Well, that was something different. The Grandeur Peak Fun Run is a low-key, free race that I found out about from the Samurai, a cycling friend of mine who is a skimo racer recently turned trail runner.The real challenge in this race is the vertical: about 4,000 feet. That's a lot for a ten mile race, but it's even more when you consider that all of the climbing happens over less than three miles. I believe that makes the average grade on the climbs something like 25 percent. 
From the trailhead, the course climbs about 3200 feet in the first two miles (18:23. 26:19) and change. From there, it's a couple of miles of technical singletrack descent into Millcreek Canyon, followed by a couple of miles of flat, easy singletrack on the Pipeline trail. Then things get nasty again. The course leaves the pipeline trail and climbs sharply up what seems like an old game trail--narrow, muddy, and brutally steep--followed by an equally steep narrow and slick descent. At 6'4", I spent a lot of time ducking here. After the descent, it was a relatively mild mile or two of rolling, mildly technical trail back to the start. 
Now that I've described the course, here's how the race went. I jumped into the lead group right from the start. After a brief, steep and runable intro, we hit the real climb, and there wasn't much more running for a while. I could tell I was in a bit of trouble, because I don't really do any hiking, and my achilles tendons were killing me on the steep grade. I did what I could, and the lead group began to take shape. I wound up in fourth place, a little behind one runner and a lot behind the two leaders. Coming off the top, I somehow missed a turn and went plunging down a rockslide path. After descending for a minute or two, I realized something was wrong. I stopped, waited, and eventually saw the runner who had been behind me running down a ridge in the distance. I turned around, scrambled back up to the trail on all fours, and set about making up for lost time. On the descent in to the canyon I caught three of the (I think) four runners who had passed me while I was on my little adventure, including the Samurai. I put some time into all of them on the descent, and I continued to do so on the Pipeline trail. I felt a little dead on the flat trail--not bonked, or fatigued, but off a little. Even so, what felt like a conservative pace was in the mid to high 6s per mile, so I guess it wasn't too bad. I blew up a little on the next climb. It was slippery and steep and I was tired, and the runner behind me was making up ground quickly. But he stopped gaining on me once he was within 20 feet, so he must have hit a wall, too. I hated the next descent. It was too tight and steep to run fast, and with all the low branches I was afraid of losing my head. Plus, I had some rocks in my shoes that were rubbing my feet raw. But I survived, and from there all I had to do was cruise for the last mile or two. I think I wound up in 5th, and I'll confirm that when the results were posted. It was a good day, but my pride requires me to point out that I lost at least 5 minutes by running off course, and I think I could have held on to 4th and maybe even moved in to 3rd if I hadn't. Oh well, it's my fault. And besides, I'm now 0 for 2 when it comes to staying on course in trail races, so I should probably get used to it. Catherine was at the finish with Tigger, and I was glad to see her. We hung out in the park for a bit, met some other runners, and then ate the breakfast provided. Not a bad morning at all. PM: After having lunch with Catherine and then going to the temple, I decided to do another trail run. I was pretty beat from the race in the morning, but I thought adding some more miles while fatigued would be a good way to prepare for the longer races. I ran the BST, east to west, taking it pretty easy. I bonked near the end, and the return trip on the road was pretty miserable, but overall I think it was a good run.
1:26:55
| 
