By Nate Van Noord (RO staff)
Aaron, my former housemate from Detroit, came to visit last summer - his first time to Colorado. He was in the midst of training for his first marathon, the Detroit Marathon, and was hoping to continue his training while here. I warned him, though, that Detroit’s elevation above sea level is 600 feet and Colorado Springs 6,000. He said he couldn’t wait.
So, before he arrived, I sent him a list of potential spots and he picked a run at the Garden of the Gods and hiking the Incline. Our Garden run wound through the park, gave him some views, and ended at Siamese Twins.
The next afternoon, after he finished his virtual work meetings, we headed to The Incline in 90-degree heat. On the shuttle bus to the start, I mentioned a little bit about the history of The Incline. It was originally a railway for about 80 years until 1990 when a rockslide washed out the railbed and the Cog Railway decided not to repair the tracks. It then became a fitness trail that attracts folks from all over the country, if not the world, for its 45% grade and 2,000 feet in elevation gain.
I also mentioned a few people have ascended over 1,000 times in a year and the fastest time to the top of the 2,700 steps is under 17 minutes. With the heat, he assured me, he was just trying to finish this bad boy.
There were surprisingly a handful of others on the trail surviving the heat with us. Halfway up, we took a break for a couple minutes.
After soaking in the view, we kept on trucking and made sure to walk in the bits of shade on the edges of each step. We passed a woman six months pregnant, a dad and 8-year-old son, and a couple in their 70s.
We made it to the top in 34 minutes - not bad for a couple flatlanders.
After taking the Barr Trail back down, we headed to Yellow Mountain Tea Shop in Old Colorado City for a little cool down.
Three months later, Aaron finished the Detroit Marathon in 3:31 - and this Spring a half marathon in 1:31.
