaiming the Photos didn't do it justice.
IDK if this was the last AFER, or they'll work to get different trails, or keep it the same and just advertise it as the hardest ever.
The guys and gal in the 100miler have finished others, but didn't think they had a fighting chance in this one.

What would you do differently?:

Much of my Race Day execution was flawless, I eased the whole first lower loop, and used rest room back at condo, which was right ON the course, just around corner from Start/Finish. But once I got going on the Big Roads up high after the Crazy Stupid climb, I thought I would run portions of the last lower loop, but it did not happen. Need to be in much better run shape to either run that last lower loop, or move up the 50miler or 100K.
Mostly, there was NO accounting for how laborious that wicked uphill, lengthened and made steeper by a solid 1:30 even for GOOD runners, over previous years, especially how much slower and harder the downhill with its crazy descents, was going to be fore me.
At the Race Meeting it was certainly mentioned, but there were no specifics, even the "Map" was just a line drawing with no background, and no mention was made of how much longer, or Steeper than previous years it was going to be. But I spoke during the race to a 50miler veteran who said it was easily 1:30 longer to climb it for him, and the slower you were, the even longer time it was going to take you than any previous year. This made some folks water/nutrition calculations woefully short for that much steeper much longer uphill section, and it doomed them, as it did the 100milers, none of whom could keep up with the un-adjusted cutoffs.

I Left my flashlight in Jersey pocket when starting the Mtn Loop- need to write down taking that out- so I put it under a rock and didn't think of it again. But I could find it if we go back this year and it was $3.57 or so.

Post race
Event comments:

Brutal.
Not Barkley, but certainly not Leadville or any other Ultra I can name.
I regularly run the 4+ Miles of 15% up and down the lower parts of Pikes Peak, going to Barr Camp and back. Angel Fire makes those miles of 15% look like a Cake Walk! I kept trying to make more and more jokes to maintain positivity- You know, "It's fine except for the Piranah's and Quicksand, the Gators and Sleestaks..." it just kept getting more bizarre, until I was talking about a Wookie up there tearing runners limb from limb. Huge 15ft unclimbably steep switchbacks, that I slid down like a Cartoon, and tried again to climb. And then there was another, Like Deja Vu, then Deja Vu all over again.
NO one finished the 100miler, 2 finished the 100K, and folks were finishing the 50miler in 19Hours, 21 Hours! It. Was. Nuts!
I DARE you to come try this one, and I'm SO impressed with anyone who finished the 36.5mile "50K", or who spent 19-21 HOURS doing the 50miler.
A few folks have finished the 100miler on previous versions of the course here, but it's going to take a seriously talented Mtn Runner to Finish the 100miler on THIS Course, which this was the 1st year of. That Angel's Plunge is a game-changer!
But don't get me wrong, I see the whole crazy challenge as just "Room for Improvement" and intend to run it again. It's got Drop Bags at the Aid Stations in the right places. And all I need now is better training and mental focus now that I know what I'm up against, and I'll be improving dramatically. I'll be back, Angel Fire!




Last updated: 2017-06-12 12:00 AM
Running
12:04:04 | 36.5 miles | 19m 50s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Course: Brutal. Not Barkley, but certainly not Leadville or any other Ultra I can name. I regularly run the 4+ Miles of 15% up and down the lower parts of Pikes Peak, going to Barr Camp and back. Angel Fire makes those miles of 15% look like a Cake Walk! I kept trying to make more and more jokes to maintain positivity- You know, "It's fine except for the Piranah's and Quicksand, the Gators and Sleestaks..." it just kept getting more bizarre, until I was talking about a Wookie up there tearing runners limb from limb. Huge 15ft unclimbably steep swtich-backs, that I slid down like a cartoon, and tried again to climb. And then there was another, Like Deja Vu, then Deja Vu all over again. One of the 50mile Veterans told me he couldn't make it up the "Trail" and just bushwhacked straight up through the woods, so there were roots and bushed, tree branches and trunks trunks to hold onto, and he still barely made it. I saw he has dropped down to the 50k for 2018! My guess is the Alternate Trail we were forced to use when the resort told the race on Thursday that some trails they had always used were no longer open to uphill traffic, was the Steepest almost all of the Athletes had ever SEEN, let alone tried to run as part of an Ultra! Times for the same people running the same race went 1:30-2Hours LONGER this year than last. 0 100mile finishers, 2 total 100k finishers, only a few 50milers. And people in the 50K finished up to 1:50 behind me, and I'm NOT fast! I was not fast, and with a 12 hour estimate, felt I had no real time constraints, to the point I was bending down to adjust the trail markers 40 times a lap.and still, after traversing the estimated 3-4 mile LONGER, and MUCH Steeper Hill Climb than last year, then down down down, shockingly far down to the Aid Station, and Back Up and over, for sure 9-10 slow miles, when I got back to near the top of the Mtn headed down, there were STILL people trying to climb that outrageously steep and almost twice as long Angel's Plunge Trail to the top of the Mtn. some of them had to be rescued in a pretty ugly DNF after struggling for hours to climb that almost un-climbable out of bounds "Trail" that is normally only a Mtn Bike Descent Trail.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2018-02-01 1:09 AM

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Subject: Angel Fire Endurance Run
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