Running an Intense Colorado Double Header

Brian Reis(MM15613) – While it wasn’t a marathon, I did a pretty intense double header this past weekend: The Slacker Half Marathon on Saturday and the Mount Blue Sky Ascent on Sunday. Both are in the state of Colorado.
I’ll start with the harder of the two: The Mount Blue Sky Half. This was probably the hardest race I have ever run. You start at 10,600 feet, run roughly 14.5 miles, and end at 14,100 feet. At the finish, you only have 58% of the oxygen that you would have at sea level. It is almost all uphill. It is the highest paved road in North America. Because of the difficulty, it pretty much takes as long as a marathon would.
The way I would describe the sensation of this race is this: You’ve run the 20 miles at Boston to the base of Heartbreak Hill and you bonk. Now you have to climb that hill. Except it continues for 14.5 miles and you just have to push through that lead feeling in your legs. On top of that, it feels like you have to breathe through a narrow tube. This was a hard race for sure. Legs felt so heavy by the end and I could feel the altitude starting to bother my head. Finished in 2:22, which put me at 14th overall and 2nd in my age group. Really loved the community vibe of this race. There’s something about making it through shared misery that really forges bonds. They give out trophy rocks if you meet a certain time. For men, this is 2:40. So I did earn one of those. The views made it all worthwhile. The weather was well behaved – sunny, little wind, and crisp but not freezing. Mountain weather can be unpredictable so I was lucky.
This was my first time climbing a “14er” as they say in Colorado. I had never really done a race with major uphills like this, nor such a high altitude race. I was proud of myself for pushing my boundaries and doing something different from the usual road races.
The day prior to this, I ran the Slacker Half Marathon. This race starts at around 10,500 feet at Loveland Ski Area and finishes at around 8,500 feet In Georgetown, CO. So while it is net downhill, the air is very thin. It was cool at the start, but the sun was intense and it warmed quickly. The first mile or so of this race is hectic. Around 500 people all start together and proceed immediately onto a dirt road. It is a very uneven road with rocks and massive pits, so it felt like a crowded cross country race at first. You then transition onto a bike path that is surrounded by pine trees for the next 4 miles or so. This area is pleasant as it is a smooth, consistent downhill and lots of shade. Around mile 5 or so, you exit onto a road which is rolling. At this elevation, even the small uphills hurt a lot. The views improve a lot though as you can see the surrounding mountains. Around mile 10 or so you transition back onto a bike path. Stunning views of a canyon lined with trees. Then the last part is just going through dirt roads in Georgetown. That section is a struggle.
I gradually developed a blister on my right heel during the Slacker Half. By the end it was hurting pretty badly. It covered the entirety of my heel. The biggest blister I’ve seen on myself. My quads were pretty fried too, so it was a struggle toward the end. I was having a bit of a hard time walking because of this massive blister, so that made the Mount Blue Sky Ascent even more of a challenge.
Sorry for posting so many photos – I actually took a lot more and it was so hard to narrow it down even to these. Just a spectacularly scenic weekend.