Saturday I drove to Idaho Falls (Ririe, Idaho to be more exact) to run the Kelly Canyon Trail Race. Kelly Canyon is one of the many races which make up the Trail Runner Trophy Series. Knowing this and the strength of some Eastern Idaho runners, I was anticipating a good turn out and a strong field. I would be disappointed.
Information upon registering was limited. I had to contact the organizers for things like directions to the start. Upon arrival, the start / finish area was organized as runners started to arrive. I was told a briefing would happen fifteen minutes prior to the start, and sure enough it did. All three distance groups were briefed on their course. As I looked around at the different groups, there were maybe 30-35 runners in total.
We toed the line right at eight o'clock with myself, La Sportiva teammate Luke Nelson, and Pat Bragassa taking point. The opening mile or so headed up and Luke and Pat instantly took the lead. I fell into my own rhythm and let them go. They quickly gaped me but I was playing the patience game. Once the opening single track climb was behind me the course turned onto a double track. Running alone, I stayed steady and before I knew it, I caught a glimpse of Luke but he was alone. Either Pat turned on the five mile course or he had pulled away from Luke. As I gained on Luke, the course took a turn through a gate onto a single track. But our course flagging didn't exist. Instead, it was marked with the five mile color. I saw Luke go straight where there was no flagging, I chose to take the right following the flagging. I yelled to Luke and he came back. We the bombed the single track downhill and finally came to our course markings, reassuring us that we were on the correct route. Noting the time, I mentioned to Luke that I thought the course was short. We were approaching the end and our time was smoking.
Luke and I would continue to run together following confusing course markings. Luke is a really strong climber and would pull away on the upshots and I would reel him in on the descents. Luke finally got a good gap on me at the final climb which was a gnarled service road dropping runners onto a cross country section overgrown with grass. We were told to be careful of these sections as they contained hidden hole and rocks. As the finish was quickly approaching, I ran out of course to bring Luke back to me. Pat would take first, Luke would take second at 54:05 (i think) and I crossed with third at :54:25. We questioned the distance and was informed that the course was cut back to 8.7 miles due to a washout the week before. I think the course was even shorter than that.
I was pleased with my run. More pleased not to have any knee pain. Really happy to awake this morning with no knee pain! It was great to see and run against Luke (he is becoming quite a strong runner). We hadn't run together since last years Elephants Perch Backcountry Run. I was disappointed with the poor/confusing course markings and the lack of turnout (although it was July 4th), oh well, it was great to race!
Gear for the day: La Sportiva CROSSLITE shoes w/deFeet trail 19 socks, Sugoi 42K short, Sugoi team shirt. Prerace fuel: 1st Endurance EFS drink and a GU shot. Post race recovery drink: 1st Endurance Ultragen Cappuccino.
Kelly Canyon Trail Race, Ririe, Idaho
4 hours ago
