Meghan's Blog

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June 24, 2006

Not the Queen of the Mountain

Not even close.

I spent my morning chugging very slowly up the famous Beartooth Highway in the Beartooth Run. The course is 8.2 miles long and goes up 3 very, very long switchbacks, starting at something like 7100 feet and ending at something like 9300 feet. You can actually see a photo of the course at the above link. It was an amazing experience for the race's location. It was a humbling experience for the effort it takes to get up this thing.

I've never done a hill climb. I didn't really know how to pace myself. I overheard a man at the starting line say that his pace on this course is 1:45 min/mile slower than his marathon pace on a flat, low elevation course. I drove the course beforehand, so I sort of knew what I was getting into. I recognized a few women who I've raced against and beat this summer, so I thought it might be smart to stay ahead of them. Finally, I didn't want to go out too fast and die a dreadful death near the top. Rather, I prefered to begin conservatively, and speed up near the top if I was feeling good.

I have never been to the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, even though they are only about 2 hours from my house. This place is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen in all my travels. It's outstanding, and I will be going back there soon. The race starts at the entrance to a National Forest Service campground, in the bottom of a gorgeous U-shaped, galcier-carved canyon, and climbs it's way up the side of a mountain. There's not really that much to describe about the course aside from this. Notable things were slight changes in the grade of the road every now and again, as well as the misplacement of I think all of the mile markers. It was a perfect morning for racing, crisp and clear. I could occasionally hear the whumping of a helicopter in the mountains around us. This area is known for its heli-skiing, and I've read that snow was so good this winter and it's lasting so long this summer, that people are still heli-skiing the Beartooths. At one point in my drive back home, I even saw one guy cutting turns on a snowfield, kicking up some foul slush that must pass for snow. Oh, what snow -lovers will do for one last run!

I didn't run very well. I didn't feel bad, per se. I think that, compared to my fitness on flat road courses, I perform much worse when a course is very hilly or on a trail. I guess I know this about myself, I've learned it before. I was re-reminded of this when women that I've previously beat this summer dissappeared up the hill in front of me. I guess this is a little strange to me because I like running in hills, I run them almost everyday, and I often run on some sort of off-road surface. After those few moments of feeling bad about being left in the dust, I just decided to have fun and enjoy the view. I worked hard, I was definitely tired by the end, and the quick altitude change made me feel all lightheaded and giddy. It was hard to say if I kept up a steady pace all the way through, as the mile markers were definitely skewed, but I tried to. Here and there, I picked off people all throughout the race. The only people who passed me were a group of 3 running together at the halfway point. I tried to go with them, but their plan must have been to speed up halfway through, and I couldn't do it.

At the moment, I have no idea how I placed. All I know is that I ran something like 1:18, and that the finish line was significantly busier with people that when I usually arrive at finish lines. I think 72 minutes won for women on this same course 2 years ago (Last year's course was in a different location, as this road was closed for almost a year due to a huge landslide.). I'll be interested to see what won this year.

It was chilly up on top! Apparently there was some sort of bag drop that I didn't know about (I didn't mention that I was almost late for the race, and so I didn't pay much attention to such details.) Some people were donning hats, mittens, pants, and fleece jackets. Me, I was huddling behind a car out of the wind in my sweaty clothes. Some old man offered me some clothes, but he wasn't the kind of person who I'd want to borrow clothes from. Then, a few minutes later, when the old man was still standing nearby, a cute boy offered the same. I turned him down, too, but only because the old man was watching to see what I'd do. There was supposed to be a bus returning us to the starting line, but apparently it was only making 1 trip after everyone had completed the course. I eventually got cold enough that I decided to run back to the starting line. Going downhill into a growing breeze wasn't too comfortable either, but it was better than standing around doing nothing. So, 8.2 miles back downhill. Not only are my calves and hip flexors sufficiently dead from climbing uphill, but now my quads are trashed from going back downhill. Want to know something else? I beat the bus back down.

Posted by Meghan at June 24, 2006 3:01 PM

Comments

Posted by: Audrey at June 24, 2006 4:47 PM

Posted by: Audrey at June 24, 2006 4:47 PM

Posted by: corrado giambalvo at June 25, 2006 8:15 AM

Posted by: corrado giambalvo at June 27, 2006 4:03 AM

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