Mountain Running is Hard

This past weekend I ran my first race of the year on trails in Copper Mountain.  It was a 10k and part of the Colorado Running Festival.

The first 5km of the course had a decent amount of hills.  The profile made it look like there were more than there actually were (or maybe I just didn't notice because of fitness or exhaustion, which I guess is fitness too), but the idea was that getting in a race up and down a ski hill with part of the downhill being on cat trails seemed like a great way to prepare for Cranmore.  After that, the race was much flatter for the last 5km.  Again, the profile was misleading, as my interpretation of the strait, horizontal line on the profile was that it was quite flat, but then I found myself wondering when the hill would end.  Also, it had one of the scariest downhills I've ever run in the United States.  I guess I'd better get used to it before Sierre-Zinal.

Anyways, I got out at a good pace, tried to run the first 5km at the kind of pace everybody is probably going to run in Cranmore, and then struggled through the last 5km, because either my fitness or the altitude got to me and I was tired.  But then I sprinted it in.

I won the race.  I didn't look at results because time doesn't matter at a trail race where the low point is over 9000ft elevation.  By which I, of course, mean that I'm not sure my confidence and self-esteem could take seeing the time after such a long time road racing.

After the race, I was told I was going to eat lunch at a place that served raclette.  I was very sad to discover that they don't serve raclette until dinner, and that apparently any time before noon is breakfast in Copper Mountain.  Cocktails at 11am in Copper Mountain, the menu is all into that, but raclette, that's just crazy.  So yeah, the menu and I had a few disagreements on what should be consumed just before noon.

In other news, I've shifted a lot of my training to mountains and trails.  But all is well.  I'm actually able to make it up and down stairs again.

See you in Cranmore.  Oh, speaking of Cranmore, my "uniform" for NACACs (North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships), which is part of Cranmore, and for which I will be representing Team USA, showed up in the mail yesterday.  I put quotes around "uniform" because I may be able to clothe my entire extended family with all of that clothing.  Looks like somebody is going to get charged a bag fee by the airline.  Honestly, I was expecting shorts, a singlet, and maybe one set of warm ups.  Instead, I have an entire wardrobe, as well as a suitcase and a backpack to put it all in.  I guess that's what happens when USATF puts an emphasis on getting sponsors.