After a week long family reunion at my Aunt and Uncle’s ranch in the mountains SW of Colorado Springs, we drove north through Colorado to Steamboat Springs – the site of the Run Rabbit Run 100 and 50 mile trail races.   Run Rabbit Run (RRR) is more well known for it’s 100 mile option – which has one of the largest prize purses for domestic trail ultras.  I had signed up for the 50 miler back in the late spring – as my first 50 mile race since JFK as a college freshman in 1999.  The following is a short “trip report” from the race that Roberta and I participated in up there:

Roberta, Allie, Finley, and I arrived Steamboat on Thursday afternoon.  Friday was a down day with race check-in and pre-race briefings. We also got to see the start of the 100 mile race….twice.  The slower runners started at 8 am, and the faster runners started at noon.  It was cool to watch both of these starts – lot’s of energy and excitement in the air, as these guys and girls began what was to be many long hours on the trail.  That afternoon we prepped for the race and got our gear in order.

Saturday morning we loaded up on coffee, and met at the starting line at ~0545.  It was still fully dark, clear, and cold – probably mid-thirties.   As we ditched our jackets and lined up behind the start line, we heard cheering from the front of the pack, and saw a headlamp coming the other direction towards the start/finish from the course.  The starter pack parted to make room for the 100 mile winner as he crossed the finish line at 0557 with a time of just under 18 hrs (See the video dated Sept 18th at 10:58am on their facebook page, specifically the first 2 min 15 sec:  https://www.facebook.com/RunRabbitRun50100/ ).   This was a good little last shot of inspiration right before we took off.  Soon after he cleared the start/finish chute, our race started.  The following is my recount of the race….Roberta’s experience was probably similar in many ways but also different in many.

The first six miles were uphill on dirt roads to the top of Mount Werner, at the top of the Steamboat Ski resort.   Daylight broke during this climb, and headlamps were either stowed or dropped off at a drop box halfway up.  Very few people ran much of this section, power hiking instead to keep the legs and lungs as fresh as possible.  Roberta and I became separated early, but the pack was still relatively together through these first six miles.  I crested the top at 1 hr 35 min, so that gives you a sense of the uphill pace…over 15 min a mile.

From here the next 16 miles were amazing rolling single track through the high country east of Steamboat, mostly between 9500 and 10500 feet. Slightly technical at parts, and rarely flat for more than a few hundred meters, it was very engaging and I found myself having to slow down every now and then to be able to look around and appreciate my surroundings.

At mile 22 I passed the crew/spectator accessed aid station. Allie, Finley, Vincent, and Roberta’s friend Cheyenne were there, and I stopped for a minute to refill my water bottle, say hi to them, and eat some watermelon and pretzels.  At this point I was able to confirm that I was in roughly tenth place, and so I kind of set a new mid-race goal or myself at this point – to maintain this spot and finish top-10.  A pre-race goal of mine – to negative split the course (second 25 faster than first 25) still stood, but that was pending my 25 mile turnaround time.

The last three miles to the turnaround were all uphill so slow going, but it gave me a chance to see the leaders as they passed me going the other way.  The last half mile was a brutal straight uphill…..hands on knees and hard to walk, much less run.  The turnaround was at Rabbit Ears…a dual pillar rock formation on a mountain top, from which the race derives its name.

The return trip was long and a little more lonely/difficult than the trip out, but I was able to continue to run the flat and downhill sections at a decent pace.  Over the course of the next 25 miles I passed two runners and was passed by another, for a net gain of one position.   I hit some low spots between miles 32 and 40…what I call “feel-sorry-for-myself miles”…this is probably a misnomer as I don’t really feel sorry for myself, but it’s the point where your self confidence bottoms out.  I got a second wind around mile 40 as I drew closer to the last aid station at mile 44, as I knew that from there on was all downhill to the finish.  Even though my brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders…I was able to do simple math to determine that I was on pace to negative split…even maybe get close to 9 hrs if I hustled.