Around every corner was another stunning view, as we drove towards Crested Butt they just got better. HWMBO couldn’t contain himself as he kept stopping to take more and more pictures with his new camera, this was going to be an amazing trip.
HWMBO and I flew into Denver on Thursday 1st August landing at about 7pm. After collecting the car and worked out how to drive it we set off for a 2.5hr drive to Buena Vista; I thought it was slightly closer so it was a huge relief to arrive at midnight without having fallen asleep at the wheel.
Up early the next morning for a short 10k run. The altitude was only just above 1,000m but boy could I feel the difference I kept on having to stop to catch my breath, goodness knows what I was going to be like during the race, but fantastic to be running somewhere so beautiful.
HWMBO & I finally arrived at Crested Butte on Friday afternoon where we met up with the other competitors, 4 from Denmark, 4 locals, 1 South African, 2 Brits, 1 Argentinian, 1 Italian and 1 Canadian an eclectic mix of people but I couldn’t have asked for better people to share the Mountain Ultra with.
On Saturday morning we walked round the various stalls at the Art Festival in Crested Butte, there was some amazing stuff on sale but the only thing I bought was a large chocolate chip ice-cream, yummy!
The original plan was to spend two nights in camp sorting kit, having medical checks etc but thankfully the plan changed!! On Friday night we all stayed in a hotel and it was agreed that we would arrive at base camp at about 4pm on the Saturday which HWMBO and I duly did, although I wasn’t feeling the love of the out-doors at this particular point in time as the weather had changed from sunshine to pouring rain and wind. I put my pack and kit under cover and chatted to Jasmine the American lady who told me she would be staying in the hotel tonight not under the stars (inside I was very jealous!!!) Thankfully Wes the RD made the very sensible decision to have the medical checks/race briefing back at the hotel – OH JOY! HWMBO told me to leave my kit behind but at the back of my mind I thought another night in a bed would be pure luxury.
During the race briefing we were told about the different types of wild life we could encounter along with some poisonous snakes and of course bears. Each competitor was issued with a bear bell (sadly they didn’t come in pink, can you believe it!) and some pepper spray (I think thats what it was).
The race started at 8am on Sunday as always the nerves kicked in as I’m firstly no mountain goat and secondly my chest was feeling tight just walking around so goodness knows how I was going to feel with a pack on and running at high altitude. Although I have raced at altitude before and seemed fine, each trip can affect you differently.
I’m not going to go into huge detail about the race as I will be writing a race report, but the altitude killed me! The race began at 2,852m with a small climb up in the first couple of K’s my chest was heaving at this stage but decided it was because I wasn’t warmed up yet. The run to the first CP was easy and mainly downhill (phew) then we had a big climb up to 3322m; I felt completely and utterly drained, all the power and energy was taken out of my body, in fact I felt I was going so slowly I could be in reverse! It took every scrap of energy to finish the first day and all the subsequent days of the race. It was horrid feeling so “lethargic”. Even going up a small incline that at home I could easy run up was like walking up a mountain and when the ground leveled out at the top it would take a few minutes to get my breathe back before I could start running again. I won’t bang on any more about the altitude just wanted to say it was very hard work!!
The race itself was absolutely stunning, loads of single track, beautiful forests full of Aspen trees, views to die for, rivers, waterfalls, technical sections and the most amazing amount of birds and wild life. The highlight of my trip was to see a bear – yes a bear, how marvellous was that! I saw him (or it could have been a her) on the first day as I turned left off the track to go into the forest, there he was amongst the trees eating. I fumbled around for my camera but he moved, stood briefly & looked at me then ran off, a magical moment and one I will never forget.
We had a hail storm on the 3rd day which I certainly wasn’t expecting! When it started I was making my way up to the top of the single track so the wind/hail was coming at me with full force, it was a case of head down and keep moving forward – my hands turned white! Later that day I looked across the mountain and saw an Elk standing on the other side, I stood for a moment to enjoy the view. A couple of the boys went and had a dip in the river after we had got back to came, I just couldn’t bring myself to get cold again.
Sadly the long day had to be cancelled at CP3 due to extreme weather conditions. Three of the competitors made it up to CP4 but Drew (RD) went up to get them and make sure they were safe. When Drew came down from being high up his beard was white with snow!
The Mountain Ultra was a great event and the location was perfect, I even managed to survive without causing damage to my ankles so very happy and YES I used sticks. In fact a lot of the competitors used sticks and for a mountain race they were extremely useful even if like me you don’t usually run with them. For me they made a huge difference on the technical down hills and I’m sure helped prevent me twisting my ankle badly, although I did have a spectacular down hill fall on day 3 onto rocks, but always good to have a war wound!
HWMBO loved crewing and picked up a few tips from Martin Paldan the race photographer on how to get the best out of his new camera and for me it was lovely to see him at various CPs each day.
After a celebratory supper HWMBO & myself set off from Snowmass (near Aspen) taking the scenic route back to Denver to catch our plane home. All in all a fantastic trip with some great people. Congratulations to Drew for putting together a fab course it really was beautiful and to Simon and Camilla for winning the event, two strong and great runners.
Now its time to put the finishing touches to my Spartathlon training which isn’t that far away!
Happy Training.
