PPFA 50K

Last Saturday I headed down to the 1st ever Pikes Peak or Preposterous Posterior Fat Ass 50K race down in Colorado Springs. For those not in the know, a Fat Ass is more of a laid back group run than anything. Just a bunch of duders and ladies running around in the hills, followed by some beers. It's the equivalent of pick-up for you frisbee folk. Anyway, some dude that goes by JT was kind enough to host the runners and let us invade his house for the day, and local runners did a great job of marking the course so that the runners wouldn't get lost.

The race was supposed to have staggered starts at 7, 8 & 9 in the morning. I headed down with my friend Jeremiah and didn't quite make it for the 7:00 start, but didn't feel like waiting around for an hour, so we took off somewhere around 7:20 all by ourselves.

I'm not going to go into a lot of depth, but I had a great time. The weather was great. The trails were in great shape for this time of year. It was a great day all around. Jeremiah & I certainly weren't in a hurry, but kept up a decent pace while visiting with runners as we crossed paths, and catching up on life.

A couple highlights:

-There was a 5 mile section that was somewhat sketchy with relatively untraveled powder. Obviously, it was the highest steepest section of the course. As I was trudging up the hill trying not to go insane, I looked back to see some dude running up the hill effortlessly. Before I could get too dumbfounded , I saw a water bottle in the dude's arm pit. The unmistakable running form of Matt Carpenter. My mind was put back to ease.

-The route was a grand tour of CS trails. We even ran down the W's on Barr trail for 3 miles. I haven't been on that section of trail since the back end of the Pikes Peak Double in 2009. It was a bit icier this time around.

-There was this 70ft sheet of ice at the top of the hydro road. Nobody in their right mind would have intentionally stepped foot on it. I am an idiot. I did not consider the effects of running on it, and before I even considered running around it, I found myself running at about a 3 minute pace, feeling like a loony toon's character. I'm not sure how I managed to stay upright. Jeremiah may have had an even harder time not falling over while laughing at my dumb ass.

-We did get lost for maybe 30 minutes in Red Rocks park around mile 29 or so, but we were rounded up by some locals and led to the finish.

-Hearing GZ tell his epic tale of Burro Racing last summer. I am seriously considering giving it a shot this upcoming summer. Running up and down a mountain with a giant pack animal has to be entertaining, right?

Early Morning by Garden of the Gods. ( Photo by Brian McCarrie-Pikes Peak Sports)

More early morning scenery

I may have had too much coffee on the drive that morning...

Jeremiah cruising on some singletrack in Williams Canyon, I think.

Afternoon View on the Intemann Trail

Trudging up the snowy Longs Ranch Road

We finished up the race around 1 in the afternoon. I think our "official" time was 6 hours give or take. We hung out with some friends and other runners for an hour or so, before heading to the Trinity Brewery on our way home, where I enjoyed a guilt free taster flight of beers with some Bacon Mac and Cheese.

Good Day.