#32 - Leadville 100M

Well, I’ve lost some of my enthusiasm for blogs since there really are no words to explain and do justice to the journey you go through during these 100M races. I finished the damn thing barely breaking 29hrs, and it took everything out of me, it wasn’t pretty and even though I finished I still feel like shit. I was shooting for 25hrs so I struggled for a long time. I’ve been recovering for a week now, and fittingly I ran my first 5k after the race this past Saturday with my Leadville t-shirt on. I was slow and sluggish the first half pushing my kids on the stroller but I came back stronger in the last 2.5km! Wow, unbelievable that it’s even hard to run 5k now.

Below is the story of the race, like I said its impossible to really narrate all of the story but I tried. I have quoted times and planned times and all that crap, but in reality, I never had a paper that I looked at. I had it all in my mind, so for a 25hr race I had to be at Fish Hatchery in ~4hrs, Twin Lakes ~7hrs, Winfield ~10:30hrs, and back at Twin Lakes #2 ~15hrs with some energy and after that it would depend on how I was feeling because I had 40M left to do in 10hrs. However, I never adjusted for the 3 extra miles in my head, and if I had done that my plan would have put me in the finish line in roughly 26hrs.

Anyways, the race went perfectly for the first 25M (Fish Hatchery). I was on time and on plan and taking my gels without a hitch. I wasn’t pushing it, the running felt pretty easy. I was at May Queen in ~2:10 and at Fish Hatchery in ~4:03 so 12min faster than planned. The only set back I had during this portion was that I had tied the headlamp strap to me right wrist when it became daylight and for some reason I did too tight and when I looked down my hand was a balloon! I was feeling some pressure on my hand but I thought it was the cold wind. After this, I never had my hand some back to the same size the entire race. As soon, as left my headlamp and other cold gear at the AS I scooted back out with food in my hand for the next road section. This section is where, I believe, my race changed for the worst. My legs felt from great to dead in a matter of minutes and my breathing became much harder.  No doubt the elevation was playing with me, so I walked portions of the road and took it really easy until Halfpipe. Somewhere in the middle of this section, I started feeling a bit better and running felt great again. I lost quite a bit of time on this section to Halfpipe ~5:30 versus a plan of ~5:10 and I was ahead of time by 12min at Fish Hatchery, so this section when pretty crappy. However, the section to Twin Lakes was really nice and I was feeling comfortable again. This section took me ~1:50 and my plan was ~1:55, so gained a bit and I was at Twin Lakes at ~7:20 and only 15min behind my original plan. During all this time, I was taking gels and drinking regularly and feeling pretty good energy wise, buy my hands had been swollen to a point where I took my wedding ring off. I knew this was not a good sign and it could be either hydration or elevation issues. I dropped my handhelds and took my pack with poles at Twin Lakes; I took some food with me and walked out of the AS quickly. When I was about to pass the river I looked for my ring and I had forgotten it inside my handhelds, crap! At this point, there is no turning back. Was this a good or bad sign? Damn it, up Hope then to Winfield it is.

When I said earlier that at mile 25 the race took a turn for the worst this is the place where it felt apart! I had done this section prior to my Silver Rush 50M race and I knew it was tough but not a killer. However, I had not done it with 40M on my legs and I wasn’t feeling too good with the altitude today. The mountain kicked my ass big time, the breathing was keeping me from going at a steady pace and I stopped many times to catch my breath. To the Hopeless AS I managed to make it in ~2:25, 20min behind schedule and feeling like crap. I managed to get over the pass and started to go down quickly and off to Winfield in ~1:30 from Hopeless, which is pretty good in my mind. The trip from the bottom of Hope to Winfield was endless and miserable. You could hear and see the people below but it seemed you would never get there. I ended up checking in at ~11:15 and I knew then that 25hrs would be very very hard specially the way I was feeling on the uphills. I had to weigh myself in and they told me I was 10lbs down, which in my mind was impossible but nevertheless the guy told me I looked fine and I could do whatever I wanted. I felt fine and had been drinking and eating regularly so I just picked some stuff up from my drop bag and I didn’t stay long at the AS, it was a zoo there, and I took some food and walked out quickly and I sat down about 1km out to eat and regroup for a bit.  It took me ~4hrs from Twin Lakes to Winfield.

As I started to run again from Winfield I felt great, about an hour into the run I saw Morgan and he looked a bit drained as he had been having issues with the altitude. About 15min after that I saw Chris and he looked a bit tired but ok, and then then 15min behind was the rest of the crew (JD, Kendra & Steve) I told them they were getting pretty close to the deadline but they still had about 1:45min to make it to Winfield. I’m sure they will all have their blogs/stories posted up shortly if not before this one goes out. They all had a valiant effort and I would like to congratulate each and every one.

As I passed the last group, the epic uphill to hope started in earnest. I knew it would be difficult for me, because I already had been having issues with my breathing but to say it was almost an impossible task would be an understatement. I could not take more than 10 steps before I had to stop to rest. It took an hour more from Winfield to Hope on the inbound than on the outbound, and that is to say that I thought I had a shitty outbound anyway. So all in all it took me ~5hrs from Winfield to Twin Lakes, that is a total of 9hrs from Twin Lakes to Winfield and back! Now that I’m home and I adjusted for the extra 3M the 9hr mark was pretty much on planned maybe 15min or so back but not too much. However, the way I felt going up Hope was horrific. I ran out of water for 1 hour going up and I could not eat my gels, I was begging for water, two guys gave me some and two others said no. Once I got to Hopeless AS I drank and ate soup, filled my water bladder and started to jog down. It felt good to run again, but once I got down the mountain my breathing was really bad and I couldn’t even run through the meadows to Twin Lakes AS and I walked it in and I also wanted to see if I could generated any type of energy for the next section. I got in to Twin Lakes in about ~16:15 around 1hr behind my original schedule and feeling like I wanted to quit and yes this is where the race really begins!

First thing I did here was to find to wedding ring, I put it on and said to myself not to take it out again. Then I change completely into dry clothes with a jacket and new shoes/socks. I had some food and left as quick as I could. At this point I had a recovery shake and it really hit the spot (note to self: have more of these along the way!) but it was getting dark and cold fast.  In my mind I was doing the math about how the hell would I get to the finish line. I could barely run the flats, uphills were impossible and downhills were ok but not great! Oh well, 40M at 3M/hour is about 14 hours and I had already been going on for 16hrs, so it’s going to be close if I can only walk at that speed. Interesting…

Once you leave Twin Lakes AS you head a very steep short hill, and that hill nearly killed me.  I knew at that point that I was in real trouble. Right here was the first time I thought about a DNF. It took me forever to get to Halfpipe and I started to shiver like crazy during the night. I could not stop on the any AS without having the shakes for the next 10min and yes I could run much so it was hard to warm up. The second point where a real urge of quitting was at the Mt. Elbert (liquids only AS) and I was hitting complete bottom here with no energy, it was dark as hell, and I was freezing, and the people ahead of me quit right there in front of me. I sat on a chair on the AS, I started to shake uncontrollably and asked the guys how the terrain was from here on out. He said mostly downhill, so I said fuck it and started running. After a while I felt much better and got a bit of a boost to make to make it to Halfpipe. At Halfpipe I had another winter shirt and put it on top of what I had, it felt better almost immediately. I ate more soup but I could eat any more gels by this point. My stomach was going bananas and twisting and turning. I didn’t puke during the race but I was close several times.  It took me ~3hrs to get here from Fish Hatchery, unbelievable since it taken me ~1:50 on the way out. In any case I was encourage that I managed to, mostly walk and feeling like complete shit, do this 10.5m stretch in about 3.5M/hour.

Again, going out of the AS was hard, more folks were quitting and I wasn’t feeling it at all but in my mind all I needed to do is get to Fish Hatchery and reassess there! From here on out I walked some and ran little and I managed to do this section in bout ~2:05. This was not fast, especially when there was plenty of road, but I could manage to run without having my heart racing like crazy. So I finally got to Fish Hatchery around ~21hrs. I was cold, hungry, tired and mentally drained. I changed again into some dry clothes and my warmest clothing and ate two soups this time around and left the AS with another. I was so ready to quit here, I even asked the cutoff times to May Queen and I had almost 6hrs to get there. I was looking for an excuse to quit but there was none. I walked out and started on my way, thinking about the Powerline climb which I dreaded and I knew I was going to suffer. I had already been going on for 80M (including the additional 3M) at altitude and even my chest was hurting. So as I headed out about 10min after you hit the road towards Powerline, I mentally decided to DNF and starting heading back. I said to myself I could not do this anymore; there is no way I could head up Powerline the way I was feeling. But something clicked 30sec after I turned around and I saw my wife, my kids, and friends. What was I going to say to them? I had time to get there or at least try. There is no reason not to try except for physical pain, and I was way beyond that. So the hell with it, no harm in trying; I thought I could make it in about ~4-4:30hr. As I headed up Powerline I consciously went really really slow on the uphill because I just didn’t want to stop, it was too cold, just move up and up easily even if it’s really slow. And somehow it worked; I never stopped on that hill and managed to push it faster when it got easier. I didn’t kill it by any means but I managed to speed up just a bit on the downhill on Sugarloaf on my way to May Queen. It took me ~3:40 on this section, so much less than I thought. So now I have 5hrs to make it to the finish line, I can and will do this!!

As I headed out, I remembered I had not had much to eat in a while. Gels where almost impossible to get down lately. However, I had managed to eat some but it was hard. So I ate more soup had a coffee and walked out. So now the plan was to break to 29hrs and I had 4hrs to do 13.5M. This section along the Lake was beautiful, the sun was coming out and the colours were just unbelievable. I was starting to have issues with my lower legs now, and it was really hard to power walk at a fast pace. The Lake portion until you hit Tabor took quite a while and it was rolling hills. I remember these were really runnable and an easy trail run when I was heading out, but now they seemed really hard and unrelenting. Finally I hit Tabor and the long downhill to the road. I had originally thought of this portion being very runnable and flat, boy was I wrong. This thing was runnable yes, if only if you had just started out for a morning jog, but not now. It was all uphill for the last 4M and with the sun on your head and zero shade. I knew it was just a matter of digging deep, I knew I would finish but the time was passing quickly I was going slower and slower. The hills were killing me here. Finally I hit the last stretch of road on 6^th St. and that meant 1 mile to go. I had 15min to break 29hrs and had no clue if I could do it. This last mile at least went fast, I ran a bit on the downhill into the finish line and then I saw Steve and JD (and Jerome - Steve's pacer) on the side of the road. I had no idea where they were before that (maybe right behind me), it was bitter sweet to see them. I knew then they had DNF’d along the way but I finally saw someone that I knew, holy shit it had been more than 15hrs since I saw them. I gave Steve my jacket which was brutal now with the heat and I ran it in for 28:58hr.

I have no idea what my time would have been if the altitude had affected me. In the Silver Rush 50M I had no issues but it was only a 50M race, maybe it would have hit me later on the race and stronger, or maybe not. However, this time around it hit me at mile 25 and there was nothing I could do from there on out. It took me apart a little at a time. I power walked A LOT I mean I walked about half of the race. My hands were swollen all through the race and I couldn’t take much food after mile 60, just soups at the AS. I drank but it wasn’t very easy to drink when it’s cold outside and you’re tired, so I was dehydrated and hungry for 40 miles. Obviously not where you want to be in the 2^nd half of a race. My chest was a mess when I finished, it was tight and it hurt. 

I’m not sure I can do another race at altitude after this one, I’m sure I’ll change my mind in a couple of hours but it took all of what I had to finish this one. I was dead when I finished, I had nothing left, I could not walk, and I could not even pick up my Buckle! JD had to go to the gym went for me to pick it up, and Kim bought me a burger which I ate bits by bits during the day until I managed to walk for dinner later that night. I now have a new sense of appreciation for the folks that finish between 28-30hrs, it hurts and it hurts for a very long time.  After 9 months of training and all the preparation all didn’t go as planned, not even close, but hey I have a Leadville 100M buckle.