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Anne Flower, 35, emergency room doctor, ultrarunning record breaker
Despite setting two records in 2025, Anne Flower continues to push the limits of the ultrarunning world.
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Her big year started on June 28 in Leadville, Colorado, when she won the cross-country marathon in 4 hours, 9 minutes and 56 seconds. She returned to Leadville two more times, winning the Silver Rush 50-mile race on July 12 and taking the Across the Sky 100-mile race while breaking the 31-year-old course record with a time of 17:59:19.
“Leadville is incredible. It’s one of the coolest mining towns in Colorado. It’s also very, very tall,” Flower said. “You set out before sunrise so you can see the sun coming up over the mountains, and then you run through different parts of town throughout the day.”
She won the Tunnel Hill 50-mile race in Vienna, Illinois, and ended the year with a new 50-mile world record of 5 hours, 18 minutes, and 57 seconds. The old record was set by Courtney Olsen in 2024, also on Tunnel Mountain’s flat, fast course.
Flower did it all while working long hours as an emergency room physician.
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“Some weeks are much harder to train than others, but I try to keep my shifts under 16 per month, which gives me plenty of time for long adventures in the mountains when I’m not working,” Flower said.
Who is Anne Flower?
The 2008 Anderson High School graduate currently lives in Colorado Springs and works as an emergency room physician at the University of Colorado Health System.
Locally, she is perhaps best known as one of three female multiple-time winners of the Flying Pig Marathon. Her 2016 win in 2:55:46 was actually her first attempt at the 26.2-mile distance. She returned in 2019 and broke the record with a time of 2 hours, 49 minutes and 17 seconds, 1 minute and 9 seconds faster than eventual three-time champion Caitlin Keen.
Anne Flower has participated in the Flying Pig Marathon three times, winning in 2016 and 2019.
Flower admits she was a better soccer player than runner in high school, but life in the American West inspired her adventurous side. Her running career took off in the past decade because she “really loves getting to places that people can only get to by walking.”
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“It was definitely an interesting trajectory. Even though the road marathon was going well, I was so deep into my medical training that running was never something I thought I would be very good at or be a very important thing in my life,” Flower said. “But I enjoy being good at it now. It’s fun and I’m curious about what I can do.”
What ultramarathons are on Anne Flower’s 2026 calendar?
Flower will compete in the Black Canyon 100 in Phoenix on February 8-9. If she completes the race in under 17 hours, she will qualify for the Western States 100-mile race in California, which she calls the Super Bowl of ultrarunning in the United States.
Black Canyon can also earn qualifying points for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, which is held every August in Chamonix, France and is considered the pinnacle of international ultramarathons.
Cincinnati native Anne Flower won three races in Leadville, Colo., in 2025, including breaking a 31-year-old course record in the Race to the Sky 100-mile race.
With the race taking place during one of the slower months on the calendar and the course being of moderate difficulty, Flower expects a strong and talented field to emerge.
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“This is a really good race for me because it has some hills, but it’s very runnable. It’s not a big mountain race, so it should be fast,” Flower said.
She also plans to compete in the Canyon 100 in April, which is part of the Western States Circuit.
Flower hasn’t given much thought to the Flying Hogs lately, but hasn’t ruled out a return to Cincinnati in the future. She said she could use it as preparation for a longer race if it fits her schedule.
“I’d love to compete again in some capacity, even if I’m not competing to win,” Flower said.
This article originally appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati native Anne Flower is now a nationally recognized ultrarunner