Meghan's Adventure Blog: Mt Evans Ascent

This past weekend was full of lots of activities all surrounding the Mt Evans Ascent running race on the 19th of June. The weekend started out on Thursday night with my good friend Jen flying in from Austin, TX. After picking her up in Denver, we headed for dinner and beer at the Vine Street Pub near City Park (see above picture). This brewery is run by the same people who do the Mountain and Southern Sun in Boulder where we both frequently visit when we are in the area. After a yummy beer and buffalo chicken sandwich we headed back down to the Springs. I was able to take Friday off work so we could hangout and get ready to head to Denver. Jen had never been to Manitou or my place. I showed her around the Garden of the Gods as we did a very slow 3 mile run to get the legs moving and Jen's lungs a little used to altitude.

In the Garden with Pikes Peak in the background.

The rest of the day was spent packing, eating, and running errands. We left for my cousin Heather's place in Denver late afternoon and finished the evening off with a big pasta dinner and salad before crashing early. Before heading to bed I did get word from my mom that Jenny was in labor with my second niece or nephew. I woke the next morning to find out I had a new beautiful healthy nephew Russell Benjamin. It was a great wake up! At 530 am we were off to the Morrison park and ride to meet my friend Wendy who was the sports photographer for the race.

It didn't take up long to get up Floyd Hill, stopped for potty break at Idaho Springs and we were at the start at about 645. Gun time was 730am which was plenty of time to warmup, get race packet and to find a tree for another potty break. The weather was perfect with blue skies and a very slight chill to the air.

This was my second year running this race but it was Jen's first. It is a 14.5 mile race on road taking you from Echo Lake which sits at 10,600 feet and climbs to the summit of Mt Evans at 14,264 feet. It was great to have both Wendy and John cheering us on. We both successfully finished the race and I was able to improve my time from last year finishing in 2hr39min07sec and 11th overall female. The winning female came in at 2hr01min37sec (a course record) and the winning male at 1hr41min21sec. Jen didn't finish too far behind me. Upon finishing, I had to put warm clothes on immediately despite still having blue skies. While waiting for Wendy and John at the summit when tried to stay warm by making our way to the actual summit. The race does not finish right at the summit. We walked the 500 feet up and took some summit photos. Then we passed the time with people watching and animal watching.

The lone scruffy bighorn who thought he was a mountain goat.

At the finish.

A hungry marmot.

The mountain goats were everywhere and could care less about all the people.

We did it! This was my first official time a the summit because last year I didn't go the extra 500 feet because the weather was so bad (wind, snow, fog).

Wendy and John finally made it to the top and Wendy of course had to take more pictures at the top. We headed down the mountain shortly thereafter but it took a while driving down waiting for slow tourists. We also had to pull over and stop because her brakes were too hot and quite stinky. The post race party was at the start which included food and the awards ceremony. I just barely missed an age group award as I got 4th. Oh well! There were a ton of great runners this year. Jen, however, won a raffle prize which was exciting. After inhaling our food, we made the trek down I-70 to my car and then headed up to 12 Mile for the night. We met some other friends up there including Tom who had finished a 100 mile mountain bike race in Bailey that same day. My dad was already up there with the dogs which was nice because it was Father's Day on Sunday. So we had lots of celebrate-finishing running races, mtn bike races, and fathers! We had a feast of a dinner: ribs, sausages, corn, beans, and watermelon margaritas that even my dad drank! The next morning I took all the ladies on a 90 minute run up to Sheep Meadow. They all did great and the dogs had a blast. The run was quickly followed by a huge brunch of pancakes, scrambled eggs with sausage and fruit.