2011 Pikes Peak Marathon

Well I was certainly humbled by the mountain on Sunday as it kicked my butt.  Not the race I was hoping for but I'm sure over time I will come to appreciate my number of PPM finishes more than the times on the clock, and this was my third finish.

With all the compiled data on this race, it's easy to overanalyze things, but I think in the end it just wasn't my day.  It all started by not waking up until 4:30 (in Fort Collins) and having to hop in the car, speed down to Manitou Springs, pick up my race bib, and jump into the start line.  I got all this done with just a few minutes to spare, so in a way I was just glad I got to run the race this year.  Unfortunately, I had no breakfast and forgot my gels.  At least I had a water bottle, but it would turn out that I couldn't get myself to drink enough of the aid-station Gatorade.

All excuses aside now, we had absolutely perfect weather this year.  No need to even carry a long-sleeved shirt.  I decided to take off a little faster than usual at the start, in hopes of not getting caught in too much traffic on the climb through the W's where everyone gets funneled into some narrow single-track.  It was still crowded, but I did run more of the W's this year than in past years (still not sure if that was a good thing though).  I was easily under sub 3:30 ascent splits (my ascent goal) through the Bottomless Pit Sign, but I never really felt that great from the start.  It was then a pretty steady meltdown for me all the way to the top.

Hitting the summit turnaround (Photo: Kevin Hurd)

I find it quite interesting that my time from Hydro Street to the "2 to summit" sign was within 1 minute of the time I ran it 2 weeks ago on a conservative training run (half of that in the dark via headlamp).  I felt great that day and could have easily pushed a good pace to the top.  I was nearly an hour from there to the summit yesterday, although I'm sure at least 10 minutes of that was me hugging a rock while letting others moving much better than me pass by.  I just seem to do my best running when I am relaxed and it is just me and the trail.  I get really anxious with all of the passing and being passed in a crowded race like this, and it really wears on me.  Maybe that is why I don't race much and tend to favor smaller ultras where I know I'll be by myself more than not.

I hit the summit in 3:52 and thought maybe if things turned around for me I could break 6 hours for the marathon.  I just felt crappy the whole way down, however.  I even walked down Ruxton Street to the finish because I was afraid I might throw up on a spectator if I ran.  I obviously got behind on my fueling and hydration.  My finish time of 6:25 was about the same time I ran 3 years ago on the back side of a "Double" (ran the Ascent the day before) and in a snowstorm.

So what draws me to Pikes Peak?  It is because it is "Pikes Peak".  Ms. Arlene Pieper, the first official women's finisher at a U.S. marathon at Pikes Peak in 1959, sent us off with the "ready, set, go".  The singing of "America the Beautiful" before the race still gives me goosebumps every time.  They call this race "America's Ultimate Challenge" and this challenge, along with it's storied history, great volunteers, and true camaraderie between competitors will always keep bringing me back.

My overanalyzed race splits:
Ruxton 3:21 (projected 2hr32min Ascent)*
Hydro 10:38 (2:49)
Top of W's 37:33 (3:07)
No Name Creek 56:52 (3:14)
7.8 to Summit Sign 1:18:35 (3:18)
Barr Camp 1:42:59 (3:23)
Bottomless Pit Sign 2:00:53 (3:28)
A-Frame 2:33:58 (3:36)
2 to Summit Sign 2:58:54 (3:40)
1 to Summit Sign 3:22:00 (3:45)
Summit 3:52:54
Finish 6:25:06
*Projected Ascent times from Matt Carpenter's pacing calculator

I guess the rumors of Matt's demise were grossly overrated.  At age 47, he made it a record-tying 6 straight wins for the marathon and 12 total.  The man is truly inspirational.  Came across this great post-race perspective from Matt via GZ's blog.

Pikes Peak Trial Run

Two weeks until my third Pikes Peak Marathon and I thought it was a good time to reacquaint myself to the Barr Trail Highway.  I took a pretty relaxed run/hike from Hydro Street to the "2 miles to summit" sign and was hitting the splits (based on Matt C's pacing calculator) right about on a 3:30 ascent pace (my best is 3:40).  I was feeling like a had a lot left in the tank for those last 2 miles to the summit.  I did run the W's which I don't think I will be able to do in the race.  I just don't think it is worth the extra effort to get ahead of the masses at the start.  I'll probably only lose about 5-10 minutes to my running pace to No Name Creek anyway.  And, of course, the real race doesn't start until A-frame (timberline).

Don't know what shoes I will be wearing.  Wore the Hokas today, but they are done.  A great shoe when new, but no durability for me.  The medial side of the shoe is mashed, the treads are worn smooth and falling off, and I took a sharp rock right up through the EVA foam.  Only 400 miles on them, so not too happy for what I got for $170.  In my opinion, not a good shoe for an overpronater, even with orthotics.  Looks like I'll be running in my worn out Cascadia 6's (500 miles) tomorrow.  Oh yeah, I don't like those shoes either.

It sounds like Matt Carpenter will be racing the marathon again this year, which I am very glad to hear.

Today's run:  Pikes Peak Marathon Course from Hydro Street to "2 to summit" sign and back.
19.65 miles, 6162 feet climbed, GPS data here

Awesome morning just below 13,000 feet.

My turnaround point today.

July Summary

177 miles, 6.4 vertical miles

Trail 154 miles, 6.3 vertical, 11 runs, 33 hours
Road 23 miles, 0.1 vertical, 6 runs
Track 0
Treadmill 0
Weight Lifting 4 workouts, 4 hours
Rest Days 14

First month below 200 miles this year but still pretty solid on the vertical.  Kind of a slow recovery from Black Hills and more recently some other chronic "niggles" have flared up forcing a lot of rest days and keeping me from doing any real speed work.  At least I can still trudge along the trails.  Rather than taper for Pikes Peak in 3 weeks, I think I will just ramp up to it.

Towers Road Again and Again and ...

This had to be the craziest thing I've done since Round Mountain Ladders.  Again, I only have the FCTR crew to blame (thank).  What an idea!  Let's run up and down Towers Road for 24 hours!  Okay, so I didn't start until 3:15am this morning, giving me a little less than 4 hours to add some laps to the 1st ever 24 Hours of Towers.  I had to give it a pretty stout effort to get 3 laps done by 7am.  I then made it a Towers Quad with a 4th (very slow) trip up to the towers and back to complete my workout this morning.  Brian's preliminary results had us putting up over 200 laps as a group.  Not hard to see why Fort Collins seems to dominate the results lists at many trail races around the Rocky Mountain region.

A new Appalacian Trail speed record was set today by Jen Pharr Davis.  No, not the women's record (which she already owned), but the fastest known time by anyone.  Her 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes for covering the 2181-mile AT was over 26 hours faster than Andrew Thompson's previous record.  Of course this was fully-suported (no 40 pound pack to carry), but still amazing!

Today's run:
Towers Road Quad, 27.29 miles, 6722 feet climbed, GPS data here

Granite Pass Loop

I like to hit some variation of this loop at least once a year in RMNP.  My first time above treeline this year.  No snow along the trails up to Granite Pass (12,000+ feet) and it looked pretty clear up to Longs Peak.  There were a lot of hikers heading up to the peak, although I had all of the trails to myself until I got to Granite Pass.

The Loop:
Storm Pass Trail/Boulder Brook Trail/North Longs Peak Trail to Granite Pass/Longs Peak (Keyhole Route) Trail/Connecting Trail from Longs Peak Trail back to Storm Pass/Storm Pass Trail

Start/Finish at Storm Pass Trailhead at Lily Lake

20.94 miles, 5694 feet climbed, GPS data here

Early morning view from Storm Pass Trail.

Interesting.  I guess I ran a little faster than normal through this section.

Boulder Brook Trail.

Overlooking the Boulder Brook Valley and beyond.

Longs and Meeker from the Chasm trail junction.

Lost Lake

It's not Hard Rock, but still not a bad destination this morning.  My first time running up the North Fork trail this year.  No snow until the lake at 10,700 feet, but much of the trail down low was underneath the high-flowing North Fork Big Thompson River.  Huge congrats to everyone that kissed the rock in Silverton this weekend!

Today's run: 18.75 miles, 3449 feet climbed, Start/Finish at Dunraven Trailhead in Glen Haven

GPS data here

Submerged trail.

Higher up.

Final climb over the snow field to the lake.

June Summary (Black Hills Final Thoughts)

June Totals:
Total Miles 251 (1360 for year)
Total Vertical Miles 7.2 (42.2 for year)

Trail (10 runs, 226 miles, 7.2 vertical, 55 hours)
Road (3 runs, 8 miles, 0 vertical, 1 hour)
Track (2 runs, 13 miles, 0 vertical, 2 hours)
Treadmill (1 run, 4 miles, 0 vertical, 1 hour)
Weight Training (5 sessions, 7 hours)
Rest Days (14)

Biggest mileage month of the year so far, with 105 miles last weekend having the most to do with that.  Took the rest of the month off after finishing Black Hills.  My body is slowly getting back to normal and I am looking forward to getting back on the trails.  Exertional rhabdomyolysis was the diagnosis given to me after the race, along with being severely dehydrated.  Could have lead to something serious, such as kidney failure.  It does make you want to think twice about taking Ibuprofen (or any NSAIDS) during a 100-miler, which I did not do this time or ever will in the future.  The combination of "rhabdo" and Ibuprofen has put some athletes in pretty bad shape before as that causes major stress on the kidneys.

For now I am just excited to getting back to some summer running on my Colorado trails, exploring some new ones and revisiting some old ones.  I'll try to get higher in altitude as our snow is still slowly melting.  I got a date with Pikes Peak on August 21.

It's been nice putting some names to the faces from all the great people I met before or during the race in the Black Hills.  Adam Schwartz-Lowe ran a smart race being patient and not letting anyone else dictate his race.  There were plenty of runners ahead of us coming into Dalton that either didn't finish or finished behind Adam.  Phil Lowry, you are an animal, and I had a blast making those stream crossings with you heading out.  Go Ranger!  Alistair Munro and Andy Pele were making it look easy through the Crooked Tree section.  It was nice meeting you Alistair at the pre-race meal. I'm not sure what took you out of the race late, but I'm sure you will run strong another day.  Thomas Etter, you said this was just a training run so no worries on the DNF.  It was great sharing some trail time out there and best of luck with the adventure races.  Laura Range, I thought you were done lying there on the cot at Dalton on the way back, and then I couldn't shake you for 29 miles.  Great job!  Finally, it was great sharing some of the last few miles with Casey Lopez.  I enjoyed seeing Casey's Dad at all those aid stations at night when I was struggling, and then I finally get to meet you Casey near the end.  Well done!