Breck Crest!! 20(Dime+a Nickel)

This weekend I intended to check out a town I had come across many times before, yet not once explored the peaks clearly visible from downtown...Breckenridge! I had planned to set out for training, but after a quick chat with my good friend and SCOTT Sports Germany teammate Marco S. (Who ran a stellar race at Breck Crest in 2014) I was sold on the idea of running along the ever long crest ridge line shooting across the peaks of the famous Breckenridge mountains. The views I was told were unmatched, giving full view of the cities below like Copper Mountain, Frisco and a few other small towns along the way. I set out wanting an adventure and I got just that! 

High alpine adventure!

 I had some knowledge of the race after a quick glance online. Saw some familiar faces and competitors I've raced that had made their way to the event with some hot times. The course record looked a little quick for what I wanted to do for my training this weekend so I didn't even plan to go for it. Dakota Jones was the record holder and I know he has some solid results at high altitude so I figured with my current fatigue following my Euro season, that I would just run a moderate effort long run and hopefully I could fight for a top 2 finish. After hanging out at the packet pickup for a bit and stuffing my face with the awesome food the Vertical Runner store so graciously cooked up for us, I hear a few names pop up of guys who were set to toe the line with me. One was Josh Arthur of Altra. That caught my attention! I've seen him in action and I knew he could run the descents pretty well so the race would be quite interesting once we reached the crest at the peak.

En-route to the long trot along the Breckenridge mountains' crest line

The race started pretty hot as there were half marathoners mixed in with the marathon runners. I told myself not to get caught up in the racing mentality as I had come to Breck mostly for training and not to put myself in the hole by pushing to the limit. As the field started to thin I found myself behind a few guys whom I figured at least 1-2 were in the marathon, certainly not all of them. As we started the long climb they began to come back and I found myself about a minute back of the top half marathon runner (Who happened to be my buddy Brandon B!). I made sure to pay close attention to my heart rate to monitor a consistent effort thanks to my handy Mio Link I linked to my Gps watch.

 

I was starting to get a little nervous as we were approaching the crest. I thought I saw someone up with Brandon at some point. I started to pick the pace up and found myself just a few seconds back of Brandon as he went down to finish the half and the marathoners and I ascended further to the ridge. I didn't see the guy whom I thought was racing and figured he must have surged hard. I asked someone what place I was shortly after the aid station near the ridge line and they said I was in 2nd. I blasted the trail and flew over the rocky technical sections to see if I could get the guy in my sights at least. I wore the soon to be released SCOTT Sports RC Kinabalu and WOW that was a great choice. Very light, breathable, great protection to allow you to run without concern over technical terrain! I said to myself, "dang this guy is an animal." I still couldn't see him after a pretty quick clip over the next 2 miles. After coming into aid station 3 they said I was in the lead. WHAT? Turns out that guy I thought I saw was just a hiker and went somewhere totally different. phew...

Action Photos by Maverick Sports

My planned workout was coming to an end before I would finally start to enjoy the beautiful views along the ridge as we descended rapidly back into tree line and throughout the familiar ski slopes of Breck I had to make sure to focus. With about 3 miles to go I had no idea the record was even a possibility as I had totally forgotten about that, being distracted by the sun glistening in the horizon. I really was enjoying the terrain diversity and the constant cheering from race staff as well as local hikers. My mind was completely set apart from the fact that the race was still in progress. This doesn't happen much for me, so this says a lot about the venue. Being that we were on the descent I knew I couldn't just ease to the finish without making a few checks as I knew Josh would be crushing the final miles, so I stayed aware of what was going on behind anytime I could get a good view. As the finish started to come into view I realized, "hey, I'm going to get the course record"! I felt pretty solid and its awesome to finally feel "mountain fit" after having a lot of time away from the trails due to niggles at periods of time this season. Excited for more adventures in the mountains and of course BIG goals for myself and Team USA as the World Mountain Running Championships approach!

Podium time. Not sure where 3rd place was?? He went M.I.A. on us. Thank you Spenco Medical for the Kholo Sandals, nothing better for your feet following a race! #LoveYourFeet

The Experience

 

Maverick Sports really did an awesome job for the race. I've been pretty vocal about the fact that some race directors do not mark courses well. I had no issues here. As a runner the last thing you should have to worry about when running a new race on a mountain is where to go...especially when you are leading! I have had that happen before in races where I was leading and got led off course. Let me tell you, there is nothing more frustrating than that. So, MAJOR props to Maverick Sports and Jeff W!!!! On top of that, the food was AWESOME. Anytime you get pizza at the post-race meal, that's a win even if your race went bad. Pizza has the ability to put a smile on the saddest of faces somehow! A definite bucket list race for any runner out there looking for something fun and challenging!

 

THANK YOU Vertical Runner, Maverick Sports and the city of Breck!!!

 

 

 

Make sure to checkout the Social Media pages for:

 

Spenco Medical on Instagram and @Spencomedical on Twitter

Vertical Runner... @vrbreckenridge on Twitter

Maverick Sports... @Mavericksports1 on Twitter