Leadville 100 run - 2019 Leadville 100 - Ultra Trail Blazers -

this is not a story about winning this is not a story about setting personal records or records of any kind there are no awards no accolades no crowds celebrating this is a story about pain and perseverance this is a story about making a choice a choice to never quit a choice to fight for something not because you'll get an award you won't not because anyone will celebrate you they won't now because there's any money or sponsorships and for you there isn't this is a story about believing believing in yourself believing you have the heart and soul to keep going no matter how great the obstacle believing that you have the strength to overcome anything even your own weakness this is a story about ultrarunning this is a story about guts grit and determination this is a story about [Music] coming into lead bill for 2019 it's going to be my third time attempting this race and I came into August this year feeling more confident and more ready than I ever have been before in May I finished the cruel jewel which by all accounts should be a harder race I was I think 78 that have 140 finishers with about 250 starting which is a great result for me in June I drove up to Leadville and completed some really hard training on hoe pass training that's probably harder than anything I could face on race day and in July I spent about 24 hours out on the Wonderland trail around Mount Rainier with my buddy Matt doing some very hard very very specific training so like I said I came into August this year feeling pretty confident about doing well it led to not one small part of me thought that there was even a chance I wouldn't finish this race the goal was to go under 25 hours but my expectations were realistic and I knew that if all I could do was finish under 30 hours and beat my previous time I'd be happy with that but elevation can do crazy things to your body and for me I was about to face more suffering than I knew I could and if I was going to finish this race this year I was going to have to come toe to toe with pain difficulty and suffering and say out loud I won't quit but we'll come back to that for now let's turn it over to pre-race day Mike take it away alright so it's Friday the 16th and we were just walking up to the high school so you go to the pre-race meeting Isaac I come in that's good see everybody's here early I've got my man Isaac here's gonna pass out take these samples to everyone nice we're going with you tomorrow when the going gets tough by god it's good when the lungs are done when your quads are burning and your head cam feed I'm asked you to do something for Kimberly I'm asking you some are you [Music] our commitment to mimic that one thing if you will commit at least at the starting line when I fire that gun to go if you have total commitment and you commit not to quit we'll see hit the finish line will you come in I come in I won't quit I commit I won't quit from the heart [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right this is backup okay so got the drop bag setup version 2.0 and we were able to get these nice clear GU GU drop bags or at the race Expo because I forgot my Salomon flasks Rachel found these orange mud saw flasks and have a little bit of a straw and I'm and I'm gonna be using those for the first time tomorrow I've got my trusty s labs there's my number Swarna normal t-shirt tech shirt I like to cut the middle down because it makes me breathe easier and then let's see okay so this is my mate queen bag I've got sunscreen because the Sun will be coming up a couple of these Starbucks drinks one for the way out one for the way in I was gonna try to hold off on caffeine later this year but just didn't work out I've got a cup protecting some chips sunglasses more chips headlamp and extra batteries for from coming back to the 19 fingers crossed and a couple of fortifies this is like insurer plus and has 350 calories in just eight ounces full of vitamins and everything so I like to use those and then those high-calorie brownies and that's it the other drawbacks are pretty similar to that and we're just getting set here I'm gonna go drop these drop bags off in town and I do have this extra bag that is all the gear that my crew Rachel will meet me at Twin Lakes with at 40 miles in 69 and I've got extra jacket in case it's raining extra gloves to that have grip on them for going up and over her past or continuing through the night I set up holes for going over hope a fresh set of s labs and socks some che fees in case I've got some gnarly chafing more chips no brownies more chips or Starbucks drinks my gray jacket then I'll be taking up an over hope pass and then an extra set of clothes as well in case you want to change so that is the Twin Lakes bag okay brace morning it's three o'clock in the morning and like most of you my body likes to sabotage itself by laying awake all night getting ready for the race by being totally exhausted so 3:15 Rachel took the dogs out to the bathroom and I'm forced feeding myself abrió like some sort of reverse concentration camp some sort of form of torture it's like I've laid awake in bed all night I'm exhausted and the last thing I want to do a seat for you right now go outside and run that might be setting in at last I can't tell which is which but I'm gonna do both here we go I was just saying it's like the crazy thing is going through this process it never fails that you go through a period of just being incredibly anxious building up and building up to the race until the moment you need to get up for the race and then you're physically exhausted I just laid awake in bed all night and you can't tell yourself to go to sleep I mean you can try like okay okay go to say get some rest okay that's a good idea we should get some sleep let's sing a song first no no I really don't want to sing that song again it okay that's fine no worries let's just go to sleep but let's sing that song again first I don't want to sing that song again I just want to get some sleep that's fine but let's sing that song and then three of comes any alarm goes off and here we are driving to the race fantastic [Music] the line porta potties don't worry the race does they start from six minutes of county cares [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] what about half an hour and it's the old Chinese proverb goes man who finished Leadville follow Eric strand and that's it so so far so good all right just about an hour in and just got off the first climb the first trail mini power line [Music] Thanks coming into my queen a little behind schedule thought about where I was last year there's our looks like you see you gonna drop that yeah thanks nine seven seven me yeah I do need it mother when you go ahead thank you guys the first 13 miles to make Queen surprise me quite a bit with my goal being to go under 25 hours I knew I needed to work a little bit harder and get to make Queen somewhat quicker than I did the previous year so my goal was two hours to 210 somewhere in there now I don't wear a GPS watch so I don't track my pace or my mileage but I knew that exertion ly I was working quite a bit harder than I had the previous year so when I got to make Queen at about 6:30 a.m. I was pretty disappointed and it set me back mentally a little bit but after a minute of recovery I decided it's all good I'm gonna continue to work hard and maybe I can make up the time later so I pushed on this is the Colorado Trail from me Queen heading up to Sugarloaf at [Music] [Music] huh I don't make you wish you brought your poles on the first half top of the collar loop trail come on with the Hagerman okay I think we have just about made it to the top of Sugarloaf Pass I'm gonna be doing some flat single track and then heading down power line some people ran up this today about kill me walk up me so teach his own [Music] so I think that's a power line huh so we're beginning the long three or four mile downhill go power line down to the paved road that leads out we're bound and the smile it's just been kind of trying to bring everything back down into the green cuz my heart's racing I was working hard this downhill is incredibly tough on the way back up tonight because the last forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] huh powerline cropper here's some running down it I was reflecting on my time at the cruel jewel is here and thinking about the lessons I've learned and number one you can be at 15 months of race and more quit and still go 110 miles that's pretty awesome number two shaggy and Kid Rock and two-pocket have a couple of good songs and a lot of shitty ones number three I like races that start at noon I laid awake last night all night just worrying about it I didn't sleep and for you but if I wake up for the race or nap remember for have an idiot I live in Seattle that's 200 feet of elevation 60 degrees low humidity and the 200s I chose to do this year we're in Georgia was incredibly hot and humid in Leadville I tend on some feet I gotta make better decisions [Applause] you can just see down there where we're gonna end up turning onto the paved road [Applause] this is a two mile pave section that leads that we're been kind of suffering [Applause] coming out we're done [Applause] I feel like the finish wow this is incredible there's so many people here Wow hey thank you 9 7 7 the field of sorrow just like a mile my own half of uneven field totally exposed in the Sun that leads to come on pavement expose inside maybe two miles and then martyr right there's a restaurant [Music] [Music] alright this is tree line [Applause] okay welcome to help fight okay so just let Jeff by and it's about eight point four miles and swing legs love to make it there by noon give me really decent amount of time through the whole past doable that's cool right now a couple of clouds in this guy be nice to see some more come out oh man so we are a couple miles outside of Twin Lakes and then I just love this view [Applause] all right coming up soon lakes about noon I'm about an hour off my gold time that's too bad but I'm about 20 minutes ahead last year that's cool [Music] [Applause] coming into twin lakes at 38 miles I was 20 minutes ahead of last year's pace I had backed off my exertion level a little bit was still working hard but was feeling really good and feeling really optimistic I saw the family I got some hugs and then I grabbed a chicken sandwich and started making my way across the water to begin the whole past climb there were a lot more water crossings this year due to the high snowpack but as I crossed the water and began the hope past climb I felt confident and strong [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay one mile into the four mile ho past client boy Oh position well he'll a spark I saw a lot of people lying down in the tents at hopeless aid station and I wanted to yell at them to get up and get moving but it's not my place so I filled up my water in my electrolytes and I kept on walking as I crested the top of Hope pass the first time I felt awful and I reminded myself this is the norm and I just need to get off this mountain so I recuperated and I ran down the backside at Hope past very strong has some quite a few runners on the way down but as I reached the bottom and began traversing the Colorado trail in the wind field a familiar sensation returned I got a sharp pain in my upper left chest was shortness of breath coughing and wheezing now I've had this in the past I've chalked it up to an exercise induced asthma and I got an old beuter all inhaler that I took with me in the pool jewel in May which helped out quite a bit so I busted out the albuterol inhaler and I took a couple of puffs it helped a little that the chest pain was substantial and continued I remember this pain it was the same pain I had in 2013 when it ended my race at 62 miles and I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a hole in my lungs last year I felt the same pain in the same shortness of breath but I didn't feel it until mile 80 and I was able to finish the race now I was having the exact same pain the same shortness of breath and I was only about 47 yeah coming in to Winfield found that I feel like all right for miles second I felt like well for a mile from Winfield yeah we just started up this lovely past year go another two and a half to the top of Hope yep Mike finally had some food I don't have to I felt like we in there sorry sir [Music] still climbing [Music] [Music] the climb back up over hope was a struggle I had to stop frequently to catch my breath but probably halfway up we saw someone else vomiting uncontrollably all over the trail and this did make me feel better that's shitty as that sounds so I kept moving [Music] yeah what does racism easy never been an elevation is high like credence or a straw ways to go good stuff it's a tough climb what's up [Music] requested hope we headed down the backside and we're making pretty good time but we had to get our headlamps out probably halfway down which made me a little nervous because last year I didn't have to get my headlamp out until it was almost a twin lights okay yes [Music] just come in this one Lakes in bound nine o'clock so this is what we see going up this here mountain but just my chest pain and my shortness of breath were only getting worse as we began to climb the trail of back up to the mount elbert trailhead I had to stop frequently to catch my breath Matt took my running vest and carried it which helped take some pressure off but I wasn't moving fast and I wasn't feeling good I were about eighteen and a half hours into this about sixty six miles in 34 to go at the top of the next climb what's his aid station Mike yep [Music] so we're gonna know that one pretty quick a couple minutes swap out some headlight batters we got some a lot of down coming up so hopefully we can get some jogging in the chicken we would attempt to jog intermittently but after one to two minutes of jogging I'd have to stop hunched over and work to catch my breath we came into outward-bound at about 2:00 10:00 a.m. and left at about 2:20 a.m. this was almost an hour behind my 2018 pace and in 2018 I made it to make ween at 6:20 a.m. only 10 minutes before the cutoff to say this was nagging on my mind his an understatement we gathered our things and we got out of our bound we hiked as quickly as we could up the road towards the climb of powerline all right Mike and I just left out were down about a half mile back and we are headed up sugar love Pass you got 11 miles to go in about four hours before the cutoff when he got to power line I worked as hard as I could and pushed up that hill and ended up making better time than I did in 2018 all right now just now heading up Sugarloaf there's gonna be the last big climb of the day [Applause] a whole train of people behind us check in with the top we got to the Space Station aid station around 4:45 a.m. which leaves you about an hour and 45 minutes to traverse the next five miles to the May Queen aid station but when I got to Space Station things were not going well I began vomiting and I had a fullness in my neck and a pain in my neck and chest that I knew were pretty serious all I could do is put my head down and push I hadn't even considered the fact that I might not finish this race until this moment and I was angry I was angry with myself I was angry with Leadville I was angry with my lungs I was just angry but there was nothing I could do but push forward and anger helped push me forward as we came down the Colorado trail towards McQueen time began to get short it was 6 a.m. they'd station was nowhere in sight it was 6:10 a.m. the aid station was no one in sight it was 6:20 a.m. and a volunteer for crew member for someone else was walking up the trail and he said just keep pushing guys one more mod of the aid station this crushed me because it was 6:20 I was moving maybe 17 minutes a mile and that was really pushing it at this point I felt like the race was pretty much over but I decided I'd keep pushing forward as quickly as I couldn't see what happened 6:25 we rounded a bend and the May Queen aid station came into sight I ran down the pavement crossed over the timing mat and I told my wife who was waiting there we didn't have time we had to go now my wife was excited to paste the last 13 miles and she was confident and positive but she didn't know what I knew things were deteriorating fast and at the pace I was moving and the level of exertion I was at I was pretty confident that there was no chance I was getting to the finish line before 10 a.m. but we pushed forward and the further we moved for the May Queen aid station the more sure I became that there was no way I was finishing this thing before that I am but ultra running isn't about giving up Leadville isn't about quitting when things get tough and life isn't about making excuses rolling over when you don't feel good it's all about pushing forward for some that might mean breaking a course record for others it might mean just finishing a 50-mile race I had found the edge of what was possible for me and I was walking along the razor fine line I'm teetering on the brink of falling off and as a search-and-rescue vehicle falling behind us the last four miles I was only getting worse I was forced to stop every five to 10 yards hunched over and attempt to catch my breath coughing wheezing spinning and clutching in my chest but I wouldn't give up slowly we made our way back into town and I knew there would be no bail but no awards nothing of extrinsic value would be given to me for finishing this no one might ever even know what I just done not truly except for me when I finished I sat down on my left I cried hard and I cried for a long time and I'm not sure if I was crying because I was disappointed in the result if I was sad I would I'd put my body through if I was proud of what I had accomplished or if I was just relieved that it was over but either way it was over and it was my story a story about older running was a story about guts grit and determination this is a story about blood no it was a story about Bud Miller [Music]

Channel: UltraTrailBlazers

Views: 58,377

Rating: 4.7979798 out of 5

Keywords: leadville 100, leadville, leadville 100 run, leadville 100 mile run, 100 miler, 100 miles, 100 mile run, ultra running, ultra, ultra trail blazers, trail running, running, running motivation

Id: H8nhSErAYqU

Length: 36min 53sec (2213 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 30 2019