Training all winter in anticipation of spring races requires great motivation and discipline. When all of the upcoming races evaporated from the schedule, Durango-based ultrarunners looked to put their fitness to use any way possible.
For Kyle Curtin, the second American man to the finish line behind fellow Durangoan Jason Schlarb at last year’s Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, it was a 17-hour effort on his favorite home mountain, Hogsback. For 2019 Big’s Backyard Ultra winner Maggie Guterl, it was a 100-mile week. And for so many others, it is a weekly challenge from the Durango Running Club. It’s all an effort to stay active and entertained in a time in which races have been canceled because of COVID-19, as the coronavirus pandemic has swept the country and world.
“I feel like people are just trying to find different fun, random goals they haven’t gotten around to,” Guterl said.
Here’s a look at what some local runners are doing to stay active:
Curtin’s calling was to Hogsback, the 7,480-foot mass that overlooks downtown Durango from the west. Curtin had the idea to run up and down Hogsback all day Monday in an attempt to tackle as much vertical gain as the height of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak that stands at 29,029 feet in the Himalayas.
Curtin first got the idea while at this year’s Sunnto Elite Team Camp in St. George, Utah. He roomed with triathlete Jason Hotson of California, who told Curtin about a challenge known as “Everesting.” It’s a simple concept of repeating any climb until the athlete reaches the same elevation gain Everest’s summit rises from sea level.
When Curtin’s two big spring races on the East Coast were postponed until the fall and the Western States Endurance Run scheduled for late June was canceled, he turned to his favorite climb in Durango for a challenge.
Curtin climbed 29,131 feet over the course of 34 miles in 17 hours of running from shortly after 5 a.m. Monday until sunset.
“It was more out of boredom than anything,” said Curtin, a Tahoe 200 winner and course-record holder. “Within the last month, the whole season changed completely. Everything I had permits for or got entry into got canceled or delayed.
“I had never heard of ‘Everesting’ before. It came up in conversations a couple of times the last few weeks. With, really, a lack of goals for running here this spring and not being able to travel or go out and do much, it seemed like a good opportunity and a fun way to spend a day.”
Spring Energy, a sports nutrition company, also launched a challenge to see which athlete could conquer the most vertical feet in a single day. Curtin reached out to a few friends to see if they would join him, while running at a coronavirus safe distance, but the answer, he said, was a resounding no.
His effort greatly impressed his peers. Schlarb simply called it “incredible.”
“Kyle had the Everesting idea. I’ve done eight hours on Hogsback and don’t think I want to do more than that,” Guterl said. “He’s nuts. I was interested to see if he was gonna bail or switch it up. It looks like he did switch it up a little bit throughout the day, but he did it. That’s a lot.”
After morning coffee and breakfast, Curtin set out shortly after 5 a.m. with a gallon of water mixed with 15 scoops of Colorado Cola from Tailwind Nutrition. He also had a few muffins, cookies and chocolate bars.
“Hogsback is crazy. It has 35-, 40-degree slopes, and it’s a mile to get to it. It’s right in our backyard and it’s a real challenge,” Curtin said. “It’s a very difficult peak with great views of town. I can’t tell ya exactly why I like it so much, but it’s a good challenge and an iconic peak of Durango.”
Guterl was set to compete at the world famous Barkley Marathons at Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee. Race creator Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell tried to save the event scheduled for the first weekend of April, but the state park pulled permits to force the decision to cancel the event for the second time in its history.
In a race with more than 60,000 feet of elevation gain, Guterl was primed for a big climbing effort in an attempt to back up her incredible feat at last year’s Big’s Backyard Ultra in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, where she ran 250 miles in 60 hours to become the first woman to ever win the last-man, or woman, standing event.
Guterl initially felt like she had done so much training for nothing. A weekend after the decision to cancel, she was happy with the decision and looked at her training in a different way.
“I still learned something in training,” she said. “It wasn’t for nothing if I learned something. To be honest, I felt it was more important that we don’t try to run. I was wanting Laz to cancel it. He’s probably in the high risk group of this virus. I wanted him to be careful. It sucks, but we have bigger things to worry about.”
Guterl had planned on a 91-mile race – Badwater Salton Sea – in Southern California at the end of April. It is a race in which runners have teammates. Now with nothing else to do, Guterl and her two other teammates decided to try for a 100-mile week. She saved the final 36 miles for last Sunday.
“I barely ran at all as soon as I found out Barkley was canceled. We all decided to do a 100-mile week together just for no reason,” Guterl said. “I had never hit 100 miles in training for Barkley. I have in the past, but it’s super rare I ever get there, so why not? Doing 36 miles the final day is how not to run a 100-mile week but it felt good to get out and do the summits that were open that I could do around town.”
Last weekend, the Durango Running Club started what it calls a “Progression Virtual Race Series.”
It started last weekend with a 5-kilometer run. This weekend, it calls for a 10K. The following weekend will be a 16K, or 10-mile run. Then, April 25-26, athletes can take on a marathon or half marathon. The big finale is May 9-10 in which athletes can pick a 25K or 50K.
“Since the fate of races of any type is unknown for the foreseeable future, your favorite local running club thought that we need something to keep all of us motivated to run, train and engaged in our wonderful running community. Thus, the free DRC Progression Virtual Race Series was born,” DRC said on Facebook.
DRC said the solo runs can be done anywhere, even on a treadmill. When athletes are done, they upload their results to the DRC Facebook page, and those results get complied into a Google spreadsheet for all to see.
DRC has encouraged anyone who does the marathon or 50K to summit four of five peaks of Animas, Hogsback, Pautsky, Smelter and Skyline.
Guterl opened with the 5K last weekend and is excited to keep up with the local virtual race series.
While the Western States 100 already canceled, so far the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run based in Silverton has yet to make any changes to its event planned for July 17. With a large percentage of the field consisting of international athletes, Hardrock 100 run director Dale Garland has kept close communication both with registered runners, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during these extraordinary and unsettling times,” Hardrock 100 organizers said in a news release. “For our part, we will continue to update you in a fully transparent manner as expeditiously as information becomes available to us on the status of running the 2020 Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run.”
Guterl’s plan was to pace friend Courtney Dauwalter, last year’s UTMB champion, at the Hardrock 100. Dauwalter and Guterl have begun to make contingency plans in case that doesn’t happen.
“I am going to focus on some speed for right now,” Guterl said. “I lose a lot of speed training for Barkley. Then, I will switch to elevation again in case Hardrock happens. If it doesn’t, we have a little play in the works to do some projects like the Nolan’s 14 or something.”
Curtin planned to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in the leadup to Western States, which he was on the wait list for but believed he would gain entry into. Now, neither will happen.
“Everything is so up in the air right now,” he said. “It seems unwise to make plans because there is a very good chance any plans you do make will get changed within a week or so. Seeing how much the world has changed in a couple of weeks, who knows what it will be like in two weeks.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
