Michelle Holds Women's Fastest Known Time for Boulder's Mesa Trail Out & Back

On a lark one day in July 2018, Michelle decided to see how fast she could run Boulder's popular Mesa Trail (in & out) with just water and a gel -- no support, no gear dropped, just for pure joy.  She ran the 13.4 total miles in 1 hour 59 minutes 10 seconds.   To her surprise, her run earned her the Fastest Known Time (FKT) for all women running this trail.  The woman holding second place ran it in 3 hours 3 minutes 51 seconds, so you can see why we think Michelle is INCREDIBLE.  Our Michelle plans to go back and beat her own record some day, since she didn't feel she was really pushing it that day.

Here's a link to the site:  

https://fastestknowntime.com/route/mesa-trail-boulder-co

Blue Sky Marathon: Fort Collins to Loveland . . . and back

Our Michelle came in SECOND place out of 114 women who ran the Blue Sky Trail Marathon on October 20, 2018!  Only one other woman beat her time of 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 39 seconds.  Michelle's pace was an astonishing 8.97 minute miles.  She kept this pace running 26.7 miles with 3,500' of vertical gain and approximately 3,500' of descent.  She accomplished this in spite of recent injuries and not feeling 100% well.  A gal with true grit!  There were 393 people who ran the race and Michelle finished 19th overall.  The trail headed north for an eight-mile loop on the Horsetooth Mountain Park trails before returning south for a trip down to the Devil's Backbone Open Space.  The terrain ranges in difficulty from smooth dirt trail to technical rock gardens.  

Aspen Power of Four Makes Us So Proud of Michelle

Our Michelle competed in the breathtaking Power of Four 50 kilometer trail run in Aspen in July 2018.  Inconceivably, this run traverses all four Aspen Snowmass mountains (Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, and Snowmass Mountain) in its 31+ miles and has 12,178 feet of elevation gain and 11,632 feet of elevation loss.

Michelle was the first woman to finish the race, finishing before a number of front runner men, but her time ultimately didn't count.  Poor course markings with a directional sign down caused her to follow several front runner men off course for awhile and midway through the course, she was informed that she and the 9 others making the same mistake were disqualified.  (NOTE:  The Fan Club is very upset about this whole thing because it happened in this race the year before -- the race organizers should have taken care of the problem).  In any case, Michelle made us so proud by continuing on to the finish.  

She said:   "I discussed it for 10 minutes with the people who notified me of the disqualification and considered ending the run but, then, I decided it's beautiful here.  I love trail running.  I can do this.  I'm happy I finished and I came in (unofficially) first among the women even though I wasted 10 minutes talking and also wasted time running off course."

Ultimately, she was awarded 6th place in the 25K run.

See the article in the Aspen Times link for additional details:  

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/sports/max-taam-caroline-tory-win-power-of-four-triple-crowns/

Our Ultra Runner Took Third Place in the Golden Gate Dirty 30

Our uber-athlete, Michelle, ran the Golden Gate Dirty 30 in June 2018.  The race is held at Golden Gate State Park and features 7,250 feet of climbing and descending.  Michelle placed THIRD in this 50K race (just over 31 miles) out of 115 women.  What's even more remarkable is that she placed third even though she took a bad fall within moments of the finish line.  Plus, wet feet caused a bad blister.  Even so, she ran the race in 5 hours 54 minutes and 51 seconds (11:25 minute miles).  She is truly a powerhouse.

High Altitude Trail Run Up Pikes Peak is Physically Demanding

Even though our Wonder-ful Woman grew up in a Colorado mountain town at high altitude, trail running straight up Pikes Peak climbing 7,815 feet was grueling for her.  The peak is at 14,115 feet and the race finished at 14,050, after running up 13.32 miles (downhill portions were virtually non-existent).  The Pikes Peak Ascent run occurred in August 2017.  Michelle finished SECOND in her age group, 7th in females, and 44th overall.  She completed the run in 3 hours, 3 minutes, and 30 seconds.  Michelle ran at a pace of 13:47 minute miles.  The fastest female in the race beat her by only 15 minutes.  We are so proud of her.

Michelle Breaks Record at 50K Desert Rats Trail Run, Fruita, CO

To our delight, Michelle ran her first 50K race in April 2017.  A 50K race is a little over 31 miles (31.0685596).  She not only won it, but she set a new women's record in the race.  Michelle traversed terrain that offered 3,400 feet of climbing between 4,500 and 5,400 feet of elevation.  She held a pace of 9-minute-29-second-miles during this race and completed it in 4 hours, 55 minutes and 17 seconds.  She was the FIRST female to cross the finish line in front of 32 other females and finished eighth overall behind the top male runners.  She shattered the previous women's 50K record of 5 hours, 10 minutes and 31 seconds for the course  The race is on the Kokopelli trail near Fruita, Colorado and is an annual event called the Desert Rats Trail Running Festival.  Michelle is so strong and so fast, and she's only at the beginning of her trail running career.  Her Fan Club is certain she's going to be even more famous in the future. 

Long's Peak Women's Speed Record

This is our spectacular Michelle running up Long's Peak.  It was when she first told us she ran to the top of Long's Peak via the Keyhole Route to in 3 hours and 5 minutes to claim the unofficial women's speed record for the run that we began to understand her incredibleness and it is when we decided to organize the Michelle Hiland Fan Club.  This is a 12.4 mile round-trip with an elevation gain of 3,825 feet that most hiker's accomplish in 12-16 hours and, again, she did it in 3 hours and 5 minutes!  

Would you like to be a member of the Michelle Hiland Fan Club?  If so, email us at:

MichelleHilandFanClub@hotmail.com

We will send you an email whenever there is a new posting on the Fan Club website.