Sean Gillies (Posts about blue sky)

Blue Sky Trail Marathon recap

Sean Gillies — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 01:58:42 GMT

Saturday I finished the Blue SKy Trail Marathon in 05:25:47. That's 26 minutes faster than my 2017 time. I was 5th in my group, 50-59 year-old men, and 88th overall. We all enjoyed beautiful weather: cool temperatures, no wind, not a cloud in the sky.

At mile 9.2 I was in 67th place. I was having fun pushing my limits up and down the single track of Horsetooth. I eased to a more sustainable pace on the flatter part of the course, but was still running the outbound stretch of the Blue Sky Trail faster than I've done on long runs while training. Just before the turnaround, my legs started to feel off, and then I started to feel impending cramps in my hamstrings. I gobbled some pickles and potato chips at the next aid station, but it was too late. I battled cramps all the way to the finish. I ran until my legs cramped and then I walked until the cramps subsided, repeating this over the last 7 miles. I lost 3-4 minutes per mile and slipped 7 places.

On a different day, cramps might have been demoralizing, but so many things kept me in good spirits. The company on the trail was great, I saw friends at aid stations, the weather was perfect, and every other part of my body felt great. Best of all, eight months of training and racing was almost over. Finishing with a smile was easy.

Dawn at Horsetooth Reservoir's Inlet Bay.

Rolling into the aid station at mile 22.7 looking for salty snacks. Photo by Stefan Kroll.

I'm going to keep running this fall and winter, but nothing very hard or long. I might not start workouts until next April.

My Gnar Slam mug.

My 2021 running program

Sean Gillies — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 22:32:54 GMT

I've been struggling to settle on running goals for 2021. I like goals and I've wanted to have goals, but I haven't been sure about about my choices. I've been toying with the idea of signing up for a 100 mile event, a long-term goal of mine, but woke up this morning with a feeling of clarity and committment. The right goal, or goals, for me in 2021 is to run the local trail races, all of the local trail races, the Gnar Slam. This means a 50 mile race in May, 100 km at the end of July, 13.1 miles in September, and 26.2 miles in October. I've run all of these before, but never more than 2 in one year. I'm going to enjoy reconnecting with the local community (counting on COVID-19 vaccination!) and solving some running issues that troubled me last year.

I went for a run at Horsetooth Open Space earlier today to celebrate and cement my decision.

Blue Sky Marathon Finisher

Sean Gillies — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 23:27:45 GMT

Well, I did it: 26.2 miles and 3780 feet of climbing in 5 hours and 51 minutes. I was the 175th finisher out of 285. Abby Mitchell, the first woman to finish (11th overall) finished in 3:50. Chris Mocko, the overall winner, finished in 3:15.

The course went north at first, counter-clockwise around a loop in Horsetooth Mountain Park, and then back to the start. About 9 miles. From there, we went south and counter-clockwise around two loops in Devil's Backbone, and then back to a finish line just a few meters from the start.

I suffered from gastro symptoms until the very end of the course, stopping at every toilet along the route, and behind some trees as well. I coped by not eating on the course, subsisting on water and a few gels, and staying well within my limits. I felt pretty good in the last 4 miles after a gel pack and a big swig of coke at the last aid station. I probably moved up 12 places in that distance. While I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, I did finish my first trail marathon, and overcame a bit of adversity to do it. Good job, me!

I ran for more than 90 hours this summer and fall to train for this 6 hour race, and I couldn't have done that without my family's support. Thank you, R., A., and B.! I hope you'll back me again in 2018.

If you're into this kind of thing, I recommend giving the Blue Sky Marathon or one of the other Gnar Runners events a try. The trails and views are sweet and it's very well run and staffed.

I almost forgot: my map data workflow is the following bash one-liner:

$ fio dump export.gpx --layer tracks | mapbox upload blue_sky_marathon