2008 Leadville Trail 100 - 28:33

Photo by Lorraine Gersitz, leaving Winfield

I did it! I may have set a record for lateness leaving Winfield and time back to finish. Looking forward to getting the data (Note: check out Chris Labbe's website on Leadville statistics for some very interesting data and charts, LT 100 Data Project).

Ran most of the course in Vibram FiveFingers, some with huaraches and quite a bit barefoot!

BFT

Highlights:

1. Spending a week in Leadville acclimatizing and meeting old and new friends.

2. Doing the entire race carrying all my own gear from start to finish except for food which I had in drop-bags at the various aid stations.

3. Running over half of the trail from Half Moon to Twin Lakes barefoot and going up to Hope Pass aid station barefoot...just too muddy for shoes and finding a great hiking stick somewhere along the way.

4. Dealing just fine with freezing cold wind, slippery mud, icy rain, hail so thick the trail was unseeable and snow. Crazy.

5. Being treated like a king by the best volunteers ever at each and every aid station. Thank you!

6. Feeling strongest while leaving Half Moon on the way back, running and running and running.

7. The joy of putting on my FF KSOs after running and hiking for so long barefoot.

8. Staying consistent with my nutrition all the way through the race. Every aid station I would mix up my sports drink (maltodextrin, hemp protein, green magma, rehydration salt), chewed two Clif blocks and slurped some of my Hammer Gel with shelled hemp seeds. Never felt nausea, never felt low energy.

9. Realization that huaraches DO NOT work well in mud and rain!

10. Seeing the finish line after 28+ hours of adventure.

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A huge thank you to Vibram Five Fingers for getting me through this race. Five Fingers are the ultimate footwear for those who want to learn to run with the trail. It is not about beating onself up or enduring more pain, no, not at all. Rather, it is about learning to run gently and thoughtfully through a rugged environment. Learning how to feel the trail and respond to it. It is about suble balance that the toes need to be part of. It is about freedom and elegance and simplicity. Give them a try.

Prerace Interview with Dru Pashley - Leadville 100 2008

Was lucky enough to run into Dru Pashley over at the Provin Grounds Coffee shop in Leadville the other day. Dru is a local runner who will be attempting his first 100 on Saturday.

Dru works at High Mountain Pies, a pizza shop that makes the best pizza in Leadville. He has trained extensively on and around the course for the last year and a half. This fellow is fit and fully prepared for his first Leadville 100.

I predict (based on what I have seen and heard) that this guy is going to do VERY well. Enjoy.



BFT

Leadville 100 - Crewing and Pacing

Nearly 600 Starters, ONLY 210 Finishers

Caballo Blanco's (Micah True) Crew for Leadville 100 in 2007
Deborah (Cebolla), Adrian (Brocoli), Caballo, Ona (Monocita) and BFT (El Mono).

My interviews with Caballo Blanco Pre- & Post- Race


Club Mas Loco member Chris Labbe, aka Cabro,
finishes in under 25 hours
Paced from Haggerman Pass Rd. to the Dam
wearing Vibram FiveFingers Sprints

Leadville Trail 100, August 18-19, Leadville, Colorado

Elevation: 10,152 feet (3094 meters) from Wikipedia:

The historic City of Leadville is a Statutory City that is the county seat of Lake County, Colorado, United States. Leadville is a former silver mining camp that lies near the headwaters of the Arkansas River in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The city's central district has an elevation of 10,152 feet (3094 meters), making Leadville the highest city in North America. The federally designated Leadville National Historic District includes many historic structures and sites from Leadville's dynamic mining era. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 2,688 in 2005.

Barefooting Leadville?

Many people have told me that Leadville indeed may be barefootable, i.e. doable by one conditioned and well practiced in the art of barefoot trail running.

One question I hoped to answer during my trip to Leadville this year was whether or not one could finish the course unassisted by footwear within the 30 hour cuttoff.

This question remains open.

While crewing and preparing to pace Caballo, I got a good overall picture of the course, but not much of the trails.

While pacing for Mas Loco member Cabro (Chris Labbe), I wore my FiveFingers Sprints.

Why not barefoot?

Well, it was not my place to experiment on a rocky portion of the course during the last 15 miles of a race at 3am in the morning in the dark on an unfamiliar trail with a runner who is close to breaking 25 hours.

The FiveFinger Sprints performed quite well in this section of the trail that I ran. It would have been much trickier to handle this territory at night barefoot during the last 14 miles of a 100 mile race..., but POSSIBLE in my estimation.

Perhaps I will give it a try next year.

BFT