Sweet...

You can't eat a marathon fast. I do know that.

I made it up and down in 5:46, but I was 17 at the time.

Good job!

Don't you remember the B-17 game?

Got a couple of friends up there today. Have fun man. :) I can't run that long. I'll just stick to riding up on my bike.

had a co-worker from KC who said he finished the ascent today in 4:36.

I almost came in last place. LMAO But I had a reason, kind of. Read on if interested.

My time by mile (2011 vs. 2010). The miles are odd because it's a 13.3 mile race and the mileage markers on the course are "xx miles remaining" instead of "xx miles complete".

1.3 (11:55 vs. N/A) - I think they had the mileage sign in the wrong place, because it was a steep uphill and I wasn't running that fast.
2.3 (34:49 vs. N/A) Given the wrong placement of the 1.3 mile sign, no pace reported
3.3 (57:53 vs. N/A) - 23 minute pace
4.3 (1:19 vs. 1:22) - 22 minute pace
5.3 (1:40 vs. N/A) - 21 minute pace
6.3 (1:57 vs. 1:58) - 17 minute pace vs. 18 minutes in 2010
7.3 (2:14 vs. 2:16) - 17 minute pace vs. 18 minutes in 2010
8.3 (2:42 vs. 2:46) - 28 minute pace vs 30 minutes in 2010 (starting up the final slope here)
9.3 (3:16 vs. 3:17) - 34 minute pace vs. 31 minutes in 2010
10.3 (3:50 vs. 3:55) - 34 minute pace vs. 38 minutes in 2010
11.3 (4:43 vs. 4:34) - 53 minute pace vs. 39 minutes in 2010
12.3 (5:37 vs. 5:13) - 54 minute pace vs. 39 minutes in 2010
13.3 (6:25 vs. 5:58) - 48 minute pace vs. 45 minutes in 2010

Now, you'll see that at the 10.3 mile mark I was five minutes ahead of my 2010 pace, so I was sitting pretty. And then something bad happened.

There were aid stations roughly every two miles, where a fellow could refill his water bottle and eat Skittles and grapes and nilla wafers. The water part is really important.

Well, I get to the aid station at about the 9.6 mile mark, and humbly approach them with my nearly empty water bottle. This is a pretty remote location, and they shrug. "We just ran out of water," they say. "You'll have to get it at the 11.6 mile aid station."

Wha-?

That was not good. Not good at all. Starting at about Mile 10, we've already climbed something like 6,000 feet over 10 miles. Worse, the terrain starting at Mile 10 is all above the tree line. There's nothing there but rocks and lichens. So you're in the sun, you're in very high thin air, and you're tired. It sucks the water out of you.

Man, it killed me. Absolutely killed me. I was doing that "guy crawling through desert thing" relatively quickly, and I lost a half hour over those two miles. Absolutely insane. I finally crawled into the 11.6 mile station and foundered myself with water. (As it turned out, they managed to get water at the 9.6 aid station later, so it only affected about a half-hour window of runners.)

Now, the time limit for the race is 6 hours and 30 minutes. You miss that, you don't count. Not a finisher. No medal. Nada. I figured for sure that I was totally screwed and would have to return home in shame.

But the water started kicking in, and I was able to speed up in the last mile or so. It's a brutal ending because it's the final climb to the summit, and the volunteers at the finish line were yelling down for people to hurry up or get kicked out. I stepped up the pace and snuck in at about 6:25. The people finishing 5 minutes behind me were kicked out of the race, so I almost came in last place according to the formal standings.

Holy mother of god, that was hard. I mean, it was really, really hard. Kudoes to people like extra point and morphius' and bishop's friends who can conquer the course, because it kicked my rear end today.

Glad you didn't die. You should ask for your money back for them screwing your time with the lack of water.
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I agree. Running out of water is pretty ridiculous.

and dangerous.

They need more people of German ancestry running the race.

Are Germans good at estimating how much water they need?

They tend to run things well. That is the good thing about Germans and the bad thing about Germans.

Rain Man -- it must have crossed your mind a time or two that they may not have any water at the 11.6 aid station either?

Honestly, I seriously was starting to run into trouble. By that point I'd already been going for almost 4 hours.