Elk Run 5k

On Saturday, I ran Emma Coburn’s Elk Run 5k in Crested Butte.

Holy crap, there were some legit runners who showed up.

Emma recruited 30 elite men and another 25 elite women to come run in her hometown, and it made for a fast race. Other than the two big city marathons I’ve done, I’m guessing it was the most competitive field I’ve ever run in. Dozens of dudes with PRs under 14 minutes for 5k and lots of ladies with PRs well under 17 or even 16. Plus, lots of Colorado-based sponsored athletes were there. There were a half-dozen Kenyans even. $13,000-plus in prize money for 15 minutes of small-town mountain running. Not bad work if you have the chops to win it.

I definitely wasn’t going to be winning this race. But I figured maybe I’d get a chance to throw some elbows in the direction of a few of the sub-elite ladies, if I was lucky.

Anyway, it was a crowded and precarious start, with way more fast runners than could fit in the front of the 15-foot-wide start banner. I had to do some work to avoid getting taken out at the beginning.

After navigating the first tight turn, I settled into a reasonable pace. The goal was to try to go sub 18, so my thought was to start out in the low 5:40s for the first slightly downhill mile, and then hold on for 5:50s for the slightly uphill second and third miles.

I ran the first mile in 5:41. So far, so good. But I felt all 9,000 ft. of the elevation in Crested Butte, and when the rolling hills started in, I was not up for the challenge. It was all I could do to hold on for 6:10 miles after that.

18:38. Meh. I don't think I was all-the-way recovered from my effort two weeks ago.

Not sure what place that got me overall or age group wise. There was a malfunction with their timing system and they didn’t have a backup. I saw one dude who looked about my age fly by me at the mile marker. I’m guessing I was second in masters and about 40th overall, but that’s a total guess.  

Crested Butte is beautiful right now, and it was fun getting my ass handed to me by real runners. It’s kind of a bummer than my 5k pace is only slightly faster than my half marathon pace, but I suppose that’s just a side benefit of getting older.

Fun side anecdote: Allie Kiefer, who got second female, ran 18 miles the morning of the race and then got second to one of the Kenyans in the world-class field. Watch out for her in the upcoming NYC marathon.