Leadville Silver Rush
50 Mile Mountain Bike50 Mile Run
July 8-9, 2017
After finishing Leadman last August, I swore that I was done trying to kill myself with ridiculous events in Leadville. I promised Justin that we could spend 2017 hiking and climbing rather than running and biking. So when Brian, my older brother, suggested we do the Silver Queen/King again, I told him "no". Well, actually, it was probably more like "Hell NO" with a bunch of legitimate excuses like "I'm not in shape", "I haven't ridden my bike since the 100 last August", "I don't think I can run that far anymore", "My knees hurt too bad". All of which were totally true and I had no intention of doing the events. I had made my decision and not much was said of it.
Come summer, Justin and I are reviewing our schedule and stumbled across a weekend without a plan?! I was looking forward to catching up on housework (ha, ha...) when Justin suggested we try to go camping with some of his friends that we hadn't seen in a while. We agreed and he made the plan. As the weekend approached, Brian tells me our cousin is coming to run the 50 and I should reconsider joining them or at least come up and visit. "What? That's this weekend?" After thinking about it, I decided that the guys would have more fun camping without me tagging along anyway and I really should go and spend the weekend with my family. I still wasn't committed to racing but Big Mama swung by on Thursday and picked up my bike despite my skepticism. I was secretly hoping for terrible rain and hail so I could feel good about my decision to be lazy, but as luck would have it, race morning was beautiful. I drug myself to the registration table and knew I had better sign up for both the bike and the run at once or I would change my mind. That was it; the hard part was over. Now I just had to do it!
Brian and I prepped our bikes and took them to the start at the base of Dutch Henri Hill. I always laugh about the start of this race. What kind of bike race starts with no one, not even the best riders, riding? At least you don't have to worry about being cold like you do during the 100. After carrying your bike up the first hill, you're warmed up. But don't plan on riding just yet, there are so many people crowding into the narrow road that you'll have to stop a few more times before the cluster breaks up. Despite being the low point of the course, you're still at over 10,000' of elevation and the course goes up to 12,000' four different times.
Knowing that I wasn't in very good shape, I figured I would follow the advice of the famous runner Walt Stack and "start slow, then tapper off". I took it easy and fell into a pace group that would stop and walk up even the smallest hills. I wasn't sure whether to be happy about this or not. When everyone else stopped to walk, it was impossible to ride and I was forced to walk myself, even up stuff I had ridden in previous years and knew I could easily ride. Great, this was easy but I knew that it was costing me lots of time. At that point, I didn't have a choice anymore, so I gradually made my way over to Stump Town where I stopped to talk to Big Mama before heading back to Leadville.
The ride back went smoothly, at least as smooth as could be expected having not ridden at all in 11 months. On the last, long climb, I could see Brian ahead of me. I was gaining on him during the climb and got within a couple hundred yards of him by the top. That was nice and it kept me moving. I knew there was no chance I could keep up with him on the descent, but it was good motivation late in the race. I cruised down the last 12 miles with no incidents and finished the race feeling pretty good. Of the 4 times I've done this race, this was by far the slowest. I think my time was around 7 and half hours. I was happy no one tried to murder me like last year and I felt like I would still be able to run in the morning.
Brian and I were sitting on the deck of the ski house, drinking a beer, as the results were read. I could not believe my ears when I was apparently 4th in the 30-39 age bracket and qualified for the Leadville 100 MTB! With such a slow time, I can only assume the real riders were doing something else this weekend. Oh well, I passed up the opportunity having already done that race 3 times and honestly wanting to spend time hiking and climbing with Justin.
Half way there! Only 50 more miles to go and I'm usually a much stronger runner than a biker. I wasn't feeling great Sunday morning and I hadn't slept good, but that's par for the course. It's always tough to run the day after a big ride. I claim, and mostly believe, that the run is easier than the ride because you don't have to carry a bike the entire way (a testament to how technical the course is). Hell, last year, I wrecked (well, was wrecked) my mountain bike at relatively high speed on Saturday and was still able to run on Sunday and finish in the top 10! I could do this.
After hiking up Dutch Henri Hill once again, I started jogging at a nice easy pace. Usually I loosen up and start enjoying the scenery and find a pace I can run consistently for many miles. This time, my stomach started to gurgle... uh, oh! I knew that it was going to be a bad race. Despite stopping at several aid stations and a few other places along the course, I was never able to work through the stomach distress. I was already more than an hour behind my usual pace by the half way point. I saw Brian shortly after the turn around and told him to "Hurry up and catch up! I need help." He laughed at me and said something I didn't quite catch about that not happening. 
As I was heading up the long hill out of Stump Town, Wesley caught up with me, again. I had just met Wesley earlier in the race as we had been jockeying back and forth the entire first half. He was clearly stronger going uphill than I was and would always pass me on the uphills and I would always catch him on the downs. After the first few times he passed me, I started teasing him about it. I'm usually pretty strong on the hills, so it was weird to have someone catch me and not take off and stay ahead the entire race. We started chatting and the conversation was the perfect distraction at exactly the time I needed it. He got into ultra running via through-hiking; something Justin and I have been talking a lot about. Having completed the Colorado Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, he had lots of good advice. I appreciated the conversation; it made the hill go quickly.
Although I still wasn't feeling well, I knew I could make it. Since I was so far off my normal splits, I tried to text Big Mama at several points telling her how far back I was going to be so she would know when to expect me. That was kind of pointless since I don't think the messages were going through at the times I was sending them and I kept losing even more time and would feel like I needed to send another update. In any case, I finally made my way back into Leadville and finished the race almost 2 hours slower than last year. I think my final time was around 11 hours and 50 minutes.
It was pretty disappointing to be so much slower than previous years, but I keep telling myself that I did fine especially considering I didn't train for this or even run any substantial distance at all this year. Plus I got to spend a beautiful day in the mountains with a bunch of other incredible athletes.
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