Rocky Mountain 50K

May 26, 2013

We went for a little road/camping/running trip to Laramie, Wyoming.  We did the 50K, so I am counting the race as one of the marathons in the 50 states.  It was one of my goals to run a marathon in all of the 50 states.  I have never seen so many marathon maniac hats and shirts as I did at that race. 

So far I have run in 6 states:
Colorado

• Boulder Backroads twice
• American Discovery Trail Marathon
• Colorado Marathon
• Colfax Marathon
• Leadville Marathon

Idaho:

• Dam Marathon

Arizona:

• Phoenix Rock & Roll

Illinois:

• Chicago Marathon twice

Wisconsin:

• Milwaukee Marathon

Massachusetts:

• Boston

and now Wyoming:

• Rocky Mountain 50K (covers the same course as the Wyoming Marathon- only adds a little 5 mile jaunt on)

Laramie, Wyoming is actually a really neat college town.  Most of the buildings in town were very recently built and the mountains and trails were just as beautiful as the ones in Colorado. 
  
We drove up to the race the night before and camped at Yellow Pine Campground which was about 1.5 miles away from the start.


 Before going to the campground, we stopped at the Lincoln Monument (the start of the race) and did a little 5k shakeout to see the course.  The views were incredible and the sunset was beautiful.

Most of the course was on dirt roads with a short section on a frontage road by I-80.  The course ran through Medicine Bow National Forest.  We got a little nervous because the race started at the highest point of the race and went downhill from there for the first few miles.  We weren't sure how much we should hold back at the start of the race when the race runs downhill.  We wanted to save some energy to get back up the hill to the finish.  In hind site, the actual vertical gain was only 2,168 feet which really isn't that much especially compared to the Dirty 30.   This was the 1st year that they ran the 50K, so there wasn't much information about it on the website.  We could see the marathon course, but didn't really know much about the 50K route or elevation profile.

The marathon, half, and 50k were all out and back courses just with different turn around points.  It was a little sad when we got to the marathon turn around because the 50K people got to go up another big hill.  One of the prettiest parts of the race was running through Vedawoo which is an area with awesome rock formations and is a popular rock climbing destination in Wyoming.


The race was extremely low key, but well run and well supported.  The course was clearly marked and the aid stations were well stocked.  There were no awards aside from the finisher medals for the marathon and belt buckles for the 50K.

Sean ended up finishing 3rd overall and I finished 6th overall and was the 1st female.  That was my first course record of my life, but I won't be surprised if it gets beat next year by someone else.  

T-shirt, buckle, sunset.

Lisa and Laura at the finish.

The most impressive part of the race was the little puppy who has finished the marathon for 6 years in a row.

We had a great time there.  We got some good running time at altitude, got to run through a beautiful forest, and the drive from Denver wasn't bad either.