Nicole
July 18, 2021: Barr Trail is the trail that starts in Manitou Springs and goes up to the summit of Pikes Peak. The bottom “half” of this trail is the Barr Trail Mountain Race – up ~6.3 miles to Barr Camp and back down. I was registered for this race last year as preparation for the Pikes Peak Ascent, so this was another race deferral from 2020.
The weather was pretty typical for this time of year in Colorado Springs. The high was in the mid-80s with sunny skies in the morning and a slight chance of storms in the afternoon. While a start temperature around 65F might sound comfortable, with the strong sun and direct exposure, it was quite warm on the lower section of trail.
We parked down in Manitou Springs and walked the 1.25 miles to the start as a warm up. The Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which just reopened after being closed for a few years to install new tracks and new trains, was the start location.
The Race
At 7am we were off and “running”. Unless you are going to win, most runners actually hike a significant portion of the uphill section. In fact, if you don’t walk early on, you are going to pay for it soon enough. The wide road quickly narrowed to a single lane of 10-15% grade paved road, then it turned to Pikes Peak gravel, and soon we were on Barr Trail. The first aid station was 1.7 miles in and I had them pour water on my hat so I could cool off a bit.
The average grade of the whole ascent to Barr Camp is almost 10%. So up I went, power hiking my way. I really tried to be strong and only pass someone, especially in this lower section, when I was clearly faster. Since I’ve only trained but not raced on the trail, I had to learn what appropriate pacing would be. I may have pushed just a tad too hard in that initial section, or I didn’t push quite enough on the runnable section about 4 miles in, as I got passed by some people there. However, I did catch a few of them on the descent!
The Finish
Despite a trail superman from a slight misstep with about 1.5 miles to the finish, I had a pretty good descent time (19th fastest female). I am a bit scratched up, but that will heal!
Here are my splits…
Top of Ws: 33:37
No Name: 55:54
Barr Camp: 1:49:07
Descent: 1:04:09
Total time: 2:53:16
5/27 AG (40-49); however, the top 2 placed in master’s women, so technically I finished 3rd AG!
19/97 F
129/292 overall.
Next up: Pikes Peak Ascent on 8/21/21
Nicole
