Running Pike's Peek and climbing a real peak

I could write about our day running Pike's Peek 1K, climbing Sugarloaf mountain, not being able to cross the Potomac on the ferry because of flooding and debris, and eating gourmet pizza, but Sarah is sitting next to me writing the Quekett blog so, why bother? ;)

I will tell you that the Pike's Peek race is actually a play on the real Pike's PEAK, which is a mountain in Colorado. The real "Pike's Peak" race is a half marathon up the mountain and, if you choose, another half marathon back down the other side. It is notoriously difficult and those who run the full marathon are considered masochistic. Here's a picture of the Real Pike's Peak.

Pike's PEEK, on the other hand, is a 10K race that runs entirely along Maryland's Rockville PIKE from the metro stop in Gaithersburg, through Rockville, and ending at White Flint mall in Kensington. It's a net downhill race, but there are no mountains in sight! The 1K is run after the 10K and involves running around the mall - not very interesting but nice and safe for the kids! So needless to say, after running a race named after a mountain but with no real mountain in it, we just had to go and climb a real mountain - Sugarloaf. Here are some pictures of the kids having fun on Sugarloaf.

Sugarloaf Mountain