The Leadville 100 Kicked My Butt and I LOVED IT! Full Race Recap

look at that beautiful leadville sunset it is friday night the eve of the leadville 100 and i have a lot of emotions and feelings going on right now i'm scared and i'm nervous and i'm excited i'm really excited to get out there and challenge myself and make new friends and be out in nature for 20 plus hours this is a really cool opportunity even though i know it's gonna hurt it's gonna be hard really hard you know i've been a runner all my life ever since i was a kid in elementary school i was one of those weird little dudes who loved long distance running and i would wake up before school and go running when i was like seven eight years old and people thought i was a freak and they still do um and i've luckily stayed with this sport all of my life and i owe a lot to running i really do you know some of my best relationships some of my best you know athletic accomplishments and some of my best moments out in nature or when i'm running you know i feel so connected to the earth when i'm just it's just me my two feet and i'm out there and i'm listening to the birds or the wind or i'm getting rained on that's a really special unique feeling and i've spent hundreds and thousands of hours of my life running so i feel like in a way i've been preparing my entire life for this race tomorrow and this summer in specific i've done a lot of hard things i've pushed my body to the absolute limits multiple times this summer and uh i'm excited to see how it all comes together tomorrow and these races are total unknown i don't know how it's going to happen i'm not going to go in here arrogant and be like yeah i'm going to smoke this thing it's going to be easy that's not the way it is hundreds are never easy everybody struggles in a 100-mile race whether you're an elite or back of the pack we all have our moments and this will be my fourth mile race the other three were in the deserts of arizona the javelina 100. this is my first high altitude alpine 100 and it's going to be hard i keep on saying that it's going to be hard but i feel like i learn the most about myself when i go to these hard places and push past them and uh i'm excited to see how it all works out tomorrow you know i have to wake up in a matter of hours really it's like 8 p.m right now i have to wake up at 2 in the morning race starts at 4am and i'm just feeling really grateful grateful that my body is strong enough to even consider doing this grateful that i have this opportunity to run this race grateful that my mom and dana and xantha are inside that house right now and they've come up here they sacrificed their weekend to help crew and support me and uh i'm feeling really loved and i'm ready just to poof head out tomorrow 4 am and just give it my all and that's all i can do i'm going to do my best and see how it goes my goal is about 22 hours we'll see i have no idea but i do know for a fact that i will have a good day i get to be out in nature all day long i get to make new friends all day long and uh that's a gift it's an absolute gift and uh here we go time for bed i gotta sleep uh good good morning brian good morning um all i have to say is thanks a lot for being here and waking up this early yeah for the moon um yeah well i'm not waking up we were too excited to sleep i know well i just want to tell you how much i love you oh you're the most wonderful people in the world oh my mom's not here because she likes to sleep in and i don't blame her was this a little runner warm-up spot oh thanks what's up what's up man how are you doing buddy how are you happy little 100 days yeah a little over seven minutes till it all starts let's get this party started it's just a day in the woods with your friends right step up step out have a blast today remember you got this this is what you trained for the land [Applause] [Music] all right are you ready [Applause] [Music] [Applause] all right here we go let's do this [Applause] only 99 and a half to go whoa we got this ryan i'm so proud of you and i know so few people that choose to go into the paint cave so excited and i just want you to know you make it look easy you make it look fun but i know you're going to dig super deep today so when it hurts when it's not fun when it is hard just dig in there and i know you can do it i'm so excited for you okay so we're running downhill right now and this is the exact same road we're gonna run up at the finish line so this hill i know is going to hurt but right now it feels pretty good good morning so the big full moon is leading the way right now and it's beautiful all right i'm about five or six miles in we're running the single track around turquoise lake that first part of the race back there i was just pretty quiet everybody was quiet just focused on running moving forward not tripping getting in our groove you know for me personally just like visualizing the next 90 or so miles trying to get my breathing in order calming the body down yeah that's what it's all about one step at a time good to see you brother how's life you're looking good hey man just right i'm just have for a run yes sir thank you thank you let's see no no it's too early for soda i feel like this is like halloween [Applause] look at all these people [Applause] okay bye [Applause] man i can't tell you how much that aid station pumped me up and i had no idea it was going to be such a rager i hope that's a sign of things to come because i feed off of people's energy like that i have to be really mindful with my footsteps here there's tons of little rocks and it's easy to trip and fall i've almost done it a few times you know i'm thinking on the way back when i'm much more tired this is gonna be tricky as far as my pace goes you might be surprised to know that i don't run with a watch i never do i don't wear watch at all but i'm just kind of running my own race going slow right now there's a lot more to come and it's really easy to get wound up in the excitement and go out too fast so i'm just chilling sun's coming up it's warm enough and i'm feeling good i like warm weather so as you do when you're running alongside people in the middle of a hundred mile or you make friends i got a new friend here michael nothing yeah how you doing bud doing well man so you've done this before yeah i've done this in 2017 and 2019 yeah and uh both times i got hurt around 60 miles so this time i'm gonna i'm going out a lot smoother a lot more conservative seeing what i could do yeah yeah here's a general question what do you love about running i love to just be in the moment feel the ground feel my breath feel like a little bit of moisture around you know my back every little thing i'm just trying to be in the moment hey look at this pride flag look at that in honor of dana and xantha cool and the best thing no smoke in the air smells so fresh all right this is the power line section it's called that because of the beautiful power lines and you know what's funny is the first 13 miles of this race so crowded and then after that aid station where'd everybody go where is everybody it's not like ice like started running really fast i don't know where they all went i'm still feeling good i really am but i also am very very aware that it is very early i have a long way to go okay now i'm on the super steep downhill back side of power line and you might think oh sweet steep downhill go as fast as you can and you you can but it really does a number on your quads when you're just slamming on them going really fast so i usually like to take these downhills actually pretty slowly because if you beat up your quads now and they blow up they're not going to work later in the race you know if i was on my bike right now this would be a good section to go super fast but you know i'm just kind of slowly making my way now look at that outfit i like that brian yeah freaking love your youtube channel no way thank you brother i've been following you for two years i appreciate that what's your name steve frederick steve good to meet you brother pleasure meeting you you're going to come the whole way oh come on let's go have a good one hello long shadow how you doing buddy you'd think that hitting pavement is nice but my legs feel so heavy on pavement i like the dirt it's a little more forgiving i'm running with my new friend jeff from aspen hey how you doing bud good good beautiful day it is a beautiful day what brought you back out here you've done it before uh doing lead man oh you are yeah what does that mean so i rode 100 mile bike last saturday jeez how your legs feeling a little wiggly [Applause] let's get some food and some [Applause] how you water yourself doing great yeah how you doing bud doing awesome yourself thanks for being out here oh m m's bananas or potato chips take these thank you for being here ah i love running through the tunnel with people oh somebody yeah yeah yeah wow man it is a beautiful clear day okay i'm still feeling pretty darn good i'm still running pretty conservatively just jogging really and uh saving my energy for hope pass two times hope pass and then all the way back so i have a lot of day left in front of me so a lot of you have heard me talk about the gratitude march and i do that when i'm deep in the pain cave and with every step i take i think of people that i love and it just helps me put my mind somewhere else puts my love out there into the world it helps me to forget about the pain i'm not really in pain right now but i wanted to talk about ken klober the gentleman who started this race back in the early 80s amazing guy i got to meet him this june but he had some pretty serious blood clots a few weeks ago and he wasn't here at the start line i think it's the first time he's ever missed the leadville 100 and so right now my gratitude is going to my man ken he's down in denver at a hospital recovering i want to thank that man for creating this race and all the other wonderful things he's done for the town of leadville in colorado he was a state senator and you know i don't know him all that well but he's pretty impressive and so ken i'm thinking about you big shout out to marylee as well she is with ken in denver so it's definitely we're missing their presence here good morning good morning how are we doing no crashes no floods no waves you know what all this is this is sage and if you follow my bike videos you know that i love taking a piece of sage with me on every adventure it helps protect me and it just smells really good so i'm going to grab a little piece of sage here and bring it with me smells so good good high morning bam thanks for being here i love this so much it's so fun how you doing good to see you how you doing high fives high five have i told you how much i love giving high fives to strangers i love it i always have and after covet i was like i wonder if we're gonna do this anymore you know with the spread of germs and stuff but nobody seems to care so this guy right here robbie ballinger has a pretty incredible story tell us what you've done in the last you know two years two years let's see i ran across the united states from l.a to new york city in 75 days i set the fkt for the central park loop challenge most loops around central park in a day and now i'm about to finish up the colorado crush i ran the leadville marathon and then i did the colorado trail in 11 days leadville 50 and then summited all 58 14ers between that and today and now we're gonna finish it with this hundred um are you oh sorry and i almost made him trip let's not get injured on the last day man let's get it done how you feeling i'm feeling pretty good yeah legs are a little thrashed but i think we should expect that yeah why do you love getting after it like this oh it's always just the way to feel the most purely alive i found you do this stuff and the aches and pains even those they make you feel alive you know every second you're there yeah you're present in it and i love it so i'm running backwards now the reason is i think i went the wrong way i do not see anybody near me i'm looking at the ground looking for footprints not seeing many running shoes so i think i must have missed a turn which sucks why not make the day a little longer wow damn it i must not have been paying attention shoot i may have gone like a mile off man i'm still not seeing anybody man whoops all i can do is laugh laugh laugh laugh it's not a catastrophic mistake but it's definitely a bummer i see where i went wrong here we go back on course whoopsie okay this feels better that probably put me back about 20 minutes that's all right i'm really glad i turned around when i did i knew something was wrong so i've been running straight pretty much since the race started i remember my bob my bob i remember my friend bob africa saying this is a very runnable course you have to be careful so i'm just taking advantage of a slight uphill here to walk and just calm down a little bit i'm not in too much pain yet but it's it's coming and i love these aspen trees they comfort me aspen groves always remind me of my mom i'm all alone out here i do know that i'm going the right way though they have these little hot pink pieces of tape they tie on a lot of bushes so i'm going the right way which is which is nice i think this might be my favorite part of the course it's so beautiful so my quads are definitely starting to feel it these downhills are rough i'm just still taking it easy trying to take it real easy are you guys just hiding here in the woods yeah i love it [Applause] okay we got some serious down down down down all the way into twin lakes got a couple more miles so i get there and uh i'm excited about that i'm gonna see my whole crew dana xantha and my mama and hopefully eat some real food i've been eating all the sweet stuff that's all the aid stations have had really check it out that's twin lakes beautiful whew gotta make sure not to fall to the left it's pretty steep so we are at twin lakes this is our first spot where we can see ryan his goal is between 22 and 25 hours so right now he's pretty much in the pocket we're waiting to see what his time will be when he comes in here but his first three checkpoints he wasn't too far off that 22-hour time which would be amazing and here's our crew right here say hi hi say hi donna who is it hi it's no one it's the world it's no one and it's the world all right we're rolling in it sounds pretty loud and rowdy just the way i like it hi mom how's it going dana [Applause] [Music] how's it going how are you guys doing good great great yeah thank you love you love you love you are you gonna run with me okay let's go let's go bye i love you oh i feel good do you feel good i feel great awesome i feel great yeah what's up this is such a cool scene here the whole town [Applause] hey everybody my man how you doing [Applause] hey my man how you doing brother gotta get the high five on camera hey thank you that was awesome that was definitely a morale boost to see to see my people i ate a banana they gave me a egg and cheese sandwich and uh drank a ton of water and i'm ready to roll up this big hope pass i remember reading about this part in the book born to run it's such a pivotal moment and uh so dramatic and here we go i get to do it what a dream come true i don't know if i'll be saying it's a dream come true when i'm struggling up to the top but you know what i mean hi cute dog hey buddy all right so i've made another friend how's it going buddy how you doing what's your name where are you from my name is nikhil i'm from denver colorado woo this is your first level first leadville 100 how you feeling so far you know i feel like i've run about 40 miles so far feeling great though grateful to be out here i feel like i'm using my training you know what do you love most about it peace quiet and uh you get to really find out where your limits are and the truth is i found that i've always been wrong all right here's the river you go first famous last year oh yeah oh that feels good like a little ice bath now it is time for the four mile jaunt to the top of hope pass and it's kind of nice that it's so steep because nobody's running so i'm not gonna run it's a nice little break just chill out enjoy the scenery i saw a bear back there in a tree it was too far away to get on camera but cute little bear up a tree [Music] and uh yeah there's some cloud cover hopefully the weather doesn't get nasty up top but we'll see i have a rain jacket if so how do my legs feel you ask yeah they hurt yeah it's just one of those days where you're just going to deal with a little bit of pain or a lot bit so hi flannery i just met flannery as we're struggling up this big old mountain and you're from boulder i am from boulder best place what made you decide to do this i got a free entry right on yeah i was like why not i'm regretting that now this is your first hundred first hundred wow yep you've been preparing for this i've been trying apparently not enough so how do you feel i feel like garbage but to be expected yeah i just hope i won't quit you won't quit i'm guessing you've been a runner for a while so no actually not oh really no i was a soccer player oh yep well i started running after college so you've done athletic stuff how do you get through the hard times oh where do you go that's a great question i'll figure out today with soccer it was so much shorter you just endured but apparently i don't have as much mental stamina as i thought i'm a big softy you're [ __ ] hard you're marching you're marching up the hardest part of the course yeah you're doing just fine yeah don't be hard on yourself hi ho it's up hope pass we go hey that worked pretty well just made that up just marching one front for the other you know it's a little daunting to think crap i have you know 55 miles to go more than half but i've been here before i know what it feels like to push through this and this is when it gets real these are the moments this is it this is why i do these things which sounds weird but i love it in a strange messed up way i love it this is a pretty awesome aid station they get everything up here with llamas llama power i love it there's hope there's hope high five buddy how's it going everything you see is self-serve uh this is uh ramen thank you everybody thank you so i'm going off course a little bit to say hi to one of these guys hi look at these guys thank you for bringing up our food oh he is cold up here man but it is beautiful there's no doubt about that man my legs hurt so bad it's hard to imagine being able to run again today which kind of scares me that's where we're going that's where we're going getting closer with every step i think i can i think i can i think i can and sharp right oh these are big steps oh come on ryan and mentally it's just kind of hard knowing i have to do this again hope pass part one feels good time to get out of here [Music] this is the out part we go out 50 miles and come back 50 miles so we're closing in on halfway all right so i'm jogging down here i'm trying to you know throttle my speed because when i go fast it just slams on my quads and my quads are the problem area right now they hurt so i'm trying to be trying to be ginger as i make my way down this mountain but it's hard because the gravity just wants to pull you down so we're starting to see the leaders coming back up i just saw anton in uh third place looking strong not wearing a shirt as always and it's cold up here but he doesn't seem to care good job good job way to go way to go those are the fast guys gotta cheer them on everybody cheers on one another that's why i love these these races good job good job way to go way to go go get them okay so the good news is i am indeed running i was kind of worried going up hope my legs felt shot i didn't think that i could ever run but uh here we go still it is still early early in the race i keep saying that but it's still early i'm still not even halfway there looking good way to go let it go nice job buddy ready to go way to go looking good keep it up okay i made it to winfield halfway halfway can you believe it oh yeah chips would be good thank you sir thank you this is awesome you're the man salt water everything he needs right here you guys got it and he's got the smiles yeah you got the smile too i appreciate it now i'm getting some mashed potatoes with salt the real foods are key at this point in the race i'm sick of the sugary stuff yes dude smiles all around smiles all around have some fun all right i will bye thank you everybody thank you thank you thank you thank you winfield number one aid station it's always hard to get started after sitting in a chair i think i was only there for maybe five to seven minutes and i'm trying to get in and out fast but i'm also paying attention to my stomach and i definitely need to eat food get the calories in i'm burning a lot today okay so ryan 50 miles to go super steep pass coming up here in a few miles and downhill back to twin lakes and then i pick up my first pacer uh you know what hurts this hurts how you doing bob good man good to see you good to see you too how you doing my friend good to see you how's the life give a little hug oh how's it going this is a place man for like 10 miles you're doing better now yeah i got my second win i feel pretty good good man you're gonna make it i think so you're gonna make it i'm gonna make it yeah good to see you bro yeah cheers thunder that'll make things fun hello i really hope it doesn't rain on top of hope pass hello mr shadow you're doing a good job oh where'd you go man come on let's go yeah i'm talking to myself actually i'm talking to my shadow which is even weirder look at that view look how beautiful that view is that's what's keeping me going right now good job buddy how you guys doing good good work good work man hope pass got taller i swear job good job ready to go all right hope pass number two and it is chilly up here now look who i found up here it's my buddy ted how you doing buddy how's life oh doing good all right it's time to go down i'm gonna put the camera away i'll see you in twin lakes how's that sound good job guys good job you made it to the top of hope pass this is the view waiting for ryan to come in this is what you do you watch and you watch and you watch and you watch and you hope that time around the corner it's him that guy there in the blue he's waiting for his runner too right there we have ryan's pacer there's donna she's checking all the times and we wait and we watch come on ryan get in here here we go again oh that's a little colder this time maybe it's because i feel cold and it's raining on me ah you ready to run how's life awesome good i'm doing pretty good i'm so strong well yeah you know hope kind of worked me but okay i'm here to find out what you need and i'm gonna run ahead and tell your crew hey what's up [Applause] this is what i needed a little pick me up here [Applause] i'm not dying but that was hard [Applause] hey what's up how are you doing are you ready uh i'm so ready you to get ready for this awesome we'll see you at uh the end the end the end i love you i love you i love you thank you so much [Applause] [Music] [Applause] all right so this is my pacer amelia boone how you doing i am fantastic i can't thank you enough for for doing this uh i can't thank you enough for letting me accompany you that's pretty awesome and uh you get to run part of the course but not the entire thing yeah for free yeah right yeah and you're known as um the queen of pain is that your name yes okay good yes because i'm in a little pain so maybe you can transfer some of your skills to me right how you deal with the pain yeah how do you deal with it this is a really good way to deal with the pain actually distract yourself yeah talk to other people get out of your own head yeah you know i like it and eventually it passes man my legs hurt who they are we're back in my favorite part of the course this place right here is super magical and it smells extra fresh because it rains so much so we're doing a downhill interview with my new friend gabe how you doing bud uh not so bad you know we're running in the daylight still you know 65-ish miles in so can't complain where are you from uh from leadville originally i live in denver now have you always been a runner oh no i uh i wrestled through college actually and then uh just started uh running after that right on what do you love about it ah good question right now you might not be loving it yeah that's a bad time to ask i think trail running specifically you know getting out and able to see a lot of uh beautiful terrain you know since i'm out in the woods it is time for the campfire s'mores goo this is probably like my 20th goo today and i will say i am very sick of them but this is the first time i've had the s'mores one and it's pretty good so when amelia said that she would help pace i mean i don't know amelia at all i met her once for like five minutes yes and i'm like oh this'll be great but then i got nervous and started thinking but i'm gonna be farting like crazy in front of this woman who i don't know that well and i'm gonna be all shy but it turns out turns out farting doesn't faze me you're an ultra runner you've seen everything i've seen people [ __ ] i've seen i mean bodily functions are uh natural they're natural all right we have the colorado dream team right here dave mackey amelia boone bob africa how you doing dave um well we got 30 miles to go and uh i guess i'm getting through it bob remind me of that line you told me at camp it is it's not who's the fastest but who slows down the least i think we've seen that in the last five miles as you clip by a lot of people that have had a really fast 60 miles and are paying for it right now yeah and you're just cruising we are cruising it's off it actually feels good it's like yeah a nice temperature beautiful evening i'm with all my my people ain't stationed soon yeah so we're at the point of the race where everything hurts i'm a little nauseous i'm completely completely exhausted but i really appreciate that you're here keeping me moving everything hurts when i'm dying but you're gonna make it so that dot in the sky is the full moon [Music] can you howl nice come on apple do you got it oh you might get a winner oh that looks kind of cool actually it looks like daylight look at that let me see like right oh yeah that's like daylight we're out we're back i'm trying to adjust it mile 75 i'm hurting i'm hurting this is where the race starts remember that's right that's where it starts i'm going to start sprinting dude after the save station may queen been home so okay this is pacer number two darcy's big q what are the most uh i don't know you're very accomplished ultra runner and i'm very lucky to have you i'm excited i'm excited we're gonna go slay some dragons we're gonna slay some dragons let's do it what do you have i got some let's see okay what flavor pomegranate passion fruit ooh yummy thank you so we are we are slowly marching up that super steep power line thing that i came down today and let me tell you it's a grinder it hurts i am struggling but awesome but it's i'm so grateful i have darcy here because she is just pure positivity and keeps keeps me going socks on his hands that's right wearing socks on my hands to stay warm oh there's the full moon this is just too steep who made this so steep space camp space camp [Music] i feel like i'm at burning man this party appeared out of nowhere on your right there's eight on your right if you need it i like your sign [Applause] [Music] thank you so much for being here we're here for you we're wonderful people all right we're gonna try some cbd on my quads okay which quad both of them hurt you guys stay safe man thank you so much you guys are amazing thank you thank you thank you so darcy you've been in the pain cave many times what do you do to to get through it oh man sometimes i growl sometimes you just sigh it out um sometimes i put music in and just try and motivate myself that way i have 13 miles to the finish which in some ways seems like oh only 13 miles in other ways it's like oh that's a damn half marathon but we're gonna get it done we're moving forward this is excruciating it's taking every ounce of energy to move my body forward and it's a mix of walking and jogging and i'm just i'm just talking to myself just keep going ryan go ryan go i mean just keeping it simple one foot in front of the other because this is beyond hard this is where it's all mental my body's done my mind has some left and it's telling my body to shut up and go because i want to go to bed soon [Music] okay i've devolved into just a steady walk but i'm moving forward and i'm still smiling even though i'm in serious pain and discomfort a little nauseous all the things really and uh i'm close i think about five miles away yeah the long march all right i've been walking for how many miles probably eight yeah i'm gonna try to run the last bit to the finish line oh what's happening it's happening i'm running ever so slowly pain pain pain but the finish line is right there oh boy the finish line is right up there 100 miles is a long way to go it's a long way to go it's just after 4 a.m the race started 24 hours ago i just pulled an all-nighter all dayer i love you guys so much i love you so much [Music] thank you so awesome darcy did it he did it carpet ugh thank you my friend oh god thank you you did so good oh hi mom congratulations oh you did it [Music] thank you so much oh you brought this amazing so before i go home and jump in bed which is what i want to do right now uh wow i did it i did it that was really hard oh my god i don't know if i've ever done anything quite that hard in 24 hours i mean that pushed me you know the most of the race really was quite enjoyable but man the last 20 miles were just an absolute death march and i'm so grateful to amelia and darcy and my mom and dana and xantha and all my new friends that i met out there today this is an incredible event and it really is a family you know everybody out here they seem to know each other and they the town of leadville really embraces us and loves us and ken and marilee are they're like our our grandparents you know and if they were here right now they'd be they'd be hugging all the finishers and so thank you to ken and marilee for starting this incredible event and uh i don't know if i'll be back right now in this moment i'm like i'm never running a hundred miler again oh god it's time to sleep thank you all for watching this maybe it was enjoyable i don't know if it's fun to watch me suffer but oh my god this is just a it's a big life accomplishment and uh i'm proud that i got to the finish line even though i walked the final eight miles ah that's tough usually i like to finish races strong but not this one um but i had an incredible day an incredible experience and this will be a highlight of my running career no doubt no doubt [Music] you

Channel: Ryan Van Duzer

Views: 71,968

Rating: 4.9730387 out of 5

Keywords: leadville 100, ryan van duzer running video, ryan van duzer running, leadville 100 trail run documentary, running the leadville 100, how to run leadville 100, born to run leadville, running 100 miles, ultra marathon documentary, how to run an ultramarathon, how to run 100 miles, the best mountain ultra marathon, Inspirational running video

Id: JUA3mTDc3TQ

Length: 50min 45sec (3045 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 25 2021