Grin And Bear It

It has been a while since I’ve posted anything on here. I’ve been quite busy with life and preparation for Leadville. On the 18th of July I raced the annual Grin And Bear It in Crested Butte. The race is no longer as popular as it has been in the past but it is my tradition to run it annually. I did not let the race interfere with my training; instead, I incorporated it into training. The race is about 9.3 miles long. The first half starts in Crested Butte and runs up to Green Lake at the Base of Mt Axtle. I think it gains approximately 1200 feet. The weeks leading up to this race were filled with hard long weeks of training. I wanted to treat The Grin And Bear It has an easy tempo day. I was not planning on going too hard as I knew the competition would not be too deep. I started the race and right away easily found myself in 1st place I kept a solid pace going getting to the half way mark at about 36 minutes. The downhill portion was smooth as I finished in 1:05:42. The race is a great benchmark for me as I run it every year. Upon finishing I had greater confidence in my overall fitness level.