This weekend we ran the EnviroSports Death Valley 30k (18.6 mile) trail race through Titus Canyon in Death Valley. Anne's sister came out from Wisconsin to run it with us. There has been lots of snow the past few weeks here in California and it looked like the canyon was going to be closed (meaning the course would have to be moved to a course on the shoulder of one of the roads in Death Valley (this has happened 25% of the time in years past). The National Park rangers drove the course the day before the race and gave their approval for the race to take the intended course which was awesome!
We started out at the Furnace Creek Ranch and Inn where we got onto school buses which took us on an hour ride up and out of Death Valley (East into Nevada) to the 30K starting point, at which point our bus overheated and blew the radiator! Luckily it didn't happen earlier! The weather was great (50-60F) and sunny, you couldn't ask for a better day.
The race started out with a short downhill then up a steep 800ft climb over Red Pass then descends around 5000ft over the remaining course, the entire course along a 4wd gravel road. I was doing great (around a 7 min mile average) until just before mile 5, when I stepped on a loose rock and twisted my ankle really bad. I ran a little more thinking I would be able to run it off but it just got more painful and I could tell my ankle was starting to swell. My choices were to stop and wait to be picked up (probably a few hour wait) or to just finish. Being as stubborn as I am (and hating to wait for anything), I kept going the 13+ miles to the finish. My pace really slowed and every step was painful but I didn't want to quit. The views were worth it as the trail descended into Titus Canyon where the rocky walls come out of the ground and go more than 100 feet straight up around the narrow road, sometimes less than 20 feet wide road! The trail winds through the canyon for around 5 miles before quickly emerging out at the top of an alluvial fan where you can see the final 3 miles to the finish line. I really limped the last few miles and was relieved when I finally crossed the finish line to find my ankle swelled up to the size of a grapefruit! Anne and her sister finished about 45 minutes later and it was nice that they got to run together.
Overall, we had a great time and the event organizers did an amazing job at putting the whole thing together. I finished in 11th place with an 8:01/mile average pace. I'm already looking forward to running it again next year.
The race started out with a short downhill then up a steep 800ft climb over Red Pass then descends around 5000ft over the remaining course, the entire course along a 4wd gravel road. I was doing great (around a 7 min mile average) until just before mile 5, when I stepped on a loose rock and twisted my ankle really bad. I ran a little more thinking I would be able to run it off but it just got more painful and I could tell my ankle was starting to swell. My choices were to stop and wait to be picked up (probably a few hour wait) or to just finish. Being as stubborn as I am (and hating to wait for anything), I kept going the 13+ miles to the finish. My pace really slowed and every step was painful but I didn't want to quit. The views were worth it as the trail descended into Titus Canyon where the rocky walls come out of the ground and go more than 100 feet straight up around the narrow road, sometimes less than 20 feet wide road! The trail winds through the canyon for around 5 miles before quickly emerging out at the top of an alluvial fan where you can see the final 3 miles to the finish line. I really limped the last few miles and was relieved when I finally crossed the finish line to find my ankle swelled up to the size of a grapefruit! Anne and her sister finished about 45 minutes later and it was nice that they got to run together.
Overall, we had a great time and the event organizers did an amazing job at putting the whole thing together. I finished in 11th place with an 8:01/mile average pace. I'm already looking forward to running it again next year.
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