Embrace the Hills

Thistles and Fog-Good Morning Run

Sunday Kelly and I headed out for a 9ish mile run. We decided to take it to the trails of Umstead because after all we were training for a downhill half marathon and Umstead has lots of good downhill’s and even better uphill’s.

I like to consider myself a mountain goat. I long ago embraced hills. Hello people, we do live in the Piedmont and we have a few hills. I love the challenge of a good hill. I may not be fast but I can climb with the best of them. I have done 2 half marathons in the mountains of NC so I consider myself somewhat of a hill badass. However on this run we met a gentleman that I bow down to.

We will call said gentleman Mr. Pikes Peak.  Kelly and I meet up with him on the last half of our run on Turkey Creek trail. We kept seeing him in the distance and occasionally he would walk (don’t we all?) but he kept trucking along the trail. We finally trotted up beside him and exchanged a few words. He asked us what we were training for and we told him about our downhill race coming up in a few weekends. We also talked about other races and I mentioned mountain races. Well, folks let me tell you I feel humbled. Our gentleman runner said he was training for Pikes Peak. WHAT!?! Pikes Peak marathon is touted as one of America’s toughest marathons. There is a 7,815 foot climb to the top of the 14,115 foot peak. I like a climb but good grief! I think this one would cripple me. Before I forget to mention, Mr. Pikes Peak had to be in his 60’s yet another reason why I feel less of a badass. I asked him later on how many times he had run Pikes Peak and he said he couldn’t remember but he had run it EVERY year since 1997. For those of you who don’t want to do the math that is 17 years. Holy Hell! He told me about his training and told me to add this race to my bucket list. I may be crazy folks but I don’t know if I am that crazy. The whole time talking to him he was smiling which I imagine he does when running Pikes Peak. His smile was contagious and yes I probably wasn’t smiling any more than when I started but I felt my attitude change.

As we went our separate ways on the trail he said he hoped to see us again and I sure the heck hope so. This man probably has some great stories that I would love to hear. As I was climbing the last hill before leaving the park I thought about the pain this man goes through every year to run the marathon. I think even the most elite athlete would struggle. I made it up that hill and felt good because I figured if Mr. Pikes Peak could get out there and climb the toughest mountain then this hill would not kill me. I felt motivated and inspired and humbled all at the same time. I know when I am running the last leg of the Tuna 200 and I fill like crap I will think back to this man and get my arse moving. So thank you Mr. Pikes Peak for the inspiration. Happy trails!