Standing under the race banner on Telluride's main street, Colorado Avenue, the day before the race. The summit we cross during the race is hiding behind the ridge that's behind the "I" in "Imogene" on the banner.

This is a postscript to my last post, “Humbled,” about training for the Sept. 12 Imogene Pass Run from the town of Ouray to Telluride. As that post detailed, the 17-mile Imogene Pass, which summits at 13,100 feet, loomed large in my mind. Family history and childhood memories ran through the precipitous rocky road, while the high altitude and above-timberline views left me awed and short of breath.

The rule of thumb for estimating a finish time at Imogene is to use your regular road marathon time. Imogene is only 17 miles, but it takes roughly as long as it takes someone to run a flat, paved 26. As with road marathoning, a sub-3-hour finish time is the benchmark for real bragging rights at Imogene, and sub-4-hour is quite respectable. I knew I wasn’t in shape to finish near my marathon PR of 3:05, but I hoped for a finish close to 3:15. Then I went on two training runs on the Telluride side of the course — including the one I wrote about in “Humbled” — and I was thoroughly cowed. Please, just let me finish uninjured and under 4 hours, I thought.

As the race director commented at the starting line, this event is a rite of passage for Colorado trail runners. How would my sea-level legs and lungs fare?

Like the course profile, this story has two parts: UP and DOWN. (more…)