Salida Run Through Time Marathon

This Saturday I raced the annual Salida Run Through Time Marathon (SRTTM). This is a fantastic early season race that I run every year. As always it was cold at the start, the numb lung burning cold that you know will disappear once it warms up. A lot of familiar faces were there: Nick Clark, Jason Koop, Justin Ricks, Josh Arthur, Ryan Burch; a practical homecoming. We started off at a controlled casual pace, no one wanted to race this early when the temperature was still hovering below freezing. No one wanted to take off except for a rabbit. The rabbits name Dan Barteletti . The chase pack consisted of Josh, Nick, Justin, myself, and a few others. We weren’t too concerned about Mr. Rabbit. Nick and I talked about how this was his 7^th time racing at SRTTM and my 8^th time. We decided to compare finishes for the last 7 years and add them up. Note: we did not include my 1st year as a dozen or more racers ended up going the wrong way because someone had moved the flagging on the course. 

Whoever had the lowest score would win. I did this today and put a graph together. Nick won: 16-19     

                            Year:          09,    10,    11,    12,    13,    14,     15                Total:

Timmy Parr         Place:         1,        1,      1,      7,      4,      3,       2              = 19

Nick Clark           Place:         3,        3,      2,      1,      2,      2,       3              = 16                       

Our pack started up S Mountain with Dan’s lead at about 30 seconds. Josh led the chase up S, but overall we just relaxed and cruised up. The next section, a circuitous single track took us rolling north. I took the lead just to help make visibility and footing easier. The pack group chased on until the road. We hit the road at 60 minutes. The pace was good. Once on the road our pack disintegrated as we tried to chase down the rabbit. The road continues up a steep incline for over 4 miles. After fueling up I was ready to participate in the chase. I set an up tempo pace and soon caught up to Dan, he was paying for his early lead, but would manage to recover and still get 4^th.  Surprisingly I had dropped everyone but Justin. He and I kept the pace up and reached the turnaround (12.8) in 1:35.

Justin took the lead as I followed trying not to lose any ground. From mile 14 to 17 we hung together as we plodded through either muddy or unsure footing in foot deep rutted out crusty and icy snow. Once through the snow Justin took off and I did not see him again. The snow and icy conditions had slowed us up and although I wanted to run faster it was too much effort in the snow. I ran consistently trying to maintain. I ran in the Hoka Huaka. http://www.hokaoneone.com/  They are light weight, yet they offer a traction, durability, and a stable shoe. This became my mantra for the rest of the race. I felt ok but as I raced I could feel my energy slowing waning. I had to maintain. I ran back the last 4 miles trying to stay consistent. I couldn’t see Justin and figured he was long gone. I came through the last mile trying to push it till the end. I ran 3:18:41, good enough for 2^nd place. http://www.salidarec.com/ccrc/index.htm

Next up: 2015 Moab Spring Running Camp, followed by the Fruita Marathon.