Dad picked me up on Friday morning and we headed Springs-ward. Of course, can there be a Rastall event without having a little family drama. No I tell you, there can not. Dad and I argued the whole way down about where the focus of my running should be. Dad: trails. Me: everything else. Now of course I love my dad but sometimes... Lets just say stubbornness definitely runs in my family. Couldn't really tell if there was a raging fire or an icy chill as we finally arrived at our venue, the pre-race expo in Manitou Springs. We picked up our pre-race numbers (no shirt until you finish!) and then had to kill some time waiting around for a press conference I was supposed to attend. Why they would ever think it was necessary for me to attend a press conference, I have no idea, as I had never run the race before and I am not a world class runner, not yet anyways. So we walked around Manitou and Dad showed me some of the race course. We walked uphill and took a turn and walked uphill, and took another turn and walked up a bigger hill. You get the idea. I certainly did. What I was in for was a very uphill race from start to finish.We wandered back to the expo and I reported for the press conference appearance. I felt very foolish indeed walking up to the front of that room and asking the people if I was supposed to be there. Thankfully, they just told me to sit in the front row and that I would have to introduce myself a little later. While I sat there feeling sheepish, the table in front of me was quickly filling with some actual world class mountain trail runners: Max King, Kasie Enman, Michele Suszek and Kilian Jornet, just to name a few. My dreams of getting into the top five seemed to waver, until they all announced they were running the marathon! Phew! Who would ever want to run down that mountain after running all the way up? Anyways, the press conference turned out to be a bit of a Q&A with Bart Yasso. Feeling a little out of my league, I waited to introduce myself. "Hi, I'm Ellie, I would like to begin by thanking the academy..." Yata, yata, yata. After the photo shoot of the elites (myself not included), I snuck away. Dad and I went to Safeway and picked up a few essentials for dinner, avocado and organic lentil soup for me, then headed to our friend Lee's house.
I must admit, I wasn't feeling too hot at this point in the afternoon. I had a terrible headache and was exhausted. I decided to have a bit of a lay down at Lee's and indeed that helped me feel a little better. We headed to bed pretty early that night, after spending some time in Lee's backyard and exploring his tree house. I gotta admit, I was pretty nervous about how I was going to feel in the morning. What if I woke up totally sick? I knew I shouldn't race sick, but how could I back out. With my alarm set for 4:30 I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
The next day I woke and thought, ok, I don't feel too bad. That was great news! I got up and had my Paleo pre-race snacks (hard-boiled eggs, some baked potato, and a protein bar). We hopped in the car and hurried over to Manitou because according to Dad, parking can be horrendous. I was all set to go with my little water bottle full of First Endurance drink mix, four honey stinger gels, my trail shoes, my calf compression sleeves, my sunglasses and my coat that Dad insisted I take tied around my waist. I was looking real fly people. Now typically I do a fair bit of warming up before a race, but since this one was going to be about the clock time of a marathon, I opted for a five minute jog and a lot of stretching. Less is more so to speak. Plus, I knew it wasn't going to take off like a bat out of hell. So I did my mini warm up and then headed over to the starting line. Now let me take a minute and say two things. Number one, was I nervous for the race. Yes and no, mostly no. I already knew I wasn't supposed to "race" and therefore was just going to run and have fun, so no pressure there. But it was a little nerve racking to think about running up a fourteener, especially when I had only summited one or two before this. Number two, what I did to prepare for this race apart from my normal training of about 70 miles a week, a few workouts, and some races was on the lighter side of next to nothing. I did four hilly runs, two legitimate ones (one up a mountain at Pingree and then towers road) and two sort of hilly long runs. A shout out must go to my friend Hannah who was willing to accompany me on all but one of these little adventures. Any who, I am sure there were people who were far better prepared for a hilly trail run than I was. Yet, I didn't let that bother me. I only thought about my own run and how to best pace myself.
The race was announced to start and we took off, up the main street of Manitou Springs. I quickly found myself in a select crowd of front runners, with just a few women ahead of me. I fell into a comfortable pace and kept an eye on my competition. Slowly, I caught and passed all but one female. By the time we hit the trail I was in second. And that folks, is literally the story of my race. I ran from the trail head to tree line in solid no man's land, passing only one person. Well, I suppose there was a little more to it than that. I sucked down three gels in about the first hour because friends had warned me to fuel properly. It seems to have done the trick. The great thing about this race was that just running was a challenge. I didn't have to worry about pushing my pace, in fact, I probably clocked the slowest miles I have ever run in a race. The scenery was beautiful and it was quiet and peaceful. Once I broke out of tree line, I was thinking "yes! Almost there!" No. Not almost there. For anyone who has not run this race, once you get out of the trees you can hear the announcer at the top of the mountain and the end seems so close. Little do you know, you have a solid three miles of boulders to scramble over. So I kept chipping away, slowly but surely. And eventually, after what seemed like a billion boulders and gravely sand I made it to the finish! I collapsed in a feeble heap, just kidding, I actually headed straight for the water/Gatorade and started asking where the food was. Typical. I grabbed pretzels(!!!) and grapes, skipped the jelly beans, cheese-its, and m&m's (my Paleo mindset was holding me back). Then grabbed my drop bag, because it may have been 70 and sunny, but I didn't want to catch a chill. I bundled up in my down coat, pants, hat, gloves, the whole nine yards, and waited for a little flower ceremony they were going to have for the top three overall finishers.
That was probably the highlight of my whole little trip, that little flower ceremony. Oh, and having Kasie Enman, the world mountain running champion cheering for me in the last mile of the race. But I felt pretty special being handed a bouquet of flowers post race (probably because I have been watching the cyclists do it in the Tour and the olympians at the Olympics) especially since it was at 14,000 feet. I was warm enough (who would have thought with all those clothes on) that I decided to wait at the top and watch my Dad finish. That was also pretty exciting, because it was probably only the second race we had ever run in together. Dad couldn't believe it when I told him I got second and my time (2:38:13). There were vans to take us back down the mountain, so we grabbed some more food and peaced out!
I convinced Dad to take us back to Lee's for a quick shower before the awards ceremony. We left Lee the flowers as a thank you, and I have to admit, they probably weren't going to make it back to Fort Collins in tip top shape. Before the awards, we went and visited the Twin Sister's B&B, where my parents and uncle Rick always used to stay when they all ran the race. The two ladies who run the place were very excited to see my Dad and catch up for old times sake. After the awards we headed home. On the positive side, the Bronco's were playing, on the negative side, there was a double-wide being moved down the highway, backing up traffic just a little bit. We finally made it home and our little journey was complete. Running Pikes Peak was overall a fantastic experience that I highly recommend to any crazies who think it is a good idea to race to the top of a fourteener. Will I be going back, yes, it may be next year or in ten years but I can assure you all, that mountain ain't going anywhere. Until next time!
e.
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