2012 Golden Gate (Co) Dirty 30 Race Report

The 2012 Golden Gate Dirty 30 in the mountains outside of Golden Co., has been on my bucket list for several years yet I have either missed the registration cutoff or it conflicted with other races.  Again this year I nearly missed it due to an ankle injury on another trail race the pervious month.  In the week leading up to the race, I had gained a comfort running on smooth surfaces yet nothing on trail.  

To be safe I decided to run this race easy and use it as a long training run especially with a challenging race schedule (Bighorn 50 miler in 2 weeks and the Vermont 100 in 6 weeks).

With a one hour drive from Centennial, we made it to the start area with 20 minutes to spare for the start.    Kelly and I had a goal of running together so we got near the back to avoid getting caught up with the competitive runners.

 

The first 5 miles was a bottleneck of runners on single track.  This was the only place I felt a few tweaks of pain in my ankle. Perhaps I got more attuned to my foot placement through the race.  Again, this was good training for the UTMB-TDS and CCC that Kelly and I are running in late August.  That race will have 1200 to 1600 racers each with long lines of runners on the climbs.  The next 12 pictures are of the first 10 miles.

 One of the old log cabins on the course

 Since this race is in a state park there are plenty of rest rooms.

 View of the Indian Peaks

Above is Kelly running into aid-station 2.  She was already sick but was able to push out a run on the flats.  We took a few extra minutes to get her some food, water, and rest.  The race has 5 aid-stations space about 5-6 miles apart through the race.

 The Moonshiner's cabin

 The first technical section

 Watch the clouds in the next set of pictures as they form up into thunderstorms

 The next set of pictures are from the Bear Trail which is the most technical part of the race.

 Here comes the thunder and rain

 Above was about mile 21 after Kelly had me go ahead so I could make sure I made the cutoff

The next set of pictures are on the way up Windy Peak.  I was very luck to make it.  Not long after I made it past the Burro trail junction, the race officials made the call to turn runners back due the storms.

This is the view near the top of Windy Peak.  Near the top with 1/4 mile and 150ft to climb, the race officials had runners turn back due to the lightning.  This was another good decision since by the time I was below the peak it was covered in dark clouds with thunder and lightning.

Below is a Ben Reeves from my Runners Roost Race team working as the course marshal at the Burro  junction.  He had a tough job telling runners to turn back and stand out in the storms.

In the end, I finished in 8:16:38 with a 10 minute penalty for being turned back near the the top of Windy Peak.  So the official time was 8:26:38 and I ended with a great training run.  I was able to work on pace, time on my feet, and running in bad weather.  The volunteers were well organized and friendly and I always enjoy the conversations on the course.

To learn more about the race with a good course descriptions see: http://www.goldengatedirtythirty.org/info.do?page=course50 Golden Gate Dirty Thirty

My Garmin report: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/185006136

Thanks Golden Gate Dirty 30