August 16, 2014
MANITOU SPRINGS, CO - This was not good. Well, it was good until about 10,000 feet of altitude. Gabriel arrived into Colorado, via Denver, two days before the race to give him some time for acclimatization. His first couple of runs at 6500ft were perfectly fine. He did not feel out of breath, nor did he have a massive headache. All seemed well...
And so, race morning arrived uneventfully, and Gabriel jogged the two miles from his hotel to the starting line. He lined up and took off. He was comfortable not to be near the lead pack, but he also felt that he couldn't be up there anyway, his fitness was not there, and this race hosted the WMRA World Long Mountain Challenge. Up and up he went. Barr Trail came and went and he had moved up into the top 30 runners, passing runners every so often. However, as he approached about 9-10,000ft. it was as if a switch shut-off his body and Gabriel resorted to a complete lack of energy and will.
By 11,000 ft. he had been passed by the top woman and by 12,000 ft. he had been passed by the top five elite women. Gabriel was just in survival mode to finish. Never did he dream about running 2:54, but that's what he ran. His goal of 2:30 was a pipe dream.
And he wondered what lessons he learned... probably the most important one is don't invest in an effort that is at altitude. You will not be as prepared as your competition.
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