Elevation Profiling

Before every race I run I always like to make sure that I’ve looked at the elevation profile. It allows me to be prepared for the uphill sections that will no doubt slow my pace and shows me the downhill sections where I can make it up. Recently though, it seems that less and less races are putting their elevation maps online. Presumably the reason for this is because they know that I want to see one and they hate me. Either that or there isn’t enough of a demand for this information for them to take the 10 minutes that it would require to make it available. Whatever the case, it means additional work for me and the only thing I hate more than additional work for me is... well... nothing I guess.

I recently made mention of the fact that both halves of the upcoming Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon are downhill. For those of you shackled with the deductive reasoning skills of a Brussels sprout this is accomplished by the fact that the race is a point-to-point course starting in Georgetown (elev. 8500 ft) and finishing in Idaho Springs (elev. 7500 ft). That makes this race pretty much downhill all the way. Pretty much. Below you’ll find the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon elevation map, courtesy of my work ethic.

You’ll notice that the first 2 miles are relatively flat, which is just a brutal way to have to start a race. What kind of sadistic race director starts you out on a flat surface? From there things just go downhill, literally. The plan is to try and conserve some of my energy on the slopes of miles 3 through 5 so that I’ll have the strength to get up that heartbreak of a hill at the 6½ mile mark. If you look really closely at the elevation map you’ll see the hill I’m talking about. *shudder* Obviously I don’t have to tell you guys that this course is not tailor made for setting a PR, but that’s exactly what I’ll be shooting for because I don’t back down from a challenge. I take the challenge by the horns and make it call me Daddy.

My Kingdom for an Elevation Map

I was looking around for an elevation map for the Bolder Boulder Memorial Day 10K race and it is pretty much impossible to find one. In fact, I'd wager good money that I'll discover the Loch Ness monster before you can find a Bolder Boulder elevation map. Now, I’m not particularly looking for the Loch Ness monster but I still think there’s a better chance that he’ll swim all the way to landlocked Colorado and bite me in the butt before you can find an elevation map.

The elevation map that you see pictured above is one that I created using Gmaps Pedometer. I guess that you could say that I have provided a truly unique service to all of my reader. (Nonpluralization intentional). I guess it could really be worth some money. In fact if I was ESPN this would be part of the ‘Insider’ section, and you'd have to pay to view it, except that this might really be useful information.

UPDATE: As I was posting this I received a response back from the kindly folks at the Bolder Boulder with this attached elevation map, which is not published in any of their printed material and is not found anywhere on their website. Which begs the question: Why is the elevation map under such lock and key? Does it have the Colonel’s secret recipe coded onto it? The identity of the second gunman on the grassy knoll? The truth about the Roswell landings? The world may never know, but if I should be “accidentally” killed when my brakes “fail” in the coming weeks I can tell you who your prime suspect should be.