the ascent. it made me cry.

[Heather!]

let me give you the play by play here:

4:00 am i got up
5:00 am i left and drove all the way to manitou springs... kinda sketchy drive in the dark. but i did see a shooting star!
6:00 am i get to manitou
6:15 am.... still trying to find a place to park
6:20 am i give up and just pull over in the first place that's even remotely open and haul ass in my flip flops to grab my registration packet
6:30 am i get my stuff and (yay!) stand in line for the potties. amazingly, that only took like 3 minutes.

here's where things start to get iffy.

6:40 am a girl comes up and starts chatting with me and she's like "i don't really know where to seed myself...". she said she ran a 1:25 half to qualify for this and that she hoped to do it in under 4 hours. so i'm thinking she's a little faster than me... maybe i should just stick in the middle of the pack to start. plus, i figured that since everyone has to qualify for this, and this is the faster wave, most people in the front are probably pretty serious runners who will have a strong race. this is my first time here, i don't know what to expect, i'll hang back a bit.

MISTAKE!!! within half a mile people are starting to walk. i was like "really guys? really? that's what you're gonna do?" but i'd heard that it's wise to go slow at first so you don't crash and burn later. so fine. i'm still running (well, jogging, to be honest) but by the time we all actually get on the trail EVERYONE, save for like 5 people, is walking. as i'm still trying to at least KIND OF jog, some guy behind me goes "just give up". thanks guy.

so that was like the first 9 miles. there were short stretches where everyone would get moving faster but they were few and far between. and don't get me wrong. i understand. that shit is crazy hard. the trail is steep and all you do is gain elevation... but seriously? it's a race!!!!!!! if you want to hike up pike's peak, save your money and do it by yourself on some other day when you're not in my way!

here's the thing. i wanted really badly to run. i was getting agrivated and annoyed and i really couldn't do anything about it - the trail is so narrow and there are so many places that are rocky and skecthy and it's near impossible to pass someone, an if you do there's just another walker right in front of them.

i had no other option so i walked. as fast as i could though! but even with that, it was absolutely the most physically demanding and painful thing i've ever done... but it wasn't until i got to about mile 10.5 (a section of the trail called the cirque) that i fully understood exactly how hard of a climb it was. above timberline things started to spread out so there was more jogging going on. i was feeling okay and more relaxed since i could run a little and the i turned a switchback and it was like someone bludgeoned me. i got dizzy and shaky and ill. it was the altitude. i've heard that for whatever reason 13,000 feet is where things start to go awry and that's about where i was... it was heinous. it was like i was walking out of a car accident. so i walked very slowly for a bit and kind of got over it. i tried to run again almost threw up. so i walked the rest of the way.

while the nausea did go away, i felt like shit the last mile. it was so steep. and it's not a trail so much as huge rocks that you climb up. the last mile took me like half an hour to complete. the entire course took me 3 hours and 53 minutes. when i got to the top, i got my stuff from teh bag check and sat down and cried. partly because i was so disappointed that i didn't have the race i wanted to have, and partly because of the immense pain.

however. within 30 minutes of finishing, i felt fine (though, aparently very disoriented - i couldn't find my car, i couldn't figure out how to get out of manitou, i went to get gas and paid for it but forgot to actually put the gas in my car...). and when i got home i went and did the eliptical :)

the plan of attack for next year? start at the front and run as much of it as i can before i feel like puking. i figure that i'm gonna end up feeling like shit even if i walk so...? why not at least run for part of it and not get stuck behind a bunch of walkers.





some guy at the start referred to it as a zombie death march. that's no joke. but next time it'll be a zombie death RUN

[Heather!]

nest year you should do it pablo!

[Pablo]

Nice work getting to the top despite all the difficulties on the trails and the altitude!! i've heard exactly what you describe about being stuck in line with no room to pass which sounds like it REALLY sucks. Next year though...

[Heather!]

okay its the page that has this same profile picture... i did something wrong the first time i tried so i had to start over

[Philip Snyder]

I think that it would make you the most popular person there. That is if they are as good as they sound.

[Heather!]

i think it would look rather odd for me to show up with a bunch of baked goods... i'll think about it though

[Heather!]

it's utrata.

everything feels fine! by the time i got back to denver i felt good enough to go do the eliptical for an hour.

[Philip Snyder]

Well Ms. Heather, can you tell me your last name so that I may find you or you can find me under Philip J. Snyder. I also think that you should bake some blueberry oatmeal bars for Roost' runclub.

p.s. how are your legs feeling?

[Heather!]

yes siree. i am indeed on facebook. i was like the last person on the planet to join.

[Philip Snyder]

I use that word loosely. Are you on the facebook? I would like to invite you to join the PubRunners Run Club. A toast to Zombie death marches!

[Heather!]

fun isn't exactly the word i'd use