I hit a low at the 2011 Summer Roundup Trail Run 12K. It happened about 20 seconds after the compacted dirt became asphalt and the course rocketed skyward. I had to walk. Walking isn't the end of the world. Lots of runners consider walking up hill (especially in the Pikes Peak Ascent) more efficient than running. But for me, I was walking because I felt defeated. The course beat me that Sunday.

Maybe it's for the best. As runners passed me and my time began to look like the elevation ---- up, up, up it went --- I got angry. Angry at myself for not putting in the miles. Angry that I wasn't pushing past the pain.

A low point may have been just what I needed to get back on the roads and trails to put in the miles.

The training for the Ascent is daunting. High altitude training requires getting up to a high altitude. (That goes without saying doesn't it?) As if just getting out of the house wasn't enough, now I have to get up to 10,000 feet or higher to experience the lung torture that is training for the Ascent.

But if I don't want to be defeated again, I will get up high and run there. I will find time. I will...