Racing with Mountain Goats

I had previously blogged about how the Super Sully race in Alpine has the hardest 5k in all of the Southwest Challenge Series………I was horribly mistaken! This weekend I had the chance to race at the Ruidoso Sprint Triathlon and this course had the hardest 5k by far I have ever raced. I’ll get to more about the course, but first a little about the race itself.

If you have never been to Ruidoso you are in for a treat. The sleepy village of Ruidoso is only two hours from El Paso and is generally 10-15 degrees cooler. Race day was no exception. The early morning was nice and crisp and it warmed up into the high70’s, great racing weather.  The race begins with a 3.5 mile run that takes you from pavement to trail and back to pavement. I had heard that the run is very pleasant with a few rolling hills and a great view of a lake that we run around. Apparently, to meet USAT standards they change the course a little bit and those changes involved monster hills that only a mountain goat could climb! I started off at a good pace but held back a little as the thin mountain air was making it a little tough. Everything was going fine until we moved off the pavement and began a climb up a narrow path that couldn’t have been more than a foot wide. At the top of this hill I saw several runners begin to walk, but I kept my focus and continued on the course. Despite the narrow path I managed to keep my footing and pushed myself more than I have in past races. I made it to the transition area roughly in 18^th place and proceeded to get my bike and head out.

The bike out is up and down but mostly up! There are several good size hills and lots of bikers were having trouble with the climbs. I felt pretty good even though the hills did take their toll on my legs. I passed six or seven people and made the turn in good shape. The bike back was super-fast! Several times on the way back I hit 42-43 mph and made my way to the swim transition area.

The swim for this race is in a tiny pool that you actually swim 200 meters and get out, then run back to the beginning and swim another 200 meters. I didn’t mind the set up except that the pool did get pretty crowded and slowed things up a little bit. After you get out of the pool you have to go outside and run approximately 50 yards before you cross the finish line. As I left the pool I noticed the guy in front of me was just jogging so I took off and him and I had a full on sprint to the finish. He ended up sticking his chest out and beating me to the line, but my sensor crossed a split second before his and I ended up placing 1^st in my age group and 8^th overall.

Bobby crushed the course under an hour and won the overall title and Gretchen finished strong and took home first in her age group. Rob bounced back from the Milkman and had a strong race finishing 3^rd in the Clydesdale division and John wasn’t far behind with a fourth place finish. The awards were carved bears and really were a nice touch. The only problem was that they only gave awards to the top two finishers and third place was left with nothing. I’m not sure why they did it that way, but it is something they should consider changing next year.