The Beartooth Run: 10 K at 10,000 Feet

I ran The Beartooth Run today!!!   It's a Race at 10,000 Feet elevation, on top of the Beartooth Scenic Highway.  It's a pretty beautiful area. I was pretty excited to do it, but not as excited as finding out my Coach up to my two week taper to Boulder IM.  This was my "fun" run for training. I figure I got in my hill work, and added the elevation for some extra work.

(cut and pasted from the other blog)

Sunday-  Woke around 4:30 AM. I got up and got moving, and was out the door by 5:00 AM.  I was heading to Red Lodge, then another 50 min up to the Beartooth Highway, and into WY for a 10 K race at 10,000 feet. This would be my “try something new” for Billings.  Granted, I’ve done 10 Ks, but it was the 10,000 feet that’s new. 

I got into Red Lodge early. But that was okay,  I was able to drive up the Beartooth Pass/Highway with no one else on the road, It was pretty cool, especially with the sun rising, the clouds, the wind.  oh…the wind.  I got to the top of the first lookout, and pulled over for a picture, used the restroom. IT was COLD.  I was a little worried that it would not warm up, because the clouds were pretty full in the sky, And the wind…the clouds were Racing across the mtns. I was going to be “racing” in the clouds!!  Ok that’s kinda cool. 

 See the wind in my hair???

I drove up the pass, and over into Wyoming, past the ski resort, and to the start of the race, I finally was seeing other cars now. I was one of the first ones, but not the first.  I was directed to park at the back, and I backed in. But then I looked back and was wondering…will my emergency break hold?? By this time, the wind was blowing so bad, my Escape was rocking pretty good. I had an image of my Escape going over. I have no idea how hard it was blowing, but I was waiting for the car to flip.  The temp was FREEZING also.  I, of course had no service here, so I have no idea how cold it was, but it was no where near 70 degrees that was claimed.  And again the clouds were “RACING” across the sky.  

So, here I sat, watching everyone else show up, I had an hour to kill. So I huddled in the Escape, I cleaned it up a bit. then I went on a scavenger hunt for any extra clothes I might have.  And after I put on three layers on top/two on bottom. I, Thank God, found gloves buried on the floor, and one of my AZ IM Beanies in the center console. I don’t think I would of survived without these. It was THAT COLD. 

Finally, it was time to get to the race start, and I bundled up with what I could, and headed over to use the porta potty and then to the race meeting. There were maybe 50 of us for the 10 K, and 50 for the 5K.  Brave Souls. 

The sun would peak out for five seconds max, then the clouds would zoom past and hide it again. The wind…..bitter cold, and fast.  

 The 10 K started in a valley, so we ran up a 1.3 mile hill to the East Summit, then turned around, ran down, and then ran up to the West Summit (higher at 1.5,but a bit steeper) then ran down to the finish.   

SO, BANG the gun goes off, and off we head up toward the East Summit, The wind was a headwind, then would switch to a tailwind. I managed to get in a relaxed pace, as much as you can for 10, 000 feet and focused on form/cadence per coaches orders. I actually managed to get almost all the way up before needing a rest, then the down part was fun, because when you got a tail wind, It literally pushed you down the hill. I picked up some good speed, there.  I did have a few gusts of wind that were so strong that when I picked up my foot to step, It blew my leg in front of my other one, and almost tripped me. It was that strong that I couldn’t hold it!!!

The second hill, was a bit more challenging, I spent more of this just running from snow pole, to walk a snow pole, Run/walk.  The wind was so strong, that when it blew in a headwind, It literally would stop me in my tracks to a standstill, so I would just walk when that hit.  Then as I got near the top, I pulled out my camera and stopped to take a few pictures. After all, this was a pretty amazing place to be running. I got a summit photo, then I turned around and headed down, and stopping here and there to get some pictures.  I had one gal snap a pic with a pretty awesome backdrop, and in my high elevation state, she said,” JUMP!!” which I just did with out thinking, and it actually ended up being a pretty fun photo!!  I headed down to the finish, and the wind was pushing me so strong, that I was pushing a 8 min pace, and I wasn’t working that hard, it was all wind.  I crossed the finish in 1:16 hr/min. A 11:48 pace. I’m actually pretty happy with that, It was a tough race, but fun, and very memorable!!  I'm glad I did it!!!