Friday, July 11, 2008

Leadville

OK, so what do I do with all of this training that I had built up for Western States? Do I back off and go into maintenance mode while waiting for the Fall and Winter races in the area? Or do I search for another 100 mile race out west that I can do right now? Last weekend I did some reflecting and I decided to go for it. Why wait, right? So I signed up for the Leadville Trail 100 that is held on August 16th. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this race...

The Leadville Trail 100 Ultramarathon (aka The Race Across The Sky or the LT100), first run in 1983, is an ultramarathon held annually on trails and dirt roads at high altitude around Leadville, Colorado, through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The course is difficult, with runners climbing and descending 15,600 feet, with elevations ranging between 9,200-12,620 feet. Because of its difficulty, it is common for less than half the starters to complete the race ahead of its 30 hour time limit. The next edition of the LT100 is set for August 16-17, 2008 starting at 4am on the 16th.

The course is a 50-mile out-and-back dogleg, starting at 10,200 feet. The centerpiece of the course are two climbs up to Hope Pass, an ascent to 12,620 feet, encountered on both the outbound trek and on the return.

Race co-founder Kenneth Chlouber, an avid marathon runner, conceived of the race as a way to make Leadville famous and bring visitors during a period of economic downturn. When he told the local hospital administrator about his idea he was told, "You're crazy! You'll kill someone!" Ken responded, "Well, then we will be famous, won't we?"

So I'm back into hard core training mode. I have roughly five weeks to get ready for this race. But in reality, I have only three more weeks of hard training before I go into a two week tapering period before the race.

The good news about this race -- typically heat is not a problem. The bad news about this race -- altitude -- and lots of it! Many runners go to Leadville or the surrounding area and live at altitude for two or three weeks before the race to get adjusted to the altitude. Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury. I'll be arriving in Leadville on Thursday night. The race starts at 4am on Saturday. So I'll be at altitude roughly 34 hours before the race starts.

I have a some incredible support for the race. Virginia, the kids, my mother and stepfather, my mother in law, and even possibly my grandmother will be at the race. Matt Crownover is coming along to pace me the last 50 miles. He's done this race before so having him here will be a huge comfort and support for me. We've run together for hundreds of miles the past several months training for Western States so he knows my running ability, what motivates me, etc. And he knows the course incredibly well which will help as well.

It's a good feeling having a race to work towards. I've signed up for two 100 mile races in the past year. I was injured for one of them so I could not start (Rocky Raccoon). And the other one was cancelled (Western States). Am I jinxed in this whole 100 mile business? I've signed up for Leadville to find out!