Today I ran the Wahsatch Steeplechase. I have been wanting to run this race for several years and finally did it this year. The day before the race I received an email that if the rain was bad the course would be altered and ran on the road. We have gotten a lot of rain in Salt Lake these last two weeks. The weather held out this morning and didn't rain during the whole race. I am glad that they didn't do the alternate course because I really enjoy the trails. There were several bloggers in this race today. A few of them I met for the first time. The bloggers I saw today were Jon, Jun, Mojo, and Flyonthewall.
The course starts out in Memory Grove and heads up the canyon to City Creek Canyon. From there is gets on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and the uphill begins. I started out slow, because I knew the hills were coming. I was in a group of several runners and passing on the single track was difficult, but I managed to get around three people. A guy in green shirt passed me and commented, "Not carrying any water, You must be hard core." Ya, hard core or stupid. We continued up the trail to the pipeline intersection. This was where the first aid station was. From there we headed up the ridge. I had a good pace up the ridge and there was usually enough room to pass somebody. I played leap frog with a few guys until we got to the steep part. The trail headed straight up the mountain and it was steep. I had wanted to run all of the uphill, but I had to walk this part. My split time for that mile was terrible. After the steep section we had more uphill to get the the Crags. The Crags are a large rock formation that stretches across the tops of Black Mountain. Most of this section had to be walked as well. At one spot we even had to climb down a small stretch of rock. They had two volunteers at that point in case anybody needed help. When I reached the top of Black Mountain I paused for a few seconds and took in the view. It was at an elevation a 8150 ft. Next came the brutal descent. We headed down to Smugglers Gap. Just before getting there, there was a toy monkey hanging from a tree which was banging symbols. The second aid station was at Smugglers Gap. I drank some water and grabbed a few gummy berries. Because of the technical nature of the previous section I had to go slow. So when I got to the downhill I had lots of energy and tried to open things up. Parts of the Smugglers Gap trail were nice and soft and could easily be run and other section were very overgrown and had to be walked. There were two steep sections that had a rope along side the for support. The rope was needed today. That trail came out on to a really nice trail that lead to the top of City Creek Canyon Road. The third aid station was at the top of the road. I made a quick pit stop in the outhouse. Heading down the road I was able to go at a really good pace and had my fastest mile split. The course continued down the road for a few miles then went onto the trail that parallels the road. The soft trail was nice relief from the pounding road. Part way down the trail I feeling fatigue and couldn't hold a strong pace. I came to the fourth and final aid station. I drank some water and grabbed some M&M's. They gave me the kick that I needed but it didn't last to the finish. The trail came down to the road and I got passed by two girls who I had passed way back on the downhill. I didn't want them to pass me but didn't have the strength to keep up with them. I just kept going as fast as I could. We were going down the same road that we had gone up at the start and I was struggling to get a 9:30 mile. On the way up I was doing an 8:30 pace. The finish wasn't really mark, the race just sort of ended at the park. I was shooting to come in at 3:20 and was about ten minutes under that. I don't know what my place was but I will update when it is posted on line. It was fun race and I will definitely run it again. I have listed my splits only to show how crazy of a race this is. mile 1 - 9:17 mile 2 - 12:50 mile 3 - 11:14 mile 4 - 11:33 mile 5 - 12:05 mile 6 - 13:49 mile 7 - 23:03 mile 8 - 20:46 mile 9 - 11:32 mile 10 - 9:45 mile 11 - 7:05 mile 12 - 7:29 mile 13 - 8:15 mile 14 - 8:44 mile 15 - 9:30 mile 16 - 9:23 last .4 - 8:45 | 