And Then The Ascent

And then I ran all summer, up and down that mountain, on the trails around Colorado that reached higher than normal elevation and until the Incline was my best friend and I knew Barr Trail like the back of my hand and my running shoes were tattered pieces of hard work and my thighs bulged beneath my Sunday skirt.

And then it was the week of and I took extra caution to look both ways three times before crossing streets and didn't participate in sports and tied my rugged nikes extra tight to avoid rolled ankles and drank more water than Pikes Peak's total annual precipitation and went to the pasta dinner with Mr. Mac and his old timers who had run the mountain more years than I had been alive and dreamt of the Ascent every night.

And then it was the night before and I watched Chariots of Fire which who knew it was actually a religion movie and not a running movie but it was inspiring anyway while i painted my toenails pink and took a break to talk to Jordan when she brought me a good luck card and went to bed early but didn't actually fall asleep until I had mentally run the race and gone through the GREAT analogy completely and told my beating heart to stop beating so much becuase I would need that pulse in the morning.

And then the alarm clock went off but barely before I sprung out of bed and looked in the mirror and thought today is the day it is the day i run up Pikes Peak and read Summer's good luck sign she made for me and gathered my energy jellys and my initiated shoes and tiptoed around the kitchen i had come home to all summer after every run and ate mom's toast and drove with mom down the road I drove all summer, down to Academy where the Peak was looming and down to Garden of the Gods where the Peak was peeking and down to Ruxton Ave where the Peak was beckoning and its invited guests milled around Memorial Park, sipping Gatorade and stretching while they pinned on their numbers.

And then to the start line where I talked to someone who had run it 34 times in a row and asked another woman about her five finger shoes and listened to a talented woman belt Katherine Lee Bate's resounding lyrics with the inspirational summit just winking in the background, winking, wninking, the Incline pointing straight up to its teasing apex, knowing i would be there in just 4 hours, knowing those 4 hours were proceeded by countless hours running the city all summer,knowing that summer lead to this moment and to that moment 4 hours away.

And then.

Hand on watch.

Feet on toes.

Eyes on Peak.

Finger on trigger.

Mind on edge.

I took off.