Zoe Fitness | Personal Coach

2012 Leadville 50 Mile Trail Race Report

I finished! I got some new bling bling.

I reached all of my goals:

1 finish: 13:04 (I had a secret goal of doing less than 15 minute miles: just short of that: 15:41, I am very pleased!)

2 Get to the half way point before the monsoon did

3 Had fun

Once again, the Mountains of Leadville were very kind to me.

Thank You Mountain Momma!

Today is the 1 week anniversary

and I still have all my toe nails!

This was the most awesome experience ever.

Other than the actual race in Leadville, the Adventures that lead me to a successful race are what I hold closest to my heart.  Training for this event took me to so many new places, I got to cross a lot of things off my “Bucket List” and just had an amazing time.

I have never done anything like this, that was half the battle.

I realized this week I ran one of the most difficult  50 mile trail races in 18 months:

• 11.20.2010 5:56:29 Wild Hare Ultra Run 50k: 3rd Place of 10 women/18 out of 40 total athletes
• 7.2.2011 Leadville Marathon: Leadville, CO; 6:46:29.9; 14th Place: 47th female; 214th Overall
•  7.15.2012 Leadville Silver Rush 50 mile Trail Race; Leadville, CO: 13:04:28 Female 40-49 32 of 42: Female 82 of 112 and 361 of 479 total athletes who were timed: 13:04:28.51 @ 15:41/mile

I feel kinda like a stud: A Very Tired Stud, still.

I was going to do the Volcan TT yesterday, well until I had my ass kicked on Tramway by a 70 year old on a 1998 Rockhoppper with slicks on.  Then, I knew, what’s the point?  Especially if I have hope of racing Cochiti.  I am still so tired.

When I pulled into Leadville, I stopped at the start/finish of both the Silver Rush Mountain Bike Race and Trail Race.  I walk into the mayhem and excitement to see no other than Dave Weins resting non-nonchalantly against the wall.  I was there with the folks who were finishing in 6 to  7 hours.  I picked up my packet and off to my mining town casa.

I walked in and saw this:

I totally had to laugh upon opening the door to my lovely mining town casa to find this. Amazing photo of a miner, below, are several samples of mining material, I would guess, mined by this fella. Ya'll know how much I love the burros. Next race in Leadville, the marathon with a burro!!

What a funny site.  I am hoping that one day I will be able to talk Kathy Hudson, owner of Terra Firma Racing into the adventure with me.  She laughed at me when I asked last year.

My Pre Race Meal: ground turkey thigh, zucchini, squash, carrots, red bell peppers and yams! Nummy, nummy: Fuel for Life

I like eating healthy foods that don’t cause inflammation.  I do that on my own enough.  And off to bed I went.

The only place on the bed that was comfortable was at the head, so I slept sideways, awaiting a 4 am wake up call.

I'm all lathered up with sunscreen and ready for the adventure.

Man, it’s still dark out.  That’s one of the things about 4AM, it’s tough to remember to put sunscreen on.  I know I will be out there for 12 hours, so I know I must take caution with the high altitude sun.

Here I am at the race site, I see the banner at the top of that hill. Is that where we are headed. They asked me at packet pick up if I wanted to be eligible for the 100 mile run lottery. I laughed, "Yea, the Mountain Bike Race". Seriously.

The first one up the hill wins, literally. But seriously, who's going to blow chow on the 1st ascent of the day?!? I will refrain, it's like, who want to blow their wad in the 1st 3 minutes with there's 50 miles left to go.

This picture does however put into perspective what this hill looks like, when you see the tiny ant figures up there.

Look, I'm not the only crazy person here. I can't believe, I will be running 50 miles between the altitude of 10.2 and 12.3 with 600 of my closest personal friends.

The sun is rising and the 14'ers are shining through.

We reached a spot where the wild roses grew, and, of course, I stopped to smell the roses. They were beautiful.

I loved how the sun was shining through this old abandoned mine shaft.

I knew going into Leadville that although these abandoned mines are mystical, and beautiful that there would more than likely be sulfur associated with them.

I didn’t speak much of it going into the race, primarily because I am a hopeless optimist.

I did know there was one spot last year on the Marathon course I ran into.

I did have one monumental a-ha moment during this event:

The Gas Industry should view Gas Extraction as an Ultra Run and Pace Themselves.

If they would have just paced themselves, I would not have gotten sick.  If they would have paced themselves, or just pace themselves now, there would be less contaminated water,  and the air quality wouldn’t be so bad.

Within the first 10 miles I almost quit.  I got really tired, I couldn’t breathe, my body began to hurt in the joints.  I wanted to lie down.

I almost quit, lied down, and fell asleep.

I kept going.

One foot in front of the other.

And eventually all the yuckiness left my body.

I began to feel better shortly, at which point, I was able to put 2 and 2 together, that we had just ran through an old mining field, and the sulfur concentrations were high.  I was able to gather myself and catch everyone who had just left me in the dust.

So when the next sulfur patch hit, I knew what to do, do everything I could and keep my breathing in tact.

I told myself:

“I used to feel like this everyday, every second of every day for a year, I can do this, I can make it through this”.

And I did.

There were 2 sulfur patches on the way up, and hence, 2 on the way down.

Yes, everyone caught me in the sulfur patches, but when the air cleared and I could breathe again, I would just take off.

I did look a little ridiculous during these sections with my left hand out, and my head spinning, choking back vomit, and not being able to take a full breath.

There were a few people I was with during these sections, due to the fact that I would slow down and speed up, I would ask them, if they smelled sulfur, they did, and then, I would share my story with them.

I hope I made a difference in their lives, and when they watch the commercials paid for by Industry telling them how clean natural gas is, they think of me.

After that young man died a few weeks ago on a drill site in North Dakota, what happened to me really hit home.

I am not a victim, it’s just something that happened, yes it could have been prevented, if Industry would have paced themselves but I told Ken:

“I am glad I’m sick because I am not DEAD”

So now every day, I give thanks to God that I’m sick and alive.

I feel pretty lucky.  Actually, I feel very lucky.  Even in the midst of  a Sulfur Patch.

These are the moments when, I just take a deep breath, enjoy all that we are given, and realize, I am so small compared to the Universe.  The Vastness of the Universe brings me much serenity and peace in my heart.

Very Amazing Crew! I wanted to take this picture on the way out of transition because what a great job of having to look at that scenery all day!!

The weather was perfect, for Leadville.  We did have a hail storm we had to contend with, tiny pieces of hail.  It lasted 10 to 15 minutes.  It was scary looking and sounding.  I was careful not to tell anyone I was a lightening rod.  This gave me an advantage, I was able to surround myself with people(who were taller than me with at least one of them carrying metal poles 🙂 ) and I worked through the fear.

I wanted to descend, I wanted to descend as fast as I could.

After the hail we had to contend with a mile or so of nasty, slippery treacherous rocky trail.  This was very slow moving, because to me, why do I want to break an ankle now?!?

This part was my least favorite.

One of the ways I deal with ultra running is my experience in biomechanics.  Frequently when it’s safe, I go backwards, sideways, do dynamic exercises not in the frontal plane.

People look at me oddly.

I came up with a new mantra for ultra running: “Moving Forward, even if it is Backwards”.

It feels a lot better than going straight down, or straight up

and I will let my little internet readers in on a little secret, it keeps the pain down.

During the wet treacherous section, there was no sideways or backwards to be done, so that’s why it’s my least favorite.

I lost 15 minutes in the transition at the half way point:  date nut rolls in/date nut rolls out…I didn’t eat too many of those, they were heavy…I was a little bit wah.wah.wah.

My nutrition plan was solid.  I did make one mistake: I accidentally put my Super C in the freezer the night before so it was still frozen.  That was a major bummer, and I was trying to drink slush.  It got to the point where I just had to leave it alone.  Also, I feel, I had my coke too early.  Coke is not a GF food, there is gluten in caramel coloring and in natural flavors.  This, at one point, left some gas in my intestines making me wonder: will I really  make this goal, maybe I should go double check.  Don’t get me wrong, they were very tasty, and they are excellent ultra foods.  I always have one in my 12 hour events: sugar, caffeine, and phosphorous…mmm.

And of course, I am so happy I did not shat myself.  Everything that happens in our lives is a reaction to something else we were exposed to.  Since I began my ultra running this has been a major goal of mine.

Where did it come from?  Here’s where that crazy goal comes from:

I have been getting a lot of Active Recovery this week.  Lot’s of walks, lots of strides, working on running drills.  I have been swimming once, again working on drills, and pulling, 1300M, not bad for 2 days out.  I  have been doing a lot of yard work, planting and back to school shopping (that in itself is like a marathon with 2 girls!!)

I have been on the bike twice.  Once with the girls for 45 minutes and once for an hour.

Work is still hard, EZ is good.

The big question: by Wednesday will I be feeling recovered enough to do my first Tri of the year?  I hope so!

Big News coming the first part of the week next week.

Thanks for taking the time to see what I am up to.

I hope that you feel peace in your heart and that all of your adventures are good!