Embrace the Suck
Had a rough time at Leadville this year. Finished in 27:52, over three hours slower than last year despite having trained harder and having been more prepared. A finish was in doubt many times, but thanks to some huge help from my pacers and digging deeper than I’ve ever had to do – I got it done.
I repeated the phrase ’embrace the suck’ over and over to myself through the day and night. Get it done no matter what. The problems aren’t going to magically disappear. Get comfortable with the fact that things aren’t going well and keep moving forward.
Full report to come later, but for now a peek into what it’s like to be at the absolute end of your rope and knowing that you still have twenty miles to cover. The lucid voice behind the camera is my friend Kirk who paced babysat me for the last 40 miles of the race. Kirk has not run a 100 mile race, yet. Any bets on how soon he will be signing up for one??
Wild Life
I’ve been on a typical taper roller coaster over the past several days. Felt absolutely awful on a 13 mile run Saturday, but have been getting progressively better since then. Washing my hands every 30 seconds to avoid catching my daughter’s 2nd-week-of-school cold. Scrambling to get drop bags packed, lists made and checked off, etc. – but seemingly not making any progress at all. My lower calves feel like shredded beef. My knee hurts. I have to shuffle along the carpet when I get out of bed, and can’t walk normally for about 10-15 minutes.
And then, I found THIS in the basement this morning.
Wildlife, indeed. 14″ Prarie Rattlesnake. As in, rah-tulll-snayk!
I ran downstairs in the pre-dawn darkness to grab my iPod off the desk where it had been charging. I started to flip on the light and then blew right past it remembering that I had already unplugged the iPod last night and it was just sitting there for me to grab and go. Got back upstairs and finished getting ready for work, but still had 10 minutes to kill before taking Malcolm to school. Busted downstairs again to kick off a movie download so it could run while I was at work, flipped on the light, took three steps…
You have GOT to be joking.
Okay, where’s the hidden camera. Ha, ha.
No such luck, it was the real-freaking-deal.
After successfully channeling my inner Steve Irwin and capturing it, I was faced with a dilemma of mind-blowing proportions. My brain very nearly blew a gasket just thinking about it. Do I tell anyone??? Unleash the drama? The questions? The FEAR? Or… Do I just keep it to myself, and figure out what to do later?
I decided to keep it to myself, just for now, until I could assess the situation better. I carefully carried the box up the stairs and stopped at the landing to scope things out. Everyone busy in the kitchen, go. I turned to pick up the box and got two steps up before my wife’s eyes met mine transmitting the message (loud and clear), what in the hell is that!?! I shot back an emphatic glance (the kids were still oblivious), you don’t want to know… as I hurried past and out the front door.
Ultimately, reason won over and we showed the kids and had a good talk about being careful. They weren’t as freaked out as I expected, and took it pretty well. Jessica’s elementary school mascot is The Roxborough Rattler, so not that big of deal to her.
After surviving this week, running 100 miles on Saturday is going to be a walk in the park.
Leadville Night Run
Partook in the annual tradition of running the last 23 miles of the LT100 course at night a couple of weeks before race-time. This year we had a group of about a dozen or so show up. The spectacularly clear night of last year was replaced with clouds and rain. We all got totally soaked, but at least it didn’t really get too cold.
I came out of this run with a good feel for where my fitness is at. I’m pretty happy with where things are, and could definitely feel the big mile weeks of July kicking in. I only wish I could be/stay healthy enough to string 4-5 months like that together. Getting there…
Here are some highlights:
Getting into town early and running the 8 miles out to the meeting spot. I gave myself plenty of time, took it very easy, and enjoyed cruising along to some tunes watching the storms gather around the valley.
Meeting Brandon (of 2:59 Boston fame), and Brownie (multi-time Hardrocker and on his way to a Rocky Mountain Slam). I’ve followed their blogs for a while and it was great to meet in person and get a good run in together.
Blazing up Powerline. Despite doing essentially zero climbing in training, I hung with the lead group and ascended Sugarloaf 10 minutes faster than last year. I felt really strong on the running portions, but sucked bad on the hiking sections – that fast/efficient hiking stride is something I need to work on.
Running in the rain. It had been a while, and I was soaked to the bone, but stayed warm and comfortable. Good practice anyway.
Shot bloks. I had just popped 3 in my mouth when Brandon took off leading the group down the Colorado Trail. It was wet and slick, and I was concentrating hard on my foot placement. I was so focused that I think I just ran with that huge mouthful of bloks for 5+ minutes without ever getting them down. I finally gave up and just sprayed them into the trees.
Night train. I love running at night at a good clip on a trail with a good group like that. Just hang on.
Footwork. Plenty of opportunity for trouble, but no slips or trips. A+. Even felt good enough to blast down the final hill full of chunky rocks and blow past the group. Really happy to have survived that, a fall would have been ugly.
The group. Man, what a solid bunch of runners! Brownie, Brandon, Leila, Ryan, Greek, Patrick, and Woody. Really worked me over. That is one strong crew and are all looking super-good for race day.
Race numbers are assigned, time to start tagging the drop bags.
See you in 2 weeks!
The Scene Begins 
