Snow & Hail in August
Yesterday,we didn't have snow here in Manitou Springs proper, but we sure did have the hail and lots of torrential rain. They say that the creek near us rose 4 feet in just a few hours with all of the run-off.
However,yesterday was the 50th running of the Pikes Peak Ascent (1/2 a marathon - starts in town at an elevation of 6400 feet and goes up to 14,100 ft. in just 13 miles). They had rain, hail and some snow. It was the worst weather that they have had in the 50 years of running the race. It left a lot of people stranded up top for a few hours until they could get the snowplows out of storage and up to clear the roads going up the Peak to bring the runners back down. It also made for some very unsafe conditions for the runners. There were many lightening strikes as well as ice and snow conditions, they ended up having to stop people from continuing all the way to the top.
Our friend Kathy Steffen has tried for the last two years to make it to the top within the cutoff time. Last year she was just a few minutes late and they turned her around at A-frame (10 miles up). This means that instead of going 13 miles, she had to turn around and go back down the same way she just came up. So, it was a 20 mile trip. This year, she made it to A-frame with 7 minutes to spare. However, the weather had gotten too harsh and they stopped runners from going any further. So, her race was another 20 mile trip.
Her husband Rob, made it up to the top before the weather turned unbearable. However, once he got up there he got caught by the bad weather and had to wait in the cold for over two hours until the vans could get up to bring the racers back down. The gift shop and restaurant were over flowing with people waiting for the vans. But since the snow slowed things down so much the lines were very very long.
Today was the round trip Ultra Marathon (26 plus miles from the center of town up the mountain and back down again). The runners take the same route up to the top, grab a glass of water, and head back down the same way. So now you have two sets of people running on this narrow trail that has probably become rutted out with all of the rain from yesterday.
Makes me glad that I am not a runner. Of course if you really want to be crazy, you could run the Leadville 100. This is a mountain race covering 100 miles. The winner did it in 15 hrs. A new record for that race. Now that is even crazier than running up and down Pikes Peak.
I guess we would be considered couch potatoes by these athletes.
Happy Traveling,
T & T
However,yesterday was the 50th running of the Pikes Peak Ascent (1/2 a marathon - starts in town at an elevation of 6400 feet and goes up to 14,100 ft. in just 13 miles). They had rain, hail and some snow. It was the worst weather that they have had in the 50 years of running the race. It left a lot of people stranded up top for a few hours until they could get the snowplows out of storage and up to clear the roads going up the Peak to bring the runners back down. It also made for some very unsafe conditions for the runners. There were many lightening strikes as well as ice and snow conditions, they ended up having to stop people from continuing all the way to the top.
Our friend Kathy Steffen has tried for the last two years to make it to the top within the cutoff time. Last year she was just a few minutes late and they turned her around at A-frame (10 miles up). This means that instead of going 13 miles, she had to turn around and go back down the same way she just came up. So, it was a 20 mile trip. This year, she made it to A-frame with 7 minutes to spare. However, the weather had gotten too harsh and they stopped runners from going any further. So, her race was another 20 mile trip.
Her husband Rob, made it up to the top before the weather turned unbearable. However, once he got up there he got caught by the bad weather and had to wait in the cold for over two hours until the vans could get up to bring the racers back down. The gift shop and restaurant were over flowing with people waiting for the vans. But since the snow slowed things down so much the lines were very very long.
Today was the round trip Ultra Marathon (26 plus miles from the center of town up the mountain and back down again). The runners take the same route up to the top, grab a glass of water, and head back down the same way. So now you have two sets of people running on this narrow trail that has probably become rutted out with all of the rain from yesterday.
Makes me glad that I am not a runner. Of course if you really want to be crazy, you could run the Leadville 100. This is a mountain race covering 100 miles. The winner did it in 15 hrs. A new record for that race. Now that is even crazier than running up and down Pikes Peak.
I guess we would be considered couch potatoes by these athletes.
Happy Traveling,
T & T
posted by Toot and Teaser | 10:29 PM
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