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Pikes Peak Ascent - RunHalf Marathon


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Manitou Springs, Colorado
United States
65F / 18C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 47m 59s
Overall Rank = 354/2000
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 69/189
Pre-race routine:

Drove up to Colorado Springs on Friday, picked up our packets and checked into the hotel. There is this great Italian place in CO Springs named Roman Villa...We couldn't wait to eat there we've been talking about it for weeks, talked about it on the way to CO. We look up the address, make our way through all the road construction, find it, and it's closed :( Uggg couldn't believe it, there was sign saying they would be closed from the 17th to the 26th. So off we went very sad to another place called Antonios, which is pretty good itself, just not quite Roman Villa.
Event warmup:

We got up about 5, ate a bagel and peanut butter, banana and gatorade. Got to the race site and we did something we have never done before...drank an energy drink. I know, I know nothing new on race day, but we have several teammates that swear by it, so we thought we'd try it. Monster low carb, WOW, you could feel yourself getting energized. Did some stretching and a short jog up a steep side street. ABQKid and I were in the 1st wave, so we said later to Ryan our buddy who was in the 2nd wave and Brian who missed getting in this year so he became our chauffeur. ABQKid and I positioned ourselves about middle of the pack and waited for the gun.
Run
  • 3h 47m 59s
  • 13.32 miles
  • 17m 07s  min/mile
Comments:

This was my 4th time doing this race, and it's really tough, physically, mentally and having to deal with lack of oxygen. I kept to my game plan and paced my self very well at the beginning. In the middle section I picked it up the best I could. The trail is basically single track and it extremely crowed, so you really need to pick your spots on when to pass other people. The last 3 miles are above tree line and can take about 30% or more of your total time. The last 3 were really hard for me this year. I kept thinking that I didn't remember it being that hard the previous times. I saw a lot of people puking from the altitude and hugging rocks to keep from falling down. This was the first year that I felt nauseous, may have been the monster energy drink...hmmm. ABQKid and I both better our times from last year, so that was awesome.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe go a little harder on the streets to get in front of more people at the trail head. There are 1000 people in my wave, so it gets crowed quick.
Post race
Warm down:

Met up with Brian and ABQkid and ate some snacks and drank some gatorade as we waited for our buddy Ryan to finish. One really cool thing was a guy saw ABQKid's M-dot tattoo and came up and started talking with us about Ironman and triathlons and said he also did tri's. We BSed with him for a while, and he was a really cool guy and very humble. It turns out that he was Team Timex's triathlon stud Tim Hola. How cool is that!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not sure, this is my 4th year doing it, and I've bettered my time each year, so I was extremely happy.

Event comments:

This is one of if not the most organized race that I do. They have a lot of volunteers and a lot of fully stocked aid stations. I highly recommend this race to anyone that wants a true physical and mental challenge.




Last updated: 2007-06-28 12:00 AM
Running
03:47:59 | 13.32 miles | 17m 07s  min/mile
Age Group: 69/189
Overall: 189/2000
Performance: Good
Course: Race starts in the streets of Manitou Springs to Barr trail up to the top of Pikes Peak. Elevation gain is about 8000 feet.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2007-08-20 12:23 AM

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Subject: Pikes Peak Ascent
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