Thursday, August 20, 2015

Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon


Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon
This was to be a tough double and my 3rd for the year. As always I wanted to run well, my goals: run the Ascent as fast as I could and hopefully run a fast marathon time.
After a great night sleep I showed up in downtown Manitou ready to race. I went out hard with the leaders but soon realized it was probably too fast. I backed off of the pace and slowly lost ground. By 2 miles in I was in 8th place with a sizeable lead over anyone else. The 7 runners in front of me were hammering. There was the lead pack of 3 runners: Andy Wacker, Touru Miyahara, and Petro Mamo, followed by the chase pack of Simon Gutierrez, Peter Masksimow, Kyle O’Brien, and Brandon Birdsong. At first I hung with the chase pack, but knew I was working too hard. I slowed up and waited. Soon I was running alone. By mile 4, to my surprise, I caught and passed Petro Mamo who is a much better flat land marathoner. I was in 7th place and feeling better. At mile 6 I caught up with Brandon, and at mile 7.5 I passed Kyle. Now I was in 5th place with just over 5 miles to go. I could hear cheering spectators and knew I was only a 60-80 seconds back from Simon and Peter.
I rolled through Barr Camp. The day was hot and I was thankful for I had opted to carry a water bottle. As I ran gaining altitude and miles I felt better and continually increased the pace. I rounded a bend and there only 35 yards in front of me were Peter and Simon. Prior to A-Frame I passed them both and was in 3rd place. I ran through the aid station making sure to refuel my bottle… it was hot! Now above treeline, I looked for the two leaders but they were nowhere to be seen. I could see simon only 15 seconds behind me and rocking it! I kept pushing the pace to ensure I kept my lead. Gradually I built up my lead with a few more precious seconds but still felt like I was running so slow… perhaps the 13,000 + feet had something to do with that.
The last 3 minutes of running were tough. I was dehydrated and my electrolyte balance was also off from the heat. I kept feeling surges of cramps and weird twinges flow through my body. With only 200 yards to the finish I backed off the pace slightly. Normally I would not do this but with the cramping I had to. I finished in 3rd place in 2:23:52. For the race I wore the Huaka http://www.hokaoneone.com/men/huaka/30609030.html?dwvar_30609030_color=BKCT#start=8&cgid=men 

A perfect comfortable light weight shoe with stability.
One race down, one to go. I got home and ate, then had a hot shower, then ate again, then ate some more, then napped, and ate, drove to the awards, and back home, and of course ate some more.
In the morning I felt great. Maybe a tad sluggish but ready for round 2. The race started and I fell into decent controlled pace that I knew I could handle. I maintained the pace (mostly) to the summit arriving in about 2:43. In 7th place with several runners both right in front and right behind me. I ran down, rejuvenated by the summit. By mile 17 though I was feeling the grueling 2 days. I was passed by a few runners but maintained my composure. I had to finish. Pace was not the issue, I just had to be consistent and finish. I finally did just breaking 4:30. I was 10th overall in the Ascent and 1st for the Pikes Peak Double.
No more doubles this year. Next up is the Rut 25K… the 50k is out. I’m looking forward to some fast times at Big Sky!

1 comment:

  1. Timmy - thanks for being up on Hope Pass man. That was great of you to be up there giving back. Even though I had handed my bottles off to someone else to fill, you had not seen that and had come over to check on how I was doing. It was hugely appreciated. All the best.

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