part 6 - Slum to Lake City

Leaving Slum is always fun because it reminds me of a hash - you travel across a road and down a short hill before having to go through some bushes, across a creek, and along a barely visible trail. But the fun is short lasted because soon the final climb greets you. Looking at the course profile, Vickers hill doesn't seem like much. It "only" climbs 2000 feet, about half the amount of the two big climbs. But the hill is like a punch right to the jaw, with it's steepness combined with the ten plus hours of mountain running I've already done really making life suck.

And though I've already decided against really pushing things, I still attack the hill. Pass a few more people here and continue to hike hard. Towards the top of the hill I see the RD for the Salida marathon, he's a terrific artist and he's drawing the beautiful view. I stop for a second to take the view in, nothing but wildflowers, aspen trees, and mountains. I love living in Colorado.

At the top of the hill I run a good pace along the flat singletrack to the Vickers aid station. I'm looking at a 3.5 mile downhill to the finish line and still feel real good. I leave Vickers quickly and realize I'll be under twelve hours, so I bag the final section. Even when two women pass me. But it was nice, the downhill section rolls through a sweet aspen grove and I was just making sure I didn't hurt myself on the technical stuff. Soon I was back in town and headed past the Packer Saloon to the finish line.

Official time - 11:52:40. 38th place out of 130 finishers. Last member of the Cannibal club.