Just over a month has passed since the most devastating wildfire in Colorado state history, one that erased houses and businesses and roads and ways of life. And even all this time later, it still remains shocking to the surrounding Boulder community, including those who ran on the trails and pathways of Superior and Louisville on a daily basis.
The Marshall and Middle Fork Fires, two blazes connected over 6,000 acres through Boulder County that began on Dec. 30 and were contained by Jan. 2, changed entire lives and towns.
Houses and buildings and memories were burned, erased and gone forever.
"It was pretty surreal," said Maddie Alm, a 2011 Monarch High School graduate, a Team Boss runner and an assistant coach on the school's cross country and track and field programs."
"It hit close to our heart," said Laura Thweatt, a 2007 Durango graduate, Saucony pro and Monarch assistant coach. "This was where we lived and our community. This is where we spent our lives. It was devastating to see the damage and destruction."
A total of five athletes on the Monarch High School cross country and track and field teams lost their homes. A few more residences, Alm said, were on the verge of being gutted due to smoke inhalation.
By mid-January, many more were crossing their fingers that health inspectors would vet their homes and allow them to get back to some kind of normalcy.
Through it all, though, a powerful theme emerged: The power of people.
Not 24 hours after the fires first entangled families and athletes at Monarch High School, including those within the cross country and track and field teams, many inside the running community took charge. Among them were Alm, Thweatt and head coach Kent Rieder.
In the days after the fires, Alm and Thweatt mobilized their communities and came up with wide-ranging financial and emotional support for those impacted.
It didn't take long for an idea to be struck: The pair decided to open a GoFundMe account for effected members of the XC communities.
The original goal was $3,000, which was enough to compensate families in the interim while governmental, state and and insurance assistance would take hold. But almost immediately, their idea was met with support.
Their first goal was surpassed in hours, and then it became $5,000, $10,000. In a few days, it stretched to $20,000. By the middle of January, the GoFundMe finally settled just past $28,000.
"The idea was so that we could help families replace furniture, put them in cars, temporary houses," Alm said. "Let's help them get back on their feet. But it was special to see all the support the community showed.
After the success of the GoFundMe drive, Alm and Thweatt also began to form an impromptu clothing drive.
Thweatt's condo became the informal distribution center. Running companies such as Saucony, HOKA, New Balance, On, Brooks, Oisell and Nike provided relief in the form of gears and shoes.
"At one point, my dining room, my spare bedroom and. my living room were full," said Thweatt, who was interrupted on the phone briefly by a fellow professional runner bringing over more gear. "It's thousands of dollars worth of clothing."
Some families shopped at Target to buy essentials like brushes, deodorant and toiletries, the things that may have gone overlooked when entires homes vanished.
Initially, the goal was just to support the XC and track families, Thweatt said, but later, after so many donations were piling on, the clothing drive was broadened to all Monarch families who were effected.
"If you count all the gear and shoes we're receiving, it's overwhelming support."
In February, another source of inspiration played a part, too. Denver Broncos player Dalton Risner arrived at Monarch High School and donated a giant check of $5,000 to the high school, held an auction that raised another $8,500 and added another $1,500 from a personal foundation, raising the total to $15,000.
And so, in the face of devastation, Monarch's emotional support system came through.
Just a few days after the fires, Reider and his assistant coaches gathered the team together at nearby Centaurus High School to survey feelings and get a sense of place.
"It was emotional to see everybody after a devastating night," Alm said. "It made it more real, seeing how scared the kids were and how they were thankful to see everyone OK."
But while time began to heal some wounds -- however small -- for many, the emotional toll was just as significant.
"I think Survivors guilt was real," said Alm, who nows lives in Boulder. Having grown up in Monarch, she understood the impact of what was left: Many of her most impactful memories as a runner -- thousands of miles on local trails and roads -- were gone.
"The pattern of the fire was so random. We had houses, burn, neighborhoods burn. But it missed others. It was so random that I think we all have this feeling of 'It could have been any one of us.' It feels lucky, but at the same time, it feels unfair.
"I think a lot of us were struggling on 'Why wasn't it my home? Or why was it my home and not someone else's."
A week after the fires, the team held its first run. Roughly 25 athletes came.
"That was a hard day. We realized how close it got," Alm said. "We couldn't go the way we normally went. Trails were scorched, trees were burnt and you just smelled burns."
That week after, though, another realization began to hit.
Whether by happenstance or some higher power, one thing was left untouched: The school. The fire had ransacked almost everything nearby. But the center, the apex of life within a teenager's community, was the school.
"The fire got up to Dillon, stopped at Vista, and it closed in on all sides," Alm said. "How it didn't get to the school, I don't know.
"It was a pretty big miracle."
Over a month has passed since the fire was contained.
In many ways, the team is beginning to rebuild. Athletes are running more consistency. The feeling of normalcy is returning.
On Jan. 16, Alm traveled to Houston to run her first half marathon. She finished 15th overall in the female division in a new personal best of 1:11.31.
This weekend, athletes from the program ran at the Air Force High School Indoor Open.
Senior Julia Patterson ran 7.79 and 24.83, just a hundredth and two-hundredths of a second off her personal bests. She was voted as Colorado MileSplit's Athlete of the Week between the span of Jan. 24-30.
Sophomore Layla Fisher ran in her first meet of the indoor season, clocking a time of 5:41.51. Junior Sam Kapner broke 5-minutes in the mile with a time of 4:59.88.
Athletics, at the very least, could help ease the burden of loss.
To Contribute:
If you would like to donate to the Monarch HS GoFundMe for those impacted by the Marshall fire in Boulder County, Colorado, visit the Monarch HS cross country GoFundMe here. The duo are assistant coaches for Monarch HS.
