2022 San Juan Solstice 50

The start of a fine day at the 24th annual San Juan Solstice 50.

Late-June in Colorado. With the spring snowpack all but melted out, green landscapes blanketing much of the state, and our days just barely starting to get shorter again, it was time to head down to Lake City for another run at the San Juan Solstice 50 this past Saturday.

The SJS is about as time-honored a race as you’ll find in Colorado. This was the event’s 24th year and I’ve now been fortunate enough to participate the last four times it’s been held going back to 2017 (the race was cancelled in 2019 due to flooding and 2020 due to COVID). It’s always a truly special event to be a part of and this time around was no different.

The finish line in the center of town on Friday evening.

As the years go by there’s one thing I’m certain of, and that is the course never gets any easier. Racking up 12,800 ft of gain in a 50-mile loop around the eastern San Juans at elevation, how could it I guess? But some years I’ve felt better than others and this year for whatever reason ended up being a particularly tough one.

5am at the starting line, which had to be pushed two blocks up the Henson Creek Road due to construction where the race normally starts.

More on that, I wound up just feeling lethargic for much of the day. Tired and just not operating efficiently, and no matter how much I ate and drank it didn’t seem to make a lasting difference. So it became a day of mostly pushing through rough patches as opposed to enjoying my time out there. But I guess if you do this sport for long enough there’s a good chance you’ll run into some days like this one. It just seems inevitable.

The Alpine Gulch creek crossings always make for a nice early morning jolt.

…and we’re above tree line now with the day officially getting rolling.

One small mistake I made this year was not working my way further up towards the front of the pack along the Henson Road before the course narrows down to singletrack as it enters Alpine Gulch. I was further back than I realized and ended up stuck in a large conga line all the way up to the Alpine aid station with no real opportunity to get around anyone for well over an hour. Once above tree line I was feeling antsy and finally had the opportunity to pass some folks, which led to a lot of exertion above 12,000 ft that in hindsight probably did not help things later in my day.

But the weather was gorgeous and I was able to make good time down the first big descent and through the Williams aid station. From there I had a good time talking with a few people on the way up the Wager Gulch Road as the late-morning temps started to heat up.

Above the Carson aid station with Bent and Carson Peaks in back.

Coney Benchmark, a ranked 13er and the course’s high point.

After the climb up Coney it was on to arguably the most challenging section of the day; the 17-mile undulating stretch out along the Continental Divide. The most important thing along this section is to just keep moving, even if you’re forced down to a hike, although a lot of it is pretty runnable if you have the energy. Oh and don’t forget to take a look around and admire those views.

Singletrack and wildflowers along the divide.

Eventually I came upon the Divide aid station yurt and took a lengthy break to down several quesadillas and a few cups of Coke. I even took a seat in a chair for a few minutes which I rarely do. It was just more of that low-energy feeling I had all day and I figured with a PR not happening at this point, why not just try to slow things down a bit and enjoy the latter part of the race.

Nice views of Uncompahgre from the high plateau above Slumgullion.

The long stop at the yurt did seem to help, as I was able to make decently quick work of the next 9 miles to the Slumgullion aid. There I took another short break and refueled again with more solid food and Coke before the urge to just finish the job took over.

Moving slow again through Vickers, but the persistent afternoon cloud cover sure was nice as this section is usually sweltering.

At the top of the final Vickers climb it was just another few miles through the dense aspen groves and open fields above town. Once I hit the final descent I got a second (or maybe fifth actually) wind and cruised on down the quad-burning switchbacks to town. From there it was an easy trot for several blocks to the end.

I finished in 11:45:23 which was my 3rd best time out of 4 races here and translated to 52nd place overall. The rest of the results can be found here.

Sunday morning at the breakfast/awards ceremony.

I feel like I spent a lot of this report talking about how cruddy I felt, but overall it was still a good day out and another surreal go at this classic race. I met and talked to a lot of cool people along the way and am grateful every time I head to Lake City and successfully finish this thing no matter what my time is or how I feel.

Thanks again to Jerry, all the volunteers, residents of the town who put up with the weekend crowds, the Lake City EMTs, and all of the runners, pacers and crew who make this event what it is year after year. I have no doubt I’ll be back again at some point in time. When that is I guess we’ll see.

And to cap things off on a completely unrelated note, I’ll just leave this here…

They didn’t get it done Friday night before the race, but Sunday night was a different story.