Before I get going I wanted to give information on how to help an Endurance brother of mine. His name is Mark Webb and he was in a terrible motorcycle accident. One of his legs was injured beyond repair and they had to amputate. This happened in the days leading up to Leadville and it reminded me of how fortunate I am to have my health and body to be able to even attempt a race like the Leadville 100. It secondly gave me a vision of the type of person Mark is. He is known for his smile and friendly spirit. He is also known for his tenacity when it comes to the most difficult endurance events in the world. I kept having visions of him healing quickly and being back in the events that he loves so much. He has a NO QUIT attitude and inspires thousands to be better at life. Heres to a speedy recovery and to a new beginning in your endurance life. Please help Mark here through this link to get him a jump start into recovery. His goal is to become ambulatory as quickly as possible, and then to start running, racing and rucking again - and using as many of these events as possible to raise awareness or money for causes.This fundraiser is intended to raise money to cover the costs of the prosthetics and treatments over the next months and years, in order to help Mark get back to doing the things he loves and raising lots of cash for the causes he loves.
Where to begin… 2014 has become the year of Ultra endurance
races for me which was built on from 2012 when I did my first 24 hour race. Why ultra marathons? Countless times I get
asked this. Why on earth would you run so far? My answer goes something like
this: In this life of convenience and comfort I have a hard time not wanting to
challenge myself on a physical level and as a competitor with myself the
distance at which I challenge myself has gotten longer…and longer..and
longer. Everything is instant this, and
shortcut that.. I love ultra marathons mainly because they put me far outside
of my comfort zone and there are no shortcuts to completing one(They are as
honest and real as it gets.) Most everything worthwhile in life is found
outside the comfort zone. Do the races
hurt? Yes! But they make you feel so alive.
Our bodies were designed to do amazing things along the lines of endurance
and somewhere through time we lost that connection with technology and
transportation. We were made to go long distances efficiently.
Prep to Leadville 100.
I have an unorthodox way in which I train for ultra marathons. I don’t
really run all that much. I log 20-30 miles per week. Sometimes 10-12. I choose
my mileage and make those miles vicious being steep, repeats or climbs+descents.
I do very few long slow runs. I primarily cross train using my own programming,
which includes Olympic lifts, body weight movements, and sled pulls. This way
of training for me works 2-fold..It builds my body strong keeping optimal
muscle mass and reduces the chances of an overuse injury that logging many
miles can create. I am not only training
for ultra marathons, but for ultra endurance events like GORUCK Selection and
World’s Toughest Mudder which call on a total body balance so I need to be a
Hybrid in a sense..One that succeeds at ultra distances plus still having the
upper body strength to execute obstacles and military style PT tests and ruck
marches. This way of training not only
frees up time for me to be a family man, but it keeps me ready for any event
–race out there.
Anyway you probably want to hear about the race. Leading up
to Leadville I completed 2-50 miles races and some hellacious cross training
work in prep. I felt confident in my
training and well rested. Nerves leading up to Leadville were way up. A race
like Leadville deserves some anxiety. DNFs(Did Not Finish) are prevalent in
Leadville, so no matter how confident you are the thought of not finishing
haunts your mind. Leadville is a race that takes full mental commitment. If you
just kinda sorta want to finish..it won’t happen. If you don’t want to go
through some serious pain it won’t happen. Even if you train right and go in with a
strong mind it might not happen with a 50% pass-fail rate and cut off times
through out the race it’s not just about will power either.
Morning of the race my alarm goes off at 2am. I was in a
very light sleep-almost a meditation for a few hours before my phone went
off. One habit I got used to doing
before drifting off to sleep was visualizing the race. Going through the race
in my head, every time FINISHING the race.
Gear was prepped and ready for me to slip on quickly. Focused with a
finish on my mind we made our way to the start line. From pee-wee to college sports I've always
gotten very nervous before the start. Once that shotgun blasted off everything
slowed quite a bit. Running in the dark was calming and a brisk 38 degrees made
for a beautiful start. Everyone was thinking of the long journey ahead and
dodging rock and root as we passed around turquoise lake. Lots of runners
tripped and took some diggers around the lake, but I stayed on my feet. Must
have been all those tire and rope speed drills from a decade of football
practices. Some were not so lucky. EricStrand fell a few times and smacked his nose to a rock splitting it open. He had
some Leadville spirit in him and shook it off no problem! Hitting the first aid station at mile 13.5 was
nice. Sun starting to come out plus the family crewing was a nice boost to
start the race off. I swapped out bottles-grabbed my shades and took off.
Running with my buddy T.J. step for step at this point we made our way up Sugar
loaf to elevations over 11,000ft. Views up there were great, as it overlooked
turquoise lake. I thrive on the downhill
mainly because my training included copious amounts of speedy downhill work
(eccentric contractions,) which paid dividends later in the race. Power line has plenty of downhill where you
can make up some time so light on my feet I shot down at a 7-8 minute
miles/pace which eventually got me out to the Outward Bound Aid Station-mile
24ish. Greeting by the fam and my moms
cowbell I trotted in with a smile. Feeling strong here, feeling like my game
plan was right on target I swapped bottles again and was out of there within
seconds. Chugging through the flattest part of the course I made small talk
with some cool runners. Meeting Barefoot Alex and running with him into Twin
Lakes. He by the way ran barefoot and in a pair of minimal sandals. <Amazed>
It was a hot day as far as Leadville is concerned and I felt like I was getting
behind on electrolytes. Made it to Half Pipe aid station took a quick restroom
break and headed towards Twin Lakes. At this point I made a conscious effort to
suck down as many electrolytes as possible before hitting Twin Lakes. Descending into Twin lakes (lowest part of
the race 9,000ft) Mile 40 came quick. I was hitting all the splits that I
wanted to, but Hope Pass stood out in the distance. A 12,600ft mammoth of a
mountain stood in-between me and the 50-mile turnaround point in Winfield. This is where you have to
get your mind right. You’ve already crushed 40 miles and you have the longest
and steepest portion of the race ahead. You climb from the lowest point of the
race to the highest..then you have to do it again J The climb up to the top of Hope Pass was slow
but steady. I wanted to stay away from an anaerobic state but it was hard. Making it up to the Hopeless aid station mile
44. I carried 3- 20 ounce bottles and was out of fluid. I got behind on water
which really worried me at this point in the race, luckily I could refill there.
It was here where my buddy T.J. told me that his race would be done at the 50
mile point which also took some wind out of my sail because we have battled
through some crazy races together. My legs were more fatigued than I had
anticipated at this point. I had been up there and trained on that pass, but 45
miles into any race legs are bound to be tired. Started my descent into
Winfield which I thought was my strength became my weakness. My pace slowed a
lot here and I was losing valuable minutes not being able to run down as fast
as I projected. I ended up making it
down to the 50 mile mark at 13 hours which was only an hour ahead of the cut
off time. I wanted to be ahead by at least 2 hours at this point but in these
races you have to be ready to throw game plans out and adapt to new ones
quickly.
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| Leaving Twin Lakes "Outbound headed to Hope" |
Mile 50-60 Back side of Hope Pass to Twin Lakes (Tom Pacer)
The race got very challenging at this point. Lots of runners
were dropping out of the race at mile 50. There were sick runners, hurt
runners, confused runners all with that look on their face..a look that you
didn't want to stare at long. I had to weigh in here to make sure I didn't lose
too much fluid. My weight was great I actually gained a pound. Brittany was there waiting for me along with (Tom
my pacer) and his wife. Tom was ready to rock!!!!!! He had our entire gear
ready and at this point I handed over everything except my trekking poles. Tom and I were headed back home “inbound” with
Hope Pass towering over us. Pain is the mind killer, but so is nausea and I had
both. Tom was very motivating, but my
stomach and head were trying to get me to quit. I was dizzy and was on the
verge of puking. Relentless forward movement was my motto all day, but I know I
had slowed a lot here. Only an hour ahead of the cut off I felt my finish was
slipping slowly through my hands. Legs are tired, not much left as far as
climbing power. The dizziness was quite the challenge climbing this side of
Hope Pass as it’s rocky and congested with runners coming down and trying to
make the 50 mile cut off (two way traffic on a single track.) It was all I could do at times to grab a tree
and fall out of the way relying on my upper body to keep me standing. Tom kept
painting the picture of a Finish and getting me up to the top of Hope Pass so
we could run down into Twin Lakes and make up some time lost. I C A B W…….As I looked down in a drunken
state I saw my shirt. IT COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE. Isn’t that the truth? There
were runners near me that were struggling worse than me. This gave me an
opportunity to encourage them and snap myself out of this nauseated funk. Tom
being a great mountaineer and endurance athlete was talking me through ways to
fix me at the next aid station. It was a great combo of sprite and hot broth. Like you see in the zombie movies I was eerily
reanimating. Getting back to the top of Hope Pass was one of the best parts of
the race for me. You can see Leadville from up there and you feel the Finish.
Like a horse on its way back to the barn I got a small grin at this point
thanks to Tom. He got my gears going again and we started descending down to
Twin Lakes. My legs came back to life too. I was making up some good time here
flying down the trail. I had been here
before I know how to get home from here and with each step taken my mind got
stronger. The body is just the vehicle. The mind is the pilot and at this point
I had duct taped and gagged my mind with coordinates set only for the Finish
line. Getting to the bottom of Hope Pass I was hungry not for food, but for
more. I wanted to get back to that Finish line with every fiber in my body.
Legs hurt, back hurt, feet hurt, but like I said earlier I was driving this
vehicle back home no matter what.
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| Climbing to the Top of Hope Pass. Photo Cred Adventure Llama Photography |
Mile 60-72ish Twin Lakes Inbound to Tree Line Crew area
(Nicole-Pacer)
It was dark at this point and we had just crossed the river
again. As chilly as it was the legs loved the cold river water. The cold water helped in waking me up and
reminding me that this race has truly just begun. Game plan for pacers was to
send them ahead to the aid stations and inform the next pacer-crew of my
condition and to swap out gear-water etc. so that when I hit the station I
could just keep going and no time was lost. This worked well. Tom ran ahead and
I followed behind watching him disappear into the darkness. Twin Lakes is a
massive aid station. Its well lit and I could hear cheering and music signaling
the return of runners inbound. My heart rate spiked a little bit knowing that I
would see my crew and family. As I approached the station I was greeted by a
white cowboy hat (my dad) He had a headlamp on his hat and directed me to where
everyone was camped out. My mom had the
cowbell going loud. I was greeted by loved ones and friends and as tired as I
was it was refreshing to see familiar faces and change shoes-socks. Nicole was geared up and ready to rock. She
had all the splits-averages-cut off times ready on a laminated sheet. Hugged and kissed the fam and we headed out.
Making it back to the low point of the course (9,000ft) was nice but it didn't
last long. We would climb back up to 11,000ft and the climb was very steep on
tired legs. Nicole was a spark plug of
energy. I knew I was moving slow, but she did a great job of keeping us on pace
to ward off the cut offs. Its 10:00pm now and we are 1.5 hours ahead of the cut
off time so we made some progress. I had
some rough spots in this section coming off of Hope Pass I was pretty beat up.
The sky was bright with stars everywhere; you could really see most of the
constellations. Nicole can chat! It was
nice to talk about family-other races-and such.
We were nearing the Half Pipe aid station and my legs were going in and
out of run mode. They could run for a bit, followed by some serious muscle pain
in the quads and hams. Finally mile 70 Half
Pipe aid station rolls around and I know I can bust out a 50k even if I had to
crawl the rest of the way. Nicole had ran
ahead to fill bottles and get me some sprite and noodles-broth. Digging Deep is
mentioned so much with this race and it seems super cliché. You wouldn’t
understand unless you’ve done a 100 miler across the mountains somewhere. I had
to dig deeper and deeper as the race went on. I’ve heard before that your
training will get you 50 miles, but it’s your heart and mind that takes you the
other 50. This couldn’t be more
accurate. There are times you ask your self if it’s worth it. The lessons learned after the breaking points
are much too priceless to pass on, so relentless forward progress is the answer
I keep repeating to myself. Don’t Quit!
I’ve come to far at this point. Nicole
has been such a big help keeping me focused and ahead of schedule. We built a
nice cushion.
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| Close to the top of Hope Pass front side "Outbound" |
Mile 72-76.5 Tree line alternate crew area (August-Pacer)
I met up with August at mile 72. He’s Nicole’s husband. I
felt like a chump at this part of the race.
This is the flattest part of the race and it was time for me to take off
and make up some good time. My legs were
locked up like I was in quicksand. I could run for 100 yards or so and then a
speed walk was necessity due to pain. One thing I learned with this race being
my first 100 miler was that the legs and pain receptors act a fool!!! One
minute I felt fast and could move well, but the next I felt like my legs got
hammered by some thugs from the movie Scarface. August was patient and was
telling me all about the star constellations. He had a calmness about him that
was contagious. The crew made a pretty sneaky call and started giving me fast
cut off times so that it would force me to be ahead of schedule…..evil, but
brilliant!!! I was so tired I listened to all their times and we made pace to
keep not only ahead of their cut off times, but the actually race cut off times
too. This section went by quick and
before I knew it we hit Outward bound aid station. Loud music and cheers were
my welcome party. This was around 2am and my crew and pacers were looking
strong.
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| Back side of Hope Pass "Inbound" |
Mile 76.5-86.5 Outward Bound Aid Station (Russ-Pacer)
Power line turned into a major worry for me after completing
Hope Pass. I knew that this climb would test my intestinal fortitude. Few
run Powerline inbound, instead power-hiking it. I'll be honest; Powerline
inbound has forced many to quit or slow them down to the point where they miss
the May Queen aid station cut off time. It took about 10 miles of thinking
about this climb to get my mind where it needed to be. I knew I had to embrace
the suck of this climb and it was the last villain to conquer before hitting a
downhill ride home to the finish line.
Russ is an avid hunter. He hikes and scouts all the time in prep for
hunting season. I knew he could help
march me up this climb victoriously. It's a 1,500-foot climb of a few miles up
to 11,100-foot Sugarloaf Pass, with many false summits. The false summits are
what get you. I did my best at the beginning of the race to count the false
summits, but that was about 20 hours earlier….I had forgotten it all, but instead
I Dug Deep!!! This is where the race's motto really hit home with me: "You
are better than you think you are, and you can do more than you think you
can." Climbing Powerline, you have to really believe in those words--and
in yourself. 80 miles in and you don’t have much left in the tank. Legs have
been moving for so long it would feel alien to stop at this point. That was my
main goal for this stretch, forward movement as Relentless as possible. Russ
and I made it higher and higher. There was a makeshift aid station lit up with
black lights, glow lights, and it was pumping loud with crazy music. A huge
sign streamed across the trees coming in “GREAT FUCKING WORK” I needed this! A
bunch of crazies camping out and staying up all night cheering on the few
runners that made it back to this point. They were definitely taking advantage
of Colorado’s Marijuana laws. Home stretch now I only have 18 miles to go and I
will get to that FINISH LINE!!! Russ did like the other pacers and created
small talk and picked out landmarks for me to run to. We were cruising now back
to the downhill and the great news was my legs were feeling less painful and I
picked up the speed where I could. The course got more technical and technical
as the night went on. Rocks and roots where so hard to dodge I remember feeling
like my feet weighed 20lbs apiece. I Picked up the pace a little too quickly
and came down on the side of my foot rolling my left ankle pretty bad. A few
choice words popped out with no filter and I hobbled a bit, but at this point
everything felt heavy and numb so I kept trotting away down the steep
switchbacks. My GPS had died by this
point it lasted 23 hours. Luckily all the pacers had a watch so we could gauge
the mileage. Only problem was that Russ’ watch was a bit off…a whole mile off
and it was mentally exhausting because when we hit 86.5 on the watch we still
had a ways to go to the May Queen Aid Station. I could see the car lights now
and hear the crowds cheering runners coming in. We came in and I was ready to
go now! I had 13.5 left to get this thing done and nothing was going to stop
me. My watch wouldn’t track GPS, but it still showed the time of day. It read
5:25am! The cut off here was 6:45am so I felt even better knowing that! I saw
the crew and Marcette, she was the last and final pacer.
Mile 86.5-100 May Queen Aid Station to
FINISH (Marcette-Pacer)
Its funny how far past fatigue and
exhaustion I was, but I felt a strong charge of energy. I could feel that
finish now.. I could taste it (or maybe that was just the Sprite and broth
hahaha!!!) The Sun was finally coming up for the 2nd time and this
one was special. Turquoise lake is a site to see. The trail runs right on the shore line the
entire time and it was one of the most peaceful things I’ve seen in a
while. Marcette was cracking the whip
and I was happy to get my pace rocking. I ran as much as I could as fast as I
could and this lasted for about 9 ish miles. People ask about a point where you
feel like you cannot go on…I hit my point. I had pushed past nausea and all the
pain of one of the steepest hundred milers in the world. With approx. 3 miles
to go my walk became really slow. My mind wanted that finish, but my legs-body
didn’t. Marcette tried to get me to go and the best I could muster was a 20
yards shuffle here and a 10 yard shuffle there. She knew that I was pretty
gassed, but kept me in great spirits.
The sun was hot now and we were so close. I looked around and there were
runners crying, limping, waddling, and some were smiling with me. I wanted to
finish with a nice kick I told Marcette. She gave me a look like she wasn’t
sure what kick I would have other then kicking the bucket. Finally we were at the top of 6th
street looking down on the red carpet and the Finish line. Like a cheetah
creeping in the plains stalking gazelles I saw about 10 runners in front of me.
They looked perfectly content walking into the Finish, but I wanted to push the
limits at the end. I started down the
hill and passed a few and I really picked up the pace now getting some
surprised looks because I was moving pretty quick. I didn’t plan on this it
just felt right and looking back to my trainings I always finished my runs like
this in a sprint. 6th street was a little longer than I expected,
but the red carpet was there. I past all the runners accept one he finished
about 5 seconds ahead of me. The loud speaker was shouting my bib number and
name. I could see my family-friends-crew and a whirlwind of emotions hit me
like a train. Medal was awarded and just like that it was complete. I got
weighed in one more time and all looked great.
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| Brittany and I at the Finish (Best Wife-Mom and Crew Manager Award!!!) |
Post Race Blur
Hugs for days and I had a perma-grin
stuck on my face for hours. All that work paid off. All those mind tricks paid
off. I was a Leadville 100 Trail Run Finisher and I owe so much to my family,
friends, crew and pacers. You all were clutch!!! You can’t fake being a good
pacer and you all were top notch. “I knew a man once who said, "Death
smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back." This quote from
Gladiator is one of my favorites. We only have so much time on this planet and
I don’t want to go to the grave without a few Epic journeys. I imagine a life
full of challenge and reward. One more
quote and you can exit out of here an get back to your day: “Struggling and
suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you're not pushing
yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not demanding more from yourself -
expanding and learning as you go - you're choosing a numb existence. You're
denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”
― Dean Karnazes
― Dean Karnazes
I’m not challenging you to run an ultra
marathon, but I am challenging you to challenge yourself everyday!!!
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| Pacers from left to right: Russ, me, August, Nicole and Marcette Not pictured Tom THANKS AGAIN GUYS!!!! |
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| Mom and Dad. You guys rock! Been following me around to sporting events since I was 3years old. |
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| T.J. and I. Best bros since Heck was a pup!!! |
