Excited, anxious, nervous, scared you name it and I’m feeling it right now. All the planning, plotting, scouting are done and there is only one thing left…..just go for it. People ask me if I feel ready and the answer is no….but I’ve come to realize that you can never feel fully ready for something this monumental, you can’t plan for every eventuality, the weather most definitely will not cooperate, there will be some major adversity both on trail and off trail, but that’s the name of the game.

On Wednesday morning long before the sun rises I will leave the Needleton TH along the Animas River on a journey to try and climb all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers in record time, under 9days 21hours 51min. This entails climbing a 14er or group of 14ers, returning to a trailhead, then having my crew whisk me away to the next TH while I eat and sleep, then I’ll do it all over again. There is no camping, there are no ‘breaks’, once the clock starts it’s a non-stop race to get to Longs Peak (last 14er).

For those looking to entertain themselves at the expense of my suffering I’ll be carrying a Delorme tracker for the duration, the direct link can be found at…

https://share.delorme.com/EricLee14ers

The backup tracking unit is my SPOT…

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0OAtCT8qdLKi1s8uq3teYDliV8FmoqcMs

Additionally my friend Nate from Faster Tracks has setup a tracking sight at…

https://www.fastertracks.com/track/colorado-14er-speed-record-attempt/ericlee

Hopefully my crew will also be able to post notes and photos along the way to the Faster Tracks sight.

I have no clue how this is going to go, but it’s going to go. A huge thanks to my crew and friends who have dedicated their time and energy to even make this madness possible. Without a dedicated crew one can’t even attempt this crazy record. So as of 2pm on Tuesday 6/28 I go into radio silence, and become no more than a blinking dot on a map to most of you….see you in ten days.

Feeling small admiring the beauty of the Elk Range from afar atop Cottonwood Pass.

Warning: Bitching, moaning, and overall 🙁 ahead.

Lying in bed with a headache, chills, and feeling overall shitty for the second week this spring….not how I expected my training for the 14ers record to go. I think whenever any of us make big plans we have an ideal plan of how things will go; we’ll get in plenty of training, we’ll feel mostly strong doing so, and all the logistics will come together for our big event. Well, surprise surprise, that rarely happens. I was feeling good after 11 laps on Green Mt in 19h and an overall strong winter when bam, I came down with the flu for a week. No sooner had I recovered from that when some nasty hay fever kicked in and I was coughing and spitting up mucus 24/7. Just when I thought training was getting back on track I got hit with a rhinovirus, taking me out for another week. As I sat at home pouting, wrapped in a blanket when it was 85F outside, I decided I needed a walk, no matter how bad I felt.

Mariposa Lily, seen during my slow sickly walk.

As I slowly strolled along the trail the humidity of an afternoon thunderstorm clung to my skin, the rustling of the grass and the chirping of crickets tickled my ears, and I was even able to stop and enjoy the flowers blooming in the meadow. I realized, that my woah is me attitude didn’t really do me any good, and that I still had a lot to look forward to. My health would improve, hopefully my bad luck streak would end, and I’d be back to enjoying all the amazing things in life. Sure my training for the 14ers record attempt has not gone as planned, but it does no good to dwell on what could have been. I’ve always tried to live in the present and for the future, though admittedly sometimes I need a reminder. My job now is to do the best I can with what has happened, and take everything one day at a time. So here’s to a healthy next three weeks and a renewed appreciation for all the things big and small in life. I hope everyone else can too.