Lead King Loop - Run

Starting out, I ran for the first 10 minutes and then the relentless uphill started. You gain around 3000' in the first 5.5 miles of this race, and then you starat the 11 mile decent. There was very little after the first mile that I could run, it was just so steep. After we topped out, it took a couple of miles before I found my "downhill" legs, and I battled a stitch for probably the first 4 miles of the decent. By the time the stitch went away, I was in the technical portion of the race, and it was really slow going. Lots of loose rock, combined with big rocks sticking up out of the trail, had to be really careful. Not sure how the "fast people negotiate this part quickly? I ran most of the downhill, had to walk any of the up hill once I was on the decent, but was able to finish running into town to the finish. After I finished my race, I grabbed a couple of bananas, and then started hiking back up the trail to find Linda, and ran the last 1.5 miles back into town with her, so I ended up with over 18 miles on the day, my longest day ever!

I was severly under trained for this type of race. I had been putting in lots of long miles, but not much uphill training and nothing at altitude. I feel pretty good for the type of training I put in.

After I finished my race, I grabbed a couple of bananas, and then started hiking back up the trail to find Linda, and ran the last 1.5 miles back into town with her, so I ended up with over 18 miles on the day, my longest day ever


Lack of uphill training.


This was a nice little race, and I would definitely do it again!