Now that was a fun race! The day started off with very mild temperatures which made for a pleasant warm up before the race. I felt fairly relaxed with not too many pre-race jitters. Looking up (way up) at the mountain while standing on the start line, it didn't seem as ominous as it did last year for my first Pikes Peak Marathon. My plan was to not go out too fast in order to have something in the tank for the last few miles above treeline. It seemed like as soon as the gun went off Mario Macias (the eventual winner of the day) was way off the front. Did he start before everyone else? This seems to be his style. It's impressive and it certainly works. I thought I might try to keep pace with a couple of other local Boulder runners but soon found out that my legs weren't going to have any of that. I felt heavy and my legs already felt the burn of the first steep climb up to Barr trail. I saw an "11 miles to the top" sign and heard a little voice say "uh-oh". I found myself in a group of four or five other guys and tried to find my rhythm. Once we settled onto the trail I found that I could speed up a touch and started to pass a couple people. I was shaken out of my groove as I heard someone yell that I was going the wrong way. Oops. Too much rhythm. The 2 guys I just passed went speeding by and it was quite a long way before I passed them again. In the mid-section of the course I was playing leap frog with another runner. It was helpful in keeping up a good pace. I was very diligent about drinking, eating, and taking on salt after my disastrous bonk at Leadville Marathon. This paid off in the end because I was able to push hard up top with no problems. About a mile from A-frame aid station the guy I was leap frogging just plain stopped. I hope he was all right, I never did find out who he was. I was glad to be free from others' breathing and footsteps however. Then the excitement really started. I went through A-frame about five minutes slower than what I was hoping. I resolved to really put some effort into the last 3 miles. Once out of the trees I could start to see the runners up ahead. I thought that they were long gone, but it turned out not to be the case. It's always exciting to see that I'm not going backwards but actually gaining on some. I passed 3 or 4 guys in the next two miles. But I also spotted someone gaining on me. As we snaked our way up the switchbacks it became clear that I probably wouldn't make the 2:30 time that I was hoping for (but it wouldn't be far off, so keep pushing), I might catch one more person, and that I would definitely be caught by the person behind me. She was absolutely flying up the mountain. The first women (Kim Dobson) passed me with about a mile to go to the finish. I tried to stay on her and quickly realized that it was not an option. I stayed fairly close to her and as we got toward the top the cheering section for her was deafening in one of the little rocky alcoves. Even though the cheers weren't for me it was very exciting to be enveloped in that much noise. The few thoughts that I could manage in between the thoughts of my searing legs was that the sound must be similar for the tour riders at the top of the epic climbs. I couldn't help but smile. I crossed the finish line in 2:34:40, 13th place overall, and with wobbly legs.

I was very pleased with how the race went and with my effort during the course of it. I was certainly thankful that I didn't have to turn around and run down. My legs enjoyed the car ride down so much more than the year before. I will certainly be back to race the ascent again and see if I can break the 2:30 barrier.

Below is a video of the top 20 finishers thanks to Charlie Woodcock!!