It’s a beauty that comes with the San Juans. It’s a beauty the volunteers uphold. It’s a beauty that deepens by the year, a beauty that grows in gratefulness for all the support, for Lake City, for volunteers, for crews, for pacers, for fellow runners, for the chance to simply experience the beautiful country and enjoy the adventure.

It’s a beauty to which the extent you can’t describe, a beauty you have to simply experience for yourself. It’s a beauty and inspiration that can only come at 13,000 feet after 25 miles.

It’s a beauty that comes with the camaraderie and overflowing love. It’s a beauty that comes with awe at every single runner – from the ones that led the course, post-holing through hip-deep snow, to those that spent time beyond dawn to dusk on their feet, working step after step.

It’s a beauty that comes from the determination. It’s a beauty that comes from watching people go from “not having fun anymore” and wanting to drop to then crushing the final miles in an amazing time. It’s a beauty that comes from helping each other along – from getting each other up and out of aid station chairs – completely fatigued, dehydrated, and hurting, to running the last 10 miles.

It’s a beauty that comes from friendships, from the bonding with others covering 50 miles under your own power.

It’s a beauty from the rejuvenation that comes with remote high-altitude climbing – the type of enlightenment, the break from the everyday hustle and bustle, the type that comes from soaking up every minute of those high alpine views, that fresh 13,000 foot air.

It’s a beauty that can only come from the challenge, from the pain. It’s a beauty in its test of the human spirit.

It’s a beauty of contrast – of the age range that succeed on a reportedly most challenging 50 mile in the United States.

It’s a beauty of contrast in the landscape- from road running offering a sneak-peek of views, to the rushing creek crossings, to aspen groves, to the high alpine views, the snowfields, the mud fields, the ghost towns, and the singletrack to jeep road to singletrack.

It’s a beauty from the Lake City, people, and support. 

It’s simply beautiful.

It’s always a special day when you get to spend a full day out in Colorado mountains, in a high-alpine setting, on a challenging course with a group of family and friends. The San Juan Solstice 50 mile race was simply beautiful – its beauty grows year by year.

This year, I started out running the course with my mom, dad, brother, and family friends/dad’s coworkers. The day started out at a perfect temperature – certainly warmer than last year, which made us look forward to the cold creek crossings as we were running up to Alpine Gulch.

After late spring snow, we were all surprised and thankful the crossings were low enough to allow us to run the normal course. Plunging into the first creek crossing was a great wake-up call and induction into the race day. Each crossing was patrolled by crossing guards, offering guidance about how to cross – and laying out an occasional rope or log to grip onto while traversing the current. THANK YOU, river crossing volunteers!!! It was also great to see the happy faces of friends, pacers, and crew that trekked up to the first few crossings.

Climbing out of Alpine Gulch aid

After passing the 7^th large crossing, we continued up Alpine Gulch, and were soon greeted by beautiful views and eventual snow along the side of the trail. Thanks to a Lake City local, we didn’t have to tramp through a bunch of timber blocking the trail – thank you for your work!!

A few switchbacks later, we hit the Alpine Gulch aid and finished our first big climb, welcomed by gorgeous views and the promises of a beautiful day. It was great running with my dad, who had climbed many of the surrounding 13ers and could name off the mountains we were running alongside.

Red Mountain (left) is always a favorite view throughout the race. 

After summiting our first climb to 13,300 feet, the alpine views were a picturesque capture of the journey and day ahead. Running down from the first climb and crossing a couple snow fields, I had forgotten how steep the first big descent was down into the meadow into Williams Aid at mile 15. It was during this descent I started to develop anterior tibialis tendinitis in my left leg, and hoped it would remain at bay for another 40 miles.

Top of Alpine Gulch

Beginning the descent into Williams

A longer-than-I-had-remembered descent brought us warm into Williams, happy to refuel and excited to see our crew. Soon we were back out on the road, plugging along while seeking shade on the climb up to Carson.

Out of Carson, the views the climb granted us brought us renewed energy as we ascended further. A few miles later, we were on top of the Continental Divide at Coney Peak where a thunderstorm broke out, releasing graupel.  The storm hastened our pace, hoping to descend safely into the Divide aid station between mile 31-32.

Loving the views of the Divide

In the latter part of the stretch between the Divide and Slumgullion, the miles were noticeably taking a toll on everyone. We were very elated to see a family friend about a quarter mile from Slumgullion – his cheers could be heard from a mile away and brought us into the Slumgullion aid happy and relieved.

After a quick shoe change, refueling and picking up pacers, we were back at it, refreshed and looking forward to completing our final climb. Our awesome pacers Jeff and Nate brought a revitalization to our run, especially when they broke out in a ridiculously-pitched and hilarious rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” in the final descent into town. And kudos to Jeff for bounding off in the uneven aspen groves and mountain basins to take a snapshot of the beautiful scenery!

Vickers Ranch views

At 8:12pm and 15 hours after beginning our adventure, we crossed the finish line together, happy in our accomplishments and journey together.

Thank you so much to my stepdad and mom, friends Jeff and Nate for being our amazing crew and pacers. We can’t thank you enough for not only your support and help with the race, but also taking the weekend from your own schedules. Thank you to my dad, brother, and family friend Alan for the journey of a gorgeous 50 miles together. Racing together made the day not only more meaningful, but also more memorable. A HUGE thanks goes out to Lake City, the volunteers, EMS, and directors for another unforgettable race – you all are pros at putting on a race that creates a community like none other. Just like last year, this year’s San Juan Solstice is again a favorite race and favorite memory.