To have this experience was a long time goal of mine – the feeling of running 50k in the mountains! I wasn’t supposed to do this until April/May, but I decided to give it a go yesterday and was able to finish it (March 8, 2025).
I have enjoyed 90% of the training process. I started building my running base slowly about a year ago, and the last half year I’ve averaged around 3x a week running. It’s been great to have a concrete goal to work towards and then achieve it. I’ve had injuries along the way, but I just adjusted and kept running. I didn’t follow a concrete training plan, but my goal initially was to run intervals once a week, 10-12k fast run once a week, and a long slow run once a week…that didn’t happen. Mostly, because of the injuries I’ve had to manage, but I also like to go more on feel. For me it keeps it more enjoyable, and when it’s something I do in my free time, it has to be somewhat enjoyable. I pulled my calf muscle late last year, and then re-pulled it once or twice. So, I ended up not running intervals at all, and only the last month or so I’ve started to run faster on my 10-12k’s. Everything else has been very slow runs which was a new experience for me.
I didn’t really get to run beyond around 19k in training, and I was supposed to build those longer runs over the next 1-2 months…but I ran out of patience. Yesterdays run was far from planned, the days leading up to, my diet was horrible and I didn’t anticipate giving the 50k a go until I was actually running. From the get-go my body didn’t really feel great, but when I got on the trail it was very enjoyable and the conditions where great. The first half of the trail is awesome, it starts from Arthurs Rock parking lot in Lory State Park with a big climb of around 650 m elevation going over 7,5k up to Horsetooth Rock, then from there a beautiful downhill on the Southridge trail with views of Longs Peak. Then from the Horsetooth Open Space parking lot it goes back up the Spring creek trail and connects with a big downhill along the Towers road and then connecting with the nomad trail that goes back to Arthurs Rock parking lot. Those first 25-26k are so beautiful and was really enjoyable. Still, after this first half I wasn’t committed to do the 50k, but I wasn’t ruling it out either. Initially, I was supposed to finish my run after that first part. But then I was thinking, “I already spent 3,5 hours running, let me try to do this 7,5 k loop around the valley and see how I feel”. So that’s what I did, and now I only had 17-18k left to go. I could see the end now, it’s doable! So I set out for another loop and counted down every k. I was talking to myself and hyping myself up the whole time. The second loop started getting painful but when I finished it I had just short of 10k left. Now, there was no way I was not going to do it. So I did the last loop which was pretty painful, and then finished the last 2k left. Man, what a great feeling!
In a sense, it was good that I wasn’t fully prepared for it, because a big part of doing the 50k in the mountains was to get the feeling of pushing myself beyond what I normally do. So, when I’m not fully prepared it becomes more a test of my will since it gets more painful.
The numbers (Strava link):
50K
1541 meters of elevation (5056 feet)
Run time: 6h 51 min
Total time: 7h 53 min
I wanted to share my experience here, and hopefully this is the kick start of writing more on this blog again. Between starting my own business and raising a little kid, I havn’t had much time for this blog. But, as it says on the welcome page, this is a life project and I plan to write about more adventures this year…I have a few planned 🙂
Through Mountains 