Pikes Peak Ascent. A modest time improvement from last year, missed out on the top ten this time after feeling like I had a really good shot at it until well above treeline. Like last year, didn't sleep particularly well, although I wasn't the basket case this morning that I was then. Mostly it was difficult to sleep due to the noise of campers showing up at 1:30 and setting up their tent nearby. I won't be staying at that particular campground next year the night before should I do this race again. The big excitement this time around came about an hour before the start when I experienced the most disgusting and appalling bodily function related thing one can deal with in this context. The less said about it the better but a wardrobe change was necessary. This negated any kind of warmup other than a few halfhearted drills, although that was basically all I was going to do anyway. Tried to stay well under control at the outset, and by the time I got to the Barr Trail itself and started slogging up the Ws the mantra commenced "adjust the effort" like last year. This is a fancy way of saying "back off, slow down" and was combined with "shorten the stride" when appropriate. Followed one guy fairly closely until sometime above experimental forest, while feeling like I was pulling away from two chasers. One of them, Romero, was the big competition in the age group battle. By the time the course flattened out between the exp. forest and Barr Camp, I felt like I was alone and in the clear. This feeling continued well beyond Barr Camp, even through the deceptively difficult stretch between Barr Camp and A-frame. I thought I had my spot established until a bit over 2 miles to go in fact, when I saw that Romero was closing inexorably. The pass came soon after that, we both passed a guy who looked to be fading. I faded myself though soon after and got passed back near the Cirque. Romero was by now long gone and my chances of getting back to the other guy, who was 10th male overall, were rapidly dwindling. It seemed like the last mile was in many ways even harder than last year and that I was walking more of it than I remembered doing then, but as I was clambering up the Golden Stairs I made a few checks of the watch and realized I could get under last year's time. Truthfully, running all the way through this time made up for some of the time difference. I had no interest or reason to run at the end last year. Overall, this year's race felt quite good until the last two miles when the effort got vastly more difficult. I can't help thinking that the stuff at the Dunes, coming hard on the heels of last weekend's activities in Leadville, left me worn out and overtired coming in. Certainly, the past 10 days haven't been how you would draw up a taper for this event. Not that I would take back most of it, but maybe shift some things around esp. visiting the dunes so close to race day. So many mountains, so little time.
Splits from the miles to go signs, if there was a 12 to go sign I missed it:
15:00 @ 11 to go
25:20 (10:20)
37:10 (11:50)
48:00 (10:50)
56:33 (8:33)
64:54 (8:21)
75:45 (10:51)
89:00 (13:15)
1:46:18 (17:18)
2:01:28 (15:10)
2:14:57 (13:29)
2:32:31 (17:34)
Also worth noting that the air seemed awfully hazy today, with a lack of visibility at the summit.
compare to picture of same area in 8/6 entry
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