When Ben asked me a couple days before the race if I wanted to compete in the Vail Pass Half Marathon at the Teva Games I jumped at the opportunity. I checked out the course map and elevation chart and thought, hey, that’s not that bad.
I don’t think the statement “it sounded like a good idea at the time” could ever be more fitting than in this situation.
Looking back now, I definitely had a blast and loved the brutal experience, but there were definitely some low points during the race in which my thoughts were full of every single expletive imaginable.
Here’s the lowdown on the course:
- Vail Village to the top of Vail Pass
- 13.7 miles
- 2,900 feet of elevation gain
- Finish line altitude of 10,000 feet
Climbing Distance: 10 miles; Average Grade: 5
Did I also mention that the race only attracts top runners and amazing athletes? Oh yeah, out of the 120-something participants, only about 100 finished, most of which in amazing time. One of them was Amy Smith, a friend of ours who dominated the course in a time of just over 2 hours. She finished up 3rd in her age group (my age group too) – congrats Smith!!
When It's All Said and RUN 