It was a day in early March 2003, and I opened up my 1^st email of the day. It was from Mariela Botella. "Morgan, the Pikes Peak Marathon is 90% full. Better hurry and sign up if you are still interested in running it with me." I typed back "Thanks. OK, I’ll do it."

So that’s how the decision was made to run to the top of the world, at least in the US. Mariela Botella has done the Pikes Peak Marathon (ascent and descent) several times. It is her favorite race of the year. And one day, while doing steps at Rice Stadium, we met and I asked what I thought was a normal runner-to-runner question "What’s your next big race?" Without hesitation she responded "My favorite - Pikes Peak in Colorado." After another 15 minutes of promo that the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce would pay dearly for, I started giving some serious thought to joining her in this event. Several more days of email notes from Mariela that contained info on the marathon, how to train, what to wear, what to pack, how to acclimate, and pace charts, and my interest level had peaked. All I needed was that final boost to signup online. When I finally signed up, the marathon was 95% full.

OK. Now I that I had signed up, I had to go back and "really" read all of those notes from Mariela. Let’s see:

• Training - lots of steps and hill work. I’m OK with that.
• Hydration - drink, drink, drink well before race day and plan on carrying 2 bottles during the race. I’m OK with that.
• Course - all trail with many rocks 13.2 miles up and 13 back down with an elevation gain of 8,000 feet and an average grade of 11%.
• Weather - the higher you go, the colder it gets, so take warm clothes. And, it could rain, so take a poncho.
• Food - pack some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along with Gu. OK.

But what about anything abnormal? (Sorry I asked.) The one topic that raised the hair on my neck was ACCLIMATION. What did this mean, especially to a person who has lived at sea level his entire life? I’ve got to get more information

So off to the Internet I go. The more I read, the more scared I got. Horror stories, at least in a runner's view, of people taking 3 hours to traverse the last 3 miles to the top. Take a step and then take 4 deep breaths. What have I gotten myself into??? So call the wizard. "Mariela, I’m scared and I’m not sure I can do this." This occurred at least 3 times a week during the entire summer till race week. Each time Mariela assured me that I would be fine and that it would be the most remarkable race I will have ever run. In fact, she "guaranteed it". But the doubts lingered.

So for the entire summer I concentrated on how to acclimate. I finally came up with a game plan. Go up 3 days in advance, do some hiking at the higher levels and hope that the body would be ready by race day. What was Mariela going to do? Go up the day before. That can’t be right. People were telling me that when they ski, they don’t start feeling good until the 3^rd day. That was my basis. Wrong.

It was now race week. Tuesday morning I decided to go up on Tuesday to give myself one extra day to acclimate. What a wuss. I packed two suitcases of winter and summer clothes and got on the plane to Colorado. No turning back now. I flew into Denver, got a car rental and started the 80 mile drive down to Colorado Springs. The sights were phenomenal. Mountains, valleys, snow fences along the side of the road, the Air Force Academy. But I was looking for one peak in particular. The one that has no trees at the top. As I pulled into my hotel, I saw it. It was big. I mean really big.

Next morning I decided to introduce myself and my running gear to the peak, but in the comfort of the car first. So I got up early and started to drive up. Elevation signs kept popping into view. 6,000, 7,000, 8,000. Hey what’s that? It’s a trail at 8,500 feet. Let’s stop and see what it feels like. The trail was a 7 mile loop. Perfect. I walked a little. No problem. Started to run. Still no problem. Ran faster up and down some hills and still no problem. Acclimation! Was it a myth?

I finished that run, got back to the car and decided to drive all the way to the top of Pikes Peak to see what would happen. I arrived, got out of the car, found the marathon trail and decided to go down. 2 miles later, I decided to turn around and face the truth. So I started to walk up. No problems. Started to run a little. Still no problems. This is going to be easy. But I had forgotten about what Mariela does. Get there the day before.

The next 2 days I decided to continue with hiking. I found the Garden of the Gods and fell in love with the uniquely shaped mountain ‘slivers’. And the trails were perfect. This acclimation thing wasn’t so bad.

OK, day of the race. Got up early, made 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, filled 2 water bottles, packed my fanny pack with a poncho, tyvek jacket, camera, gloves, Gu and anti-inflammatories. Turned on the weather channel. Rain at 3pm. Otherwise, 50 degrees at the starting line in Manitou Springs and an expected high of 40 degrees at the top.

Got to the starting line area and found Mariela. She was full of energy and totally focused. I was 20 pounds heavier (at least it felt that way with my fanny pack), but I was ready to get underway. The gun sounded and the 800 runners took off.

Mariela took off in a trot. I felt like a turtle. Why??? I told Mariela to go on and I would catch up. NOT. The start was at 6,000 feet and I was having a hard time breathing already. OK. Just plan to walk and find a rhythm. I walked, but the only rhythm I found was a guy whistling the Arkansas Razorbacks theme. So I was relegated to walking, which was fine with me. Everyone else was doing it so it must be all right. Mile after mile went by. I didn’t feel any better, but I didn’t feel any worse either. The sights were magnificent. Since I was walking, this allowed me to get some good camera shots.

Before I knew it, we were at mile 10 of the ascent. This was the tree line (also called timberline). This was where the horror stories began. And, this was where my nightmare began. Breathing was now heavier. And what made matters worse, since the trail was narrow, we had to make room for the runners coming back down. This was when I found out about acclimating. Each time I stopped to let a descending runner go by, I got dizzy. Similar to when you stoop over and get up real fast. My pace had slowed from 20 minute miles to 30 minute miles. I saw Mariela. She was on her way back down. I stepped over and took her picture. She was 2 miles ahead of me, which meant I had 1 more mile to the top. 1 hour later, I reached the top. The emotions were unbelievable. Relief, joy, pride, and exhaustion. Time for the P&J sandwiches. It took me 5 hours and 46 minutes to reach the summit. I rested for 15 more minutes, had someone take my picture at the summit and headed back down.

What should I expect, I had not planned on this phase. It couldn’t be any worse. And it wasn’t. A walk turned into a slow trot, which turned into a jog, which turned into a comfortable running pace which I was able to maintain the entire descent. I kept passing people on the way down - 5, then 10, then 20, then 30. I ended up passing 50 people on the way down. But the most impressive thing I remember was I was not passed by a single person in the last 13 miles. That was fun. Running downhill, jumping over the rocks, braking for the hairpin turns on the switchbacks.

3pm rolled around and I thought about the weather forecast. Like clockwork, it started to rain. Just a drizzle, but now I was in my element - humidity!!! I continued to pass runners and finally emerged from the mountain into the streets of Manitou Springs. The spectators were just as wonderful as they are at the Houston Marathon finish. Each yell and cheer fueled the adrenaline. I finished the last 3 miles in 29 minutes. When approaching the finish line, I saw Mariela and I gave her the thumbs up. And then they called out my name as I crossed the finish line. Total time was 8 hours 42 minutes. What a feeling. I had completed the Pikes Peak Marathon. The finish line volunteers draped a medal around my neck, sat me down, took my shoes off for me, got me refreshments and fruit. I then decided to do some quick math and found it took me only 2 hours and 42 minutes to come back down, versus the 2 hours to do the last 3 miles on the ascent.

Mariela then found me in the finish line area and congratulated me. She asked "Now wasn’t that the most remarkable run you have ever done?" YES, YES, YES. I was ecstatic.

After calming down, I decided to go over to the posted results. Mariela finished 1 hour ahead of me. That may not seem like much, but she did the Pikes Peak ascent the day before (13 miles up). What an athlete.

And will I do it again? Yes I will. And I will tell everyone, it is the most remarkable race you will ever run.