I bought entry on Christmas 2011 thinking of going for
beating last year’s 28:08 and getting 24 hours for a finish. Last year I had
come up a week in advance, climbed Mt. Elbert, climbed one of the three
apostles, and gotten a 10 mile run in all in 3 days. This time I had more rest
the weeks leading up. Flew into town 2 days before this time, and didn’t feel
off in the slightest. A little headache the first couple of hours but all was
looking good. I had a hip strain and knee injury from a fall and lost almost 2
whole months of long run days during May and July- usually peak training time.
This made me nervous about even finishing, but interested in how a large amount
of pure rest would benefit.
Met my crew drove me around to the different aid stations. The
route is very simple, mostly wide trails but they changed the last section
around the halfway point from a dusty fire road to a rolling trail, adding a
few miles and some elevation. The many tributaries to the Colorado River were
dry, and even Turquoise Lake was much lower.
Opting for a campsite this year was great, cold to the bone,
but out where we were was 3-4 miles from the tiny town. Add to this the 10,000
ft elevation and remote location, and the night sky was more brilliant than
I’ve seen in even California. It almost appeared 3 dimensional.
Ah the start. People gather in the start area standing
pretty much anywhere- no need to bid for space unless you want to try pushing
ahead of everyone early on. It’s the same adrenaline you get from a 5k race,
but it becomes very difficult to not shoot out of the start too fast.
Down the street, the wide dirt road, up a steep 100 yard
incline, run around Turquoise Lake. I had a few back to back longish runs less
than two weeks prior, and was feeling fresh. My original plan was to go
slightly faster than I should the first 6 miles to get ahead of the crowd, but
soon so many people were passing me anyway it was pointless. Weaving around the
lake wasn’t as frustratingly slow as last year when someone forgot their light
and formed a backup line 30 people long on the single track trail- it was more
sporadic this time. Possibly people were more prepared this time? A concern was
avoid heartburn that I would get during 12+ hour runs where I was eating a lot,
I cleaned up my diet recently and was hoping it wouldn’t come up so to speak.
After the first aid (13.5 miles) I forgot where my crew would be after blowing
through the aid station. I ran backwards on the course and everyone I passed
was telling me so. Came back and luckily they were further down than I
remembered. I still got a little panicky, I think because I was deadseet on
banking at least 10 minutes per station faster.
The shallow climb to the top of Sugarloaf pass. Up to this
point my only concern was a steady banking of extra time where later on I could
use to approach the 25 hour mark. But now I was getting more fatigued than I
imagined doing a slow run up the mountain pass. The views were spectacular,
early in the AM and power lines buzzing softly nearby. A lot of people were
still on the beginning excitement still, yelping and howling in gaggles of
runners. Many were walking now the slightly steeper sections. I noticed a much
larger percentage of ski-poles this year, which no doubt has its benefits on
the climbs, I would consider picking up a stick in the woods if I completely bonked
but otherwise I had never used them in training and felt more comfortable free-handed.
Then the sharp drop down the power lines was fantastic of course, at this point
it always feels too easy. The next time I see this I will be in another world
though.
A quick tour down a country road, horses to the left in a
huge field. I am always amazed at how much open space is out here in this
valley, on a map you see nothing but rocks and peaks but this is the hidden
Colorado, a last remnant of the untouched Wild West. At the aid stations I had
carefully organized my bags when I gave them to my crew with quick labeling and
what was needed at every stop. At this point I had 5 tasks to try and accomplish in 5
minutes- check in, eat, fill water, apply sunscreen, porto-john. These tasks
always seem to take longer than I want but necessary for overall comfort during
the race. My 100 OZ camelback combined with handheld bottle made the water
transition as quick as possible; I always try to have a least 1-1.5 liters in the
backpack and food in the pockets. The rest could be carried. I should have
brought a huge zip lock with potatoes; I had read this is the fastest way to
get food steadily without having to eat it all at one time which probably caused
my heartburn in the past. Got sun block and they helped me
change my raincoat and get on down the road. I was definitely feeling more tired
than I wanted to at this point. But luckily
Leadville has a lot of varied terrain which allows some muscle variation, and
helps keep things interesting and fresh.
The road to Half pipe. I like running flat roads,
but always try running along the sandy shoulder to cushion the impact. This
section features a huge vista of the Lake valley, and you pass log cabins and get
passed by drivers throwing out cheers and helping make your way past this necessary
transition. I run this whole section, on the way back last time I half
sleptwalked it.
Passed my crew at the entrance to the Treeline section, and
realized I was slowing down. But this entire section was runnable except for
every now and then a walk, so I passed a ton of folks for the next 5 miles or
so. After the aid it becomes mostly downgrade, and I was passed by Stephen
England, another NJ runner, who was looking awesome. Down the treeline into
Twin Lakes and I was looking forward to how far ahead my previous time I was.
42 minutes- not bad, but I knew I was slowing down a lot and Hope Pass would be
tough. Had a dream up running up the entire thing, but just wasn’t ready for
that as cool as it sounded.
It was a tough climb; I’m not a fast hiker and get passed
easily. But I love going up Hope Pass, and just about the same place every
time, the moment I pass the sound of the creek, the first runners begin passing
me. I actually knew who they were this year, and was looking forward to trying
to back calculate what pace they were doing. Little did I know the second runner
would end up basically approaching the course record taking into consideration
the extra mileage/changed course.
I went through the Hope Pass station quickly; I was looking forward
to a sweet but treacherous downslope (the dryness made it easy to slip) and the
first half in the bag. The down section was crazy, I forgot how step it was and
it was hard to swallow almost hiking downhill when it feels as if it should be
quick. The trail turned sharp right near the bottom and began on the new trail,
which actually wasn’t as bad as I thought. Still though, compared the Winfield
road, I had to walk some of it which added an hour to my old time- now exactly
13 hours in. Now it would be a challenge to get to the Twin Lakes aid station
before dark.
Back to the top of Hope Pass- it was really getting weird at
this point. I had maintained weight, but felt as if had not eaten enough
calories. I was walking strange and a little shaky- the check in point
volunteer noticed as well. But I was an hour and fifteen ahead of cutoff so
time to get going. Took 15 minutes to get in some soup and stretch out and got
going. The way back was tough, up Hope pass my hiking turned in a death crawl
and I was being passed by everyone- but I made it up just as it started getting
dark. This was not good, I was a little overconfident about my pace and hadn’t
packed a headlamp in my Winfield bag thinking it wouldn’t be needed until mile
60 like the previous year. It was dark and cloudy, no moon and without any kind
of light it would take 4 hours to get down. Glowsticks were just beginning to
be placed and there wasn’t a spare headlamp. I got handed a few glowsticks and
after grabbing some potato mush and held them towards the ground while
shielding my face from any of the light. This made the trail just visible
below, so I could hike as fast as possible down the slope while staying on the
trail. I texted my crew since by this time I was sure they would think I either
missed them or DNF’d at Winfield. The going down was slow but I was making
steady progress. Not sure whether or not the cutoff was approaching, I was
aware of the extra 15 minutes they gave us but not sure if it would be enough.
Halfway down a couple of hikers passed me and saw I was in trouble and offered
me to stand in between their lights. It was a rare situation since everyone
else was busting trying to meet the cutoff which was only an hour away. I was lucky
to have an escort. However, this was the speed I had to accept and it
would be close. I focused on their light and we eventually got to the bottom
and the Colorado River again. I was informed the cutoff passed and now the
concern was getting to my crew. My heartburn also started creeping up at this point;
probably from the massive amounts of fig newtons I ate almost the entire time
and bags of dates. I reached twin lakes as the garbage truck was pulling away,
called crew who did think I kept going, and who had my light. They went to the
next station and were driving back. I let the staff know I was here and they
cut my bracelet. When my crew arrived I regret I could have offered doing the rest
with Rob as he was primed for a 40 miler but I didn’t. It would have been only
an hour since the cutoff.
The next few days I was determined to kick it next year and
be in 10x better shape- this race is no joke and feeling comfortable at least
through mile 60 is necessary and would make the race way more exciting. So now
the goal is taking an entire year to prepare- should allow me to cycle through
training phases as well and build my volume up to 100+ weeks if I want but
slowly. I guess I’m more motivated by failure than success!
Thanks to my crew Rob and Laurie and Tara who came out and
worked to keep me going the whole time- aweomse as always. Can't wait to come back.
