Today for our day off from Wilderness First Responder training, a group of us got together to go into the town of Leadville, Colorado to run the Fish Hatchery 5k trail race. This was the first smaller community race I’ve run in a while – but it was by far the HARDEST 5k I’ve ever experienced. The course starts at the Fish Hatchery at about 9,600 feet above sea level, and immediately climbs up to about 10,000 feet. The climb, with the combination of the mountain trail, intense elevation gain, and very thin air made it the hardest I’ve ever experienced. By the time I got to the top, I was breathing as hard as I could, I was feeling dizzy, and my hands had started to go numb. After the hill, the rest of the course was a beautiful trail through the trees, around a lake, and then a descent back down to the fish hatchery. We all had a great time running, and everybody won a raffle prize at the end. Finally, our team mate Will Dodds, who runs for The University of Texas at Austin, took first in his age group! Congrats Will!