It's official. At this point in time I have been accepted as a contestant in the Elbrus Race, the highest race in Europe, this September. I've been training very hard, as I'm very serious, and aside from the Russian Visa, need to qualify.
It appears as though twice as many are accepted as actually qualify. To qualify you have to run from the Barrels Huts to Pastukhov Rocks, about 3570' of elevation gain over 2.5 mi in less than two hours, then return to the Barrels by a set time (I think 4 PM which is about 5 hours round trip).
I've been training hard for this by running in Colorado on 14'ers and 13,000' ridge lines. I've maintained the requisite 1800'/hr of vertical gain pace over about 3.2 miles, so I feel pretty good about that. As well, I have access to a Stairmaster, an elliptical with a lot of leg raise in the front, and an Incline Treadmill that angles up to 40%, which is pretty steep.
I've been working out about 3 hours a day, and have done 4 hour days. Now as I taper into peaking on Sept. 21 and 23, I need to focus on my rest days to learn how to recover fully in 36 hours.
I'll put up more training, and some pictures, in the next week. Wish me luck...