Aspen Backcountry Marathon

Race Flag at the Finish Line

Last Sunday I ran the Aspen Backcountry Marathon.  What an awesome race.  It is over 26 miles with 3800 feet of climbing at an altitude between 8000 - 10000 feet.  It was simply stunning and almost entirely on dirt trails, including a lot of singletrack.  It starts and ends in town and you do a huge loop around the city in between.   You can read more about it here: Aspen Backcountry Marathon.

You may know that I've become a bit obsessed with long distance trail running.  How does Trail Runner Magazine make running 50-100 miles, not only seem plausible, but like a good idea?!  Don't know if I'll actually hit the 50-100 mile mark ever, but the bottom line is that I love being in the mountains pushing my limits.  Talk about feeling alive!

After my 50k in June, I was pretty jazzed and in pretty good shape.  I chatted with my friend, Erin, who has lots of endurance experience and aspirations to be a coach some day.  She came up with a training plan for me which included a bit of speed work in addition to keeping my mileage up to get prepared for this race.  I wasn't able to keep to the plan exactly due to injury and travel, but I did most of it.  It is always a balancing act making time for training, family, work, friends and sleep.  Going into the race, I felt pretty good and decided to just "run my race" and see what happened.

14 minutes to the start

Goofing around - running towards the crowd

Waiting to start

I was excited to learn that Erin would be in Aspen the weekend of the race.  We had a nice dinner the night before, she let me crash with her there and helped me get to the start line!  It was fun to have some time together (rare for us these days) and she is such a competitor that she certainly fueled my fire.

Waiting to the last minute to shed jacket

Me and Coach Erin

"On your marks, get set, GO!" 

Running through town towards Smuggler Mountain

Almost to the dirt!

It was a beautiful morning.  Maybe even a little warm for me, but nice running weather, really.  I had no idea where I was in regards to place in the race.  I was running based on my heart rate and trying to push myself within my zones.  At mile 15, these two older guys were hiking up, against racer traffic.  Based on their clothing and interest in the runners, I guessed they were spectators.  They started clapping and the first guy says to me, "nice work.  top 5.  keep it up."  I couldn't believe him.  I had to ask him if he was serious!  His buddy a few paces down trail gave me the same information as did the next runner I passed.  I couldn't believe it.  I got a burst of adrenaline and recommitted myself to simply running my race.

I passed one woman and decided that I wouldn't let her pass me.  Around mile 18 I saw a woman ahead of me but wasn't able to make up much time on her.  I didn't know how far ahead she really was and due to the terrain wasn't always able to see her.  The rest of the spectators were nice, but pretty quiet overall.  I could've used a little more cowbell!

At any rate, by mile 23, I thought there was a chance for finishing within my goal time.  Then, I got to the hill at mile 25 (very steep - or felt that way late in a race).  And, I slowed down considerably.  As I ascended this last climb, I realized that I wasn't going to beat my goal.  I was still pretty satisfied with my effort.  As I crossed the finish line, I learned that I was 4th female overall and 2nd in my age group.  I missed 3rd place overall by just 2 minutes.

Prize for 2nd in Age Group - reusable grocery bag!

J Marshall Thompson - overall winner

2nd in my age group! 

Post-race Self Portrait

This was just the second year of the race.  It is nice and small which seems appropriate for the terrain.  They cap the race at 250, but I think only 180 or so actually started the race this year.  I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy running trails - well organized, good aid stations, stunning and challenging terrain.  I imagine I'll find myself at the starting line again next year.