Dangerous weather, particularly above the treeline on Pikes Peak, prompted a shortened ascent today for the runners. They wound up doing a 7.6 mile run up to Barr Camp. I don’t really know what that means as I’ve barely looked at any of the course info on this thing, opting for an “ignorance is bliss” strategy. That should pay off big time, right? I mean, Kilimanjaro worked out… sorta.
That’s not entirely true. Today while I was killing time until I could pick up my bib for tomorrow, I did do a little research. Here’s a screengrab of the Ascent (therefore the first half of tomorrow’s marathon). It underscores just how much I wished I’d stuck with my ignorance plan.
As is usual for me, I decided to spend my free day seeing the sights. A quick review of my options courtesy of Roadside America Dot Com:
The one attraction I decided to go see was a natural splendor. The Garden of the Gods is a park deeded to Colorado by some forward thinking philanthropist that stipulates the area is not to be developed and is always to be free to the public. The name derives from some mid 19th century guys, who might as well have been Bob and Doug MacKenzie. Setting eyes on the area, one of our 1800 pioneers said the place would make a great beer garden. The other concurred and said it was a place fit for the gods. An amalgamation of the two produced the name. It’s interesting to note that amongst his conditions of the dedication to the state, the donator specified there could be no alcohol created or sold on the land. So I guess the vision of the beer garden remains elusive.
Anyway, it’s a magnificent place to be sure… albeit much more effective when you’re able to walk alone amongst the rock formations. As more and more tour groups and hikers showed up, it got less and less fun. I think it’s great people (mostly) got away from their screens (still a number of people checking their phones as they walked). It just got to be too crowded for my tastes. But I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel.
Pikes Peak is obscured behind the rain clouds so I drew a very poor approximation of where it should be:
The famed “Kissing Camels” formation. It’s one of the few formations I found.
Post Garden, I took the opportunity to have one of the supposedly top 23 burgers in Colorado.
It’s a good one, but the bun is a bit disappointing compared to the rest of the burger. Was it the famed Earl of Sandwich who said the bread makes the meal? Might’ve been Oprah. In any case, the burger was very good… but I guess that’s why there’s a top 23 and not just a top 10, right?
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Now, remember how Roadside America suggested eating inside a plane? I was intrigued and went to see it. It’s neat, I guess. But I realized I’ve eaten in a lot of planes (just scroll through some of the posts over on the TOURS page) and the food is… well… if your restaurant aspires to being airplane food, you aren’t exactly aiming for a Michelin star, yeah? Maybe the Airplane Restaurant is excellent… I just didn’t want to chance it.
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A few stray shots from Springs Colorado and Manitou:
This is an oversized student desk. In my day, I recall them being much smaller when I went to school.
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Hmmm… I’m not so sure this is a good idea, Mr. D. I’ve got all the king’s horses and the all the king’s men on speed dial.
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This is outside the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce. It’s as close as I was going to get to the Great Fruitcake Toss on this trip.
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I always love these give-and-take library boxes. I’m fascinated by what books are available. Here in CO, a lot of Stephen King and more than a few screenwriting how-tos. I like to imagine a writer got all he or she needed from the books and is now working on Hulu’s Castle Rock or something. It’s better than she or he giving up their dream.
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Speaking of dreams — it’s the great pumpkin, Colorado!
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To run or not to run… that is the question. I have an anxious feeling and my stomach is a bit knotty. I’m a bit down… I don’t know if you can tell but between the Garden of the Gods and the rest of the day I stopped to get a haircut. I’m not loving it. And that’s only the most recent setback on this trip. But I have my bib:
So here it is, 4:32 PM as I type this. The sun is slowly setting and the forecast for some serious, hazardous thunderstorms is in full effect through 8 PM tonight and possibly beyond. I have no idea if we will or will not be running the full marathon tomorrow. I don’t know when they make the call… and even if they do send us up, if conditions are as temperamental and unpredictable as all the warnings in the race waivers and race packet indicate, they could call an audible and turn us back down the mountain at any time.
Will this be my 400th Marathon or just a crazy incomplete distance up and down a part of the Peak?
What will happen tomorrow?
That’s a big question mark… literally:
