Cold, Cold Mt. Evans Ascent

I ran the Mt. Evans Ascent this morning with a cold - in the cold. Fourteen and a half miles uphill, at altitude, with a head cold. I caught a cold more than a week ago at the end of our vacation in Yellowstone, and it's kept my head stuffed and muscles achy since then. I felt just barely better enough early this morning to run the race with the minimalist goal of finishing without making myself more sick. I met my goal with a finish of 2:43:43, which is almost 20 minutes slower than my finish last year.

Did I mention that it was cold, too? Temperatures were in the 40s at the start but it got colder, windier, and foggier as we got up in altitude. The race organizers almost cut the race short at 9 miles due to the dense fog at the summit, but decided to let it go the full length. It was a rather misable experience, actually.