Mascarenas, 2017 women’s champ, pleased with Sunday’s finish

Kristina Mascarenas was the women’s champ of the 2017 Pikes Peak Marathon, but when she examined the women’s field for the 2018 race, she realized it was highly unlikely she would repeat as the victor.

“I knew it wasn’t possible to win today for me, so that wasn’t even a goal of mine,” she said.

She wanted a personal record, and she got it.

Mascarenas, a Doherty grad, ran 4:37, better than 2017’s 4:38.54, and finished with a blistering 1:28.51 descent, beating her record from last year. She finished third among the women.

“I’m very happy,” she said. “I’m surprised that my time was faster. I felt horrible on the way up and even worse on the way down. And for the first time in a long time, I wiped out.”

She revealed a bloody left palm.

“I tripped on a root,” she explained. “I was trying to do math in my head, and apparently I can’t do two things at a time anymore.”

She looked at her hand.

“It’s not too bad. It’s just a flesh wound.”

Ridgway runner Megan Kimmel has record day at Pikes Peak Marathon

Response to Saturday’s Ascent decision

Pikes Peak Marathon race director Ron Ilgen said “about 20” runners spoke to him directly after Saturday’s decision to shorten the Ascent from 13.32 miles to 7.6. The decision was made because of dire weather forecasts.

“It was mixed, but mostly favorable and understanding,” Ilgen said of the reaction.

Woodland Park runner

finishes 12th

Dean Abel, 36, of Woodland Park ran in his first Pikes Peak Marathon and finished 12th at 4:09.20.

“I’m super happy,” he said. “I kind of saw it coming. I trained really hard. I was hoping for 4:20, so 4:10 is awesome.”

It was Abel’s second-ever marathon.

Surprise suds

Nick Rasmussen, of Rapid City, SD, wasn’t the first person to cross the finish line of the Pikes Peak Marathon, but he was the first to do so with an open can of beer in hand.

As Rasmussen ran down the final stretch, a group of supporters caught his eye.

“The guy pointed at the beer, and I was like ‘Yeah!’ I’m not going to say no, so he jogged up and gave it to me,” Rasmussen said.

“Then I said thanks and opened it right there. I mean, it got all over, but I still get to drink some.”

The 32-year-old also acted like he needed to crawl to the summit checkpoint for the sake of a humorous photo.

It’s not all fun and games, however. Rasmussen said a “nasty breakup” a few months ago motivated him to sign up for the race.

He hoped to finish in under five hours.

His 4:48:59 was good for 24th place, making Trinity Brewing Company’s Hype Forager extra tasty.

“Best beer I’ve ever had,” Rasmussen said.

David Ramsey and

Vinny Benedetto, the gazette