Leadville 2009, part I

Leadville to Winfield

It was early, 2:45AM, which on a Saturday means I should've been going to bed but instead I was waking up. I had the same feeling of dread as I did one year before. I had just wolfed down a clif bar and it wasn’t sitting right. My stomach, normally a trash compactor for anything I put into it, didn’t seem to be working right. Not the kind of thing that bodes well for a 100 mile run. As Tony would say later, "on a good day, running 100 miles is fucking hard. Period. On a bad day, it's borderline impossible." I was hoping my stomach wouldn't be the cause of a bad day.

But, truth be told, I knew I was going to finish this run. There was just no other option. I had trained my ass off over the last year. And every second loop up the Incline, every extra mile on the Intemann trail, every time I got up to run at 4:45AM instead of 5AM, it was all with the vision of my collapse and DNF at Halfmoon in 2008. I had lived in shame for an entire year, and I was ready to put it behind me. Back-to-back DNF’s would have been a crushing blow, and probably the end, of my running career, and I wasn’t going to let that happen, especially due to stomach issues.

The gun went off and I began my run down 6^th street. Very easy here. And very crowded, as almost 600 runners started. It was almost like a reunion here, as I saw tons of friends from the ultra community.

I was feeling really good down the boulevard. I saw Keith in front of me, which had me worry for a minute that I was already behind the 30 hour cutoff pace, but there were other big buckle runners all around, so I didn't panic. Soon we were on the singletrack path around Turquoise Lake. I found myself behind Leadman Larry D, and I decided to stay behind him all the way to the next aid station. The pace felt somewhat slow, but it takes a lot of extra work to pass on that section, and I thought it was too early for that kind of effort.

I hit Mayqueen in 2:05. Perfect. I grabbed my iPod and downed an ensure. My stomach was still feeling a bit queasy and I didn’t think any solid food would stay down, so I stuck with liquids.

I had the Widespread Panic shows from Mile High to take my mind off running for a bit. The music drove me on, and I ran the singletrack uphill to the dirt road and then over to the first big climb of the day, Sugarloaf Pass. I was feeling pretty good but I still decided to hike Sugarloaf. I was steady all the way up and had a great run coming down the other side. I actually passed quite a few people on the downhill, very rare for me. I noticed on the way down that even though it wasn't 8AM yet, and the sun was not fully shining on the course, it was already somewhat warm. I hit the paved road to the cheers of some Pb fans, and ran the rest of the way to Fish Hatchery, arriving at 7:59AM. Once again, my stomach didn't feel up to solid foods, and I relied on ensure. Ensure has a ton of calories, but I’m not sure I can run 100 miles on fake chocolate milk alone.

I caught up to Brooks and we left Fish Hatchery together and ran down my least favorite part of the course, the paved road. The views were fantastic though, with Colorado’s two highest mountains looking down at you. I took advantage of the easy terrain to push the pace a bit. Saw lots of friends driving back and forth along the road here, so of course there was lots of smack talking going on. Which was good, as it took my mind off how hot it seemed to be getting.

I passed the purple horse stall and in a bit I was routed off the normal course on to Pipeline Road. I didn’t know much about this new section (the regular route was changed due to a recent military helicopter crash on Mt. Massive) but most people seemed to be saying it would be faster. I end up liking the new section. Running down Halfmoon Road, with all the cars kicking up dust, sucks ass, and I’m glad I got to avoid it. I was also relieved to get to pass up the Halfmoon aid station, where I dropped out a year before. I passed through the crew access point to lots of cheering people and continued on, still running well. I enjoyed the new part of the course and at 9:28AM I reached the Box Creek Pass aid station. Same story here – no solid food, lots of ensure. I was very surprised to see BFish leaving the aid station as I arrived, he’s usually well ahead of me by this point. But it’s a good thing – at the start line we had bet a 30 pack of PBR that he couldn’t beat me by more than three hours.

From Box Creek Pass I hiked the rest of the climb over to the Colorado Trail. Despite the stomach issues I was feeling pretty decent and was keeping a near perfect 25 hour pace. This part of the race is one of my favorites and I hammered it pretty good, passing quite a few runners. Before long I saw Rick and Harsha out on the trail and then I was at Twin Lakes at 10:58AM. I had picked up over 15 minutes on the big buckle pace during the section from Fish to Twin. I finally changed shoes here, switching from the Sportiva Wildcats to the Sportiva Imogene. My crew handed me some Pabst, which I downed, and some more ensure, which I downed, but once again I was unable and unwilling to try to eat anything solid.

Forty miles in, and up until this point everything had been ass backward for me. Usually I charge up hills, play it safe on the way down, and eat everything and anything I can get my hands on at the aid stations. Here I had been holding steady on the ups, hammering by people on the downs, and had only taken in liquids over the past six hours. I swear I could still feel the clif bar in my stomach that I had eaten over eight hours earlier. I can’t say my stomach issues were hurting me, but it left me at a loss as how hard to push the next part of the course.

I decided to play it safe. Though I blame the Halfmoon aid station for my misery the year before, I think the damage was actually done while trying to hammer Hope Pass. I run from Twin Lakes over to Hope, taking some time for a dip in the river crossing, and settle into a nice hike.

The pace up Hope Pass was fairly easy for me, though it wasn't too slow as the only person to pass me up was Brooks, who was having the race of his life. It was very hot, especially once I got above treeline. I could tell there was gonna be a lot of carnage on the course with the heat. I was slow but steady, stopping at Hopeless for some water and to say hello to the llamas, and before I knew it I was at the top of the course, 12,600 foot Hope Pass. I turned around and could see the city of Leadville, 47 miles off in the distance.

I didn't waste too much time at the top and begun the very steep and rugged descent. Ran well here, even though I finished all my water just before hitting the dirt road to Winfield. The dirt road run sucked as usual, breathing in all the dust the cars were kicking up. After what seemed like an eternity I finally ran into Winfield at 2:17PM. Despite a lackluster Hope Pass crossing, I was still 13 minutes ahead of my goal pace.