I had been in Colorado maybe a year or so. I was hiking slowly up my 3rd 14er (peak higher than 14,000 feet). As I reached the summit a man in running shorts passed me as he RAN down the 14ers steep descent. I remember thinking "that is F*#$%ing nuts!" Skip forward a few years and last Sunday I ran (ok, power hiked a lot on the way up!) up and down Mt. Elbert, Colorado's tallest peak!
Waking up at 2AM on a Sunday was not exactly pleasant. I had been the speaker at a recovery meeting on Saturday night and wasn't able to get to sleep until 11PM (way, way past my bedtime!) but I was excited enough about the challenge and adventure to drag myself out of bed and made the 2 hour drive to the trailhead. I took off up the steep North Elbert trail, which was 5 miles to the summit with about 4,000 feet of climbing. Interpretation = damn steep with not a lot of oxygen! I was able to run a decent amount the first few miles but the last 3 miles to the summit were hiking as fast as I could, which wasn't super fast! Arriving at the summit by 7:30AM was blissful!
I enjoyed a few minutes of hard earned rest at the summit, had a little snack and prepared to descend. I choose to take the South Elbert trail + CO trail back to the trailhead. This made the descent more runnable but would take 9 miles to get back to the trailhead. Portions of the descent were very technical and I had to hike a few extra step sections but parts of the descent were very runnable. Sometimes when I'm running down a mountain I feel like a kid! The freedom of letting loose, letting my arms fly by my side and gravity as my aid I can fly down the mountain!
I reached the trailhead by around 10:30AM. Getting up early for runs isn't fun but the sense of accomplishment finishing challenges before 9, 10 or 11 AM is so worth it! On the way home I stopped in Leadville, one of my favorite CO towns, and gave my legs a free "ice bath" in Turquoise Lake and soaked up a little sun and relaxation before driving home. Another training run for Moab 240 in the books and an epic day and adventure in and of itself!
