Photo courtesy of Andrew King - D4 Productions

Saturday, May 31, 2008

28 myles - 4.57:10

Pikes Peak - 6:00 a.m.
crisp to start, high 70s to end, partly cloudy
mind/body - ready to go!
HR max/avg - 171/145

What a day running! Initially I met up with Rick Hessek from the South CRUD team. Paul DeWitt was going to show up but I know he just got back from Cali delivering furniture so he was sleeping in. A couple other CRUD guys joined us but Rick and I soon lost them. Later on up the trail we met up with Keith Grimes and even farther up John Hemsky (to my surprise). John is from my neck of the woods and is training for Big Horn 100 in a couple of weeks. John came along as we ran part of Elk Park, up to the two mile sign from summit, then back down. John and I need to hook up more often because he's a really strong climber who can help push the pace.

I felt very good today - nice and relaxed climbing 7000ft to 12,800ft. Move over Grandeur Peak - Pikes Peak now reigns as the toughest run of the year for me. Even though there isn't as much vertical, the dilemma with Pikes is that it's all pretty much runnable but at a much higher altitude. Anything above 10000ft seems to zap the energy quicker. Doing this run at least 6 more times before Hard Rock should prepare me mentally and physically.

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