So I traveled to Leadville CO (8 1/2 hr. drive) Wednesday to meet with old friend Craig and his wife and 3 children at a great campground called "Sugarloafin' " to pace Craig on the last 50 miles of the Leadville Trail 100 come Saturday. This campground rocked btw. HOT showers, clean bathrooms, laundry etc. This is very luxurious to me as I usually just do primitive camping, ie; no running water. Beautiful country in the pines, lakes, sitting at over 10,000 feet elevation. I spent the next three days getting the full on Leadville 100 experience sans actually running 100 miles. So, if I ever decide to do this run, I'll at least know my way around the town. Thurs was packet pick up, weigh in etc. and the carbo load dinner in the evening. Friday was a mandatory pre race meeting, which was quite inspiring but the hall was hot and stuffy with the adrenaline charged breathing and efficiently beating heart rates of 800 + runners and their crew and pacers. A seriously awesome vibe existed throughout the whole "scene" over the course of the weekend. Friday night a huge rainstorm moved in accompanied with thunder and lightning. I guess at 10,000 ft. this is not uncommon. I fell asleep around midnight praying that the rain would stop before the 4:00 AM start of the race the next morning. It did, though I slept until 7:00 AM as I wanted to be rested knowing I wouldn't start my pacing duties until sometime between 4-6 PM. I got a ride with some campground neighbors to the Twin lakes aid station where I was planning to meet the crew (Craig's wife Kathy and kids) and help out there, and then to the Winfield aid station where the turn around was. The course is out and back. I got to Twin Lakes about 3 hours before my runner was expected to come through. I found a shady spot and enjoyed watching the runners come down the very steep approach (some of them slipping/sliding) as they checked in at roughly 40 miles into their runs. Chatted with people, pet dogs, and tried to eat and hydrate as much as I could. Kathy called me saying they were having trouble getting into the crew area, so I walked out about a half mile and met her. We found a place for her to quickly stop and unload some of the gear needed for Craig's stop. I found a good parking spot just up the road and she parked there and set up. I walked back to the neutral aid station and once Craig got checked in we walked/jogged the half mile to his crew. He was only about 35 minutes ahead of the cut off for this aid station. He was hoping to stay about an hour ahead as he missed the cut off at the half way point last year by about 12 minutes and had to drop. His next leg would be the 10.5 mile run to Winfield climbing up and over 12,600 ft Hope Pass. We (the crew) made our way to Winfield and found ourselves stopped in traffic a full 4 miles from the aid station with the other crews trying to get there before their runners. Apparently this is a common bottleneck but made worse this year by the record number of runners participating. I had set a time of 4:00 PM as when I would change into my running duds and run to the aid station so as not to miss Craig. We did however get there around 5 pm. If Craig had a good leg, he could show up at any time. I quickly changed, we got the aid set up and nervously waited. The cut off was 6:00 pm and around 5:50 I was beginning to lose hope. At 5:53 one of our camp neighbors who was crewing another runner spotted Craig and ran with him informing him he just had a few minutes to get checked in. The runners had to be out of Winfield by 6. He barely made it, losing the 35 minute cushion. It was going to be a hard push to go back over Hope Pass and get to Twin Lakes by the next cut off at 9:45 pm. I was just glad to get a chance to get on the course and run. There was a slim chance we could make it, if Craig rallied somehow. We ran the 2 miles down to the trail head which began the climb over the pass. The running then became power hiking, then walking. Craig was pretty much done at this point. (For good reason, as I'll explain later). Still he pushed back up and over the pass and and we made slow but steady progress forward. He never stopped, never complained. Just kept moving forward. The descent is pretty brutal, steeply dropping to an aid station called "Hopeless", which, when we arrived, turned out to be appropriately named, as it was 9:00 pm and we had only 45 minutes to get to Twin Lakes by the cut off time. A hard task even on fresh legs. So we took a few minutes extra drinking soup and refilling liquids for the long walk to where Craig would have to drop. It was an awesome journey though. I was so grateful to be in the high Colorado mountains on a clear cool evening, with the stars so close and a creek running next to the trail in the thick woods, and my buddy Craig grimly gutting out the final miles of a long 60 mile day, which was a mere blip in an 8 week odyssey as he pursued completing the "Leadman" race series. It took about 2 1/2 hours to descend the mountain, including a river crossing (rope aided) and several ponds/swamps all within the last mile or so. In a deranged way I found myself really liking the icy cold water crossings, and being chilled to the bone after over 5 hours of high altitude motion. I'm really pleased with how well my body responded to working hard at altitude. I felt strong the whole way, my breathing always felt controlled and deep. Aside from a little tightness in the chest near the top, I noticed no ill effects. We strolled into the mostly empty check in at Twin Lakes around 11:45 pm to a relieved crew and volunteers. I wondered aloud if we had in fact, missed the cut off. Lol! Once we got back to camp, I spent about 20 minutes under a hot shower, then dropped right off to sleep around 1:30 am. Sunday was spent just kind of zombie-ing around camp, napping, eating, swapping the successes and disappointments with other runners in the camp ground, a couple of whom had stellar performances in the race. For the first time in recent adult memory, I was asleep by 8:00 PM that night! Monday I packed up and drove home. Craig is an amazing athlete. He helped me through my first marathon in 1995. Helping me train and running the first slow half with me before polishing off the second half somewhere in the 1:30's. Running basically "off the couch" with no real training. Just that kind of natural ability. His main sport is cycling. Anyway - my theory as to why Craig had such an off day at the Leadville Trail 100 might best be explained with a quick summary of his racing over the last 8 weeks as he tried for the "Leadman", a series of races in Leadville Co, all at high altitude. Plus, he couldn't resist a couple of extra races, because that's how he rolls. June 25th - Logan Peak. Ended up being only 11 miles because of snow. But an exceptionally grueling climb. July 3rd - Leadville Trail Marathon July 15th - Leadville 50 mile Mountain bike race. Followed the next day with... July 16th - Leadville 50 mile Trail run. Thus earning the "Silver King" award for completing the two races back to back. July 29th - Speedgoat 50k at Snowbird! (Look this race up, it's a monster!).
August 13th - Leadville 100 mile mountain bike race. Follwed the next day with... August 14th - Leadville 10k trail race August 20th - Leadville Traill 100 mile - of which he ran 60 miles. That's some crazy ass racing Craig! Without a doubt, the trail 100 is yours if you go into it rested and with fresh legs - but maybe not as fun.
But wait, there's more! He's not done yet. LaToJa is next in a few weeks followed by the Bear 100 couple of weeks after that. These last two events are in his back yard so to speak, so this should be a piece of cake. Oh, I should mention, Craig pulls all this off while working as a full time EMT, a firefighter with Unified, and monthly stints with the national guard, while raising three children. Their youngest born 11 months ago. So although this whole blog post has very little to do with MY actual running - I wanted to write it out as Craig is an athlete and a human being who I can truly look up to and is an inspiration! It was a privilege and an honor to be a part of his team for the 100 this year!
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