Ponderous Posterior Marathon "race" Report
Due to my cold reaching its crescendo in all its swollen sore throat glory, I opted to head down to CO Springs for the event on race morning, lest I expose good friends to my germ-ful maladies by staying at their place the night before.
It worked out fine because I was able to ride down with GZ in his square pumpkin mobile and get in more conversation in one day than over the two years I've known him.
He wanted to get started early (the 7am wave) in order to cushion his time after the run and make it home for a Nuggets game with his boy. I was fine with that since I felt like hell and didn't want to feel pressured to run too hard.
The course is sweet with thousands of feet of climb, dry technical sections, fresh deep snow sections, and epic views of everything from Garden of the Gods at sunrise to several angles of majestic (and hulking) Pikes Peak.
The run actually went by in a blink of the eye it seemed. I wish we would've just added on the five mile (easy, according to Rick H.) section for the 50k course. It was a nice effort all day and I felt stronger over the last 1.5 hrs, which is a good sign of where my fitness is currently. I mostly just practiced early season race strategies like fueling, even energy, pacing, etc.
It was great to hang out with George all day and meet and run with Sean O'Dea, who acted as our guide (otherwise GZ and I would likely still be out there running today).
Thanks so much to Katie and JT for hosting the hoards (over 90 folks) of runners. I had an excellent time talking with good friends like Scott Jaime (who never reads my blog) and meeting a bunch of new folks I've vaguely known but never met in person. Like the great Chubby Cheeks run last month in Ft. Collins, this type of run leaves me more content than most organized big races. Oh, and thanks George for sharing your most excellent home brewed IPA. I was floored by it and will be breaking into your home the next time you're out of town to steal every remaining bottle of it.
Stats: 26.2 mi (we ran down the sidewalk at JTs to make it a true marathon)
Time: 4:52 (I'm pretty sure GZ, Sean, and I won the marathon - we finished holding hands)
Climb: various estimates from 5,000-6,500 ft (who the heck really cares?)
Results
Gear:
McDavid arm warmers
McDavid compression calf sleeves
Buff headband
Speedgoat 50k event shirt (a race of which I was disqualified for making up my own course)
Pearl Izumi shorts and gloves
Inov8 Rocklite 315 shoes and fancy pink flowered gaiters
Lucho gifted Rudy Project sunglasses
It worked out fine because I was able to ride down with GZ in his square pumpkin mobile and get in more conversation in one day than over the two years I've known him.
He wanted to get started early (the 7am wave) in order to cushion his time after the run and make it home for a Nuggets game with his boy. I was fine with that since I felt like hell and didn't want to feel pressured to run too hard.
 |
| Pre-run in JT's kitchen. Jaime's fixing his Dean Karnazes hairdo. In the background, that's either a hippie's 1978 Volvo wagon or a refrigerator . (photo: GZ -nabbed from his blog) |
The course is sweet with thousands of feet of climb, dry technical sections, fresh deep snow sections, and epic views of everything from Garden of the Gods at sunrise to several angles of majestic (and hulking) Pikes Peak.
 | ||
| Early in the run entering Garden of the Gods. I almost wore a purple shirt to cap off the color spectrum of my ensemble. (photo: Brian McCarrie) |
 |
| Garden of the Gods early. (photo: Steve and Kathleen) |
 |
| Kathleen running up the long climb with commanding views of Pikes. (photo: Steve) |
The run actually went by in a blink of the eye it seemed. I wish we would've just added on the five mile (easy, according to Rick H.) section for the 50k course. It was a nice effort all day and I felt stronger over the last 1.5 hrs, which is a good sign of where my fitness is currently. I mostly just practiced early season race strategies like fueling, even energy, pacing, etc.
It was great to hang out with George all day and meet and run with Sean O'Dea, who acted as our guide (otherwise GZ and I would likely still be out there running today).
Thanks so much to Katie and JT for hosting the hoards (over 90 folks) of runners. I had an excellent time talking with good friends like Scott Jaime (who never reads my blog) and meeting a bunch of new folks I've vaguely known but never met in person. Like the great Chubby Cheeks run last month in Ft. Collins, this type of run leaves me more content than most organized big races. Oh, and thanks George for sharing your most excellent home brewed IPA. I was floored by it and will be breaking into your home the next time you're out of town to steal every remaining bottle of it.
Stats: 26.2 mi (we ran down the sidewalk at JTs to make it a true marathon)
Time: 4:52 (I'm pretty sure GZ, Sean, and I won the marathon - we finished holding hands)
Climb: various estimates from 5,000-6,500 ft (who the heck really cares?)
Results
Gear:
McDavid arm warmers
McDavid compression calf sleeves
Buff headband
Speedgoat 50k event shirt (a race of which I was disqualified for making up my own course)
Pearl Izumi shorts and gloves
Inov8 Rocklite 315 shoes and fancy pink flowered gaiters
Lucho gifted Rudy Project sunglasses
Hi there. Just sayin.....
ReplyDeleteGood beer, good friends, good running, good weather. What else is there?
I don't read this blog either.
ReplyDeleteGood seeing you, albeit for too short a time. Chateau Timmy was all set up - we even had our surgical masks and Lysol ready to handle the germ invasion!!! Next time....
ReplyDeleteDidn't know you were running in the Inov8s. Have you reviewed them yet? Great product in my opinion, and I've broken in a pair on our trails (Latta, Anne Springs), but I'm curious to know how they perform in the 'real world' trail setting and how they compare to other brands. - NLS
ReplyDeleteDarren, why don't you write in your blog, so I can not read it too?
ReplyDeleteHi Nathan. I run mostly in Pearl Izumis but love my inov8s (mostly wore them Saturday because I don't have velcro for the gaiters on any of my PIs yet). The only thing I'm leery about is the lack of underfoot protection. You hit a sharp rock with any amount of force and your metatarsal will jump right out of your foot in pain. I'd like to get a hold of the Rocklite 295 at some point.
There's a great overview and follow up comments over at irunfar.
I miss anne springs. Had a lot of nice runs there.