Sunday, August 17th Incline/Barr Trail to 11,000 feet

~17 miles/4,300 vertical

Sunday morning it was my intent to watch the Marathon from a few switchbacks up the Barr Trail, then head in to town, eat breakfast, relax and kill time until the finish. The weather that morning was however far better than anyone had anticipated, so as I arrived at the trailhead, I pounded a handful of pretzels, a swig of gel and made a last minute decision to head up the incline, leaving the car at 6:38am.

As I was nearing the top of the incline, I could hear the race start, 4 minutes early by my watch and I was worried that I would not make it to the trail in time. I topped out on the incline after 24 minutes and searched for the proper trail. I of course picked the wrong one and had to do some wet bushwhacking to get back on track, but was soon on the Barr Trail.

I felt great, so I started running at a quick pace and was moving through the aid stations fast, No Name, Bob’s, Barr Camp. As I went through, people were looking at me confused, as if I may be the lead runner. I made some funny comments and everyone laughed, it was quite amusing. I got to a point about halfway between the Bottomless Pit sign and A-Frame and decided that I had gone far enough, so I stopped there to wait. In about 5 minutes, Matt came flying by, then 7:45 later Dave Mackey came through and I gave him the split. I then started down and ran with/cheered/video taped friends Justin Mock, Kraig Koski, George Zack and Jeff Kunkle who were all doing great.

Having been quite annoyed on the way up by all the gel trash on the trail well outside the feed zones, I asked for a trash bag and I spent several miles of the descent picking up every piece of trash I came across on and off the trail. Just about everyone who noticed this on their way up shouted a “Thanks” as if I were a volunteer.

It was fun running down getting to see everyone in the race and I enjoyed giving cheers and encouragement.As I got closer to the bottom, I was getting a little sick of running downhill and was thankful I was not participating in the double. I arrived back around 9:45 and then killed time until the finishers started to arrive a little after 10:30.What a blast it was to watch this race, super cool and kudos to Jeff and George for doing the double. George was 2nd amongst the doublers and Jeff was 7th, way to go!!!

Pictures and Video from the PPM:http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r...PA/2008%20PPM/