I recently came back to work after 4 GLORIOUS weeks off. My family and I go anywhere during this time but enjoyed the Pikes Peak region and all that it provides. Most of my family tends to be the sleeping in type so this provided me some extra opportunities to travel for some of my runs in the early mornings. I found myself in Manitou Springs….a lot. I love this little town and it was a perfect place to be as I'm training for the Pikes Peak Ascent and the Run Rabbit Run 100 miler. In my opinion, all the best trails in the area start in Manitou so this place became a 2^nd home for me during 4 weeks of solid training. I learned all about where to park for free and where to park with a fee. I learned the best times to be on and off Barr Trail. Most importantly, I learned that training on trails with a steep grade is a killer! The past couple of times I raced on Pikes Peak, I did ZERO training on it. I rode my bike a lot and that fitness carried over really well. Add a couple of years and some unwanted pounds to me and I’m not as confident as I’d like to be. I took this opportunity to get on the mountain to make sure I can still run uphill.

The first time I went from Memorial Park to the top of Pikes Peak was near the end of my vacation. I wanted a long, easy (I know, relative term on a mountain) run. I put a piece of electrical tape on my Garmin so I wouldn’t know how quickly I was moving. I didn’t want the watch to dictate anything I was doing.  I was going quite easy and felt like it was around a 4 hour ascent. I pulled the tape back at the end and was pleasantly surprised to see 3:31. 

Wow!! All the work I had done the first 3 weeks of my vacation on the different trails through Manitou seemed to be paying off.  I love this little city and how welcoming they are to the endurance sport community. I feed off it's energy. I’ve continued to work hard so I can wrap up the Triple Crown of Running on a high note. I can’t wait the see my Pikes Peak Sports Triple Crown Runners teammates finish their stories with an exclamation point at this race. Thanks Manitou for giving us such an amazing backyard to train and play in!