Running in Greenland

Greenland Trail 25K

"Man, this seemed like a great idea yesterday! Now... not so much." Along with Eric, Yasuyo, Chris, and a couple hundred (thousand?) other fit-looking folks, I was standing around in sub-freezing weather wearing shorts and waiting something to happen. Someone was up ahead with a megaphone announcing something. We couldn't hear a thing he was saying but I wasn't too concerned; it seemed unlikely I'd be either in the lead or far enough back to not be able to follow someone else. Plus, I was playing the role of Peter today and it would be out of character to have any idea of the course or plan beforehand.

Yasuyo and I at the start. This is the last we saw of her until the finish!

All of a sudden, everyone started shuffling forward. "OK," I thought, "this must be it. Here goes nothing! Man, I really need to pee!" The pack started to spread out on a snow-covered double-track road headed south along the train tracks. It was still pretty cold; definitely below freezing though warmer than the low 20s when we'd left the car half an hour before. The sun was very bright and the pristine snow made for some fierce reflections. I settled into a comfortable pace chatting with Eric and Chris as we dodged ahead of slower people. Yasuyo hadn't been seen since the start, nor did we expect to see her until the finish line. That girl is speedy.

The Greenland Trail 50K course is a nicely rolling 8 mile loop in the Greenland Open Space north of Colorado Springs near I-25. Yas and I were here to run the 25K which consists of two loops of the course while Eric and Chris were attempting the signature event, the 50K Ultramarathon (four laps). There was also an 8-miler option (one lap). I've been running for a year now, but this was only my second race. Furthermore, I've never done a pure run longer than about 14 miles before and that one involved a lot of walking. I had no idea what to expect, but was optimistically gunning for a 2:30 finish.

"Man, I really need to pee!" But there was absolutely no cover and there were hundreds of people both ahead and behind. After two miles of level trail, desperately looking for trees or even bushes to duck behind, I finally found my break. The trail is an old rail bed and there are periodic small culverts where streams pass underneath. I ducked into one of these. Apparently I wasn't alone because several more guys followed me in.

Ah, so much better! I picked up the pace a bit as the runners started to spread out a bit. The first aid station was just up ahead at the south end of the course and I could see a steady line of runners making their way up the hill to the east. Gorgeous! But I still had 12 miles to go and the pace I'd been running so far was pretty ambitious for any long distance.

The hill wasn't bad, but I'm pretty good at going up. The trail was packed snow on top of frozen dirt. We came around the corner at the top and spent a while going up and down through copses of trees (sure, now there are trees!). It was getting downright hot! At mile 6.5 we came over a rise and could see the parking lot at the north end of the course. What's more, I could see the yellow and black tent that marked the second aid station and turn-around point where I'd start loop #2. It looked a long way away yet.

Chris motoring along on loop #1.

Yours truly enjoying the hill.

It was definitely warming up pretty well and the trail was becoming a bit soft in spots. I jogged down to the aid station arriving at 1:14 (a 9:50 pace). I was still feeling good, but wondered if I could maintain this effort level for another 8 miles. My normal speed is about a 10-minute mile over anything but a short run and my training so far this year has not been what is should be for any serious racing. I turned around the cone and started my second lap.

Clearly, it was time to get down to business. All the 8-milers were gone and the crowd was pretty dispersed. I broke out the iPod and took off my long-sleeve shirt. Suddenly air-cooled and motivationally tuned, I loped off another couple miles and rejoined the rail bed we'd taken at the start of the race. By the time I got back to the southern aid station again, my right knee was starting to hurt and my hip flexors had been complaining for a while. I was grateful for another lap up the hill and the change of pace.

"Three miles to go! Or is it four? Heck, I can't do math in my head at this point. Boy, it's really getting muddy out here. Downhill? Man, I don't remember this from last time around. Ooof, downhill hurts. There's that guy I blew past on the uphill blowing past me on the way down. Figures. I'll catch him again on the next up. Hope my knee holds up for another four miles. Or is it two miles by now? Damn."

At long last, I rounded the hill again and caught sight of the aid-station-and-finish-line again. It seemed a lot farther away than last time. I'd been running for about 2:25 and I resolved to make a break for it and push the last half mile or so to the finish. Probably couldn't make my 2:30 goal, but I'd go hard and then go home. The first quarter mile of faster pace felt great in a masochistic kind of way, but the aid station just wasn't getting much closer. Gasping, I finally ran through. "Finish line, quarter mile!" someone shouted. "Another quarter mile? [gasp, gasp] Aw, man!" Fortunately, there was a woman about 20 yard ahead of me. I concentrated on reeling her in, then there was another runner 10 yards ahead of her. OK, pass him too.

You don't see the actual finish line until you're almost on top of it. A big clock displayed 2:35 and counting, so I pushed through and finally got to stop running. Final time 2:35:35 for about a 10:00 pace. Not bad in any respect.

Yas was waiting for me having finished in a blistering 2:10 (#2 in her age group). We walked together out to the 50K turnaround point to see Chris start his 3rd lap and generally be supportive. He and I had started lap 2 together, but he'd wisely brought the pace down a bit and was still looking pretty good. Still, I was glad it was not me that still had another 15 miles to run! After seeing him off, we hung around at the finish line or the aid station chatting with the race organizers and availing ourselves of the free food and goodies.

Chris starting loop #3 (half way done).

Eric looks strong even after 30+ miles.

Chris came through a third time and reported that things were getting pretty muddy out there. One more to go. Runners were really spread out now with a new runner arriving every couple of minutes at the most. I wished I'd brough binoculars to spy who it was coming in from a mile or more away. After a while, Eric came blazing through after his fourth lap (all of which were within a five minutes of the same pace!) and spead on to the finish in a time of 4:46 and first place in his age group. An hour later, Chris showed up finishing with a time of 5:41:55, a full 20 minutes better than his 50K personal best and firmly in the top half of the field. We hung around a bit more enjoying pizza, (bad) beer, and general post-race camraderie. For such a chilly start, it really warmed up nicely.

I had a great time and am glad I decided to jump in at the last minute and run this thing. The first lap was great and the second was okay. Any more than that, I think, would be getting pretty boring. I don't know how those four-lap 50K runners did it. Though I did longer mountain runs last season, this is definitely the longest pure run I've done with no walking. Hopefully this is a good start to the season. It felt good at the time and I'm left with a very satisfying full-body soreness and pretty good sunburn on shoulders and knees. In any case, I have another number to hang on the wall and race shirt to wear with pride.

The Wilderness Journal

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