“I can’t believe how HAPPY everyone is," said Kathy Pieper, youngest and first female to ever do the Pikes Peak Ascent. There’s no truer statement about this past weekend. The happiness pouring out of Manitou and Pikes Peak confirmed yet again why the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon weekend is my favorite of the year.

At 7am on Saturday, I felt like the Ascent had snuck…

So, the best I can say is that I finally completed the Pikes Peak Ascent and my very first Triple Crown of Running series. Certainly not my best times or efforts, but I had tons of fun along the way and met some incredible athletes and human beings in the process. I suppose that is the thread that keeps me in the running community, despite the fact that life has a way of pulling me in the opposite direction at times.  It is the experience as a whole that keeps me lacing up my shoes, rather…

The Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon are in the books.  Compared to the monsoons we had been having leading up to race weekend, couldn’t ask for a better weather.  Although I did hear a couple boomers as I was descending just above Barr Camp on Sunday.  Thoughts came to…

First things first. I ascended Saturday. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was beautiful, and the finish line was beautiful.

What made the day truly unforgettable for me, though, was people, not places. 

If you can, forgive the sequential synopsis and the unabashed name-dropping. My mile markers for the race of lifetime were the people who impacted it, some in small ways, some in big.

Okay, rewind to March, when Tim Bergsten convinced me to run the Triple Crown and…

7am, Manitou Springs City Hall. A scaffolding of banners overhead, beautiful sunny day. Crazy runners crowded onto the street, nervously looking up at the summit 13.32 miles away, trotting back and forth anxiously for quick, last minute trips to the port-a-potties. A goosebump-raising singing of America the Beautiful, a rush of adrenaline and at last: the gun- the moment I’ve waited 365 days for, the official beginning to the celebration of my favorite weekend all year long.

Four…

Polite inquiries. Well-intended advice. Wrestling with important questions like "Have I prepared enough?" and "How much tapering should I do?"

Yes, the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon are less than a week away and all these things abound.

I know the answers differ for every runner, but for me they are as follows:

I am nervous. I am underprepared. And tapering? Taper from what?…

As a side note to a recent family vacation, I spontaneously decided to run the Beaver Creek Half Marathon.  Not necessarily because I love races, but because I realized that in one week I’m expected to complete the Pikes Peak Ascent and my training runs have fallen grotesquely short on both distance and difficulty.  This race boasted one of the most beautiful courses in the Endurance Race Series at an altitude of approximately 8,000 feet and a total of 1,400 feet of climbing. On a whim, I…

“The Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon still need volunteers and they know that Jack Quinn Running Club members are up to the challenge! Every JQRC member who volunteers will receive TWO (YES TWO!!!) run credits for each day they volunteer.  FOR THE ASCENT (Saturday 17AUG) we need at least FIVE JQRC  volunteers to work on the summit of Pikes Peak (sweat check, finisher medals, etc.) AND FIVE JQRC volunteers to be course marshals from tree line to the summit of Pikes Peak. FOR THE MARATHON…

Tapering – it’s something some runners love, possibly a magical world filled with rainbows and chocolate and ice cream off in the distance dreamed of during long runs in the bulk of training, or something runners hate, loving every single step of their last long run before the dreaded period known as the ‘taper’.

While I know plenty of people that covet the taper, counting down the days towards its commencement, I am of the opposite party – I (hmm not quite hate, but let’s go with it)…

Normally I would probably start tapering at about this point.  This year, however, hasn’t been a “normal” training year and I don't feel like I've put in the work as in years past.  Two weeks to go until the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon (yes, the Double) and I have yet to get above Barr Camp.  It's probably too little too late, but decided to drive up to the summit to get in a 3-2-1 today.  We knew the Peak did get some snow yesterday evening, but much to our surprise we found an ice rink…

After having such a blast at the 12K Summer Roundup, I took heed to one of my previous blogs and allowed myself to recover appropriately. It was about ten (10) days with no physical activity because of illness. I did not panic knowing the Pikes Peak Accent was five (5) weeks away at that time. So on my first day back after suffering from those bad allergies I told myself "Just Build Your Base!".

My goal was to run the stairs at my place of work on Schriever AFB. Stair running has been…

This is not a race report. There is nothing about my race, my tactics or how I felt riding my bike. This is a reflection of the series and how having something as simple seeming as the Ascent Cycling Series can become the focus of the summer. It's also about development as a rider - both in skills and confidence.

There's something fun about racing a series. It's more then just go out and suffer one time, then done. There are second chances to make up for a bad race and the…