Colorado resident Annie Hughes is an expert ultrarunner — with a selected distance of 200 miles — who additionally works as a run coach and part-time in a bakery. She advised iRunFar, jovially, “For my crew at races, I make an enormous batch of those muffins. They’re known as superhero muffins.”
That’s an appropriately named trademark snack for the youngest girl to win the Leadville 100 Mile and the Moab 240 Mile, who excels within the hardest of races and doesn’t but have a DNF (didn’t end) to her title. We caught up along with her to listen to about her path into the game, her final 12 months of working by means of a serious harm, and to achieve perception into the powerful mindset that will get her to the end line.
Annie Hughes sharing some residence baking. Photograph courtesy of Annie Hughes.
Annie Hughes grew up in Wisconsin. In school, it took some time for her to seek out her sporting area of interest, and he or she mentioned: “I used to be fairly horrible at any sport that concerned a ball. And so, I used to be at all times the final one picked in gymnasium class.”
Now recognized for racing 200-mile ultramarathons, Hughes’s journey with operating began with a single mile. She shared, “In fifth grade, we needed to run the mile health check, and I discovered myself up on the entrance with essentially the most athletic boys within the class, and I had this bizarre feeling inside the place I felt like I might run sooner, however then I believed I in all probability shouldn’t, as a result of I shouldn’t even be up with these guys.” She went on, “So I ended up within the final stretch passing them as a result of I used to be like, I suppose I’ll go for it. And that shocked everybody.”
The next 12 months, when she was in sixth grade, Hughes’s dad inspired her to strive monitor and cross nation — one thing she ended up doing till sophomore 12 months of faculty when she heeded the decision of the mountains.
This was when she began to experiment with path operating and ultrarunning, however her quick focus was on climbing all 58 fourteeners in Colorado — the state’s peaks over 14,000 ft. She mentioned, “I turned fairly obsessive about that objective for some time, stop the [track] workforce, completed all of the 14ers, and dabbled in some ultramarathons.”
After faculty, Hughes moved to Leadville, Colorado, and had secured a spot within the 2020 Leadville 100 Mile, which sadly didn’t materialize because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hughes made the perfect of issues whereas racing was halted, and mentioned: “I ended up simply doing my very own ultras that 12 months. I did an FKT [fastest known time] that was 160 miles across the Collegiate Loop in Colorado. And that was form of my first multi-day expertise.” She added, lightheartedly, “It’s since been damaged by Courtney Dauwalter by a day.”
The FKT gave Hughes the arrogance to shoot for larger distances. She mentioned, “I used to be like, if I may be on my ft for 61 hours, I can in all probability do a 200 miler.” When racing resumed in 2021, she was able to take the ultrarunning world by storm. She lastly had the chance to run the Leadville 100 Mile and gained, and in addition took on the Moab 240 Mile, successful that too, and securing a sponsorship deal alongside the best way.
Leadville’s Annie Hughes celebrates on the end after successful her hometown race, the 2021 Leadville Path 100 Mile. Photograph: Leadville Race Sequence
Concerning the Moab 240 Mile, Hughes shared, “I ended up successful it, however I didn’t tempo myself tremendous nicely. I feel I might need gone out slightly arduous after which that first evening was actually troublesome for me … On the midway mark, the following feminine behind me was solely two miles away, which isn’t a lot in a 240-mile race, particularly with 120 miles left to go. So much can occur.”
Nevertheless, when the race went into its second evening, Hughes had a surge of vitality. She defined: “I simply began feeling actually good that evening. I didn’t sleep in any respect and was capable of run a very good chunk the place I put fairly a little bit of time on [the second female.] And so, by the following morning, I feel I had nearly 20 miles on her, which was loopy.”
Regardless of some ups and downs in the course of the race, Hughes’s sturdy end proved that her strengths lay in extra-long distances, and the next 12 months she signed as much as race the 2022 Cocodona 250 Mile.
She approached the race with beneficial expertise, and mentioned: “With a very dialed plan and crew I used to be capable of run extra to my full potential than on the Moab 240 Mile.” She secured one other win, however added, “I don’t suppose I’ll ever run a 200-mile race completely. There are at all times issues that come up, and that wanting again on I might change. However I feel that’s a part of the enjoyable of it — not realizing precisely the way it’s going to go, and never with the ability to plan for the whole lot that’s going to come back up.”
Annie Hughes, crossing the road as 2022 Cocodona 250 Mile champion. Photograph: Alex Potter
Hughes secured the win on the Cocodona 250 Mile, and in addition gained the Coldwater Rumble 100 Mile, the Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile, and the Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile in 2022 alone, and was little doubt making a reputation for herself in ultrarunning.
Thus far, she has an enviable monitor file in that she has completed each race she began, however recalled the closest she has come to a DNF (didn’t end), which was on the 2023 Canyons 100 Mile. Having come out the opposite aspect, it’s a narrative that Hughes now laughs about.
The race befell throughout a warmth wave in California, and after a sizzling day throughout which she struggled to remain forward of salt consumption, when temperatures dropped slightly at evening, Hughes determined to press on to attempt to catch the runners in entrance of her. This plan backfired, as she defined, “It was an ideal storm of pushing too arduous and being behind on salt. I used to be operating down the path 70 miles in, and I simply felt this actually intense tingling in my arms, nearly to the purpose the place I couldn’t actually bend my fingers.”
Easing off the tempo didn’t assist, and Hughes continued to deteriorate. Her respiration turned labored and he or she began to really feel dizzy, and mentioned, “I drank some electrolyte drink, after which as quickly as I drank that, I might barely see the path and I acquired tremendous nauseous. So, I sat down, after which as quickly as I sat down, I threw up. After which proper after I threw up, my arms and my forearms seized and so I couldn’t transfer my arms or do something with them.”
With all of the signs of hyponatremia — which happens when the focus of salt within the blood turns into abnormally low — Hughes was successfully frozen in place till another runners got here alongside and will supply assist. As Hughes was nonetheless unable to make use of her arms, the following passers-by eliminated her cellphone from her backpack for her, and held it to her face to unlock it with Face ID, in an effort to contact her crew. Laughing she remembers: “Face ID wouldn’t even acknowledge me. And inside I used to be like, I should be actually tousled if the Face ID wouldn’t even acknowledge me!”
After her crew had been contacted and the choice made to drop from the race, nonetheless unable to make use of her arms, Hughes was fed a salt pill by one of many runners who had come to her assist, and as shortly as her signs had arrived, they disappeared. She mentioned: “I used to be like, My gosh, that labored. Straight away Hughes determined to contact her crew to name off the DNF, and he or she advised her fellow runner who had given her the salt pill that she was staying within the race. She remembers: “Then I rotated and began operating. And he was like, ‘Wait. I believed you have been dying!’” Extremely, she completed the race in third place.
Later in 2023, Hughes had secured a spot within the Hardrock 100, which additionally befell amidst unusually heat circumstances. With warmth being her Achilles heel, she once more struggled significantly, however managed to persevere and take third place. She recalled: “It was simply actually sizzling, I feel hotter than the Western States 100 that 12 months, which is loopy. And I simply don’t do nicely within the warmth, so I simply form of fell off from the very starting.”
She went on, “I used to be quarter-hour behind my scheduled time to come back into the primary assist station … and I used to be going all out attempting to make it on the time. So, I used to be like, Man, one thing’s simply form of off. I used to be in fourth place at that time, after which I handed Claire [Bannwarth] on the following climb, after which simply type of held third place after that.
Hughes doggedly held place, however the race didn’t get any simpler going into the evening. She remembers: “My abdomen was actually tousled. I used to be puking the entire manner out of Ouray,” across the midway level of the huge mountain race. Regardless of struggling proper to the tip, Hughes held on for a podium in some of the prestigious 100 milers on the planet.
Claire Bannwarth (left) and Annie Hughes (proper) within the early miles of the 2023 Hardrock 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
After two extremely powerful 100 milers, Hughes subsequent took a step again into her consolation zone — distance-wise no less than — with the 360-kilometer Swiss Peaks Path in Switzerland, in September 2023, the place she took fourth. She mentioned, “That went rather well. It was cool to do a race that was only a completely new expertise. I’ve by no means carried out something with that a lot climbing. Even in comparison with the Hardrock 100 it was a lot steeper, with 40,000 ft of elevation achieve per 100-mile part [which is 10,000 feet more than the Hardrock 100 course.]”
After a robust 2023 racing season, Hughes was busy mapping out her 2024 season, with plans to do the triple crown of 200 milers — the Tahoe 200 Mile in June, Bigfoot 200 Mile in August, and Moab 240 Mile in early October in addition to heading to Hong Kong for the 300k Hong Kong 4 Trails Extremely Problem. However harm known as halt to her plans.
Annie Hughes in the course of the 2023 Swiss Peaks Path. Photograph courtesy of Annie Hughes.
She mentioned, “Each winter the aspect of my foot form of flares up slightly bit, however it’s nothing I can’t run by means of, and I’ve carried out all these loopy races on it the final two years. So, I simply didn’t actually suppose a lot of it … however I went to a bodily therapist, and he did an ultrasound on it and located a tear in considered one of my peroneal tendons … This was the week earlier than I used to be supposed to depart for Hong Kong.”
Now taking the harm critically, Hughes cancelled her plans for Hong Kong and shortly sought an MRI — a extra detailed scan than an ultrasound — which confirmed that she wanted surgical procedure for her ankle. She mentioned, “It was a very lengthy restoration course of, as a result of tendons take so lengthy to heal. They cleared out loads of scar tissue, and I had torn ligaments, so that they needed to tighten the ligaments. I had no concept how tousled my ankle was.”
Hughes underwent surgical procedure in February 2024 and spent loads of the 12 months specializing in rehabbing the harm. Her persistence paid off, and now nearly a 12 months on, she mentioned: “I lastly have been capable of put in a very stable coaching block the place I really feel able to race.”
Subsequent up, she will probably be racing the 2024 Black Canyon 100k — a Golden Ticket race for the 2025 Western States 100, though she modestly claims to not see herself as a contender for a ticket. She hopes a current transfer from Leadville to Buena Vista, Colorado — which tends to have hotter climate — together with some new heat-training practices she has tailored — will assist her from falling sufferer to the infamous warmth at Black Canyon.
Afterward within the 12 months, she hopes to return to race the Canyons 100 Mile, and has additionally signed up for the Tahoe 200 Mile. Little doubt she is going to meet no matter challenges these races throw at her head on, and embrace them as all a part of the journey.
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Annie Hughes recovering from surgical procedure at residence in Colorado. Photograph courtesy of Annie Hughes.