From Little Rock to Leadville: Wait, What? Little Rock?

Am I the only one who feels like the events of the last couple of years have eaten away at my brain? It's not just that I haven't been able to focus at work - I've been unable to will myself to write for fun, and that sort of scares me. It's been a while since I've posted here with any regularity. My goal is to be back on a roll now because I actually have something to write about: my journey to and through the Lead Challenge in Leadville, Colorado, this summer.

But first, let's catch up. I live in Little Rock, Arkansas! What? It's been a long and winding road, to say the least. Less than a year ago, I was living and working in Lafayette, Colorado, where I've been for the last five years, and Trent was living and working in Kansas City, Missouri. Of course our goal was to be together...but where? And how? Once we stopped focusing on the "where," the "how" became easy. We eloped in Golden, Colorado, on September 4, 2021. 

We made it official. 😍

It was a beautiful, perfect day, but at the end of that weekend, he drove back to Kansas City. I guess there's something about being married (eeee!) that made me just want to be with my husband (eeee!!) more than ever, so a couple of months later, I packed up my stuff and my cat and we drove to Missouri. I love Colorado, but I love Trent more, so I got my head wrapped around the idea of being a Midwesterner (hmmm). 

Of course, life does what it does, and within a month or so, Trent was presented with an un-pass-uppable job opportunity in Little Rock. So... yada yada yada... here we are. And so far, so good (I've been here a little less than a week). I've found an awesome Masters group to swim with and I've got some really beautiful places to run and ride. When we moved to Denver five years ago, I was expecting all these things. Finding them in Little Rock has been an incredible, wonderful surprise. They call Arkansas the Natural State for a reason. It's gorgeous here. We even have a mini mountain near our house.

In the middle of all of this change, I signed up for and got into the Lead Challenge (eeeeeeee!!!!). I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say Leadville is my favorite place in the world. I've done an event or two there every summer for the last few years, so signing up for the Lead Challenge doesn't feel too far out of left field. Bonus: now that I'm no longer living in Colorado, participating in the Leadville series of races forces me to spend most of my summer there. 😀

What is the Lead Challenge? It's basically all of the races in Leadville: the marathon in June, the Silver Rush 50 mile run in July, the Leadville 100 mountain bike race and the 10K run the following day in early August, and the Leadville 100 mile run a week later. 

How unrealistic a goal is this? I've started all of the running races before and I've finished the marathon and the 10K within the time cuts. I was 8 minutes too late to the finish line at the Silver Rush in 2018 to be considered an official finisher, so I have that goal looming ahead of me. I DNFed my previous attempt at the 100 Run at mile 40 in Twin Lakes after missing the time cut at the 31-mile mark. Also I've never done a mountain bike race before. In case it wasn't clear, I'm saying that I have my work cut out for me. However, I fully believe that I'm capable of completing the whole thing, even the 100 Mile Run at the end of the series.

It really stung to be eight minutes late to this line.

So here we are in February. The first race is in June. I have a new pair of trail shoes and a new mountain bike. I've joined a strong team of women who #setgoalssmashgoals and I'm so happy to have their inspiration to draw from. I'll have my nutrition nailed down with Tailwind. I've got the support of my husband who luckily also loves riding mountain bikes, although running is no longer his cup of tea. And, of course, I have my amazing coach, Nell Rojas, who has coached other middle aged, female runners and cyclists to the finish lines in Leadville. She coached me through my first Leadville journey and I'm really excited to have her coaching me virtually for this one. And I'm even lucky enough to have awesome friends who are doing many of the races too!

It's a good time to have a big goal -  I'm coming out of the pandemic haze of "training for life" (that got boring) and now I'm training for real with something to train for. I feel like myself again. Join me on the journey, either virtually by reading about it here, or in person at 10,000 feet this summer - there are still slots available for several of the races.

Thanks for reading and happy trails!