Race Report: Pikes Peak Ascent...

Quote:

Pikes Peak Ascent
http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org

The Race

The last couple miles were a little tough, 26F with some wind and sleet,
though my impression is mostly that of the people around me, as I was stuck
in the middle of a train of runners who'd been out a half-hour longer than
myself. My hands were quite cold and losing fine motor control (doubtful I
could tie shoelaces; thank goodness for my trailgaiters, they eliminate that
problem), and on the final 'Golden Stairs' section of 16 tight switchbacks I
was either holding them close to my chest or shoved in my pockets when
running against the wind, and taking them out on the next switchback level
when running with the wind. I kept checking for sensation in my fingertips,
though, and never lost it, so wasn't concerned. One runner I passed here
did his best to maximize the drama by yelling loudly at everybody and
answering a volunteer advising him to put his jacket on by yelling it was ok
if he died up here. I muttered at the guy in front of me I was not about to
die up here, and to get a move on, haha! Such drama! But it was over in a
few minutes, and a shivering volunteer was putting a medal around our necks.
Milling around in the shack, dimly recognizing the onset of hypothermia,
while an authoritative lady with a bullhorn commanded us to change clothing,
board the shuttles and get down off the mountain. Crowding onto the
shuttles and then buses, uncontrollably shivering, thawing out, slowly
realizing we'd just been through a great experience. Mostly back to normal
soon before disembarking at the park. Yelling 'Piece of Cake!' at the
clapping spectators. 3:31.

My Performance
Thinking about how I could improve my time in a future PPA, a few positive
factors occur.
1 Disregarding the weather, I felt very strong at race finish, was still
passing people, had no cramps, and the next day was wishing it had been
longer, all signs that I hadn't 'left it all on the trail' and perhaps been
too conservative.
2 Extrapolating from my La Luz time gives a large half-hour improvement.
3 Starting in Wave2 I think affected my performance in a couple ways. I
finished 7th or so out of the many hundreds in my wave; so for the entire
race I'd been among runners who were all slower than me, without knowing it.
A bad situation for me as I tend to look at others to judge my performance.
A direct impact occurred late in the race as we started running up against
Wave1 stragglers as the trail narrowed and passing became more difficult.
Indeed, the last couple miles I was at the end of a long train of runners
(Dog bless them!) all of whom were a half-hour slower.
All positive signs that a future attempt could show much improvement.