Once again, we had a group of 21 or more out today. Luis had two of his friends show up and it sounds like they hope to become regulars. I was expecting a visitor from Indianapolis who turned out to be a no-show, but instead we had visitors from San Francisco and Atlanta
Kudos to Abby, who is a recent college graduate from Virginia Tech and a relatively new runner with an ambitious target of running Disney's Tower of Terror 10 miler. She got up to six miles today! Keep it up, Abby!
By the time I got home from breakfast at Panera's, I had a nice e-mail from Janet from San Francisco Atlanta Lake Brantley
PS on Pikes Peak Ascent
First, Colorado Jack modestly omitted the fact that he finished second in the Age 70 category, that by less than two minutes behind the first place guy. Wendy spilled the beans, Jack. Congratulations on your great 20th effort!
Believe it or not, there were two guys in their 80's that completed the ascent!!
Speaking of Wendy, I am attaching her story on the race, a well written documentary on what was transpiring as she scaled the peak.
Have a great week. I'm off to an Adriatic cruise out of Venice Italy
Jack
Jack,
It was great to talk with you this afternoon!
I'm so excited for you and Mary for your trip!! I can't wait to hear all about it upon your return!
I just looked up the times and Jack Ramsey did finish 2nd in his a/g. As a matter of fact the #1 finished in 4:26:41 and Jack finished in 4:28:15.. so close!
So.. Here's my Pikes Peak experience (from the time I decided to run it to the day I actually finished it)!
It all started May 2012=2C 7 girls met in Cincinnati to run the Flying Pig Marathon! One friend in particular, Molly Hogan, used to live in Orlando and run with Marathonfest until her husband was transferred to Manitou Springs, Colorado with his job in 2011. Molly brought up Pikes Peak during our Marathon weekend and I was suckered from that day forward! I signed up when the registration opened and wondered if I was making a big mistake. Suprisingly, my Detroit marathon time qualified me for the Ascent. Who Knew? Next, I bought my plane ticket and I started to have regrets. But, a few of my friends thought I was crazy and wouldn't be able to run it and that just made me more determined! I had a plan to train hard, train on hills and walk on the treadmill at an incline EVERY night.
As it ended up, I did not train as hard for this race as I had hoped to due to a vacation mixed with Tom's mom passing and over 35 hours in a car which really put my back in bad shape for several runs. I started to have some issues with my feet and couldn't figure out what it was. I had to use the process of elimination. First I eliminated leg weights and that helped but really didnt do the trick. Then I stopped participating in the Marathonfest bum challenge. Stopping the lunges made a big difference but I still had the problem. So, I returned the trail shoes I bought at Travel Country to run the race in and low and behold I was doing better!
So, I just decided to run in my road shoes!
I'm still training for the Hartford Marathon and it just so happened I had to work on some Saturdays of the long runs so I had to alter my schedule and put in some long runs in Apopka and Clermont. My Saturday runs with walk breaks should average an 11:17 pace. Marathonfest had the first hill run in Clermont on June 30th where I ran 16 miles and averaged a 12:06 pace. It's Clermont and it was in the low 80's so I figured that wasn't bad considering the factors involved. The next hill run was a cooler morning of 73 degrees on July 21st in Clermont and I ran 12.65 miles at an 11:00 pace. I did run 4 less miles than the first run but when I compared the pace for each mile, overall, my miles were faster and my slowest mile was 11:55. I was pretty stoked! The following weekend on July 27th I ran 20 miles in Apopka at an 11:02 pace. This morning it was about 77 degrees. I was a little bit slower than the mega hills in Clermont but I ran 8 miles more that I did just 6 days ago! I was impressed with myself! My final hill run was a balmy 79 degrees in Clermont 6 days before the Ascent and I did a stupid thing and added leg weights back into my workout the week prior. So, this run covered 12 miles with a sad pace of 12:07! I was so disappointed in myself! So, I took the week off from weights and running and slept in every day! Or, at least tried to!
I left the following Friday (5 days after my horrible Clermont run) and the race was on Saturday (the following morning at 7:30am MT (9:30am ET). Now that I have completed the race, I look back at several things from that morning and wonder... Could the time difference have made a difference? Or perhaps the weather? It felt like it was in the 50's when we started off and the daytime temperature averaged in the mid 80's (my luck that I bring global warming to all of my races). I'm glad I opted to run in a skort and a sleeveless top with my long sleeve shirt tied around my waist.
I ran with my friend, Molly, who lives in Manitou Springs. Molly has hiked parts of the trail numerous times and has hiked the entire trail times. I thought for sure she would leave me in her dust... literally! We both agreed that we would run when we could and hike most of it. Well, I didn't realize it was impossible to run any of it. First, there were areas that were so narrow you couldn't pass anyone. Second, there were many areas with rocks, rocks and BIG rocks! And Third, there were roots that you had to be careful of.Running wasn't much of an option and, in fact, we probably only ran 2 miles of the entire race.
We started off the race with a run and ran about 3/4 of a mile before I decided I would prefer to save my energy as the hill we were running was only going up and we hadn't reached mile 1 yet! So, we walked with about half of the other runners. At mile 1.45 the pavement ran out and we never saw it again. Hello trails! When we rounded the first switch-back on the trail, the traffic in front of us STOPPED! Not a good sign! Well, cram 900 runners on a step narrow trail with rocks and roots and you have gridlock! Molly and I just chilled while a few runners complained and pushed their way past us! Typical! And may I add that we later passed these runners! Sweet!
And, let's talk elevation briefly! The race started at 6,300' elevation and ended at the Summit which was 14,115' for a total elevation gain of 7,815'. And no, I didnt have anyway to train for the altitude. I just had to literally SUCK IT UP!
There were 8 Aids Stations with the last being the FINISH at the Summit! The first 2 aid stations just had gatorade and water and the last 6 had AWESOME junk food to include pretzels, Cheeze-its,
Chex Mix, Vanilla Wafers, jelly beans, M & M's, oranges, etc. I borrowed a camelback from a friend and put 2 bottles of water in it (later I realized I should have put 3) but oh well! It is, what it is! Anywho, at the aid stations, I just grabbed gatorade and of course, Cheeze-its and Chex Mix! During the course I consumed my Hammer gels and drank water from the camelback.
Speaking of water, I drank so much water when I landed in Colorado I thought I would float! But, it wasn't enough. My urine still wasn't clear! Unbelievable! During the run, everytime I felt a little light head or out of breath, I drank water from the camelback and did not stop! That was the key, don't stop because it's hard to get going again!
But, I did stop! Molly and I stopped to take pictures 1 hour and 13 minutes into the race. This was somewhere after mile 3. About 40 minutes later I pulled out the camera again to run ahead of Molly and take photos. I did that for about 15 minutes. Just clicking away and enjoying the scenery and tripping on roots because I was not paying attention to where I was going. I was so fascinated!
And about 30 minutes later we stopped so I could break out the camera again and snap some great shots!
Somewhere around the 3rd Aid Station (No Name Creek), which was 4.3 miles, I felt friction in my shoes like I had rocks or dirt in the heels. But, I had gaiters on so I didn't see how that was possible. We walked up a ways and I stopped to take off my right shoe and noticed a nasty blister. I didn't plan on blisters therefore, I had no band-aids. Smart! Real Smart! I packed everything else in my camelback but band-aids! Luckily, I did have a tissue which I put between my sock and heel. We made it another mile to the next Aid Station (Bobs Road) and a very nice Rescue Volunteer put band-aids on both of my blistered heels. That was just before Molly and I hit Barr Camp at mile 7.6 (the 5th Aid Station and the 1st cut off time). Well, Molly was starting to have some stomach issues and I needed to use the facilities at Barr Camp so I ran ahead of Molly. She caught up with me at Barr Camp and told me we had just made the 3-hour cut off by 5 minutes! Oh crap! No more pictures! She told me she wasn't taking to the elevation too well and since I was feeling good I could stay with her or go ahead. Well, guess what I did.. I boogied! Not on purpose but I was just feeling it so I went with it!
The next Aid Station was A-Frame which was our 2nd cutoff and 2.6 miles from Barr Camp (10.2 miles total into the race). We had to get to A-Frame in 1 hour 15 minutes (the cut off time was 4 hours 15 minutes). Yikes! I was starting to get worried. It was hard to pass other runners and I started hopping over rocks on the side to get around runners and if a runner asked to pass I would fall right in behind them. I wasn't about to give up I made it to the next Aid Station and thought I was in the clear Whew! I took my gatorade and proceeded to slow down to walk until a lovely Volunteer shouted, "You have 9 minutes to make it to the cut off"! My heart literally SANK! I didn't bust my butt training in freaking hills and fly all this way to be turned around because I missed a cutoff! I threw down my cup and was on FIRE I made it across the mat with less than 5 minutes to spare and my heart was pumping a mile a minute! I just wanted to barf but... I didn't! Once the trail opened up and there was some driftwood to sit on I took off my camelback and started taking pictures again! That lasted for about 5 minutes and I figured I should get my butt in gear and finish this damn race since I only had 3.12 miles to go. Just a 5k... Yeah right! The hardest 5k in my entire life! That took me 1:45:59 to reach the Summit!
And, let me just tell you about the last 3.12 miles! It wasn't pretty! The weather started to get cooler so I had to take off my camelback and put on my long sleeve shirt that I had tied around my waist. And not much longer we started to get a nice little sporadic drizzle of rain. It was a wonderful relief from the heat but I was afraid it would really start to rain! I had a light jacket packed in my camelback that I could pull out if need be but it only lasted a few minutes and was gone! That was good but not all that good because I got hot again. I didn't want to stop so I just rolled up my sleeves and kept going! I could hear the finishers at the Summit since I left A-frame and it seemed like I would never reach them! Molly happened to be on a switch-back below me when I put on my l/s shirt. She yelled my name and I was so EXCITED to see her! I asked her if she made the cut off and she said she didn't but she wasn't turning around. You go girl! I was so damn proud of her for pushing it!
We hit the last Aid Station referred to as the Cirque at mile 11.9. I grabbed a cup of Gatorade, took a swig and kept going. I was focused! The gravel trail was starting to get narrower and the switch-backs... oh the switch-backs! They were hard! The gravel started to turn into rocks and the rocks kept getting bigger! We were now above tree line and in the area referred to as the 16 Golden Stairs. That would be the 32 switch-backs we had to conquer with frequent rock step ups of 10-15" or greater for a good mile and half! I literally had to hold onto rocks as I climbed up. The best part of this section is I RAN OUT OF WATER IN MY CAMELBACK! Kill me now! The water was helping me handle the altitude. What am I going to do? This is where I started to get loony and talk to myself! Oh yeah.. I was tripping! I was behind this older man and focused on his leopard print gaiters watching his feet and my feet as we put one foot in front of the other climbing over the rocks. I thought to myself, "I got this!" And then the leopard gaiters stopped to the side. Oh crap! I wanted to tell him, "you can't leave me"! But, all I could make out was a grunt b/c I was so parched! So, I stepped to the side and took out my last Hammer gel, ripped the top off and got back on the trail.
The last Hammer gel that I thought was going to give me the energy to finish this race, tasted like thick paste and left me more parched! Unbelievable! I never finished that gel but I did hold onto it until the bitter end.
We had about 3 switch-backs to go before reaching the Summit and there were Volunteer Rescue workers cheering us on. One Volunteer was playing "She'll be coming 'round the
Mountain when she comes" on his harmonica. That was uplifting! I rounded the final switch-back and I thought I heard my name announced but I couldn't make it out. And then all of a sudden I heard my dear friend and old running partner, Emily, hooting and hollering! I could barely look up. Hell, I didn't want to look up because I thought I would vomit if I did! But, somehow I mustered the strength to look her way and wave with a smile. Good God that took energy! I reached the finish line, found the nearest rock out of the way, sat down and laid back for awhile. Once I got moving, Emily ran down to give me the BEST bear hug a parched, exhausted girl could use at that point! It was so nice to have my friend there! I almost cried like a baby but... I held my composure! We had to get going to see Molly come in! :) And darned if we didn't miss her come in about 10 minutes after me. I was so glad she made it! I was so glad we BOTH made it!
The next day we walked into downtown Manitou Springs to try and meet up with Jack Ramsey. And we had success! It was great to meet this Legend that has ran Pikes Peak 20 years in a row! And, at 70, he finished 2nd in his age group in 4:28! That is incredible!!!!
After watching the Marathoners come in, Molly asked me if I'd like to come back and run the marathon with her. Hmmmm... it's tempting but I might have it give it a few years!
If you ever have an interest in running the Ascent or Pikes Peak Marathon, I say... GO FOR IT! And, feel free to pick my brain of some helpful information before you pack for your trip! :)
Happy Trails! Wendy :)
1 comment:
What a great story by Wendy. She convinced me to never go to Colorado Springs again, because that hike might kill me, and, of course, if I'm there I'd have to do it.
Jack - Helga and Ingrid are coming next week. Do you want me or Chris to show them the course?
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