Pikes Peak Ascent - RunHalf Marathon

I was in the 1st wave and thought I had positioned myself well so that I would not have any issues when the course transitioned from the wide paved road to the narrow dirt single track. Obviously I underestimated as when we started heading up Ruxton Rd there were people walking already. By the time I met up to the single track it was a major bottle-neck and I could no longer run. I let myself get frustrated here and spent a lot of energy trying to run to the left of the walkers. I know better than this as this was the 7th time for me running this race but I had never experienced so much congestion on the trail before. I may have continued trying to run and pass people up to about the top of the incline...then I just said F-it! I'll wait for things to open up further up the trail.

Things did open up and I passed a few people...but I also had some people passing me. I really had no energy to respond and I just continued up the mountain with a shuffle, which was really all I could do. We got to Barr Camp, which is 7.6 miles from the start and less than 6-miles from the finish. But on average, this will be the halfway point time wise. I looked at my watch and I was at 1:48. For a moment I though great...I should easily be finishing under 4-hours. Unfortunately, shortly after this my shuffle up the mountain turned into a walk. It really surprises me how fast some people can walk up a mountain at altitude. I am not one of these people as a was getting passed by many people walking. Sometimes after getting passed by a walker I would go back to my shuffle and stay with them for a while but once I started walking they would pull away.

I got to A-Frame (this is about 12000 feet and 3-miles from the summit) and looked at my watch. Right away I noticed it had stopped. I think this must have happened when I bumped into someones ass on one of the switchbacks. I started the watch again but at this point it just didn't matter...I was somewhat out of it and really just wanted to get to the top. There was an aid station and I refilled my water bottle and grabbed some m&ms. I think I also had a gatoraid at that point.

From A-Frame to the summit I kept moving but it was slow. Once in a while I would make myself run but it just didn't last...I probably walked 90 percent of the last 3-miles. As I got closer to the summit there was more support from people that had walked down from the summit. I believe it was aroud the Cirque there was a group from Search and Rescue playing kazoos. I requested some GnR and one of the guys said he would play Welcome to the Jungle. I didn't stick around for it as I was already feeling like I was going to die.

Ideally, I would run more miles in prepartion for the race. That said, I registered for the race so I could run with a friend that came in from out of town (he ended up beating me by 25-minutes). My main focus for the race was to train and run it without getting injured as I had to take April and May off from running due to injury. While I am disapointed with my finish time I did not get injured in the process. So I would say I mostly accomplished what I wanted.

Put on my sweats and waited for my friend (he was in the 2nd wave). Had some grapes and chips, went to the vistior center and got a mountain dew and took the shuttle to Manitou. Unfortunately, the run and lack of oxygen do not mesh well for some as evidenced by a few poor souls vomiting on the bus. Once in Manitou had some food and a few beers.


The first time I ran this race was in 1992. I PRd the course in 94. I'm 15 years older, at least 25 pounds heavier, over an hour slower, and somewhat less commited to training then I was back then. There are a combintaion of things that influenced my performance. Most of which I cannot do anything about.


I have participated in a lot of races over the years but I have to say that the Ascent is by far my favorite. Not a lot of hype for this race but it has been taking place for more than 50 years! Always a humbling experience for me but still I come away feeling a great sense of accomplishment. race management has always done a great job, which is not easy when you need to get aid stations set-up on a mountain trail for approximately 2,000 runner's.