{"id":16151,"date":"2025-10-12T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-student-runs-rides-and-swims-over-130-miles-in-23-hours-just-for-fun\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:55:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:55:06","slug":"fort-lewis-college-student-runs-rides-and-swims-over-130-miles-in-23-hours-just-for-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-student-runs-rides-and-swims-over-130-miles-in-23-hours-just-for-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lewis College student runs, rides and swims over 130 miles in 23 hours \u2013 just for fun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sofie
Sofie Hill, left, prepares to swim across Lake Nighthorse. Maddie Glotfelty, center, and Sam Hill, Sofie's brother, gear up to paddle their kayaks alongside Hill to offer encouragement. Hill put on her own Ironman-esque competition, in which she swam 2.4 miles, ran 26.2 miles and rode a bike 112 miles. (Courtesy of Sofie Hill)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sofie Hill wanted to do an Ironman \u2013 a world-renowned race in which participants swim 2.4 miles, run 26.2 miles and ride a bike 112 miles. But the Fort Lewis College student couldn\u2019t afford the travel and registration fees.<\/p>\n

Instead, she decided to hold her own, solo Ironman competition. She called it the \u201cSofie-man.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan was simple: ride, run and swim the same distance as an Ironman, but do it in and around Durango. Hill would do it with some of her other endurance-loving friends joining her and offering support along the way, and the challenge would allow her to see and appreciate the town she has come to love since attending Fort Lewis College.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I was doing it for free on my own, I wanted to make it as \u2018Durango\u2019 as possible,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

\"Sofie
Sofie Hill and her friend Megan Hoffman pose for a selfie at the top of Hogsback Mountain during the \u201cSofieman.\u201d (Courtesy of Sofie Hill)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hill started running from her front door at 1:50 a.m. Sept. 10. She went up the Skyline Trail, then across town to Animas Mountain, then over to Hogsback and finally to Smelter Mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to go from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. by myself, which was a little scary, but I blasted music and had a really bright headlamp,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

She fell down about 4 a.m. on Animas Mountain, destroying her phone screen.<\/p>\n

She arrived at Lake Nighthorse around 7:45 a.m. After a quick break, she slipped into a swimming singlet, attached a buoy to her waist for buoyancy, then swam across Lake Nighthorse and back.<\/p>\n

At 11:30 a.m., she changed into her biking clothes. She hopped onto her mountain bike and rode up Kennebec Pass, looped back to Zia Taqueria in north Durango for a burrito, then proceeded to ride up Missionary Ridge.<\/p>\n

\"Sofie
Sofie Hill and her boyfriend Parker Randles complete the biking portion of Hill\u2019s solo Ironman, in which she swam 2.4 miles, ran 26.2 miles and rode a bike 112 miles. (Courtesy of Forest Athearn)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWhen I went down from Missionary, I needed an extra 4 miles to complete the route, so we went to last call at the (Orio\u2019s) Roadhouse,\u201d Hill said. \u201cI met some of my friends and they bought me a drink. It was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time Hill made it to the Roadhouse, it was nearing midnight. In a little over 23 hours, she had traveled 130 miles and gained 15,246 feet of elevation, all under her own power. It was hard, she said, and there were points when she was unsure if she could continue.<\/p>\n

\"Hill\"
Hill<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cMy stomach really, really hurt for 45 minutes at the beginning, and I was scared that I\u2019d have to bail,\u201d Hill said. \u201cIt was rainy and cold and I had no body heat. So that was hard with the swim. And then there was one hour on the bike ride where I was like, \u2018This kind of sucks.\u2019 But honestly, it wasn\u2019t as bad as I thought, I think, because I was really prepared and trained for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill said she prepared for weeks through a rigorous training routine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI trained for a month and did three long runs, three long bike rides and four long swims,\u201d Hill said. \u201cThen I tried to do chill bikes, runs and swims in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill, who got into endurance sports as a teenager, said she loves traveling long distances. It is a way to show herself what she is capable of and allows her to move through the landscape in a way that lets her appreciate it.<\/p>\n

\"Parker
Parker Randles, back, Sofie Hill, center, and Liam Goettelman pedal up Kennebec pass during the biking part of the \u201cSofie-man.\u201d (Courtesy of Forest Athearn)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cBeing able to go really far, just being able to see a ton of stuff and the amount of distance you can go is just really cool,\u201d Hill said. \u201cI feel like endurance stuff involves a lot more preparation and training, but pretty much anyone can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She enjoys long-distance events because it forces her to be hyper-present.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my brain kind of turns off for a lot of it, which I think is one of the reasons it\u2019s so fun,\u201d Hill said. \u201cIt\u2019s meditation, because you learn how to be present. You can\u2019t think about the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sofie
Sofie Hill pops a wheelie on the \u201cSofie-man.\u201d (Courtesy of Forest Athearn)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Even though Hill put on her own solo competition, she said she wouldn\u2019t have been able to do it without the help of her friends. For each leg of the challenge, she was joined by different companions who helped cheer her on and supported her.<\/p>\n

Durango is a special place, she said, because so many people love doing adventure sports, are humble about their achievements and show up to support each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like everyone is outside always, and you get everywhere without having to drive,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Sofie
Sofie Hill pedals along the last leg of the \u201cSofie-man\u201d as the sun sets. (Courtesy of Sofie Hill)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sofie
Sofie Hill enjoys a libation at Orio's Roadhouse to celebrate the end of her running, swimming and biking challenge. (Courtesy of Sofie Hill)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

wanted pay homage to Durango through a feat of endurance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,657,132,28,1142,1946,1915],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-cycling","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines","tag-profile","tag-triathlon-swimming","tag-ultra-running"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16151"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20044,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16151\/revisions\/20044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16151"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}