Sprint to the Summit

I spent last week in beautiful Park City, Utah. I watched some World Series ball, shopped a little (and I mean a little, only purchases were a new pair of sunglasses which I had planned to buy and a bra…really that’s it), enjoyed some fine cuisine (especially when Tracy cooked a fantastic pasta dinner), got some sun and didn’t work out nearly as much as I should have or wanted to.

Due to “scheduling issues”, I missed the Tuesday evening Park City group trail run that I had been so looking forward to for weeks…shit happens. With my last full day rapidly approaching, I decided that I needed to get out and do something. As I was putting the lid on my Starbucks coffee, I looked up at the community bulletin board and there it was, Sprint To The Summit, a 12km trail race happening the very next day, it had to be fate. Registration was free, but you were required to bring a dish to share, sign me up! Now for those of you who have never visited Park City, it has a very impressive elevation of 7,000 ft /2,134 m (let me put this in perspective, elevation of Maple Ridge 49ft/15m, elevation of Whistler Peak 7152ft /2180m), the course description referenced a high point of 8,500m, holy crap, talk about altitude training for a sea level girl!

I carbed up, hydrated and probably stayed up a little too late on Friday night, like I said earlier, shit happens. I got up bright and early on Saturday morning and did my best to replicate my pre-race routine 1600km away from home. A little, ok a lot nervous, I arrived at the start line in Summit Park (notable resident: Ted Bundy), picked up my race bib and looked around at the competition…although there weren’t many there, those who were looked very hardcore…gulp. We had our race briefing, we were told that there was a small hill and then a big hill and that we should walk the big hill, there was also some talk of trail access roads etc, which really meant nothing to me, today I would follow and hope for the best. The race started and off I went, I rounded the corner to the small hill and found my heart in my throat, so less than 2 minutes into the race I was walking…omfg, what was I thinking when I signed up??? Ok, so I wasn’t alone, when I looked around there were others walking and when we got to the big hill it looked like the majority were walking, I think. I channeled my inner Daryl and focused on maintaining my heart rate, so I walked what I had to and ran what I could. The trails were great, a steady uphill, not too technical, and for the first 2/3 I felt pretty good, out of breath, but pretty good. I maintained my position behind three firefighters and in front of a lady wearing Canada socks. The last 1/3 of the ascent was too technical to run (even if I could breath), the higher we got the harder it was to breath, I literally had to slow to a snail’s pace to keep my legs moving, I felt like I was climbing through molasses. It was a crazy feeling, and I couldn’t wait to get to the summit. When I finally arrived at the top, I was greeted by a friendly fellow with a camera (I can only imagine what that picture must look like), I had a quick gulp or two of water and tried to take my own picture but wouldn’t you know it, my blackberry was locked out…crap.

1:07 into the race I started my descent…the views were absolutely breathtaking. The lady wearing Canada socks was now ahead of me, now that we were going down I was able to breath/talk and was able to find out that she was from Calgary but now lived in Park City, I also found out that she was two weeks away from Iron Man, so now she was my hero as well as my trail guide. We stayed together for most of the descent, that was until my bladder could no longer take it and I had to pull off. I don’t know why all of my race bathroom breaks seem to take place during “Rockstar”, nothing like Chad singing to you while you are squatting at the side of a trail! My Canadian friend had warned me about one last mean hill before the finish line; it had nothing on the others, but my legs were tired and I was ready to be done. At the top of the hill were my fireman friends, I tucked in one last time behind them, but I didn’t expect them to take a wrong turn. They knew the trails and told me that the one that they were on would get to the finish line or I could double back and connect with the course to the finish line, decisions…I decided to stick to the course so I doubled back. As this was a very small race, there was no MC so I was never quite sure how close I was to the start line. I had hoped to complete the course between 1:30-1:45, but with my wrong turn I was now just over 1:50. Tired and done, I had a near death stumble, I recovered less than gracefully but had to walk it just to make sure that everything was ok. As I looked up, I could see my cheering squad. Time to suck it up…I put on my best race face and picked up what little speed (more like a trot) I had left and crossed the finish line. Unofficial time, 1:54 and change, two leg scrapes (that’s why I always shave them before playing in the trails) and a nasty running short chafe….priceless! It took me a little longer than I had expected, but I was so happy that I had done it. I would like to thank the volunteers and race crew for putting on such a great event and to my new running friends for making me feel so welcome.