I was really looking forward to returning to Los Alamos, NM for the 2011 edition of the Jemez Mountains 50 mile Trail Run. I had run the race previously in 2009 and fell in love with the course. In 2009 Jemez was only my 2nd 50 mile race and, while I had a great day (11:18) and my first ever top 20, I was determined to lower my time and try to crack the top 10 this year. I knew the field was pretty deep and that I would probably have to run an hour faster than '09 to achieve top 10 but my recent performance at Desert RATS gave me some confidence.
My training leading up to the race was very consistent with steady 85-100 mile weeks and as much vertical as I could find that wasn't inundated with snow. I knew going in that my fitness would allow me to go pretty hard and my only concern was potential heat as any possibility for heat training has not been available. As luck would have it, race days temps were very mild and I only felt overly warm for a brief period in the last few exposed miles. I had a relatively easy race week only putting in about 30 miles prior to Saturday but I was having some strange pains in my left calf/shin all week that I chocked up to "taper" week funkiness. I expected the pain to go away once the race got under way but it turned out to be a nuisance and the only limiter I felt all day.
Despite the 5 am start I opted not to start with a headlamp as I remembered it being virtually useless due to the dust cloud kicked up by the mass start. That wasn't an issue this year as I ened up out front early with just Nick Clark and Greg Hartman. I ran the first couple of miles by Braille and was lucky I didn't kill myself but the early trail miles are pretty smooth. After the descent into Redija Canyon, Greg bailed from our group of 3 leaving just Nick and I cruising towards the first aid station at the Mitchell Trailhead (mile 5). Nick had gapped me on some gentle risers and I put aside any thoughts of staying with him on his succesful run at the course record.
I hit the first significant climb up to Guaje Ridge in 2nd place determined to run the entire climb. After the first few switchbacks, though, I didn't feel like I had my best climbing gear. I had to downshift on a couple of the steeper sections and use a power hike to get my breathing back in line. The 3rd and 4th place runners (Corey Hanson & Nick Pedatella) were closing on me but I just kept after it as best I could. I let Corey come by just before we topped out but quickly repassed him on the technical downhill leading to the base of the Caballo climb.
I came into the 3rd aid station at Caballo (mile 10) in 2nd place but 3rd-5th were just seconds behind. I still didn't feel great on the start of the climb up Caballo and stepped aside to let the other 3 guys set the pace. I felt confident enough in my downhill running that I didn't mind letting a few minutes go on the up in order to preserve my energy for the difficulties to come. The fun part of Caballo is that it is an out and back and it was motivating to see that other than Nick the top 7 or so were really tightly bunched. I made quick work of the descent and got a bit of a boost from the encouragement of the other runners still ascending.
I left the base of Caballo in 5th but took it slowly on the climb up to the Pipeline aid station to take on some calories as my energy levels were a little low. I got passed by 2 more runners on this climb and hit my only low spot for the day on the gradual run in to Pipeline (mile 17). I only stopped at the aid station long enough to refill my bottle and grab a waist pack I had stashed in my drop bag thinking I might need more than 24oz of fluid on the climb out of the caldera. I left the aid ahead of the two kids who had passed me earlier putting me back in 5th place and I readied myself for the descent down Nate's Nemesis.
Two years ago I had taken a nasty fall on this section that left me picking gravel out of my ass for weeks. I was determined not to repeat that fiasco this year and took a more cautious route down that left my shoes brimming with dirt and gravel. I stopped briefly to empty out my shoes and socks but no sooner had I started running again then I had to make a pit stop to deal with some stomach distress. I got repassed by the two young guns while I was off in the woods attending to business but we seemed to have a decent gap on 8th place at that point. The next few miles in the caldera provide the best running of the race and I hit the Valle Grande aid station (mile 21) in a little over 4 hrs.
After loading up on supplies for the difficult cross country section over Cerro Grande, I left the aid station at the same time as the 6th place runner. We began the long grind over the uneven grasses, huge talus field, and insanely steep wooded section before topping out on the ridge within seconds of each other. Once on the ridge, the climb to the summit remains steep with uneven footing and I began to feel pretty good going uphill for the first time all day. I caught the 6th place runner who was having cramping issues shortly below the summit and was soon descending quickly through the technical "trail" off Cerro Grande. I ran into some minor navigation issues on the last bit of cross country (I guess the elk had eaten many of the course markings on this stretch) but soon caught sight of the 5th place runner and beelined straight for him. I quickly passed him and began my favorite trail section on the course.
The run from Cerro Grande to Pajarito Canyon rivals any stretch of singletrack here in the Gunnison Valley and, in fact, is very similar to descents like Bear Creek and Doctor Park. Despite being nearly 5 miles long, this section is too short. I pulled in to the Pajarito Canyon aid station (mile 29) comfortably in 5th, feeling strong, and only 5:30+ into the race. My legs were reasonably fresh for having carried me over nearly 50K and 3 major climbs. At this point I realized I had a great chance to go under 10hrs provided I didn't blow up. I had run a fast last 20 miles 2 years ago and knew that I only needed to get over one more long climb to enjoy a net downhill over those 20 miles. I put my head down coming out of the aid station and determined to run everything I could to the finish. I was focused on the clock and didn't really give much thought to place because if I held onto 5th I would have been ecstatic.
The nearly 4 miles to the ski area climb were more difficult than I remembered but were uneventful and passed quickly. As I pulled into the Townsite Lift aid station (mile 32), I was surprised to see Corey just 2 minutes up the hill in front of me. I made my way up to the early switchbacks and saw that both Corey and Nick Pedatella were only a couple of minutes ahead. Suddenly I had the podium in sight. I wanted to be conservative, however, and save something for the long downhill finish where my size would be an advantage as opposed to fighting gravity. I hung back and kept my pace even, slowly making up ground on Corey. I finally passed him near the first false summit of the ski hill climb but no longer had Nick in my sights. After topping out on the resort I was carefully picking my way down the steep loose descent when I began to hear rocks cascading down from above. I looked back and was surprised to see Nick behind me. I asked him where the hell did he come from and I gathered that he had gotten off course. We descended the ski area and came into the Ski Lodge aid station (mile 36) together.
We pulled out of the lodge side by side and began the gradual climb back to the Pipeline aid station. I was hanging back a bit on the steeper sections of the trail trying to do my best to eat and rest for what was shaping up to be a competitive run in to the finish. About a mile or so out from the Pipeline aid station the trail comes out into an open area and at that point I had managed to put a small gap on Nick who later told me he was starting to bonk there. With virtually no cushion on the podium I put the hammer down as best I could and tried to get out of sight out of mind.
I blew through Pipeline (mile 39) with a quick bottle refill and dropped off everything else. There was one more short, steep climb and then a mostly downhill run to the finish. At Pipeline the volunteers told me Brendan Trimboli, running in 2nd place, had just left about a minute or so in front of me so I was both running scared from Nick and trying to catch one more place. I hammered up the stinger on the Pipeline road looking forward to the long singletrack descent and the finish. I forgot about one more grunt before making the turn onto the downhill stretch but made short work of that running every step. I soon turned onto the serpentine singletrack that hugs Guaje Ridge and fell in love with Jemez course all over again.
Despite being in the thick of competition (or maybe because of it), I was enjoying the simple act of running on some of the most beautiful trails in the Western US. The views of the mountains and canyons we had been running over and through all day are breathtaking even without trying to average sub 9 minute miles after 40+ miles of running. I came into the mile 43 aid station a little over a minute down on 2nd place and no idea where Nick was lurking behind me. I took off after a quick bottle refill and knew that I only had about an hour of pain in front of me.
My mantra over those last 7 miles was simply to run as strong as I could and if I got beat at least it wouldn't be because I faltered in any way. I kept my pace as high as I could manage, ignored the accumulated grit in my shoes that felt like it was shredding my feet, and pulled into the final aid station (mile 48) about 30 seconds down on 2nd. I had a critical decision to make: ignore my dwindling energy, need for sugar, and nearly empty water bottle to try and run down 2nd or take a few seconds to top off. If I didn't refuel and totally blew up over the last two miles I would never forgive myself for blowing the podium so I opted for the less risky quick pit stop.
I climbed out of the Rendija Canyon aid station and was able to look back after a few switchbacks and see that Nick was nowhere in sight giving me a substantial cushion for a podium finish. I tried to muster whatever leg speed I could to run down 2nd but he was out of sight by that point and it was going to be tough to pick up a minute or two over the last mile or so considering I hadn't been able to put that much of a dent in his lead over the last 10 miles. I made the turn up the final rock gully to the finish chute and crossed the line in 9:39:56.
I couldn't be more pleased with my effort, result, and the entire race experience. Not only is this one of the most difficult mountain 50 milers in the country, it is also one of the most well organized. Special thanks to Bill Geist for putting on such a great event in such a special place.
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