ANNIE HUGHES Q&A
Facebook Live Q&A with Coach Annie
Check out Coach Annie's video Q&A here.
Other Questions
1. Coaching accomplishment(s) you’re most proud of and why?
In high school, a friend asked me to write her a summer training plan for cross country who had never run before. It was really special to be able to help someone begin their running career, and she went on to run cross country every season after that!
2. Most exotic personal running experience?
My first experience leaving the United States was traveling to London to run the Vitality 10K in 2018. That was, and still is the most stimulated race I’ve ever been a part of! There had to be a couple thousand people running, and another few thousand lining the course. I still have yet to run any kind of road marathon or half marathon, but this was probably the closest I have and will ever come to that. I’ve never experienced any race with quite as much hype as that one, and while it was a ton of fun, I think I’ll stick to the more low-key ultramarathons!
3. Favorite local trail?
The Colorado Trail runs right through Leadville, Buena Vista, and Salida, which are the three places where I typically train. I love all of those sections of the CT, and hope to hike or run the whole trail someday!
4. Favorite cross training activity?
Hiking and backpacking! Before I got into ultra running, I climbed all 58 of the 14,000 foot peaks here in Colorado, and then went on to climb some 20,000+ foot peaks in Ecuador. I was also fortunate to travel to France and hike a hut-to-hut trail called the Haute Route from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland. I love going on climbing and through-hiking adventures when I’m taking some down-time from running.
5. Personal running accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?
After I finished my first 100 miler in 2020 (barely), I had this brilliant idea to go for an FKT (Fastest Known Time) on the Collegiate Loop. It is a 160 mile route with 34,000 ft. of vert, and is comprised of two sections of the Colorado Trail that circumnavigates the Collegiate Peaks. I had absolutely no business doing something like that at the time, not to mention all of the planning and logistics, which I knew nothing about. Somehow I was able to finish the loop in 61 hours, breaking the previous FKT by 5 hours. It is still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and it’s really what gave me the confidence to sign up for some of the longer, 200+ mile ultras. It’s one of those accomplishments that will always be very special to me.