!SF Race Reviews: Race 09-77 Pikes Peak Marathon

August 16, 2009
Marathon (26.2mi.) - 73rd/711 - 5:23:18

One of my long time goals has been to run the Pikes Peak Marathon. This year I was able to get into the race by taking an early lunch at work and coming home to try over and over again as soon as the registration opened. So I got in and then waited 5 months until race weekend.

For the Sunday race I took a flight landing in Denver on Friday morning. The big goal for Friday was to drive up the mountain to get a feel of how the atmosphere would be. There's a park entry fee at the bottom and then a long winding road to the top which got a little scary in a few spots but the views were amazing.

The weather at the top was decent, a little cold, and almost foggy. There is a big souvenir store with freshly made doughnuts there. I looked around, had a doughnut and took some pictures. I could definitely tell I was at significant elevation although not at all close to being sick. Of course, that's a lot easier to say after driving instead of running. I spent the rest of the day as well as most of Saturday exploring the area, taking pictures, and spending time around the race site.

The expo on Saturday was not very impressive, but it was sufficient. It consisted of the standard number pickup with a tent containing running apparel and shoes for sale by the store from Colorado Springs that seemed to be a sponsor. I had planned in running in the road shoes I raced the Miwok 100k in but the expo had a pair of New Balance 904 Trail shoes that I liked so I bought them to race in. They were probably a little overpriced but I had run with success in 2 pairs of 904 Road shoes before and the Trail version felt the same. I thought I would be able to race more aggressively in trail shoes as well so I went for it.

The morning of the race went well. I got up with plenty of time, got to the race in plenty of time, and the weather looked excellent. I couldn't decide what to wear. The it was clear and cool. I expected the top to be around 38 degree and the bottom to be in the 70's by the time I got done. I wanted to go in shorts and a T shirt but opted to tie a jacket around my waist as runners had warned that flash storms can appear at the top and start snowing.

The race starts in downtown Manitou Springs which is at elevation of 6412'. The first mile of the course is all road, through downtown Manitou Springs, slightly uphill. I held about a 6:45 pace and was breathing hard (a rarity for me) after a couple minutes. I thought if I kept that effort up I would be in trouble real fast. I backed off pace just as we hit the trail which didn't really reduce my effort because the first 3 miles of trail had a significant slope to them. I dropped my goal of top 20 to top 50 as the 20th person went by. I didn't see the point in racing for place that early. I maintained my goal of 3:00 up and 5:00 total time.

After about 3 miles of climbing with some nice scenery we went into the woods a bit and the land leveled off. There was a long stretch of several miles running through a forest with little climbing. As we ran through I wondered where the cog railway was and how we could run up the entire mountain without crossing it or the road.

The aid stations were well stocked and frequent. I didn't have much to eat on the way up but I took careful notice of how frequently they occurred in case I needed one on the way down. After the thick forest and as we got up to 10,000' the land started to get steeper and rockier and the forest became less dense. For a couple miles before passing the treeline we were running up rocky ground. The ground did not get any more forgiving after that and I wondered how fast I would be able to run down. I was going through periodic phases of feeling good and bad, but nothing that made me think I couldn't make it.

After passing the treeline the summit and perspective of the entire landscape became more visible. The trail zigzagged up the mountain and it didn't appear so far away although it turned out to be. When I was only a couple miles from the top, perennial winner Matt Carpenter came running down. I didn't see the next place runner for quite a while - he already had the win in the bag. I struggled a bit more as I continued climbing. By about 13,000' I was feeling lightheaded off an on. From the drive up 2 days prior I learned eating helped me cope with that so I began eating at the aid stations. My head was not totally focused like it usually is, but my legs kept running and I don't think the elevation slowed them down. Fortunately (and this is probably due to all the races I do in the Headlands and on Diablo) my legs were only very mildly sore from all the climbing. The most limiting factor was the difficult terrain - hard rocky surfaces, single track with many turns.

The last aid station is only about a mile and a half from the top. By the time I got through there runners were starting to come down. I knew I would make it but I was hoping that I just didn't crash. It became difficult because the trail ("trail") was very narrow and the people coming down were quite fast and apparently much more nimble on their feet than me. They call the last section near the top The Golden Stairs. I saw a sign but did not at all see to what it was referring. It seemed like I had been climbing stairs for the last hour. Just before the top someone was calling out places. I was in the low 50's. I made a point to pass enough people to make it to the top in 50th place or better. I was in either 49th or 50th, I couldn't tell which number they told me as there were a few of us in a row. The top is just a turnaround and I thought I could stay a while, look at the scenery, and take in the view. I was wrong. I made it in 3:12 which was over my goal time but I was happy enough with it. The race officials allowed us to take food but hurried us down to the next aid station. It seemed they wanted to get people down to lower elevation as quickly as possible. The temperature was low 40's I think and very clear. No need for a jacket at all although I saw a couple patches of ice that hadn't frozen from last night.

I had a hard time descending. I got passed by almost 20 people within the first couple miles. I wasn't prepared to take quick steps over rocks, make quick turns, or navigate around people still climbing. I went a lot slower than I should have and I looked forward to the mostly flat forest in the middle so I could go full speed. The forest didn't help as much as I wanted, I actually walked up a tiny hill on the way down. I had been running over 4 hours so it kind of made sense because 50k is about as far as I can run in mountains with any kind of speed. I hit that time where I am usually finishing a 50k so I didn't have much left. I took more time at aid stations to get food (candy) and drink. I felt I had some energy but couldn't descend quite fast enough. As a couple runners started to catch me I tried to hold them off while catching a couple of runners that I caught up to. I was successful in holding off some and was happy to get to the road. The road section at the end is only about 1km and I ran it real fast. I had plenty of energy left to fast on easy terrain. I finished in 5:23 which was short of my goal and 10 minutes slower than I wanted to running down but in hindsight I think I could go down even faster than 2 hours with some more experience.

The finish area was much more exciting than the expo. Downtown Manitou Springs had the same atmosphere that Mill Valley has for the Dipsea race. There was a finisher tent with food and chairs. They gave finisher jackets and had plenty of food in the pavilion. Many of us soaked our legs in the river that ran through town. It felt good to be back at a normal elevation of 6000'+. I spent most of the rest of the day in the town satisfied that I did OK and especially made it up without crashing.

By Tuesday I had heard about the Manitou Incline. This is a 1.01 mile stretch of hill that has an average grade of 41%. The steepest section is 68%. The bottom is at an elevation of 6574' and the top is 8585'. I had heard that Matt Carpenter could run it in 18 minutes so I thought 27 minutes would be reasonable for me. There are wooden railroad planks spaced out on it which are visible for quite a distance. It looks like these really help to reduce erosion. I was able to run up in 28 minutes. I haven't ever run a more difficult section of trail. It's about as difficult as the top quarter mile of Mt. Tam (the direct way - up the rocks). There were no rocks on the Incline, but it is a considerable climb which I walked quite a bit of. From the top there was a nice view of downtown Manitou Springs.