Leaving Leadville

I've put this off long enough.  I suppose part of me thought that if I did not do the pace race wrap up, and talk about leaving Leadville that it somehow wasn't real.

Now it is time to face reality.  School starts tomorrow, and I am going to be teaching again.  There will not be any trail runs through the mountains, no morning coffee and breakfast burritos at City on a Hill, and no camaraderie with other runners at the shop.

The good news is that I have a renewed energy and focus heading into the school year, and I think it will be great for the kids and myself.

Now to the race.

The Start/Finish Line

I started out the morning feeling very good.  My crew was assembled, and the atmosphere was electric as we all gathered at the start.

The Crew was pretty excited pre-race

Trying to keep Dana and myself smiling and laughing before the start

Once Josh fired the gun I kept trying to keep myself in check.  I ran strong and confident for the first 13.5 miles out to Mayqueen.  I nailed the fast mark we had set for me to be coming into the first aid station.  This means that I should not be running any faster than that, but that I was within a safe range. In retrospect, I should have run more slowly into Mayqueen.  I drank some Gu Brew and ate a bagel with almond butter and honey.  I was already behind on drinking water in between aid stations.

Feeling good at Mayqueen

Again I ran strong on the way out of Mayqueen, and throughout the climb to the Hagerman Pass road.  I took it easy on most of the uphills, and ran well on the flats and downs.  I did jog on the pass road as it  is only a mild incline.  I hiked to the top of Sugarloaf, and then ran pretty quickly down Powerline as I had planned to do all along.  Once we hit the pavement on the way to Fish Hatchery, I walked a bit to take down a Gu and drink a little bit of water.  The weather was so cool this morning that I was still neglecting my water intake and probably not eating enough either.

When I got to Fish Hatchery it was very chaotic.  This being my first time, I was not prepared for how many people were there, and I think I did not relax as much as I should have in the aid stations.  I did change shirts, wash my feet, change socks, and eat a little here.  I should have drank more, and ate more while there, but I did take a tortilla with almond butter and honey for the road.  I ended up eating about 2/3 of it.  Not enough.

The road was easy for me.  A lot of ultra folks complain about this section, but I got started on the road, and it is easy to zone out and groove here.

Grooving on the road section

Again, I ran well, but by now was getting way behind on my hydration.  I saw Kirk and Christine at Half Pipe, and grabbed a sandwich and some PureSport.  I probably only ate about half the sandwich.  On the way into the actual Half Pipe aid station I began to notice that things were a little off.  Besides nearing the point of my longest run ever, I must have started to feel the effects of what would later end my day.  I grabbed some drink here, and a couple of PB&Js.

The section between Half Pipe and the Mt. Elbert water station is where I really began to notice some issues.  The downhill hurt my stomach.  I have felt this before, and I think it happens when I am dehydrated.  It feels as if the muscles protecting my stomach are hurting as I move downhill.

By the time I reached Twin Lakes, I knew something was not right, but had no idea how bad it was going to be.

Feeling bad, but looking good coming in to Twin Lake.  At least I didn't eat it like the guy two spots back.

 I was still on schedule, but wasn't sure how long I could keep it up.  I was already beginning to think about finishing versus coming in under 25 hours.  I made it through the aid station, and stopped near Jon and Ben's car to change shoes, socks, and get prepared for climbing Hope Pass.

When I tried to pry my shoe off, my left calf completely seized up in a cramp.  Ben had to rub it out, and this is when I first realized just how dehydrated I had become.  The problem had been that it was so cool in the morning, and I was feeling so strong that I did not realize how much water I needed to be drinking.

I was feeling drained as I began the climb up Hope Pass.  Fairly early on a girl that was hiking (Jen was her name) began to stay with me.  I believe this had to be because I looked awful, and she was worried about me.  Eventually we sat down so I could drink and eat.

I looked at her, said "Oh No," and fell off the rock in a split second faint.  I laid on the ground and began to drink or eat anything that was offered to me.  I was really worried at this point that I would not finish, or even be able to make it to the top, and back down.

After about a 15 minute rest, I started very slowly again, and eventually made it to the top of Hope Pass.  I have been here before, but the aid station during the race is a very surreal site.  They use llamas to get the gear up there, so there are llamas everywhere, and a fire burning, and tents.  It looks like some sort of post apocalyptic refugee camp.  I had to hang out here for quite a while to suck down the broth from a couple of cups of ramen, and to drink and eat enough to have the strength to get down to Winfield.

Eventually I got up, climbed the last few hundred yards to the peak, and then began the descent.  I was feeling absolutely awful, and the only bright spot was when I saw Dana already climbing back up Hope.  I was really happy that she still had a shot at 25 hours.

By the time I was approaching Winfield I was seeing a lot of folks I had met throughout the summer starting to climb back up Hope.  The looks on their faces told me how bad I looked, and I became a little emotional.  I was upset that I had let myself get in this condition, and that my friends may not have the chance to run as pacers after coming all this way.  I thought about all the training I had done, and that is was all for nothing.  That type of activity, especially when coupled with dehydration, can reek havoc of your emotions.

Kirk met me a few hundred yards before the aid station, and calmed me down, and got me to the weight in.  I was white as a sheet at this point, and was swelling in my arms and neck.  There was concern on the faces of the medical staff.  I was out of it.  I thought that I was missing the cutoff time, or that they were going to pull me.

I stepped on the scale and had lost 8 pounds in 50 miles.  This is not a good thing.  To lose that much weight in that short of a time period means that it is mostly water weight.  Kirk, Christine, and Laura (Dana's friend who was to be my first pacer) were awesome.  They got me tons of food, and drinks just hoping to see what I could choke down.  I thought I was done for sure, but they wouldn't give up.  Within 35 minutes they had me cracking jokes, and my color had come back.  I could literally feel the cloud lifting from my brain.

They loaded up Laura with two back packs, and I took a hand held water bottle.  I climbed very well, not fast, but also did not stop along the way at all.  Laura was constantly handing me food, and reminding me to drink.  We got back to Hope Pass, but it was getting dark, and I was worried we wouldn't make the cutoff at Twin Lake inbound.  I do have to say that it was awesome to be on top of Hope Pass right at twilight.  It was incredible, and something that is truly magical about this race.

We may have stayed at the aid station a little too long, but the Ramen juice was necessary at this point.  We got geared up, and took off again.  Laura kept me running, and as we neared the bottom of the mountain, and began to cross the field, we found out they had extended the cutoff for an additional 15 minutes.  If we could get there by 10:15 PM we could probably get through.  At this point Laura increased out pace. All along she had stayed behind me pushing me.  Now she ran ahead to encourage my pace.  This was very smart on her part, and I sped up to stay with her.  As we neared the parking lot I was in a full trot.  Once we hit pavement I was striding, and when we got within a quarter mile I was sprinting.  I have no idea where I got the strength, but it felt like one of those "car fall on baby, mom lifts car" moments.  I ran away from my pacers and crew, and got to the aid station at 10:18 PM.  I had missed the cut by 3 minutes.  Sandy Monahans, the cutoff queen, would not be convinced, and I could see the sadness in her face.  I was feeling better than I had in hours, and probably could have been pulling into the aid station all along the way right at the cutoff marks.  It would have been a difficult night, but I wanted to try.  It was not to be.

The crew smiling, despite their fears that I would not make the cutoff at Twin Lakes inbound

My race was done, and now the processing began.  I had to process the let down.  I was thinking about folks keeping track back home, and about my pacers who had come so far, and about my summer of training.  My crew was awesome, and almost immediately I had the right perspective.  I had learned a lot about what to do differently next year.  I also thought about how far I had come.  When I signed up for the race in February, the farthest I had ever run was a half marathon.  In March I paced the half at in Beaumont at the Gusher, in April I ran the Hells Hills 50K at Rocky Hill, and then trained all summer, never surpassing the 32 mile mark.  61 or so miles was almost double my previous long run, but just happened to be short of my goal.

We got back to the house, and I rested a bit before getting up to go down to the finish and see Dana finish.  Having worked for the race series all summer I grabbed a medal, and let Shannon know that I was going to be presenting Dana with her medal as she crossed the finish line.  She finished in 26 hours and 38 minutes.  She was awesome all day long, smiling nearly the entire way.

The next day or so was mostly a blur, and I spent most of the time preparing to leave, and saying goodbye to all the folk I had grown so close to all summer.  Leaving Leadville on Monday was one of the hardest things that I ever had to do.  However, I know I will be back in a short 9 months to do it all over again.

This summer changed my life.  I have been affected in ways that I could never put down on paper.  This first summer there, and the town in general will always be very special to me.

Every other day or so I have to remind myself that this is not the end of the book there, but just a short interruption, or the end of a chapter, then everything is good again...

This is going to be a great school year.  I am excited about my classes, and about the golf team.  I am ready for the local running season to get started up again.

Hope this answers any questions, and that anyone reading this was at least mildly entertained over the summer.  Thanks for your support and well wishes along the way.

Wednesday Before the Run

So I have mostly been tapering, and it has been uneventful.  I put in a bunch of hard hours working to help put on the 100 MTB race, and felt like that made for some good workouts.  I also ran the 10K and got 20th out of 342 ( http://my4.raceresult.com/details/results.php?lang=en&page=6&eventid=12247&contest=1&name=Result%20Lists%7COverall%20Results&CertificateLink=1&format=view ).  I wasn't supposed to run that fast, but I got competitive.  Hopefully that doesn't happen on Saturday.

Kirk and Jon got in on Monday, and we have been hiking and fishing since then.  We had a really long planning meeting that was great for figuring out food, and times, etc.  After we got done with our planning, we were happy to find that several trustworthy plans on the internet and from a friend were very similar to the plan we had constructed.

I am a bit nervous, but still confident that I can get done under the 25 hour mark, and get that big belt buckle.  When I first arrived in Leadville at the beginning of the summer, the idea was simply to finish. So if I do not get the sub-25 hour time I am looking for, I can still be happy with having completed this race.

Thanks for everyone who kept up along the way, and gave me support.  I want to thank Jon, Ben, Kirk, and Christine for showing up to pace and crew for me.  Thanks to my family back home for keeping me in their thoughts and prayers.  I have been extremely blessed to have the opportunity to be up here all summer, and to remain mostly injury free.

Check out the leadvilleraceseries.com website on Saturday and early Sunday morning to keep track of me along the way.  http://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/page/show/341303-results  This url will probably be the best for finding me.  You can search by name or bib number.

Let's do this!

7/30 Was a Good Day

I ran hard today.  After doing the double traverse of Hope Pass yesterday, I was really pleased to find that I wasn't very sore.  There is no way to say this without it sounding like a shameless plug, but I believe whole-heartedly that the PureSport recovery drink is the reason that I don't get sore on those days.

Anyhow, I did the same route that I did on 7/9.  I won't go into too many details, because you can go back and read that report if you want.  I did feel even faster and stronger this time, which is a good sign.

Well, that was my last long run before the race.  Hopefully, I will not go too stir crazy.  There are still some short and intermediate runs to work into these last few days, but I will have more time to kill.  I think Mount Massive Golf Course is going to be seeing a little bit more of me.

Anyway, I felt great, I had a great dinner, and hung out with some good folks.  It was a good day.

I am not sure how much more will be on this blog that will be very interesting, or if there will be anything at all until right after the race.

Hope Pass

Today I decided to do the double traverse of Hope Pass, since it would probably be my last chance to get it in before the race.  The only other time I did it was during run camp, and I am so much stronger going up both sides now than I was then.  I felt really good all day today.

I did the same route we did in camp, which varies a little from the actual race course, but not enough to really matter.  I started at the bridge, went up and over to the Sheep Gulch trailhead, and on to the Winfield Road, and then turned around and came back.  Total distance is somewhere between 17 and 18 miles, and total elevation gain is in the neighborhood of 6,000 ft.  It took me 4 hours and 16 minutes to do the whole thing.  I think the break down was 1:35 to the top, 2:09 down to the road, 3:24 back to the top, and 4:16 at the finish.

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but I do have this profile for those of you who like to graph your torture.

So the best way to read this thing is right to left, and then to imagine when I get to about the 8.5-9 mile mark to imagine me turning around, and running back to the left side.

Mt. Massive

Today I decided to hike up and run down Mt. Massive. It is right next to Elbert, which I did a couple of weeks back, and just a very small bit smaller (14,421ft vs 14,433ft).

The stats: 13.6 miles roundtrip with 4,370 ft of elevation gain. I got up in 2 hours and 35 minutes, which means it was a 22 minute 47 second pace on the way up. It took me 1 hour and 16 minutes to get down, which is an 11 minute 10 second pace. The total distance of 13.6 miles was covered in 3 hours and 51 minutes which makes a pace that comes out to almost 17 minutes per mile exactly.

The trail leading to the climb is more drawn out than Elbert, and I think that is where most of the added time came in to play. I jogged the flats, and any downs that existed on my way to where the real climbing began.

As I made my way above the tree line, it was partly cloudy, with some dark clouds in the distance. As I got nearer the peak, everyone was headed down. There was some thunder in the distance, but the nearest clouds seemed to be moving on either side of the peak. After a little discussion with the maker, I decided that there was just enough time to summit the peak, snap an obligatory self pho to, and then haul it out of there.

Had to snap a self portrait because no one was left on the peak.

It is a bit surreal to be eye level with the mostly benign dark cloud that had chased the others off of the peak.

Here are the pictures looking West and then East from the summit respectively.

The hike was very good overall.  I am feeling stronger all the time on the climbs, and feeling very confident on the downhills as well.  Within the first 15 minutes of leaving the peak I saw several snow flakes, got sprinkled on by rain, and then a few pellets of hail even hit the ground.  After that it was all sunshine and warm.

There are some fat marmots on this mountain.

For any of those worry warts out there, remain calm, I was keeping a close eye on the clouds the entire time, and would not have continued had I felt it to be life threatening.  

I'll work tomorrow, and take the day off from training, then hit my last tough back to back on Sunday and Monday.  

Wednesday 7-25 Training Run

Today's run was very hard for me, but so good once it was completed.

This section was much more difficult than I had planned in my head when it was first explained to me.  The trail runs from the Timberline Trailhead to Tennessee Pass.  This is not part of the course.  The total distance is 27.2 miles, has 2,120 feet of elevation gain, and has a top elevation of 11,480 feet.utrwhat The bad news is that it took me 7 hours and 15 minutes exactly.  This is basically a 16 minute mile pace.  That is not good at all.

Sometimes you become very philosophical on a run of that length (time not distance).  I decided that a run like this may pay bigger dividends in the long run than say a long run in which you feel great, and feel like you hardly had to exert yourself.  Perhaps on a day such as this, the pain, discomfort, and general blah feeling that is overcome to finish out 7 hours on the trail is what truly makes you a better and stronger runner (or maybe I am just trying to make myself feel better about having not done so great today).

The good news is that if you have to spend extra time on a trail, and have to experience discomfort, this is the trail to do it on.  This trail has lots of amazing views.

There was a section where I came across several small high altitude ponds.

Hopefully you folks did not mind the extended slide show, because I have more pictures from today's run.

Here are a few shots of the trail itself.

The run out was not too bad, but I could tell I was not having the best day all the way to Tennessee Pass.  It took me 3 hours and 10 minutes to cover the over 13.5 miles (14 minute pace...not blazing but better).

At the turn around point I had some water, and a piece of a Clif Bar.  I used the bathroom, and then was on my way.  About 30 minutes into the run, it started to hail.  At first it was light, and then it really started to come down.  I took a video with my phone, but it didn't save for some reason.  Check out these photos.  It hailed so much that it started to cover the trail, and ground.  There was no thunderstorm, or severe weather involved like I am used to seeing associated with hail in SE Texas.

Like I've said before, this type of hail doesn't really hurt because it is so small, except when it hits the ear lobes.  Also, when this much comes down at once, all you can do is hide under a pine tree (in the foreground of this picture), and because this volume of falling ice can carry a little bit of a sting.  It is bound to hit the ears.

It took me 4 hours and 5 minutes to get back (about an 18.5 minute pace...boo).

I am really tired now, and am going to hit the hay.  I plan on taking tomorrow off from training, and then summit a 14er on Friday, taking Saturday off, and doing back to back long runs on Sunday and Monday.  That plan would make for a very solid week, put me back on track, and set me up to start tapering toward the race in another week or so.

Tahoe-Road Recap

I am just now updating from the road. There will be another post to follow with info and images from today's run.

The weekend went very well.  There is a lot of hard work that goes in to putting on an event of this size and high level of quality.

The only down side of all the hard work was that I missed the rest of my runs.  I was doing a lot of manual labor, so it wasn't as if I let sloth take over, I just ran out of time.

After the race, we packed up, and we were all pretty whipped.

The other two guys had planned to do some downhill bicycle runs, and I was going to play the front 9 before we hit the road, but there were pretty ferocious thunderstorms that night, that extended into the morning.  We decided to hit the road instead.

I tried to get a few more interesting pictures from the road this time around.  By far the strangest site I have seen (maybe in all my travels) are the salt flats in western Utah.  If you've ever seen the car commercials, with the cars sliding around on white "sand," and nothing else around, this is that place.

It is so strange to see such a vast expanse of land that is completely devoid of vegetation, except for that which springs up along the edges of the road, or near the levies that have been built in the flats.  These pictures don't do this oddity justice.

As we traveled a little further, I wondered if the locals had a little too strong of an affinity for Star Wars:

As the day wore on, we decided to just go ahead and push on all the way back to Leadville that night.  It just didn't make sense to stop at some town that was only 4 hours from our final destination.

After we got home the whole next day was spent recovering.  Then on Wednesday it was time for the self inflicted pain of trying to catch up on missed runs (check the next post).

UPDATE:

A few days before we left to start our journey out to Tahoe, there was a sunset in Leadville that warrants a special spot in this post.

The view from my front door.  Not bad right?

From the corner.

Down by the high school at the end of 6th Street.

Clouds

Quick Update From the Road

So we left Wednesday morning from Leadville around 8:00 AM.  We drove most of the day, and decided to stop driving when we got to Elko, NV.

South of the interstate, I could see some dirt roads and hills.  So, after we checked in to the very dumpy Budget Inn, I had Marvin drop me off in the neighborhood nearest the trails.  As I started up the trail, there was a dude coming down, and he let me know that it was BLM (Bureau of Land Management).  This meant that I was free to run pretty much wherever I wanted.  There were some short (linearly) inclines, but very steep, so I got in a good workout.

As I was running, I was quickly running out of daylight, but the desert setting treated me to this:

I wish I had had my real camera, because my crappy little cell phone just could not capture the variety of colors that were in the sky.  It made for a great finish to my run.

I made it back to the neighborhood just as it was getting dark, and then ran all the way back to the hotel.  Though it was only about 1hr and 15mins, it was a great run for being in the middle of a road trip.

The next day we got up, and then drove all the way into Tahoe.  As soon as we got settled I got on the trails on the lower part of the mountain.  The pine trees here are so much bigger than home, and the forest made for a great place to run.  I knocked out a 2.5hr run, and then we went to dinner.

Today (Friday) we started early, and worked all day.  We set up the finish are with the finish arch, lots (lots!) of barricades.  It was a very long day, and tomorrow will be very long as well, and then on Sunday we'll finally have the race which will also be a long day.  I really need to find a way to sneak in 2 long runs in the next 3 days, but it is looking like it might be hard to get that in.  Hopefully it will all work out.

Time to climb into my bunk:

Yep, that is a bunk built into the laundry room.

Silver Rush 50 Weekend

Well you saw the video from the start of the 50 Mountain Bike.  I slept through the start of the run.

My job was just to sweep the last 25 miles of the 50 mile run, so I knew I had some time.  I went down to the start/finish and helped where I could.  Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures from this event.

My run in particular ended up being more akin to interval training than anything else.  I gave the last participant through the turnaround point a 50 minute head start, but should have waited longer.  I caught him with the first 25-30 minutes, and had to basically walk with him for about an hour.  He had gotten to the start line about 30 minutes late, and tried to give it a go, but he was in poor shape.  When we got to the first aid station on the way back in, they pretty much made him drop as he would not be able to make any other cut offs.

At this point I could run hard again, so I did.  The medics and some race administration were waiting when I got off that stretch of single track, and met with me on the road.  The weather was getting worse, but there was one more piece of trail they wanted me to sweep.  I was really moving at this point (it was mostly down hill), so I kept going.

When I got with that section, they were waiting again, and asked if I wanted a ride in.  Despite the rain, there was no lightning, so I told them I'd keep going.

I caught our next guy pretty quickly on the long climb towards the Mt. Sherman road (California Gulch?).  Before I could even start talking to him to motivate him, or check to see how he was doing, he sat down in the middle of the road and gave up.  He was later taken to the hospital for High Altitude Pulmonary Edema.

So I got to run again, and caught some guys after about 10 minutes, and they were about 20 minutes from making the turn down on to the jeep road.  This is a mostly downhill section where I tried to motivate them to at least trot a little bit, but they would only walk.  Eventually the medical crews caught back up with us, and took them to the next aid station.

After a very short run I caught the last 2 women.  These two just barely made the last cutoff.  They could not run anymore either.  This basically turned into a 7-8 mile walk...downhill.  I can't explain how mentally taxing it is to have to walk downhill, when it is so much easier to run.  Despite this fact, I have been inspired by the last finisher in each of the races I have swept.

This day was no different.  Melissa would be the last person to finish this race, and it would be after the cutoff time, but she is a true champion.  This was her first 50 mile race.  By the end, her IT band was so stiff that she had to swing her leg out to the side to keep going.  She had raised a good sum of money for a great cause as part of the race.  She works for an international organization that rescues children from the sex-slave industry.  So she was doing this both as a fundraiser, and I feel symbolically to show her devotion to helping those around the world that cannot help themselves.

No matter how much I hate having to walk those last few miles, I would not trade it for anything.  In both the marathon and the 50, I met folks that have inspired me to train harder, and to look for causes that I can believe in, and help to benefit.

Cheers to Melissa!!

(I leave tomorrow morning for Tahoe to work the last qualifier for the 100 Mountain Bike Race.  I have been in Leadville every night this whole time, and it is starting to get pretty small.  The cabin fever is setting in, so this could not have come at a better time.  Hopefully I can get some good running in while on the road.)

Mt. Elbert -- Friday

On Friday, I decided that Mt. Elbert would be training for the day.  I had been chased off by hail a week or so before, and this would be my first time to hike the tallest peak in Colorado to the top.

I got started early enough to hopefully miss the afternoon storms that seem to build around the peaks every afternoon.  This was to be a training run as well as a sight seeing adventure.

So this is one profile of the trail that I took up to the summit of Mt. Elbert.  The mileage along the bottom of this one is not accurate for where I started.  The trail I took is almost 9 miles by the time you turn back, and reach the bottom.

I am not sure what a good times are for reaching the top, but I made it up in 2 hours and 19 minutes, and was pretty happy about that.

You can really move on the trail early before it gets too steep, and then I just buried my head, and hiked hard for a long time.  I did take frequent, short breaks, but kept moving.

For a since of perspective, look at the bottom left center of this picture...those 2 black dots are people hiking up below me.  Those bodies of water are Twin Lakes and Mt. Elbert Forbay.

Once you get up above tree line, and start really climbing, there are 3 false summits.  I am learning to prepare myself for these, and not get too excited as I reach the top.

I'm sorry, what did you say?  I can't hear you over my jacket, gloves, and shoes.

I rested at the peak for just a minute, ate a granola bar, and then prepared for the descent.

I was very pleased with my running on the way down.  Where it is very steep near the top, I used a controlled run, but was able to keep moving pretty quickly without tiring my knees or quads.  Once I made it back to the treeline, I could really turn on the speed, as the incline became a little more tolerable.

As I neared the trailhead, I had mixed feelings.  I looked down and realized I had a shot at making it all the way down in an hour, but knew that it would be close.  

When I burst into the parking lot I stopped my watch, looked down, and realized that I had made it in 1 hour and 2 minutes.

All in all it was a good workout.  After lunch I volunteered to work packet pick up for the 50 mountain bike and 50 run this weekend.  I worked Saturday, and spent some time at the start/finish line for the mountain bike race.

Check out the start of the race.  They have to run up this ski hill to begin the race.  To make it extra interesting this year, they were giving away a spot in the 100 mile mountain bike race in August.  There are 2 guys that break away from the pack.  Pretty awesome stuff.  Too bad my camera phone is so dinky.

Today is Sunday, and I will be sweeping the 50 run course.  This time I will not be running the full distance.  I will start at the turn around point around 2:00 PM this afternoon, and make my way in from there.  Hopefully, it will go a little more smoothly for me than marathon day a couple of weeks back.

I haven't figured out tomorrow's plan yet, but I need to knock out between 25-30 miles again, before I start my "recovery" week next week.

Until then...

7/9 Day 2 of a Back to Back

Well George had to bail, so I after getting up and eating some oatmeal, I went back to sleep.  To be honest, that felt pretty good.

After I got back up, I planned a new route for the day.  I decided to do the more difficult and longer version of yesterday's run.  

Instead of driving to the dam, I ran from my house, and followed the longer actual 100 course out towards the dam.  When I came to the 3 way fork in the road, I took the pavement over to Powerline, and went up the path.  I was surprised by how fresh I felt, and really attacked it.  The rest of the run was really enjoyable.

I always like passing through Mayqueen because Mr. Welker, the campground host, is a really nice guy.  I met him one day when I was passing through, and trying to fill my water bottles.  The water was out that day, and he gave me a water bottle.  He grew up some of the time in Texas, and now is retire, and a camp host.  I think he "gets it."  When I saw him on Monday he remembered my name, and we chatted for a bit.  He offered to have anything special I might want on race day when I pass through the aid station.  I'll have to think about that, and get back to him.

It took me 2 hours and 40 minutes to make the last 13.5 miles back from Mayqueen, which is not fast, but did not make me upset either.  I figured after a 24 mile day, and the last part of this 28.5 mile day that it wasn't too awful bad.  Hopefully it gives me some kind of indication of what to expect on the way back on the morning of August 19th (hopefully in the dark).

There were some times that I had to talk myself into running uphill instead of hiking, but I am sure that will pay off in the long run, and I felt great when I got done.  I was whipped, but glad to have run hard for a big portion of the run.

Plans change quickly around here, but I'd like to mix in at least one 14er a week, and this week I think I want it to be Elbert on Thursday or Friday.  I will be sweeping the Silver Rush 50 this weekend on Sunday (just the last 25 miles), and then will be looking for something else (maybe close to 30 miles?) on Monday.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures from whichever 14er I end up on this week.

The Past Week

Well it looks as if Sunday is my new day to do blog entries.

Chief was in town this week (my buddy Jonathan from college).  We'll use Chief, so as not to confuse him with Jon(athon) Owens who will be pacing in August.

It was a pretty good trip.  He got plenty of golf in, and I even managed to play a couple of days.  We visited James and June in Nathrop for the 4th of July.

On the 6th, we hiked Mount Sherman.  It is the 14er that I did with Christy the second week I was here.  I felt much stronger this time.  I was able to get some pretty cool shots on the way up as well.

We made it to the top!

That caption is the only thing that really matters.  It hailed on us on the way down.  It was strange, because it did not rain at all, just a fairly long shower of small pea sized hail that only really hurt when it hit you right in the ear.

Later that night the Midnight River Choir were in town for a show.  Back in May when they played our fundraiser, they mentioned they would be in Colorado at the same time as I would, so when I got to Leadville I sought out the owners of the local music venue.  I hooked them up with contact info, and a few weeks later I brought one of my favorite bands to me.  It was a great show, and a pretty good turnout.  I was pleased that all of the locals I had invited really liked the band.

I rested on Saturday, and then today (Sunday) I ran approximately 24 miles in 4 hours and 33 minutes.  It was a good loop around Turquoise Lake, and then up the Timberline Trail to Sugarloaf, and down the infamous Powerline.

As seen from above

This is what it looks like from the bottom

Powerline occurs at about the 18 mile mark of the race, and it is nice then because you get to come down it.  The next time you see Powerline is at about mile 80, and you have to go up it.  I am not looking forward to mile 80.

I ran very well today.  I felt strong, even on some uphills that I did not "powerhike."  Hopefully, tomorrow will be another good day of training.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to run/hike over Mosquito Pass to the next town over called Alma with George Gipson.  His wife works for the race series.  They are from the South as well, and I get along great with their family.  We are starting pretty early in the morning, and it should be about a 30-35 mile day, so I am going to make some pasta, and head to bed relatively soon.

Leadville Trail Marathon

This is not your typical marathon, and I don't just mean it is on a trail.

Since I had hurt my ankle last Sunday, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to run the marathon competitively.  As the week went on, my ankle healed very quickly as I was able to treat it properly, rather than sporadically as "real life" usually dictates.  Usually jobs, and other issues keep us from treating our injuries properly, in my somewhat unique situation I was basically able to take the time to treat the injury like a pro would, and it really paid off.

Still not sure how strong I would be, or how hard I should run, I volunteered to be the "sweep."  The sweep on an out and back course usually starts at the turn around point, and then runs back around cut off times to ensure the course is clear of all runners.  However, I wanted to get my miles in, so I started in town about an hour and 35 minutes after the start time.

This offered an interesting perspective, as I got to see everyone on the course.  I saw people that were at run camp, and folks who had been in the store the last couple of days.  It was pretty cool.

Now for the course description:

You start in town, which is just over 10,000 feet, and you head East.  This means that you are climbing immediately, and for a very long time.  When you get to the first aid station, you get a short break, and then you go around Ball Mountain.  While circuiting ball mountain you get some ups and downs, and that is your first real reprieve from climbing.  Needless to say it is hard to find a rhythm early, and there is a considerable amount of power hiking (I have come to realize that power hiking is the term ultra runners substitute for walking during a race, even if they are not really POWER HIKING) that has to be done.

After the loop around Ball Mountain you come back to the same aid station, and it is mostly a down hill you can fly on for nearly the whole 3 miles to the next aid station (foreshadowing the climb on the tail end...boo).

After this aid station, it is pretty much all up hill, and lots of "power hiking" to the top of Mosquito Pass at 13, 185 feet.  There are not many marathons that offer over 6,300 feet of climbing.

Here are the course map and the profile so you can see what I am talking about in this post:

As I slowly climbed the Mosquito Pass road, I kept wondering how many more people could still be up there.  My starting time from in town turned out to be perfect, as I reached the peak at the exact same time as the last runner, who was then pulled from the race.  I hung out on top with the folks running the aid station there for about 10-20 minutes, trying to give myself some space so I could run a bit on the way down before I caught the people at the back of the pack.

You now get the idea, of what is left on the way back.  You think you might be able to scream down the pass road, except it has rocks the size of baby heads strewn all over it, so the going is not very easy. Just to give you an idea of how crappy this road is, the aid station guys driving down in their truck were going roughly the same speed as I was, until I passed them.

One of my jobs as sweep was to unmark the course as well.  With the help if the guys in the truck, and then me pulling flags and ribbon further down, I was able to unmark about half the course before deciding it would be easier to come back in the morning and finish up.

I caught the first person before the aid station.  He looked like he wasn't feeling to bad, so I tried to get some info from him. He had gone about 2.5 miles down the half marathon course from the aid station before Mosquito Pass, and then had to turn around.  So he added 5 miles, and then went to the pass.

Even though he didn't make the cutoff time, they let him go on based on his story, and I began to unmark more course as we left the aid station.  This was really getting tiresome now, so I pretty much stopped.  Running 30 yards, stopping, and repeating is not much fun.

The guy who got lost eventually made up time, and I believe he finished under the cutoff.  At the next to last aid station (really it is the next to last and last, just as it is the first and second because of the loop around Ball Mountain) I got word that there were some folk really struggling on the trail.  After making the loop, and getting a last bit to drink, I started down the last 4 miles to town (almost completely downhill...yea!) and caught the last guys almost immediately.

So we walked, downhill, for about 3.5 miles.  Walking downhill sucks.  You should be using gravity to aid you, but our man was not feeling well.  He did have a story though.

His name was Val, and he was a 50 stater.  These folks aim to run a marathon in each state.  He had never run a trail marathon before, and chose this one as his Colorado marathon.  He also chose to run in Vibram 5 fingers.  He had worn them successfully on pavement, but had not tried them out on trails and rocks.

Val had blisters and a bum ankle by the time I caught him.  His story was more important.  He was not going to make the cutoff, but he was determined to finish.  He was offered rides on several occasions, and always turned them down (which is tough to do when you are in that situation).  Val was a former Army helicopter pilot.  He was still a reservists.  He had retired from Chicago PD, and was now working for Univ. of Illinois at Chicago PD.  Needless to say, he was not a guy who was going to quit.  So despite his pain, we finally made it back to town, and as we neared the finish line, I could here Josh (race director) calling out awards.  Without saying anything to Val, I peeled off for the sidewalk, and started to whistle loudly so the crowd turned around, and they went nuts for Val crossing the finish line in just over 9 hours.  His wife was waiting on him.  It was an awesome scene.

It had been a really long day for me.  I was up before dawn, helping to inflate the arches at the aid stations, and then helped some in the store and at the start/finish line.  Then I was on the course itself for almost 8 hours, but seeing Val finish made it all worth while.

Run Camp

Day 1 was pretty great.  We ran right at 26 miles I think.  It was a nice little climb over Sugar Loaf, and then a screaming down hill on the back side (Powerline).  This section is wide enough that you can really fly if you trust yourself.  Lots of people talk about downhill being more taxing than uphill, but I just let go.  I give very little effort on downhills (basically just enough to keep myself from injury).  

After the downhill, it was a  lot of exposed road running over to the Fish Hatchery, and then some country road running over to the Treeline area.  A lot of people did not like the "heat" or all the road running, but being as I had been training in heat, and on roads before I got here, this spot was particularly suited for my skills.

From there it was on to the Colorado Trail (finally), and this is a very scenic portion of the course.  The first part of it is lots of long slow ascents that are not very steep.  Then there is a pretty good ways of downhill on rocky terrain to the bottom.

By the time we reached the end, many of had run out of water, and we were all glad to reach the end.

Day 2 starts off as a walk through the woods (we did not cross the stream as we will during the race).  Then it quickly becomes a multiple hour hike up the side of the mountain to Hope Pass.  This is clearly my weak spot, but I made it to the top, and started my forte (the descent).

I made it about 3/4 of the way down the backside when I noticed a man coming up the trail.  I picked my eyes up just long enough to not notice my ankle rolling off a ledge.  I tweaked it pretty good.  So I tightened my shoes, and made my way to the bottom.  I stayed at the aid station for about 15 minutes trying to decide if I should continue on.  

I decided to test it out on the way to Winfield, and it didn't feel awful, but I was disgusted that it had happened.  Then as I was about ready to call it a day one of the ladies in the camp, Christine, came in to the aid station and talked me in to giving it a shot.

The ankle didn't really bother me on the way back up Hope, but I still stuggled climbing so Christine coached me to the top.  

Once we got to the top I figured out quickly that going down slow with resistance hurt my ankle a lot more than going down fast.  Eventually, I got to some areas where the rocks were too much, and I had to slow down.  At this point I felt the most pain, but it was not intolerable.

I made it down, ate, and got on the bus.  Once I got home, and took my shoe off, it started to swell some.  I started ice baths, elevation, and compression immediately.  It should be good in a couple of days hopefully.

Overall, it was a lot of fun to see the parts of the course I had not seen yet, and to meet a lot of people who will be around on race day.  I will not be taking part in the night run that begins in a few minutes, but I will be volunteering at the dinner.

The Last Few and Next Few Days

I have been running some routes that are basically repeats of things I have already done.  Sorry there aren't any interesting updates or pictures to share.

I will knock out a 2-2.5 hour night run tonight, probably on something easy to plan like the mineral belt around town.  Then run camp starts on Saturday.  Packet Pick Up and a dinner are tomorrow night, so we'll all have a chance to get to know one another before taking off down the trail on Saturday morning.

You can take a look at the map that is attached (the first one has Day 1 and Day 3 on it).  We are basically knocking out the first leg of the race.  There are 13.5 miles from town, around Turquoise Lake to the Mayqueen campground.  That part is a lot of road, and the lake trail is mostly rolling to flat area.

So we will start at Mayqueen, run up the road less than a mile I think, and hop on the Timberline Trail. We will run over Sugarloaf, then hit some dirt roads, then we will get on the Pipeline, and eventually follow the Colorado Trail all the way to Twin Lakes.  This will effectively be a marathon on the trail.

Day 2 is set up to be a 20 mile from Twin Lakes, up and over Hope Pass, to the Winfield aid station, and then back to Twin Lakes.  It really will be whatever you want it to be.  Some people will choose not to run all the way to Winfield since is basically 4 miles of dirt road running.  As of now, I want to get the miles in for training, so I will probably do the whole thing, unless I just feel like total crap after coming up and over Hope Pass (12,260 feet).  See the attachment below.

Day 3 is a night run on Monday night.  It is only 10 miles, and it is basically to get some practice on the actual course running at night.  We will run from Twin Lakes to Treeline at night.  This will be a nice day since we will have all day Monday to rest.

It should be some good on course training, and hopefully there will be some interesting folks to meet along the way.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

There are a million different circumstances in life that lead to the very point where you currently find yourself.  Just the other day I was thinking about all of the things that have allowed me to be here in Leadville.  I could look at having the Summer off, which would lead to thinking about how I became a teacher, and we could keep going back down the line, and that may or may not make an interesting post at some other time.

Today, I want to wish my Mom and Dad a happy 37th anniversary.  Without them I'd never be able to do anything, and not just because they gave me life.  These two wonderful people have always supported me no matter how much of a pain I may have been at different times in my life.  I haven't always made the decisions that they would have made for me, but they have always been there.

So Mom and Dad, thanks for being the greatest parents and examples a young man could have growing up.  I love you.

a>