Colorado Crossing



Colorado Crossing was a great two day race event.  I talked several people into running the races with me, so on day one, I ran with a group of friends that stayed together for most of the race.  

We got to cross the Colorado River twice each day.  Originally, this was supposed to be in a boat but low water made this a foot crossing.  

The course was fun, with some hills early and plenty of mud.  We had a few patches where the mud was ankle deep and the puddles were as wide as the tree lined path.  There were some steep down hills, too.

PC: StasulliPhoto

PC: StasulliPhoto

I gave up trying to keep myself clean and dry pretty early in the race, as did most of our group. 
The first aid station was manned by a few friends that we knew.  Volunteers at TROT races are always great but it’s extra fun to see folks you know.

As we neared the river, some runners from a longer distance race caught up to us and we chatted about the river crossing.  In the early morning, the crossing was deeper and the current was a little stronger and the runner told me they were shaken a little about how difficult it was.  They said by the time they finished the far loop the first time and returned to cross back, the race volunteers had found a slightly better place to cross and marked it for folks to follow.

Crossing the river the first time was an adventure!  Two of the group members took their shoes off and crossed barefoot, thinking it would make it easier to keep from getting mud or sand in their shoes.  After the waist deep (to me) water (and deeper on several other runners) we ran along the muddy and slippery river bank until we had to cross a small creek.  The mud bank was really tough to navigate but the creek got chest deep for about three steps.  Tough choice for the group but we slowly and carefully made our way across.

It was around this time when folks started wondering how long this 8 mile race would be and if we would have to cross the river again to get back.  I assured the group we wouldn’t be running much farther than 8 miles (turned out to not be accurate) and that we would have to cross the river again to get back because the start and finish were in the same spot (that was accurate).

The aid station on the far side of the river had another friendly face and we stopped to chat (and get gummi bears for the trail) for a few minutes.  While we were on the far side of the river, a couple other members of our group that were either late or lagged behind early in the race caught up, so our group grew in size.  We took pictures of cows and talked about getting back to the river and all the food we were going to eat when we finished!

As we crossed the river back, we saw the race photographer on the far river bank.  When we got close, we asked him to get a picture of us all together in the water.  Then we started the short, steep climb up from the river back to the trail.  There were spots of knee deep mud in and out of the water that looked like solid rock and I nearly lost a shoe there.

PC: StasulliPhoto
Once we hit the trail, I told the group we had to be close because the race photographer had walked from the finish line (he started walking back shortly after our group picture while we were getting everyone through the mud and getting their shoes back on).  It was a little less than two miles to get to the finish.  We picked up the pace a little and our group spread out some and we finished in two small groups.  The 8 mile race turned out to be about 9.1 miles.

Day One Crew

On day two, I planned to race the 10k.  I had looked ahead at the sign up page and thought there was a good chance for me to place well.  I started out quickly and felt really good through the early hills.  I kept expecting to see a sign turning the 10k route off the same path we had taken the day before for the 8 miler but it never came.  I thought maybe we would do a modified loop on the other side of the river and that there was no way we’d take the same path as the 8 miler because 9.1 miles is much longer than a 10k.


PC: StasulliPhoto

Well, the turn off never happened on the front side of the race and we hit the river.  On day two, the water was a little bit deeper and the current was much stronger.  It was tough making the crossing directly to the volunteer on the other side of the river without being pushed downriver by the current along the way.  I kept having to readjust my heading to keep moving in the right direction.

The path along the river bank was much slicker on day two and I ended up going about 10 feet uphill from the path because I was slipping sideways with every step along the path.  At the creek crossing, I completely skipped the muddy river bank and just plunged into the shoulder deep water.  This is where I learned that my Bluetooth MP3 player won’t broadcast through water.  It was in a plastic baggy inside my water bottle carrier pocket and when my hand went into the water, the music stopped.  Hand came out, music!  Hand went back in the water, music stopped, hand came out, music!  Science!

Then I learned that my plastic baggy opened and my car key was getting submerged.  I thought about how this was a terrible opportunity to learn if it was water resistant and kept running.  

I ran through the aid station without stopping and ignored the fact that my watch was nearing 10k mileage.  By this time, I knew there was no modified loop and that we were in for another 9.1 mile race.  Right around the 10k mark, I was passed by another runner who asked if I was the leader.  I told her no and that there were three men ahead of me and two women ahead of her.  She pulled away a little but by the time we finished our return crossing at the river, I’d caught back up to her and passed her again.
PC: StasulliPhoto

During the last stretch of the race, I came up on a friend that was running the 50k.  She was finishing her second of three loops (all of which included crossing the river and back!) and she looked strong.  I chatted with her for a minute before realizing the woman I had passed back at the river was catching up on me.  I told my friend she was doing great and to keep up the good work and then sped up to finish the last half mile or so.

I finished 8th overall and 4th male in 1:35:32 and was really happy with my performance.  I took off a good bit of the summer to heal from an injury and went into this race without much running leading into it.  

Overall, this was a great racing experience.  The combination of racing with friends on the first day and then individually racing on the second was a lot of fun.  It was particularly rewarding because this was a first time trail race experience for some of my friends and it was so nice to be part of the experience with them.  There was some anxiety and worry for some of them about how it would go but they were great!  It's an amazing feeling to be able to share what you love with your friends and see their excitement, strength, and positive energy as they attack something challenging (and in some cases, new)!

Medal Monday
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Ks for Kids Virtual 5k

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