Fierce runner learned past defeats should never stop you from reaching goals
When Andy Emerson ran the Never Summer 100K race in 2019 in Colorado, he said “never again.”
The award-winning runner placed an unusual 169 out of 220, and battled rain, hail, high altitude and mountain ranges. It was an off race, and he wasn’t thrilled about the outcome.
However, this year, when some friends said they were going to race the Never Summer, he decided he would do it. “I wanted to see if I could improve,” he says.
It was held in a remote area of Colorado, mainly mountainous though there were some open areas, trees and single-track trails through the woods.
“But most was running below the tree lines,” Emerson says.
The seventh annual race was within the boundaries of State Forest State Park, which is on the northern border of Rocky Mountain National Park. It started in Gould, a community with one lone visitor center.