This was a fun trip and an exciting race for me. The Bridal Veil Falls 30k start at the Gondola in the in center of Telluride and is a scenic loop through Bridal Veil Basin and Gold Hill with about 6k vert in climbing topping out near 13,000 ft.
I enjoyed the race for a couple of reason. First, it is a mtn race once you hit Bridal Veil Falls you are going up and it doesn’t let up much. I love vert and feel like it is where I excel and bit. Secondly, I had some good friends go with. Jason and Svetlana ran the ran the race and Brittany and John Ebers came to support us all. Which made for a really great time after the race.
Back to the race. This was my 3rd race since I started pretending to be a runner and it was by far my best effort so far, so I am going to try keep in the memory bank of it for in my things I am grateful for.
The start of the race was fun. Jason, Svet and I took off at a casual pace and joked and were able be silly through town. Once we start going up, I decided that I would really like to push myself a bit more, so I took off and started passing people. Once I started nearing 12,000 ft. I was pretty much alone with just three people ahead of me. The third-place runner was just going through the pass, and I had a glimmer of hope that I could catch up to him. Once I got to the top of the pass I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be able to catch him but I could still get a solid time and try to enjoy the amazing views as you come down into Gold hill.
From here you still have quite a bit of climbing up to the top of Telluride (Maybe 2.5K) you hit the top get more amazing views and slog down the road to the base of the Gondola. All in all it was a good effort and I was super pumped to come in 4th overall and in 3:52:03.
Svetlana was able to come in 3rd place for the woman and seemed pretty stoked on racing. It was her first race longer than a 10k (I believe). Jason had a rough day but finished with a smile on his face just a while after Svet.
That night we camped just outside of town and were able to enjoy a nice little fire until it started raining. I think the best part of the trip might have been at breakfast the following day at the Butcher and the Baker when Jason got a muffin. Never seen him so excited! Granted the food there was delicious and I can’t wait to go back!
We wrapped the trip up by doing the Via Ferrata. Definitely pretty fun and had some great views. The highlight had to be passing the terrified tourist, Brittany’s handstand, and John flagging of a couple of the rungs a few hundred feet of the ground.
