Mary Shepherd ran the High Mountain Half Marathon and finished with a time of 2:42:33.
I ran this race last year just as a training run. This year after spending 17 days at elevation I was actually hoping for a better time that I actually ran. But then, then temperature was warmer than last year (70 at the start vs 63 last year). My plan was to run the first mile as a warmup mile using 20/20 intervals to make sure my digestive track did not shut down and this seemed to work. I switched to 50/20 intervals starting at mile 2, but found on the uphills (and there was over 500 ft of ascent even though the course was a net 200+ ft downhill with uphills at the start and end (ugh?)) that I was better off switching to 20/20 on the uphills and sometimes running through a walk if it was a short flat or slight downhill, but for the longer downhills I would switch back to 50/20 intervals and felt good when I did. The last about 2+ miles were mostly uphill and for the last 3 miles or so I was using 20/20 intervals. Good things: I was consistently passing people and I believe that everyone I eventually passed finished behind me (none passed me back and kept the lead). This was very encouraging to me. I could always see people in front of me unlike last year. The course is a beautiful road through the ponderosa pine forest with occasional meadows. For stats, I was 150 of 198 runners, 59 of 91 females (and maybe the oldest female–there was another 71 year old female), and 1 of 3 in my age group (and by over 26 minutes from the 2nd place finisher, the other 71 yo). And if you counted the one female in the age group below mine I was 1 of 4. Even with the heat, I finished a little more than 4 minutes faster than last year. And another good thing: I did not seem to have any digestive issues. My body seemed to continue to take fuel throughout the race–never the heavy legs I’ve had before. The issue seemed mostly to be breathing, so yes I was beginning to aclimate to altitude, but not like someone who lives and trains at altitude all year round.
