Subject: Leadville Trail 100 Report
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 23:59:37 EDT
From: Letsrun100@aol.com

The Leadville Trail 100 was the most difficult physical and mental challenge
I have ever experienced!!  This was my first 100, I probably should have
chosen a less difficult course to begin my 100 mile career.

All this started last January when I was considering a "finishable" 100.  I
had finished several 50 K's, 50 milers and one 100K; time to move up.  Among
the contenders were Rocky Raccoon and Kettle Moraine.  I didn't consider
these to be necessarily easier than Leadville, but I felt I had a more
reasonable chance of finishing either of these the first time out.  At any
rate, Leadville was my choice.

I ran two 50K's, three 50 milers and one 100K from January through July as
training runs.  I also attended the LT100 Training Runs in July, lots of fun
and excellent training on the course.  I highly recommend this weekend.

My weekly mileage varied from 40 to 70 miles, with either a 30+ or a
back-to-back 20+ mile weekly long run.  I had a one time weekly high of 110
miles.  Most of my training was at 3,100'.

We arrived in Leadville two weeks before the race and walked/ran most
portions of the course.  Additionally we ran at the summit of Pikes Peak and
along the trails at Maroon Bells.  The weekend prior to the race we worked
the finish line aid station for the LT100 Bike Race.  Sidenote:  After
watching the mass start, it was pretty cool to see the cyclists and the
expressions on their faces as they descended the Powerline.

My intention was to follow Dana Roueche's ten part strategy, I practically
memorized it.  But, sometimes the best laid plans fall apart, as did mine. I
made it to Mayqueen on schedule, missed Fish Hatchery by 5 minutes and things
slowly dissolved from there.  The run-from-one-telephone-poll-to-the-next
strategy worked well along the road from Fish Hatchery to treeline.  My
running partners at that point, Dennis Thompson and Ken Chlouber, introduced
the term "calf rope".  I think it means "I give up", anyway when I heard the
term it meant that I could walk.

I was still well ahead of cutoffs when I reached Twin Lakes.  My feet were
killing me, my appetite was nonexistent and my stomach was in knots, but I
pushed forward.  I slowly made it to the summit of Hope Pass, but had lost a
lot of time.  Once over the top, I was able to run most of the way down.

By the time I reached Winfield, I was had only 30 minutes to spare.  It was
there that I first spoke to Dan Baglione (trail sweep), I would see him
several more times before the end of the race.  Very nice guy, but not
someone you want to see much of at Leadville, at least until the race is
over.

It wasn't until I was descending Hope Pass on the way back, that I realized I
had made a big mistake, I neglected to put a light in my Winfield drop bag.
As I recall, I thought I would surely be up and over Hope before dark!!  Not
quite.  It gets very dark coming down the North side of Hope Pass without a
light.  Luckily, I latched onto a young lady (Joy Robertson) and her pacer
and followed them for more than a mile.

I finally reached Twin Lakes with only 15 minutes to spare before cutoff.  I
considered walking around the dark parking lot just to kill time and assure
that I would miss the cutoff.  My feet were really hurting and I just didn't
feel like going on.  But, there was Dan, "Way to go Jim, Sue's waiting at the
aid station for you."  Sue Norwood, who I'm sorry to say, missed the cutoff
at Winfield by only a few minutes, had gotten a ride back to the start, and
drove all the way out to Twin Lakes to crew the rest of the race for me.  I
don’t know if I would have actually done the walking thing in the parking
lot; the brain I had then was not the same one I started the race with, but I
felt I owed it to Sue, and myself, to do the best I could.

At Twin Lakes I changed shoes and socks, grabbed my lights, some hot soup and
headed up the hill towards Half Moon.  I probably enjoyed this leg of the
course the most.  It was still a clear, starry night and I felt renewed
because someone cared about me and was going to help take care of me; I
wasn’t alone anymore.

Coming into Half Moon there he was again, smiling Dan.  This is supposed to
be a tight cutoff, but I walked every inch of it and still had 20 minutes to
spare.  Same thing into Fish Hatchery, I didn’t run an inch.  Now up
Sugarloaf.  I’m pretty tired by now, my feet are still killing me, and now
it’s starting to rain.  I walked all the way to the trailhead off Hagerman
Pass Road, jogged a little on the trail and hit the pavement running.  I
think daylight must bring energy with it.  "Hello, Dan, nice to see you." He
informed me that it was two minutes to the aid station and 23 minutes until
cutoff.

Sue was waiting, with a huge smile.  She told me I was gonna make it, but I
would have to get to work now.  I did lots of slow running on this leg
averaging only a 15 minute pace.  This leg was quite familiar to me, Sue and
I had put the flagging out on Thursday morning.

Finally the infamous Boulevard, it's uphill at the start and very boring.
The overnight rain had made it even muddier than it was almost 30 hours
earlier.  The sun was shining brightly now and it was starting to become very
warm and humid.  Luckily I had enough cushion that I could walk most of it;
so did my fellow runners.

It was an overwhelming feeling when the finish line came into sight.  The
crowd was yelling and cheering, and there was Sue behind that pink and black
tape.  Everything I had done since January had paid off, it was a very
emotional moment for me.

Summary:
-My right foot hurt from 7 miles on, Morton’s Neuroma—I need to get it fixed
before my next attempt.
-Stomach problems after Fish Hatchery, altitude I guess.
-The weather was perfect, overcast, slight rain during the afternoon and
night, kept it cool and kept the dust down on Winfield Road.
-I tended to hot spots as soon as I became aware of them, zero blisters.
-I believe I strained my diaphragm from all the heavy breathing I was doing
at or above 11,000’.  It’s still very painful even 5 days after the race.
Legs and feet sore, sure, but diaphragm, who would have thought?

Good Running,
Jim O'Neil
Letsrun100@aol.com
Billings, MT