Local Woman Conquers Pike's Peak

My article from the August 26, 2015 issue of The Polk County Pulse


Local Woman Conquers Pike's Peak
by Richie Lawry

Local woman, Betty Sobeski , 67, ran the Pike’s Peak Ascent which took place in Manitou Springs, Colorado on August 15, 2015.  The Pikes Peak Ascent is a racing event that begins at the base of Pike’s Peak, in Manitou Springs, Colorado, and over the course of 13.3 miles climbs over 7,815 feet to the top of the 14,115 foot peak.  Runners consider the Pike’s Peak races America’s ultimate challenge.  Eighteen hundred runners from all over the U.S and from as far away as Japan participated in the 2015 event.

Betty completed the Ascent along with her daughter, Joan Rendon, 50, of Waldron, Arkansas.  They trained together for six months.  They did all of their training on Rich Mountain, simulating the steep Pike’s Peak course.  Due to the heat they trained with very early morning runs.  Betty has been running for 25 years and Joan has been running for the last 10 years.

2015 was the first time that Joan ran the Pike’s Peak Ascent.  Betty had previously run the Pike’s Peak Marathon five times from 2001 to 2007. In 2003 she brought home a trophy for placing second in her age class, just two minutes short of first place.  The marathon course is to the top of Pike’s Peak and back down again.

Cardboard Boat Race

Today we had a great time at the annual Arkansas-Louisiana Pathfinder and Adventurer Cardboard Boat Race held at Dierks Lake. My grand daughters and their cousins were participating.  They spent the night before the race at our house and had an cookout and ice cream party followed by a slumber party.

To enter the boat race the kids had to build a boat with only cardboard, duct tape and paint.  It was amazing how durable the girls boats were.   After the race they spent quite some time just paddling around in the boats.  They all had a really good time.

The girls were excited to win trophies and medals for their efforts.

Grandma and Papa had a lot of fun spending the day in such a beautiful place and seeing the girls have such a good time.  After the race we had a picnic and then the kids spent the afternoon swimming.

On our way back home we took a "shortcut" over gravel mountain roads.  Within just a few miles of the highway we came across a bridge that was impassable because there was three feet of water flowing over the bridge.  We had to turn around and go all the way back to Dierks Lake so we could take the paved roads.  On our way back to the lake we followed our GPS and were stymied three different times by locked gates across the roads.  After an hour we finally made our way back.

What an awesome day!