August 18, 2007
by Bret Sholar
Just like any ultra, the Leadville Trail 100 for me proved to be full of highs and lows, pains and ecstasies and euphoria and disappointment. It is definitely an event that you would be hard pressed to keep me away from in the future.
I arrived in Leadville eight (8) days before the race hoping to get acclimated to the altitude and to volunteer for the Leadville 100 Bike Race. Volunteering for the bike race was an incredible experience and one that I plan to duplicate in the near future, if I don’t get a wild hair and ride it. I met some incredible people, had tons of fun and even gained a little insight into the LT100. A special thanks to Miles Krier, a Leadville local, Liz Walker form Georgia (both who finished the LT100 this year) and many other new friends for making me feel like I was part of a special group.
I stayed at the Leadville Hostel and had a blast. Wild Bill and Kathy treat their guests like old friends and made pre-race week comfortable and relaxing. I would highly recommend to anyone heading to Leadville for any reason to stay with them. Having never stayed at a hostel, I was a little apprehensive. But as soon as I arrived Wild Bill made me feel at ease by saying “We are all adults here and expected to act like it. Respect everyone else, if you see a sign read it and if it applies to you do it.” It made sense and everyone surprisingly complied, even a funny chap from Ohio named Mike Brown.
I spent the week acclimating and making more friends. For those of you who know me know that is an amazing thing because I generally do not like people and am fiercely independent. On Monday, about seven (7) of us, including some crazy Canadians, climbed to the top of Colorado’s highest peak, Mt. Elbert. It was beautiful. On Wednesday I traveled to Colorado Springs to pick up my good friend and former Oklahoman, Steve Tanio, at the airport. Steve came in from Iowa to run. I would not have made it through the week or post-race without Steve.
As race day approached we met a great guy from Mexico City, Luis Guerrero, who gave us some great tips for the race. Luis has run Leadville five (5) times now with five (5) finishes. His best time is just over 20 hours where he actually passed Matt Carpenter and finished sixth.
Race morning was typical. We woke up a little apprehensive, got dressed, ate our pre-race breakfast and headed down to the starting area. The place was packed full of excited, nervous people. The only one who did not look nervous was Anton Krupicka, the eventual winner in 16:14:35. The second place guy finished over 3 hours and 15 minutes later. Still an incredible time.
The gun went off at 4:00 a.m. and about 600 of us headed west in the dark toward a day or more full of ups and downs and ups and downs and ups and downs. You get the point. The first leg of the race was to May Queen Campground 13.5 miles away. The group was still tightly bunched and it was very hard to keep one’s excitement in check. Every now and then I got in with a group that was too fast and had to remind myself to just back off and take it easy. I had a long way to go. At one point I got behind a guy that took a wrong turn and got about 100 yards off course. I came to May Queen about 2.5 hours after I started and actually ran in with the well-decorated Kirk Apt. The aid station was well-stocked with great trail fare and wonderful volunteers. The same thing can be said for every single aid station along the route.
We left May Queen and headed up the Colorado Trail toward the infamous Power Line. I came up on Steve Tanio as we headed toward Power Line. He had his music on and looked strong. I ran for a while with a guy named Gerald Oliver from Edwards, Colorado. After this race, Gerry will be a Leadman. Great job Gerry. (A Leadman is someone who finishes the Leadville Trail Marathon, Silver Rush 50-mile Bike Race, the 100-Mile Bike Race, the 10K and the 100-Mile Trail Run over the course of the summer. Only a handful make it.) Another great Leadman that I stayed with at the Hostel was Elwyn Owen. The run down Power Line was exhilarating and made me realize I need to work on my downhill skills. I got down Power Line and headed toward the Fish Hatchery. On the way there I was passed by Jim Baker, long-time ultra runner and Oklahoma City resident. I arrived at Fish Hatchery (23.5 miles) feeling pretty good and knowing I had a long way to go. Unfortunately, this is also as far as I would make it back some time early the next morning.
As I was leaving Fish Hatchery I saw Steve Tanio coming in. It is great to see familiar faces on the course. What a boost. The course between Fish Hatchery and Half Moon (7 miles) is all on paved and dirt roads and seems to go on forever. I made this section of the run by running seven (7) minutes and walking about one (1). In this section of the run I came upon some really cute girls and decided that this running stuff was not too bad after all. I arrived at Half Moon with some energy knowing the best/toughest was yet to come.
You head out of Half Moon and run about 1.25 miles on a dirt road to the Colorado Trail. You then have a little less than eight (8) miles over the mountain to Twin Lakes. On the way down to Twin Lakes is where my day started heading a little south. Every step down the trail was like someone punching me in the gut. Not sick, just pounding, if that makes sense. Another bright spot on the day occurred as I approached the Twin Lakes Aid Station. I was greeted by my parents, sister and four nephews. Unfortunately I would not see them again that day.
As a side note, I ran the race without a planned crew or pacer and have no regrets in that regard. However, a pacer is good for company, as I would learn later in the day, and a crew is really a blessing when you are feeling a little down. Out of all those running there were very few of us that had neither. At Twin Lakes I saw one runner sitting in a chair. He had a crew member on each foot, changing and cleaning his feet, another one rubbing his shoulders, another one filling his bottles and another one bringing him food. I do not even get that treatment at home and do not have that many friends; much less any that would want to touch my feet.
I left Twin Lakes (39.5 miles) and headed toward Hope Pass and then the turnaround at Winfield (50 miles). Right out of Twin Lakes we had to cross a marshy area and Lake Creek. Due to the recent rains, the marsh was nothing but a series of ankle-plus deep water slogs that smelled like the pit stop for elk and other wildlife and was a grayish-black color. After about a mile of this we came to a series of creek crossings. Lake Creek was nice and cold, actually refreshing, and we had to use a rope to get across one point that was over knee deep. Right after the creek I met Anton coming the other way with his pacer. They looked as if they were hardly working. For a split second I wondered if anyone would believe me if I were to turn around and follow Anton back. Yeah right!
After you cross the creek you head toward Hope Pass. Who the hell named this Hope Pass? For me it was more like Bonk and Try Not to Fall Off the Mountain Pass. By the time I got to the top of the Pass I was pretty cooked. Even though it was beautiful up there all I could do was sit down and try to figure out where all my energy had gone. I had a severe calorie deficit. However, a great doc/EMT/paramedic named Bill helped bring me back to life and turned my race around. After about 30 plus minutes sitting and drinking and eating chicken broth I had to make a decision; go on or be another Hope Pass causality. I opted for the former. I climbed another several hundred feet up to the top of Hope Pass, where I took a few photos and then headed down the other side. On the way down I saw several of the leaders and people I recognized friends like Luis, Miles, Liz, Robert King, Mike Suminski and Chisholm Deupree. Chisholm completed his 10th LT100 and is now the proud owner of a huge 1000-Mile buckle. Congratulations Chisholm. Chisholm’s dad Harry also started the race this day. Harry has had a tough health bout lately and it was good to see him out again. After I got through some rain and hail to the bottom of Hope Pass there is this road that leads to Winfield. It is undoubtedly the longest 2.5 miles I have ever run. According to my watch I made the Winfield turnaround cutoff by 30 seconds. I had to sprint through, if you call it a sprint, the aid station and check out quickly. Since I had no drop bag here, I moved right on through.
After I headed through the aid station they asked me if I had a Pacer. I replied “No.” but my response was immediately followed by a voice saying “Now he does!” Scott Hidalgo, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who had been waiting for his runner who unfortunately had knee problems and dropped out, came along for the ride. He got me up and over Hope Pass. We passed numerous other runners on the way up. It was dark by the time we reached the top and more soup. The Twin Lakes’ side of Hope Pass was very slick and muddy, but we cruised. In fact, I ran that leg of the race the first time in about five hours and made it back over in about three hours and forty-five minutes. As we headed toward Twin Lakes we again slopped through the water and Lake Creek had risen another six (6) inches. A few of us were really humping to make the Twin Lakes cutoff. According to my watch I had about one minute to spare.
Scott grabbed my drop bag, I sorted through it and we headed toward Half Moon. The climb up at first was slow, but we started to pass all of the runners that we were with earlier. After we crested the mountain and headed down we picked up speed in the mud. We came across Mike Brown who was cheerfully plugging along. It was Mike’s first 100. After heading down a little ways I noticed that Scott was starting to fade a little. He had done his job and got me that far. I sincerely appreciate his help. Unfortunately, I have not seen Scott since and am hoping to find him soon and again offer my appreciation. As I got off the Colorado Trail and onto a dirt road that went pretty much uphill at around 10,000 feet to Half Moon I had only a few minutes to make the cutoff I ended up traveling the last three (3) miles of that leg on the Colorado Trail and dirt road at breakneck speed. I was still carrying my Camelback Octane 14 which, when full of HEED and with all my gear, weighed 10-plus pounds. It probably weighed close to eight pounds at this point. I barely made the Half Moon cutoff. I was pretty wiped and soaking wet. Little did I know it, but the aid stations were fudging a little on some runners who barely missed the cutoff and letting them on. That is cool, but I wished I had have known that because I might not have pushed quite so hard.
I grabbed a few things to eat and drink. I loved the watermelon. I looked for and found my drop bag. However, it was wet from an earlier rain. Thus, I had no dry clothes to put on as I headed out to the Fish Hatchery. It was not too bad at first, but when I reached the Tree line out in the open I began to get cold and my body started talking to me. I slowed down and was passed by a few runners. However, I made the Fish Hatchery cutoff with 11 minutes to spare. I was extremely cold and planned to use that time to warm up before I headed back out and up Power Line. I had every intention to go out, and even tried a few times. The physicians there tried all they could to help me. Dr. Hill was great. However, I could not get warm and time ran out on me. My race was done at 76.5 miles. My first ever DNF.
Needless to say, I was devastated and was very emotional. One of the Aid Station workers said she needed to cut off my bracelet. It was hard and she asked me how I was doing. All I could say was a few words made famous by the illustrious Governor of California. “I’ll be back!”
I gathered my stuff and hitched a ride back to the Hostel from this incredibly cute resident physician from Denver named Amy. Thanks Amy. I got back, ate some great potato soup provided by the Hostel, called my wife and my Dad, took a shower and went to bed. One (1) restless hour later I woke up.
Steve had gotten there earlier in the evening and we headed down to the Finish Line. It was hard watching athletes cross that line, but I wanted to be supportive. It was equally hard watching the awards ceremony. I will be at both next year.
I want to give a special thanks to all those that made my week as great as it was. This race has incredible volunteers and they make it the great event that it is. They put on one fine event in Leadville and I recommend it to any ultrarunner.
I came to Leadville to run 100 miles, but was stopped short at 76.5. I know I left everything out there, but guarantee that I am not through yet. So those of you contemplating this race just go for it. And when you are on the starting line I will be there beside you determined to in the immortal words of Larry the Cable Guy “GIT ER DUN!”
Bret Sholar
Great is the road I climb, but the garland offered by an easier effort is not worthy the gathering.