Yesterday, Mike and I completed the toughest half marathon we've ever done. My Garmin calculated the elevation gain to be 2,770 feet. Which means that is the most climb we've ever done in a race. And all of that gain was in the first 7 miles!
The course was a loop. You ran up a mountain, ran around at the peak and then ran down the mountain. It was made up of single track trails, grass running along farms, and gravel road (with a little bit of asphalt). It had been raining the three days up till the race, so there was mud throughout the course.
It was a cool 56 degrees when we started, and it would only warm up to 61. I can't believe it's supposed to be August. We got to the start early to stretch and check out the competition. Everyone was in remarkable shape. There were no first timers at this race. I saw 2 women that I thought I could beat. After looking at last years finishing times and taking into account my limited mountain races, I set my goal time as 2:40. My road half time is usually in the low 1:50s, so it's crazy to think it'll take an extra hour for this.
The race started with a man banging two pieces of wood together. There were no timing chips or a marked start line, so I started my watch at the banging of the wood. The climb started right from the beginning. By mile 0.3 I was already walking. It was going to be a long 3 hours. I'm a really slow walker, so even though most people were walking they were speed walking right past me. Most of the first 6 miles were through woods, with a small portion being on asphalt. During the first 6 miles, there was never a distance longer than maybe a quarter of a mile that was flat. And there was never a time where you could open your stride and run without concentrating on not falling. Oh and you can't forget about the mud. The mud was an added bonus. It was thick, deep and slippery.
By mile 4 I settled into my running pack. We didn't run together, but either they could see me or I could see them throughout most of the race. One of the people in my pack was one of the ladies I thought I could beat. She had horrible running form...I just wanted to scream for her to lower her arms. But she could speed walk up the hills and fly down them, so I spent most of my race chasing her. Before we got to the peak there was a sharp descent. I'm even slower at going downhill and my running pack left me. By mile 7 I caught them at an aid station and left before them. I needed to get a head start before we got to any single track ascents or descents. I hate holding people up, and sometimes there was no where to move over to to let them pass. We ended up being pretty much done with climbing (just a few rolling hills) so no one from my running pack caught up to me. The scenery was stunning. I didn't take my phone so I couldn't take any pictures. But it pretty much looked like this (minus the Alps because it was cloudy):
At the top you ran past farms. The farmers walk the cows to various fields and we were running along the cow path. Meaning there was cow poop everywhere. Cow poop mixed with mud made for some interesting obstacles. By this time I was so tired of trying to run around the mud that I just ran through it. I tried to avoid the cow poop, but who knows how much I stepped in. By mile 8 I passed 2 people that were ahead of my running pack. I couldn't see anyone else so I was happy with my place, I just wanted to try and not let anyone pass me back.
I was nervous of the descent. If it was a steep and in the woods, it would slow me down and more than likely people would catch up to me. If it was steep and on asphalt, it would be slippery. But it turned out to be an amazing gradual decline on gravel. It was perfect. I finally got to run without concentrating on not falling or tripping. I was picking up speed and in the distance I could see more people. I turned it up a notch and ended up passing 5 more people before the finish line.
I finished in 2:43. Not my goal time, but I had no idea what to expect. I'm happy with my time considering this was my first mountain race. I need to work on my speed walking.
Once you finished you got your congratulatory block of cheese!
This was a no frills race. No shirts, no medals, and no timing chips. But this was a extremely well organized race. There were markers everywhere, and they had people standing at all intersections. There was never a time where I was unsure of where to go. They also had an aid station at almost every mile.
This race was hard, but it's only 45 minutes from the house and well organized so we would probably do it again.
Our next race is the Swiss City Marathon in Lucerne. And it will be flat. Hooray!
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