Imogene Pass Run - Anyone done it? Advice sought.

Find a hill in Portland and stand at the bottom to begin repeats. Take a deep breath and hold it. Now run to the top - holding your breath the whole way. Exhale at the top. This should give you some approximation of what it will feel like at the top of the pass.

Seriously you could not have picked a tougher run to celebrate 50.

1. fitness wise, you should be fine.

2. the course is rocky, ankle twisting is a real issue if you run on asphalt all the time. broken in trail shoes would be a good idea.

3. my big concern would be altitude sickness. have you been to 13k+ feet before? plan your arrival carefully, Jack Daniels (physiologist) knows more about than anybody I know. talk to your MD about Diamox. it is a very safe medication that shifts your acid-base balance in your blood. helps sea levelers not suffer from headaches.

4. really take the weather warnings seriously that the race director sends out. the temp and wind will change radically as you climb.

5. the downhills are going to make Chicago buddy very sore. you can at least train for some downhills, like the road down from Timberline Lodge. All he has is the former Sear's tower.

6. take your favorite anti-inflamatory before the race.

if your goal is to have fun, then i would choose another event.

be prepared for bad weather.

imagine being at 12000 ft slogging up a 15% grade in the rain/sleet, hypoxic and hypothermic.

put the treadmill on 12%-15% and go for a couple of hours or more ... for a better simulation, do it with your mouth duct taped shut.

Don’t let anyone scare you away. Imogene is one of the best things you could ever do running wise. From your marathon background you will do just fine. I have done it in years where I only ran for a month ahead of time, and I lived.

It isn’t a road race and you are not going to PR for 17 miles, so who cares. It hurts on the way up, but by the last mile almost everyone is walking anyway (except for the first few folks).

I think I was 5th or 6th one year, and several months of jogging later only ran a 3:20ish marathon…so you will do just fine. Not living at altitude will hurt, but you can certainly do it no problem.

Just take you time on the downhill!!!!!! The first half mile, if taken too fast, can kill you legs to the point where you have a hard time getting your toes an inch off the ground by the finish.

Soak in the views form the top before the descent because it is hard to look on the way down. The views are some of the best in the world.

It can be nasty weather with snow but can also be 50, crisp and sunny at the top….

If you are in 2:50 marathon shape, you will probably be the first person form low elevation and I suspect you will finish 19th place if you don’t start too hard.

Imogene is everything a race should be. If you like aesthetics and getting out on the trail you'll love it. I've never been on the course in inclement weather though which I could imagine being DNF bad, so hopefully you dodge such a scenario. I also live and train at 7000ft and can tell you that it hurt above 10k which is most of the race. Luckily the water-stops have great views, friendly people, and baskets of m&m's and cookies if you find yourself taking extended breaks.

The top is amazingly steep. I was laughing out-loud as I stumbled up the last couple miles (20min /mi), but finished in the top 60. It's just as steep on the descent but it doesn't keep people from pinwheeling down at full speed. I wouldn't recommend that approach. Running up and out of Ouray, and then directly into Telluride at the finish are special treats.

I'm departing for Colorado tomorrow morning and just wanted to thank those that offered some useful advice here.

Any last words of wisdom?

Any other LetsRun-ers doing this race? Would love to share war storied afterward if you'll be there.

Cheers,

Tim

Good luck.

Tim Parr for the win, Bernie Boettcher 2nd, Zach Crandall 3rd.

Why are the times so slow? Only 17 miles, but times are like it is a marathon.

dyestatloser#44 wrote:

Why are the times so slow? Only 17 miles, but times are like it is a marathon.

Have you looked at the race web site? Do you know anything about this event?

The race starts at ~7500', climb up and over a 13,100' mountain pass and finished at ~8,000' elevation.

Course is almost all rocky 4x4/Jeep roads.

Many uphill grades above 10,000' are >=20% climbs.

Course loses ~5,000' over the last seven miles.

Weather can be tough near/at the summit.

That's why the times are "so slow"...

Go have fun. Take your time, enjoy the scenery and the challenge.

I doubt this will help you if you're not already out there, but a few extra days to accept the altitude is nice.

Flatlanders can handle it if speed is no issue.

Rocky Mountain High, DR

I was a fairly good runner once -- 2:26 marathon, 30:40 for 10km. 6 years ago a friend invited me out to Telluride and I ran a 15 mile trail race there. I could still in those days run under 1:20 for half marathon. The winning time in the race someone told me was usually in the 1:30-35 range. I thought, well even taking it easy, I should be able to run around 2 hours. I was shocked how hard the race was. The first 4 miles we went from 7500 feet to almost 11,000. You carried your own water and I had already finished my two 20 oz water bottles. It seemed throughout the race I was always getting passed. I had to walk many times. Finally a guy who must have been in his 60's passed me. He had one arm. So I said to myself, I cannot let this guy get too far in front of me or I may get lost and never return. I hung on him back into town. My total time for what I was tolda was 15 miles was 4 hours. I have never been so tired.

That being said, I look back on this run as one of my most memorable. Once you are above the timberline, you see things city folk like me never see. Good luck, carry plenty of water, and take your time.

You've gotten some great advise. This is a very cool race and I hope you enjoy yourself.

Have fun. Leave your expectations in your hotel room.

Just remember that it is clothing optional at Orvis.

I'm not feeling as confident for you after a faster marathoner says he had to bling to an old one armed man to avoid death. How'd it go?

Tim's a pretty rough cat, he'll do OK.

Tim - I cannot believe you are doing this!!! You, who hates xc and rarely runs on the trails at all! But, I wish you all the luck in the world and hope you have an epic time. My big birthday is coming up in a month and while I'll race trails, I don't know that I'll copy your celebration.

Missed you at htc, too.

atrrunner wrote:

I'm not feeling as confident for you after a faster marathoner says he had to bling to an old one armed man to avoid death. How'd it go?

Okay, WOW. Ouch. Double ouch. Without a doubt, this was the toughest, most brutal run I have ever done. I am in utter awe of the dudes that can run this in 2:06 - 2:20.

Short recap - remember, the first 10 miles of this go from ~7800' to 13,114' on a 4x4 road and/or trails. The last seven miles drop from 13,114' to ~8,000'. The first five miles actually weren't bad and easily runnable. Then things got progressive worse. For the next five miles to the top, for me at least, there were very few sections I could run. Most of that was steep climbs and pretty rocky terrain. Whenever the grade flattened out, I'd jog along and start up the next hill for a few seconds before getting hammered by the elevation. At that point, we were at 10,000' The last two miles to the top were insane. Even walking, I could feel my pulse throbbing in my fingertips, hands, head. It felt like the world was moving in really slow motion. There were points where I could have literally crawled up the steepness of those grades. It was hard to just keep moving forward.

At the top, the views were amazing. They had a well stocked aid station with water, Gatorade, hot chicken broth, M&Ms, cookies, pretzels, bagels, gummy bears, bananas. I waited briefly for my buddy to arrive and we had our photo taken at the summit sign. Then came the death-defying part.

For those of you that know me, know I don't fancy trails all that much. Let alone loose rock, jagged boulder type trails. That's what I had to face 90% of the next seven miles. The first three miles of the decent were down right terrifying for me. It was SO steep and full of loose rocks that would give way when you landed on them. Needless to say, I CRAWLED down those three miles. And because I was so tense, my quads were taking a beating. There were a few sections that flattened out enough where I could run at a good clip, but my quads were screaming. With 1.5 miles to go, I had lost most of my leg stabilization ability. I did manage to rally a little bit over those last 1.5 miles though because the surface had evened out.

I crossed the finish in 4:19:14. I think I covered the UPHILL ten miles of the course faster than the DOWNHILL seven miles! I placed some where around 660th overall, out of ~1200 finishers. I was 39th in the 50-54 age group. Had I been in the WOMEN'S 60-64 AGE GROUP, I would have placed THIRD!!!

The weather was fantastic throughout the event. 48 degrees at the start and I ran the whole thing in a short-sleeved tech shirt, shorts and gloves. A couple hours after I finished in Telluride though, the had a brief heavy rain storm and marble-sized hail. I'm glad I wasn't at the summit then!

While this race totally kicked my butt, I'm really glad I "conqured" the mountain and was able to share the experience with my good friend from back home. If you are ever looking for a real challenge and adventure, put this one on your list.

I like that you started the thread with a question and ended with a review. Way to bring this full circle.

I ran this once and also thought it wasn't bad through the first hour. I slowly became horrified with, what shouldn't have been a shock at all, noticing that what looked like basalt on the road was actually black ice. After getting laid waste over the last three miles i smiled on the approach to the pass, only to see support crew wearing insulated snow suits. Was it that cold? Yes. There were large snow drifts i hadn't noticed because i had been staring at my feet for 30min. to prevent falling off the mountain.

No problem now, only downhill from here. Ankle breakers, marbles, and softballs over 6% grade+ for 5 miles. One of the greatest races I've ever entered. I still laugh at the degree of difficulty even though i was smoked by several masters women runners. It's a race that shows you that running shouldn't be about a watch, and that someone - sometimes old women - are logging more miles/reps to shut you down.