Finished my second Broken Arrow #Skyrace 23k¹ yesterday in 6:52:44! #RingDasBell
This year’s #BrokenArrowSkyrace² 23k was actually that distance! I ran 23.3km with 4557' vertical climb! In contrast, last year’s "23k" race³ was rerouted (due to weather conditions) last minute to two laps of the 11k course, where my actual distance was 18.87km with 4905' vert.
I have been looking forward to this all year, to climbing the infamous "Stairway to Heaven" ladder to the top of Washeshu Peak (8885'/2692m elevation) for the first time (since last years’s race had to skip it).
This year’s Broken Arrow is the start of the Mountain Running World Cup⁴. It’s a rare sports event opportunity to compete with the best in the sport, to literally run the same trails they do, on the same day, with the same start (there are no waves), and finish line.
Lots to write-up, for now, I’m grateful for the experience and accomplishment.
Super grateful for everyone who came out to cheer and especially my coach whose training and guidance got me here.
A few notes:
Great lining up with so many friends.
Hot day. Filled my ice bandana at the first aid station (Snow King) which made the rest possible.
Steady hydration & fueling.
Fueling timeline notes (times are my H:MM race clock times from the start)
0:00 start
1:45 ate Picky Bar
2:00 finished Tailwind in 500ml bottle
2:08 Snow King aid station, refilled bottles one with water and the other with mandarin Tailwind, filled ice bandana with ice, picked up a few Spring Energy gels
3:15 ate Awesome Sauce gel
3:45 ate Awesome Sauce gel
~4:30 left Siberia aid station with refilled ice bandana, bottles, a few Spring Snacks, ate potato chips, a watermelon slice, salt+nuun add to one water bottle, mandarin Tailwind in the other
5:05 ate Awesome Sauce gel
5:35 (-13:39) left Julia aid station with another Spring Energy gel
6:03 ate Awesome Sauce gel
6:52:44 finish
Lots of incredible views along the way. The air was clean and quite breathable even nearing 9000'. Felt a bit slower but kept going within my capacity.
Kept an eye on the time remaining before cut-off compared to my distance and vert climbing remaining and pushed steadily when I could.
Finished with just over 7 minutes to spare before the official cut-off, to friends cheering on all sides. Saw and hugged my coach after ringing the bell at the finish.
What an experience.
#BrokenArrowSkyrace #trailRace #trailRun #trailRunner #runner #running #trailRunning
¹ https://www.brokenarrowskyrace.com/23k
² https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=106489
³ https://tantek.com/2023/178/t1/june-trailrunner-ultrarunner
⁴ https://worldathletics.org/news/preview/mountain-running-world-cup-2024-opens-broken-arrow