I’ve not been running much. After a few years of really getting after it (Ultra RAGNAR, Mid-Mountain Marathon) I’ve scrapped the running shoes and focused on mountain biking. But when I found out about The North Face Endurance Challenge in Park City, I was intrigued. This is a two-day event with races ranging in length from a 50-mile epic, down to an easy 5k. Hell, there’s even a kid’s race. So as a guy who drinks too much beer and hasn’t been running all summer, I signed up for the 10k.
Of course, I registered only three weeks out from race day, so there wasn’t much time to train anyway. So carrying a brain filled with self-doubt and legs that preferred pedaling over ground-pounding, I laced up my new North Face Ultra Endurance shoes and hit the trails.
Training was rough. My legs were worthless, despite mountain biking three days a week. Cardio-wise, I was fine though. It’s amazing how differently you use your same muscles for different activities. Long story short: mountain biking is not good training for running.
About three short runs and a week-long hiatus while on vacation in Hawaii, I came back to Utah and banged out a long, 6-mile run on the Pipeline Trail in Mill Creek Canyon. It killed me, but proved that I could survive the 10k a week later.
Race day. I was all nerves as I stepped up to the starting line. The morning was cold – 32 degrees. My muscles had frozen and were as stiff and fragile as particle board. But the timer counted down despite my being so ill-prepared and at 9 a.m. on the nose, we were off.
Two days earlier, a massive September snowstorm hit the Wasatch, and though the trails weren’t snow-covered anymore, they were wet and tacky – perfect for traction. I found myself running up hills that normally would have caused slips and slides on moon-dust if the race had been held 4 days prior. While I can’t speak for the other race lengths, the 10k route was a delight to run. First, we ran straight up a steep service road, but soon got onto Jenni’s Trail. Any local mountain biker knows that this is an ideal ascent as the trail is not too steep, and switchbacks up efficiently through nice, shady stands of trees. The same is true for running uphill. While I usually walk up the steep hills while running, I discovered that I never had to walk while running up Jenni’s.
After about three miles, the course veered onto Loose Moose, where it rose up to the mid-way aid station. A couple of kids handed off water, and a ski patrol encouraged me that it’s all downhill from here. I grumbled back, “that’s the worst part for me!” See, I prefer the uphill as I have bad knees that just kill when running downhill. But, again, I am happy to report that the course is awesome on the down as well, as Sweeney’s trail is not too steep, has lots of banked turns in the switchbacks, and is easy running with very few roots or rocks to worry about tripping over.
The descent is more complicated, route-finding wise as you go from Sweeney’s to Flat Cable, to Loose Moose, to Payday, back to Loose Moose, to CMG, to First Time, and then finally the access road back to the finish line. But that complex of trails is no problem to navigate as the volunteer staff is incredible. There is a person stationed at every intersection directing you onto the correct path. In addition, each change in course is marked by a colored ribbon tied to a tree that matches the color of your number plate, so there is never any question if you are running in the correct direction.
At the finish line, I felt good, lungs and legs both.. well, mostly lungs. The legs were cramping a bit – again, no training but beer training. When your run is done, there are sandwiches, bananas, and other goodies to eat and recover. The area is filled with tents that have fun games like corn hole, spin the wheel and more where you can win prizes. But my favorite was the beer tent, where Sierra Nevada was on hand slinging free brews. I myself quaffed a cold Torpedo as reward for surviving.
Later, I wandered into the results tent, where several computers are set up. You simply type in your plate number and immediately get your results. To my surprise, I did pretty good for a lack of training – 22nd out of 112, 2nd in my age group. I’ll take it.
Overall, I’d say The North Face Endurance Challenge is a fun, well organized trail running event, and we are lucky to have this globe-trotting race series stop here in Utah. So if you’re looking to compete in a trail race from 50-miles down to 5k, give this one a look as it returns next year.
For more information about The North Face Endurance Challenge, check them out at www.thenorthface.com/get-outdoors/endurance-challenge.html