amelia carolyn

Crested Butte on the Fourth of July.

For a girl who prefers to avoid crowds on big holidays, spending the weekend camping in a town whose busiest weekend is the Fourth of July is somewhat surprising. However, crowds in a town of 2,000 are a little different than crowds in our nation’s capital city. So it’s been quite manageable for these past six years I’ve been going.

And magical. Crested Butte holds a very special place in my heart. The changes and the growth I’ve experienced in the calm of the mountains, the warmth of the sun and the brilliance of the wildflowers has, without fail, rejuvenated me each year in various ways.

One of the traditions our group of friends has done is to run the Gothic to Crested Butte Run, Walk or Crawl Third Marathon put on by the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboraty. The 8.5 mile race begins in the small town of Gothic (about 8 miles north of town) and runs along Gothic Road, onto a bike path and finally into Crested Butte in time for the parade and town-wide water fight.

I’ve run the race twice before (other years I’ve not due to injury). The first year I ran (2005), it was one of the longest races I’d done. The 8.5 miles of mostly downhill felt loooong and tough. The incline at the start was punishing and the downhill pounding.

The morning started early with a 5:30am wake-up call. My friend Andrew was running this year, too. We left our campsite at 6:00 am (thanks to Bracken for driving us into town!) to make it to the bus. We managed to get a seat on one of the last buses to the start line and settled in for the 30 minute ride.

As we got off the bus, the sun was already feeling hot. I shed my jacket, wrapped it around my waist, wishing I’d left it in the car. We had some time to chill and warm up before the 8:00am start.

With roughly 400 runners ready to go, we found a place towards the back of the pack (I wasn’t expecting to break any records that morning) and waited for the signal to start.

As we took off, Andrew and I quickly realized our mistake… we had quite the experience navigating through slower runners and walkers, trying to find some space to find a ryhthm. I found a line to the left, Andrew took off towards the right. As I settled into a steady rhythm, looking around me at the amazing vistas of aspens, wildflowers and mountain peaks all around, I was reminded (yet again) of why I run, and how beautiful our world truly is.

The 2 mile incline at the start—the one that felt so punishing a few years ago—was easy. My pace continued without a hiccup. I felt strong and happy. I felt overcome with gratitude and excitement that I’d come so far with my fitness.

The pavement came too soon, but I knew then I was only about 4 miles out from the finish and concentrated on feeling the flow of the descent.

With the rains this season, the wildflowers were in full force. I smiled. I grinned. I felt goood. I scouted some fields that might be good for portraits in three weeks when I would return for my wedding.

As I descended down the bike path, I saw Andrew up ahead. He looked strong. I looked at my watch and tried to stick with the steady pace I was enjoying. I started to hurt a little as the course flattened out, but knew we were almost to the finish.

I passed Andrew at the last aide station (I like to carry my own water, so didn’t need to stop) and headed into town. One part of my brain wanted to beat my previous time and the other wanted to be in soon so I could get ready for a hair appointment I’d made in preparation for the wedding (in hindsight, poorly scheduled so close to the race). Both motivated me to pick up the pace and finish strong.

Bracken and friends were at the finish with cameras and cheers. I finished in 1:17:51 (about 9 minutes faster than my last time). I felt awesome. Tired, but awesome. Andrew finished just behind me in 1:18:27 (you can read his race report here).

Here’s to another year in the Butte!