Return to Leadville - The Evolution of Anton Krupicka

[Music] [Music] um [Music] what's going on can we do it without the glasses oh well i won't be able to see anything then oh see that sucked my first ultra was the level 100 in 2006 and i mean it changed my life because i had been a runner for 11 years at that point and i'm a very passionate runner very committed runner i really wanted to do well but i wasn't a good runner i just didn't have any significant competitive results at all the history of the leadville 100 1983 was the first year and the climax molybdenum mine had closed and the town was in severe economic straits we're closing it down go tell your cruise go home the union will be in contact with so ken cloudber the co-founder like we need to do something to boost the economy around here we need to bring people here to you know goose the service economy so he dreamt up 100 mile race and it's been going ever since the course is an out and back 100 miles you run 50 miles right from the center of leadville to this old mining ghost town wind field you only drop below 10 000 feet briefly in twin lakes otherwise you're bouncing between 10 and 12k the whole day and that takes a toll yeah i i feel like the leadville 100 and it's just kind of iconic race second biggest hundred in the united states after western state so when i won leadville i suddenly felt validated and vindicated in my obsession with running for the previous decade it just opened my eyes to what i was capable of and races to run and adventures to have seemed possible because what could be more difficult than running 100 miles it just feels it's been long enough to where like there's a lot of uncertainty and to me it feels like an unknown distance again [Music] [Applause] [Applause] so in the morning i know like people aren't supposed to go there but it's always chaos it's just a tunnel of screaming humans what it sounds like [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] a lot of people so many people i think that was good yeah i think we did good right in the range that he said taking it easy this first bit [Applause] when i'm racing a long ultra like this i'm just taking care of myself the whole time beautiful day like am i drinking am i eating how's my body feeling is this the right pace in the moment should i be hiking this should i be running this how am i feeling oh i don't feel good like keep the negative thoughts at bay try and stay positive like just think that okay this will pass you know am i feeling good don't charge too hard because it's too early like you're always just trying to keep that even balance like don't get too high don't get too low thank you looking great see you soon thank [Music] [Applause] you then the second half you know those last 40 it comes down to just like maximizing your like start trying hard and that for me that requires focus i can't be distracted by anything listen to music or anything [Music] [Applause] [Applause] it's like the old days you're gonna take a handful of these are you gonna run with [Music] i always look forward to hope pass because you've been running almost every step for 40 miles mix up the muscle groups change of rhythm you know every hundred mile i've ever done i've wanted to drop out at some point and yesterday it came at like the bottom of hope pass the first time i was just like i don't know my legs hurt i was right at the mileage of my longest run in the training build-up so i just kind of like settled in as like well you can't it's too early to be pushing at all so if it doesn't come naturally you can't be pushing and you just there's always ups and downs it's always like if you're feeling crappy just keep plugging away don't push and wait for it to turn around and it almost always does got into winfield which is like oh like we're in this now you're in like the top five some of those guys who'd gone out too hard were blowing up already so then back up hope pass i moved in the third and i was going really easy i was like 100 milers are like fun when you don't push at mile 50 you know like you can just chill [Music] [Music] oh all right [Music] [Music] it was it was after actually so i got really associated directly with it was like the nerve yeah it was like after i got out of the shower i was like oh man it's just kind of like you know just aches for me like the last ultra i ran was 2015 and immediately after that i got a stress fracture in my shin then i had a couple years of it band stuff and then now going on four years of achilles tendon issues that made me pick up the bicycle in a serious way that's something that's a huge part of my life now running into injuries in the sport is absolutely been the thing that has enforced balance in my life over the last decade i just think it helps to have diversity in your life being in a serious relationship obviously it takes a lot of energy and time that before i would have just been putting into running probably so we just found out that tony's coming down hope pass again for the second time he's riding in third place he's been steadily making up time and places all day so yeah excited to see what the next 40 miles and i will be pacing anton potentially to the finish i have no idea we will see what happens [Applause] [Music] whatever [Music] uh [Applause] [Music] i experience this with music i guess or maybe even literature where an artist will produce something that i really resonate with and i really enjoy i play it to death and then they'll evolve in some way and go on to do something else and be like that album sucks you know or why can't they just put up the banner still you know like the old stuff and in my like running career i feel that way a lot of like i'm like that barefoot shirtless guy you know who beard long hair and runs in the mountains and you feel uh objectified isn't the right word you just feel like stuck in this sort of like roll or box and they only have this idealized sort of romanticized version of you in their head or in their mind's eye it would be so weird if i was still that person 10 15 years later you know i need cold water [Applause] [Music] i still after 15 years don't understand why i get so much love in the alternating community um i really appreciate it and it's a huge boost when you're out there no patches in okay patches do you have any split on ian he was only a couple minutes behind you at that last one here come here running leadville with ian was kind of cool because i mean god i mean he's a legend at leadville it's nuts like four-time champ none of those times i think being slower than 17 hours thank you so much i love you i love you too the whole time when there were those like three or four guys out front i was like nah this is a race between ian and i like they're go they're all gonna blow up and i'm way more concerned about ian making a move late than whoever holding on in the front you know which turned out to be incorrect were they turning to you guys or four um full flirty's right there he just came in okay it's okay look we're running grace thank you didn't cheers that matt was making a move going up power lines lynn and i were able to kind of like just sneak over the crest before it ended up being matt and his pacer came around the corner at the bottom so we knew we had like a six minute gap on him but we thought it was ian [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] when matt passed me of course you're like okay now you have to like pick it up don't let him you know just disappear but he was running strong he was like he immediately had like a 50 100 yard gap i kind of tried to lift and like you know turn over a little more for a minute just like i just don't have it my legs are just so done at that point it was tough because i was so in just survival mode i was just really trying to get to the finish [Music] let's go spectators [Applause] [Music] i think i spent a lot of time when i was competing heavily and ultra running feeling like i needed to prove to myself and prove to external judges of some kind my worth i feel so much more confident in life and self-assured i love running so much it's still the most pure best form of movement in the mountains and i've been granted so many opportunities over the last 15 years that i'm grateful for and all those have combined to you know make me the person i am today so yeah that's pretty special [Applause] [Applause] [Music] so yeah like the music that i like most identify with is like pretty loud pretty dissonant like pretty grating a lot of feedback a lot of noise it's chaotic i don't know and that's that's like a uh like a space in my life that i really enjoy when when something feels it's like about to fall apart and you're kind of like holding it together it's like that feels like an important moment you know like you need to be paying attention here you need to be doing what you can to just like hold together and you know that's what ultras are [Music] so [Music] is [Music] mcdonald's [Music]

Channel: La Sportiva North America

Views: 37,006

Rating: 4.9931741 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: rx-0SL25cZQ

Length: 18min 43sec (1123 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 30 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Algaeri]

Go Anton! Great to see him out there getting it!

[u/unpersonanongrata]

Question… how long would it take for someone to prepare for something like this? This event is something I’d like to do some day…

[u/Brownie-UK7]

Great video and what a run. Without checking I knew it was Billy Yang film just by the feel of it.