Leadville recap...
Boring stuff about me:
- the race is kinda setup in 3 stages. 0-40 miles, then 20 miles of Hope Pass (10 over and 10 back), then 40 miles again in reverse. take Hope out of the equation, and the race is still pretty brutal. straight up and straight down.
- elevation didn't effect me too bad, until about a mile from the top of Hope, when I was struggling to stand, was dizzy, had a massive headache, felt like I was carrying a piano, etc.
- i actually felt great at mile 40, and was in the aid station in 9:30, right where i wanted to be. but Hope KILLED me. the next 10 miles took about 5 hours, I missed the cutoff, and my race was over. an out and back course, so that meant i ran the entire thing once.
- no regrets. cant even describe how awesome it was. the views, the scenery....whew. just happy to be there. /cliche
Cool stuff about the week:
My new buddy Bill Finkbeiner. Met him on the trail, and like a jackwagon, didn't figure out who he was for quite some time. 30-time finisher, and broke the streak this year. Dude. 30 freaking years of completing this ridiculously hard race. He's 58 now, and ready to give this one a break. His pacer this year was to be Ann Trason, but he didn't make it. So she paced some guy who had no clue who she was.
http://ultrasignup.com/results_participant.aspx?fname=Ann&lname=Trason
http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/man-will-run-30th-consecutive-100-miler-this-weekend
Me and Ken Chlouber, founder. He's 75 now, and carries a bad MF'er wallet. For real. 17-time finisher, and didn't even start the race until he was 44. His pep talk was something like this....
"DON'T YOU DARE QUIT. IF YOU QUIT, YOU ARE NOW ALLOWED BACK NEXT YEAR. YOU WILL NO QUIT. DIG DEEP. DIG INTO THAT WELL OF GRIT AND GUTS AND DETERMINATION, AND DO NOT QUIT. YOU HAVE TOO MANY PEOPLE COUNTING ON YOU, AND IF YOU QUIT YOU LET DOWN ME, YOU LET DOWN YOUR MOMMA, YOUR DADDY, YOUR WHOLE FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR CO-WORKERS, AND ALL OF YOUR LOVED ONES. I'LL SEE YOU BACK HERE AT THE FINISH!!"
He also was all over the place all week, including standing at the finish to bear hug every finisher. He lives for this stuff, and LOVES the pain and agony you go thru to get there. Just eats up the physical abuse. Stud.
This was your replacement, MCF. Sooooo......yeah. No worries, bud!
Me and champ Rob Krar. Nice as could be, and was asking all kinds of questions about MY "race."
Some other randoms...
- saw Dennis V (of Athletes in Tandem) hauling ace down Hope Pass. I would have been at about mile 43 while his horse was at 57ish -- and MOVING. Did a double take, as I had no idea he'd be there. Was going to yell at him, but the last thing a pacer of some superstar wants to do is slow down to chat.
- met Liza Howard (2010 women's winner, 2014 runner up) in the local coffee shop.
- Views were absolutely stunning. Several times I literally stopped just to observe.
- saw a former co-worker, had no clue he was doing the race. we ran together a few times last year at a national conference, and i specifically remember him telling me ultras were crazy. he's more of a tri/crossfit guy. and he finished at 29:45. awesome.
Look at this backdrop...
Leaving mile 40 aid station, heading for that huge peak ahead.