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Rod vs. Leadville. He Did It!

What a weekend!

I had a ton of fun at Leadville last weekend crewing and pacing Rod to the finish line of his first 100 miler.  I ran about 28 miles, from the Winfield aid station at the mile 50 turnaround until Fish Hatchery at mile 78.  Rod powered through the two climbs we had to tackle and absolutely crushed the descents.  He was in great spirits the entire time I ran with him.  He ran a super smart race, running conservatively for the first 50 miles and then turning it on a little for the way back.  He and I passed a ton of people during the time I ran with him.  And he finished the race coherent and looking great.

Leadville is different from any other ultra I’ve run or been to.  The fact that there were over 800 starters plus that the course is an out-and-back means that the aid stations are packed and loud and super exciting.  With so many runners and crew and pacers, there’s nothing mellow about it.  A 100 mile out-and-back course is interesting.  I initially thought it would be a negative, but on his way back Rod knew where everything was and exactly what to expect.

The scenery is beautiful.  The views headed up to the highest point of the race at Hope Pass and then down the other side were some of the best.

This was my favorite spectator sign of the day:

The aid station at the top of Hope Pass is so remote that they use llamas (yes, llamas!) to carry all the supplies up there.  I pretty much didn’t believe it until I saw them milling about around the aid station.

Being at Leadville was great preparation for the Bear.  I’ve never really had any problems with elevation but I was curious to see how I would react to spending an entire day crewing and running between 9,000 – 12,000 feet.  Thankfully, I didn’t have any issues.  Of course my breathing got tighter as Rod and I approached the high point at Hope Pass (12,600′), but it was never really uncomfortable.  The Bear tops out at 9,060′ so I’m feeling confident about that part of the race.  The other big thing was seeing just how cold it can get at night in the mountains.  Even in summer.  In the middle of the night, the temperatures were in the high 30s.  High 30s and running is chilly, but high 30s and walking was freezing.  And since the middle of the night should be somewhere late-ish in the race, I need to be well prepared to be walking or hiking.  That means lots of warm clothes!

Less than 6 weeks to go!