Some places don’t just show up on your race calendar — they show up in your family line, your memories, and the quiet places inside you that still believe in hard things.
For me, that place is Leadville, Colorado.
Every summer, I return to this mountain town where the oxygen thins, the climbs grow steeper, and courage gets real. I return as a runner. As a diabetic athlete. As a woman learning — again and again — how to trust my body.
But I also return as someone whose ancestors once walked these same streets.
That’s why I created this Leadville Journal Series — a space to gather the threads:
🏃 the races
📖 the history
🩸 the fueling
🌄 the heart
👣 the legacy
Because Leadville isn’t just an event in my life.
It’s a story my family has been telling since the 1800s.
✍️ Journal Entry One
Introducing the Leadville Race Series: Where Grit Meets Altitude
This is where I begin — with the races themselves.
The Leadville Race Series is a lineup of tough-loved endurance events held at 10,152 feet above sea level. It’s where I’ve raced the Heavy Half Marathon for two years… and where, in my third year, I’m stepping up to the full marathon.
This entry is the “why” behind it all — the community, the heart, the motto:
You’re tougher than you think, and you can do more than you know.
And it reminds me that courage isn’t loud — it’s simply consistent.
—
✍️ Journal Entry Two
The History of the Leadville Race Series
Before there were medals and bibs, there was survival.
This entry travels back to the 1980s — when Leadville lost its mining economy and nearly lost hope with it — and how endurance racing helped rekindle community, economy, and belief.
It’s a story of rebuilding.
Which is also a story of faith in the human spirit.
—
✍️ Journal Entry Three
Family Roots in Leadville: Reverend Arthur Edison Armstrong I — 1887
In 1887, my second great-grandfather Reverend Arthur Edison Armstrong I arrived in Leadville, becoming the second Presbyterian minister in town.
His days weren’t easy — he served miners and families living on the edge of exhaustion and uncertainty. His work was pastoral, human, heart-heavy and heart-steady.
This entry is about faith, service, and quiet resilience.
And how some strength feels inherited.
—
✍️ Journal Entry Four
Thomas Crocombe — From Devon, England to Leadville, Colorado — 1881
This is one of my favorite chapters.
In 1881, my second great-grandfather Thomas Crocombe left Devon, England, crossed the ocean, and came to Leadville to mine silver. Family stories say he had a “nose for the ore” — an instinct for value hidden in stone.
And in December 1899, the Crocombe family won a baby carriage for having the largest family in Leadville.
Grit + humor.
Hardship + heart.
This one reads like a story you’d tell around a mountain-town table — warm, human, extraordinary in its ordinariness.
—
✍️ Journal Entry Five
Returning to Leadville as The Fed Diabetic Runner
This is where the past meets the present.
I reflect on training, fueling, blood sugar curves, courage, doubt, joy, and belonging — and why Leadville keeps calling me back.
It’s softer.
More honest.
And deeply personal.
Because running here isn’t about conquering the mountains.
It’s about listening to them.
—
Why a Journal Series?
Because I don’t want Leadville to just live as race recaps.
I want it to live as:
🌿 conversations
🩸 lived experience
🏔 reverence
💚 gratitude
📜 family history
🔥 modern endurance
And maybe — as a reminder that:
We don’t have to be fearless to be brave.
We don’t have to be perfect to belong on the trail.
We don’t have to hide our bodies’ complexities to live fully.
Especially not here.
At 10,152 feet.
Under big sky and old mountains.
In a town my ancestors once called home.
Welcome to the Journey
Thank you for being here — reading, following along, and walking (or running) alongside me through story and steep climbs.
I hope this series feels like sitting down together after a long run — shoes off, snacks out, hearts open.
Because Leadville isn’t just where I race.
It’s where I remember who — and where — I come from.
And where I keep learning what it means to endure.
💚
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