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Newsletter The London Pacers Running Club

www.londonpacers.on.ca

September 2011

Ed Whitlock setting yet another world record at the Canadian Masters Athletics Championships

in Toronto in July. With backs to us Gail Schmidt, June-Marie Provost and Lauren Kolod-

ziejczak officiating.

Scott Lalonde and Andrew Hogg in the 5000m Canadian Masters Athletics Championships

The medal Dianne brought home from the World Masters in

Sacremento, CA.

Dianne and Bill waiting to go into the stadium at the World Masters Championship Games

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London Pacers September 2011Newsletter

Executive

President Mark Faust [email protected]

Vice President Andrew Jones [email protected] 519-642-3520 (H)

Treasurer Jim Jones [email protected]

Publicity Sherry Watts [email protected] 519-858-9880

Social Sharron Poole [email protected]

Membership Gwyn Hayman [email protected] 519-433-2495 (H)

Secretary Jim Burrows [email protected] 519-474-3497 (H)

Newsletter Sherry Watts [email protected] 519-858-9880

Paula Muxlow [email protected] 519-284-0061

From your editors: Newsletter information:

The deadline for the October newsletter is September 26, 2011, 12 noon.

The Newsletter editors are Sherry Watts and Paula Muxlow. Contact either of us if you have a contribution or a sugges-tion. Email addresses and phone numbers are above.

We love contributions. Articles, comments, photos etc. It is your newsletter. Please send word files (.doc, not .docx) and photos or illustrations as .jpg files (low resolution). Please do not send articles with photos embedded or .pdf files. We cannot work with those. Items from other sources require permission to republish.

Pacer members are welcome to promote their businesses or events they are involved with. Send us the information and we will be happy to include it in the newsletter.

Please send race results or rumours of races your friends have done to Jim Burrows, our race reporter.

mailto:[email protected]




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BIRTHDAYS

JULY: Bruce Anderson, Leanne Borho, Simon Dobransky, Rick Hamm, Mark Harris, Luke Harris, Nancy Johnston, Rob Johnston*, Andre Kaniuk*, Lloyd Keho, Mary Magni, Elizabeth Maquire, Chelsea Manual, Kyle Marsh, Gord Melville, Sharron L. Poole, Marc Reardon, Lisa Slaven*, Sonya Slaven, Christina Watson.

AUGUST: Lauren Burdick, Bill Burdick, Rod Henning, Eric Magni*, Paul Milliken*, Paula Muxlow, Cal Neely, Bruce Pellow, John Reardon.

SEPTEMBER: Jim Burrows*, Michael Chapman, Stephen Coad, Richard Darling, Megan Johnston, Harry Littleton, Brian Martell, Gwen McLean, Kirsten Slaven.

*Entering a new age group

Pacer Discounts

Members of the London Pacers are given a discount on purchases at Runners Choice

at 207 Dundas St and at New Balance Lon-don on Fanshawe Park Road W. at Hyde

Park Rd

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London Pacers General Meeting: Monday, September 12, 2011

Kenya Night!

Please join us on September 12th as we’ll celebrate the amazing running country of

Kenya, courtesy of our very special guest, 2:08 marathoner, and two-time LA Marathon champion, Wesley Korir.

We’ll have Kenyan tea and treats on hand for refreshment, but first Wesley will tell us about his amazing life and running career. This includes a difficult life as a child, leaving

his family after receiving a scholarship offer in the United States, and taking up marathon-ing to win some of the biggest events in the world.

We invite to you to hear Wesley’s story in person on September 12th.

It should be an unforgettable night!

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Going On About it…

Well, we are now into September and attempting to stay glass “half full” or more, we still have a couple of months of good weather ahead of us. Yes, the days are definitely getting shorter and the mornings are cooler, but take advan-tage and get out and do your run, walk or cycle in perfect conditions.

Our summer certainly turned into a very nice and hot one after the dismal winter and spring. It was so good to see everyone on the bike paths, trails and sidewalks plugging away at their loved sport.

There were some extremely successful events in the last couple of months. Tracy Hillman was the Race Director for the very successful “Reach the Beach 5km” in Port Stanley in mid August. Her course is now certified which was great. Not sure if that had something to do with the tremendous numbers of 350 plus for a Friday night race, but nothing but accolades were shared. The Runners’ Choice “Summer Night 5km” in July was also a major triumph with record crowds of almost 450 finishers. What is it about these night time 5km races as they certainly attract the people.

Springbank road races are upon us in the couple of weeks and this is always one looked forward to by the running community. Paul puts on a superb race and the tradition will continue on Sunday September 11

th. Plan on partici-

pating, volunteering for the race or volunteering to be at the always enthusiastic London Pacer water stop. A side note on Springbank. When I ran the Honolulu marathon in 2002, I met Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers at the expo where they signed autographs. Beautiful free posters of the race had been given out and I took a couple for their signatures. They asked where I was from and after telling them London, Ontario (about 2 hours east of Detroit as most Americans have no idea where we are), Frank turned to Bill and said, “London, the home of Springbank – I never liked that course as it was a lot of hills.” Bill agreed because when they ran it was the looper within the park and there are a lot of hills. It was very cool that they knew London and specifically the lore of the races. Again, the tradition continues…

There is likely a lot ahead on everyone’s busy race schedule for the fall. Lots of preparation is in the works. Tracy and I are training our half marathon group with a road trip in the works for the Detroit Free Press half in October. Many are participating in Toronto Waterfront as well. Have fun in whatever you are doing this fall.

The Boston marathon registration will be upon us in a couple of weeks, so I am sure anyone wanting to go is practic-ing their typing skills to ensure they get in this time. Hopefully the new staggered registration rules will assist in less frenzy and all getting in who want to. I have Friday September 19

th firmly etched in my mind for the day I am al-

lowed to register.

On a personal note, you will see an article by my fellow triathlon participant, Scott Slaven in this newsletter as he tells you about the 4 amigos (Scott, Dave Marsh, Steve Hillman and I) for what seems to be an annual half ironman triathlon. It was a lot of fun and we all did well.

Finally, in the realm of “what was I thinking”, I have entered my first Full Ironman distance race in Mont Tremblant, Quebec for August 2012. Pay $725 to see if you can crawl across the finish line within the 17 hour time limit. It will be an interesting year ahead to say the least. Pray for my wife that I do not drive her nuts.

Andrew has done an amazing job rounding up guest speakers, so I encourage you to come out to the meetings and witness.

Until next month…

Mark

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COURSE INFORMATION: 2K and 6K single loops around Springbank Park. Well-marked. 2K race is

entirely on grass. Terrain for the 6K varies with sections of wide, chip trail; rugged single-track sec-

tions; some grass and a few short paved sections. Parking available at start/finish area. Water sta-

tion near the halfway point in the 6K race.

HIGHLIGHTS: Awards 3 deep to age category winners; prizes for the members of the 1st place ele-

mentary & secondary school teams; *School challenge* Prize to the elementary and secondary

school with the greatest overall percentage of student participation. Congratulations to last year’s

winners London Christian Elementary School and Central S.S; low $2 & $6 entry; draw prizes;

emailed certificates of participation; post-race refreshments for all runners.

For complete details go to http://www.londonpacers.on.ca/Pages/

Our_races.html

or contact Gail Schmidt [email protected] T 519.657.9936

Runners and Volunteers wanted for

The turkey trot 2k and 6k cross country races

Monday,October 10, 2011

Participation open to INDIVIDUALS of all ages, and ELEMENTARY

AND SECONDARY SCHOOL AGE co-ed TEAMS

Main Picnic Pavilion, Springbank Park, London ON

http://www.londonpacers.on.ca/Pages/Our_races.html

http://www.londonpacers.on.ca/Pages/Our_races.html


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BUS TRIP TO DETROIT FREE PRESS MARATHON/HALF MARATHON AND 5KM

Hi everyone,

If you are looking a convenient way to get to the Detroit Free Press races in October, you might

want to consider this option.

My half marathon training group (along with some Runners’ Choice people) are going to Detroit

by bus. Here are the details:

The cost will be $90 return

We are leaving Sat Oct 15th

at 9am from the New Balance London store (Hyde Park and Fan-

shawe) – this gets us there in plenty of time for the expo at Cobo Hall.

We will be returning Sun Oct 16th

after the races, likely to get back into London approx 5pm.

Hotels are full in downtown Detroit. Many of our people are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. We have booked a block of rooms at the Doubletree Hotel in nearby Dearborn Michigan for $119. Our bus driver will be staying there, so you will be well taken care of. If you need a room, please con-

tact me as soon as possible at [email protected]

One of male runners is looking for a roommate for the downtown Hilton hotel, so if you are inter-

ested, let me know (cost would be $60).

Please email me with any questions.

Mark

Warrior Dash Don Steeper

More than 12,000 hard bodies and adventure seekers (and myself) from all over Ontario descended on Horseshoe Valley at Barrie to take part in Canada's first Warrior Dash. Waves of 500 participants attacked the course every half hour starting at 8:00 AM in the morning. A 5 kilometre all-terrain extreme run loaded with 12 obstacles (the fire jump and mud pit were fan favorites) gave participants an opportunity to measure their grit. The Simcoe County Paramedics were on hand to treat those who suf-fered injuries in their battle with the elements. (mostly cuts, sprains and mud in the eyes). Not just an endurance challenge, the event-complete with vendors, musi-cal acts and beer, is a festival with an athletic twist. In addition to the participants, an estimated 10,000 spectators were attracted to the event. Time Overall 65-69 42.26 2588 2nd


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THE HILL IS ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF

RUNNERS

June 4th, 2011

One of my nearly mythical challenges within the yearly marathon calendar has long been GOD’S COUNTRY which attracts a couple of hundred runners every year for the past 37 years to Coudersport (pronounced Cow-der-sport), PA in order to “CONQUER THE HILL”. The field of competitors is a mixture of locals combined with seasoned veterans who are somehow compelled to inscribe the event on their life-list.

Coudersport is the county seat of Potter County (nicknamed “God’s Country”) at the midway point of the northern tier of Pennsylvanian counties and a complicated 5-to-6 hour drive from London. (GPS is definitely advised!!). It lies in a broad valley which accommodates the junction of the Milk Creek and Allegheny Rivers and the intersection of Route 44 from the north and Route 6 (“The Grand Army of the Republic High-way’) running east-and-west. Fewer than 3000 people reside there with an average annual family income of about $45,000 and they are over 97% Caucasian: the largest Scottish Rite Consistory in America (over 5000 members) has its home in Coudersport. Eliot Ness eventually retired and died there. Personally I saw no traces of color, poverty or homelessness there, but lots of enterprises geared to service fishermen and hunters.

The marathon course is net uphill but basically point to point, running from east to west from Galeton Area High School (1300 feet above sea level), after a four mile tour around “beautiful Center Town Lake”, along Route 6, passing through the “majestic” Susquehannock State Forest. Just past the 17-mile mark, it winds up and over Denton Hill (2424 feet asl). Then it is all downhill to the finish at the Potter County Courthouse, at 1549 feet asl, in Coudersport.

Historically, the fastest male time was 2:26 (1978); the slowest winning male time was 2:50 (2006); the fastest female time was also 2:50 (2001) the slowest winning female time was 4:41 in the inaugural race (1975). There have been 3 3-peat male win-ners but only 1 3-peat woman winner. Only two Canadians have ever won: Don Howieson (from whom I first heard of the event)(1977 – 2:29:49 – age 23) and Paul Morrison (1989 – 2:40:29 –age 32).

I was the sole Canadian this year and I aimed just to finish in 4:30 given the course profile.

I had left home enthusiastically with the Power-Thought-For-The- Day from the Thursday Free Press clutched in my hand: “OVERCOME OBSTACLES: All obstacles can be overcome! Isaiah 49:11 – I will make each of My mountains a road, and My highways shall be elevated”.

I had gone a day early and was able to crash out for a twelve hour sleep at my motel before going to the packet pick-up-cum-spaghetti-feed at the town fire hall on the Friday evening. All of this was well organized, busy and efficient in contrast to the laid-back natural beauty of the countryside highlighted by lavishly bloom-

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The race started at 7.

The first four miles, up and down hills and around corners were a rather tedious urban mystery tour. (I never saw any lake at all!)

Finally we were out on the highway. There was very little traffic control but plenty of courtesy from cars and transport trucks and loggers.

There were aid stations at every mile with water and Gatorade at all and GU at some. Miles 4-to-24 were entirely enjoyable under a high sky, with a moderate northwest headwind to keep us cool.

It was almost entirely single-file running against the traffic.

The spaces between got lengthier and lengthier and there was a minimal amount of overtaking. Even maintain-ing contact became difficult near the end. The entire first 14 miles is uphill with the steepest climbs limited to miles 15-to-18. There was so much incline up to the top that it was easy to psych myself into believing that I was going downhill even when I was merely going a lesser de-gree of up.

I had been so instilled with “hill fear” that I found that I was still holding back for one more steep climb when sud-denly I had reached the summit of the eastern continental divide.

It wasn’t a totally bad miscalculation though because it left me with lots left for the downhill miles until 24, just past my motel.

The last 2.2 were their usual grim selves as things flattened out and, instead of heading straight to the court-house, the course deviated to the left and meandered quite bit before finishing with a couple of blocks straight north on Main Street.

There were 133 total finishers in 2011 (102 men and 31 women) out of about 170 registrants. This year’s winner tied the slowest winning time at 2:50 (Actually he set a new record for slowness by 8 sec-onds!): Christian Byler of Rochester NY. He was hardly pressured by the runner-up, Stephen Velott of Harris-burg PA would arrived 20 minutes later. A local woman, Christie Keglovits beat two other masters by 19 and 23 minutes respectively to finish in 3:20:38. She also beat the male master winner, Sean Conklin who finished in 3:21:54.

My finishing time of 4:26:26 put me in a respectable 72nd

place overall but a lousy 6th in men-over-60. Where do

these crocks come from?? (That was just rhetorical but, for the readers’ information, there were 17 of us – FULLY 10% OF THE STARTING FIELD! - from places like GA, FL, OH, NV, TX, WA, IL, MI in addition to 7 from PA itself. Haven’t these old guys got anything better to do with their time?!?) A somewhat bigger disappointment than failing to place in my division was the absolute lack of a finishing medal. (I have so few!) Somebody forgot to order them on time and they will have to be sent out by mail.

Other than that glitch, however, the event was splendidly organized and orchestrated and I recommend it as a rather special running experience.

And the award for best T-shirt slogan of the meet went to:

THERE ARE NO ATHIESTS AT MILE 20.

Jamie Harris

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June Meeting at Labatts

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They Did It Again!

Pacers and their friends set several more Canadian Masters relay records this summer. The 4 x 800 relay was held at TD Waterhouse Stadium on July 6, 2011.

Records by teams including Pacers* W50 Mary Nash, Teresa Novick*, Debbie Obokata*, Maeve Armstrong-Harris* W60 Linda Findley, Geordie Farrell, Linda Jones*, Julia McDonald* O. M35 Richard McCLelland*, Andrew Jones*, Sean Cross*, Scott Lalonde* M55 Marc Roberts*, John McFall, Brian Burke*, Steve Coad* M70 Steffan Kampe, Pete Cunningham, Lloyd Kehoe*, Nick D’Ascanio*

A local team including past-Pacer Willy Gortworst set the W65 record and a team from Newmarket set the M60 record. Congratulations everyone!

Women before the start

Rich to

Andrew

Deb

Brian

Lloyd to Nick

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The Boys of Summer Have Done It Again – by Scott Slaven.

MUNCIE 70.3 ½ IRONMAN

July 9, 2011

On July 9th, Mark Faust, Steve Hillman, David Marsh and Scott Slaven successfully competed our second ½ Ironman triathlon

(the first being the Musselman ½ Ironman in Geneva, New York in 2010).

This year we chose the Muncie 70.3 Ironman race. As a bit of background for those of you who may not know, 70.3 is the

total distance covered in miles in a ½ Ironman triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run). The “Ironman”

brand has successfully named and marketed the ½ Ironman distance as a “70.3” to give it its own unique character and to

remove the negative stigma of an event that is only ½ the distance of a full Ironman. Perhaps Ironman did not see the suc-

cess that the running community has had in establishing the ½ marathon distance as working in their sport. Whatever the

rationale, the 70.3 distance is now a well recognized and established race event within the triathlon community.

Our adventure started with a long road trip (nearly 7 hours) from London to Muncie Indiana on Thursday, July 7th. As it

happens, July 7th is the birthday for Tracy Hillman and my wife, Sonya, so after the long drive, the four of us with our wives

(also Judy Gilson and Lynne Hughes-Marsh) enjoyed dinner at a very nice little restaurant in the heart of Muncie to cele-

brate with the birthday girls.

We began our race preparations on Friday by visiting the event site and driving the bike and run course to get the lay of the

land. Unlike Musselman the year before, the Muncie site was huge – with over 1800 participants that included qualifying

spots in the World Championships, this race was over the top. The swim took place in the Prairie Creek Reservoir which,

because of the course set up, looked pretty intimidating. Suffice it to say that when you see a 2km swim course laid out in

front of you, it seems like a long frigging way!! Also, we discovered that we had to run uphill for about 2 minutes from the

water to the transition area. This additional time would be included in our swim time (see swim times in race results), which

was not a good thing since swimming is NOT the strong suit for any of us. The bike course was a pleasant surprise – very

flat as advertised, although open and likely to be breezy in spots. On the flip side, the run course was every bit as challeng-

ing as the literature suggested – 13.1 miles of rolling hills with little or no protection from the hot blazing sun – not a fun

prospect after the swim and bike, but we kept reminding ourselves that running is our strength.

The Expo and race kit pickup was pretty seamless – no great deals, but we all managed to splurge on a few ‘Ironman’ souve-

nirs. Then off to the mandatory briefing where they reviewed the rules and conducted a Q&A session. Much to our sur-

prise (and fear), they announced the water temperature was warm enough that wetsuits would not be allowed. As ex-

pected, we weren’t the only four people freaking out

about this as the next hour of Q&A seemed to be domi-

nated by swimming questions. Regardless, we all had to

face the reality that the wetsuit safety net was not an

option and the swim would be ‘commando’ – definitely,

not something any of us were looking forward to.

After the Expo, we headed back out to drop off the bikes

(one less thing to worry about in the morning) and met

the ladies for a nice ‘prerace’ carbo-load at an Italian

roadhouse style eatery. Lots of pasta washed down with

a (little) bit of red wine and we were off to bed.

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Race day meant an early morning rise for all of us. Thankfully, the motel catered to the athletes and had breakfast avail-

able beginning at 4am - much appreciated. After a quick bite, we headed off to the race. We arrived just after 6am (first

swim wave was at 8am) and started the pre-race preparations which included calming each other down as the reality of

the swim ‘sans’ wetsuit really settled in. After a few pictures, we all kind of did our own thing nervously arranging and re-

arranging our gear between Porta-Pottie breaks. The time flew and soon we headed down towards the water feeling our

heart rates start to steadily increase. As the first couple of waves headed out, we chatted amongst ourselves and other

participants until each of us headed out to the task ahead. David went first, followed by Mark and myself, then Steve

about 20 minutes later.

FLASHFORWARD 4 ½ hours – as noted above the run course was a brutal up and down out and back with no shade

with temperatures approaching 35ºC. But two things made it enjoyable (tolerable):

Passing all those SOB’s who flew by us (especially me) on their $10,000 bikes with $2,000 Zip Wheels, and;

Seeing first Mark heading back as I was nearing the turnaround, then Steve who was on the outward loop as I was

heading back and finally David a little ways behind Steve – seeing my 3 friends and knowing all 4 our us were

now back on solid ground meant we had all successfully “survived the swim” (our triathlon motto) and

would complete the race.

One by one we finished and all in times better than those from the year before. We met up with the ladies and after a

quick “oil change” in the medical tent for Steve, we were all able to enjoy an excellent celebratory meal of greasy cheese

burgers, fries and beer – ahhh, to the victors go the spoils.

Next on the triathlon calendar? While Steve, David and I are considering our next ½ Ironman, Mark has taken the bull by

the horns and committed to his first full Ironman in Mont Tremblant, Quebec no less! Good luck with that Mr. Faust.

We wish you well!

Scott Slaven

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The start of the Iroquois Trail Test 32K and Larry van Eenoo finishing Iroquois after adding some 8K to the already-plenty-long-enough 2nd loop. Larry joins a distinguished group of

directionally challenged Pacers

Bill Wheeler at the start of the Creemore Vertical Challenge.

Trail Races

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Teresa Novick ran her first 100 mile race, the Beast of Burden 100 Miler in Lockport, NY on the weekend of Aug 20. The course is along the historic Erie Canal Towpath. She finished 11th out

of 28 finishers, 4th female out of 9. Time 22:34:11

Congratulations Teresa!!!

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UNBALANCED

By Jamie Harris

One of the cardinal rules in marathon running seems to be that there is no dishonor in walking or even in stopping and resting but, for heaven’s sake, finish if you can!

Each time I am waiting for a gun to go off I run through a series of priorities in my mind: the FIRST is to finish the thing,

the SECOND is to try to place in my age group,

the THIRD is to beat a certain time (used to be three hours, then it became 3:30 and now it’s 4).

For this year at Pikes Peak I should’ve inserted another category between the first and the second: TO FINISH WITHIN THE OFFICIAL TIME LIMIT. Not that I hadn’t come close to missing that limit in recent years (9:27; 9:10; 9:15) in spite of a TEN hour cut-off ….but I am getting ahead of myself.

Pikes Peak Marathon and Pikes Peak Ascent are not running events in any conventional sense. They are adven-ture races.

Although there are brief opportunities to run, at the start for a mile or so and for short stretches in the saddleback on the way up (longer stretches on the way down for the marathoners), even so, the rarified atmosphere leaves most flatlanders breathless and bewildered at times. Most of the “up” and much of the “down” is “technically” com-promised by the ruggedness of the Barr Trail. That’s not to say that locals and other folks from the mountain states cannot handle it remarkably gracefully but many grassland peasants like myself are challenged at the best of times.

The day before this year’s race, I was talking to phenomenal Matt Carpenter’s next door neighbor from Manitou Springs. She reported that the week of his fortieth birthday, he ran the Peak (up-and-down) EVERY SINGLE DAY and ON HIS OWN. That’s not to diminish but to marvel at his phenomenal ability to perform as he did again this year, winning his sixth straight race (18

th overall!), at age 47, with the only time under four hours (3:48:08), but the

guy must know every rock and boulder up there by name. [According to The Gazette, it was so “EASY” this year for Matt that he did not require any post-race IV fluids “for the first time in years”.]

The second place finisher for the third straight year was Daryn Parker at 4:01:46 and the third, Bernie Boettcher at 4:23:07. There were 541 official male finishers.

Repeat female winner, JoAnna Masloski came in at 5:09:38, 2:31 ahead of Maria Petzold. 187 Women finished the course under 10 hours.

My personal journey had begun unremarkably enough with a gentle cruise through the town and intermittent walk-ing starting well before the Cog Railroad station. I passed other runners quite steadily going up Mount Manitou; ran considerably through the saddleback. It was sunny but reasonably cool. I was taking the time to drink at the aid stations.

The first down-runners (starting with Matt) were in our faces well before the tree-line, requiring numerous stops-and-starts to let them pass, but I escaped physical contact with all of them (unlike 2010). Above the tree-line, I plugged along. I wasn’t feeling the altitude too badly and was even able to admire the magnificent panorama at times. One of the search-and-rescue men even played “O Canada” on a kazoo in my honor at the CIRQUE. It was going fine.

I was passed by the guy carrying the enormous P.O.W. flag at the base of the 16 GOLDEN STAIRS but I still reached the turn-around banner (13.3 mile mark) in just over five hours.

I bantered with the aid station workers up there about how insane the whole thing was; how I really ought to have a psychiatrist on speed-dial. Then I headed back down feeling pretty confident of another routine, if slow, finish.

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By this time the sky had clouded over, it was hailing slightly. Fork lightning was sprinkling itself around at two-to-three minute intervals. The rangers advised us to get to the tree-line as soon as possible. (Excellent advice I’m sure but no one was going slowly on purpose.)

Initially, going down, I was feeling good enough to cheerfully advise the green-faced runners still coming up the trail that they would soon feel “so much better”.

Then I really started to lose my sense of balance and had to be more and more cautious climbing down the rocky drop-offs and turns which had gotten a bit wet in the precipitation. I had lots of experience with this sensation in previous years; in fact, it had usually begun sooner, had worsened back to the tree-line, then had gradually dissi-pated toward the finish of the race.

Different year, different experience! By the time I reached the tree-line, I was having trouble navigating even the flat bits and my balance was getting worse. I ate some graham crackers and had a pee. The whole world was starting to pass me. (I had told them it was going to get better.)

By the time I reached the A-FRAME, I was beginning to have serious doubts about being able to finish in time.

A mile before BARR CAMP as I was working my way, almost literally, from tree-to-tree using some of them to regain my equilibrium, an aid worker offered to go with me into the camp and give me oxygen.

“Of course you’d be disqualified!” she said.

“No thanks,” I replied hastily. “It’s just my balance. I’ll make it.”

Various other runners began to worry openly as they passed by. I assured them that it was just my gyroscope on the fritz.

Just before BARR CAMP, a young fellow passed me and then promptly fell at the next rough bit, cutting up his hand and knees. I stopped to make sure he was able to get back on his feet while I held onto some branches so I didn’t fall off my own. He started away again. I stumbled after him.

By this time the upper part of my body had developed a fixed lean to the left. It was a rigid response to my im-balance. There was no way I could straighten my spine and I was weaving from side-to-side like Captain Jack Sparrow. I remembered that the posture was very similar to the one I had developed by the very end of the 2010 event which I had totally, but now it seemed inaccurately, blamed on having my hip smashed into the rocks at the CIRQUE by a descending runner. Clearly I had been and was then suffering from a high-altitude related otologic disorder (HAROD) in which my inner ear (labyrinth) was given my eyes and my proprioceptive organs a run for their money in attempting to keep me vertical.

I went through Barr Camp brushing aside further active concern by race officials. Just before NO NAME CREEK, I actually passed an older man who was clearly even worse off. I was going slower and slower, how-ever, hanging onto branches in the straights and turning corners by going straight through until I hit something solid and then turning only after I had come to a complete standstill. Very elegant!

I reached the “4 MILES TO FINISH” sign at 8:57. I was guardedly optimistic that I still could do 15-minute miles downhill even in my drunken stagger.

I did the next mile in 19 minutes. Not good!

As I was telling myself that I could still do it, the last mile-and-a-half being on asphalt, the final disaster struck. To call it a fall would glamorize it far too much. It was just an uncontrollable veer and pitch. Helpless, I went off the left side of the trail and slid down the embankment. Luckily I was able to grab a puny tree and stopped about 8 feet below the lip.

I took a deep breath while a 14-year-old hiker on the trail above wondered out loud what he should do. What could he do?

I pulled on my tree to lever myself up but it came out by the roots and I slid down another 10 feet while my right calf seized into a cramp.

The clock was still ticking.

Gathering myself once more, I reached up and grabbed another small tree but, as some as I applied traction, I could feel it letting go. Shit!

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[I was half-afraid, half-hoping that the hiker would go for help. But then I would not be allowed to finish at all.]

I crawled, make that slithered, sideways to some grass tussocks which seemed more firmly rooted and hauled myself up with my arms, my feet useless in the loose gravel. Finally I got up and over the edge, rolled and rose to my feet, immediately lost my balance and practically went over once more. I sort of stabilized myself, thanked the wide-eyed adolescent for his concern and gingerly went on.

An old woman passed me at a trot. I told her she could make it if she kept going like she was but that my hope was gone.

A young woman passed me just before the man with the “CHARIOTS OF FIRE” speakers. She stopped and pointed back at me. When I reached him I told him I was all right BEFORE he could even ask. [I knew he had no official position in the race and couldn’t “pull me” anyway but I wasn’t taking any chances.]

Around the last corner of the trail was the final aid station with a gaggle of truly apprehensive officials. I tried to run just to show them, nearly fell, so walked towards them.

Usual questions.

“I’m OK. Just balance issues. I’m not dehydrated, I’ve been peeing all the way down the mountain.”

“Is it all right if we follow you on in just to be safe?”

“Certainly,” I said. [“Thank God,” I thought. “You could’ve insisted that I stop.”]

It was 9:52 when I reached the pavement. I couldn’t run but a few steps in a row or I would fall and there was a mile and a half to go.

I suddenly felt that I was actually living one of my favorite running movies, entitled, surprisingly enough, RUN-NING, with Michael Douglas, wherein he redeems himself end of the movie finishing TWO DAYS AFTER THE MARATHON BEGAN, in the dark, in the rain, with a broken collar bone and acute malaria (something like that) but

he FINISHES!

I went on chattering with the official in the golf-cart; there were a few townspeople cheering from their driveways and roofs. Two young guys passed me with a half of a mile to go. I just IMAGINED that I could catch them.

I rounded the MOUNTAIN MAN corner and crossed the finish line. Got my medal plus two hulking medic’s holding me under my elbows while an official race photographer snapped my picture.

“That’ll be one for the family album!” I told him.

It took me a couple of minutes to convince the guys that I still could stand on my own, albeit at an awkward angle. I did not want to sit or lie down. I certainly didn’t want I.V. like some of those pathetic refugees already near death, it appeared, in the medical area. I wanted to keep walking. I didn’t want to see the doctor. I WAS a doctor (and I sure had a fool for a patient that day!)

A younger woman was finishing just then and she was leaning almost as badly as I. I felt a bit better.

After ten minutes or so in the recovery area, discussing with the medics whether scopolamine patches or Diamox tablets would’ve helped, I headed off along the tourist-filled sidewalks to my EAGLE MOTEL still on a rigid angle, my medal around my neck, my right leg covered in blood from the knee to the shoe. The guy who stopped the traffic for me remembered me from my bent finish in 2010 but he hastened to assure me that he had seen people come off the mountain “in a lot worse shape” than I was in.

My posture finally restored itself but only after about an hour and a call to Maeve to assure her that I was still alive. She SEEMED relieved.

I was perversely pleased with my perseverance nevertheless,

deeply disappointed with missing the official cut-off

but most of all in a bittersweet funk because my love-hate relationship with PIKES PEAK had most assuredly come to an end.

As much as I appreciated finishing beyond the official finishing time, and as much as I appreciated making an un-gainly spectacle of myself (YET AGAIN!), I am afraid that MY mountain-racing days are over!

Jamie Harris

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