Barr Trail

Finally posting about barr.

Absolutely an incredible race, most likely my favorite trail race now. The lead up to the race was interesting. This was my week before

Sunday-11 miles at 8000 feet + 3000' change

Monday-(Began a weeklong camp in the foothills of boulder) Stayed up late, slept in. -0

Tuesday - 13 miles at 8000 feet +2500' change

Wednesday -8 miles at 8000 feet +1000' change

Thursday-Rest, but swam at boulder reservoir a good deal, but also drunk my weight in lake water

Friday-8 miles at 8000 feet +1000' change

Saturday - Capture the flag. I purposely chose to be on defense during the game, because there were no boundaries, and some really cool trails to patrol on. My nutrition was particularly interesting, because the camp food was incredible all week, and in limit

less supply. So the day before the race, i had 2 plates of leftovers for lunch, and dominos pizza, a root beer, sierra mist, and a coke in a glass bottle that evening. Delicious. However, i don't feel like this affected me at all for the race, because i didn't think about it until afterwards. I also only got about 4 hours of sleep before i got up at 4:30 to drive to Colorado springs the next morning. Next time i think i'll bring a tent.

Got to the road at about 6:15, perfect time to warm up to the starting area about a half mile up. I got my bib number, some water, and proceeded up the trail, as i had never ventured into the beast that is pikes peak and the barr trail. I took off

f my shoes when i got to the actual trail to see if today would be a good day to go barefoot. I had spent nearly the entireweek barefoot in the mountains of boulder, so my feet felt solid, however the downhill portion of the race, and the amount of loose dirt persuaded me to run in my Vibram KSO Trek's. So i velcrowed back up, and went back to the start. After some brief stretches, a couple strides and numerous bathroom stops, i headed to the start line. I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen this race. I went into mt. washington having studied the mountain i

nside out, but not for this race. The announcer yelled go (no gun?) and we all went off. My mentality of the race was storm the uphill and don't worry about the downhill. So, i went out with the second half of the pack, and stuck with brandy erholtz for the most part. After about 3 miles, she started to pull away. Mentally i started to break down a tad, but after about a mile, i felt a little pep coming back to my step, and it almost seemed as if the trail was getting less steep. So i sped up. A lot. I felt strong, so i went fast, and all of a sudden, t

here was brandy! I ran past, and kept running, but so did she. I started to see some familiar faces flying down the hill, so i figured i was close, but somehow i kind of fo

rgot that the race turned around. Being unfamiliar with the trail, i didn't really know when the turnaround was going to show up, and all of a sudden it did. It ends here? This is it? I was just getting into it! As excited as i was to be heading back down, i knew there was more in me, so i'm uber excited run again next year, hopefully with a better foot solution. On the descent, my problems started. I was having fun on the trail, jumping over rocks and such, but after about 2.5 miles, i had to stop

and pull a rock out of my shoes. Those shoes. And, to my dismay, i head foot steps coming up behind me. I got going again, and just as the trail got steeper, and more windy, i began to slow down. Both vibrams had holes in the toes, and i wasn't getting any hold from the shoes. At the moment i let brandy go ahead, i had nearly run off the trail if not for a conveniently placed tree. I'm a fan of running aggressively downhill. It's just a lot more fun. But every time i had to turn, i'd lose footing, and have to slow down. Eh. Who really cares. Got passed by 2 more people, GZ being one of them, but all i really cared about was the up. So after reaching the bottom, and ecstatic to see uphill again, i bolted up hydro street, and flung myself around the turn into the finish chute. Overall? Great race despite shoes that fell apart. I'll definitely be chattin with vibram soon. I find out in the next week whether i make the jr. mountain running team, but until then, i'll just keep running up. I see a few 15 milers in the coming week... need to get as much colorado in before i head out to missouri.... Are there hills out there? I guess i'll find out. Quads felt good today, but just about everything else hurt. So i headed out for a pleasant 5 miles in the morning sans shoes to fall in love with my feet again. No shoes no blues eh?