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Alex Nichols at the summit in the Pikes Peak Marathon

Colorado Springs runner Alex Nichols ran stride-for-stride with Kilian Jornet before leg cramps forced him to slow down. Nichols tagged Pikes Peak's 14,115-foot summit in second place and held the position all the way to the finish. He has several Ascent finishes to his credit, but chose to run the marathon to compete against Kilian Jornet of Spain, the eventual race winner.
"I wanted to race against Kilian," Nichols said. "He's good and I feel like I should run against the best."
Nichols clocked 3:47:22, about seven minutes off of Jornet's winning pace.