If you tuned into my last post you can see that I kind of over estimated myself and got a rude awakening about my race choices. I had a streak going... and not a streak any runner wants to see. A DNF streak! My last three ultras have taken a turn for the worse somewhere along the lines and had me reeling for a finish. Aravaipa Running from here in AZ put on great races all over the state and I kept seeing posts for these new mountain courses in the Flagstaff area. I was intrigued and needed to get some use from all that climbing during the Speedgoat race.
I signed up on a whim and got the time off from work. My training still hasn't been going great and I am going to blame my 12 hour night shifts at work for part of it. It is so hard to get into a groove when you don't have a set schedule and you feel like a zombie when the sun comes up. But hey what can you do, eventually I will figure out a great schedule to make things work! I hadn't had any super great long runs and no run since speedgoat was over 10 miles. I did have a few longer hikes above 10 miles so that counts for something though, right? My wife and I worked all night the Thursday night before the race, came home slept a few hours and then made the 4 hour drive up to Flagstaff just in time to sleep and be race ready bright and early. Talk about a tough turn around! We had been following the weather forecast over the past few weeks and each day we checked it only got colder and had more of a chance for rain....and possibly SNOW? It was still 95 degrees in Tucson when we left, how could 4 hours make that much of a difference??
I was doing the 50k so my wife decided to jump into the 10k to kill some time between seeing me come through the main aid station. We arrived at Humphreys Yurt near the AZ Snowbowl around 6:40 am and got our bibs. I warmed up and bit and after a small debate with other runners decided that the trekking poles were definitely coming with me. The gun sounded at 7 sharp, the temps were in the mid 30's and there was a slight frost on the ground as we started. A few guys bolted from the start and within minutes they were gone. I settled in to the first 2,000 ft climb straight up the ski line to the top of the AZ snowbowl up to an elevation of 11,500 ft over the first 1.5 miles. Talk about a difficult way to start a race. I was about 80% to the top and was wondering how I was ever going to run 30 more miles after that first slow going climb. After we crested the top, we came crashing back down a steep section back to the start line which would be our main aid station of the race. I was feeling my quads getting beat up as I descended and I made it back about 10 minutes before the start of my wifes 10k. I wished her luck and bolted to the port-a-john all that downhill really shook stuff up. Thanks to all the 10k and 5kers who let me skip the line and get right back out on the course! The next section was about a 7 mile out and back on the AZT (Arizona Trail). It was slightly downhill/flat this whole section, so I new the way up would be a little bit of a climb. Got to the turn around aid station had some pickles and potatoes and was back off the other direction to the start line again. As I'm proceeding to come upon an aspen grove I see a bunch of runners being led by a guy with a huge beard. It was a Rob Krar sighting and that kinda puts a little pep in your step! The whole group cheered us by a wished us luck. Come to find out, Rob was having his trail camp that weekend. You never know who you'll see on the Flagstaff trails. I made the climb back up to the aid station where my wife was waiting and informed me that she had beasted the 10k and came away with 1st female overall! Good thing she decided to jump in and have a go at it. She showed me her awesome trophy while I filled up my bottles and jaunted back down the trail for the final loop. This section was going southbound on the AZT and was downhill for miles. Mentally I didn't like all the downhill because I knew we would have to climb back up at some point, but physically I was feeling great with it. I got in a groove and passed a few people before heading to the last aid station just as it started pouring rain. I had some more pickles and potatoes filled my bottles and got prepared for what the aid station captain said "wasn't too bad of a climb" back to the finish. The rain had really picked up and the fog was down to the ground as I left the aid station. I gained on a few people thinking I was catching people from the 50k, but everyone I saw from this point forward was 25k runners. I got to the powerline climb and was back in powerhike mode. I knew I wasn't going to catch anyone with the pace I was going at, but was confident no one as going to catch me either. With the steep ski slope trail and the extraordinary amounts of fog I felt as if Jamil was channeling his inner Barkley and was waiting for some briars to start popping up somewhere! This climbed seemed to go on forever until I could start to finally hear some music through the wind and fog. I knew I was close, only one small quad busting downhill and the finish was mine. It was nearly impossible to make this downhill without sliding on the grass and luckily I had my poles or I would've probably fallen and did the slip-n-slide to the finish. I ran through the finish chute, collected my medal and had some hot soup in front of the warmers as my wife gathered our gear to hobble back to the car.
As we walked back i was shocked with how cold I got so quick, it was still in the 30's but now that I wasn't running I started getting super chilly. We rushed back into the car and tossed on some dry clothes and the seat warmers (best invention ever). As we warmed up I the car I couldn't help but think about the 50 mile runners still out there as the weather was only getting worse. Good thing the race wasn't the next day, this is what we woke up to:
All in all it was a great day. I ended up with and 8th place finish and ended my DNF streak! The location and trails were awesome. The race shirt and medal were on point and the weather made for a very memorable ultra. I will definitely keep this race on my list and will definitely be back in the coming years. Aravaipa knows how to create great race vibes and courses. If you've never checked out one of their race do yourself a favor and just sign up.
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