I barely slept last night. I tossed and turned and watched the ceiling fan swoosh around for hours. With both dread and excitement, I set my alarm for 5:53, 5:57, and 6:00 for a last resort. I did laugh at myself knowing that I’ve never once slept through an alarm in my entire life.

6:00, June 1st: Imogene Pass Run registration. The registration process, while shorter in time, is equally as painful as the race itself. For safety reasons, the race is capped around 1,00 runners. Because the race is freakin’ awesome, more than 1,000 of us want to do it. And while the popularity has grown, the race’s roots remain old school and so does its online registration process.

I dragged myself out of bed at exactly 5:54 with no time for coffee and began staring at my computer. Staring at your computer at this hour is both frustrating and incredibly boring. At exactly 6:00, I began furiously entering my information and hit ‘submit’…swirling icon…’submit’….swirling icon…’submit’…damn swirling icon…ugh, I’ll try the PayPal button….’submit’….I’M IN!

Finally at 6:08, I could make some coffee and get on with my life. I paused. Wait, I could crawl back into bed for another hour and finally get some restful sleep. Hallelujah!

“DING,” group text from Friend A:  Are you guys in???  Friend B: Hell yes! So stoked!

“DING,” unrelated Friend C: Did it work for you?

I wasted my precious extra hour of euphoric sleep texting party hat emojis to my friends, and it was worth it. I feel like a really winner today! And my prize? I get to train for three months to run 10 miles up and 7 miles down a mountain! Yes, please! There better be beer at the end of this race.

Telluride on my left, Ouray on my right – from the top of Imogene Pass at 13,114 feet