Leadville–an off road experience

Preamble

Ever since falling on a trail run 2+ years ago I’ve avoided all off road runs like the plague.  I’ve even skipped most triathlons where part of the road is trail.  The risk of injury just wasn’t worth it any more.

That all changed with my injury last summer.  I did extensive therapy to strengthen my ankle (and did both while I was at it).  I felt my ankles were better than pre-injury, so maybe off-road would be ok.  Plus, I wanted to do something different where I wouldn’t put so much pressure in myself to perform.  That’s where the Leadville Trail 10K came into play.

Pre-race

Before arriving in Colorado for the race, I was mostly worried about the hills – the profile looked pretty bad.  Then I did a couple days of pre-race runs at 8800 feet (much lower than race level) and I discovered that I couldn’t run very far without running out of wind.  As a matter of fact, depending on how hard I ran I could only manage 1-5 minutes without having to stop and walk.  Now I was pretty freaked out, but decided this would be a run/walk event.  Still, lying in bed the night before the race I somehow came up with a projected finish time (No pressure, right??)

Fast forward to race time

The starting gun went off, and I deliberately hung back to let most of the racers go ahead of me.  I figured this way I would have fewer people passing and demoralizing me.  The race started with a short downhill and then into our first hill.  I was almost immediately winded, going downhill!  I told myself this was a bad idea:  I wasn’t ready to race this distance, I wasn’t acclimated and hadn’t done enough hill work.  I started composing an email to my coach telling her how I wanted to pull out of all racing until I was more ready.  I really had a lot of negative thoughts going through my head.  Then something happened…

I heard lots of yelling and realized it was my fellow racers.  They were just excited to be there and were having fun!  What a novel idea, have fun at a race.  I wish I could explain what happened, but something changed and I decided to have fun myself.  I didn’t worry about rude runners, conditions or anything that would take me out of my “Zen” mode.  I had good music to listen to, the course was beautiful and everyone was friendly.

I didn’t look at my watch much, if at all, focusing on the trail to ensure I stayed safe.  Before long I was at the turn-around and only aid station.  I’d survived the first half without walking.  (I should note that people started walking at the first hill, less than 1/4 mile into the course.)  It was very congested, and impossible for me to run through.  I decided to walk through, get some water and take a gel.  Then I was off again, the real test:  3.1 miles of mostly uphill.

I made it about a mile and had to walk to catch my breath.  I kept walking hard, and my breath didn’t really come back.  After about 30+ seconds I decided to get going again, even though I wasn’t any better off.  I made it another mile and had to walk again.  I forced myself to run up the hills and use the crest to recover.

This was an out-and-back course, with the first part being road.  When I hit the road on the way back I knew I was close, sort of.  We came to a big hill, with a lot of people walking.  I picked a spot halfway up and told myself I could walk after that.  Then as I reached that spot I decided I could go a bit further and picked another spot.  Repeat.  As I got to a spot near the crest, where I really wanted to stop, I thought I saw the finish line up ahead.  I was so gassed that I needed to get confirmation from the runner next to me.  One more down and uphill to go!

With my old friend waiting for me at the finish line I knew I couldn’t walk where he might see me.  I dug deep and hung on, watching the finish get closer.  I passed a lot of people up that last hill.  I wasn’t thinking about that so much, I just wanted it to be over.  I don’t remember much about the finish other than being handed a much needed bottle of water.  I rinsed my mouth and spit it out, right onto the shoes of a passing runner.  I felt badly, but it makes me laugh today.

The goal for this race was to have fun and decide if I’d be interested in doing it or the half marathon next year.  Thinking about what I’ve written I’m not sure it is clear how I felt.  I knew immediately that I wanted to do the half marathon next year.  I didn’t care about the profile or that at 15+ miles it would be the furthest I’ve raced in 30+ years.  I had SO much fun.  I don’t remember when I’ve had that much fun in a race – maybe never.

I don’t know what will happen the rest of the year, or in the years to come, but this much is certain:  I had a blast a Leadville.  I wonder if I could do a 50 mile mountain bike ride???