Below is a copy of an email I sent my family after completing the Pikes Peak Ascent. It was my Dad who first suggested I should submit the prose to Guidepost. I’m sure I can jazz it up and clean it up a bit, enough to have something decent enough to submit and think that posting a copy of the email here will be a first step towards getting it submitted. I’m thinking w/ a little feedback (and maybe some encouragement) that I’ll make this goal/dream of mine a reality.

======begin email here============
08/18/2007
wow – what a day – one I’ll never forget.

things started out fast …a little too fast. We all started at City Hall in the middle of Manitou Springs and I was close to the front and headed out at the gun doing a sub 9 min/mile pace …not too smart, maybe ego got in the way with all the people cheering us on.

Instead of hitting Barr Trail at it’s beginning we all traveled down a dead end road that leads to a path which eventually hooks up with Barr Trail (Barr Trail takes you to the top of Pikes Peak)
That dead end road must have been a good 25 degree incline (ouch!)

at 1.75 miles I ended up throwing up and my heart rate at the beginning was about 165 bpm …it took about 2 miles of uphill climbing to start to get my heart rate under control.
Get this …during the last three miles of the Ascent my heart rate was in the 130s

It was an interesting situation regarding the cut off times and many people quit and just headed back down the mountain because they didn’t think they would make the cut off times.
I did not make the cut off time at Barr Camp (about 7.6 miles up) I missed that by 20 or 30 minutes and the race official said there was nothing he could do to stop me from continuing but advised me to stop …

so I pressed on

there were more people flocking back from A-frame (a point 10.2 miles up) and, apparently the race officials weren’t letting anyone through that didn’t make the cut off time but … I did hear from one group of runners that they were letting hikers through (people not in the race)

so…. I removed my bib number and tore my wrist band off and became a hiker so I could get through
that was the positive part
the down side was by not being a runner, I also forfeited the remaining aid stations and would no longer be looked after. It was a chance I was willing to take
so, then I went into survival mode.
The Peak is 3.1 miles from A-frame and it’s above the treeline (above 12,000 ft) and I knew the two 8 oz water containers I had on my belt would never be enough to make it the final three miles.

maybe this is where the prayers came in because I found two empty water bottles in a trash can and they looked like gold to me
I grabbed them and was able to get them filled up at a-frame along w/ my other two 8 oz bottles. I also found a 1/2 full bottle of Gatorade (32 oz) and slammed what was remaining. beyond that I found one bottle of water that nobody drank resting besides a tree and snagged that as well.

It might sound a little uncivilized but, at that altitude a great deal of water is lost. Just driving to the top a person can lose up to a quart of fluid so I knew I’d need all I could find to make it to the top.

at 6 hours and 30 minutes the race officially ended. I was at 11.55 miles at that point.
I kept empty water bottles in my sleeves.
at about 1.5 miles from the summit I found dozens and dozens of grapes that someone had dumped on the ground so I used my empty 32 oz Gatorade container and filled it with as many good grapes as I could find.

My lungs were actually the strongest part but my thighs were acting up from the get go.
I guess from what I learned in Canada and my hike last week I knew I had to keep my blood sugar levels up otherwise my legs would stop working completely and then I’d be stuck.

At one point above the treeline there is a plaque dedicated to an 88 year old lady who had died at that spot during an ascent. She had completed 14 ascents.
I put my hand on that plaque and talked to the mountain for a bit. :)
probably talked for about 5 minutes and then continued on.

somewhere with about a mile or so to go I caught up with the El Paso Mountain Safety Patrol Medics. They had a lady using a nebulizer and had managed to also get a fairly large bottle of oxygen down to her. I sat and waited while the lady was being cared for. There were about 5 medics, the lady and me.

when that lady was read we did what one of the medics called a “rest step” which basically was walking just a little over 1 mph but, it was an easy pace to maintain even at that high altitude.

It’s almost nutty at the top. with 1.5 miles left I still had to Ascend another 1,700 ft …that’s like walking to the top of the arch three times and with not much oxygen.

no wonder even many of the ultra marathon guys can only cover a mile in about 34 minutes at best during the last few miles.

i didn’t make the cut off time of 6 hours and 30 minutes but, i was also the only person that missed the cut off time and didn’t quit.

it was still a great goal accomplished and something i needed to do.

btw – my official time … 9 hours 2 minutes and 6 seconds.
of course, i continued a little farther onto the summit and hit the full 14,115 ft

the other thing i gave up by removing my bib and wrist band was that i no longer had a ride down but, i was kind of going on faith that i’d be able to find some nice people to help me out
which, is kind of what happened.

few more interesting stories like the Black Bear spotted around Barr Camp and me taking a few wrong turns but, this is probably long enough.