A Running Girl's Blog

Well, I did it… I finished the 2010 Pikes Peak Ascent (PPA), the final leg of the Triple Crown of Running.  My facebook status on Saturday after the race read:

I had some good moments, I threw up, I cried… I finished.

And really, that about sums it up.   My PPA race report in a nutshell.

the weather

Saturday was sunny and warm with no surprises!   I had heard the stories, particularly of the 2008 race, enough times to be anxious about what might happen on the mountain but as far as the weather went, this weekend, I lucked out.   I know some runners would have preferred cooler weather, not so much heat  - but I was happy . I didn’t carry much with me – a pair of gloves pinned to my fuel belt that I never used and some sleeves that I used off and on above tree line.    So after a week of compulsive weather.com visits, I breathed a sigh of relief heading out to Manitou in the morning.

pre –race

Nerves… I was full of nerves glancing out the window at Pikes Peak during the ride to the start.  My brother –in-law dropped me, Mark and Joe off near the start at Memorial Park just as wave 1 runners were getting ready to begin their journey up the Peak.   So with a half hour to go before our wave 2 start and the quickest gear check that I have ever experienced, I spent my time pee and re-peeing.  Yes, I went, got back in line, went again until it was only 6 minutes to start.  nerves.

start

Like most races, after the gun went off and I began my run, the nerves started to disappear.  I felt pretty strong running to Ruxton and up the hill… things were looking good and I was upbeat as I finished the paved portion of the race and entered the trail.

I felt great for the next 2 hours and 20 minutes… really great!  I shuffled my way up the Ws feeling strong, picking up my pace on the ‘flatter’ sections and made it to Barr Camp about 5 minutes ahead of schedule. I had written down some splits on my arm for a 4:45 Ascent – it was a reach but I thought do-able.  I was feeling particularly good about my goal with the 5 minutes to bank for the 2^nd half of the race!

Barr Camp to A-Frame

I started this section feeling strong and optimistic.   Unfortunately, this elation lasted for only about 30 more minutes before some major nausea set in.  I was fueling with tried and tested Gu gels but something wasn’t settling well with me.    I eventually gave in and tossed my cookies  (well, my gels) about a mile after Barr Camp.  The nausea came and went after this point but I only lost it like that once.   I started to slow down – I slowly made my way through the remaining 1.6 miles to A-Frame and realized I had lost my 5 minute gain plus another 5 minutes – and I wasn’t feeling so strong or optimistic anymore.  I kept my water bottles filled – one Gatorade, one water and kept hydrated but I wasn’t able to eat any significant calories after this point.

A-Frame to Summit

What can I say?  I was starting to hurt – my legs were heavy, my back was killing me and I was feeling beat down.  As I trudged my way toward the summit, I could hear the announcer at the top, cheering in the finishers.  I still had over an hour to go – the first threat of tears started.  I sucked it up, willed myself to hold it together.  Every time I stumbled (which happened quite a few times), the tears would start again – but I finally pulled it together at the Cirque (1.5 mile to go) aid station.  I am very glad that I had completed a full Ascent during training because there were too many times during these last three miles where I questioned whether or not I could finish the race.  As much as I was hurting, I kept moving… slowly.  Many other runners had pulled off onto rocks – sitting down.   I managed to eat a few grapes at Cirque and focused on conquering the next mile and half – counting off each tenth of a mile on my Garmin.   Finally I saw the 16 Golden Stairs sign – and I felt I was going to make it.   With the finish in sight – I heard my friends Julie and Kathleen cheering me on.   Fellow springs runner, Jim took my picture, capturing a surprisingly upbeat snap of me.

closing in on the finish

with the end in sight

Finish

I crossed the finish line, got my medal and then I saw my husband and I let it go – flood gates opened for a moment and I just cried.   I dried my eyes and turned to Julie and the first thing I said was “I am never doing that again.”     5:14:59 – I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with my time.  Maybe my 4:45 goal was a bit of a reach, but I honestly thought I had a good shot for under 5 hours.   The second half of the race just didn’t go my way this year.   It’s ok  – I am ok about it now…the Ascent is the hardest thing that I have ever done and I simply didn’t have any more to give on Saturday.

A big congratulations to both Joe and Mark who finished in 4:11:18 and 4:12:36 respectively – both of them qualifying for wave 1 next year if they choose to run again!

just barely holding it together

tears

my wonderful friends Julie and Kathleen at the top

Mark and me @ the top

Next year?

I guess I am ready to start thinking about next year despite my initial post race denials.  I don’t know if I will do it but I can at least think about it now.   Even more than the pain experience, I need to think about whether I want to spend another summer training for such a unique race.   Ascent training can be logistically difficult because it is ideal to train on the mountain – but you gotta get there, get up the mountain and figure out how to get down … not as easy as running out the front door of your house for a long run.  Anyway, we’ll see.  For now I am satisfied.  I did it.  Every once in a while I look out my window at the mountain in awe and wonder… humbled.  I don’t think I will look at Pikes Peak in quite the same way ever again.

It’s all down to the last week. One week.  Taper week.   The last few weeks and months of training will have to be enough.  It’s time to shorten the runs and take it a bit easier. A recent message from the Incline Club advised that now is not the time to push it…  including the simple summation: “the hay is in the barn.”

One more day on the Peak and then I will spend the next week anxious, nervous, and excited.  Of course I will look back at the past few weeks and second-guess some of the training days.  Should I have spent more time on the trail, skipping some of the road runs?  I know I should’ve spent more time on the Incline.  I will repeatedly check the extended weather forecast…plan and re-plan my clothing strategy.

Pikes Peak has humbled me.  I have shelved my original goals.   My prediction time of 4:30 is unlikely. .. even as I’ve felt stronger with each run on the Peak, I’ve modified my goals while tackling various portions of the trail:  4:30 went to 4:45 during a particularly painful jaunt from Barr Camp to A-Frame.  4:45 to just under 5:00 was my next concession during the last 2 miles of my first (and only) full training Ascent.  And finally, last week, running top down from the summit, I concluded that I just hope that I can have a solid performance and feel strong on my first attempt at the Pikes Peak Ascent.

Update: current weather forecast for next Saturday – sunny and warm!  I will be checking summit conditions daily!

another run, not so perfect day.. but in all, we've been lucky. I know things can and have been worse. much worse.

I’ve made the journey halfway up to the Pikes Peak summit a few times now, including last week’s Barr Trail Mountain Race.   This weekend I wanted to see what is in store for me after the halfway point (Barr Camp) to the summit of Pikes Peak when I run the Pikes Peak Ascent on August 21st.

I’ve been having some minor pains and some nagging intense foot pain since last week, so I wanted to avoid coming back down after running up to the peak.   It wasn’t a cheap option, but Mark and I decided to take the Cog Railway (Manitou Springs) up to Mt. View which is about 1.5 miles from Barr Camp, go up to the summit and take the cog back down. .. ends up about 7.5 miles overall.

The mile and a half to Barr from the Mt. View drop off was lovely.. gentle hills, nice trail.  We were the only two people on it though and I am glad we didn’t run into any wildlife!

We had to wait a while at the top – our train was scheduled to leave at 2 pm and we reached the peak at around 11:30.  So Mark and I split a soy nut butter and jelly sandwich that we’d packed and took some pretty pictures from the top:

Cog back down...

So yes – now I know what to expect for the second half of the Ascent…

The Barr Trail Mountain Race is not a qualifier for the Pikes Peak Ascent, it’s not part of the Triple Crown of Running series.  In fact, when I signed up for the race, it was as a training race for the TCR/Ascent – a good way to run a portion of the trail with a crowd of runners and get a feel for how things might be like on Ascent day.   So as this weekend approached, why was I so incredibly nervous about this race?

After running a status quo Seattle RNR, I came back from vacation determined to jump back into TCR training.   On Thursday after our Tuesday return from sea level, Mark and I joined our running peeps on a training run for the Summer Roundup Trail Run 12K.  It wasn’t my best day on this course – I felt the heat and was fatigued… just not as strong as I’d felt before our vacation.

Nevertheless, we kept going… tackling our first Barr Trail training run on Saturday, July 3^rd – Mark’s 45^th birthday.   It was after this run that I began to doubt myself and consider the possibility of a DNF (did not finish) in the BTMR.   The 10 mile round trip (we didn’t make it all the way to Barr Camp that day) took me 2 hours and 45 minutes.  I was still feeling the fatigue (Mark felt it too) and in hindsight, I think that we were still acclimating back to running at altitude after spending almost two weeks in Seattle.  It was particularly discouraging to me when I hit some of the flatter portions of Barr Trail and couldn’t seem to keep a running pace.

map of the BTMR, 3630' elevation gain to Barr Camp turnaround

BTMR has a cut off of 3:30 hours.  I’ve already mentioned that the race is not part of the TCR or included as a qualifier for the Ascent but honestly, it would be a mental set back in my Ascent training to not officially finish this race.  Plus I wanted my race shirt and medal!

Feeling confident about the Summer Roundup 12K, I opted to skip the training run for that race the following week… opting instead to try the full 12.6  mile BTMR course.   It was a better day – I made it to Barr Camp in about 2 hours and ran back down in a little over an hour.   Unfortunately, my Garmin wasn’t charged that morning, so my time is an estimate but it was a little over 3 hours for that training run – which was a bit comforting.

Pikes Peak from Barr Trail.

Still, I was a bundle of nerves race morning.  We got to the start about 30 minutes early and I used the time to hit the port-o-potty… three times .    Once the race started, the nerves began to ease up.  I followed the same pattern as I did during my last training run – a walk/jog combo for the first few, steeper miles until I was able to level off into a good jog up most of the flatter parts of the trail.  I was so happy to find my legs did not feel heavy.

post race happiness

When I reached Barr Camp, a race official told me I was at 1:58 – giving me over an hour and a half to make it back down.  I knew I was safe.   I took a minute here to take a gel and also to fix my shoe – the top of my right foot was killing me.  I loosened my laces which seemed to help a little bit and started my run back down.   Besides the foot pain, the run down felt great.   Julie was at the corner of Ruxton and Hydro – just before the turn off to run the uphill finish… it was a wonderful surprise and her support gave me just the push I needed to finish strong.

hardest earned shirt and medal

next up: Pikes Peak Ascent, final leg of the TCR, August 21, 2010

Leg two of the TCR – check!

Mark, Rhonda and I ran the Summer Roundup Trail Run 12K yesterday.   As mentioned, this 12K is the second leg of the Triple Crown of Running with an out-and-back course that gains 1000 feet of elevation in the first 3.7 miles before runners turn around and enjoy the downhill return to the finish. 

My race time (1:22:21) was pretty similar to my times during our training runs and I am satisfied with that… it’s a tough run.

me

me, Mark and Rhonda post race. smile on my face

next up: Barr Trail Mountain Race, July 18, 2010…as a training run ahead of the final leg of the TCR, the Ascent.

My family spent the last week and a half enjoying a vacation in Seattle.  Of course no vacation would be complete without running so we included the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon in our trip.  My race report for this one is short because I pretty much ran the same race as I did last year in Seattle.  

It was a great day for a run – cloudy and around 50 degrees.  This year my brother in law, Paul also joined us – running his first half.    The four of us – Mark, my sister, Manisha, Paul and I hired a car to take us to the start.  Traffic was better than last year and it seemed like the shuttles were taking a different route, eliminating some of last year’s issues.   We were seeing lots of runners getting out of their cars on the highway so we decided to go for it. We hopped out at the exit for Tukwila where the race began – ignoring motorcycle police yelling at us to get back in the car, we darted across the exit on ramp to gear check and honey buckets.   The lines were long and despite getting there almost 40 minutes early, we ended up missing our start times by about 15 minutes… pretty much the same scenario as last year. 

Like I said, for me the race was a déjà vu of the 2009 race.  I finished in 1:53:49 compared to last year’s 1:53:30.  I felt great, enjoyed the lack of altitude.  I was a bit surprised my finish wasn’t a little faster because quick glances at my Garmin throughout the course showed me between an 8 and 8:30 mm.  I must’ve lost time at my water stops (which I jogged through) and I did have one quick stop when my sunglasses flew off my head and I stopped to back track and pick them up.

running Seattle

I will also say, I didn’t push the hills and unlike last year, I didn’t feel totally beat up when I was done.   I guess I could’ve pushed a bit harder but with TCR on my mind, I erred on the side of caution and I don’t regret it.    I ran the race I needed to run this year in Seattle – especially considering the summer running ahead of me.  

my 2010 results

Mark did great, setting a new PR: 1:46:19.  Paul finished his first half in an impressive 1:47:18 and Manisha shaved almost 6 minutes off of her time from last year. 

Manisha and me - done!

Next: Summer Roundup Trail Run 12K (2^nd leg of the Triple Crown), July 11, 2010

The first leg of the Triple Crown of Running is successfully under my belt: Garden of the Gods 10 Mile Run, completed, June 13, 2010 with a big sigh of relief!

Sunday’s run turned out pretty close to perfect.  My last few races have been out of town and I’d forgotten how great it is to sleep in your own bed pre-race night.  Despite the early wake up call (alarm set for 4:45 a.m.), I felt well-rested.   We gave ourselves plenty of time to make it to the start in Manitou and were fortunate to have Kathleen’s hubby as a designated driver to drop us off, helping us avoid any parking stress.  We even had time for multiple potty breaks.  Pretty stress free morning – lovely change from the recent BolderBoulder.

Start time was at 7:00 a.m. with nearly perfect running conditions – a cool 45 degrees, on and off drizzle.  Of course pre-run, I was cold and I struggled with the decision of whether or not to wear a jacket at the start.  I finally talked myself out of it, following the advice of my fellow runner, Rhonda and left the jacket in the car.  I did not regret that decision at all – it took less than ½ a mile to warm up.

The Garden race is not chip timed, so when the gun went off, we were off!  The start was packed with runners, so it took some time to get to the start and jog through the crowd.  I tabled my frustration because this is a very tough run for me and I definitely didn’t want to stress crowd navigation and wear myself out.   I think that the slow start actually helped me pace myself – I felt pretty good throughout the whole run and was able to finish strong.   Of the many training runs that I’ve completed in the Garden of the Gods – all between 5 to 10 miles, I have rarely been able to keep a pace under 10 mm.  The total elevation gain for the 10 mile route is 1,010 feet.  Based on that, I was hoping for a 1:40 time for this race or as I told Mark, I would be thrilled with a 1:39:59.      My finish time ended up 1:37:02 per my Garmin and 1:37:36 official time.  I was pretty impressed with how close the times are considering we weren’t chip timed.   The Beans finished within minutes of each other – we all had a great morning.  I was so proud and happy for everyone.   

Mandy, Rhonda, me, Kathleen, Mark and Julie

Almost 1800 runners completed this race and there are so many amazing stories – from Kenyan Simon Cheprot’s second consecutive win with a mind-boggling time of 50:47 to a young boy, 13 years old, having never run more than 5 miles until this race, finishing in an astonishing 1:06.47. 

me

For me the story of the day was Mark’s – he ran so strong, finishing with a 1:27:19 time – fast enough to qualify for Wave 1 of the Ascent had he used this race as a qualifier.    

When my alarm went off this morning, it was cool and dark outside.  My bed was warm and cozy.  As I struggled against hitting the snooze button, dragging my tired body out of bed and through my early morning, pre-run routine,  I thought of this quote from Nike… I thought I would post it for anyone else who might be in need of some motivation  - particularly on this cloudy Colorado day.

“You pretended the snooze button didn’t exist. You dragged your butt out of bed while others slept. While others ate their pancakes you had a feast of protein, glucose and electrolytes. You double-knotted.  You left the porch light on and locked the door behind you.  You ran 5Ks, 10Ks, 26.2 miles.  Some days more, some days less.  You rewarded a long run with a short run.  And a short run with a long run. Rain tried to slow you.  Sun tried to microwave you.  Snow made you feel like a warrior.  You cramped.  You bonked. You paid no mind to comfort. On weekends.  On holidays.  You made excuses to keep going. Questioned yourself. Played mind games.  Put your heart before your knees.  Listened to your breathing.  Sweat sunscreen into your eyes.  Worked on your farmer’s tan. You hit the wall. You went through it. You decided to be man about it.  You decided to be woman about it.  Finished what you started.  Proved what you were made of.  Just kept putting mile after mile on your interval odometer… and we ran with you. How much farther will we go?  As far as you will.”  - - Nike

so it’s not Socrates or  Confucius, but I’ll admit that I find the Nike advertisements to be pretty inspirational.

On Monday, I ran my annual third BolderBoulder.   I love Boulder, CO and this race is the most fun, if not chaotic, run of the year.   The weekend began with a 10-mile Garden of the Gods training run on Saturday morning with my running peeps who also ran the BB on Monday.  The Garden of the Gods 10 Mile Run is coming up in less than two weeks and overall TCR training is the priority for me this summer so I stayed on schedule with this run despite having the upcoming BB race.  That said – I took the Saturday run very easy.

Sunday was a rest, recovery day.  The BolderBoulder is a family affair for the Mods, we always go up together.  This year my son, Andrew, participated in his first 10K run and my other two children cheered us on with some friends from the stands.  My sister, Rupal and her husband, Jamie also ran the BB and we stayed with them in Denver with plans of a short drive into Boulder for the race. 

The Mods drove up to Denver on Sunday afternoon and hit Whole Foods for lunch and pre-race fuel shopping.    Dinner was take-out from Rebellion Pizza.  I indulged in a few slices of the most outstanding vegan veggie pizza.  

The next morning, the seven of us woke up pre-dawn and began our race day journey. Fueled with my chia/hemp shake and a few sips of Gatorade on the way up to Boulder, I felt race ready.   Unfortunately, I was ready a little too early.   Mark, Jamie and I were scheduled for wave times beginning around 7:15 a.m.   Rupal and Andrew were scheduled a bit later but we all headed out to the start together.  We parked at the stadium and hopped on the bus to take us to the start area.  We anticipated about a 15-20 minute ride to the start.  The ride ended up taking almost an hour.   The start was chaotic, lines for port-o-potties and gear check were long and we ended up starting in waves much later than scheduled.   I was frustrated by the madness of the morning and late start time – the last couple of years seemed to go more smoothly.  Several of my running crew took the RTD ride and run from Broomfield to Boulder and also experienced some delays.  I think in the end it is just too big of a race with 50,000+ runners to go off without any hitch.

Andrew on the right, having fun

I felt great for the run itself.  Having started a little late, there was some crowd dodging – but the since the BB does draw so many runners, I think that is part of the deal regardless.  Aid stations presented another bottleneck – they were positioned on both sides of the course so people were stopped on both sides, leaving only a narrow lane in the middle for those of us who wanted to run through.   The BB’s festive atmosphere is catching- the stress of the morning disappearing as I ran with a crowd past the belly-dancers, music, slip-and-slides and flying marshmallows.    I knew pretty early after hitting a few thicker pockets of runners, that I wouldn’t be hitting a 10K PR. 

run Andrew!

 I still pushed my pace as best as I could and ended up with a PR for the BB course with a 54:08.   Last year’s Classic 10K in Colorado Springs remains my PR (51:30).

me, game face, trying to get a kick at the end LOL

Post race, I quickly found Mark and Jamie.  We grabbed our goodies – lunch bag, free beer and headed into the stadium where we were planning to meet our running group (team Beanie Weenies :-) ).  The crowd was thick though and it was taking a while to find the Beans – so Mark went outside to wait for Andrew while I searched for my friends.  I finally found them and was so pleased that two of them had hit PRs!  And Julie had just completed her 10^th consecutive BB!

The girls went to shop the expo and I began a search for everyone in the family.  It just seemed as soon as we found one person, we lost another.  Cell phone texts were delayed and we couldn’t hear a thing when we tried to call each other.  Long story short, we did finally find the kids, my sis, her hubby and we spent a great afternoon at the post-race the Expo.   

Mark running a great BB 50:59

The weekend ended with a nice late lunch, early dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Watercourse in Denver.   We packed up our stuff and headed back home for laundry and prep for the last two days of school.  

Next up: The Garden of the Gods 10 Mile Run, June 13, 2010.

I didn’t take any pictures pre race – argh! And unfortunately, in all the mayhem, I failed to get any pictures of us after. Here’s one of the Beans post race.

Julie, me, Kathleen and Rhonda

The Colfax Half Marathon is behind us and this weekend we began our focus on Triple Crown/Ascent training with a rather challenging run this morning.   The 10.5 mile mountain run was as mentally challenging for me as it was physically.  We met some runners that my friend, Julie knows through a local running group around 7:00 a.m. at Soda Springs.

click on the pic for the full map. we ran Soda Springs Park up Ute Pass Trail, Longs Ranch Road and finally down Barr Trail back to Soda Springs

We started up Ruxton Avenue which connected to the trail adjacent to the Incline.  Almost immediately after the first little climb on the trail, I could feel the back of my legs, from the Achilles up through my calves tightening up.  This cramp/pain stayed with me for the rest of the run…guess that is my clue to work on strengthening some of my lesser used muscles.  The next 2-3 miles were a steady run/walk combo (esp. the steeper areas).  Then the real climb began and I slowed down quite a bit.  Julie, fellow running peep Sam and a runner I met today, Regina were running strong.  I was slower and I made my husband slow his pace to stay in sight because I was scared of creatures particularly in the area called Rattlesnake Gulch.  After the longest 6 miles of my life, we finally hit a peak at 9187 ft elevation.  I am not going to lie, the last couple of steep stretches of trail almost had me in tears and I was so happy when we headed back down Barr Trail.  Soon we were on familiar territory as the latter part of the trail is our regular way down after the Incline.

Mark, me, Julie and Sam

Mark on the mountain

The weather was overall very nice, it got a bit hot and I ran out of water/Gatorade by the time we reached our peak.  I am glad we started relatively early in the morning when it wasn’t as warm. The 2 – 6 oz bottles that I have on my fuel belt work great for cooler weather and shorter runs, but I think I need to carry more in the future.  On the way down, I was taking hits off of my husband’s Camel Back.  It was also crazy windy today – a couple of gusts were powerful enough to cause me to loose my footing.

Ok – today was really tough but I am keeping a positive attitude.  It is intimidating to think about the 13.34 journey up Pikes Peak especially after today’s run.  I was hurting, but then again, I hung in there.  This was my first real challenging mountain run on the TCR training journey and I survived, I will get stronger… right??

Run done, we made a quick stop at 7-11 for some hydration and a lotto ticket (will let you know ) and then headed over to Colorado Running Company pick up our race packets for tomorrow’s Reach Your Peak 4 Mile Run/Walk.  I am happy to support the Junior League and plan to take tomorrow as an easy recovery run.