August 19 2006 Pikes Peak Ascent 2006
When I had first thought of doing the Pikes Peak Ascent race, it was to meet two ends: to prep for the Imogene Pass Run that I had done the year before (what better to prepare me for 10 miles of climbing to 13000 plus feet then climbing to 14000 over 13 miles) and simply to do another epic run in Colorado. Over the months though, it became clear that the Ascent, or the PPA in abbreviation, was as important of a race to me as any Imogene, and in many regards, maybe more.
I had purchased a book specifically written for training for the PPA (I had never done that for any other race). I had traveled to Manitou Springs in July to do the Barr Trail race. If PPA was a prep race for Imogene, this was a prep race for the prep race. One third of the way into the Barr Trail race I emerged from the W switchbacks and could see Pikes Peak. I recall thinking, "holy crap that is still really high," even though I had just been waxed in the climbing I had done to that point, and "holy crap that is really far away." And it was as it was still some 9 or ten miles from where I had run at that point.
So with much excitement, as I was about to do a new race and one of epic proportions, and significant concern (umm, for the same reasons), I traveled to Manitou Springs Friday evening, August 18 2006 with fellow Fleet Feet runners Andy Ames and Hans Funke. Andy was a two time veteran of the race (running as fast as 2:13 once and taking second behind PPA legend Scott Elliot) and Hans, like me, was a newcomer.
We made it to Memorial Park in Manitou at 6PM to avoid the hassle of picking up our race numbers and packets in the AM. Minutes before our arrival the skies opened with a classic Colorado downpour. We got our packets, some of the spaghetti dinner grub, listened to some of the race talk and then hit the hotel to get some sleep. I prepped the race jersey the night before with a bib on my back memorializing Andrew Crook.
I did not sleep well. It was probably a combination of the spaghetti sauce, an odd bed and prerace jitters. I woke at 5AM to the alarm, just when it felt like I was ready to really sleep. My legs felt good (the benefits of a solid taper the week prior) but my stomach was jumping a bit. I figured I ease it and empty it with a coffee and so headed out to pick some up. And it was ... raining. Normally rain is just part of the deal for any race but it was concerning to all of us as rain can often become snow when you are talking about a 14000 foot mountain. Mentally, I told myself not to be concerned: it was an element we all had to deal with, the first goal of this race was to have fun and continue to work hard on uphill running. We all took our race packet bags and quickly doctored them into cheap rain coats to maintain some short term dryness and warmth.
We drove over to the start area around 6AM, found a parking spot, were told we could not park there and then got a spot that was acceptable. I did a short jog with Andy (total warm up was about a mile and a half) found a public restroom and was able to settle my stomach a touch. I was genuinely excited. The skies were clearing a touch and I made the last minute decision to not carry a coat or a long sleeve shirt. I tucked a hat and gloves into the pocket in the back of my shorts when I heard summit temps were around 45 degrees (it was probably 55 at the start line).
Andy in his cheap raincoat …
Looking at the Peak at the start …
Colorado running legend in the making Bernie Boetcher started us with a "ready, set, go" start (I cannot remember the last time I heard a three command start in a race!) and we got out on Manitou Ave. The race leaders, Simon Gutierrez, Andy Ames, Ryan Haefer, Scott Elliot, Peter Vail and a couple others got out really quick. I noticed Sylvio Guerra come by me within the first 50 yards. It was interesting to see Sylvio as I knew he had talked about getting into the race, but I also knew that as of the Thursday night before he was not registered (I talked to him at the Pearl Street Mile). As it turns out, Sylvio was not registered for the race and had decided to run it bandit. I do not know all the details, particularly the Sylvio side of the story. He would go on to be to the first to the top of the mountain but not declared the winner as he was not registered. His decision to run bandit, and then his reaching the summit first caused some controversy: who is the winner? why couldn't Sylvio register on race day? What is the limit for the number of runners really? Can't they reserve a few spots for runners of Sylvio's caliber? Why did Sylvio not elect to follow the process for elite athletes who enter late? What was Sylvio trying to say by running bandit anyway? Didn't that take away from eventual winner Simon Gutierrez's win? Anyway, I think I may write up a whole thing on my take on this later but for now, back to the race report ...
I saw Jeff Valliere, a Broomfield runner and chatted a bit (yes, this all occurred on Manitou). In part, I sought out Jeff because I knew I was already moving a bit too quick for this early in the race and he would provide a good barometer for me to reset to. Jeff and I had talked at a run a few weeks prior and had talked about a 2:4x goal. I had outlined goals that had me anywhere between 2:35 and 3 hours based on the day I was having, the elements, etc.
We made the turn onto Ruxton. This is where the climbing begins (there are some bumps in Manitou ave, but Ruxton is where it really begins) and I broke away from Jeff. At the same time, I kept trying to relax and gear back. I saw Buzz Burrell and said hi to him and just tried to keep racing slower. Racing slower is like trying to smile the hardest, or whisper the loudest ... it is a paradox that is often pretty hard to do. The point here is, I was moving a bit too fast and it would have some effect (I think) on my race later. I will provide all the splits below and give the comparison to the Carpenter pace calculator so that you can judge for yourself.
Then it is into the woods. And it is really at this point that I am alone. On Ruxton I could see the guys ahead me. I could hear the guys smacking shoes on the pavement behind me. Here the switchback hid those ahead and the trees muffled the sounds of those behind me. So 10 minutes into the race and I am running with no one. For a good portion of the race, it would be this way with differing degrees of awareness of those being pulled in or being pulled in by.
This section, the W's, is a series of switchbacks (see the course description). In the July Barr Trail race, the switchbacks leveled me. It was not that I ran them too hard but rather I just struggled to run up the whole damn thing. I had hoped a month of training had put me in the shape to do this but that was not to be the case. My stomach began churning and I wondered when I would have to do a pit stop. My lower back uncharacteristically tightened. I slowed down and kept up the positive self talk: there was a lot of running left to do, this was a bad patch and it would pass, stay strong ... I let a couple of runners slip by me here (I believe this was Scott Lebo and Dale Petersen (this guy is 49!), both who would finish in the top ten) as I tried to regroup. Periodically, I could glance back on a switchback and see others gaining on me. Again, the self talk - this is about running your race, have a good time with it, don't worry about them.
I would walk for short stretches (5-30 seconds) to get my composure and heart rate in order and then run again. In fact, I would walk a lot throughout the race. I have entertained the idea that I would walk in some sort of organized fashion (walk 30 seconds, run 90) but this never seems to work for me. It seems whenever I go to do that, the incline would change enough that it would make my planned walk turn into a run and vice versa. So I would just do it by feel and keep telling myself to run as soon I could again. But I walked alot. And when I did walk, I would try to walk hard and fast, pumping the arms, bent at the waist and taking a larger stride. But I could see that those who were running when I would do this would be pulling away or catching me. So, yes, walking is slower then running. :)
I came out of the W's and began the climb to No Name Creek. I felt worked. I took a gel. The humidity had me sweating heavily. I continued to employ the run walk process. The group behind me (more like a spread that had run the earlier stretches smarter) caught me passed me. This included Cornelius Guijt, Jeff Valliere, and Jose Jimenez. In retrospect, I did not let this getting passed effect my mental state. I was dealing enough with my own physical issues of struggling up this hill, my right ear not popping, my stomach (my back started is loosen) that I really did not care. Really, while we all are racing each other, we are more racing ourselves and fighting that behemoth of a mountain. When I mentioned back on Ruxton that Sylvio was in our age group, Jeff V. response's captured it well: "I am not racing him, I am racing the watch."
The walking I was doing was creating a small yo-yo effect. I would catch Jeff and Cornelius while running and they would pull away when I walked. Jeff and I were slightly ahead of Cornelius with heads down and just going. We took a right turn that went up, with Jeff about 10 yards ahead of me. Cornelius shouted, "the course goes straight, the course goes straight." I quickly corrected, loosing no more than 5 yards on the hill but Jeff V lost a bit more. In his race report, he was pretty irked about this. Cornelius got about 20 yards on us (really this is insignificant in the overall race but it was an event worth mentioning). My struggles and my stomach woes continued towards No Name Creek but I kept plugging. I made a quick pit stop after the No Name Creek aide station and felt a little better. I was able to begin to move a bit more and catch up to Jeff V. Here the course opens up a bit and in fact there is some downhill. It almost seemed as if the sun was going to come out for a but it never really did. I was able to catch up to Jeff, talk to him a bit and start to stage a small recovery. A bit more work and I caught up to Cornelius. All this was wonderful until the flat and the downhill ended at the wood foot bridge where the final climbing to Barr Camp starts. Cornelius passed me again and I would not see him for the rest of the rest except when I got an infrequent look to far ahead. I expected to see Jeff V pass me here as well but I was passed by Gerald Romero before Barr Camp.
I continued my walk hard run hard strategy and reached Barr Camp. They had some Jackson Browne song playing that cracked me up a little: "running on empty" I was surprised by the speed of my split at the Camp still but my sense was the whole race was going north and that I would be in fair shape to break 2:50. I expected a small parade of runners to begin to come by me and for my death march to begin. But nonetheless, I grabbed some Gatorade, transitioned slowly out of Barr Camp (walking and drinking) and on I plugged. Now periodically I could see runners in the distance and on the tail of that group was Jose J. I really had no thoughts of "hey, let's go get him" as much as this was an observation I made. But it was clear that we were yo-yoing off each other - again with my walking he would pull away (he seemed to be running all the time as all the runners were ahead of me at this point) and I would make a small amount of ground with the running I could do.
I was now in new territory, in other words in a place where I had never run before. It occurred to me that the trail did not seem particularly as steep as the W's or if it did it was for shorter stretches. Instead, it seemed rockier and just more challenging as I had been already going for a while. The humidity seemed to clear and the tempature was dropping slowly but surely (but not to a level of cold where it was ever a concern). I pulled out the hat and gloves and worked these on during one of my walks. The mile signs kept clicking off and then, there was the A frame. I never saw the dang thing but I knew this was the marker where tree line ended and the altitude would become a significant factor in the race. And the trail just becomes ridiculously rocky.
Mentally, I kept trying to plug. When walking I kept trying to walk hard. When running I would try to run as long as feasible. In retrospect, it seems that I was not nearly as redlined as earlier in the race but my ability to dig was compromised by the rocks, the turns and the altitude. I took another gel around 1:40. At the frame, I knew I had about an hour to go in this bugger. It got pretty foggy. Jose would be really close to me at times and would disappear into the cloud we were running in. My mind wandered ... I started thinking about domain names for a website and what I would put in this race report. I heard a pika whistle and thought, "pikawhistle.com ... yeah, I bet I could get that ... how about pikascream.com?" A woman walking down smiled at me and said I was looking great. "Don't let this mountain give you any lip" she shouted as I passed. I contemplated how to turn that into a URL, and how the mountain really always gets the last word and plugged on. There was a lot of walking. I would glance at my watch, projecting how much more of this effort I would need to go through, trying to push myself for as long as possible for the next run, and wondering how close to 2:50 I would finish. At least once I ran off the path and had to quickly double back to find the switchback.
It became clear that I was slowly reeling Jose in. At one point, I ran up to his back and then started a walk. He took off on a hard run ... I realized in a regular race this would get me smelling blood and I would go after him hard because that is a telltale sign of being “done.” Here though, I felt an empathy for the guy. He was just trying to get up this mountain like the rest of us, and trying to be competitive while doing it. A short time later I passed him. When I did pass him, with the tables turned, I ran for as long after that as I could to be sure I would not be passed back. The 2 mile to go banner slipped by and then the one to go. Somewhere in here I spotted a red shirted runner not far behind me and it was clear he was gaining ground. As I been the hunter (whether I knew it or not) only moments before, I was now the hunted. It kept me motivated to press wherever I could. At the 16 Golden Stairs, some guy sitting there said in an ominous voice, “welcome to the stairs.” It was a bit comical, like, “welcome to this level of hell … when you get through this take the third door on the right.” There was hardly any running here: the rocks were big, the turns and switchbacks were small. It was tight scrambling and pushing on rocks with my hands. Suddenly I felt my right calf begin to tighten and spasm. I verbally said “uh oh” and kept extending my foot and concentrating to assure it would not fully lock but it was on the fringe. I could begin to hear the announcer at the top and the crowd. Then I dared to glance up and I saw a yellow banner: it was the finish. I had no idea how far it was away given the switchbacks but I began whatever attempt I had at a kick – not wanting to get passed in the final straight.
I finished … took a glance at the time and was surprised to see a 2:37:24. I was handed a finishers medal which I found a way to get around my head simply because I did not want to hold it. I was suddenly light headed but not overly so. I staggered through the finish area … a few of the volunteers came up close to me asking if I needed help. I probably did but was able to keep moving and shake the cobwebs from my head.
I made my way across the Cog railroad tracks and saw Simon Gutierrez. I asked if he won and he said that he did “technically.” While I had no idea what he was talking about it was clear that the Sylvio bandit had put some damper on his victory. I would later learn that Scott Elliot had nearly caught Simon but had run out of real estate in an incredible kick up the final sections. I had no idea where Andy was or how he did until later that afternoon but he had finished fifth after being in third for a good portion of the race. A kind gentleman gave me my sweat bag and I changed while sharing conversation with Lebo (8th) and Vail (11th). I had entertained thoughts of hanging out on the top of the mountain, taking a lot of pictures, but there was not a thing to see with the fog. I grabbed my finisher shirt, some water and found a van to head down in. I fought some minor cramping in the van and then in the bus but there was good conversation and a feeling of accomplishment amongst the runners that overcame any physical discomfort I was dealing with.
Near the finish …
Hans and I ended up on the same bus on the way down and he was dealing with altitude and the curvy road. We headed back to the hotel to get him to lower elevation, a shower and a place to sleep quick. Peter H. came down to visit, got debriefed on the race and he and I caught up with Andy back at Memorial Park. After a lengthy lunch with women’s winner (and 20th overall) Lisa Goldsmith, we enjoyed an award ceremony where I learned I had won my age group (35-39) (its all a function of who shows up!), and Hans had won his as well (45-49).
Hans “rebooting”
Lisa and her award – look at the size of the base on that thing!
A Boulder local and PPA age group record holder in a couple of age groups, Verne Carlson getting his age group award.
Getting my award from Matt Carpenter, a slight monster on the mountain.
Andy and his fifth place trophy.
In retrospect, I had a very good race, exceeding my expectations. That said, the mountain revealed all sorts of weaknesses in my preparations: I walked too much, I slowed down above tree line, I got out too fast. If I had gotten out more conservatively, walked less and was able to keep it together above tree line a bit more, I am certain I would have run better than 2:35 and 2:30 would be within reach. Plans for next year will be geared towards this.
Results
Male Finishers
Place Pos/Div Name Age City State Time
1 1/189 Simon Gutierrez 40 Alamosa CO 2:18:06
New Master Course Record!!!
Previous record: 2:18:46, set in 1991 by Robert Weed,
age 40, from Wilson WY
New Age-Group Course Record!!!
Previous record: 2:18:46, set in 1991 by Robert Weed,
age 40, from Wilson WY
2 2/189 Scott Elliott 42 Boulder CO 2:18:14
3 1/81 Daryn M Parker 25 Manitou Spgs CO 2:18:43
4 2/81 Michael Selig 28 Golden CO 2:21:41
5 3/189 Andy Ames 43 Boulder CO 2:27:03
6 1/31 Ryan R Hafer 20 Colo Springs CO 2:29:43
7 1/128 Gerald B Romero 34 Colo Springs CO 2:31:49
8 4/189 Scott Lebo 40 Colo Springs CO 2:32:25
9 1/167 Dale P Petersen 49 Denver CO 2:34:43
10 5/189 Cornelis B Guijt 40 Colo Springs CO 2:35:20
11 2/128 Peter Vail 32 Boulder CO 2:36:00
12 1/198 George Zack 36 Erie CO 2:37:24
13 6/189 Paul Dunn 40 Colo Springs CO 2:37:52
14 3/128 Jose Jimenez 32 Altadena CA 2:38:15
15 3/81 Jonathan J Huie 26 Steamboat Spgs CO 2:41:05
16 1/22 Kevin Schwab 17 Oklahoma City OK 2:41:06
17 7/189 Michael J Hagen 44 Colo Springs CO 2:42:55
18 4/81 Ted P Romero 25 Boulder CO 2:44:17
19 1/136 Ed A Baxter 52 Colo Springs CO 2:44:51
Possible Doubler (i.e., also registered for the Marathon)!
20 8/189 Steve Moon 41 Colo Springs CO 2:45:58
21 2/198 Jeff P Valliere 35 Broomfield CO 2:46:10
22 3/198 Brett Wilson 38 Colo Springs CO 2:47:51
23 4/198 Hector Rios 39 Wichita KS 2:49:56
24 9/189 P. Gracia Garmendi 42 Colmenar Viejo SP 2:50:55
Possible Doubler (i.e., also registered for the Marathon)!
25 ?/? Christoph Seiler ?? SW 2:51:31
26 10/189 Bill Means 41 Monument CO 2:51:45
Possible Doubler (i.e., also registered for the Marathon)!
27 5/198 Andrew W Subudhi 37 Colo Springs CO 2:52:17
28 6/198 Toby Nitschke 37 Littleton CO 2:53:24
29 1/78 Bob Evers 55 Park City UT 2:53:51
30 11/189 Tim Sandell 41 Colo Springs CO 2:54:55
31 12/189 Jeff J Baker 43 Colo Springs CO 2:54:58
32 7/198 Kevin S Wilder 39 Colo Springs CO 2:55:00
33 13/189 Thomas E Murphy 44 Manitou Spgs CO 2:55:11
34 5/81 David N Philipps 28 Colo Springs CO 2:55:27
35 2/167 Richard K Pampe 46 Jackson WY 2:55:46
36 3/167 James Kahkoska 46 Colo Springs CO 2:56:15
37 2/136 Fred H Baxter 52 Colo Springs CO 2:56:24
38 4/167 Hans Funke 45 Boulder CO 2:56:57
39 2/22 Michael McMahon 19 Colo Springs CO 2:57:00
40 4/128 Christopher D Borton 30 Golden CO 2:58:18
41 14/189 Todd B Murray 43 Colo Springs CO 2:58:18
42 8/198 Shawn Erchinger 38 Colo Springs CO 2:58:53
43 5/167 Adam R Feerst 46 Denver CO 2:59:08
44 9/198 Michael G Neste 39 Colo Springs CO 2:59:10
45 10/198 Jim L Lee 37 Elbert CO 2:59:1
Some pics
Dinner in Manitou – Hans, Peter, Andy, Lisa, Scott, and Rachel
