Leadville Marathon Results.......

After picking up Daley and Tim we headed west on Friday afternoon, attempting to beat the July 4th weekend traffic to the Rockies. We were able to avoid much of the traffic but it was still crowded on the highways, turning a 1:45 drive into 2:20 to Leadville. We registered and then checked into the hotel, chilled out for a while and then headed out to grab a beer and a bite to eat. The local italian restaurant was packed so we put our name on the list and headed over to the Silver Dollar Saloon to swirl back a coupe PBR's....and in the process losing my damn car keys. Yep, that's right...lost my car keys, in Leadville. We managed to catch a ride back to the Silver King Hotel, which was about a mile up the road from the restaurant helpers. Never ended up finding them.....

On Saturday morning Daley & I woke up to the sound of an explosion, only to find out that it was Tim on the growler preparing for the race...actually several explosions. We left the hotel and walked to the race start about a mile from the hotel and arrive at 7:40, checked in...got a new bib # as mine was safely locked in the Jeep... The owner of LifeTime Fitness gave a short pep talk to all of the Leadman competitors just before Ken raised his rifle into the air began the race with a bang! Below is Daley and for a pre race pic..




The course has about 6,000 feet of elevation gain/loss over 26.2 miles on very rocky trails. We started off walking uphill, which got the HR up and the blood pumping right away. We ran the down hills and flats and were disciplined about walking every uphill, which always pays dividends later in the race. The race had both the Heavy Half Marathoners as well as the full Marathoners, so the trails were crowded on the way out and the for few miles of the way back, then it was pretty sparse. The weather was 70F and nothing but sun and lot's of it. Below is a pic as we were out of Leadville on our way up the trails looking over a mining




Mile 13 was at the top of Mosquito Pass at 13,180 feet as noted in the pic below with that stud ultra runner. It was a very tough hike to the top of the pass and the trail was very very very rocky, making the descent treacherous as Daley would find out :) aka The Honey Badger wannabe.... I was able to make it to the top of the pass at 3 hours and 8 minutes, with the goal of running the next 13.1 miles in under 2 hours...wishful thinking. Not having run the course I was under the impression (from Tim!!!) that it was "all down hill" after Mosquito Pass, that turned out not to be the case as there was still plenty of uphills to traverse. I managed to run a negative split with a 2:30 on the return....which I had to push. I heated up in the last few miles and got a little light headed....but was in pretty good shape compared to the Young Bull who ended up with a bout of altitude sickness, but still managed to finish the course in 5:59...a nice sub six performance for the sea side boy. Tim was able to best his prior year's performance with a 5:52 by 20 minutes....that deserves an attaboy!



Overall it was a good race and by far the hardest damn marathon in the USA. We (Tim and I) grabbed two scoops of ice cream before walking back to the hotel with the Rookie, aka the Young Bull aka the Honey Badger wannabe, to meet our driver to take us back down the mountain to the airport to catch our flights. With no shower I boarded the SWA flight back to Nasvegas and the humidity....It's good to be home. I grabbed a couple of slices of cold pizz out of the fridge a coors light and a bag of ice and off to bed I went...with Oliver and Francis.

The first race of the Leadman series is over....mulling over my chances of successfully completing the 100 mile bike....hmmm...very very tempting...with the jury still out...I'll just continue to train hard.


Cheers!!