a great get-away. I stayed with good buddy Marc Gillotti who lives a few miles outside of Boulder (check out the pics for their cool view of the mountains). After a 10 hour car trip, we did a 9 mile run down around the boulder reservoir where the 5430 70.3half IronMan race takes place. It was cool and rainy. Marc showed me the town and we went out to some fun restaurants (Mexican and sushi) and saw a cool velodrome track at Boulder indoor cycling. Swam at the awesome Lifetime Fitness health club, and mountain biked in a park just at the foot of the mountains. This was just for fun before the race on Saturday. After a great home cooked pasta meal Friday night, we left for the race Saturday morning. It was cool, about 50 degrees as we headed west up the mountain past the town of Nederland, and up to the Eldora Nordic Center (ski slope) at 9500 feet. There was a 10k race before the triathlon through the trails. It had been raining for several days so the transition area was very muddy, and the course was wet. We set up our transition and we went down to the lake. Water temp was in the high 50’s so of course we wore wetsuits, but it was cold on my hands and feet. The start was time-trial start every 5 seconds, and I swam well for about 100 yards. Then the thin air got me, and I was gasping for air breathing every stroke. My arms felt like they had weights tide to them. It was the longest (and slowest) 1000 meter swim ever! I got out and felt dizzy. I told Marc I may stop if this does not get better. We ran (slogged with wet suit in hand) up the mountain to T-1 that took about 5 minutes. Then off on the 18k bike and this was an experience like I had never had. The technical aspects of the race just could not be duplicated anyplace in Iowa, so it was really challenging physically and mentally having to concentrate so hard because I was unfamiliar with the course. The downhills were so steep and rough, the uphills steep. There was one giant climb that required everyone to walk (even the pro’s). I came unclipped 4 different times, and only fell once and that was over backwards as I spun out acceleration up a steep climb. I did have to chuckle as a group of 3 guys came by me and then they all missed a fast turn and wiped out in a huge mud puddle. They were all blaming each other for the crash, yelling obscenities. There were several thousand feet of climb in the race. I was impressed with the ability of the good riders, and even a few of the women (at least I thought they were women?). My bike was making some pretty loud grinding noise so I new something was up. My back wheel felt wobbly (turns out the hub and axle where broken). Finally I came in and was happy to get off the bike! The 6k run was basically on the same course as the bike, so it was tough. You had to look where you placed every foot, and go sideways down the hills it was so steep. Twice I got lost running in the woods. The course was not marked all that well. I saw another runner running up above me on the mountain so climbed up to that trail and followed him. Then, we both stopped and could not find the trail? Eventfully I made it in with only one slight ankle sprain I twisted trying to run fast the last mile.
After the race, Marc and I ate a taco, and enjoyed the sunshine and the 60 degrees at about 1pm that day. I talked to one of the pro’s about the course and he said it I one of the harder Xterra’s there is and ranked it an 8-9 (out of 10 in difficulty). He said Beavercreek (another Colorado Xterra) was more like a 5 in difficulty.
We headed back down the mountain and stopped and sat in the stream for an ice bath (beautiful, swift, and cold). Enjoyed looking around at the beautiful Colorado countryside while we iced our legs.
Out of 217 finishers, Marc did awesome finishing 32nd overall!! I finished in 2:24:44 93rd overall (2nd non Coloradoan! HA!). This ranked up there as a top 3 difficulty race for me. Make no mistake it was tough, and makes regular triathlon look like it is for sissies! Marc was a great host, and the trip was one of my best vacations ever!
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