My Leadville story

I'm going to kick of my blog with a blog entry I wrote following this year's Leadville race.

August 20, 2006 -- 10:00 am, 3 hours after finishing.

I am one sore puppy today (and that will of course only get worse for the next 48 hours).

So, my goals for the race were:

1) Finish
2) Break into the top 100
3) Break 25 hours (and net the big buckle)

Final time was 26:47 ... only remarkable because I had such a difficult time with the double crossing of Hope Pass. I've run this double crossing several times in test, but yesterday my HR was 15 pts higher than normal and I could not get air in to power my legs.

The weather was both a blessing and a curse. The 1st 40 miles went perfectly for me, assisted by temps in the high 40s/low 50s. Pretty easy to cruise in these temps without worrying about dehydration (good thing since the HR was running high). I used the clock wisely and hit my target of 8 hours to this checkpoint within a minute.

By the time I was coming up the back side of Hope Pass (after the 50 mile turnaround) we had a constant mix of rain and hail to contend with ... temps must have been in the 30s or lower high on the pass. Couple this with a rookie mistake (trying to eat too much to make up for a lack of eating when climbing) that led to nausea and mass expulsion ... not much fun in the rain above treeline.

The rain turned big chunks of the course into "slip-n-slide" mud runs. Making some very runnable sections even slower, especially for those not feeling good.

However, next younger brother (Andrew) paced me from the turnaround, over the pass and back to civilization, keeping me fed, holding me up when the nausea got the better of me and probably preventing me from quitting mentally. This was a very tough 10 mile section, especially for a guy that is really a cyclist trying to run specifically to get in shape for this event.

After this, my youngest brother (Evan) carried me for the next 9 miles, making sure I ate and drank as much as I would allow him to bring near me. This section ended up being at night although my plan had been to be running through here 2 hours earlier.

Evan tagged off with Greg at the 69.5 mile point. I was still not feeling well, but Greg has been a pacer for a very many times. We devised a plan where I did not run a step for the next 8ish miles while trying to get food and water into myself. I was feeling strong enough during this to powerwalk at about 14 mins / mile so did not lose much time (time being irrelevant at this point since 25 hours was out of reach and I simply wanted to finish).

Somewhere about 1 mile before the section that I was going to attack to make sure I created some buffer against the 30 hour limit, everything came back. My stomach was taking food without issue, I was well hydrated and it was night. My only lightly used legs (since I was unable to give them full power for 3 of the major climbs) were ready to go. We decided I was hydrated enough to risk taking Ibuprofen and my wife slathered me with IcyHot.

After this, some demon possessed me and I climbed the notoriously tough Powerline/Sugarloaf (2400' in 3.7 miles that starts at 78 miles into the race) faster than I have ever climbed it. Neither Greg nor I were prepared for this type of output and he got dropped almost immediately. I was really just trying to keep the pressure even and high as long as the legs would hold, expecting them to die at anytime (and then Greg would catch up). Unfortunately for Greg, but fortunately for me, the legs did not give. I was at full speed by some miracle all the way to the finish. Serious pain did not hit me until mile 97. Andrew provided more pacing in the middle of the night, but also got dropped around mile 94 when I started running < 10 min / mile in my zeal to break 27 hours. Andrew ended up running 25.5 miles ... considering the training level, an effort almost as magnificent as my own.

Only a few hours before I was afraid of eclipsing 30 hours ... the remarkable strength that appeared to me netted me 70+ places over the final 23.5 miles. I came into the 76.5 mile check in 140-something place, but ended in 72. I was passing people so fast that more than once I heard comments like "how can anyone be running like that this late in the race", to which I answered "I finally got my stomach back" ... this seems to be a universally understood principle in the Ultrarunning scene.

Overall, this was the hardest physical challenge I have undertaken ... and I compare this to 3 failed attempts at the LT100 bike race, a 2 week ride through the Canadian Rockies when I hadn't trained for cycling, riding my bicycle across the united states, etc. The enormity of the event, when you are starting at nightfall, have been running for 16.5 hours and know that you have 12 more hours in front of you is spirit crushing. I could not have done this without Greg, Andrew, Evan, Pam, Scott and the other supporters that showed up to crew and cheer for me.

It still hasn't sunk in that this is overwith and I am now a LT100 Finisher. At some level, I expected to fail this year and have to try again ... that's what happens to most newcomers that embrace Leadville at their first Century run.

Chris