Sitting at a brewery in Silverton having some pizza and IPA, and found a plug to charge up the laptop. The start of my trip to the mountains has been even better than I expected. I left Marin Tuesday morning at 4:15 AM and made it to Flagstaff, AZ, around 5:00 that evening. I went straight to the running store to pick up a map and get some route ideas, hit two breweries and grabbed some dinner, and then found a dispersed (free) camping spot about 5 miles out of town near a trail head.
Crashed out in the back of my ride, and was up bright and early with a plan for about 15 miles. It started at about 7,200', and climbed up to about 8,700' over eight miles. It was typical
high desert, with some fairly rocky sections but mostly pretty smooth
single track. I was definitely feeling the altitude, especially while climbing and once I got up above 8,000' or so, but I felt pretty good. Then about three hours in I ran out of water. I had a 1.5L bladder and two 20 oz bottles, but that dry, desert air just sucked the moisture right out of me. I went from moving ok to slogging along at a slow walk for almost an hour, trying to figure out if I'd stopped sweating or if it was just instantly evaporating in that arid climate. I finally came down to a trail head where some mountain bikers were getting ready to head out, and they had spare water in the truck they hooked me up with which made the final few miles much better. There was an unplanned detour due to a closed section of trail that led to some bonus miles, so by the end I had covered 18.4 miles with 2,320' of gain.
I got back to the campsite and took a quick camp shower, and hit the road for the six hour drive to Silverton, CO. I had hoped to be there by 7:00 or so for a showing of the Hardrock movie
Kissing the Rock, but the bonus miles and struggling late in the run had me an hour behind schedule. I got into town about 8:00, and met up at a brew pub with some people from Facebook that had a campsite two miles out of town with room for me (
with this view). Threw back a couple beers, went into fanboy mode and bought one for
Rickey Gates and talked to Bryon Powell from iRunFar, and then we headed back to the campsite to chill around the campfire and then hit the sack without a plan for the next day. Freedom, man.
This morning I rolled into town to wander around the runner check in area, gawked at Killian Jornet and Anna Frost, and then decided to do an out and back on the first 5 or so miles of the course. Silverton sits at 9.300' feet, and the first 5 miles climbs up to about 11,000' (
Strava) . It's a short climb up out of town, and then some rolling stuff that then drops down to
Mineral Creek. And then the real climbing began. Sucking wind on every climb was the order of the day, and after about 3 miles it was some
gnarly sections of "trail" carved into a scree slope.
But the views were unbelievable. At about 10,800' it finally hit a
green section with a bit more of a trail and some small streams, one of which I used to purify water and refill my bladder. I turned around and headed back down and that scree slope "trail" was freaking me out - you couldn't get good footing, and it was worse downhill than up. And have I mentioned I don't love heights? The worst part is the constant twisting of ankles and knees, although I've learned to sort of transfer that torque to my hips - so they're nice and sore. And this is a "mellow" section of the course. It will be interesting to see if my perception changes over the next few days, because right now I can't imagine being on trails like that for 40-48 hours.
I'll be at the start tomorrow at 6:00 AM, and trying now to figure out my plan for the rest of the day. I'll probably jump to a few aid stations to watch the race unfold, and I'm considering doing the last few miles of the course while the markers are up (and before Kilian gets there). The winner should finish between 23-24 hours (only three times has sub-24 happened, with Kilian twice doing it twice),and I'd like to be there for that. And of course the last hour or two before the 48 hour cutoff, as that's where the real magic is witnessed. After the race ends on Sunday morning, I have a few more days to explore up here before having to be back in the Bay by end of day Friday. If the start of the trip is any indicator, it should be epic!