MRG Uphill Challenge: This Is My Race!

Yes, I won. It's true. I came in first in my age group, among all men, overall and best in show. By the time I hit the turn-around point there was nobody in sight, and as I crossed the finish line there was nobody breathing down my neck. This was an incredibly one-sided race, but that's what it's like when you are an elite mountain runner.

What did you just say? There was nobody else in the race? So what! Don't ruin my dream moment. Okay, so it was just me and a speed-hiker who hiked the course w/ a backpack, but so what?! I still came in first.

Oh yeh, and the official timer/race organizer was in the bar when I finished, but I went and got him and his stopwatch was still running, so we figured out my 50:40 finish.

Better yet, check out the graph on the right (click to zoom). It's a great example of how this race is heart/lung limiting. The ascent and descent are almost perfectly linear in feet-per-minute - the slope decreases and I speed up, the slope increases and I slow down. I probably maintained a constant heart-rate the entire time.

Oh well, maybe we'll get more entrants next year.

And if you're bored, feel free to peruse the race course map (on the right), overlaid on the Mad River Glen ski trails map. (Click to zoom.)