UCHealth reports that Chrissy Lofgren, a 28-year-old oncology infusion nurse at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs, finished first among women at the Sept. 20 Pikes Peak Marathon in Manitou Springs.

The 26.2-mile course climbs roughly 7,800 feet over 13 miles up Barr Trail to the 14,115-foot summit before runners turn around and descend the same trail.

Lofgren was the first woman to reach the halfway point at the top, filled a water bottle at the summit aid station, then used her downhill strength to pull away through the rockiest section.

According to UCHealth, she finished in just over five hours, crossing the line with her sister, running friends and oncology nurse colleagues cheering.

The victory is a late-blooming reversal few saw coming.

UCHealth reports Lofgren believed her competitive running days were over after the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended her collegiate track and cross-country career at St. Cloud State University, where she once held the school's indoor mile record.

She moved to Colorado in July 2020 as a new nurse, ran with her dog Nelson for comfort, and first entered the Pikes Peak Marathon in 2023 only because it was 'in my backyard,' finishing ninth among women.

A shortened 2024 edition turned her around at Barr Camp for seventh, and in 2025 she placed third in 4:56:40 — a steady climb to a win she says she did not expect.

According to UCHealth, the win followed a deliberately mapped 2026 race schedule across the West that built her mountain-running resume.

She placed ninth among women at the Black Canyon Ultras 50k in Arizona in February, cross-trained on a gravel bike after an ankle injury, then ran the 26-mile Four-Pass Loop near Aspen in a single day in June.

She took fifth at the GoPro Mountain Games 10K in Vail, fourth at the Cirque Series Snowbird Pro 9-miler near Salt Lake City in July, and swept both the Taos Ski Valley Up & Over 10k and the one-kilometer VertK up Al's Run in August.

UCHealth reports she capped it with second at the 14-mile Telluride Mountain Run, saying more race experience helped her at Pikes Peak.

The feat matters because of what it says about endurance at the edge. UCHealth describes the Pikes Peak Marathon, founded in 1956, as the oldest continuously held marathon in the U.S., and its altitude, rocks and descent demand what colleague Mandi Beeler calls Lofgren's 'level of mental toughness.'

Lofgren herself ties the two halves of her life together, telling UCHealth that when she runs she thinks of her cancer patients: 'I put myself in these situations of voluntary suffering, whereas many of our patients are dealing with hard things that they don't have a choice about.'

Her win also lands in a busy fall marathon season, with the New York City Marathon set for November 1 and hydration guidance — sodium balance to avoid hyponatremia — front of mind for amateur runners, per the New York Post.

Having sealed her first Pikes Peak victory, Lofgren heads back to the infusion center, where UCHealth reports colleagues once celebrated a previous podium finish with cake — a reception that is likely to be bigger this time.

Her win also closes a remarkable weekend of grassroots endurance feats in the region. hometownsource.com reports that at the Mill Towns Race Series in Minnesota on Oct.

11, Megan Corey of Minneapolis set a Guinness World Record for rucking a half marathon with a 40-pound pack, finishing in 2:03:11 — ten minutes under the required time — and also broke the 20-pound rucksack record.