Meghan's Adventure Blog: Golden Leaf Half Marathon Weekend- Aspen, CO

Man, now that was a weekend. Our non-stop adventures started with driving up to Carbondale late on friday after work which meant we didn't arrive until about 9pm. It was off to bed as we had to rise early to get to Aspen at 7am, park the car, and catch the bus that would take us to the start of the Vasque Golden Leaf Half Marathon in Snowmass Village. The course would start at the base of the ski area and follow the government trail all the way to Aspen. Because the race was open to 1000 entrants and the course is mostly single track, they had us start in waves, 5 minutes apart, to help control congestion. The waves were based on your estimated finish time. Thankfully I was put in an earlier wave as I heard from others in later waves that congestion was pretty bad most of the course. Even in wave 2, there were sections where passing was difficult and you would get stuck behind 6 or 7 runners that were going a little slower than I wanted to go. However there were sections where I was running by myself for a short period. I cherished these moments.
The first 1.5 mile was very steep climbing up Snowmass ski area on wide dirt road and I was able to hold a mix of running and fast hiking. Once this section was over, the single track began. We winded up and down, in and around through aspens, pine trees, open fields, crossed stream beds and three aid stations along the way. The last 2 miles were sort of brutal as we came off the government trail hit asphalt, then cement, some dirt and were completely exposed in the sun most of the way to the finish. It had gotten rather warm by 1030am. So I was definitely ready to be done. Melissa wasn't too far behind me. She had a great run too and even witnessed the girl running in front of her roll and break her ankle. The race finished on the west side of Aspen in a small park with tons of people around, catered food, beer and the best part being the endless raffle of cool stuff including shoes, clothing, backpacks, hydration belts, sleeping bags, gift certificates, etc. We hung around for close to 2 hrs after as they called bib number after bib number to claim prizes. Lots of people had already left and they would call bib until someone came to claim the prize. Needless to say Melissa and I had great chances of winning something which we did. She won a GoLite hydration pack and I won two small handheld Ultimate Directions water bottles. Sweet! We scored on this race! Great run, great food, nice tech Marmot T-shirt, sweet prizes- all for like $40. I would definitely do this race again just for all that stuff along I was not a huge fan of the congested single track and running with 100o other people.
Oh yeah and another great part of the run was seeing some old friends from Boulder who were running the race too, Tara and Adam. I lived with Adam in Boulder and hadn't seen him and Tara for a couple years. Now they are married and are expecting a baby. Exciting news. We ended up having dinner with them in Carbondale and catching up on life.
I took my camera on the run and here are the results:

Mel and I at the start.

Wave 1 kicks it off.

The single track begins.

More leaf covered single track.

This aspen shot was taken while running! Pretty good huh!

Runners through the aspens.

Mel and I hanging out at the finish with Aspen mountain in the background.

Adam, me and Tara at the finish. They both rocked the run and said it was one of the best half marathon they've done.

More finish.

After crashing hard (in bed) Saturday night, Melissa and I got early again Sunday morning, packed up and headed to the Conundrum Hot Springs trailhead just outside of Aspen. We were going to run/hike the 9miles to the Hot Springs, hang out for a while and then head out. This trail is a very very popular place and it was apparent by the very crowded spilling over parking lot. I was hoping the springs were less crowded by the time we got up there as most people would be hiking out on Sunday. (Most people spend a 1-2 days backpacking up to this area.) And we were right. By the time we made it up to the springs, we probably passed 50+ backpackers hiking out and then a couple groups of day hikers headed in. We also passed a park ranger hiking out. I am sure they patrol this area regularly and especially on the busy weekend. The area is considered wilderness which means no bikes, dogs on leash and only certain areas camp fires and camping are allowed plus you need a permit for overnights. It took us three hours to go the almost 9 miles. Most of the trail was runnable with occasional steep sections. We stopped alot to take pictures, enjoy the scenery and rest. The aspen colors were amazing despite lots of leaves already off the trees. Pictures could not even capture the moments.
We got up to the springs and there were a few people in them. There is one big pool and then a smaller pool 50 feet down from the bigger one. We had some snacks and by the time we were ready to get in, there was only one person left soaking. We quickly got in and it was heaven. The water was a perfect temperature, blue skies and a great view down the valley we had just come up. We ended up spending two hours hanging out soaking in the water, chating with people, hydating, and taking more pictures.
It took us just over 2 hrs to get back to the car and very were exhausted. We jumped into the car and drove down the road a bit to get out of the sun and find a place to park near the river. We found a perfect spot to soak out legs in the freezing river. And boy it was freezing. It took me some serious convincing Melissa to stay in the water. It was the longest 15 minutes ever and it took forever to warm up but it was well worth the torture as we both felt our legs recovered better after putting 30 miles on them over the weekend.
After soaking, we headed into Aspen, made some sandwiches, made a gas station stop for some diet coke and then headed up the pass back home. Another late night driving as we didn't leave Aspen until 530pm but well worth it.