Heavy As Lead Documentary - From 300lbs to Running the Leadville 100

when I was 300 pounds I thought that I would be obese for the rest of my life I thought that I would never lose the weight I never thought that I could run a single mile much less a hundred mile foot race in the Rocky Mountains until now [Music] when I weighed 300 pounds I would have never imagined myself running a single mile much less being at the starting line of the level 100 at 27 years old I had accepted that I would be obese for the rest of my life I had accepted that I would always be uncomfortable with the person staring back at me in the mirror however on August 18th 2018 at 4:00 a.m. I found myself on the starting line of the Leadville 100 I was no longer obese I had taken my abused body and turned it into an athletic machine that was going to run for the next 30 hours until I crossed the finish line the Leadville 100 trail race is the second oldest 100 mile foot race in America the starting line is at an elevation of over 10,000 feet above sea level you will climb 15,000 feet during the hundred miles and you only have 30 hours to do it there is very little stopping no sleeping and has a finishing rate of just over 50% which is one of the most bleak finisher rates of any hundred mile race but nothing was going to stop me from finishing [Music] one day I stepped on the scale and we had kind of a rotary style scale that the dial is like a clock and I had not stepped on the scale probably since the last time I was at a doctor's office and months if not years and I had no idea what I weighed and the scale only went up to 300 it was like it stopped just short in slow motion at 297 and it was almost this realization to me that this scale doesn't go above 300 and neither will I I couldn't just continue to be complacent that that I in fact was responsible for what I was seeing on the scale that I was responsible for what I was seeing in the mirror and I was also responsible if I wanted to do something about it his weight has crept on in my eyes so slowly that I never saw him as a big guy to me he was a few pounds overweight even when who was almost 300 pounds he to me was my husband he just had I always thought it was 20 pounds extra there was just 20 pounds extra to love and I know that sounds cliche but it the weight didn't matter to me I first heard of Leadville pretty early on in my weight loss journey I was actually pretty overweight whenever I bought my first pair of running shoes and immediately started reading books about running and Leadville kept coming up over and over again my first race was actually the Leadville heavy half which I signed up for on only three days notice before the race and at that point the most I had run was eight miles at sea level and here I was my first race in Leadville three days notice was going to be 15 and a half miles at over 10,000 feet above sea level in that first race something within me changed I crossed the finish line and I wondered if I could accomplish more maybe there was more untapped potential within when I got to the start of the hundred mile course I found myself feeling like I was in that same place a bit under I actually was injured for five out of the nine months leading up to the race and I couldn't run for five months my longest run today was actually only 31 miles which of course was a third of what I was gonna need to run in the next 30 hours and when I sat on the starting line at 4 a.m. that morning and I started to think about my journey and losing the way keeping it off everything that had taken to the gets at this point running a hundred miles in 30 hours really kind of paled in comparison to all the hard work that I had already put in so excited to have you all here we were saying inlet belt that you don't find let them let vilify machine in Leadville you do more to be more you dig deeper than you ever thought possible inside each and every one it's an inexhaustible wealth of thread yes and determination and when you need it to most all of you have to do is have the courage to reach down inside and get it let's go throw 100 same is oh my god last for 30 hours so you step on that finish line this I will show you across that finish line that finish line is made that finish line will change your life what will line that one thing that's commitment total to make I don't actually will you make back to me [Applause] [Applause] check check check on to you fresh batteries and a big rock [Applause] as soon as much of a we can we can break for lunch and while we're eating on to the new eye cream so first off we're good so I just wanna say thanks everybody for being here it's for you personal life opportunity don't plan on being here again I appreciate the miles the plane tickets the missed work and I couldn't think of a better group to be here with so I appreciate it I'm gonna go over all the race day instructions every single time I come in remind me to stretch I don't plan on stopping at a station and sitting down until mile 60 which is Twin Lakes the second time a lot of time can be lost inside a stations so really the goal is to lose as little time as possible encouragement encouragement encouragement for me you know quitting is not an option on this ready to do it and I guess like five hours last night five sounds great how do we get to the point to where 5-hour sounds great fire our sleeve before and it's now 2:30 five hours of sleep right before like thirty five hours of no sleep yeah yes it sounds normal check whether the star cramsey 46 degrees let me guess to eight or it's gonna be 50 so it should be nice put on gloves up there all right take over being here they're all right [Music] [Music] I don't know like I kind of discovered open right blimey you ready do this yeah lucky man keep on running dude you see ya hey Billy I feel good good ok I've got really good how you feel oh great I'm great keep it this at a time we came at like 44 still have 49 on everyone when we gets a twin I want to switch the headlamp that I had on you got this [Music] [Applause] so good you sure he's good look you're lucky okay I need my quadrants from the downhills yeah what's our cutoff here T two o'clock what time is it now Oh 41 so you got an hour 15 okay good good this is how you find out I'm gonna be out in five okay thank y'all for being here go miles 40 to 60 at Leadville are by far the most difficult and where for many their race falls apart and at Mile 50 I was told by my crew that I would need to make the second ascent faster than the first or else I wouldn't make the next cutoff and my race would be over as I reach the summit for the second time the Sun was starting to set on day one and I've been running almost non-stop for over 15 hours my legs were tired I was mentally exhausted but I wasn't finished I would not allow myself to quit I reminded myself how far I had come and then I didn't come this far to fail nothing was going to stop me from crossing the finish line [Music] you had the fish there but you did it and now you're gonna cancer thank you you got this so the goal is to be here by now you guys kind of caught up behind some people up at the top on the way in I got it here in seven minutes but it feels good just not so much that's hard still the less hard time what's our time 9:20 I gotta get out yeah two minutes you gotta get out wipe your face and let's roll okay sorry what time is it time check 2922 we're good you'll be out of here you'll be you'll be out you'll be out of here by 9:25 any is stretched first I gotta stretch first yeah stretch stretch early right are you still able to run no no we didn't run we just go John good to know just start jumping and then after powerline it's mostly realities from there to anything yeah the only thing is just the down hills just gonna write an important they just have to try the only show that I'm they live a little shuffle a little bit not really kind of just mostly power walking yeah yeah [Music] and this transitions got to be quick super super quick where he's doing good he's getting a little bit tired but that's understandably ninety miles into a race yeah so you need some food get some calories in them be very generous the Sun the Sun is about to come up that's gonna rejuvenate you date I need glasses please when you guys crushed it man I went fast yeah we did got this last section around the lake was blue it was all rocks slippery rocks just up and down how those down hills feelin Jason is this real yeah we almost done three hours you guys are so much some nice shiny buckle come on thank you guys for being here yeah 18 minute miles 17 17 yeah shoot for 17 shoot for 17 gears just some kind of spare just keep him moving forward what will happen we're not leaving without a buckle all right let's get him on a sweet head of boy all right go get it that meeple seen a bit alright guys crush it you hear it said that every journey begins with a single step my weight-loss journey began with a single step and finishing the Leadville 100 also began with a single step at 29 hours 25 minutes and 52 seconds I crossed the finish line I felt like I had lived an entire lifetime during the past 30 hours and after running a hundred miles I was forever changed not only had I finished a hundred mile foot race but more importantly I was no longer obese I was no longer uncomfortable with the person staring back at me in the mirror and I had taken full responsibility for my life my lesson throughout this race and my journey is that we are all capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for within each of us is the ability to change and rewrite our story our stories are not written for us we write our own stories [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Jason Cohen

Views: 792,479

Rating: 4.9505978 out of 5

Keywords: Arc, Altra, Normatec, Compex, Rudy, Project, Rumble, Roller, Skratch, Path, Projects, Leki, Health, Warrior, Superfoods, Huma, Chia, Energy, Gel, Passenger, Coffee, Thinksport, Helinox, Sitka, Hydrapak, Trail running, running, weight loss, ultra, marathon, leadville, leadville 100, leadville run, colorado, colorado running, colorado trail running, healthy living, overweight

Id: Q7v9S02Y4cs

Length: 16min 53sec (1013 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 01 2019