Sorry this was a long race and the report ended up being even longer. I recommend skipping to the end.
Today I ran my first trail race, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Marathon. My only goal was to finish without bonking hard. I thought I might be able to finish in under 5 hours but I had nothing to really base this on.
This race has no entry fee. You are just supposed to bring food to share at the 3 aid stations and finish. I think I read that the course is supposed to have 6,000+ feet of elevation gain and loss. What ever the actual number it had some incredibly steep sections both uphill and down. The route consisted of maintained single track trail, double track service road, forgotten dozer cuts, pipeline right of way, stream bed, deer trail, deer tracks, and even a few hundred feet of pavement. It was marked with pink and yellow flagging tape. In places it was quite foggy which made it more difficult to find the flagging. If you are crazy you can read the full course description here- [url]http://www.users.qwest.net/~cirnielsen/bst.direct.html[/url]
We started on time at 7 a.m. with "Ready, Set, Go." It had rained through the night and the trail was muddy. The forecast called for more rain but we lucked out and only had a few drips with nice cool weather. The first leg was about 11 muddy miles with an advertised 3,100 feet of elevation gain and loss- down into City Creek Canyon, up the other side, down to North Salt Lake, up a steep mountain (power walking), straight down back into City Creek Canyon (no switchbacks!), and back up to the start where the first aid station was (I ran with my Camel Bak). I stayed on course and finished this part in about 1:50ish.
The second leg heads back up to the Bonneville Shoreline trail and south to Red Butte Canyon. Don't know what to say... It was muddy and I was tired. I remember looking at my Garmin about mile 13ish and thinking- :? :( :shock: :x :roll: :| :) Anyway, about mile 20 I started passing runners who were headed in the opposite direction on the part of the loop that had traffic both ways. This was the only crowd support but it helped give me a boost. About mile 22 the course runs up Dry Creek but Dry Creek was ankle to shin deep with rushing water. The gully is too steep and narrow to run anywhere but in the creek which was quite cold. When the route left the creek it headed straight up the mountain on what is advertised as an "appallingly steep trail." It was appallingly steep but it wasn't much of a trail. On this section I did pass a young guy. When I "flew" past him I checked my Garmin and I was burning it up with an 24 min/mile pace! :shock: :lol: He was the only other runner I could see and passing him proved to be a mistake.
After finally grinding up this mountain I knew the course was supposed to veer left and off the ridge line. It was very foggy with maybe 20 foot visibility. I kept looking for the flagging but missed it. I found myself running, well "power" hiking up and over Twin Peaks and another hump and then straight down the other side. It was foggy, I was 24 some miles into this thing, I was running down a rocky mountain with no trail, and I was alone and lost. Not lost as in I'm spending the night but lost as in I'm not on the course and don't know where it is. :roll:
At this point I ran into another lost runner. We joined forces, ran down and out of the fog and then determined we were one or two ridge lines off of the course. We ran side hill on some supper steep terrain, so as to not lose too much elevation, then down to a trail and back onto the route. Once we hit a trail and I knew where I was and where I was supposed to be I left him behind. Nice of me huh? :(
At about mile 26 I started to get a bit of leg cramping on the uphill sections. Nothing debilitating but I didn't know how much further I had to go or how much further I had left in me. I ended up running 27.13 miles according to my Garmin.
Few. I made it. My time was about 5:02 and I figure the lost mile cost me about 15 minutes. The winner was Carl Meltzer (sp?) who I gather is a trail/ ultra supper star and a professional runner I think. The times aren't posted yet but I heard he set a course record with something like 3:45.
1- 7:38 155
2- 9:23 165
3- 12:23 167
4- 11:16 163
5- 8:37 162
6- 14:26 162
7- 12:02 162
8- 8:12 161
9- 8:04 162
10- 10:20 163
11- 13:45 157 1st aid station. changed packs and changed shirts.
12- 12:40 162
13- 11:14 162
14- 8:45 162
15- 8:29 164
16- 7:43 162
17- 11:42 161
18- 11:53 161
19- 15:02 159 2nd aid station at the beginning of this mile?
20- 10:04 159 3rd aid station at the end of this mile? (same aid station as 2nd).
21- 10:58 160
22- 10:16 161
23- 15:44 161
24- 18:33 160 lost in the fog? OR just the steepest mountain.
25- 15:28 153 lost in the fog.
26- 9:21 163
27- 7:39 156
27.2- 6:20 162
27.13 miles
average - 11:09 min/mile, 160 bpm
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