Pikes Peak Marathon

That was the hardest race I have ever done.  It's not even close.  Here I am writing this 70+ hours later and the soreness in my legs is not going away.


I went in to this race a bit banged up but feeling pretty good.  If everything went really well I was looking to complete the PPM in 5:30.  3:30 up and 2:00 down.  That would be good enough for top 100 based on recent year's results.


The day started off well enough.  Nick, Sam, Lizzie, Andy and I headed down to the start around 6:00 a.m.  It was a bit cool but the weather forecast told us that was going to be a hot day.  The forecast would be right.  I kept my fluids up and got amped up for the race.




The race started and I had made my first mistake about 30 seconds into the race and went out too fast.  I know it was dumb, but I felt good and a 7:46 first mile doesn't feel too fast.  I knew I was pushing my luck when at mile 2 people were cheering for the first place woman.  So I backed off...not because I knew I should, but because I was in a bad spot way too early.  The next two miles were really rough.   Just keep moving forward.  Miles 5, 6, and 7 felt good.  The course flattens out a bit through here and I was able to recover a little.

At Barr Camp my time was 1:36 or a minute faster than last year.  I thought there was a chance I could beat last year's ascent time.  After Barr Camp it gets steeper and the air gets thinner.  That is stating the obvious I know.  This stupid race just keeps going up and up.  My calf muscles gave up at mile three and were hanging on by a thread...maybe just a fiber.  By mile 10 my quads joined he fun and started to cramp.  This was starting to get fun.  


At the A-Frame I was at 2:22...still ahead of pace.  Still in pain.  My quads were not happy. The good news was that after three more miles of climbing I could completely destroy them on the way down.  It was about this time I began to see Nick closing in on me.  It was hard to tell how far back he was.  All the switch backs made it tough to gage.  It didn't matter though because there was nothing I could do to keep him from closing the gap.  I spent 2 miles with him in my rear view mirror.  I was certain Nick would pass me with about 1 Mile to go.  Nick must have hit a rough patch too, pretty soon he was starting to fall back a bit.  The last mile took me about 22 minutes.

The top / turnaround was odd.  Not sure what I expected, but when you get to the top, you get your bib signed and turn right back around.  I reached the summit in 3:39 (three minutes slower than last year and nine minutes off of my goal)  I was a bit delirious, a lot tired, and pretty sure I was short half of my brain cells from lack of oxygen...so, down I went.

The entire descent was a blurr.  My legs were burning and I have zero experience running down a mountain.  I knew that it was going to hurt if I went easy and it would hurt if I went hard.  So I went as fast as I could.  The less time in pain the better.  I was able to pass about 10 people on the way down.  It was very quiet on the descent.  The race had spread out a lot at this point.  There was a stretch where I didn't see anyone for a mile or so.   Just keep moving.  

The last two miles are really steep (what? really?) but they are on pavement.  It was hard to control the speed.  The last mile was the only sub 7:00 mile I had.  It also hurt the most.  My legs were in a full on revolt at that point.  I kept waiting for them to lock up.  Somehow they kept moving.

I crossed the line in 5:48:49.  I missed both my ascent goal and descent goal by 9 minutes each.  After doing this race, I am happy with the results.  Who knows how much my fast start hurt me.  I don't think it made a big difference overall.

Results -

                                             Ascent     Descent    Total
Chris Brooks                    3:39:34      2:09:15      5:48:49

Nick Elliott                        3:40:57      2:23:58      6:04:55
Elizabeth Burt                  5:01:31      3:13:16      8:14:47

Samuel Reno                    6:30:48      3:24:24      9:55:12


Sam's story is a whole other blog entry.  He had a great story of a day.  Needles to say, he cowboyed up and made the most of a rough day.  The best last place finish I know about.

Everyone did great! Nick and Lizzie both beat their Ascent times from last year, Sam made it an adventure, and our fearless Sherpa Andy was perfect in his support role. (Next year we support, Andy runs)  Delsin ran the Ascent the day before and got into a fight with the altitude.  The altitude had it's way with Delsin for while, but he came back strong and had a good finish.

So, another great Pikes Peak experience.  The race lived up to the hype and the legend.

Maybe next year the DOUBLE....