Area runner is 3rd despite late notice

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 19, 2007 | by KATE CRANDALL

For someone who hardly trained for his first Pikes Peak Ascent until a month ago, a third-place finish Saturday wasn't too shabby.

Then again, former University of Colorado-Colorado Springs distance runner Aaron William Rubalcaba-Lopez might have a different definition of "hardly trained."

Rubalcaba-Lopez, who graduated from Pueblo South High School in 2003 and will finish his degree in biology at UCCS in December, said once he found out in late July that he had earned a competitive entry to the Ascent, he stepped up the mileage a bit.

"I did 90 miles that first week and a lot of long runs," said Rubalcaba-Lopez, who set a course record in July at the Summer Roundup 12K trail run -- the second leg of the Triple Crown that also includes the Garden of the Gods 10-miler and Pikes Peak. "I didn't train at all on the mountain. I've always been good at climbing the hills."

'I'll do anything'

Her promise was simple, but impassioned.

"If you let me into the Pikes Peak Ascent, I will be yours for the weekend as a volunteer," wrote Keena Hilsberg, 34, of Green Bay, Wis., who is a YMCA fitness director and also a race director.

The race committee granted Hilsberg a special entry to her first Ascent and plans to hold her to her promise -- sort of.

"I got an e-mail saying they'd let me know my schedule," she said. "But they said they'd give me Saturday off to run."

This year, the race committee added one entry for the person with the best excuse and one for the person with the best promise as a way to put a little fun into the registration process, which for some has become overcrowded and stressful.

After active.com's server crashed and some would-be runners lost their spots during re-registration, race director Ron Ilgen thought the experimental categories might draw more entries but received only 15 best excuses and about nine promises.

Kirk Hilbelink's poem, "Ode to the Groggy Plodder," which spoke of a fateful decision to press the snooze button, won for the best excuse category.

Notes

A search and rescue official said a worker required a ride down the mountain Saturday afternoon but that she was OK.... Richard and Randolph Bull, of Oklahoma City, were furnished with new shoes by Boulder Running Co. on Saturday after their house was struck by lightning during Friday's storm.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-4803 or kate.crandall@gazette.com