Stage 3: 24.3 miles with 2700 feet of climbing from Leadville to Camp Hale. Lowest elevation is at the finish of 9200 feet with a peak elevation of nearly 11,000 feet.
I'm a little nervous for this stage. This is a long one and we're still at elevation. At 8:00am we begin Stage 3 running right down the main street of Leadville - 350 of us filling the street. It's chilly being at 10,000 feet still.
The first few miles are on road to get to the trails. My body is sore, particularly my hips and quads. I won't know much about how today is going to go for another half hour until I warm up; until then I have to be patient and listen to my bodily clues. At the longest, I'm expecting today will be near five hours - quite a long run for me. Even at a good run of maybe 4:15, it will be a long run for me. I want to pace myself.
I've run this stage before and know that most of it is runnable. There are still some steep sections that need walking, but for the most part it's runnable, both up and down. After turning off the road and onto trails and forest roads, like most days we start with climbing, though today it's only a 1000 foot climb to start with. I go back and forth between walking and running, smiling and greeting each runner as I pass. Again I'm further up in the pack seeing new faces and leg. The first downhill after 5 miles is a nice change - the legs are warmed up and I'm feeling alright. The downhill isn't too steep and I just float along. It does feel like I could run faster downhill if I had some downhill training or stronger quads.
The first aid station is at 7.2 miles and I pass through in about 70 minutes again grabbing a Coke and some Twizzlers. For the race I'm carrying plenty of gel and food as well as 2 quarts of water so I rarely need to stop long at the aid stations. I'm quite thrilled with the time for the first segment, and a little worried because it might be a bit fast considering I still have more than 3 hours to go.
From the first aid station it's a long, easy ascent over the next 5 miles. We pass through open, wetland areas, into the trees and denser forests. Most of this section is runnable and it's quite cool to be able to keep running uphill even at this elevation. Surprising to me is that I'm still catching and passing runners. It's also a little worrisome since these again are runners I haven't seen before - maybe I'm pushing too hard and won't have anything left for the finish. Still I feel like I'm running conservatively so I keep the pace and enjoy the running.
Aid station 2 is at Cooper Mountain Ski Area above Tennessee Pass. I pass through 14.3 miles in 2:26 - just slower than a 10:00/mile pace which I consider awesome. I fill up my water pak, grab some Coke and continue on. The volunteers out at these aid stations are awesome - ready to help in any way they can. As I do at each station, I yell out a thank you as I leave.
Hmm - 4 hours. 10 miles to go, with most of the climbing down - maybe I can do under 4 hours. No rush yet, there's still 10 miles to go.
Leaving this aid station I can see about 10 people in front of me. It looks like a good group to run with for awhile. After crossing Tennessee Pass we head onto the Colorado Trail - a beautiful singletrack. Soft ground, smooth with not a lot of roots or rocks. A steady, shallow downhill running with 3 other people - a team and a woman running the Run3.
We hold a nice pace for awhile and then turn off the Colorado Trail towards a high meadow which we follow for awhile. At some point in this stretch I pass several more people. I thought they were right behind me, but a few minutes later they seem to be gone. I'm feeling great running through the meadow and on this singletrack. Somewhere in here I pass 3 hours - somewhat of a milestone for me because that's around where most of my training has been. Into new territory here again. Still at least an hour to go.
We cross Highway 24 and onto more beautiful, rolling, singletrack. My legs feel good, my body feels good, quads are still sore - still I'm quite happy and enjoying the run. Several times during the past 4 days I've clipped my toes on a rock or root - not in any danger of doing a faceplant, but it kept me aware. This stretch went back and forth between open, clear trails to suddenly a few big rocks or roots to watch out for, and then open again. My attention had wavered and then I caught a rock. Yikes! My head went up looking at the trail in front, my arms went back for balance, my stride went really long and wild - this could be bad! And then the save - I'm caught my balance and I'm running smooth again. Yikes! I need to pay attention.
The last aid station of the day is about 3 miles from the finish and I pass through at 3:32. My pace has been amazingly consistent throughout the day and I'm completely thrilled at the pace, distance, and time. A quite pass through for Coke, I walk for a couple hundred meters to catch my breath and ready myself. 3 miles of basically flat left with two small bumps. I know the route having been here four years ago - and the last 3 miles seemed to take forever.
4 hours though - just 28 minutes and 3 miles. Could I break 4 hours? I'm going for it. I found a good, steady form and pace and keep moving. I only had my watch, no mileage, so I could only go by feel. I felt really good. A turn, some downhill, I can see the finish - 8 minutes to go.
The finish - yes - 3:58 (an hour better than 4 years ago). The Stage is down and my TransRockies Run3 for 2012 is done.
My best stage yet - I feel like I'm just getting warmed up so to speak. And I'm ready to be down. To recover for my next adventure in a couple months - an 8 day run around Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Thanks again to everyone for such an amazing event!
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