Robie Kilt Me

I DID IT!
The mighty Robie Creek is now over.
The week was pretty crazy. I started out with a good run during lunch on Monday. Tyson and I did the "suburban loop" and it was nice and fast the whole way. Then between Tuesday and Thursday we were in the car making our way from Flagstaff to Boise. Thursday morning in Boise I went out for a quick 3 mile run. I was a little worried at that point because after a couple of miles it was way harder than it should have been. Then I looked at my watch and realized I was running a bit fast. I think with the elevation change I was breathing way easier so I didn't think I was working as hard but then my legs made it very clear how hard I was working. So with that little bit of doubt in my mind I headed into the Saturday race. The forcast was calling for cold windy weather with a chance of snow flurries. The newspaper said the road was going to have a good deal of mud. So essentially I was prepared for the worst.

Saturday morning I made my way to the race start. It was cool, they had a band there and people were getting all into the scottish theme of the race. Some were painting there faces blue like in Braveheart. I even saw a good number of folks wearing kilts. Then as race time came closer they called us all into the starting corral. Just then down the street you could see a scottish band consisting of people wearing kilts and knee high socks playing drums and bagpipes. They starting playing and marching down the street towards us and behind them was a crazy scottish looking chick with a sword riding a horse. They came up and the crazy chick on the horse gave a rousing speach about how we must "do or die". When she finished she yelled and charged down the street and with that the race was started. I thought it was all pretty cool, usually you just get a "mark, get set, go" and so this was much more creative. I had been a bit nervous but about an hour before the race I calmed down and knew I was going to be ok.

The start was pretty flat and after a mile we looped back aroudn and got to see the scottish band and crazy horse chick again. There were a bunch of spectators for the first 2 or 3 miles as we wound through some neighborhoods. Some of them were blasting music which was nice since we weren't allowed to wear ipods for this race.

The race was the usual blurr of scenery, other racers behinds, water stops and feeling a bit tired. The only memorable part was this one lady that was bound and determined not to let me pass her. This seems to happen to me at some point in every race and it's usually a female. She ran right on my shoulder for a good 3 or 4 miles. At times I would slow down at a water stop and she wouldn't, then I would catch up again, but she would not let me get ahead of her. I was actually shocked at how good I felt and the pace I was able to hold for the first 5-6 miles. The hill really wasn't too bad up until about mile 7. From there to the top I was "power walking" about 50% of the time. At the top they had a crazy water stop with more scottish looking people trying to offer us beer and what looked like peices of cake (sick). I made the top in 1:29ish which totally shocked me. My whole mentality going into this race was that I just had to endure the climb and the rest would be an easy downhill to the finish. So I started having delusions of grandure thinking I might finish in less than 2 hours. So I started hauling down the hill. After about I mile of that I realized the worst of the race was yet to come. The downhill was so steep! I didn't train and was therefore not at all prepared for that. So the last 3 miles were a bit excruciating because you really can't take it very slow unless you're just walking but you feel stupid walking on the downhill so I tried my best to push through. Apparently other people didn't have the same problems did with the downhill because I was getting passed like I was stading still the entire way down. It was kind of sad. Before the race I had made up my mind that if I finished before 2:30 I would feel good about the race. I'm happy to report my finish time was just under 2:09. I definitly think I'm capable of a sub 2 hour, especially if I can be more ready for the downhill. It was just tough the whole way because I really didn't know what to expect. I kept feeling like I needed to hold back because I needed something in the tank for when it got "really hard". If I do it again I'll certainly be better prepared and should finish much faster. The weather ended up being pretty good. Mostly sunny with a slight breeze, no snow. The road condition was fine. The after party was pretty cool, but the bus ride back was a bit of a hastle. All in all it was a good day and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to have participated.

Here is an elevation map of the course as captured by my Garmin. And a couple of photo's from the race.