I flew from Florida (17 ft) to Colorado Springs and got a room at the Leadville Hostel at 10,200 ft.
I decided to test my (lack of) altitude acclimation by climbing Mt. Elbert, Colorado's highest peak at 14,440 ft. Photos.
I climbed Mt. Massive, Colorado's second highest peak at 14,421 ft. Photos.
My legs felt like I had run a marathon, so I took a rest day and ate lots of protein.
My legs felt better. Ole from Norway (staying at the hostel) and I climbed Mt. Sherman (14,036 ft) and Sheridan (13,748 ft). Photos.
Ole and I climbed Mt. Belford (14,205 ft) and Oxford (14,160 ft). Photos
I climbed Mt. Elbert again to test my altitude acclimation. I improved my ascent time from 2:19 to 2:07 (from Halfmoon road at 10,050 ft). There was a large group from Missisippi that was staying at the hostel and also climbing Elbert. They left earlier and I met them on the summit. Photos
I hiked from the Diamond Mine to Mosquito Pass and back with John and Henry. This is also miles 10 through 16 of the Leadville Marathon course next Saturday. Photos
I took a rest day because I kicked a rock on Mosquito Pass and hurt my toe. I can walk on the outside of my foot but running hurts. My workout today was to walk 4 miles in town.
My toe is still sore but not as bad. I hiked 11 miles from the hostel to 12,300 ft. Ball Mt. and back. This is mostly on the marathon course. Photos.
I ran the Leadville 5K in 22:10. This was 18 seconds faster than last year, but still more than 2 minutes slower than I would run at sea level. I was 15th out of about 130 runners. The winning time was 17:51. About 55 runners were under 30 minutes.
The course started at 10,152 ft, descended about 200 ft in the first 3/4 mile, then was gradual uphill for the next 2 miles and gradual downhill for the last 1/4 mile. The weather was upper 60's F, sunny and dry for the 9 AM start. The course was all on paved roads except for about 50 ft of dirt path. The results will probably not ever be online so I took these 1600 x 1200 photos of the results: page 1 page 2.
The entry fee was $10. There were no shirts. There was no food or water before, during, or after the race. Awards (ribbons) were 1 deep overall and 1 deep in 10 year age groups 0-19, 20-29, 30-39 and 40+. I did not win anything as there were 3 men 50-59 and one 60+ and one woman 50+ all faster than me. However they did have about 50 door prizes and I won a hat.
After the race there was a parade. Slideshow of 5K and parade by Brian Gaines.
The Leadville Marathon starts and finishes at 10,152 ft, which is also the lowest point in the race. It is an out and back course that turns at Mosquito Pass, 13,185 ft. There is about 6000 ft of climb and 6000 ft of descent, mostly on rocky dirt roads and trails and one small patch of snow. The weather was warm, sunny, and dry for most of the race, but later finishers were caught in a thunderstorm. See my earlier photos of Ball Mt and Mosquito Pass.
The overall winner was Keri Nelson of Gunnison CO in 3:58:08. The male winner was pro triathlete Tim DeBoom of Boulder CO in 3:59:03. There were 244 finishers. The middle of the pack was 6:24. Results.
There was also a "heavy half" marathon, about 15 miles that took a more direct route to Mosquito Pass and back. It had 121 finishers. The winning time was about 2:08. Middle of the pack was 3:27. Results.
I ran the marathon in 6:17, 32 minutes slower than last year. I was 110'th place out of 244 finishers. I reached the half way point at Mosquito Pass at 3:26, which was 1 minute slower than my sea level marathon time. My rate of ascent was only 1600 ft/hr, even though I had climbed 2100 ft/hr on Elbert a few days earlier. Perhaps I was dehydrated. I was thirsty during the climb and ate snow. Also, I did not urinate for 5 hours after the start of the climb. Being dehydrated probably caused less blood flow to my lungs, which had the same result as high altitude pulmonary edema but without the cough. I was just breathing very hard (once every 2 steps) and not going anywhere. I could still take deep breaths. I ran without a shirt for most of the race because it was warm, except near the top of the pass.
A few runners at the hostel besides me ran both the 5K and the marathon. John Ramsay was 5'th in the 5K in 20:15 and 19'th in the marathon in 5:02. His best marathon was 2:58 last year. He has never run a 5K before but he did have a 3 mile split of 17:30 in a 4 mile race.
Michael Allen ran 21:15 in the 5K and 5:15 in the marathon. He has run about 22 hours in the Leadville 100 and under 24 at Western States. He is second from the left holding the banner in the parade in this photo.
Brian Gaines ran 7:24 in the marathon. His best marathon is 3:55.
I stopped at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison national park on the way to Silverton. Photos.
I hiked a 4 mile section of the Hardrock 100 (miles 87-91) from Cunningham Gulch to Canby Mt. and back. These photos will give you some idea what the other 96 miles are like. In 2006 it took me 4 1/2 hours to run this section after dark on the second night and I missed the 48 hour cutoff by 6 minutes. So this time I want to know the section and not waste time navigating.
I am in Silverton to run the Hardrock 100 tomorrow. Photos. I spent the day checking in and uploading some pictures to this website.
I dropped at Grouse Gulch (58 miles) in almost 26 hours, already 4 hours behind a 48 hour finish pace. Photos.
Hardrock website with results and split times.
During Hardrock I went through Ouray (mile 42) a little after midnight. I went back and got some photos of the new route along the Ouray perimeter trail when the light was better.
