Burn The Boats Endurance : Mountain Man Trail Marathon * Tribute to Boston 26.2

This run was not planned and was a spur of the moment thing. I had a few friends that I have met through other crazy races that were running a marathon this week to pay tribute to those affected by the bombings last year at the Boston Marathon. I not only like random challenges, but to pay tribute was something I didn't want to skip.
This Marathon was tough from the start. I woke up at 4:45am to hop in my car and shuttle up some water to the 13.1 mile marker and turn around point. Winter sticks around here in Gypsum and at 8,000+ft Snow definitely sticks around

7,600ft

It started getting bad at around mile 7 and by mile 10 my 4x4 Explorer was stuck. No cell service it was 5:15am still dark and 20 degrees outside. I tried all the tricks I know on how to get a vehicle unstuck but my ride was sunk down into 3.5ft of snow and the drivers side rear tire was off the ground. Luckily while walking around my phone mustard enough service to send out a text message to my wife and buddy Mike Lutey. Luckily for me Mike just bought an F-150 with 35" tires and a 6 inch lift kit so getting my Explorer unstuck was no prob, but made for a very early wake up for him. Thanks so much Mike!!! I would have been stuck up there for hours.

Now off to a later start then planned I clicked start on my Super Hero Suunto watch and hurried off into the mountains from my house. The weather quickly warmed up from the low 20's to 40's and I felt great! I really enjoy getting off the beaten path and running in the mountains. I'll never run another road race if at all possible..There are too many great trail runs to be had. Around 2 miles into the run still getting warmed up my eye caught some movement off trail and there were approx 10 deer springing about.

Main reason I like the trails is that they are so natural and away from civilization and untouched in most places.

I picked this route mainly because it will mimic the elevation gain that will be had in Buena Vista for the Collegiate Peaks 50 Miler which is 15 days out :) Super stoked to get the race season started with this Ultra Trail Marathon. My house sits at 6,300ft and it was a steady steep climb to 8,500ft. Lots of ups and downs along the way, but for the main part getting to the 13.1 mile half way mark was a steep grade incline. I saw some hunters out an about, they had turkey tags and were with hunting dogs. As I started getting closer to the apex of my run I noticed a truck off in the distance..Around the same place I got stuck which was 10 miles into my route. The picture below is approx 8,000ft and the road evolves into a snowmobile trail during the winter months. In a few spots there would be some gravel for me to run on, but for the most part it was hard packed snow which around 11am started to get slushy and made for some tricky foot work. I kept my eye on the car and it looked stuck. Stuck in exactly the same place I got stuck just hours before. I noticed a few hunting dogs running around and one came to greet me. Super friendly thankfully, I kept running up towards the hunters truck. He was walking around looking for cell service. I stopped for 5 minutes to chat with him and see if I could help. No go! He had a massive Dodge 3500 truck with chains on the tires. The snow base looked around 4-5ft and by this time what was hard packed this morning turned into a giant slush mess. His truck sunk in as if it were in quick sand. I told him that I could run down and call a buddy of his. He was a big man out of breathe walking around, that probably thought I was crazy for running around in such country..I told him I ran up here and he laughed at me like I was really joking..I said I am running a marathon and I am about half way. He said "No Shit!..Wow!" I smiled and took down his friends phone number so I could give him a call once I found service again. I started to tighten up so I wished him the best and told him I will call his buddy ASAP. This was mile 10 so I still needed to gain 3.1 miles to get to half marathon status. This was one of the worst parts of the entire run..slushy snow everywhere and I managed to post-hole a few time through the deep parts that were giving away due to the sunny day. I made it all the way to a cabin that was outfitted with solar panels and a man was outside working on his garden. I told him about my hunter friend and he said he would see what he could do to help. I thanked him and took off still needing a mile or so to reach my turn around.

Finally made it to some actual dirt! This was very close to the 13.1 miler mark

I restocked some nutrition in my bottle which was TailWind Nutrition. They make the best Endurance formula on the market in my opinion. No bonks, no GI Issues. Pure clean energy designed for high mileage runs and races and designed to be used all by its-self! I used the Orange flavor and it was very refreshing at 13.1 miles in. I had been sipping on a bottle filled with it the whole way here and this would be my only nutrition for my run.

I had a hard time climbing back up to the top toward the initial 10 mile mark and now the16 mile mark. The snow was really slick now and everything was melting. It was like running in cold slippery sand. It Could Always Be Worse. I just looked at it like a great training opp and chugged along up towards my hunter friend. I made it back to his truck, but he wasn't there..I grabbed my water bottle that I had stashed in the snow earlier that morning when I got stuck :) and took off. I always look forward to the down hill sections and this was going to give me all I wanted. A 9 mile straight down hill 3,000ft descent.. oh boy!! I took some big drinks of water and Tailwind and took off down hill back towards my house. Downhill running is a deceivingly hard skill to master than most would think. You want to run fast enough so that you aren't applying the "brakes" the whole way down, but you don't want to run too fast to wear your legs down prematurely that way either...you have to find Your pace for sure! I stuck at a 7'55/mi pace going down and this felt good, on the really steep sections I dipped down into a 6'26/mi pace. I was really making up time now because on the way up averaging 16-17 minute miles was very tough with the steep climb to the top of the pass. I finally ran into the hunter and he had found some help. There was a ranch with tractors and he must have found the guy to help pull his vehicle out.

Noticed this was a Ford Tractor..Didn't know those existed..Anyway I am cruising down with nice speed at this point. The downhill made me feel comfortable with the previous training hill sessions that I had put in. The Eccentric Contraction of the downhill is what destroys the legs...I'm a nerd with this stuff, but it pays to know what your legs are going through during these runs Eccentric contractions are currently a very popular area of study for three main reasons: First, much of a muscle's normal activity occurs while it is actively lengthening, so that eccentric contractions are physiologically common (Goslow et al. 1973; Hoffer et al. 1989) Second, muscle injury and soreness are selectively associated with eccentric contraction (Figure 2, Fridén et al. 1984; Evans et al. 1985; Fridén and Lieber, 1992). Finally, muscle strengthening may be greatest using exercises that involve eccentric contractions. Therefore, there are some very fundamental structure-function questions that can be addressed using the eccentric contraction model and eccentric contractions have very important applications therapeutically to strengthen muscle.

***The above blurb says Run More Down Hill :) For leg strength!***

I finally made it down to some level ground after a bomber 9 mile down hill. I was greeted by some horses and what I first thought was a dog, but turned out to be a miniature horse :) This little dude had some attitude and acted as if he was protecting the others lol that's him below.

MINI HORSEPOWER

Home stretch 20 miles on the Suunto. 6.2 left! Felt great to know my house and food was a few short miles away. Before I knew it I had hit the 26.2 mark and finished in 5 hours 20 minutes 51 seconds. Averaged 4.9 MPH and maxed out at 9.3 MPH. Average pace was 12'14/mi and fastest was 6'26/mi. Conquered 2,972ft of elevation gain and 2,982ft of ascent. Trail marathons are tough! I can always be a better climber and downhill bomber! Those 2 make or break you when it comes to a trail marathon and I am actively working on getting stronger at both.

In gear-shoe News I have sold my soul to the HOKA Devil! The Silly looking clown shoe has gotten my stamp of approval! I am a minimalist shoe guy mostly owning Inov8s, New Balance, and Altras. This 4mm drop minimal but not minimal shoe has been put through mud, snow, clay, dirt from my workouts. These pillows for shoes will be my go to for a while at least in any runs involving a marathon or more. If you want to save your feet- legs-joints get ya some!