Occasionally we can accurately predict the outcome based upon past, similar situations. Other times we can only hope to achieve the purpose that we have kindled within, knowing that we are truly venturing beyond any familiar harbors, sailing upon a sea of change that we know not the boundaries of or whether we have the capacity within ourselves to meet any challenge upon which we may chance.
It is with these thoughts that I now set upon my Leadman challenge. One upon which I have risen to accept, but the ending of which I can only hope. I have felt this way before, thinking back upon when I volunteered for the Special Forces. Of course I wasn’t sure enough of myself at all then, where inside myself I questioned what I dared think I had inside me that might rise up to meet the standard upon which I was to be judged. After successfully completing training with the Special Forces and earning the “Green Beret”, I can say that it was heart and faith that saw the finisher through much more than talent or might ever ruled the day.
Knowing this, I can only guess of what lies ahead of me, having never attempted, much less completed some of the distances that lie before me this summer.
The Leadman begins with the Leadville Trail Marathon; 26.2 miles, climbing to an elevation of 13,185’ within an 8 ½ hour time limit
. In its entirety, the Leadman is an ultra endurance racing series consisting of 5 events, all of which are based out of Leadville, CO. 2 Weeks after the trail marathon, there is the Silver Rush weekend where the participant can chose from either a 50 mile mountain bike race or a 50 mile trail run. I am going to try the mountain bike race. Just a little less than a month after that, things really get busy with the Leadville Trail 100 mile-mountain bike race on a Saturday. The day after, on Sunday morning, there is a 10K race. On the following Saturday, the Leadville Trail 100-mile run is held. Each race has a cut-off or time limit that has to be met, or the racer cannot advance to the following event and complete the Leadman (or Leadwoman). Standing at the entrance of Leadville, I felt as though I was venturing upon hallowed ground, where so many have treaded before me
. Many who are faster and better at what we are doing; probing the limits of human endurance and desire. My wife Lisa was beside me, waiting patiently in our vehicle, as I took a moment to soak in the scenery
. She had kindly volunteered to come up and hang out on race day, even though I know she finds it pretty boring to wait while I am out running around. Who wouldn’t be bored with endless hours of standing around at a start/finish line or at an aid station waiting for their loved one or fiend to show up? At least Leadville was a small town, where Lisa could park the vehicle and get out to indulge in her favorite activity; shopping. My hat is off and I salute all of those who are caring enough to even think of coming out to cheer us on at a race, which for most of us is purely a personal accomplishment and a triumph only in our minds, as most of us will never grace a podium, destined always to lurk somewhere back in the pack.
Since we had made good progress on our drive up from Colorado Springs, we had a little bit of time to blow after picking up my packet at the 6th Street Gym. We found a nice coffee shop out on Harrison and got Lisa some breakfast. I had eaten a pre-race meal about 2 hours prior to the race start while we were driving. A little enviously, I sat and watched Lisa have a more regular breakfast of fresh brewed coffee and a delicious looking ham and cheese croissant
. I made some small talk with some of the other racers who were killing time in the coffee shop too. I was surprised to find that the couple seated across from me had arrived from Florida just the day before. Leadville is high enough in elevation to be boarder line dangerous of developing a high altitude sickness. I hoped they were going to feel OK for the race that day since they had been up at elevation for over 24 hours now.After Lisa ate breakfast, I went back to our vehicle and fussed with getting the last of my gear ready for the race. I wouldn’t be carrying any fluids with me, but I would take some gels, Enduralyte caps, arm-warmers, a jacket, toilet paper and baby wipes, and a camera in a hydration pack. This has proven to be a pretty good combination for me before in some recent races. Since there were going to be aid stations every 3 miles or so, I didn’t think I would need to be carrying anything to drink with me. I also spent a few minutes rolling around in the parking lot on one of my wife’s beach towels, using a foam roller, which my good friend Kristy Milligan, had given me to help loosen up my IT band and hamstrings. If I can make it through the summer without being sidelined due to injury, I will probably owe that entirely to Kristy for having bestowed half of her foam roller upon me; letting me saw it into 2 pieces in the parking lot of Memorial Park in Manitou Springs one blustery Saturday morning back in May when we were doing a Garden of the Gods rehearsal run.
With a few minutes to spare, Lisa and I ambled back up to the start/finish area
. I wondered in the back of my mind if I was messing up by not having done a warm-up run, but the time to the start of the race was drawing too near to change things. Luckily I was able to get in line for one last visit to the bathroom, and actually make it into the bathroom, with just a couple of minutes to start time left over. Soon Ken Chlouber hoisted his shotgun into the air and; boom
! We were off. Off that is running up the streets of Leadville.I put an emphasis on up, because that is what half of this race seems to be. Conversely, what goes up must come down. In the Leadville Trail Marathon there just doesn’t seem to be very much of the in-between; flatter or less inclined running that is. I was shocked at how steep and sustained the first 4 miles of the race are. Loose too, as in the trail is covered with a lot of loose rocks, making the footing somewhat treacherous
. That is what it takes to get to the 1st aid station, Aid Station A
. From there the trail rolls around the side of Ball Mountain. Still there is a lot more up and less down when going outbound around Ball Mountain. However, the views really start to open up, with high peaks and 14teeners gracing the horizon
. Though the uninitiated among us don’t know it yet, we could also see exactly where we are going as Mosquito Pass lurks in front of us. The realization of our destination will soon be undeniable. The trail around Ball Mountain also becomes a true single track trail for a little while. Most of the running for the whole race consists of jeep trails and dirt roads, but for a little bit around Ball Mountain, there is some real single-track heaven
.Coming back into Aid Station A again, we then turned down a dirt road for a fast-paced descent down to Aid Station B. A lot of this part of the race is through the heart of the historic mining district to the east of Leadville. It is very interesting to observe the old mines and realize too this is where people had put forth lots more effort than we were currently exerting, all in the name of survival, and today we were just involved in having fun. It also occurs to me that absolutely nothing grows on mine tailings.
During the descent to Aid Station B, I fell in beside another person from Colorado Springs, who introduced himself as Ron. He was wearing an Ironman St. George, UT finisher’s shirt. So, I couldn’t resist striking up a conversation since I had participated in that event too. It wasn’t long before we both owned up to having signed up for the Leadman, so I guess we will be seeing a lot of each other over the course of this summer.
The aid stations in the Leadville Trail Marathon are very nice
. They have lots of goodies to eat; cookies, potato chips, M&M’s, cantaloupe, watermelon. PB& J sandwiches, Power Gel, PowerAid, soda, and water. I probably shouldn’t have, but ended up diving into the cookies and chips when I should have stuck with the Power Gels. Who can resist though; I can’t because I am a cookie monster. However, I would pay for this later. At each aid station there were also a couple of porta-potties, of which I would have to use due to too many cookies I think.Upon reaching Aid Station B, I stopped to walk through the aid station, just as I was doing at all of them, grabbing a handful of things to eat and a cup full of water. I ended up walking out of the aid stations still eating and trying to drink the whole cup of water. Since the trash boxes were so close to the said station itself, I always seemed to end up stuffing my crumpled cups inside the front pockets of my shorts and then trying to remember to throw them away at the next aid station. I also ate an Enduralyte cap at each aid station.
From the time I left Aid Station B, I think I walked up to the top of Mosquito Pass without running at all
. Mosquito Pass is something else. It is really steep; I mean really steep and rocky too. Did I mention steep? I forgot to say that the trail was really rocky too. I mean the kind of baby head sized rocks that are perfect for rolling an ankle on or falling down and rolling around on the ground with. I prayed, and God protected me from all harm and danger, and I managed to stay on my feet all day
.Heading up Mosquito Pass was where I started to meet folks who were headed back the other way. I was surprised to see several runners who were wearing sandals. I didn’t see many Vibram Five Fingers, which I was expecting to, due to the popularity of the book Born to Run and the current barefoot running craze. However, I did see a very Native American looking gentleman flying down the Mosquito Pass trail in sandals that looked to me to have very recently come from a pair of tires. Wow, I was in awe. Here I was praying about just staying upright and whole in my padded running shoes, and here comes what I had only been reading about.
The pass seemed to go on forever, or at least uphill for a very long time
. For every runner who passed us going downhill, I started counting how many were wearing a marathon number. I knew that Mike Shafai, from Colorado Springs, was somewhere in front of me, as he is a very talented athlete and fast runner. I think I had counted up to around 20 when I finally recognized Mike coming down the hill towards me. I shouted out an encouraging greeting. He shouted back that we didn’t have too far to go before we would get to run some “free miles”. I chuckled to myself at that; it was way obvious that running back down Mosquito Pass was going to be as hard as walking up it and very heads up too, not exactly relaxing downhill running.At the top of the pass the wind was howling
. I stopped for a moment to snap a picture of the sign explaining the history of the place and wandered into Aid Station C for a snack before heading back down
. Try as hard as I could, I didn’t remember to tell the folks at the aid station thanks for hanging out and supporting us. Given the conditions, the cold wind and the altitude, I am sure their job was a hard as our play.Heading back down the pass, I ran a slow pace to make sure I stayed on my feet and didn’t damage anything else, like an ankle or knee, etc
. Ron took off like a streak back down the pass. Before long, I fell in beside another face I recognized from the Mount Evans Ascent a few weeks prior. He had done this race before. As we made our way back down into Aid Station B for the 2nd time, he told me that the way back up to Aid Station A would “separate the men from the boys” as in the road we ran down earlier would be surprisingly steep on the way back up. I gulped to myself, thinking that here he was throwing down the gauntlet, and I am always too stupid and ready to pick the dang thing back up again. I am sure that is not how he intended it, probably as more of a hope or desire about his own performance, but I took it as a motivator for myself
.Before we reached Aid Station B, my tummy was rumbling at me with the all too familiar feeling of GI distress. Thankfully I found an unoccupied porta-potty upon arrival at the aid station and took care of business in relative efficiency, as efficient as that sort of thing can be when one should really be out running instead. After a subsequent visit to the buffet of Aid Station B, I began walking up the road until I finished drinking the entire cup of water. From that point on I tried to run for 100 meters and then walk 100 meters. For the most part it worked except for a few sections that were just too steep for me to run.
From the top of the road, I made a quick stop at Aid Station A and then reversed my course around Ball Mountain
. By this time I was getting a little tired and needed to walk most of the uphill sections. Maybe I was walking because the uphill sections were really steep too. They seem to specialize in this commodity on the east side of Leadville. After walking back up to Aid Station A again, for the final time, I was directed to “head around the tent and back downhill into Leadville”, only 4 miles away.At first the downhill was really severe, the same trail we had walked up earlier in the morning. Running down them I went pretty slowly so as to make sure I didn’t stumble and trip, especially due to my increasingly tired state. 2 things were going through my mind at this point; 1st was that I hoped that the Leadville 100-mile trail run had some less steep terrain or I am going to be in trouble. I can’t image what running 4 Leadville Trail Marathons would be like. 2nd I was praying that we would not be using these same roads for the Silver Rush 50 mountain bike race in 2 weeks time. I’ll get back to you on that one, but there may be some major hike-a-bike involved.
After I started getting closer to Leadville, the steepness and looseness of the road/trail started to ease up a bit. I began to recognize a few landmarks from the morning that signaled how close I was getting to town. Glancing down at my watch, I realized that I could make it back in less than 6 hours if I started to pour it on a bit. So, from the point at which I crossed the paved bike path on the east edge of town, I really started to run at a faster cadence and lean into the running, ala some Chi running. It helped as I could noticeably detect my pace increasing without putting much more of a strain on my lower body, since I was still running downhill.
Turning down onto 6th Street, I could see the finish line ahead. I sprinted the last few yard in, pumped my fist in the air for my personal victory, and slapped the finish banner; 5 hours and 40 minutes after the shotgun blast that morning. Typical finish line stuff ensued; a medal around the neck, removal of the timing chip, realization of not having to move anymore, and snacks; lovely snacks and cold drinks. Unfortunately my wife Lisa was nowhere to be found. I had told her my goal time was between 6 hours and 6 ½ hours. She had checked the finish area at 5:20, and then gone back to shop again in the stores. She returned to the finish line at few minutes after 6 hours. In the meantime, I had snacked and drank a Sprite and a PowerAid, and cheered in the next few runners. Somewhere in this process I missed Lisa and began to walk back down to our vehicle.
Lisa caught up with me as I was rolling around on my foam roller in the parking lot again, trying to loosen up. We decided to skip out on the after race dinner and awards ceremony, wanting to get back down to Colorado Springs and look after our 2 kitties and doggie, who were probably going to be hungry and thirsty by the time we got back. Unfortunately as we got in the vehicle to leave, it would not start, having a dead battery, for what reason I do not know; maybe we accidently left something on. Having gone through this before, I dug into the recesses of my secret stash and produced a set of jumper cables. It didn’t take too long to find a very kind person, another runner, in the parking lot that jumped us off, and we were soon under way.
Lisa volunteered to drive. I spent the time as we left town digesting the view and the miles thinking of what lies ahead of me this summer, all within just a short period of time away. In the past I would have slept, being totally exhausted and drained after a race of this distance. Maybe it is a good thing that I had a little more left in the tank and spent the time sharing with Lisa how her day went, and trying to describe my feelings about the race to her instead of snoozing. Maybe I will need that kind of energy in the next several weeks ahead.
Leadman – Act One, the Trail Marathon is done, and I think I did OK. I am happy with my time, and equally happy not to have damaged anything. Next up is a just a little 50 mile mountain bike ride.
The Leadville Trail Marathon 2010
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