A Dialog with Anne Flower – iRunFar

Anne Flower didn’t absolutely decide to operating the 2025 Leadville 100 Mile till about two weeks earlier than the occasion. She had by no means run 100 miles earlier than and was nervous about getting injured or having to take a very long time off from operating afterward to get better. However, she’d earned an automated entry into the race — twice — earlier in the summertime by profitable each the 2025 Silver Rush 50 Mile and the 2025 Leadville Path Marathon, and operating 100 miles was on what she calls her “Child Bucket Record,” issues to do earlier than beginning a household.

Flower signed up for the race with the straightforward purpose of ending. Her attain purpose was to complete earlier than it obtained too late into the evening, and he or she says the dream purpose was to complete within the prime 10, perhaps on the rostrum, if every little thing went properly.

Because the operating world is aware of properly by now, Flower broke Ann Trason’s 31-year-old course file by simply over eight minutes with a time of 17:58:19 and completed second total on the race.

In an ultrarunning world highlighted by elite athletes focusing a whole yr’s effort on a single race and dealing with a workforce of execs to extract each ounce of efficiency from their physique and thoughts on race day, Flower appears to be the Sort B character who reveals as much as begin strains with a “let’s see what occurs” perspective.

She works full-time as an emergency room physician in Colorado Springs, Colorado, doesn’t prepare with a coach, chooses her races based mostly on thrilling geographies and locations to go to, and has minimal motivation to pursue operating in any kind of full-time, skilled method. She ran Leadville in a pair of discontinued Hoka Tecton X 2 sneakers that she purchased off eBay, and is at a degree in her life the place she has the attitude to grasp that there are issues much more essential to her than operating.

No matter how Flower continues to pursue the game, her win at Leadville was historic, and her strategy to operating and racing is fascinatingly far out of the norm for performances of that caliber.

Draw of the Outdoor

Flower grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, with soccer as her ardour. She performed on journey groups from age six and says that she was ok that taking part in in faculty would have been a viable path ahead. There was only one small subject: All all through her childhood years, Flower’s dad and mom, who have been lecturers, would take the household for holidays out west. She says, “They’d pack us within the van and we’d go Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Jackson Gap, that kind of factor, tenting and doing all of that kind of stuff.” She developed a love for the outside at an early age and admits, “I actually needed to be a ski bum.”

Sadly, faculty sports activities scholarships and actions equivalent to snowboarding don’t combine properly, one thing Flower realized round her junior yr of highschool. She stopped taking part in membership soccer and began to search for “some profession the place I might ski, bike, do outdoorsy issues perhaps through the week and never a lot on the weekends.”

Flower along with her household throughout a summer season tenting journey.

That want landed her in faculty in Denver, Colorado, the place she admits, “I didn’t know the proximity between Denver and the true Entrance Vary mountains. I assumed that I used to be going to get this very mountainous expertise, which I did. I simply needed to depart each weekend to get that.” Her profession selection was emergency drugs, largely because of the shift scheduling, which might afford her loads of time to play within the mountains. Of the profession, she says, “It’s probably the most thrilling 5 minutes of each specialty. You get to do all of the cool stuff after which not a lot the follow-up.”

After ending faculty in Denver, Flower ended up at Ohio College for medical faculty. Whereas there, in 2016, she ran her first street marathon, saying, “I assumed it was actually enjoyable. It was good to have a giant purpose.” Two years later, she certified for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon. She’s nonchalant about operating the Trials, saying, “It was unbelievable. However I used to be simply watching and having fun with whereas I used to be technically operating it as properly. However I don’t assume I completed within the prime 40 or 50, and that was wonderful.”

Turning to Ultras

In 2019, for her thirtieth birthday, Flower signed up for the Useless Horse Extremely 50 Mile in Moab, Utah. She says, “I really like Moab. It’s one in every of my happiest locations.” Wanting to place in a giant operating effort in a spot near her coronary heart, and understanding that she’d completed street marathons earlier than, she says, “I assumed I’d have the ability to do a minimum of 30 or 40 miles.”

Flower gained the race by greater than 20 minutes. She was residing in Kentucky on the time, doing her medical residency, and he or she says, “The one individuals who cared have been the individuals who have been at that race.” She goes on to say, “I needed to maintain racing, however actually for me it was getting to chill locations and having a extremely massive, adventurous day. Successful and stuff was cool, however it’s not like I used to be doing it for the money prizes or the notoriety or something like that.”

Anne Flower atop the 2023 Useless Horse Extremely 50k ladies’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Giselle Slotboom, 1. Anne Flower, and three. Genevieve Lillis. Photograph: Mad Moose Occasions

Flower continued to race ultras, racking up a string of spectacular outcomes together with wins on the 2021 Crested Butte Extremely 55k, 2022 Pikes Peak Extremely 50k, 2024 Javelina 100k, and most lately, the 2025 Leadville Path Marathon and 2025 Silver Rush 50 Mile. The races she selected, together with many extra in Moab through the years, have been a great excuse to go to locations she cherished.

Whereas many runners discovering success within the extremely world would take into account placing the remainder of their lives on maintain to pursue athletics, Flower was dedicated to her personal path. She says, “I actually needed to do emergency drugs. I landed the residency I needed, and as soon as I used to be lastly allowed to be a part of the membership of emergency drugs, there was no approach I used to be going to provide that away for one thing like operating.”

After profitable the Leadville Path Marathon and Silver Rush 50 Mile earlier this summer season, each of which provided coveted automated entries to the Leadville 100 Mile, Flower nonetheless wasn’t sure she needed to tackle the 100-mile distance. She says, “I’d carried out 100 kilometers on the finish of final yr, and I assumed that might be so long as I needed to go. I really like 50ks. I believe they’re a unbelievable distance. They’re a lot enjoyable, however you’re not damaged, and a few days later, you’ll be able to run once more.”

The 2025 Leadville 100 Mile ladies’s podium (left to proper): 3. Lea Mulligan, 1. Anne Flower, 2. Imogen Ainsworth.

Flower had heard too many tales of individuals operating 100 miles after which not eager to run once more for a very long time afterward. She laughs when she says, “I didn’t wish to dislike the game as a result of I had tried too arduous.” Her greatest worry? Getting harm and never with the ability to run for the remainder of the yr.

Nonetheless, the draw of the Leadville 100 Mile proved to be too sturdy, and after feeling match after a summer season of operating, she signed up.

Nearly all of her coaching consisted of 1 or two longer runs every week in Cheyenne Canyon or on Pikes Peak, each close to her dwelling in Colorado Springs. Different instances, she accompanied her associates, who had coaches and structured coaching, on their exercises. On days that she labored, it’s was a 40-minute street run earlier than her shift to assist her get centered for the day.

Working Leadville

Flower says that she doesn’t get nervous earlier than races by conserving the entire scenario in perspective, saying, “I can cease at any time. It’s not that unhealthy.” She realizes the shortage of nerves is a little bit of an anomaly. “I do assume that there’s some superpower in that.” She had an AirBnB in Leadville the evening earlier than the race that she left at 3:45 a.m. earlier than the 4 a.m. begin, walked to the beginning line, and didn’t enable herself any time to let nerves creep in.

She says she began conservatively, particularly over the rocks and roots round Turquoise Lake within the early miles of the race. Flower handed the race chief, Katie Asmuth, round mile 23, however says, “I handed her when she needed to go use the restroom, so I assumed for positive she’d be again any minute. I knew there have been different quick ladies behind me, so I wasn’t anticipating to be there lengthy.”

Anne Flower on her strategy to a brand new ladies’s course file on the 2025 Leadville 100 Mile. Photograph: Life Time

However Flower was having a day. She says, “Popping out of Outward Certain, there’s this actually flowy aspen tree part earlier than you get to Twin Lakes at mile 40 that was simply pleasant. It was probably the most comfy operating. The climate was nice. The aspens are turning. It was simply stunning.”

Her race plan was to run to Hope Cross in “50k-style,” hike over the go, after which, “hopefully have the ability to run dwelling.”

If Flower’s crew, which consisted of her accomplice, in addition to Hannah Allgood and Gil Allgood, knew she was forward of file splits, they didn’t inform her. She says, “My crew is fairly good. They have been telling me, ‘You’re doing superior. Hold shifting. You’re trying sturdy. You’re shifting. Simply preserve going.’”

Flower picked up Gil as a pacer at mile 87 and says having somebody to speak to was an enormous increase. She says, “We have been shifting quick. He was pushing me to run quicker, and my physique felt fairly good.” About two miles from the end, Flower handed Justin Grunewald and his pacer, Kyle Pietari. Flower says that it was Pietari who checked out his watch and defined that Trason’s course file was inside her attain, saying, “You need to go now. Quick.”

Anne Flower along with her pacer Gil Allgood descending Powerline street.

Flower says, “I really like the final mile of most races. I don’t know if I’m simply so pleased for it to be carried out or I’m so excited to get to the end, however there have been only a few races, even after I’m having a horrible race, that the final mile, I can’t pull out some vitality from someplace.” Crossing the road in 17:58:19 was a end result that few, not to mention Flower herself, would have predicted.

Of the end, she says, “It was so cool. It was so electrical. There have been lights in all places. I might see my associates and every little thing like that. It was phenomenal. I believe it’s nonetheless sinking in.”

When requested if something went flawed throughout her run, Flower pauses to ponder. “My shoe was rubbing a few instances, and so I finished and retied my sneakers.”

The Leadville Aftermath

Flower went straight again to work in her emergency room after the race earlier than taking a little bit of break day to go to Scotland along with her accomplice, a visit that was on his “Child Bucket Record.” She doesn’t have any massive plans for the remainder of the summer season, or for her racing subsequent yr, however is approaching it with the identical informal outlook as she all the time has.

When requested if she thinks her newfound prominence within the operating world would change how she’s considered at races, she laughs, “I’m not frightened about that.”

She does know that she needs to start out a household, however doesn’t see having youngsters as one thing that may cease her from exhibiting as much as begin strains. She says, “Ideally, we get pregnant a few times, be good with that, then I’d positively wish to do the Hardrock 100. I’m very interested in Hardrock. Give me the large Colorado mountain races.”

She goes on to say, “I’d like to stack up in opposition to people who find themselves actually, actually quick simply to see what that’s like.”

Anne Flower celebrates her win on the 2025 Leadville 100 Mile with race administrators Ken Chlouber and Merilee Maupin.

However so far as chasing sponsorship offers within the short-term, Flower says, “I simply don’t know the place that matches in my life proper now.” She says, “I wish to run ceaselessly, however I’m not going to be by chance profitable races for a very long time. I see that there’s stuff that’s perhaps extra long-term that I must be specializing in.”

Unintentional or not, Flower’s win at Leadville will probably be remembered for a very long time as one which confirmed that maybe one doesn’t want a hyper-regimented plan, long-term targets, and ideal preparation to seek out success within the sport.

Anne Flower breaks Ann Trason’s 31-year-old course file on the 2025 Leadville 100 Mile. Photograph: Life Time

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