I did a very early morning run up Mount Timp, starting around 2:00 a.m. This was my Timp Summit #61. I ran with jun, my brother Bob, and my brother-in-law Ed. Jun wrote up a very good summary of the adventure. See his writeup. I led the pack and when I got a little lazy, Ed noticed and would tell me to start working again. Our splits were fairly good and typical for me for the first half of the climb, but instead of fading the second half, my buddies helped me keep the pace strong. By the time we reached the basin, we had passed all the hikers who had started as early as midnight.
We made the summit in 1:57. I pushed the last segment hard and reached the top a minute or two ahead of Ed and jun.
From there, my legs felt super, so as I descended, and when I noticed Ed and jun couldn't keep up, I decided to just go for it. My pace down was the fastest I have ever done, even in the daylight. My balance felt great, energy high, and no pain in the ankle. I passed groups of hikers so fast that no words were even spoken between us as I flew by them. As I approached each group, I would let out a whoop, then scream, "coming through!" and finally yell, "Please step aside." As I blasted past, I would say "Thank you!" This seemed to do the trick nicely. They all cleared off the trail in time and just watched the crazy guy with the green light blast by in the dark.
In the basin I looked back up and saw that I was far ahead of jun and Ed, so I continued the blistering pace. I reached the junction with the Emerald Lake trail at 2:21. Holy Cow! I was crushing my PR. I reached a huge group of college kids who blinded me with their lights. They confused me and I started running far off the trail. "Where is the trail?" I yelled out. They all were helpful to point the way to me and I flew by them again.
My pace continued fast below the basin, down the rock slide but then I started to have problems. The groups of hikers started to distract me. Right after I passed one group, I took my eyes off the trail and down I went. I knocked my head on a rock, bounced back up, felt my head, discovered it was still there, and continued on, just a little slower. Within a half mile, I met another group who were not as fast to step aside. As I approached, I looked up to make sure I didn't plow into them, but both my feet slid off of a wet slick rock. Down I went again, very hard. I hit both my forearms on rocks, the left started to swell a bump right away and the right felt worse. I bounced up and ran by the group. I slowed down another notch but still kept up a good fast past, just not crazy fast any more.
I worried about my right arm. The hand started to get a little numb and extending my fingers caused pretty good pain. I hoped I didn't bust it. Oh well, nothing to do but get down, so why not try to still get down fast. Finally I was through with the groups of hikers who started early and I knew there would usually be a large gap before more hikers who started closer to dawn. I looked far up the mountain but there was no sign of jun or Ed. I must have been nearly a mile ahead.
Well, my face plants weren't over. This time I simply tripped on a big rock. I scraped my legs and elbow, but bounced up again, this time walking for a couple dozen yards. Boy, I was getting beat up today. Not time to whine, I had a great time going and needed to push to the finish.
From Scout Falls to the bottom I again met tons of hikers. I continued my pattern of warnings and they worked fine except for two guys who told me that I should run off the trail instead of them stepping aside. Oh well. My warnings I guess worked, because when jun came through all these hikers they all knew what to do for him. Jun said one hiker said to him, "The guy with the green light is way ahead of you!"
My arm felt better toward the bottom so I stopped worrying and again pressed the pace hard for a good finish. I finished in a new PR! 3:10:36. My previous record was 3:35:50. I crushed it. I had run down from the summit in 1:13. It made quite a difference having others along to push me. I had a lot of gas left in the tank. If I had not fallen, I think my time would have been 5-7 minutes faster.
I washed off my wounds and cooled my arm in the water, and then went to the car to inspect the damage to my arms. They weren't that bad. As I was resting, I saw jun's light. He finished in about 3:18. Ed, with less experience running down trails, arrived in about 3:39. Both are outstanding times. So we waited for Bob. I thought he would finish around 4:20, but when he had not arrived by 4:30, I decided to go run up the trail to find him. I hoped that he wasn't injured clear up at the top. But within a half mile or so, I found him running hard down. I joined in and he finished in 4:40. Wow, it had been a wonderful morning. We beat the storms and had perfect weather for the run. I never needed to put on my gloves or jacket.
My splits were:
| 10-minute rock |
0:09:00 |
| Scout Falls |
0:20:16 |
| switchback corner |
0:39:00 |
| Emerald Lake Trail Jct |
1:14:50 |
| Saddle |
1:39:04 |
| Summit |
1:57:48 |
| Saddle |
|
| Emerald Lake Trail Jct |
2:21:55 |
| switchback corner |
2:42:18 |
| Scout Falls |
2:56:28 |
| 10-minute rock |
3:04:20 |
| trailhead |
3:10:36 |
| 