Race Report: Golden Leaf Half Marathon

I woke up and almost literally jumped out of bed at 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning in Aspen because I was so nervous for the Golden Leaf Half Marathon. I got dressed and woke up Dan and Noah saying, "We're leaving at 6:25 on the dot." Dan was like, "But the race doesn't start until 8:30." Whatever, dude, let's go.

We got coffee at McDonald's because the hotel wasn't with it that early and went to get on the 6:45 shuttle to Snowmass. It was too full for the stroller, so I lovingly abandoned my husband and son and got on, yelling over my shoulder for them to take the next bus. Never mind that they got up that early to support me on this run. I was nervous and I had to get there.

On the shuttle, I sat next to a local couple who have run this race all 30 years. OK, 29 since one year it was canceled for the weather. Their advice: "Watch your footing." Turned out to be some pretty good advice since many people finished the race bloody and/or bruised.

I got to the start, picked up my timing chip, used the bathroom 15 times or so, and found Dan and Noah. I have to give them credit for taking the next shuttle and not just saying, "Screw this," and heading back to the hotel. Take my word for it, I am not the most pleasant person to be around when I am getting ready to run a race, and Dan did not have an easy day taking shuttles all over Aspen/Snowmass with a headstrong toddler and a jogging stroller. Thank you, Dan, for being there!


Dan wanted before and after pictures...here are the "befores," from about 2 minutes before I lined up at the start of the race.

Yeah, who was I kidding with that tough guy picture???

The race started with a mile and a half straight up Snowmass Ski Area.

My strategy was to just run really slowly for that first mile and a half. Turns out, that is pretty much impossible and most mortals walk at least some of that. I did, and my first mile took over 16 minutes. It was at that point that I started re-thinking my time goals for the race. But then I thought I might be ok when I heard someone at the top of Snowmass say, "It's all downhill from here."

OK, I'll be fine, right?

Except that that dude is an evil SOB liar because it was most certainly NOT all downhill from there. And the truth of the matter is that I went faster on a lot of the uphill than I did on the downhill anyway. The trail was pretty rough, but it sure was beautiful. I didn't take any pics during the race obviously, but here is a picture of the leaves from the same area.

There were parts of the trail that were just blanketed with golden colored aspen leaves. You'd run through a grove of dark green pine and then a grove of bright yellow aspen lit up from behind by the sun. And then you'd hit a little clearing where you could see all the surrounding mountains... and then you'd trip over some roots or a rock because you took your eyes off the trail for like one second to take it all in.

This was by far the hardest race I've ever done and also the most rewarding. I'd do it again in a heartbeat even though it took me something like 2:45 to finish!!! And I am actually ok with that time.

At about 11 miles I passed a lady and took out my headphones. I said, "Do you want to hear a funny joke?"

She looked at me like I'd lost my mind and said, "OK."

I said, "I thought I was prepared for this race. Isn't that a funny joke?"

She gave me another strange look and kind of a half laugh as I ran off cackling manaically. I think by then I'd been deprived of sufficient oxygen for too long.

But here are the things that I will do to prepare myself better for my next trail run.

1. Practice stream crossings. I didn't do that at all and there were tons of them. What was I thinking? Of course there are stream crossings between Snowmass and Aspen.

2. Practice more uphill. If I could have gotten up that first hill just a little faster, my finishing time would have been much better. Because most of the run is on singletrack trail, once you are behind someone, it is really hard to pass. There were bottlenecks at some of the stream crossings and some sketchy stretches of trail where I was literally just standing still.

3. Practice more on rougher trails. I knew there would be rocky sections...I just didn't think the whole race was going to be so rocky.

4. Get my mind prepared for the fact that there are NO flat sections. Everything is either a down or uphill. And realize the down is just as hard as the up on that kind of terrain. I guess I logically should have known this too, but I really wasn't ready for it.

But the important thing is that I finished! And I finished without more than a few bruises. I noticed at the finish line that some others weren't so lucky. And I wasn't last! Not even close! I even beat a whole bunch of dudes! Here's the "after" picture. Dan tried to get a pic of me finishing, but he said I just came around the corner too fast (yeah, that's right...I'm too FAST!).


Here's a picture of my socks after the race. They were inside my shoes. Why are they so dirty?


And here is a picture of Noah and me in my finisher shirt that night (after a margarita or 2).


The food after the race was the best I've ever had at a post race celebration! They had the most amazing mushroom soup and sandwiches and pasta salad and fantastic cookies.

If you ever get the chance, RUN THIS RACE! They run it at the end of September every year on the trails from Aspen to Snowmass. It's an amazing experience and it was an outstanding introduction to trail running.