An Amazing Weekend

What an amazing weekend!! Seven years ago, urged by Jane, I entered the Pikes Peak Marathon. I wasn't a runner, I didn't consider myself a runner. I raced mountain bikes and loved it. I had the big quads and bulging forearms and was dead set on becoming a pro. Who knew that one race would change the course of everything. That year I had a miserable experience in the Pikes Peak Marathon. I didn't run much that summer, all my fitness came from mountain biking. I didn't think it would matter but I was sorely mistaken (literally). I made every mistake possible; took out way to hard, didn't fuel/hydrate, wore completely wrong shoes (this was the beginning of finding a shoe that I wouldn't lose every toenail with)...I walked, alot, and couldn't walk for the next week. Looking back now, it was this experience that fueled my running career. I had to prove that I could conquer Pikes Peak...I was entirely hooked on trail running.

In 2008 I did prove that I could conquer Pikes Peak by winning the marathon. I was extremely proud to join the ranks of Lyn Bjorklund, Angela Mudge, and most definetly Danelle Ballengee. But I knew then that I could do it faster and there was always that looming "double" that waited to be done. So when I heard that the Ascent was the World Mountain Running Challenge this year I bit the bullet and signed up for both.

The Ascent took me by suprise. The sheer number of people and the extreme amount of hype at the start forced me to spend alot of energy passing people in the first few miles...those people who feel they will win the race if they can post a sub six minute first mile. I went from 13th female to fourth by the finish and gave it everything I had. The last mile I could see fifth place closing in at a rapid pace and with an extreme grimmace on my face pushed through to the finish in 2:46. The amazing Brand Erholtz won and deservedly so! I wish I could say that I was excited for the marathon the next day but I spent all I had in the Ascent and wasn't confident I had what it would take. But once again I proved myself wrong. After the gun sounded on Sunday morning and my feet hit dirt there was no turning back. I found my stride and never once felt an urge to throw in the towel. I felt amazing; relaxed and smooth. At the turn around I knew, pending disaster, that the win was mine. And it was in 4:34, 5 minutes off my PR.

I never imagined I would be mingling with or even closely considered on the same level as Matt Carpenter. But yesterday I stood on top of the podium with the legend. I was honored to meet and have a conversation with the first lady to finish a marathon, the Pikes Peak Marathon in 1959. Her name is Arlene Peipper and is an inspiration to us all. A PPM veteran gave me a PPM hat from 1980 off his head and in return I signed my race bib for him. Experiences that will last a lifetime!

The AWESOME Bernie B. and I