Rewind to July 26…2008…a call from an old buddy in Denver with a plea for help… “Yo, H. I need you to come pace me at the Leadville Trail 100 – probably only need you to pace for about 10-12 miles. Think you can make that happen?” Hmmm… let’s see… the 100-mile running event is in 3 (yes, 3) weeks – so in typical H2 style I say “what the heck” and the next thing you know my airline ticket to Colorado is booked.
A call to my coach Brady at CTS informed him of my somewhat ridiculous plan – given I had been riding my bike quite a bit and doing “some trail running” to the tune of 8 or 9 miles max once a week – but we thought “ok – doable – it’s only 10-12 miles – all above 9,200 feet elevation after all.” So I’ve been living at sea level or below 2,800 feet for the last two-plus years… I’ve always been a glutton for punishment.
Subsequent calls from my buddy Henry over the next couple of weeks eluded to the fact that my anticipated mileage was increasing day by day, if not hour by hour… so I managed to rope my dear friend Natasha into joining the adventure – and as the event date grew closer I knew my pain threshold was going to have to grow as well.
I flew into Denver on Thursday night – August 15th – and managed to catch the Joshua Radin concert at the Bluebird Theater with my buddy Susan on the way from the airport to her house. 7:30am wakeup call for Friday set – Henry picking me up at Einstein’s Bagels in Golden for the drive to Leadville to make his medical check-in for the run.
I attended the race briefing in the local gymnasium, where I listened to the medical director go on about all of the potential “issues” one could face during an endurance event like this – especially at altitude. “Pulmonary embolism”, “Hyponytremia”, “Hypothermia”, “others that I can’t remember nor pronounce”… you get the picture… and with the weather forecast for snow, rain, sleet, wind, etc… WTF.
Then came the “Henry Briefing” – with all of the do’s and don’ts spelled out for me as the Crew Chief/Pacer: NEVER ask Henry how he is feeling (because more than likely he is feeling like shit). NEVER ask Henry if he’s doing ok (because more than likely he is not, so why talk about it). NEVER send Henry to triage under ANY circumstances – because once you’re in the medical tent they don’t let you out…game over. If Henry starts shaking uncontrollably in the middle of the night after 60+ miles, DON’T WORRY – just keep him warm and keep him moving – he’ll work through it. ONLY ask Henry what he needs, make sure he’s eating and drinking and let him work through his issues when he starts to lose his mind after running for 20+ hours. And ALWAYS have a toothbrush and toothpaste on hand because sometimes that’s the only thing that will make him feel better when he’s losing his mind. OK loony bird… No problem. ☺
Last minute trips to Bill’s Sport Shop, Safeway and the c-store rounded out all supply needs for the impending adventure. Batteries…check. Peanut butter…check. Turkey…check. String cheese…check. UpTime…check. Water…check. Vaseline…check. (Don’t ask).
Pre-race dinner at Zichittella’s in Leadville rocked – pasta and meatballs. I had joined Henry for dinner here in 2005 before his last race at the LT100 – and with this being his fourth time running the race – it has become tradition. Then came the gear mission back at the B&B – meticulous organization of what to wear when, what to eat when, what to drink when, etc… Planning out the estimated arrival times at each crew/aid station and dialing in the nutrition plan for a close-to 30-hour, 100-mile running event was critical…and the pictures speak for themselves. Oh – and my anticipated mileage was now up to about 21 miles over two legs of the race…
2:30am wakeup set for Saturday…4:00am start on 6th Avenue in Leadville. A trip to Provin’ Grounds Coffee Shop was in order – and yes – they opened at 3:00am for all the “crazies” in town for the event. With the rain and wind already on the agenda for the start – it was set to be an even longer day than anticipated. After the runners were on their way, I jumped in our Crew Car and drove out to the May Queen Campground for the first checkpoint at mile 13-ish…
Estimated arrival time was 6:00am. Jason Koop (CTS Coach) came through at about 5:53am – smokin’. 6:15…6:20…6:25… I was starting to worry a bit – knowing Henry’s typical half marathon time even at a slow pace…shortly after 6:30am Henry came in and informed me that he was feeling totally nauseated. I reloaded the bladder in his Camelbak, re-stocked the GU Vanilla Bean and CLIF Shot Blocks and encouraged him to settle into an easy pace and I’d see him at the Fish Hatchery at the mile 23 checkpoint with his requested Tums and Maalox ready to help ease his stomach.
Pouring rain, lightening, thunder, wind, you name it – Colorado threw it at us all morning. Into the Fish Hatchery, Henry was looking and feeling 100% better and wanted to push on past the Tree Line check point and through to Twin Lakes at about mile 40.
I drove through to Twin Lakes – snagged the prime parking spot at the runner crosswalk – grabbed a snack at the Twin Lakes Café – cheered on some of the uber-fast ultrarunners that were already starting to come through shortly thereafter – and waited for Natasha to join me around noon-ish. Henry came in behind his anticipated split time at Twin Lakes – but felt confident he could reach the 50-mile Winfield check point/turn-around well ahead of the cutoff time of 6pm – thinking 4pm-ish was doable.
Henry’s friend “Woody” met Natasha and I to head out to the turn-around where I would be on deck to start running with Henry at mile 50. The weather gods were cooperating with the skies clear for now, the sun out, the winds calm… but I knew what I was in for…10 miles… 3,000 vertical in about 3-4 miles – straight up – from 9,600 feet to 12,600 feet – then about 4,000 vertical down into Twin Lakes on the other side.
Runners who don’t leave Winfield to head back by 6pm are pulled from the course. 4:00…4:15…4:30…4:45…still no Henry. 5:00…5:05… I was getting nervous – getting pulled from the course was NOT an option here. I started to walk out the course to see what was going on – to see where he was. About ½ mile out I see him walking towards me…some words of “encouragement” were in order from one H to another.
“We gotta pick up the pace here a bit, buddy.” “We’re getting close to cutoff time – and you’re going to get through this thing.” “We’ve got everything ready for you at the turnaround so let’s get in gear.” Henry hadn’t realized he had fallen off the pace as much, so it was “Game On” as he rolled into the checkpoint, dropped everything, swallowed an “UpTime” caffeine tab, didn’t give us time to switch anything out in his pack, and took off telling me to catch up with him before the trailhead that would lead us up the climb over Hope Pass.
#*@%!!! With the full pack on my back carrying all the nutrition, water, emergency stuff, Vaseline (again – don’t ask), etc. plus Henry’s camelback on my chest – I ran to catch up with him about a mile and a half later…before the trailhead. We realized we had some serious time to make up on this leg – the hardest of the entire course. I ditched the Camelbak into a car and told them where to leave it in Twin Lakes – did the same with one of my layers to strip down – and Henry ditched one of our water bottles saying we needed to lighten up to make good time on the climb.
We managed to get on board with a group of about 6-8 ultrarunners who were setting a good pace up the climb. Henry and I split a Red Bull on the way up and just kept putting one foot after the other – up – up – up – 12,600 feet was the summit. Henry managed to find an extra gear with about 50 yards to go at the top – so he upped the pace and ran past the group – I followed up and over the top (with a few choice words as I moved into a run) – and down into the fog… The estimated 4,000 foot descent meant “Game On” – with a quick stop for a photo of the llamas and some refueling – we ran the entire descent down the singletrack – “hello, quads” – Oh – and then there was the thigh-deep river-crossing…then across a swamp…as the sun went down and the light was now gone… but we made up about 45 minutes on Hope(less) Pass… and moved Henry up 50 places in the overall at that point from 283rd to 233rd.
Game time for Natasha at Twin Lakes – she was due for 16.5 miles with Henry straight through to the Fish Hatchery where I would meet them at about 1:30-2:00am for my next leg. We got Henry into some dry shoes and socks, fed him some potatoes, turkey and string cheese and they were on their way. Hail, snow, wind, thunder, lightning, rain… you name it… they encountered it – with the hail eroding the depth perception on the trail as the ground turned white. Natasha is now dealing with Henry talking to (I mean encouraging) himself with a few choice words to keep going through the night… Meanwhile I’m trying to sleep in the Crew Car at the Fish Hatchery for a couple of hours while my quads tightened by the minute. Visions of the Hood to Coast Relay played in my head… Oh – and p.s. – Henry has since informed me that he needs me to go the last 6-7 miles with him from the Boat Ramp into the Finish…mileage now up to 27-28 for Double H.
About 1:45am Henry and Natasha arrived at the Fish Hatchery after a strong 16.5 miles through typical Colorado mountain weather in August, and I was ready to roll – 11 miles ahead of Henry and I – the infamous “Powerline” climb straight out of the gate – six false summits – in the dark – taking us again up to nearly 12,000 feet before a long descent into the May Queen Campground. Following little green glow sticks hanging in the trees in the middle of nowhere was a little disconcerting – especially with my fear of bears. And then there was the runner at about 3:30am who insisted that there was a car coming for him on top of Sugarloaf Pass – when in reality he was walking the wrong way on the course and was just seeing the other runners’ headlamps coming towards him… I think his spaceship might have been waiting there too… People pushing their bodies to these extremes sure inspires some crazy behavior…
I just kept forcing Henry to down the CLIF Shot Blocks, string cheese and the occasional GU… and refilling his water every 60-90 minutes or so – our feet never stopped moving. Being able to “deal” with all the nutrition, apparel changes, etc. on the fly was key – no stopping – no slowing down. The next stop would be at about mile 87 – but the endless “Pig Slop Trail”, as I coined it, would nearly drive me crazy as we trekked through the mud and sludge single track in the dark – anxiously awaiting the lights that would mark the May Queen check point.
12-13 miles to go and it’s shortly before 6am. Natasha and Woody have everything ready to go at the check point (except potatoes – but that’s another story altogether) – we get Henry into a dry shirt – and Henry’s friend Marta heads out to take him around the edge of the lake to the Boat Ramp where I would be waiting to pace the last leg into the finish.
Six or seven miles to go… 2 around the edge of the lake… then mostly uphill… “The Boulevard” (of pain)… the clock ticking… fools telling there is 3 miles to go when there is actually 4… the finish line seemingly getting farther away… and with 14 minutes to spare under the 30-hour cutoff – Henry crossed the finish line and earned his 3rd Leadville belt buckle – and we brought him in at 177th! 29 hours, 46 minutes. 542 started the race. 186 finished the race.
We’ll leave out the part that Henry didn’t bring any waterproof gear – so ended up wearing disposable yellow pants from Bill’s Sport Shop and my Gore-tex shell – women’s powder blue – size medium – oops – did I just share that bit of information?
Until the next adventure… until I can share as many good laughs with Tash sitting on the front porch of a B&B unable to move my legs, until I can share another post-race dinner with the girls at Carmine’s on Penn in Denver… I just hope my legs are recovered to pull off a good time at the Boulder Backroads Half Marathon on September 21st…5 weeks to go… Hey Henry – I expect you’ll be there to pace me. ☺
