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ilanaramaThe Imogene Pass Run is one of those idiosyncratic races that you either sign up for again and again each year - or you shudder at the mere thought and never consider it. I am clearly in the first category, as I did it again this year. There is something irresistible (at least to me) about running from one mountain town to another over a high mountain pass.
The cool thing about running a race for a second time is that not only do you know what to expect; you also have a mark to compare yourself against. My last year's time was 4:11; this year, I wanted to get under 4 hours, with a backup goal of simply beating that time, and a magic pixie dust goal of 3:45. I've been running a lot more this year, and running more hilly trail miles as well, although I have spent less time hiking or at altitude. I had analyzed my mile splits versus the terrain, and made some crazy assumptions as to how much better I might be able to do.
I had put together a pace card with guesses as to where I thought I would be each mile, mostly using the most pessimistic assumptions, and came up with a total time of 3:54. In fact, I ran 3:55, which looks like I hit it right on, except in reality I was about right on the first 6 miles (the reasonably steep part), way slower than I expected on the next 4 miles (the unreasonably steep part), spent too much time on the summit (and, er, in the portapotty just below the summit), and was much faster than I expected on the descent.
One of the joys of doing this was meeting up with a bunch of women I knew from a running forum. Two who live about 4 hours north of me I had met (Deltarose and Kazz - Kazz and I had met at Imogene last year, and the two of them had come down for the Steamworks Half in June) and two (Cara and Jana) live in Nebraska and had somehow let Kazz and me talk them into signing up. Jana made awesome t-shirts that we each wore at least part of the time during the race.
The morning was surprisingly warm, considering that the forecast was for stormy weather towards noon. I dithered about clothing and finally decided to take off my long-sleeve top and stuff it in my pack just before the start, which turned out to be wise as I warmed up very quickly. I had shorts on, and a hat, gloves, and rain jacket in my small waist pack. I looked for my friends - we had left the hotel separately - but didn't find them before the gun went off at 7:30 on the dot.
The race starts up the road, then veers off onto a dirt road and then a scramble up an embankment to shortcut a switchback. Then it climbs moderately, and even has a few bits of downhill. I tried to keep steady on the uphill, walk when I felt my HR get too high, and speed up on the downhills and flats. I took off my shirt about 5 miles in and just ran in sportsbra, I was so warm.
First 6 miles:
last year: 1:24:59
estimate: 1:18
actual: 1:16:57
At this point I had climbed "only" 2305 feet. 3005 left to go. Ugh. I was doing more walking than running by now, and that's where my problem lies. I'm a slow hiker, alas. People I had passed while running passed me hiking, at least until the last mile when everyone is pretty slow because of the altitude. I had thought I could cut a lot of time off last year's ascent time because my upper miles were so laughably slow, but I had forgotten just how stupidly steep it is.
Somewhere around mile 8 Cara passed me. Considering she is from Nebraska, that is damn good! (She is also young and fast. But! From NEBRASKA! She finished almost 15 minutes ahead of me. So, just as I got strollered in my 5K, I got NEBRASKA'ED in this one. Not fair!) We chatted a little bit and she told me she had seen Deltarose farther back, who looked like she wasn't feeling very good, but hadn't seen the others.
It was starting to get windier and colder, but I figured I was putting out enough heat from my running and would wait until the summit to put more clothes on. This turned out to be a mistake, as you shall see. I also started feeling the need for a bathroom, but again, I knew there's always a portapotty just below the summit on the other side. I struggled to the summit and arrived at an elapsed time of just under 2:46.
Miles 6-10:
last year: 1:28:53
estimate: 1:20 (HAH)
actual: 1:28:47
The discerning eye will notice that I basicallyran walked exactly the same speed on this part of the course as last year.
Last year I lollygagged at the summit, taking pictures and eating and drinking. This year I didn't intend to waste any more time than I needed to down a few cups of hot chicken soup and grab some candy. Except - I had to put on my shirt, hat and gloves. And it took me almost four minutes to do it! My hands were frozen, and I didn't realize it - they were these big numb things and my fingers didn't work and it just took forever to fumble my clothes on. (But I ended up only wearing them for a few miles before warming up again and taking them off. So, tactical mistake, here.) And then I headed down, and I was thinking, hmm, could I just skip the portapotty? But just then someone exited and I decided to go for it. And again, a little wasted time there, la la la.
Summit time plus first descent mile (11):
last year: 13:03
estimate: 13
actual: 15:44. Oops.
Then came the descent. Which is steep and rocky for the first several miles, then eases off to a reasonable but still somewhat technical grade until nearly then end, when it turns into a plain old gravel road with occasional water bars. I messed up a little with my estimate - I was intending to guess that I would do about 45 sec-1 min better each mile, but somehow it ended up being more conservative on my pace sheet because I screwed up the math. As it turned out, I really flew down the descent. I passed a lot of people, and only a few passed me.
Miles 12-17.1:
last year: 1:04:56
estimate: 1:03
actual: 0:53:11 Woohoo!
The funniest thing happened at the finish line. At the end, the course turns right onto a paved road and goes a block or so to the finish line, and that's where most of the spectators are. As I approached the line, a woman passed me on the right. I thought, well, hmmph! and sped up and sprinted past her. JUST as I got to the finish line, she passed me again, and I turned on the afterburners and we ran shoulder to shoulder across the line in a photo finish. (Although according to the official time, she edged me by 0.2 seconds!) Then we looked at each other - and it was Deltarose! We had both been so focused we hadn't realized who each other was.
Eventually our whole group met up in the finish area. The storm finally hit, with periodic rain and even one really impressive stretch of 15 minutes with huge, soft hailstones, but hey, we were done. Deltarose got a lift back to Ouray and then to her home with someone else; the rest of us got lunch and beer and then took the bus back, rested and hot-tubbed, then went out for dinner and too many margaritas...
...which is probably why we all agreed to sign up again next year.
The cool thing about running a race for a second time is that not only do you know what to expect; you also have a mark to compare yourself against. My last year's time was 4:11; this year, I wanted to get under 4 hours, with a backup goal of simply beating that time, and a magic pixie dust goal of 3:45. I've been running a lot more this year, and running more hilly trail miles as well, although I have spent less time hiking or at altitude. I had analyzed my mile splits versus the terrain, and made some crazy assumptions as to how much better I might be able to do.
I had put together a pace card with guesses as to where I thought I would be each mile, mostly using the most pessimistic assumptions, and came up with a total time of 3:54. In fact, I ran 3:55, which looks like I hit it right on, except in reality I was about right on the first 6 miles (the reasonably steep part), way slower than I expected on the next 4 miles (the unreasonably steep part), spent too much time on the summit (and, er, in the portapotty just below the summit), and was much faster than I expected on the descent.
One of the joys of doing this was meeting up with a bunch of women I knew from a running forum. Two who live about 4 hours north of me I had met (Deltarose and Kazz - Kazz and I had met at Imogene last year, and the two of them had come down for the Steamworks Half in June) and two (Cara and Jana) live in Nebraska and had somehow let Kazz and me talk them into signing up. Jana made awesome t-shirts that we each wore at least part of the time during the race.
The morning was surprisingly warm, considering that the forecast was for stormy weather towards noon. I dithered about clothing and finally decided to take off my long-sleeve top and stuff it in my pack just before the start, which turned out to be wise as I warmed up very quickly. I had shorts on, and a hat, gloves, and rain jacket in my small waist pack. I looked for my friends - we had left the hotel separately - but didn't find them before the gun went off at 7:30 on the dot.
The race starts up the road, then veers off onto a dirt road and then a scramble up an embankment to shortcut a switchback. Then it climbs moderately, and even has a few bits of downhill. I tried to keep steady on the uphill, walk when I felt my HR get too high, and speed up on the downhills and flats. I took off my shirt about 5 miles in and just ran in sportsbra, I was so warm.
First 6 miles:
last year: 1:24:59
estimate: 1:18
actual: 1:16:57
At this point I had climbed "only" 2305 feet. 3005 left to go. Ugh. I was doing more walking than running by now, and that's where my problem lies. I'm a slow hiker, alas. People I had passed while running passed me hiking, at least until the last mile when everyone is pretty slow because of the altitude. I had thought I could cut a lot of time off last year's ascent time because my upper miles were so laughably slow, but I had forgotten just how stupidly steep it is.
Somewhere around mile 8 Cara passed me. Considering she is from Nebraska, that is damn good! (She is also young and fast. But! From NEBRASKA! She finished almost 15 minutes ahead of me. So, just as I got strollered in my 5K, I got NEBRASKA'ED in this one. Not fair!) We chatted a little bit and she told me she had seen Deltarose farther back, who looked like she wasn't feeling very good, but hadn't seen the others.
It was starting to get windier and colder, but I figured I was putting out enough heat from my running and would wait until the summit to put more clothes on. This turned out to be a mistake, as you shall see. I also started feeling the need for a bathroom, but again, I knew there's always a portapotty just below the summit on the other side. I struggled to the summit and arrived at an elapsed time of just under 2:46.
Miles 6-10:
last year: 1:28:53
estimate: 1:20 (HAH)
actual: 1:28:47
The discerning eye will notice that I basically
Last year I lollygagged at the summit, taking pictures and eating and drinking. This year I didn't intend to waste any more time than I needed to down a few cups of hot chicken soup and grab some candy. Except - I had to put on my shirt, hat and gloves. And it took me almost four minutes to do it! My hands were frozen, and I didn't realize it - they were these big numb things and my fingers didn't work and it just took forever to fumble my clothes on. (But I ended up only wearing them for a few miles before warming up again and taking them off. So, tactical mistake, here.) And then I headed down, and I was thinking, hmm, could I just skip the portapotty? But just then someone exited and I decided to go for it. And again, a little wasted time there, la la la.
Summit time plus first descent mile (11):
last year: 13:03
estimate: 13
actual: 15:44. Oops.
Then came the descent. Which is steep and rocky for the first several miles, then eases off to a reasonable but still somewhat technical grade until nearly then end, when it turns into a plain old gravel road with occasional water bars. I messed up a little with my estimate - I was intending to guess that I would do about 45 sec-1 min better each mile, but somehow it ended up being more conservative on my pace sheet because I screwed up the math. As it turned out, I really flew down the descent. I passed a lot of people, and only a few passed me.
Miles 12-17.1:
last year: 1:04:56
estimate: 1:03
actual: 0:53:11 Woohoo!
The funniest thing happened at the finish line. At the end, the course turns right onto a paved road and goes a block or so to the finish line, and that's where most of the spectators are. As I approached the line, a woman passed me on the right. I thought, well, hmmph! and sped up and sprinted past her. JUST as I got to the finish line, she passed me again, and I turned on the afterburners and we ran shoulder to shoulder across the line in a photo finish. (Although according to the official time, she edged me by 0.2 seconds!) Then we looked at each other - and it was Deltarose! We had both been so focused we hadn't realized who each other was.
Eventually our whole group met up in the finish area. The storm finally hit, with periodic rain and even one really impressive stretch of 15 minutes with huge, soft hailstones, but hey, we were done. Deltarose got a lift back to Ouray and then to her home with someone else; the rest of us got lunch and beer and then took the bus back, rested and hot-tubbed, then went out for dinner and too many margaritas...
...which is probably why we all agreed to sign up again next year.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-14 03:35 am (UTC)And, hey, the most important thing on any given occasion where one moves through space is locating and appropriately utilizing the toilets.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-14 04:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-14 04:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-14 04:05 am (UTC)bushwhackinghiking.(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-14 06:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-14 07:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-15 06:37 pm (UTC)(The port-a-potty bits were funny, though, hee!)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-15 06:35 pm (UTC)Somehow I hadn't fully comprehended that you were on the move for four hours, whoa!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-09-22 09:48 pm (UTC)Thanks for reading!