This is the first time that I haven’t finished a race; my first DNF. It’s a weird feeling. Given that Leadville typically has a finish rate under 50% – and that it’s one hundred miles – I knew that it was a possible outcome. And I know that it’s fairly common for ultramarathons. The 2021 edition was right on par for Leadville: 322 out of 680 (47%) finished. So in that sense, I am hardly embarrassed about it. I just didn’t think I’d be in the majority, which is certainly humbling. The distance itself is humbling. I am definitely disappointed and frustrated, but at the same time I am proud of myself for even starting the race healthy and making it 100k. We could argue whether my decision to continue past Winfield and suffer on a bad foot for 18 miles / 10 hours was grit or stupidity. Either way, I can confidently say it at least was stubbornness.
The training was there. I was ready. Thanks to coach Neal, I was fit enough and had some pretty solid training under my belt. Overall, I felt great. Obviously tired at the end of the first Hope Pass climb but still fresh enough to make it. I had a little hamstring tightness; not enough to feel concerned. No blister or chafing issues, so that’s a win. I think I did a decent job with nutrition. I generally under-hydrated during training, but I was drinking well and wasn’t dehydrated at any point (that I’m aware of, at least). I tried to make sure that my bottles were at least mostly empty upon arriving at each aid station. Food-wise, the biggest lesson learned for me was the sodium. I struggled to get the amounts Neal suggested during my training runs, and I clearly haven’t figured that out yet. My body was definitely needing more, as indicated by my craving for salty things that emerged about 25-30 miles into the race. The rice balls and a lot of my bars had chocolate or at least were sugary/sweet. That’s great for a few hours, but I guess not for longer.
My assessment of what happened with the foot is as follows. Going through the creek soaked everything below the knees; we were sloshing in our shoes. When I removed my shoe before Winfield, I noticed that the heel lift had moved forward in the shoe a little. So, I think that my foot was being stressed in ways it shouldn’t have been, stepping on the repositioned heel lift. That, combined with the reduced ankle stability of having my foot higher in my shoe and maybe tiring hips. Also probably a little strain of the plantar fascia in there too… If I had stopped and adjusted it after going through the creek (though I hadn’t noticed anything at the time), perhaps everything would have been fine. Perhaps the lesser ankle stability still would have resulted in a strain in the end. My hips didn’t noticeably bother me, but it’s not always easy to tell when your muscles are starting to get fatigued. Perhaps they still would have gotten too tired, resulting in my knee rolling in more and thus increased pronation. Hips, hips, hips. That was one of the things that I heard from others with 100-mile experience. I thought my hips did well, but I know they could have been better – I was too inconsistent with my strength training over the summer.
Being an ultramarathoner without a DNF probably isn’t really being an ultramarathoner, right? Anyway, it was still a great experience, and there are definitely things I learned and can apply for next time (fingers crossed that it’s in 2022):
- It’s not that important. Don’t panic if something is missing. It’s probably not as critical as you might think at the time. You probably put your shoes on. If you forgot water, at least you’ll be light and can reach the aid station sooner…? 😊
- Don’t join the conga line. Start relaxed and don’t go out too fast at the gun, but don’t get stuck too far back either. Obviously, it depends on where you expect to fall in the field. I started too far back and got stuck in a slower pace through the singletrack around the lake and was about 15 minutes behind where I wanted to be at May Queen.
- Be salty. I need to add more sodium to my race nutrition plan. One of the struggles will be getting the salt without the dry. Pretzels are dry, but at least some liquid will help mush them up and avoid cotton mouth.
- Keep calm. Run on. If the cutoffs start to get scary early, don’t panic and take off like a rocket. Gently pick up the pace a little. A little can go a long way. Also, Leadville cutoffs seem to be frontloaded to weed people out earlier.
- Take care of it. Guess I didn’t listen to the advice on this one. If there’s something bothering you, stop and take care of it. Would it have helped me at the top of Hope Pass when it started hurting? Hard to say – maybe. If I knew the heel lift had shifted on the way up, maybe I could have avoided this result.
- Work those hips. And calves. They might be strong enough for more normal activity levels, but 100 miles is asking a LOT from your body, and you need to adjust accordingly. Don’t slack on the non-running parts of training. Strength, flexibility, and mobility could be more important than the cardio for this type of running. I need to be more consistent with my exercises.
- Agony of da feet. Another area where I need to work on strength. Feet are kind of important for a 100-mile foot race. Be careful with your footwear and anything you change with footwear. I was extremely hesitant about the heel lift but gave in. I think some more research would have helped. The physical therapist (for my foot) gave me some things to do to help even out the hips a little. I can’t change my bones, of course, but I can lessen the difference. Alternative methods for inserting/securing the heel lift might have been better. Or just wearing the original soles under my inserts for a minor lift amount. The ankle might still have less support, but the sole isn’t going to go anywhere, and it won’t jab into my arch.
- Go to bed. One of the things I found hardest in training was getting enough sleep. I’m not a good sleeper to begin with, and I really tried to focus on this but particularly waking up super early to get to the mountains on the weekends – and then running for hours – can wear you down. Either an afternoon nap or super early bedtime is key.
- Time Management 101. When you are out running/hiking 10-12 hours a week on top of family time, getting enough sleep, working a full-time job, and generally still living life, you really have to be efficient and smart with your time.
- Share the love. It would be amazing to finish a race like this regardless, but it means so much more when you have people you love there to share the experience with.
- Time flies when you’re having fun. Believe it or not, it can go quickly. Sure, there are stretches where the miles might drag on, but the next downhill or rounding the next curve can really turn things around. When it’s over, you’ll be tired, but you might also wonder how it’s over already (especially as the weeks go by). After 6+ months of training, the race is still just a weekend.
- You still have to go kind of fast. I think I was a little surprised at how fast I still had to go to be able to make the cutoffs. I was moving well. This thing is no joke!
- I still have to work on my “Why.” There are many reasons I run and many reasons that I run on the trails, but I haven’t nailed down my “official” WHY…
- I CAN DO THIS. Obviously, I still had a long way to go, but I feel confident that as long as I stay uninjured, I can do this.
Thank you to the volunteers and race officials (and llamas!) for the support and the time you put into this race (and race series). As an athlete, I truly feel like everyone is on my team out there. Lastly, I couldn’t have gotten as far as I did without the support of my family and friends. Courtney, thank you for everything – you’ve been so supportive, and I wouldn’t want anyone else as my crew chief. Dad and Vicki, thank you for coming out to Colorado to be a part of the fun. It meant a lot to have you guys there! Ben and Vicki, thank you for signing up to pace me – sorry you didn’t actually get to! Neal, thank you for whipping me into shape and for all of the advice, general and race-specific. I hope that we can all be back there next year together and that this time there’s a nice shiny buckle to celebrate!
Splits
|
MILE |
SPLIT |
TOTAL TIME |
TIME OF DAY |
NET ELEVATION (FT) |
|
1 |
11:06 |
11:06 |
4:11 am |
-151 |
|
2 |
10:38 |
21:44 |
4:21 am |
-148 |
|
3 |
11:33 |
33:17 |
4:33 am |
-79 |
|
4 |
11:18 |
44:35 |
4:44 am |
-60 |
|
5 |
10:59 |
55:34 |
4:55 am |
+10 |
|
6 |
13:26 |
1:09:00 |
5:09 am |
+187 |
|
7 |
11:58 |
1:20:58 |
5:20 am |
-12 |
|
8 |
12:09 |
1:33:07 |
5:33 am |
+12 |
|
9 |
12:39 |
1:45:46 |
5:45 am |
+46 |
|
10 |
13:20 |
1:59:06 |
5:59 am |
-37 |
|
11 |
13:08 |
2:12:14 |
6:12 am |
-8 |
|
12 |
13:45 |
2:25:59 |
6:25 am |
-14 |
|
13 |
15:29 |
2:41:28 |
6:41 am |
+155 |
|
14 |
15:59 |
2:57:27 |
6:57 am |
+73 |
|
15 |
16:38 |
3:14:05 |
7:14 am |
+282 |
|
16 |
12:36 |
3:26:41 |
7:26 am |
+196 |
|
17 |
15:19 |
3:42:00 |
7:42 am |
+361 |
|
18 |
12:46 |
3:54:46 |
7:54 am |
+100 |
|
19 |
11:35 |
4:06:21 |
8:06 am |
-333 |
|
20 |
10:45 |
4:17:06 |
8:17 am |
-456 |
|
21 |
11:18 |
4:28:24 |
8:28 am |
-498 |
|
22 |
11:33 |
4:39:57 |
8:39 am |
-91 |
|
23 |
9:54 |
4:49:51 |
8:49 am |
-112 |
|
24 |
14:00 |
5:03:51 |
9:03 am |
-27 |
|
25 |
9:43 |
5:13:34 |
9:13 am |
-40 |
|
26 |
10:27 |
5:24:01 |
9:24 am |
+72 |
|
27 |
11:51 |
5:35:52 |
9:35 am |
+87 |
|
28 |
11:05 |
5:46:57 |
9:46 am |
-9 |
|
29 |
14:08 |
6:01:05 |
10:01 am |
+136 |
|
30 |
14:36 |
6:15:41 |
10:15 am |
+99 |
|
31 |
14:09 |
6:29:50 |
10:29 am |
+99 |
|
32 |
12:58 |
6:42:48 |
10:42 am |
+73 |
|
33 |
16:32 |
6:59:20 |
10:59 am |
+309 |
|
34 |
16:15 |
7:15:35 |
11:15 am |
+156 |
|
35 |
15:10 |
7:30:45 |
11:30 am |
+19 |
|
36 |
13:53 |
7:44:38 |
11:44 am |
-367 |
|
37 |
15:38 |
8:00:16 |
12:00 pm |
-388 |
|
38 |
19:58 |
8:20:14 |
12:20 pm |
-539 |
|
39 |
12:40 |
8:32:54 |
12:32 pm |
-16 |
|
40 |
14:47 |
8:47:41 |
12:47 pm |
+77 |
|
41 |
25:31 |
9:13:12 |
1:13 pm |
+860 |
|
42 |
28:12 |
9:41:24 |
1:41 pm |
+834 |
|
43 |
27:57 |
10:09:21 |
2:09 pm |
+695 |
|
44 |
37:17 |
10:46:38 |
2:46 pm |
+739 |
|
45 |
20:45 |
11:07:23 |
3:07 pm |
-872 |
|
46 |
23:54 |
11:41:17 |
3:41 pm |
-1,032 |
|
47 |
19:11 |
12:00:28 |
4:00 pm |
-408 |
|
48 |
17:30 |
12:17:58 |
4:17 pm |
+213 |
|
49 |
18:20 |
12:36:18 |
4:36 pm |
+224 |
|
50 |
16:39 |
12:52:57 |
4:52 pm |
-292 |
|
51 |
33:21 |
13:26:18 |
5:26 pm |
+134 |
|
52 |
17:38 |
13:43:56 |
5:43 pm |
+91 |
|
53 |
19:42 |
14:03:38 |
6:03 pm |
-335 |
|
54 |
16:34 |
14:20:12 |
6:20 pm |
-38 |
|
55 |
35:53 |
14:56:05 |
6:56 pm |
+979 |
|
56 |
39:50 |
15:35:55 |
7:35 pm |
+919 |
|
57 |
38:06 |
16:14:01 |
8:14 pm |
+93 |
|
58 |
* |
* |
* |
-262 |
* Garmin died at Hopeless after 57.34 miles, so I don’t have the full split for Mile 58 or after
