Friday 082010

AM – 3 miles.  Jogged with JZ as he rode his bike into school.  This will be my last run before Pikes.  I have 25 miles on the week, and with the marathon I will come in at 50, so – a standard taper.  Legs feel great, and there are no niggles other than the foot and bit in the knee from the fall.  Tomorrow I will be hanging on the summit watching folks finish in what I have called the “Super Bowl of Altitude Mountain Running.”  I am not sure that spending the morning at 14000 feet screaming at people not to walk is the best way to physically spend your day before a mountain marathon, but spiritually it is off the charts.

It is pretty clear to me that I will be dealing with some level of a foot issue come race day.  I am not sure how much it will be an issue or how much it will impact the race, but I will need to deal with it.  I currently expect it to be much more of a detriment on the down.  I have given thought to changing up shoes for the race, and rather than race in the Racer ST flats (that I typically go with) to lace up the Cascadias (typical trainer) for a bit more cushion.  Probably a race morning call.  The thought to wear my hiking boots has even (momentarily) crossed my mind.

Pictures of some of the prep going on up high.  The hose thing is sort of incredible.  The prediction contest for the Ascent has closed up over at RunColo, and JM has a wrap up of how the predictions sum up.

Leadville women breakdown.  On the men’s side, Clark did a good job of listing the players.  I am not sure how to pick this because ultras are so fickle to so much that can happen on the day.  

It seems pretty obvious that the Mayor of Green Mountain is gunning for the King of Pikes Peak’s Pb record, given his gang of pacers each are studs in their own right.  It seems clear to me that Mr. Tony can win the race, but an effort to chase the course record can also unravel that and result in a DNF.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  In the mix, Callahan, Koerner, Sweeney, Lucho, AJW, Tiernen, Bien, Swigart and probably someone none of us have ever heard of.   I will admit a blatant biased preference towards the local guys.  Post script note – while it seems to me that Tony is gunning for the record, this recent interview with him explicit states otherwise.  “This year, I don't care about the finish time. I just want to win. If I get to 70 miles and I'm on course record pace, I'm certainly going to be keying on the splits and trying to get the course record. Early on though, I'm not going to be concerned about time splits at all. I'm not going to consciously push the pace to be on course record time. I'm just going to be running within myself and competing against the other runners.”

In this race, while I am interested in the win, I am really interested in the journey of guys like JT, Brandon – all the best to them. 

Leadville has a bit of a call for me (I watched Race Across the Sky last night) undoubtedly.  Still not sure if I will go dance with it some day or continue my love affair with some mountain down south.