Well one thing Jeff is good for is finding some crazy events and this is where Niwots Challenge came in. Niwots was being build as a 24hr, 50mile race in which no one would finish. Not only would no one finish but we would be begging to get taken off the course, that's what the race director Sherpa John said. It is modeled after the Barkleys in TN which is a 100 mile race that has only seen 6 finishers in it's history. It's a 20mile loop that has most racers not evening finishing a single loop! I didn't know if Niwots was going to be this hard but I thought what the hell, I'm always up for an adventure. So me, Jeff and his son Garrett all signed up not really thinking we'd get in as there was a limit of 24 participants. Well only 13 people signed up so we were in!
Living in Chicago doesn't provide me with numerous opportunity to work on hills, unless I use a treadmill. So needless to say I've become quite creative with my hill workouts. One of my favorites is a 15mile run that gets me 7500 feet of climbing in 3hrs and 30min! Make sure you have a couple of good movies! I wasn't sure how my treadmill work would translate, turns out I had nothing to worry about.
As race week approached I was very excited to get to CO and run on some actual hills/mountains and not a treadmill. I landed Fri morning and Jeff and I headed to Golden to see about getting some maps for the lower portion of the race course. Unlike most Ultras this one required us to have our own maps (which will screw me later) and navigate our own way around the course. There were no markers telling us when or where to turn. We felt with our Adventure Racing background and the navigating required with it, we would have slight advantage. After a yummy bison burger and some last minute grocery shopping for supplies we headed home to eat some pizza, organize ou gear and watch the Blackhawks before heading to bed for our 3am wake up.
Race morning came and we were out the door at 340am for the 5am start outside of Boulder. There we were 10 runners (some people dropped) and 1 race director at 430 for the pre-race meeting. After a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, we were off with a wave of the RD's left hand (start elevation 5553).
Given I was the only runner from outside of CO, I'm sure no one thought I would make it very far. This gave me a little more incentive to do well. Off we went right away on to the first climb up Hogback Ridge (6345 feet), nothing major, in fact it was pretty easy. The hard part was Garrett and I ran right past the first book. Oh yeah on top of each peak we had to grab a page of the book to prove we were there. So as we started to head down I realized the mistake and turn around to get it. We got the pages and were back off and running tearing down the hill, snow on the ground made a fast descent. We caught up with Jeff and the three of us were currently in 2nd place.
We got to bomb down some hills up some smaller hills, mostly on road at this point, nothing too technical. We made our way over to Mount Sanitas (6766), this was mostly on trail so again nothing to technical. On the way down, I stepped on rock and got a nasty bruise on the instep of my right foot. At first I wasn't sure if it was a bruise or if I tore something, it would bother me for some time. We dropped quite a bit and then a quick climb to Red Rocks (5771) and then back down to the lowest point on the course (5410).
We met up with the RD at mile 19.5 for a 5 mile out and back up to Twin Sisters (8673). As we got to the parking lot the 3 leaders were taking off. Now as I mentioned, you had to navigate your way through the course and for the most part it was all trail and roads. This section would bring us to the first bushwhack of the race. About a 1.5 miles down the road there was rock cluster on the left of the road and a section of the fence missing on the right. This is where we were supposed to enter the woods and head up to Twin Sisters. The three leaders blew by this section by 2miles! We found the opening but got turned around in the woods and climbed the wrong peak. On the way down we passed two guys going up. They subsequently found the right peak but the question was if they could make it back to the parking lot, mile 25.5 before 3pm (10hr cut off).
We decided not to go for Twin Sisters so we would make the cut off. Which we did but we lost Jeff at this point. He was sick leading up to the race and decided he had enough. So Jeff along with two others who pulled out at 19.5 were out, total dropped 4. As Garrett and I were getting our gear together I got my first look at my foot. It didn't hurt that much anymore but it didn't look that great. After stuffing my face with some chips, cookies, cold Chef Boy R Dee, Coke and some bars we headed off again.
The next 6 miles were pretty easy as it was all road, 3 miles down and 3 miles back up. Our next destination was Scar Top (8737 feet). To get to the base of the climb we had to travel down a private road and I mean private. There were signs everywhere telling people to stay out. We were supposed to tell someone we were looking at the property for sale at the end of the road. Ha! We made it down the road to our entry point of the climb without any incident, then just as were about to start climbing an older couple driving by stops us. They tell us we can't be here at that the whole mountain is private, really what are you going to do with a whole mountain! We tell them someone driving by told us to climb here and that we were expert mountaineers looking for some fun. They drove off shaking their heads.
The climb was approximately .9miles and 1300 feet. It took us 1hr and 40min to make it to the top. We hit some false summits that we thought were the top, that messes with your head. The snow was so deep in places we were on all fours crawling up. It was by far the hardest climb of the day. As we were climbing we were wondering what Jeremy will say to the old couple, we figured he had to be right behind us. Turns out we were wrong, remember that navigating thing? Well Jeremy missed the turn and ran around and climbed the backside of the mountain. He was at the top when we got there, taking a much easier route then we did.
We got down much easier and faster then we did up and found the RD and Jeff waiting for us at the bottom. Garrett and I decided that on the way up this would be our last climb. The next three climbs would be at dark or close to it, were all off trail and much for treacherous. As Garrett was getting his picture with the failure sign (everyone who dropped got their pitcture taking with a board that had FAILURE written on it). I was debating to drop or continue with Jeremy. My decision was made final when Sherpa John started quoting Ken Chlouber (founder of Leadville 100 Bike and Run), "I will commit, I won't quit!". It was set I was moving on!
Jeremy and I headed out pretty quick trying to save as much daylight as possible. We ascended Jack Peak (8816 feet) with no issues and started to make our way along a knife ridge to Crescent Peak (8935 feet). The ridges were the best way to travel but they were still pretty tricky, especially at night with the wind and snow. The ridge to Crescent wasn't so bad but the ridge to Coal Creek (8483 feet) was gnarly and slow going. We had to scramble over lots of rocks and through lots of deep snow, it took way longer to get to Coal Creek then we thought. There were a few times on this section that I was thankful my wife had no idea what I was doing. The ascent to Coal Creek didn't get any easier a steep climb with lots of snow and rocks. With the snow covering the rocks you didn't know if you were going to have firm footing or sink in. This lead to lots of ankles and shins smashing into rocks, not fun! At one point both my legs sunk to mid thigh, I feel forward and when my arms hit the snow they sank up to my elbows. That left my face falling into the snow, thankfully there were no rocks and my money maker is safe!
A little bit later I fell again, this time sliding back a good 10 to 12 feet. It's pretty scary when you are falling and you don't know if you are going to stop or what will stop you! I was able to catch myself and continue the climb. It wasn't till I got to the top that I realized I lost my maps on the last fall. I was hoping the RD, who we would see at the bottome, would have an extra map for me by chance. As we worked our way down, which was much easier in the deep snow then up, I cursing myself for the map mishap.
At the bottom the RD said he had no maps to give me and that my two choices were drop or try and stay with Jeremy. Since Jeremy was really hoping to make the cut off and was moving better than I was, I decided to bow out and let him go on his own. It wasn't till the next day that I forgot I had my phone and could've taken a picture of his maps!!!! I'm still kicking myself over that one.
My adventure included a 2nd place (Jeremy missed the final cut off my 1hr), 37miles of running/treking,19hrs 30min and appoximately 15000 feet of climbing. It was an amazing adventure and I'm glad I did it, next time I will finish and show those folks in CO that us Flatlanders are no joke!
Thanks to Jeff and Garrett for coming along on this adventure, thanks to Sherpa John Lacroix for setting up an amazing event. Big thanks to my wonderful and amazing wife Jennifer for letting me go and giving me the strength to do it. I couldn't do any of it without her.
Until the next great adventure.
JP
