Leadville Trails 100 – August 20-12, 2005

Davy Crockett

Saratoga Springs, UT

Other Crockett running adventures

 

I ran in the highest 100-mile race in North America, the Leadville 100.   It starts at around 10,000 feet and peaks at 12,700. It was a great experience.

 

A few hours after flying into Denver, I came down with a cold, including a cough.  This really shook my confidence, but I didn't let that stop me.  At Leadville, the night before, I roomed with four elite ultrarunners (They finished 4th, 6th, 18th, and 64th.)   I had great fun hearing their crazy stories. There were about 450 starters and 213 finishers.  Matt Carpenter, who is a legend in high altitude running, smashed the course record and finished 1st in 15:42.

 

The race was amazing.  It seemed like the entire city of Leadville was out supporting the race.   I ran the first 23 miles with my coonskin hat. It was a big hit and I received huge cheers when I arrived at the aid stations.

 

The course is a 50-mile out-and-back and you have to do a massive climb up to 12,700 Hope Pass -- twice. 

 

I stayed on my goal pace for the first 23.5 miles (4 hours 45 min). After mile 23, I ran into problems. My congestion slowed me down and my throat was swollen from coughing.  I had to back off, lost focus, and worried too much.   I was still 1.5 hours ahead of cutoff times, but my determination had taken a big hit. As I started to head up Hope Pass at about mile 40 (9:30 elapsed time), I was shocked to see Matt Carpenter already heading back.  He was 20 miles ahead and about 2 hours ahead of the 2nd place runner.  Amazing.   I had fun greeting my front-runner friends as I made the tough climb up the mountain.

 

I knew that historically most finishers had to reach the 50-mile turnaround point by the 12:30 mark.  I soon knew that would be impossible.  After I summitted the pass, I noticed that my fingers were very swollen and that my wedding ring was starting to cause a loss of circulation.   I thought I was having bad water retention problems (I wasn't), and I convinced myself that I was done, I couldn't head back up Hope Pass again.   I came down the other side slowly, wasting a ton of time and reached the 50-mile aid station at 13:30.  The medical staff convinced me that I was fine. We worked on the ring, and got it off.  I felt very good, but now was only 15 minutes ahead of the cutoff time.   I knew that reaching the next cutoff point up and over Hope Pass again would be an almost impossible task.   My determination returned.

 

I was now the last runner in the race to successfully reach that cutoff point.  About 200 others didn't even make it that far.   OK, last place. I powered up the mountain, passing several runners, and then a rainstorm came in.  Time was lost changing into warm clothes, but I didn't let that stop me.   I summitted the pass again as dusk arrived.  At the "Hopeless Aid Station" near the top of the pass, where aid materials are brought up by Llamas, I was in pretty sad shape.  They helped me get on my little headlamp.  I had still had five miles to reach the cutoff with only 1.5 hours to go.

 

It was now dark.  The trail was slippery with mud.  I did my best to run strongly down the trail.  I passed about a dozen runners on the dark, steep, forested trail.   I knew it would be close.  I pushed hard, but not hard enough.  I missed the cutoff by about 5 minutes.  The race director told me I had to stop.  I was both sad and relieved.   The physical pain could stop, but the mental pain wouldn't.   I covered 60 miles of the tough course in 18 hours.   My cold was a big factor, but it was the mental aspects of the race that slowed me down.  I still had plenty of energy to spare.

 

I fell victim to the very tough cutoff times of the Leadville 100.  If I could have gotten past the next one, I would have been home free.  Oh well.   After coughing for an hour, I hitched a ride to the finish line in time to see my friend Joe Kulak come in 4th place in 19:28.  Amazing.