Telluride Vacation: a long race

Several months ago, a neighbor and friend of ours told Dale about an annual race in Colorado called the Imogene Pass Run. It is a 17.1 mile point-to-point mountain race in the San Juan mountains of Colorado, run from Ouray (7810 ft) to Telluride (8750 ft) over the 12,114-ft Imogene Pass. This is a serious race, over a seriously tall pass! Here is a profile of the run -- note how steep it is from Lower Camp Bird up to the Imogene Pass.



Dale heard about this race, decided he wanted to do it, and immediately thought of Michael as a possible accomplice.

Dale's enthusiasm for the race was infectious, Michael thought it would be a lot of fun, so we began planning a vacation to Telluride with Michael and Sami!

Dale and Michael started training for the race -- Michael with the benefit of age and Dale with the benefit of elevation -- and the boys started running longer and longer runs as they worked up to a 17-mile trail run. All was going well until mid-August, when Dale sprained a ligament in his knee that ended his hopes of winning -- or even finishing -- the Imogene Pass Run. (Dale's knee was pretty badly injured. It swelled up immediately and is still swollen today, and he couldn't straighten or bend it for about a month.)



Dale wasn't able to run the race, but Michael decided to go ahead with it. We rented a house in Telluride, which was swarming with people of all ages planning to run the race. Michael left the house at 5:30 the morning of the race, rode two hours to the start line (on the other side of a mountain range), and started the race at 7:30, headed toward a finish line 17.1 miles away.

The rest of our household slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and then ambled over to the finish line -- about three blocks away from our house.

Sami had the great fortune to be at the finish line when the overall race winner, John Tribbia, crossed the finish line, 2 hours 19 minutes after starting! That an average speed of 7.4 miles per hour, at high elevation on a very steep trail. We were all quite impressed with John.

Also impressive was Michael's finish. He jogged up to the finish line with a smile on his face, looking great!


He saw us and gave us the thumbs-up sign, then came over to chat for a few minutes before crossing the actual finish line.


Michael crossed the finish line 4 hours, 52 minutes, and 10 seconds after starting the race, a fantastic time for a flat-lander ;)


Doesn't Michael look great after a 17-mile trail run!


Sami and Adelaida were Michael's biggest fans at the finish line.


We were all very proud of Michael for running this race. Dale was disappointed he wasn't able to run it, but has already started training for next year's Imogene Pass Run!