I got an email from Jun earlier this week that the Grandeur Peak Fun Run was happening this Saturday. It it a free race that goes to the top of Grandeur Peak. I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a free race. I saw Scott at the start and a few other runners I knew. The course starts out tough, going up one of the toughest trails in the area. The course climbs 3200 ft. in just over two miles. Those were slow miles according to my watch. But I was actually doing quite well. I had passed six people on the climb up. From the peak I made the mistake of following a guy who didn't know where he was going and we headed down the wrong side of the mountain. The person behind me followed as well. After realizing our mistake we hiked back up to the trail. This detour cost me about 15 minutes. On the downhill section I picked things up to try to make up time. I passed several people. One of which was Scott, who was surprised to see me. The course goes down Church Fork and then on to the Pipeline Trail. I passed a few more people on that trail. From there it turns uphill again at Rattlesnake Gulch. This was another slow uphill. followed by a fast and technical downhill. This finish was back at the start where they were cooking breakfast. I came in 26th out of about 75 runners with a time of 2:22:11. In looking at the finish times, if I hadn't taken the detour at the top, I would have came in 11th or 12th place. Next year I will know which way to go. This is the toughest ten miler I have ever done, but I really enjoyed it.
| 