Cory and I ran the Copper Mountain Trail Half Marathon on Sunday as part of the Colorado Running Festival. Overall I had a great time



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This course is fairly technical and hilly, I wouldn’t recommend it to newer trail runners.

Of note:

• Length – 13(ish) miles in true trail race fashion the mile markers were more suggestive than accurate and with the tree cover my garmin was unsure as well
• Elevation – this race starts at 9,200 ft and climbs to over 10,000 ft this is not kind to low lander
• Course – this is a double loop (bow-tie) course. The first is a true loop nothing crazy here but the second loop is an out and back on true (2 ft wide) single track. So on my way out I was jumping out of the way of all the speedy runners, including Cory) on their way down.  
• Hills – The race site said 2400’ of vertical gain, my garmin said about 3200’ either way there is basically no flat sections.
• Hydration – There were 3 aid stations along the course, but the portion along the Colorado Trail just couldn’t support one. This section was a little over three miles so not too long but something to think about on hot days.

All that adds up to this not being a PR course, it is the most beautiful race I have ever run and all the racers are so kind and friendly.

I don’t have any photos of the race since I didn’t think to bring my camera with me, in the future it will be worth it to finish a couple minutes slower in order to capture the scenery. Overall it was a good race, fairly small and held in a cute little mountain village. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to run trails, breathe little to no oxygen, and participate in a no frills race. 

It felt really good to get back out and race after a little hiatus, I am starting to feel like a ‘real’ runner.