I had been wanting to go after the Cotopaxi long record for a few weeks, but conditions were not quite ideal until recently. I went back for a 3rd time, supported by my partner, Chris Fisher. I originally wanted to start closer to 3am, but I found a mouse that was stuck in a glue trap at Tambopaxi Lodge. It was scared and fighting for its life. I tried to free it, but it was unfortunately too far gone in the glue trap. I was still able to get it out of the trap and bring it outside so it could be in a much more peaceful place to die. Not a great start to the morning, but I thought about the mouse out there and the true suffering it had to go through.
Anyways, I started a little after 3:30am. The mountain looked cloudy initially but by the time I had finished the 4 mile road run and got to the base of the mountain, it was clearing up and I was optimistic that it would go. I made it to the refugio in about 2 hours from the park entrance and ate a gel. I met Chris up at crampon point before the traverse, where he kindly carried up my crampons, harness, helmet, layers, and vest up in his pack. After a quick transition, I started up the glacier. Conditions were immensely better than the last time I had been on the mountain- firm, hard-packed, and a very clear trail from climbers before. I kept a pretty steady effort on the up, not trying too hard because I knew that I had to run all the way back. I reached the summit in less than 4 hours from the park entrance, shot a quick video (for our soon to come YouTube channel), and then quickly headed down. I intersected with Chris, who captured some awesome footage with the drone, and we ran back down to crampon point together. There, I had gotten very hot and quickly shed all my extra layers/ gear. I left Chris and ran down past the refugio (fun scree!) to the social path that brings you back to the road. At that point Chris had driven back down the road so I shed everything except my phone and airpods. The road run back to the park entrance felt way longer in the daytime than in the dark for some reason. My hip flexors could definitely feel it at that point, but I pushed through at a consistent pace. I ran past a huge herd of wild horses, which was very cool. I met Chris at the gate 5 hours and 43 minutes later. Fun day in the mountains!