So October 8th I ran the Xterra Trail Half Marathon in Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado. The last week it's been 80-85 degrees so what else would I expect for a Saturday afternoon full of trail running? As my friend Kaleigh and I drive into Colorado Springs Thursday the temperature drops like a rock to 55. Ok, I can handle that. I have a jacket. We look online for the forecast for Saturday morning. Oh just a measly 30 degrees with a winter advisory. Oh shit, I'm going to need a bigger coat.
On Friday Amanda drives down from Denver. Where are Kaleigh and I? At Dick's Sporting goods looking for things to keep us from not DYING! So I have finally decided that I need actual trail shoes and that the road ones that I have planned on wearing aren't going to cut it. So we spend a good 30 minutes trying on shoes. I try on a pair of Brooks PureCadence. Brilliant. The fit is better than anything that I've ever felt. One problem. They're not trail shoes. But I do find a pair of Brooks PureGrit. They ARE trail shoes, slightly less arch support, but still great. Amanda meets us at Dick's and she feels the need (after hearing that it's going to be cold as shit Saturday) that she needs a shirt to run it. She gets 2 shirts, I get shoes, Kaleigh wants to go to Lululemon. Oh no. Lululemon is the Burberry of Women's yoga/running apparel. So we make it to Lulu and the girls drop some money on pants/tops which I'm sure they needed.
On Friday Amanda drives down from Denver. Where are Kaleigh and I? At Dick's Sporting goods looking for things to keep us from not DYING! So I have finally decided that I need actual trail shoes and that the road ones that I have planned on wearing aren't going to cut it. So we spend a good 30 minutes trying on shoes. I try on a pair of Brooks PureCadence. Brilliant. The fit is better than anything that I've ever felt. One problem. They're not trail shoes. But I do find a pair of Brooks PureGrit. They ARE trail shoes, slightly less arch support, but still great. Amanda meets us at Dick's and she feels the need (after hearing that it's going to be cold as shit Saturday) that she needs a shirt to run it. She gets 2 shirts, I get shoes, Kaleigh wants to go to Lululemon. Oh no. Lululemon is the Burberry of Women's yoga/running apparel. So we make it to Lulu and the girls drop some money on pants/tops which I'm sure they needed.
That night we go to bed and one of the last things we look for is the weather report. 35 degrees and raining. Damn. So Saturday I wake up and look outside. Snow!? Are you kidding me? It's the beginning of October and it's snowing already?! I holler at Kaleigh to look outside. We are seriously some of the most ridiculous people we know. We get all our clothing layers on and get into the car. Which by the way we had to remove the snow off of it. We make it to the race and are looking around at all the other crazy racers who drove from all over to run. It was blizzard in Denver. We sign in and then run back to the car and wait for the race to start. About 8:05am we go to the starting line and start jumping around trying to stay loose. Rain, mud, wind. Not the best conditions. And we paid to do this! The gun starts and we head out the gate. Its uphill till mile four with elevation gain of +900 ft. The first few miles flew by due to race nerves and frozen limbs. Around mile three I finally got feeling back in my feet. The trail was muddy. The Muddy Buddy/Warrior Dash had nothing on this. Seriously. People that were there that did them last weekend told us so. Mud caked everywhere. Slipping, sliding, screaming downhill. I make it to the top of the mountain to start mile four. Four through eight was awesome. Rolling down the trail, jumping over rocks, sliding through mud puddles. Thank goodness I Scotch Guarded everything the night before. The altitude was fine, the mud I could handle, even my feet were still dry. But my hands were frozen. I couldn't do anything to heat them up. I had gloves but they got wet and from then on there wasn't a whole lot of help.
Mile 8 we started back up the next mountain. This section was some of the best trail that I've run. I begin my accent into the pine trees and it starts snowing, again. But not just light snow, I'm getting pelted in my face with snowflakes. It starts to stick to the trees and grass. The landscape is green covered in snow. The prettiest thing I've ever seen. I make it to the top and I can see over the park. The sky is gray. The land is brown and green slowly being converted to white. I make it to the last aid station, mile 12. One more to go and I am relieved. I make the last turn and see the finish. I cross the finish and am able to finally stop. My legs are shaking hard, my fingers are so numb that I can't even stop my watch to record my time. Kaleigh is there with her umbrella waiting for us. Amanda finished nine minutes later. She didn't walk at all! So impressive. We are awarded our medals for finishing and get back in the car to warm up. Breakfast is all we want and head to Denny's. Free refills of hot chocolate? Hell yes! Four cups was all we could handle. We get back in the car and head back to our friend Mitch's and lay around and watch college football and take naps. The most miserable 2 hours and twenty minutes I've every experienced, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
