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 Is the "tough" part of the slogan meant to describe the lottery? The lottery for the 2012 Hardrock 100 was on Sunday, and I’m thrilled to report that I got in again.
Some say the lottery process is the hardest part of the race. While that’s definitely an exaggeration, if you’re not given a chance to run because you can’t get a number, well then it’s sort of true. This year, there were 658 people vying for 140 slots, so some 79% of applicants didn’t get in. That’s pretty tough odds.
I can’t help but feel kind of lucky, not just for Sunday’s good draw, but for my luck and timing over the past few years.
When the race was first held in 1992, and for the first ten years that followed, it never even filled up. When I arrived to the scene in 2007, there was a waitlist, but if you qualified and applied for entry, your chances of running were pretty reasonable. In the years since then, its popularity surged, but with a bit of lottery luck, I managed to get in and finish every year, with the exception of 2008 when I was waitlisted. (My 2008 number was actually called on race day, and had I been there and ready, I could have run, so I’ve actually made it in every year.) read more>>>
 Viktoria Rebensburg took the win here for Germany. Interesting to me was the fact that she was on Nordica skis, a brand rarely seen, on the World Cup podium. Click any photo to enlarge. The fastest women skiers in the world descended on Aspen this past weekend for the 2011 Women’s World Cup Winternational and the two days of racing were awesome to see. Actually, the whole weekend was a blast, starting with top-to-bottom skiing for Aspen’s opening day on Thanksgiving and going all the way through Sunday afternoon’s final slalom run. Here are a some shots I got from Saturday’s Giant Slalom race, where American Julia Mancuso finished 3rd: read more>>>
Saturday’s Bear 100 was about as smooth as it gets for me.
After three consecutive years at Hardrock, and running no other races at the 100 mile distance, I mistakenly came to believe all 100’s are like that massive San Juan suffer-fest. They’re not.
And the early July date of Hardrock, being so close to the spring skiing season which has always taken priority, usually means I’m just barely feeling ready, and it really takes a lot out of me.
So the added training afforded to me by the Bear 100′s late September date, and the relatively flatter course, with 22,000 feet of climbing (compared with 33,000 at Hardrock) and all at a considerably lower average elevation, set me up for a really good day. read more>>>
 The 100 mile course across the Bear Range comes in at about 22,000 feet of gain. Click to enlarge. Time for another long one. The Bear 100 starts at six on Friday morning. read more>>>
 The inaugural Aspen Backcountry Marathon was this past Saturday. Christy and I both took part in the fledgling event that saw 240 starters, a majority of which seemed to be from out of town, an impressive number considering it’s first year status.
Kudos to Aspen’s Special Events Department for getting this one off the ground. Permit issues and liability concerns can make it nearly impossible to start new events these days, yet the surging popularity of races demands more capacity. Since many events sell out to their maximum permitted sizes, sometimes so quickly a lottery is needed to determine who gets in, new races are needed.
The good sized field started out from Wagner Park at 6am Saturday, and followed popular biking, hiking, and running trails that were carefully connected so as to make a big loop around town. It first climbed Smuggler, then cruised through Hunter Creek and Van Horn Park, along the Hobbit Trail to Four Corners and then down the Sunnyside Trail. read more>>>
 Still smiling. Click to enlarge. Go Christy. It’s your birthday.
Actually, if you know Christy it’s more like a birth-week, or even month-long celebration, a notion confirmed by the candles that came with the dessert at the restaurant last night, some six days after the actual date. read more>>>
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