The Cheyenne Skyline Marathon — Never Quit Motivation

The Cheyenne Canyon Skyline Marathon is one one of 3 challenges in the Pikes Peak Fun Bundle that doesn’t involve actually summiting pikes peak, yet the steepness of the Cheyenne canyons and its peaks don’t disappoint, resulting in some lung busting uphills, quad crushing downhills, approximately 12,000ft of total elevation change and one heck of good time.

Attempt #1 (27 May 2024)

This was my first attempt at completing the Cheyenne canyon marathon. I usually tackle these challenges solo, but was grateful to be joined by two old college friends Kevin and Sean. We took the opportunity to run this one Memorial Day style, turning it into a (heavily modified) Memorial Murph Marathon workout. A true Murph marathon consists of 13.1 consecutive Murph workouts (cumulatively 1310 pull-ups, 2620 push-ups, 3930 squats, and 26.2miles of running all while wearing a 14/20lbs vest for women/men). We stuck with a regular Murph and tacked on the marathon run at the end, completing 100 pull-ups and 200 push-ups with a 20lb vest and 300 squats throughout the marathon run wearing a day pack with an 18lbs starting wet mass in a cumulative time of 7 hours and 8 minutes. We also carried an American flag throughout the entire run.

Cheyenne canyon gets pretty hot pretty fast starting in the Spring, and due to our late start we felt the brunt of that heat. The first 5 miles from the house to the top of high drive went by pretty quick, but the place slowed significantly after that. We made it the summit of Mt Muscoco (~8010ft) after about 15 miles and due to the slow going decided to abandoned completing the rest of the Marathon course. We instead opted to take Daniels Pass trail to N Cheyenne Canyon Blvd (about a 1 mile traverse) and run the remaining 4 easy miles home.

This one pushed the limits a bit, but the nice thing about limits is that the more you push them the more you realize they actually don’t exist. It is a self imposed limiting mindset, overcome by adaptation. Adaptation is continuing to apply pressure over time, becoming whatever version of yourself you are asking you to be. Through this journey you learn that the key to success is to constantly keep moving forward

Attempt #2 (25 May 2025)

My second attempt came a year later and in much worse weather conditions. Thunderstorms cracked in the distance (wisely did not carry a flag this time) and rain fell almost constantly, but that meant cooler temperatures and in this case more successful run. My neighbor Matt joined me this time. A much faster runner, he pushed me a good bit and I appreciate getting out of the rain a bit faster! Due to the downpour of rain, 2 of the 7 bridges on 7 bridges trail were washed out, adding a little overflown stream rock hopping traverse to the adventure. This definitely has become one of my new favorite courses (pretty much a clean marathon from my front door and back), and one I will most certainly revisit during future Murphs.