The ski jacket in Allie McLaughlin’s drop bag is for Saturday; the knee pads are for Sunday.

McLaughlin, a former track and cross country standout at Air Academy High School and the University of Colorado, is attempting to double, or complete Saturday’s Pikes Peak Ascent and Sunday’s Pikes Peak Marathon on consecutive days. She won the 2014 women’s Ascent in 2 hours, 33 minutes and 42 seconds. She was third in last year’s marathon in 4:38:12, but this will be her first time attempting both on the same weekend.

“It just feels like the right year to do it,” McLaughlin said Friday, noting some of the trail running world championships still aren’t happening due to COVID-19.

“This is the year to just have a little more fun and not be so cautious.”

That starts with Saturday’s Ascent when it’s supposed to be around 50 degrees for the 7 a.m. starting gun but significantly colder at the summit. She’ll pack arm sleeves and gloves and race to her warmer jacket at the top.

“I do really bad in the cold,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin doesn’t think she can match her 2014 Ascent time but would be pleased to finish faster than 2:50 while still having enough energy to get up and down the mountain on Sunday. Once she finishes Saturday, she plans to warm up with the help of a winter coat and stash her knee pads for Sunday.

“Since I have the privilege to run up Saturday, I’m going to hide in the rocks some knee pads,” McLaughlin said. “Then, on Sunday, when I get up there, I can just strap ‘em on.”

Others have advised McLaughlin against using the knee pads she wore to dirt bike as a kid, but they didn’t experience what she did a year ago.

“I think this will be way quicker. Even if they’re heavy, it’s going to give me the confidence to just go,” McLaughlin said. “I’m not going to be worried about falling.”

Last time around, McLaughlin was the first woman to the summit in 2:47:34 but fell three times on the descent and settled for third.

“I turned around last year worried about getting caught on the downhill,” she said. “I just bolted right away. Then, I end up falling. I was going too fast, and I ended up getting really tired. I think already I’ve learned I’m going to take that first half of the downhill way more calm, and then, if I feel good, pick it up in the second half.”

She crossed the finish line in downtown Manitou Springs with blood running down both of her legs. It looked worse than it felt, she said, until her wounds got infected, preventing her from running for two weeks.

“It was super painful,” McLaughlin said. “I was getting all cranky like runners do when they can’t run.”

After the antibiotics did their job, McLaughlin was able to start preparing for this year’s races. The idea of doubling started as something of a joke. She’s since battled an iliotibial (IT) band injury and smaller setbacks like blisters and strep throat in the year but is back at Pikes Peak with a bit more knowledge and experience to her benefit.

“If I could have not fallen and placed higher or gotten a better time, I would not take it, because I learned so much and had so much fun,” McLaughlin said.

This year, McLaughlin hopes, could be even more fun thanks to an unusual piece of equipment in her Ascent drop bag and some foresight that should make for a smoother attempt at doubling.

“I could carry them on Sunday,” she said. “But I don’t want to carry one more piece of junk.”