Cheyenne Mountain 25k Race Report

This whole running thing is fun.  Races like today's definitely help remind me of this.

Cheyenne Mountain 25k Trail Race
16.8 miles, 2,146' gain/loss

3rd place, 1:59:08

When I first heard of this new race at CMSP, my initial reaction was one of skepiticism.  After all, two other races (Xterra Marathon and Fall Series) just sprung up in the park within the past two years.  The amount of trails in the park are limited, so there was nothing new here as far as I was concerned.  However, the timing of the race was good - Collegiate Peaks falls two weeks later - so I signed up for the 25k a couple of months ago.

Cheyenne Mtn 25k (looking south)

It was during a reconnaissance mission of the course five weeks ago that I originally aggravated my hip, and only in the past week have I finally seemed to have gotten back to full strength.  Needless to say, my last memory of CMSP was not an amiable one.  I did, however, get a good feel for the layout of the course that day - numerous tight, twisty turns.  Steady yet gradual climbs and descents.  Long stretches of groomed trail interspersed with rocky, technical sections.  I normally welcome technical courses, but nursing my injury had me worried that this would be too much too soon.  Turns out it was fine.

My plan was based on the desire to build patience, test my fitness, yet leave me fresh for CP50 and minimize the risk of re-injuring my hip:

• Easy up the initial climbs (miles 1-4 or so)
• Move into a better position on the north loop's descent (miles 5-8)
• Crank up Talon on the south loop (miles 9-12)
• See where I stood at the top of Talon.  Shut it down a little if possible (miles 13 - finish)

Things unfolded according to plan.  This video, courtesy of Pikes Peak Sports, shows I was comfortably in 7th place at the half mile.  Early in races, I will pay close attention to the breathing patterns of those around me.  A goal I usually have is to "sound better" than anyone else.  It helps me relax during the critical first few minutes, where a race can't be won, but can surely be lost.  I knew that Peter Maksimow and Tommy Manning wouldn't be coming back to me - they've both qualified for the U.S. mountain team before - but the other guys were all unknown quantities.  I just followed my plan and ran my race for the first half.

As we topped out on the north loop, I had caught sight of Paul Mann, who was the last person between me and the two leaders.  I estimate I had given him a good 25-30 second spot by the one mile mark.  One thing I love to do in trail races such as this is try and figure out others' strength's and weaknesses.  I noticed that I didn't seem to be gaining much on him during the uphills and open spaces, but the downs and rocky spots were where I would reel in substantial distance.  Once I made contact with him at mile 5, I tucked in behind him, chatted with him for a little bit, and passed him on a longer downhill stretch.  I suspected the rest of the race would be lonely.  I was only somewhat right.



As the miles clicked by, I just focused on form and steady effort.  I expected to be a good three or four minutes behind Peter and Tommy, but then I started to get conflicting messages.  One person said they were much closer, another said maybe more like five or six.  I was hoping that at the very least, I could keep the gap from growing any larger as I turned up the north loop at mile 8.5.  By now, I was passing many 50k runners, who had started a half hour before us.  Only one girl with an iPod in didn't try moving over for me; everyone else was extremely cool about it.  I took a peek ahead at one vantage point and saw what looked like Peter and Tommy, and they were MUCH closer than three minutes.  I took a glance at my watch, and looked again when I got to where they had been and the gap was only ninety seconds.  I was thoroughly confused - had I cut the course?  Were they just screwing around?  Was I actually running THAT well?  I dismissed option #3, but found myself with a little extra motivation to keep cranking up this stretch to see if I could make contact with them.  In fact, at the last switchback before the top of the south loop, I looked up to see that they were only about 10 seconds up on me.  I yelled at them to get their asses in gear as they had no business dogging it like that, and that's exactly what they did - BOOM.

Once I hit the long downhill from the top of Talon all the way to the finish, I couldn't see them anymore.  I knew I was sitting on a very large lead over 4th.  And frankly, I had worked my tail off to get up the hill.  So, I just shut it down into a doable gear and coasted home.  I was able to catch a peek of Peter and Tommy one last time just before the finish, and they had re-opened about a 90 second lead on me again.  The last few miles were relaxed and comfortable, and I began looking ahead to the looming 50-miler.  A nice touch was finishing in 1:59...it just sounds so much better than 2:00.  The 25k ended up being a good 16.78 miles on my watch.  Luckily, I was familiar enough with CMSP to know well before the finish that it was running quite long.

At the finish, I got world's longest massage.  It must have been 45 minutes long.  I got to catch up with a bunch of friends - Peter, Tommy, Amanda, Christoph, and 50k runners Brendan Trimboli and Brandon Stepanowich to name a few.  The post-race food was top-notch: catered chicken/pasta/salad from Carrabba's.  We hung around long enough for awards and to see the top 50k'ers finish.  Definitely a well-run inaugural event.  Low-key, yet with many nice little touches such as well-stocked aid stations.  It's hard to have fun when it's 35 degrees and blustery out, but I did just that this morning!  Can't wait to try my legs at 50 miles in two weeks! 

Race Article from Pikes Peak Sports

Results  

Mile splits:  7:52, 7:16, 7:13, 7:45, 7:38, 6:19, 6:34, 6:23, 7:07, 7:10, 8:07, 8:05, 6:37, 6:45, 6:45, 6:59, 6:02

I'll leave this entry on a light note.  Let the good times roll say the twenty year olds.

Cripple Creek "Celebration"

"Hey Sean, how do you feel?"

Who in their right mind comes up with this kind of crap?

A few months ago,  I took ideas from a few of my friends and began to put together an "event" that would get some people to show.  (I'm good for about one of these annually)  Peter Maksimow had turned 32 a few months ago and did a 32-miler that day just for kicks.  Brooks had run the 35 miles from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek unsupported a couple of times.  I realized that A)I was turning 36 and B)I needed to get at least one meaty run in before Collegiate Peaks.  Why not see if I could talk a few people into joining me for the trek across the south side of Pikes?


The logistics were fluid to say the least.  In the two months leading up to the event, many people were in and out of the picture.  A couple of guys committed to running the whole thing.  Many others chose to run it as a relay, run just a portion, ride a bike, provide sag support to everyone, or just wait for the crew to show up in Cripple Creek.  Some folks were staying overnight in Cripple Creek, others opted to take the Ramblin' Express shuttle back to the Springs.  Needless to say, trying to figure out just who was going to be where was a challenge.

Ready to run

When all the smoke had cleared, we had a group of about 12 or so looking to at least start the run on a crisp and beautiful morning.  From the Upper Gold Camp Rd./Helen Hunt parking lot at 7,500', we set off together in a 10:00 mile before settling into a couple of groups.  We stayed in these groups for the majority of the day - in mine were Peter, Branden Stepanowich, and Paul Doyle.  All four of us have 50-milers on the not-so-far-off horizon.  I was a little nicked up, as my left hip/IT band had been kind of tender all week.  I had concerns that the birthday boy might have to pull out of his own shenanigans prematurely.

  The first eight miles climbed 1,500' on the closed portion of Gold Camp Rd., and they featured many tunnels and views of Colorado Springs down below.  Unfortunately, running this stretch was like running on a beach - sand, gravel, and generally sloggy footing.  We met our sag vehicle at mile 8.5, where Gold Camp intersects Old Stage Rd. and opens up to car traffic again.  A quick refuel and we were off again.  To this point, my hip problems seemed fine - a little soreness, but nothing debilitating.

Patrick, Peter, Sean, Branden, Paul.  "9 miles down"

 As the miles clicked away, we alternated between chatting and retreating into our own little worlds.  As one would expect, the further in we got, the more withdrawn we became.  Once we hit our first view of the Rosemount Reservoir at mile 14, we had reached just short of 10,000'.  We stayed within a few hundred feet of 10k for the remainder of the day.

One of many tunnels

Gold Camp solitude?

A little lack of communication with our Taylor, our sag driver (I failed to tell him that he was to take care of ALL the runners, not just the back pack) left us without extra clothes, food, or water from miles 9 to 22.  These miles were precisely where a brisk headwind met us.  Paul and I had stripped down to short sleeves when we last saw the sag.  At first, we weren't concerned as we figured Taylor would catch up to us any minute.  One minute turned into ten, then sixty.  Finally, another sag vehicle topped us all off.  We also gained two more part-time runners - Darin and Sandu.  We began to open up the pace a little bit from miles 10 to 25, averaging a shade under 8:00's for this stretch.  The pace was a tad more brisk than I had hoped for, but save my hip I felt comfortable.  It began to throb periodically during this stretch, and I began to wonder again if I was going to suffer a DNF. 

At mile 24, Brooks and Amanda joined us.  They had parked in Cripple Creek and run backwards to catch us.  They were just in time to witness the first casualty of the lead pack.  My hip had been tightening up with more and more frequency, and just after they joined us, I looked up to find myself a minute behind the others.  After downing some calories and sandbagging a couple of 9:30 miles, I got back into a groove.  Brooks and Amanda stayed with me for the remainder of the run, and I was thankful for the company.

By now, I had begun to chunk up the remainder of the run into doable portions.  My focus moved to just reaching the first pavement of the day at mile 30.  This signified a new long for me.  The thought of every subsequent step taking me further into the unknown blew a little bit of wind back into my sails, but needless to say I was still experiencing more downs than ups at this point.

The last six miles were broken up in my head in this way - 1.5 miles of pavement, 2.5 miles of climbing on a dirt road, and 2 very steep downhill miles into town.

The paved mile and a half marked my low point of the day.  Thoughts of the various methods of inflicting death upon myself went through my head.  I'm pretty sure they all were more appealing than continuing in the ragged state I was in.  The pain that I had once felt in my hip I swear had spread to my entire body.

Once we turned back onto dirt and began climbing again, I caught a glimpse of Branden ahead of me...it was then that I quit having a pity party and went to catch up to him.  His wheels had fallen off not too much after mine, but our little reunion gave us enough juice to top out at mile 34 realizing we were going to finish this madness.  All that remained was, according to Brooks, a "nice little jog" into town.  Losing 1,000' vertical.  In just under two miles.  On twisty, uneven pavement with no shoulder.  Ugh.  Sweet relief when we hit the city limits!

Run distance:  36.0 miles
Gain:  3,560'
Time:  5h20min

This was a great experience on many levels.  First, bringing over 30 people together for something like this was neat.  Never thought I'd find like-minded souls that actually find running for hours on end to be fun.  Second, I finally am familiar with the ultra "death" feeling.  I had averted it in my 30-miler last month, but now I know it's real and that I won't actually die.  How encouraging.  The celebration afterward was comical, as well...

Runners(full):  Paul, Peter, Sean, Branden, Steve, Julian, Yeti
Runners(part):  Patrick, Jane, Andrea, Deirdre, Darin, Sandu, Brooks, Amanda, Sarah, Deb
Bikers:  Patrick, Beth, Marc, Brandon
Support vehicle:  Taylor
Moral support:  Brian, Christoph, Wes, Chris, Josh, Katie, Matt, Randi, Nora

Post-run festivities

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