The Pony Express has been on my radar for a while now. My colleague is the race director. For $6, you get 15 miles of beautiful singletrack around Rampart Reservoir with views of Pikes Peak in the background. Before this year, I didn't have enough injury-free miles in my legs to be able to run that far. It was my longest run ever.
| Photo: Thomas Dewane |
I drove up an hour early and helped with registration. Woke up too late to make coffee but I drank a large bottle of powerade before the race. The race starts with a nice downhill to get to the reservoir, so I was pretty far up front when we got to the reservoir. I made a point to make room for the guys behind me to pass as the trail started rolling. I settled into my spot around mile 3. Somebody at the aid station told me that I was second woman. Ok, good spot to be.
Around mile 6.5, the 9,000ft altitude started to get to me and I accidentally ran off course. The course was minimally marked with flour, but the main direction was to keep the reservoir on your right at all times. I took some spur trail away from the reservoir and kept on running until I realized I hadn't seen the reservoir in about 5 minutes. !%$&^! Ran back. It was fairly obvious where I should have gone and there were other runners in the area. Ran 4.5 miles at 10k effort passing people right and left. When we turned onto the dam for a brief road section, things fell apart.
At about mile 10 on the course (mile 11 for me after my mistake), my legs had had enough. Inner thighs just gave out on me. I went from hammering out 8 minute miles and catching up to groups of people to run/walking 11 minute miles. Some of the people I flown by worked their way back to me and passed me. I didn't respond. I stayed ahead of the old lady that I passed when I first got back on course and that was my only goal at that point.
I had a wonderful time, learned many things, and got in a great workout. First, I need to pay attention to where I am going. In retrospect, the trail didn't look quite right within a quarter mile, but I kept on going. Second, no 10k efforts when there are 8.5mi left to run (after already running 7.5). If I go off course, I go off course and I can't make up that time. I will be back for some redemption next year. I have about 15min of easy gains from my 10min nav error followed by 5+ minute pacing mistake.
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