Mt Evans Ascent

Mt Evans

Idaho Springs, CO

June 19, 2010

14.5 miles

3:09:44

13:06 min/mile

15th in age group (45-49)

Another day of getting up predawn to run a race. What am I thinking?! Thank goodness Rick volunteered (or did I volunteer him?) to drive Holly and I to the start and then meet us at the finish on the summit of Mt Evans. Holly agress to meet us at 4:30am then drive the 2 hours to the Mt Evans park entrance and packet-pick up.

The drive is uneventful and we arrive in plenty of time to pick up our packets. Weird though, I don't have a race shirt or goodie bag waiting for me; instead, the volunteer tells me to come back after the race and I can pick up one of the no-show bags. Interesting. I signed up before Bob and Holly and I don't have a goodie bag. I'll remember that in the future!

I decide to run with my arm warmers, a light jacket tied around the waist, my new "glove" hand warmers with skulls on them, and my Whitworth Pirates tech shirt. My armwarmers get comments and questions all day long - "cool armwarmers; where'd ya get them?" The jacket is not optional, race rules state you must have a long-sleeve shirt or jacket with you at all times due to changing weather and climate zones we will be traversing today. Yes, that is a snowbank I am running alongside in the top photo~

Once the gun goes off for the start, Holly looks back at me and I tell her, "I told you, I was going to be slow, go ahead!" and she's off along with Bob. I don't mind being where I am; I know it's another training run for me - this time all at altitude. Mount Evans Ascent begins at the park entrace at Echo Lake and at an elevation of 10,600'. From there, you wind up 14.5 miles of road, almost to the summit of Mt. Evans at 14,264'. This is the hightest road race in America and another great opportunity for me to get elevation and training while running supported!

In addition, this one is close enough for the family to come and cheer me on which Whitney and Jessica do. This surprises me; the girls woke up at 4:15am to drive up and cheer their mother on! Wow, do I have great kids or what? Because of an error in directions given by me to Rick (he actually drove up the wrong road waiting for me), I see and hear Whitney and Jessica on the route before I see Rick. Yeah! Finally, Rick pulls along side me and I apologize profusely for leading him up the wrong road; no worries. He's happy the girls are here and they begin to leap-frog me one after the other along the race route up the mountain.

I run the first 3+ miles then get into the pattern of running and power hiking. I run to a point on the road and then walk to another and repeat, over and over and over again. This strategy has helped me numerous times in my ultra training and does wonders today.

As I pass my girls in Whit's car, I hear cowbell! Yes! They are ringing it for me. Runners around me remark that we need more cowbell and I pass this information on to the girls and Rick and from there, the cowbell ringing becomes more clear and more loud.

Each time Rick and the girls leap-frog me in their vehicles, cowbell rings out and I have a huge smile on my face. I love this day - It is filled with great weather, great views, and great family support! Mount Evans is gorgeous today and the sky is so clear you can see for miles in the distance. Once above tree line, the vistas open up as a flower to the dawn and it is almost breath taking. I think to myself, is there anywhere else I want to be right now? Is there anything better I could be doing at this moment than being on this mountain in this beautiful day?

Back to the race. Yes, there is a race going on despite me. We have 2.5 hours to run the first 9 miles; however, I am operating under the misconception that we only have 2 hours. I pull around the bend to see Summit Lake (9 mile point and 12,850' elevation) in 1:53 hours and minutes and I am thankful I made the "cutoff." It is not until I round the bend past the lake, that another runner asks me the time and I tell him we're under 2 hours - we just made the cut-off. What? The cut-off is 2.5 hours. Whew! I feel much better even as I stare up the next section of road winding around the mountain.

I have 5.5 miles left to go and less than 2000 more feet of elevation to climb. From this point, I begin power hiking in earnest and get into a very good groove. This is where the lessons learned from Chris begin to pay off for me. Chris has stated numerous times that often you can power hike faster than someone running uphill. I put his theory to the test here and boy, is it ever on the mark. I check my garmin frequently during this section just to make sure I am keeping on pace. My goal is to finish in a 15 min/mile pace or less. How fast can I powerhike is the question I ask myself. How fast can I powerhike for 5 miles, uphill, at an ever-increasing elevation?

In the last sections, there are numerous switchbacks and you can see the runners ahead of you on the road above you. In one of these sections, I finally spie Bob and yell up to him. He hears me and waves to me as he trudges up his section. This gives me new life and I am happy again. My power hiking is not only overtaking those around me; but I am also ever-so-slowly gaining on some.

Finally, I round the last bend and I see the finish line! From here, I force my legs into a run and cross the finish line in 3 hours, 9 minutes, 44 seconds (Rick was late snapping the photo - that's me already past the finish line waiting for them to take my timer off my ankle).

I see Bob and Holly and apologize for making Holly wait so long for her clothes in Rick's car - she tells me she wasn't waiting that long and I am surprised I was was within 5 minutes of her finish time (3:04:12). Bob finished in between both of us at 3:06:10. Training will tell, we all run together and finished within 5 minutes of each other! Speaking of excellent training, my friend Tracey smoked all of us (2:54:28); she has continued training with the Incline Club and has made such great progress this year! I hated moving into her age group this year!

Once we have warm clothes on, Bob states he wants to officially log this and that means a hike up to the actual peak. My family quickly agrees so off all six of go to "summit" this fourteener! What a great day and back at the start, we stop and I go up to the race tent and they hand me a "no-show" goodie bag and I get my race shirt along with lunch!