Monday, August 17, 2009

Pikes Peak

-Finished in 5:44:44, 101st place out of 540 male finishers. Think 13 chicks beat me. It was my 13th marathon.

-PR'd to Barr Camp, first time I've ever broke 90 getting there. I was beating the second place woman as well as Sully (3rd place woman???). Was on pace to go sub-3 to the summit, but above 10,000 feet the reality of drinking all day on Saturday, much of it at 13,800 feet watching the Ascent, caught up with me.

-Struggled from Barr Camp to the summit. Probably walked about 75% of that stretch. I thought I was in shape enough to run that much, and if I could have I would have had my first sub-3 ascent.

-Ended up getting to the top in 3:24. Not too shabby, but at that point I decided to throw in the towel on the descent and make sure I didn't sabotage Leadville. Spent about eight minutes at the top BS'ing with the PPRR folks and then made the trip back to Manitou in 2:10-ish. A full 20 minutes slower than my previous downhill time.

-Not too disappointed with the day. Got to suffer a lot on the way up without beating myself up too much, then had a blast running down. This race was the reason I originally moved to Colorado and it was fun getting to do it again. Next time, though, I'm getting that sub-3 ascent.

-When I saw Matt Carpenter on the way down, he looked bored.

-Lots of great performances by my friends, kudos to all of you!

More to come on this weekend, I have lots of pics to post...

4 comments:

GZ said...

Nice job. Next time I am interviewed by Barbara Wah Wah when she asks who I'd most like to have a drink with, it ain't going to be the Dali Lama ... it is going to be Pitt Brownine. But only so I can hold him off on the 3 hour ascent.

Nick said...

Brownie, heck of a job man. You should write the alternative guide to running Leadville: Drink beer at 13,300 all day Saturday and then run up and down a 14'er the following day. Six days later rock the course to Winfield and back. Nice! Hope to see you on course somewhere in Pb'ville.

Anonymous said...

nice job brownie...store your best for the leadville...naresh

GZ said...

WTF was I thinking with that profile pic back then?

I forgot about the 90 to Barr Camp. That is about what I got there in this year. But yeah, crap can really go awry high ... and I find your comment about not upending Leadville interesting.