Imogene Pass Training Day

Our good friend, Ryan Dohnal, from Telluride Sports is preparing for one of the most anticipated endurance runs of the summer... the Imogene Pass Run. A grueling 17.1 mile mountain race which starts in Ouray, Colorado and ends on Main Street in Telluride. A lot of people enter the race, many finish... but most finish with scrapes, bruises, and scars from this treacherous, dirty, and hazardous run. 

Some might ask, why? Because there's nothing like setting a goal (a very hard one, at that) and crossing the finish line with a smile. Check out Ryan's blog on training... he will keep us updated till the race commences on September 11th. 

If you need lodging for the Imogene Pass Run, check out our hotel specials at: http://www.telluridehotels.com/hotel-rooms-starting-89-night-telluride 

"It was September 12 of 2009, and I decided that day that I was going to compete inthe Imogene Pass Run. One year from now, I told myself, you will be crossingthat finish line. I had walked up Oak Street in Telluride to watch the finisherscome down. Originally my interest in the watching the finish stemmed from thefact that my girlfriend was in the race, and I knew it would be fun to see hercome down the home stretch. For those people who aren’t familiar, the ImogenePass Run is a 17.1 mile mountain race which covers the ground between the townof Ouray and the town of Telluride. Competitors ascend more than 5,000 verticalfeet to the summit and then finish the last 7 miles down on the Tomboy jeeproad into Telluride. I stood there watching exhausted and dirty runnersapproach the end of a long battle. Some seemed defeated by their experience,exhausted mentally and physically. Others couldn’t have seemed happier andstronger as they crossed the finish line. The more I watched, the more I felt a very old feeling arising insideme, a feeling I hadn’t remembered for quite some time.

                You see, I was a runner at onetime, and a serious one at that. I had competed in high school and for a whilein college as a track and cross country athlete. I was pretty good andcontinued to get better until I decided I needed a break. At a certain point whenyou are a competitive runner, it becomes your life. You have to watch what foodyou eat, how many miles you run, what kind of shoes you wear, when your nextrace is, and a boatload of other things. I stopped running. I wanted to hangout, drink beer, be with my friends, and generally experience the thing theycall College. But as I stood there on Oak Street I remembered what it feltlike. To train, to have a goal, to be single minded in your pursuit. To lovecompeting not only against other runners but against yourself; how hard could Igo? How far could I push myself? That was it, I knew that day I was committedto Imogene 2010.

                I skied all winter, which whilenot the perfect training was more enjoyable than running in snow drifts. In theback of my mind I was excited about spring though, and the opportunity to starttraining for real.  Come June I was runningagain, and the miles seemed to pile up quickly. The first few weeks feltdifferent, not bad, just different. As if my mind more so than my body wasasking “what exactly are you doing?” I was sore, and tired. Although I knewthis was what it was going to take if I wanted to run this race the way Iwanted. The key word there is run.  Amajority of the finishers in the race hike most of the uphill part of thecourse, and I’m not disparaging that. Anyone who does what they can do, or hasfun doing it, belongs in the Imogene pass run. But I wanted to run it, or atleast as much of it as I could. I knew the top finishers could pretty much runthe whole way up, with the exception of a few short, steep sections.

It’sJuly 27 now, and I’ve settled into a rhythm. The runs are becoming longer andmore difficult, and the goal is in sight. I try to run as many hills aspossible, which isn’t hard living in telluride. There’s not much flat runningaround here. I run for time, not distance, and that keeps me focused on thegoal. As I’ve been training I swear I feel sharper and more energetic ineveryday life. Maybe it’s the placebo effect, but I don’t know. I have a timegoal in mind for the race, but I’d rather keep that one to my self." 

-          -RyanDohnal