I really shouldn't brag...but if noone reads anything in this forum (the lounge), am I really bragging?
This week, I, while vacationing in Colorado, ran (for the most part) up Mt. Evans. This is the highest paved road in America and the site of an annual road race (Mt. Evans Ascent). I did not run the actual race, but did attempt to run the same course as the race is run on in June. The run is 14.5 miles basically all uphill at an average grade of 5%. The starting elevation is 10,300 ft and the finishing elevation is 14,200 ft.
Being from Wisconsin, I tried to train as best I could, but nothing could have prepared me for the lack of oxygen....even at the start.
Well, I will brag and say that I am just happy to have had the guts to finish it out. My time was 3 hours and 1 minute (which would have had me finish 9th out of 25 in my age group in the actual race). The date was Aug 7th and I dealt with high winds, rain and actual snow for the last 5 miles.
Why would I do such a stupid thing you ask? Well, last time we vacationed in Colorado, I drove up the mountain and was white knuckling it the whole way (very narrow with lots of switchbacks and absolutely no rails or room on the outside). Well, I joked about buying a t-shirt that said "I made it"...but when I went to the gift shop, it turned out they had those shirts, but they were for people who biked or ran to the top. I thought buying one for driving to the top was sort of cheapening their accomplishments. So, I decided that next time we went out there I would try to make the run.
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)...being an older casual runner myself, I might be able to relate here. though not at that level.
