Chris Wristen

Back in August, the day after completing the Pikes Peak Ascent, I drove out to Leadville, Colo., to catch the end of my friend Laurie’s successful completion of the Leadville Trail 100.

I’d been to Leadville a few days earlier to have a pre-race lunch with Laurie after I arrived in Colorado, and on the drive in I started getting the itch to want to race in Leadville. I’ve always felt like a Colorado kid at heart, and mountain races appeal to me — hence the Pikes Peak race and my Lawrence Trail Hawks nickname, Summit Hawk. It was on the drive home after the LT 100, with Leadville and its mountainous surroundings in my rearview mirror, that I decided I definitely would return to do one of the Leadville races in 2012.

The 100-miler seemed out of the question. I’ve been running trails for less than two years, have yet to complete an official marathon and am still figuring out what this body can handle.

While reviewing the race series options during the past few months, however, the Silver Rush 50-Mile Trail Run kept jumping out at me. Maybe it’s the name, Silver Rush, that ties into the old mining town’s history; maybe it’s the fact that the entire race is above 10,200 feet; or maybe it’s that it’s the perfect midpoint distance to let me know if a future LT 100 attempt is reasonable.

The more I thought about it, the more the Silver Rush made sense. It’s a race where I’ll either bonk hard or finish strong, but either way I’ll find out if exactly what I’m made of.

Registration opened today, and I’m signed up. It’s official. On July 15, 2012, it’s on.

I have eight and a half months to tackle other races, both marathons and 50Ks, log plenty of long runs, weights workouts and Ogg Road repeats. Then, it’s back to Leadville to turn a year-long dream into reality.