I really do plan on posting on this blog more often. Really. I’m not just saying it this time. I promise.
Unfortunately, my first post in over a year is most definitely not a positive one. You will be hard pressed to find a morsel of goodness in it.
Last year I did the Barr Trail Mountain race. It climbs about 3,500 feet or so from the town of Manitou Springs, up the Barr Trail to Barr Camp, roughly halfway to the top of famed Pikes Peak. A great time was had by all. It’s a great race that my son Cooper did this year and we both plan on doing next year. It’s small, inexpensive, and fun. But mostly really did it to qualify to run the 2018 Pikes Peak Ascent, a race in which you climb the same Barr Trail but instead of turning around at Barr Camp you keep on going and summit Pikes Peak, almost 8,000 feet above where you start in Manitou Springs. So with some experience on the trail and my qualifier in the bag, I forked over my $160 bucks earlier this summer and secured my spot.
My training did not go great (I was admittedly fairly lazy) and I mangled my big toe running barefoot a couple weeks before the race but I was plenty ready to get to the top of that beast of a mountain, of that there was no doubt. I figured I was on track to summit about 4 1/2 hours after the start. So I got up at 4 on race day with Gina and Coop and we headed down to The Springs. Got registered, dropped off my sweat check gear so I would have warm clothes up top, and got in line for the pre-race piss. I was yapping with three dudes from Chicago when a bearer of bad news ambled by and told us that the race had been shortened due to concerns about the weather in the afternoon at the peak and everybody would be stopped at Barr Camp, where the race would officially end and we would then hike/jog back down the same trail. This is literally about half an hour before the start.
I think I was too stunned to initially be disappointed. One of the Chicago guys was understandably super pissed. It took me about ten minutes to process.
Then I too, was super pissed.
Now I would like to say I was angry because of all the people who had flown from around the country, some several days earlier to acclimate, and had trained for months and months. I DID feel for them. But since running is a primarily selfish endeavor, I was irate because I would not be going to the top of Pikes Peak that day, plain and simple. While my training had been a bit unfocused and haphazard, I HAD trained and WAS ready and would certainly have been to the top long before any afternoon storm rolled through. I seriously contemplated a DNS. Gina, Coop, and I were planning on visiting Claire at CSU Pueblo after the race. Could have just gotten a head start on that. But I lined up instead though I was not even attempting a positive attitude.
Let’s pause here for some quick analasys of the situation. Yes, apparently the forecast was rough for the afternoon. But for those not familiar with Colorado 14er weather, there is a chance of storms literally every other day at the peak of every 14er. Which means you get up there early and get down. If race officials are concerned that some slower Ascenters (I think I made up a word there but probably not) could not get up before the weather hit then simply lower the cutoff times at Barr Camp. Problem solved. You can’t make it to Barr by 9:30 or 10 (first race wave started at 7) you don’t get to go on. Sucks for them, but oh well. At least the opportunity to finish is there.
Anyhow, back to the race itself. We are glumly waiting for our wave to start. I was in the third wave so I was leaving at 7:06. Part of the adjustment to not going to the top was the waves were leaving every two minutes instead of one. What difference would this make with 2,000 people on a trail? I’ll tell you. None. Absolutely zero. Also, a word of advice to the person manning the mic at the start line. Stop trying to pep people up and asking why the lack of enthusiasm thirty minutes after essentially cancelling a race. Nobody wants to hear it. Read the freaking room.
So my wave goes off. Despite a good mile or more of wide street running before we hit the trail, it’s a non-stop conga line that doesn’t end until maybe a mile before we hit the end/turnaround at Barr Camp. Now I readily admit that I knew it would be like that going in. You can’t put 2,000 people on a trail and have it not be jam packed. But it was worth it when we were going to Pikes Peak. Now that we weren’t, and people were now coming down the same trail after the turnaround, it just sucked and pissed me of further. All of this reinforced why I normally don’t enter large, corporate, “bucket list” races. If you wanted to pick up your pace, forget it. By the time it loosened up enough to run, after about five frustrating miles, I frankly didn’t give a shit anymore. I got to the timing mat at Barr Camp, did an about-face and headed straight down and ignored the lame attempt at a finish line party they seemed to be trying to pull off.
Adding to my shit mood was the fact that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. According to a message board post I read later on it was sunny at the peak at 4:00. So there is that.
So I headed back down Barr Trail. Now that people are headed up AND down you can predict how fun that was. The last three miles or so we could actually move and run so that was briefly not awful until we had to run the sidewalk through Manitou Springs shoppers and tourists to get back to the start. That’s not their fault and I did get a couple high fives from some little kids so that was cute, but overall dodging people on a sidewalk downtown is not a great way to end a total trash day.
I met up with the family, got my sweat bag, which they had moved all of about one hundred feet from where I dropped it off, got my shirt and medal and left immediately. The shirt I will keep to maybe run in, but will never wear other than that. I would take it to a Goodwill but I don’t want some asshole buying it and walking around claiming he finished the Pikes Peak Ascent. I will keep it in a drawer forever or set fire to it rather than let THAT happen.
The medal was thrown in the first dumpster I saw.
So let’s get into this.
This was the Pikes Peak Ascent. In my mind the cancellation policy (because that is precisely in my mind what it was: a cancellation. They tried to mollify us with a group hike up to Barr Camp) should be something akin to the cancellation of most ultras and mountain races. You pretty much DON’T. It has to be the apocalypse. If you are going to cancel because of the possibility of an afternoon storm, then start putting on road races or track meets. The Ascent is a TRAIL race up a MOUNTAIN. We all signed waivers. We all got the email about carrying proper gear in case of weather conditions. If that’s not enough to cover your asses as far as liability goes then don’t put on a mountain race. That race was full of experienced mountain/trail runners, triathletes, ultra-marathoners etc. Generally, people that are tough, in great physical condition, and understand what they are getting into. This isn’t the group that runs the local recreation trail 5k. Don’t baby us. People travelled from all over the country, planned and trained for months and you cancelled the race as easily as somebody would cancel Wednesday evening bingo at the church. And then expected a bunch of enthusiasm at the start line? And if you do cancel it because of a terribly dire, life-threatening storm? You might want to make damned sure you are right. It better be so bad it makes people start building an arc. Nobody wants to look up eight hours later and see a peak bathed in sunlight and stare at a finishers medal they didn’t actually earn because they weren’t allowed to.
Phew! Well, I consider it a lesson learned. I’ve always pretty much avoided the over-priced, over crowded, destination type races until now. And this is just a monstrous example of why I will probably avoid them like the freaking PLAGUE for the rest of my life. I will likely go to the top of Pikes Peak via the Barr Trail. But it will not be in the Pikes Peak Ascent or Marathon. Fool me once...
My advice to anybody thinking about doing the Ascent in the future? Be warned, from this point on you can assume it's going to be cancelled if there is any chance of foul weather, which is to say it's a 50/50 proposition at best. You are probably better off doing the full marathon. That's their baby. The uproar over cancelling that would likely be too great for them to consider. Or avoid both races altogether. That is what I'm going to do. There are lots of other races to do that are cheaper, smaller, and frankly, better.
Until next time...
