*As you can see in the photo, the wind destroyed me on Mount Evans Ascent 2011 and I still had a third of the race to go.
About five years ago, I picked up running again, but last year was the first year I actually trained. During those five years, I signed up for Pikes Peak Ascent and Mount Evans Ascent every year, but only once, last year, I ran them consecutively. All the other years some how I got injured. *I see a trend, when I train appropriately I don’t get hurt. hmmm
Don’t know why I waited so long, but I just registered for Mount Evans 2012. I am swapping Pikes for that Leadville race and I think it is a fair swap. Mount Evans Ascent is probably my favorite race; it is just one big beautiful hill climb with some of the best views in Colorado. I really seem to love climbing hills and Evans is the highest road race in the country. It is a shorter race, 14.5 miles with over 4000’ of gain and tops out at 14,264’. Being a road race, I can either just zone out or enjoy the views. Some don’t like it because it is on the road, but I love it, even with the wind.
Last year I felt strong, but the winds were insane with gusts over 50 miles per hour. I ran it in 2:49:21, thirty-five minutes faster than my best year and that is with the wind.
This year I plan to really crank and try to pull off a sub 2:30, providing the winds let me. I think this is a realistic goal considering I barely trained last year. My training was not speed or strength focused; it was weight focused. Due to a perfect storm of events, I some how went from 150 to over 200 pounds in four months??? So with a solid year and a half of training, I think I can pull it off.
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