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Imogene Pass Run


I broke the race up into 3 parts, the first 5.5 miles to lower camp bird, the next 4.5 miles to the summit and then 7 miles downhill to the finish. The first 5.5 miles are at gradients of 8-15% steep. I was able to jog portions and walk the steeper inclines. I made it to the lower camp bird, mile 5.45 in about 1 hour. That’s an average pace of 12 minute miles. The next 2.2 miles took me nearly 50 mins, I reached Upper Camp Bird, mile 7.65 in 1:52:50. Heading on towards the summit, the next 2.35 miles took me another 57:50, making my final time to summit 2:50:41. Yes, that is an avg pace of 25 minute miles for 4.5 miles. The Summit is at 13,114 ft of elevation. I descended the final 7 miles in 1:09:45, an average pace of 10 minute miles. I finished in 4:00:27! My thoughts about the course. Its hard, period. You are going up a mountain and altitude. Lets be realistic, its hard, really, really hard. The views are incredible, the mountain can be wonderful or down right ugly if it gets cold, windy, wet or snowy. We were fortunate and the weather held. The terrain is rocky. Descending is very technical on the way to Telluride. My legs are sore, but not torn up like they have been in the past after some races. I kept myself in check through out the entire run/walk/hike to be sure I would finish safely. I stopped at every aid station and ate and refueled and took pictures when I could safely handle the camera. The Imogene Pass Run is definitely the hardest event I have done to date. Congrats to both Melissa and Annie who completed the race with me and thanks to all those who provided support and encouragement.
Full Results Flickr Photos

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