After dropping out of the 1995 Leadville Trail 100, I planned on going back one day and redeeming myself. I kept putting the long and expensive trip off, but finally succumbed.
To maximize my altitude acclimatization, I wanted to arrive as early as possible. I brought along my two sons, Jim (16) and Mark (12), and stayed at my brother Joe's house in Colorado Springs. I arrived on Friday, 13 August. As it turned out, this was still not long enough.
I managed to get in some running at altitude every day. However, I made sure that I did not do anything excessively long or hard. I took the kids to do something interesting or historical every day.
I arrived at Leadville on Thursday afternoon. I slept fitfully both Thursday and Friday nights. The 10,200' altitude really made a difference.
As it turned out, none of my acclimatization tricks made any difference in my race. It unfolded exactly as it had in 1995. I was just 4 years older. The only thing going in my favor was a whole week of good sleep in Colorado Springs.
Through contacts, I was offered the services of Margo Fried, who had crewed a teammate in a 100km race in Japan last year; Troy, a tri-athelete; and Russ and Ken, both runners. All were part of the Divine Madness Club in Boulder. The three-time defending champion, Steve Peterson, is with this club. The three guys would take turns pacing, or running along with me, for the last 50 miles - the earliest for any 100-miler. Muling, or carrying along my stuff, is also legal in this race. Odd. Still, I would take all the help I could get, as I knew Peterson was highly crewed.
Joe, his daughter Lola, and my son, Jim, all drove up Friday afternoon to crew for me.
All in all, I had a lot of people counting on me not to choke.
I had four different types of sports drinks, 4 sports bars and a huge bag of GU packets. Joe brought a camp stove and some Ramen soup. I had some instant cup o' beans-and-rice and some burritos, but the hotel had closed their office early that evening, so we couldn't use their microwave oven. Since I had the above items, I didn't buy my regular can of baked beans. This would come back to haunt me.
Jim and Lola did a great job of crewing. Lola re-typed my written instructions so they were legible. James made an effort to keep offering my different items at the aid stations. I told him earlier that when I am toast, I don't really know what I want, but might take something if offered. They knew where everything was, unlike some of my previous crews.
The race is a 50-mile out, 50-mile back course. The first 15 are on either road or relatively flat trails. The road drops a few hundred feet, then levels off and turns to rocky trail as it runs around Turquoise Lake. After a couple of miles of even rockier trail, the course then climbs on a good jeep trail about 2000' to the top of Hagerman Pass at 11,300', then drops down to about 9500'. It stays on a paved road for 4 miles, then dirt for another 5, then becomes an easy dirt trail. All this time it slowly rises to about 10,600' as it runs along the base of Mt. Elbert, the highest mountain Colorado (14,433'). It then drops quickly to the aid station at 39.5 miles. There is a mile run to a river crossing at 9300'. A mile past the river, the trail climbs 4300' to the top of Hope Pass at 12,600' and 45 miles. Over the course of three miles, it drops 2600' to a road at 10,000', then runs uphill to the turnaround at 50 miles. The runner then simply turns around and runs back to the start.
I started off comfortably and had a slight lead on the field within a mile. I ran easily and tried not to burn myself out. The three-time champion, Steve Peterson, caught me coming down from Hagerman Pass.
I passed Steve on the road at 25 miles and felt good. However, once the road started to gently climb at 27 miles, I immediately started to struggle. I didn't realize that the road was steadily uphill, so my confidence was damaged. Jay Pozner caught me at 31 and encouraged me to stick with him, but I couldn't. I struggle along the Colorado Trail section and hit the aid station at 39.5 miles about 20 and 5 minutes behind Steve and Jay, respectively. I knew I was going to have to struggle to stay in the top 5 again.
I changed from my NB 827s to Asics DS Racers, and ran the mile along the wide flood plain to the river crossing. Along the way, I could feel something cutting into the medial part of both my feet. After crossing the river I removed my shoes and did some surgery on my insoles. I had done some work 2 years ago on a pair of insoles with graphite and epoxy, and had decided to try those insoles on race day, as they felt very stable when I tried them on earlier that week. Not a smart move.
Two runners caught me while I was down. I managed to pass both in the first half of the 5-mile long Hope Pass climb. I was trying to keep the pressure on so I would not lose more time to the leaders. However, Stan Sheridan, who was doing a great job of steady walking, caught me just past the top of Hope Pass. We ran together down the south side, but he put me away on the two-mile road stretch to the turnaround, which I hit in almost 9 hours exactly. I lost another position on the way back to the trail head as my DS racers seemed totally dead. I lost two more on the climb back up to Hope Pass. This was the worst part of my race. I staggered my way up. Once I reached the top and started downhill, I felt great again and managed to pass back one more guy. I held him off through the river crossing and hit Twin Lakes (60.5 mi.) feeling a lot better. I reloaded and picked up my new pacer, Russ. He managed to coax and cajole me into running most of the way back to the Halfmoon aid station (69.5 mi.), unlike some of my previous crews. I picked up one spot on this stretch. Russ also offered me some mashed potato, avocado and salt mix which he carried in a toothpaste tube. It tasted odd, but went down a lot easier than all the sweet sports drinks and bars. Unfortunately, soon the pace got to me. I was extremely sleepy, I was starting to bonk, and my left leg was pinched. I felt I needed a nap, some protein and a change of shoes.
I ate part of a turkey and cheese sandwich at the Half Moon aid station, which only managed to make me feel more sluggish and give me heartburn. I struggled into the Treeline crew access point (72.5 mi.), changed back into my NB 827s and picked at food and soup. Jim kept offering me different foods, but I just stared blankly into space. I was at my mental low point. Two more people caught me in the aid station. I knew I would finish, but my race was going down the tubes. I had about 5 easy road miles to the powerline uphill, and once I got started with my new pacer, Ken, ran pretty well. I caught one person on the road and another in the Fish Hatchery aid station (76.5 mi.), hitting the powerline in about 6th or 7th place. At that point I wasted a few minutes loading down Ken with as much junk as I possibly could think of for the 8-mile trip up and over Hagerman Pass. This was where I dropped out in 1995. He carried an extra hat, gloves, a poncho and a down liner, plus tons of food and drinks. I noticed that with all the problems I had in 1995, I was still only 30-45 minutes ahead of that time now. This did not make me feel very good. I was passed twice on the climb, but couldn't respond. I was pretty busy calculating how much I could walk and still break 24 hours. Under 25 hours gets the extra large buckle, but I wanted to break the One Day mark. I ran the two downhill miles easily and pushed the two miles of tough trail. Still I was passed one more time while trying to choke down a GU. Every time I swallowed the GU I retched. I couldn't even get down any solid sports bars. Boy, I longed for a swallow of warm beans and mashed potatoes.
I hit the May Queen aid station (86.5 mi.) in 9th place. Russ was going to pace me home. While screwing around for close to ten minutes in the aid station, we noticed that there were at least three people (teams) still in the aid station loading up for the final push. I beat two of them out of the aid station and passed the third within a half mile. I suddenly felt like the proverbial horse who could see the barn door. Within a few miles of running well, I mentally calculated that I had sub-22 hours in the bag. Then I stopped for a minute at about 92 to reload on some GU. Out of nowhere, 1995 winner Kirk Apt caught us. We followed him for about three miles, hoping he would pull us along, most likely causing him some mental distress. When I heard our split at the Tabor Boat ramp (92.5 mi) I realized that sub-21 hours might be possible. After some urging from Russ, I dropped the hammer, left Kirk, and tried to break the 21-hour mark.
I was sure I had it until the the last mile of the 3-mile uphill stretch along the Boulevard back into town. Gosh it took a long time. With about 5 minutes left, I could tell I was not even going to get off the Boulevard before 21 hours, and the finish was close to a mile uphill past that. I walked for a few minutes at 21 hours, then pushed it home in 21:11:57 and 6th place. This was the hardest non-mountain race I've ever run.
Wildlife Notes: I saw two does and one bull elk, and a buck mule deer, on the way down the hill. I saw a pika jump under a rock hear the top of Hope Pass.
The race was typical for Leadville: cool, wet (not too much snow) and very successful. The 1999 men's champion was Steve Peterson in 18:47:31. Steve has now tied with Skip Hamilton with 4 wins! The 1999 women's champion was Amanda McIntosh in 22:05:22. There were 209 finishers of the race (the same number as in 1998). Full results can be found here.
Top 50 overall:
L. Name F. Name Location Time Place Peterson Steve Boulder CO 18.47.31 1 Pozner Jay Frisco CO 19.22.09 2 Boggess Edward Colorado Spg CO 19.55.05 3 Kulak Joseph Wimbledon UK 20.05.02 4 Poolheco Dennis Glendale AZ 20.34.28 5 Garcia James Westford MA 21.11.57 6 Apt Kirk Crest Butte CO 21.32.18 7 Hirst Scott Leadville CO 21.35.40 8 Clarke Chris Colorado Spg CO 21.41.38 9 Kadlecek John Boulder CO 21.54.59 10 Gordon Scott Albuquerque NM 22.00.00 11 McIntosh Amanda San Antonio TX 22.05.22 12 Rumon Kevin Atherton CA 22.12.57 13 Ehret Stephanie Boulder CO 22.17.02 14 Matthys Ignace Brakel BEL 22.41.40 15 Caldwell Valerie Sandia Park NM 23.00.00 16 Anderson Nate Ridgway CO 23.00.11 17 Holmes Todd Golden CO 23.18.14 18 Wisoff Douglas Boulder CO 23.35.26 19 Heinemann Mark Lafayette CO 23.35.26 20 Sandoval Johnny Gypsum CO 23.39.15 21 Sheridan Phil Ellsworth KS 23.47.14 22 Berino Jeff Frisco CO 23.47.41 23 Coonrod Kurt Albuquerque NM 23.50.49 24 Edwards Mark Austin TX 23.56.12 25 Varela Mario Leadville CO 23.57.24 26 Munoz Daniel Edwards CO 23.58.00 27 Flores Raul Leawood KS 24.10.27 28 Grobeson Jay Los Angeles CA 24.12.14 29 Fulkerson Robert Lakewood CO 24.13.39 30 Stephon Michael Denver CO 24.17.18 31 Mastin Kevin Keystone CO 24.22.46 32 Thedinga Todd New York NY 24.22.59 33 Taylor Neal Monument CO 24.24.30 34 Nelson Stuart Leadville CO 24.26.25 35 Chapman Marcus Hanover NH 24.28.35 36 Rosenfeld Daniel Evergreen CO 24.29.02 37 Murray Todd Colorado Spg CO 24.33.43 38 Bear Jan Santa Fe NM 24.35.25 39 Benike Jim Rochester MN 24.39.32 40 Steward Dan Highlands Rc CO 24.39.35 41 Skaden Erik Lincoln NE 24.40.47 42 Ringstad Curtis Bend OR 24.40.49 43 Welsh Jeffrey Greenville NC 24.41.36 44 Vaassen Glen Lakewood CO 24.45.02 45 Horton Roch Frisco CO 24.46.47 46 Vernon Jim Basalt CO 24.47.41 47 Turner Glen Highlands Rc CO 24.53.59 48 Dunn Randall Parker CO 24.54.43 49 Perry Lyman Volcano HI 24.59.18 50
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 04:33 PM