It's been seven years...

...and I decided to do it again.  In the interim, I moved to Leadville, moved to Colorado Springs, remarried, took up road biking.  I decided this time that my principal training for the Ascent would be...road biking!  All directions from my house in Colorado Springs (really close to the fire area) involve a lot of climbing, and often you have to fight wind, too.  So I don't do big distances, but my Garmin Edge 200 frequently shows 1000' and more of climbing per ride.  Also, for a relatively brief period before the race (August 18th) I was walking/running the daily two mile route with my dogs, trying to run all the hills.  Who knows how well this might have worked if I had not come up with the (flawed) strategy of running the first two miles in 26 minutes to "beat the crowds" that form at the series of switchbacks known as the Ws.  I did not beat the crowds, to say the least, and, as the pundits predicted, really beat myself up.  I beat the Barr Camp cutoff time at 7.6 miles by 21 minutes, but made the cutoff at A-frame at 10.2 miles by a scant 6 minutes.  For the last two miles, I was taking frequent sitting breaks to take the weight off my legs and stretch my lower back.  By the clock, I finished around 20 minutes before the cutoff (21 by chip timing.)