Fit-Pic: Vail Pass Here We Come

Talk about some serious bragging rights these runners are attempting to earn. They're just steps into the Vail Pass Half Marathon, one of the three running-centered events--the Badass Dash and the Spring Run-off are the others--that takes place during the GoPro Mountain Games, held at Vail from June 5 to 8, 2014. With a name like the Vail Pass Half Marathon, you'd be correct if you guessed runners would be running (or walking, stumbling, dragging their legs, etc.) up Vail Pass, whose summit is roughly 13 miles east of the Golden Peak start line.

Fit-Pic: Vail Pass Half Marathon

And this was only the start of Saturday's festivities at the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail. Runners toed the line at the annual 1st Bank Vail Pass Half Marathon, a race that makes you earn every one of those miles underfoot. For starters, you're running slightly more than your typical 13.1 miles of a half marathon: it's designed to be 13.7 miles, according to the race description, and today's route is 13.5 miles, according to the race announcer.

You're already at 8,225 feet above sea level when you start running at Golden Peak, and you're climbing your way to a 10,600-foot finish at the top of Vail Pass. Lung burn, quad burn, all-out aches and pains. Yeah, you gain bragging rights--and the excuse to do nothing but lounge around the rest of the day--when you finish this run.