Pikes Peak Ascent - Run

Fastest Ascent this year! And that's what I care about!
Weather was GREAT, maybe best ever. Monsoon ended just in time!
Hydrated well, with nice clear water at all stops. (I carry my own Liquid Energy Drink, Gels, and even a Bar just in case).
Stayed in the game (kept mental focus), and really had EVEN effort, reeling in folks who went too hard even for a little bit up top.
To elucidate- a gal who went by me on a uphill stretch, more than once, up top, finally did it one too many times, could not recover, and my steady effort, not speed, where I slowed down on the steeper parts, especially critical at Altitude, finally meant I pulled away for good- I'm sure much to her surprise, because it would have seemed to her that I was "Weak" when the trail was tougher, but I was simply smarter, keeping my EFFORT the same, which meant slowing down on the steeper sections at 12,500ft-13,500ft where eventually she was unable to recover from her foolishly hard effort on another steeper uphill section. I never saw her again after she had gone by me 3 times.

For now, everyone I know wants to at least 'Stay Qualified", which will mean some for sure out here next year, and the year after, and the year after.
The training is mostly excellent, and certainly went well this year. Will plan to skip the week before next year's event- should lead to a boost- but I wanted the extra training more than taper this year.

Right to Vans, sat in front seat! Right to Bus, front seat again. Lil food and Beer back in Manitou, then to shower at Aquatic Center. Friends did not make shower, Aquatic Center was closed by the time they got there (a real oversight that I should mention to race-direction). So up to Buena Vista, and the Laundromat. Then Dinner and a couple Beers each at Eddyline- delicious as always.
Then I went home and slept in my own bed, while M and M went to Hike Huron the 14er on Sunday.


Hundreds of Weasels, down low, and up high. So it goes.
I think it's useful to understand that in THIS race, and emotions run high at Altitude anyway, being angry with those in your way is pure motivation, and any motivation is good motivation, just understand you're MORE emotional than usual due to the Altitude, so you need to try extra hard not to let being impeded blow you up. Sadly, the fastest folks don't know anything about this, as up front the race is well-spread-out, but from 1/4 pack, to mid-pack and on back, it's a pretty tough, crowded race, all the way from beginning to end due to waves of 100 starting off every minute, so you'll never "outrun" the waves in front of you, just catch more of them, or experience them catching you.

Hey, if you can "rise above" because you're NOT being impeded, or despite being impeded you're on track for your PR, and you have a lovely trip up, and are actually not tired, but exhilarated(!) at the top, (it has happened to me) and your mood is lifted even more by emotions running high at Altitude, you've had the Best experience possible.
But be warned, others experience will not be changed by your own, as you fly by exhilarated, you might just as easily hear "You're all in an all-fired hurry to get to the top..." in the voice of "Get off my lawn", as "Hey, great pace!".

And no matter how it goes, I recommend you get down right away, and if you ARE euphoric, I say try NOT to fall in love, and if you do, try to just keep your mouth shut! Smile.

But with that said, understand it's highly likely you WILL be impeded, for the worst possible reasons, in that some folks just fall apart up top, from going out too fast, and now hate the world, and are walking with their hands on their hips in the most un-sportsmen-like display possible in a single-track trail race. They are literally struggling with the will to live, let alone don't care about your (yearly) PR.
Sometimes you can get by them, but sometimes when 5 or 7 or 9 of them line up in the rocky Golden Stairs, or just in the high altitude, you simply cannot get by, and now your PR, or whatever calculation you made at the Cirque is just out the window. So it goes on Pikes Peak.

As long as I'm giving advice, I consider it crucial to look up the trail, as soon as the W's, and determine if there is one person holding up the 14 in front of you, with a big gap ahead of them. Because if there is, and it is more and more likely to be true the higher you go, then you have to assess what slightly greater effort you are willing to put forth, and where on the trail to hike, to get around all of them, one or a few at a time. Because the uphill effort on the Mtn lulls folks into "Going Easy" behind someone who is WAY too slow for most people in the group. Especially if you go out in a pace you can sustain, you will have to decide, possibly many times during the race, that you must fight a little now to get around large groups, I'd particularly be vigilant in the large rocky step-ups between Barr Camp and A-Frame where folks are just coming to grips with that they're only half way, and they're TOAST, and Altitude is JUST starting to clamp down on them, and a reverie over-takes them, and those behind them are simply trudging along. It's then that by simply maintaining your sustainable pace, looking up and seeing that you must get around those just becoming zombie-fied, that you generally make your race in the crucial 58%-81% of total Ascent time, between the Bottomless Pit Sign and 2-To-Go.


Most difficult Half Marathon in America (according to HalfMarathons.net). Not just relentlessly uphill for 13+miles, but into increasingly less oxygen availability ending at 14,115ft. This double-whammy, along with the 1800 other folks trying to get to the top on the same, single-track trail, results in an "absurdly difficult", "for-multiple-reasons", challenge.
Come get some.
I promise, whatever "Plan" you think you have at the bottom, the joke I make near the top is, "That whole will to live thing, it's so over-rated." I'd plan on doing it 3 years in a row, just to try to get better at it, which is VERY difficult, so I keep doing it!