Runners say natural beauty drew them to run in the mountains

Instead of crowds of sign-waving humans, you may spot a moose. That's what Loren Anderson encountered while running REVEL Big Cottonwood in 2014, nonchalantly grazing at the side of the road as runners streamed by.

Crowd support? How about a crowd of deer, or a thicket of trees?

All three REVEL races start at least a mile above sea level, where evergreens and wildlife predominate, far removed from the metro areas below. The natural beauty draws runners to the courses. More than 20 percent of Big Cottonwood finishers and nearly 15 percent of Rockies and Canyon City runners cited "beautiful" as the factor that most influenced them to sign up.

The courses combine the logistical support of a city race — the water and medical stops, traffic control, paved courses — with the scenic solitude of a trail race.

"I'm familiar with Cottonwood Canyon," said Anderson, 44, who lives in Vernal, Utah. "It's a great canyon, a beautiful canyon, and I just thought it would be so different. You run through a national forest. It's my favorite race, hands-down."

For some runners, the beauty isn't just a bonus. It's an intrinsic part of the race experience, as important as the music and cheering crowds of urban marathons.

"It's the most beautiful race I've ever run," Mary Abbott, 37, who lives in Littleton, Colorado, said of the REVEL Rockies course. "We started right when the sun was coming up and it was the most gorgeous colors coming over the mountains."

Abbott said the beauty was almost a spiritual experience, and talking with other runners along the course took the place of basking in encouragement from residents and other supporters along a city course.

Teresa Magula, who ran REVEL Canyon City this year and shaved 6 minutes off her previous record, said the beauty of the course helped nudge her toward the finish line.

"I love running in the mountains," Magula said. "When I saw the course, I knew it was going to be great. It's the seclusion, the ability to zone out in nature, no folks cheering, the peacefulness of the course."

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Sure, it may look easy, but wrap your head around the mountain.

If running a long course is nearly as much a mental exercise as a physical one, the downhill REVEL marathons will give your brain a workout.

All three races start out with blazing-fast, downhill slopes, which combined with a runner's natural inclination to come out the gate hot, may give rise to exuberance at the start that leads to burnout later on.

Moreover, the three courses are not steady descents. Rockies comes closest, with 2,887 feet of elevation loss in the first half and 1,653 feet in the final half, while Big Cottonwood and Canyon City level off even more. Both include uphill sections, with a gradual but steady ascent for a couple of miles after the midpoint of Canyon City contrasting with the steep downhill during the first half of the race.

Any race is a test of wills, the runner against his or her own physical limitations. That's even more true when fast and comparatively easy downhills give way to tougher terrain.

It's important to study the course as closely as possible either by viewing a map and profile, or by running or driving it in advance if possible, said Mark Minichiello, a Los Angeles-based running coach.

"I stress visualization a lot," he said. "If you're running for a p.r., you want to know what the course looks like. You don't want any surprises."

Jackie Miller Stevens ran REVEL Canyon City despite a tear in her right hip, which kept her from the longest downhill training runs. Instead, she alternated downhill and uphill runs with stairs and weight training for her lower body. A resident of San Gabriel near the course, she nonetheless avoided mountain roads for safety reasons, and did much of her training on a treadmill.

She said the second half of the race was tough both physically and mentally, but she's not about to give up. Having done the race once with a 4:07 finish, she's ready to tackle it again in 2016.

"I want to get the mental part of it out of the way so if it hurts, I'm prepared for it," Stevens said. "I want to beat that damn hill. It's a puzzle, training for that race."

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