Sunset Trail Festival 28K

Gold Hill, CO

Sunday, June 22

Weather - Sunny and warm

I won't do a long recap on this one.

I had heard about this race a year or two earlier and had talked about running it but since no one else committed we didn't sign up. This year, Terri brought it up in early June and Larry and I both followed suit by signing up. I had never run the loop near Gold Hill, so I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.

There was a shuttle we needed to be on by 6 am, so we agreed to meet at the Justice Center in Boulder at 5:30, just to ensure we were there in plenty of time. Not only was it plenty of time, but we were the first people to get there. I'd rather not be stressed about it, so it was fine.

We rode in a bus that was maybe 20-25 minutes of windy roads to get to the start line. About halfway there, we lost phone service and would end up not having any service the rest of the day, which was fine.

Our race didn't start until 7:30, so that meant a LOT of standing around. We picked up our bibs and race shirt at the start line, and I used the bathroom 2-3 times. The race provided some bagels and cream cheese, and I think that after about 45 minutes I decided my breakfast had "worn off" and I grabbed a half a bagel. At some point, another busload of people got dropped off, for those that were running the shorter distances. Chelsea was running (and recognized me) and I briefly said hi to her. Finally, it was time to get going.

The race director gathered us all shortly before 7:30 to go over the course details. I barely listened but glad I caught some of the directions as there were ZERO course markings. Not one single flag or sign!!! The route was pretty straightforward, but it was still crazy.

We had to start in town and run up the hill before turning down a back road and going down the hill. Walked most of the hill on the way up and Larry, Terri and I were in the back of the back. I hate starting a race in the very back, but I wasn't sure I was even "racing" this race. The route started on a wide, dirt road. It was definitely a generous downhill, but I didn't want to run too hard. There was a funny sign that said "Private Sign, Don't Read" which I should have taken a picture of, but didn't. Terri edged just a little bit upfront and Larry and I were fairly close behind. At one point, Larry's shoe came untied and we stopped briefly for him to fix it. It was crazy to think that running a pace of low 10s had us the very back of the pack. It was just under 5 miles of dirt road before we came to the junction where we supposed to take a right turn. The aid station wasn't too far up the road and I just very quickly grabbed a cup of water. From here it was still a gradual uphill, some of the earlier parts were paved. I also liked this sign:

Even though it was a gradual uphill, I was trying to do some running intervals. While there was technically no cutoff for the course, there was a scheduled last shuttle back to Boulder which obviously we did not want to miss. Since I had never been in the area, I had no idea what to expect from the "Switzerland Trail." All the email and race info said was that it was rocky, and I wanted to move as quickly as possible on sections that were not technical. I also could not remember where the next aid station was. Terri and I had kind of ended up running together with Larry a little further back, and we both thought it was in mile 9-10. It was closer to 10.5 miles and right at the base of the Switzerland Trail. I stopped only long enough to drink some water and grab a couple packages of gummy bears, which I tried to eat while leaving the aid station. The trail was more like a rocky double track. We left right behind another gal and for a while me, her and Terri were all relatively close together. We came up behind a guy and I decided to run around him and the other girl and basically never saw him, the other girl or Terri again. 

Apparently, this is the Switzerland Trail

I realized I hadn't been taking any pictures, so on one of my walk breaks I took some pictures of the surrounding valleys we were in.

There was really only one section on the course that didn't have a trail marker and I really felt like it should have, but I'm just glad I stayed on what looked the MOST like the main road and didn't get lost. Came across some ATVs and a few bikes in this section, but other than dust, it was not an issue since we were more on a road than a trail. I also knew there was a THIRD aid station, but I didn't really know where that was either. Since I had no service I couldn't pull up any info or see the course map, but I vaguely remember that the last part of the course was downhill. I had put in music by this point but since there were bikes and such out I only used one ear bud. 

Finally, I saw the third aid station, over 14 miles in! If my math was correct, we were just about done with the uphill and we would just be coasting in. I topped off a flask and asked how many miles to the finish and the volunteer told me 3.5, which had me sooo mad! I didn't want to be closer to 18 miles. With the pace I was running I really hoped to finish under 4 hours. The road out of the aid station was the widest road yet, and it was really hot and exposed. I could see some people in front of me and as tired as I was, I decided that maybe I would race "just a little bit." I passed at least one lady right as we hit some of the downhill. Suddenly, I got to a volunteer and a stop sign - I asked where to go and she said to the right and then the finish was only 100 yards away. YAY!!!! I could see the race clock and I knew I would get in under 4 hours. As soon as I crossed the line I went into the garden area and grabbed a coke to drink while I waited for Larry and Terri to finish.

Distance - 17.46 miles

Garmin Time - 3:58:40

Official Time - 3:58:40

Garmin Pace - 13:40

Elevation Gain - 2,628'

Overall Place - 46/54

Mile 1 - 11:40

Mile 2 - 10:13

Mile 3 - 10:05

Mile 4 - 9:54

Mile 5 - 12:52

Mile 6 - 14:05

Mile 7 - 15:48

Mile 8 - 14:56

Mile 9 - 15:31

Mile 10 - 16:40

Mile 11 - 17:06

Mile 12 - 15:51

Mile 13 - 15:27

Mile 14 - 15:36

Mile 15 - 15:04

Mile 16 - 13:28

Mile 17 - 10:26

Mile 17.46 pace - 8:42

We had a beer and grabbed our free burritos. We found out while we were sitting there that we had somehow ALL misunderstood the last shuttle info - it was actually scheduled to leave at 12:30 and ARRIVE in Boulder at 1. At least we all made it?

Thoughts:

• We signed up only 3ish weeks out. The race is put on to benefit the Watershed and so it wasn't for profit and was $70 plus fees.
• Our registration included a shirt, a burrito and post race beer.
• The gpx was provided on the website, but I didn't add it to my watch or gaia since I naively assumed there would be at least minimal course markings. It ended up being fine, but I would have felt better with a flag or two.
• The aid stations were perfectly situated, I just forgot to mentally take a note of where they were on course. Minimal with fluids only for the first one and very minimal snacks with water/electrolytes at the last two.
• I would recommend this for a supported event with a "somewhat fun" finish line. Any festivities were unfortunately done by the time we finished, so it was a little underwhelming for us, but it was a nice area and the volunteers were very friendly.
• I would maybe run this one again, I think it was a good training run for heat and a bit higher elevation than I run around my house.

Week in Review (May 13 - May 19)

Tuesday (14,258 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work. StairMaster and strength training at lunch.

Walked Olive after I got off work. Torchy's? Handmaid's Tale!

Wednesday (16,411 steps) - Olive walk before going to work. I had a workout at lunch. Unfortunately, my stomach was off basically from the beginning. I had to walk a bunch and the trail was also torn up on one side, so.... other than getting miles in - it was a bust.

I did see baby geese though!

No idea what happened after I got home.

Thursday (12,184 steps) - Work from home. Took Olive for a long walk, then Ariel and I went to Torchy's to pick up lunch and watched an episode of "You." Strength training and squeezed in a Peloton ride to get all my cross training done for the day. Criminal Minds!

Friday (13,316 steps) - Wash Park with Olive and the gang. Uneventful day at work. My Mother's Day flowers were looking quite lovely!!

Stuff. Things? 

Saturday (34,922 steps) - Planned to meet Terri at 7:30 at the free lot in Boulder so we could carpool to the trail head. Unbelievable that the trail head was already full??! Last time we ran from there we parked at 8:15... I thought for sure that 7:30 would be early enough, but no, we had to park on the road which was going to add nearly a mile to our day. None of us were excited about going up Shadow, but I felt really good right up until we started the climb. Once we got into the canyon I just kind of felt clammy and nauseous, so it just took forever (for all of us, I think I was the biggest whiner though).

No need for us to tag South Boulder or Bear peak, we have all done that plenty of times. We did stop for a snack at the saddle and chatted for a few minutes with a few gals that were out pacing at Cocodona this year.

We finally started the descent, and happily we had almost all the vert done. Of course then we have the technical downhill, which we don't like either. It was also getting chilly, so I had to put my jacket on.

Just before the route finally leveled out, I slid down a section and managed to gash open my left palm and pinky pretty good. Thankfully, after Terri's fall last week, I actually had some supplies in my pack to clean it up and got bandaged up.

We managed to get caught in a short rain storm, which wasn't fun on the chunky rocky section and I couldn't seem to stay on my feet. Was becoming very frustrating!! Not to mention, none of us could remember how far it was to get back to the car.

We finally got close and realized it was going to be very close to 13 miles, so I opted to round up to a half marathon distance (and only had to go about .06 out of the way). Terri dropped me and Ben off at the truck and we met up at Murphy's for lunch and a beer. 

We decided to head home and grab Olive before heading to 4 Noses for one more beer. Leftovers? Who can remember.

Sunday (14,326 steps) - Happy birthday to me:

We had plans to for brunch around 11:45, and I suggested we head to Green Mountain to do a few hill repeats before meeting Ariel.

This sign always makes me smile

It was pretty warm and sunny, and unfortunately, my hair tie broke so my hair was flinging around, making me even hotter.

We managed to get two full repeats done, yay!! My watch apparently thought I was cheating because when I saved the activity it asked if I wanted to add an e-bike. Uh, no. We drove over to the Cheesecake Factory and got seated right away. Got an eggroll sampler and I picked a delicious breakfast sandwich for my entree.

Obviously, we got cheesecake! I got Key Lime for my special birthday slice, plus we got a few other slices to go.

We decided to walk around the mall a bit - I don't think I had been there since before Covid? Or maybe even before the hail storm that totaled my car ruined the roof of the building? All I got was a new jibbitz for my crocs (yes, I am just THAT COOL). Spent the rest of the day at home. Took a nap, read some of my book, and all of us watched a really cheesy movie "Significant Other."

Monday (13,359 steps) - Work from home. I took Olive to the dog park again to combine a run/walk since I also had a dentist appointment later in the afternoon. Saw the first snake of the season:

Olive had a great time running in and out of the "river" in the dog park. So many well-behaved dogs out there and they had so much fun chasing each other. Olive definitely gets a surge of energy any time she can get wet or roll around in snow.

After her swimming break we still had a couple of miles to get back to the car, but she did a great job of running it in. Finished out my work day and hoped to get some driving in, but I didn't get any good offers, unfortunately. Picked up pizza for dinner. We planned on watching tv but Aliya and Ariel showed up and we spent the evening going over details for our upcoming vacation. 

Stats:

• 118,776 steps
• 26.34 miles run
• 11.64 miles walked
• 55 minutes of cardio
• 50 minutes of strength

Week in Review (May 6-12)

Tuesday (13,943 steps) - Peloton and Olive walk before going to work. StairMaster and strength training at lunch.

Another walk with Olive after work. Handmaid's Tale.

Wednesday (21,715 steps) - With Olive being home and it raining I opted to skip walking Olive before going to work. After work I headed to Dinosaur Ridge since I had a hill workout to do and all the trails were too saturated to run on. I walked for probably the first 15 minutes of my warm up and ran the rest. Might have been the first time I've ever run up the full Rooney Road side of the road! Was pretty happy about that. 

Took Olive for a short walk after getting home. Parks and Rec?

Thursday (11,633 steps) - Work from home. Did a Peloton ride and then took Olive for a long walk. Ariel had a dentist appointment and wanted me to go with her. I was easily convinced since there is a Ziggi's in the parking lot and I got my free birthday drink!

Pilates video and some driving after work. Took Olive for a walk after all that.

Criminal Minds!

Friday (17,536 steps) - Walked Olive before going to work. Ariel was supposed to be home during the day and then going to work in the evening, but she got called in so I had to rush home right after I got off to walk Olive. We are still in need of new things to watch so we found a movie, "Wild Robot" - and we both really liked it.

Saturday (27,803 steps) - Drove up to Louisville to meet Terri at her house so we could carpool to Bobcat for our long run. I had a vert goal of at least 2000' of gain, and this was Terri's suggestion for a way to get it. We planned out a longer loop than the last time we were in the area, and going in the reverse direction. The first few miles were ALL up and it was pretty warm and sunny.

When we finally got to the top of the ridge and the below sign, we stopped for a brief snack break.

Once we were more on the saddle/ridge it was more runnable. We were blessed to have a slight breeze and we were all in a great mood at this point (especially since we had done so much of the climbing already).

We came to a trail junction and going one way had all sorts of signage (that I can't believe I didn't get a picture of) that suggested imminent death, so of course we opted to go the more tame way. Not more than a few minutes down the trail and Terri had a decently bad fall, ripping up her left knee pretty badly.

Once we got to the split at the Power Line trail, she opted to go back to the car so that she could get cleaned up. Larry, Ben and I kept going. It was quite a nice descent down some fairly smooth switchbacks, before we ended up on the lower loop trail. Larry had us convinced it was going to be a 13 mile loop, so Ben and I were super happy when we got closer to the car and it was only about 11 miles. I hadn't quite hit my vert, so I went back up the way we started until I hit my number (and happened to run into Terri, who was passing time waiting for us). We of course went to Berthoud Brewing after (since Larry and Terri are in the mug club AND they have delicious pizza).

After lunch we headed back towards the city, dropping of Larry and then a quick stop at Crystal Springs for their anniversary party before heading home. 

Sunday (18,151 steps) - Originally Terri had plans to join us for our morning run, but she canceled last minute. We got out of the house a bit later than planned for our run in Boulder. There were a zillion people out and we got one of the last parking spots at the trail head we like. Pretty early on we both realized that we didn't feel great (sore and tired from the Bobcat run) and this was going to be a long morning. 

Lots of pretty flowers out, including TONS of irises, which I don't ever remember seeing on this trail before.

I thought the run was going to be about 8 miles, so we were INCREDIBLY happy that it ended up being less than 7. I was just NOT into this one at all. Let Ariel know that we were finished and headed to 4 Noses. We had one beer before carpooling to Deidre's house for Mother's Day breakfast burritos. Always good to see them! Headed back to 4 Noses for the succulent workshop - I think I did great (with lots of help from Ariel and the lady hosted the workshop).

And the pretty flowers that Ariel got me:

Nice, quiet evening at home.  We sat on the front patio and had some pasta for dinner. Parks & Rec?

Monday (23,274 steps) - Work from home. Went for my run pretty early since it was supposed to be really hot. Normally, I turn my watch on to connect to gps before I leave the house so as soon as I leave the driveway I start my run. I missed a step on this one and accidentally didn't start my watch until I was almost to the park. Ugh. I had 75 minutes on schedule and since it's been so hot I ran the south side of the lake. Run itself wasn't bad. I did walk up the last part of the big hill, but otherwise ran the whole time - a big step up from how awful running had been on Sunday. Did some work and some laundry. After the second load of laundry we had some excitement. The basin wasn't draining. Ariel and I tried to do some troubleshooting, but basically we had to drain using the emergency water release, which the first time I did that water sprayed out pretty far, Ariel figured out how to release the water more slowly. Ugh. Took Olive for her walk. They are finally closing the lower single track after all the damage people have done to it since Covid. (Personally, I think this should have been done ages ago).

Did some driving after work. Pizza for dinner?

Stats:

• 134,055 steps
• 29.93 miles run
• 18.62 miles walked
• 55 minutes of cardio
• 50 minutes of strength