Different place, different space

So... I have a 50-miler coming up. 

YES! A 50-miler. I thought that it sounded like a good idea this early in the season to get some good miles under me heading into summer.

But here's the thing, it's got REALLY tight cutoffs. To put it into perspective, I just checked the entrants' list and it looks like 64 people to registered this year for the 50-miler. 30 finished last year (not sure how many started, but guessing about the same). Here's another thing to put things in perspective, I ran a really strong (for me) 23-miler the other week on similar terrain. I finished with a 13:38 pace and, when I did the calculations, even that wasn't fast enough to get me to the 1/2 way turnaround on time. I would need closer to a 13:00 min pace. YIKES!!!

Me, feeling really good training!

When I made this realization about 4 weeks ago, I was sad. Then, part of me was like, "PHEW! I guess I have a legit reason not to run 50 miles." And then I went through the gamut of emotions. Do I drop down to the 25-mile distance? Do I sign up for a different 50-miler, and do that one instead? I looked at another 50-miler that is the week after with a 14-hour cut-off. I asked Ross if I should sign up for the other race instead and he said, "Why don't you just go out for the original 50 and see what you can do?"

So, with that, I had my answer. And it scares me. "Old Randi," as I sometimes call her, would have dropped down to the 25-mile distance in a heartbeat. "I can't FAIL," she would have thought. No, no, no. It might've crushed me. But this Randi, the one who is up for the adventure, is gonna put it out on the line this weekend.

Who'd of thought Clooney could be so wise?

At the end of the day, you are what you put into it. And what attracts me to these races and goals is usually the unknown of if I will make it. Generally, I like to pick things that are hard, but attainable, and hopefully, that will be the case here. Then, when googling the above quote, I found this one... And it seemed even more applicable.

I'm committed to Leadville this year, and if pushing myself this Saturday is gonna make me stronger for that, then that is what I will do.

Will I make it? Who knows. Probably not. But then again, I will never know until I try.
And I am ok with that. Whatever this brings, I will learn loads from it.

Stay tuned to find out what that is... for I am sure I am going to have to work it out here. :) 

Vision Board ----> Journey Board

No secret here: I'm VERY visually motivated!!! In the past, I have always been a fan of some sort of vision board and/or visual motivation when training for a big event.

Vision board I created for Ironman Coer D'Alene 2012

A "countdown" poster I made in prep for IM Wisconsin 2015

Countdown Board + "Journey Pictures" for Leadville 2017

This year, I haven't set down the time to really go at it and figure out where I am going/how to get there -- visually, at least!

So, shortly after making the realization that some things needed to change and I needed to get back to what got me places in the past, I sat down to start to CREATE. And, as those of you who know me know, CREATING is my happy place. Like, in everything.


So, I started...

And I got this far...

Before this happened.

Yes, that is me in urgent care on a Sunday night. They are repairing my finger, of which I had sliced a chunk of skin clear off (thank you, super sharp exacto knife!) while I started my Vision Board. 

Side note: I am not saying that slicing my finger has ANYTHING to do with my training, but when you look at my training this year, this is EXACTLY how it has gone. I try to do something positive for my training, and something horrible comes in my way. I could give you a half-dozen more examples of how things have not panned out thus far, but I am NOT going to dwell on those, only move forward positively. 

Anyways, back to my vision board... it got sidelined first because of the injury. Then, every time I would step back to doing it, I struggled a bit to make myself I glue anything down. And, while I know what I want to see, I really had to think about everything... and what I realized is that I kind of want the experience to guide me this time.

So here is where I stand: I have this BIG piece of paper. And I am EXCITED to fill it. But, I don't want to necessarily fill it now. I want to fill it with all the benefits and experiences of training. I know where I am going (Leadville 100, duh), and the areas I  need to focus on, and the areas and things I am excited about doing... so as I work my way there, I plan to fill the paper. (As you can see, I've already started to fill it with parts of my training thus far - along with notes on what I am looking forward to as I prep for the race.)

Essentially, my "VISION BOARD" has changed once again, and is no longer a vision board, but a JOURNEY BOARD.

I've started on my way, and I can't wait for the journey!!!

Besties Who Don't Run

I have been blessed to have found some really good running peeps along all of my different journeys and super excited to also have these non-running peeps along on this one.

WHAT??? Non-running peeps. In for a 100-miler. What?!?!?

But, yes, I have found a little clan that is 100% SUPPORTIVE of my running endeavors even though, NO ONE in the group is really into endurance running. In fact I might go as far as to say they think it is cool -- while the rest of the world looks at me like I'm CRA-ZY!

Us mountain biking at a dude ranch last September!

Anyways, I have been less than open about the fact that I am training, mostly because people treat you like you are a little wacko, or like all I will want to talk about is my 100 (which it isn't), or whatever. I am not really sure why. But anyways, I haven't always had the best response from people when I mention training for some crazy race, especially with people who are not into endurance sports... And, let's be honest, I didn't want to turn these friends off because, well, they are all really cool and I like them. But for whatever reason, that has not been the case with this group of friends.

They know my crazies and still like to hang out with me - who would've guessed it?

One instance when it came out, my friend's husband (who is also my friend) asked immediately if I needed crew. And, I was like, "do you want to run with me?"... because I have had people excited to want to pace, but never to crew. And he was like, "whatever you need, but I just think it would be cool to be there, to support you and help you through whatever you need."

Another time it came out at a wine tasting, and IMMEDIATELY some of my friends wanted to be there. Like really there. When I told them how boring and anti-climatic observing a 100-miler can be (out of the 30 hours I am out there, you are seeing me for about 10 total minutes... and that is if I am having a good race). But, that did not seem to matter. Not at all. So... I guess they're coming to Leadville. Yay!

On top of the emotional support that they are giving, they are also pretty RAD at wanting to do other fun, active stuff. 

So, this past Saturday, we tackled the Manitou Incline. 
AND, since I consider this part of my training and, thus, part of my Leadville Journey, I was more excited to do it and do it with them!!!

Basically, the incline is a staircase up a mountain made out of railroad ties and it is HARD!

The incline itself is 1 mile long and about 2,000 feet vertical. 

Looking down, it can look like this.

The group of us at the beginning...

Starting off...

Heather, Connie, Nicole and I about halfway and still smiling

Heather... still smiling!

Yay! I made it!

But, I wouldn't have done it without all these biotches!

ANYWAYS, it means A TON to me to have these ladies in my life. While I absolutely adore my running friends, I have never had friends who don't run, who also "get me" and want to be there for the running part of my life. It's amazing, and fun, and irreplaceable.

This is going to be the best Leadville YET!!!

OUT of my comfort zone

So... I wrote a big long blog post, but it was wordy. Here is what it comes down to:

I am a little TOTALLY freaked out about the fact that I signed up for a 50-Miler in 2 weeks time, and I don't think I'll make it (short cutoff times I didn't realize when signing up). Needless to say, I am trying my best to do my best training to make it as far as I can in said race. Last weekend was the last long weekend before said 50-miler.

What makes good training for me? For me it is trying to "hit my goals" which I usually do best when I have thought out where I am running, course, etc. It's a mental thing. And since running is 90% mental, well...

BUT... training is supposed to be about enjoying the journey WHILE working towards my goal. And, probably more importantly, growing as a runner and a person while I do it.

So last weekend I totally 180'd. Like completely. Instead of having a clear plan with the factors under my control, I opted to go for a long run with my coach and some of her running peeps.

So, what made me do this? Basically, this:

WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO:
I am a mental case that has grown to be most comfortable knowing what I am getting myself into before committing. For me, that includes a ton of route planning.

Everything about this run scared me. 

THIS RUN I KNEW NOTHING.
- No idea where I was going
- How long I was going (I was told ~25, which was my goal)
- What kind of terrain I was running (hills? flat? climbing? I had no clue.)
- Who I was running with (were they faster? Slower? Would they be annoyed with me joining? Would I slow them down? Would they be annoyed with me slowing them down? Etc.)
The only real question I made sure was answered was that we would be able to refill water at some point. Other than that, I was trying to be easy, peesy.

Regardless, last Saturday morning, in questionable weather, I packed up my water pack, put on my big girl panties, and drove up to Boulder for a running adventure. One that was WAY OUT of my comfort zone.

I'm not going to lie, it was hard for me. But, one mantra that I have when I am scared of something that I *should* be able to do -- fake it till you make it. 

So, I did.  I went, I ran, I tried my best to keep up with the group, not slow anyone down, be chipper and fun (despite my worries that I would bonk). And, don't get me wrong, I had a great time. The people were amazing and nice, the terrain was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. (I don't run much in Boulder, so it was a treat for me!)

 It wasn't till mile 18 when, after I felt like we should be going down and we just kept climbing, climbing, climbing that I kinda lost it.  I asked if we had "8 miles or less left" - just so I could mentally prepare myself - and there was a big, long pregnant pause (which I took to mean, "OH heck no! We've got WAY more than that!"). So, that was playing in my mind and about 1/2 mile later, Cindy asked how I was doing, and I burst out in tears. Yep. Turns out I am not so good at faking it till I make it. I had about 15 seconds of tears and let the girls know that what was going on in my head. They were totally supportive and assured me that I was doing good, not slowing them down (LIES!), and figured out how much farther we really had, so I could then mentally plan for the end. Which was really all I needed. And, then we continued on, and I had a big weight lifted that (1) I could do this and (2) they were there for me.

Turns out, I am not good at faking it till I make it, but in the end, it is what got me out there and 75% of the way through my run.

LESSONS LEARNED:
- I CAN do hard things that have a lot of unknowns. And I shouldn't shy away from them in the future. It will only make me stronger.

- Sometimes I need to lean a little (not a lot) on those around me. Or maybe just ask for what I need without worrying if I will come off as needy.

In my attempt not to slow them all down (which I totally was), I didn't take too many pictures. So... here is what I got.

BTW, this story did not surprise my running BFF, bc he knows me so well. He totally saw this all coming and burst out laughing when I recounted it for him this week.

Back to Basics

Hello! It's been forever since I have blogged, and, well, here's the short of it --

 I signed up for the LEADVILLE 100 !!! 

*Yes, I know that the last post I wrote was when I ran it the first time -- almost 2 YEARS AGO!

Now, being a veteran, you'd think I'd have my sh*t together and be able to conquer this bad boy again no problem. Yes, you'd think that. 

But... here I am, about 6 months into training with, well, VERY DIFFERENT results. To put it mildly, my training hasn't gone to "plan" and, by that, I mean nothing has gone the way I expected and/or wanted.

Now, this is not a "pity party post" by any means. There have been a number of things (weather, illnesses, poor choices, wrong prioritizations, etc.) that have all contributed to my current situation. Some of them my fault, some not. But, when I look back I think about what I am doing differently and how to get back to where I want to be, the thing is I don't think that I have been giving the race and my training the amount of attention it needs - both mentally and physically. So, that ends now. On both fronts because, let's be honest, this race is about the mental as it is the physical.

And, I think one of the things that helps me sort out my mental and process my training is journal/blogging about it. So... that puts me here! Yes, friends, I'm back and making a commitment to keep up this blog about my journey so that I can really put all that I have into it. So, if you are up for the journey with me, you can follow me here (and keep me accountable, please).

So... this is the new "restart" of my blog, and you can find me here till, well, at least August!

And, because I don't want to end on a bad note. I WAS able to finish the Moab Red Hot 55k in February. No finish line picture, but here are some picts of the race and weekend.

A super cold start line photo with the family!

Keeping a fun attitude, even though scared shiteless!

Views from the course -- it was pretty, once it warmed up!

On way to finish line!

Next day, happy to be done, and hanging with my loves!

Family fun from on top of LOTS of rocks!

LEADVILLE 100: The Race!

So… onto the actual race.

 I will start with the fact that I was scared sh**less of this race. I wanted to do it soooo badly, but I was so very scared that I wouldn’t make it. I trained hard, but was that enough? I did everything I thought was good, but did I do enough? I didn’t know…

Having done all the “work” for the race, the week before was dedicated to resting and packing. With the boys starting school in Aurora, my mom flew in from Florida and to help me relax and me pack up and organize my stuff up in Silverthorne. And, boy was it nice to have her there. Go mom!

 

This is actually a picture of my mom and I relaxing at her place before a different race,
but you get the idea. She's my people. And this wasn't her first rodeo.

Note to anyone who hasn’t run a 100-miler: Holy crap! Is there a lot of planning that goes into this. I had outfit changes, nutrition needs – any single one of them I could think of, stuff for the crew at each aid station (they would be waiting for me for HOURS with no amenities), etc. Oy vey! Is that a job in itself.

When my friend, Jennifer (also doing the race), arrived on Monday from Ohio to stay with us for a night, she was so ecstatic. Anxious, but more than excited to conquer the course. I was envious of her excitement but couldn’t bring myself to share in it. After the fact, I deduced later that my lack of excitement was due to the fact that I was afraid of creating so much excitement for myself, that if I didn’t make it, the pre-excitement would've amplify my heartbreak.

Me with my Leadville Camp Besties - Donna and Jennifer - before race.

Thursday night, Ross, my dad and the boys came up and Friday, Ross and I headed to the athlete’s meeting in Leadville. 

Now, I have been to plenty-a-race meetings in the past and this one was like no other. Yes, it gave you your standard information – why you could be dq’d, course changes, specific rules, etc. But when the creators of the race Ken and Marilee (but mostly Ken) got up to speak, WOAH! Was that some inspirational stuff he was spewing. There was plenty about the history and challenges of Leadville, the meaning of the race to the town, the ability to conquer the course, that quitting wasn’t an option (or at least one you would want to live with) and what it would take to finish the race. I took it all in and that’s when I really started to get excited within. As much as my nerves and anxiety were playing on me, the need to dig deep and finish this course became even greater!

Ken and Marilee imparting wisdom and emotion on us all!

A WHOLE gym filled with Leadville crazies. It was amazing!

Next morning came sooner than anticipated. Alarm went off at 3:00 am. I was lucky and booked a cabin 3 blocks from the start, so for me it was roll out of bed, eat a little, go to the bathroom and get rolling with the family and Todd.

Everyone up and ready to go! Even Lucy. (Todd taking picture.)

The start line was energetic as all get out. I really didn’t expect that for a 4 am start. Heck! I find 6 am starts to be less than enthusiastic, so having all this energy at 4 am was INCREDIBLE! 

Getting ready to line up

 I got some pictures, got some hugs (I realized this summer that hugs are my SUPER JUICE) and then lined up in the corral. By myself. I knew if I was going to make this race, I needed to listen to my body, worry about myself and not think about running/staying with anyone. So, alone it would be. 

Reminding myself what I would need to do that day

Last minute advice and encouragement from my hubby and rock.

Me with one of my many trail sisters I met along this journey - Mary.

Go time at the start line!

When the gun went off, so did we. The first 5 miles is running out of town and mostly downhill, so I just thought about keeping it slow and steady. My coach had told me that if I came into the first aid station at the back of the pack, she would be extremely proud of me. She didn’t want me to go out too fast, so I concentrated on that.

5.5 miles is the first small climb and then it was a single track around Turquoise Lake. This part was amazingly beautiful to see the lake peak out from the darkness as the sun rose. It reminded me once again about the uniqueness and beauty of this race. Even when you aren’t climbing mountains, you can’t escape the views!

Soon enough I was exiting the trail, running through the campground and into the aid station. I bypassed the aid station and went straight to Ross and Todd who crewed me by replacing my bladder of Tailwind and some nutrition and telling me to drink more. I also got to see my friend, Andy, who had set up right next to Ross and Todd, as he waited for his wife to come through – that was super good to see familiar faces!

13 miles in and all smiles! Ready to start climbing!

 Coming out of May Queen (the first aid station), you hit the Colorado Trail and start climbing. I knew this part of the route pretty well and made my way up, up, up the trail to Hagerman Pass. Then it was more up, up, up to Sugarloaf Road. During this time, I just watched my heart rate and ran when it was low enough and walked when it wasn’t (which was more often than naught). I made some friends along the way, but I won’t bore you with the conversations. 

Here I am climbing up Hagerman Pass and even running!
(I must've been doing that for the camera)

 At the top, I was more than excited to go DOWN! I started running down. I was feeling great! I whipped out my walkie talkie and radioed into Todd and Ross and told them where I was. They were like, “Great! …but you’ve got a long way to go.” They then asked about wants and needs and I told them to adjust my Tailwind ratio (it worked in training, but for some reason it was too potent today, so I wanted to adjust) and, basically, that I needed to eat some fruit and drink some coke, so please have that ready. I realized that I had been so happy/excited to see them at the first aid station, I basically FORGOT to eat. Oy! Can't let that happen again!

Made it down the powerline descent (3.5 miles of DOWN) and met a new/old friend. How fitting, she had remembered me from another race. As we were descending, she told me how I had taught her how to run downhill at another race earlier in the summer. Evidently, she made a comment about her poor descending and I had imparted what I knew from downhill running to her.  I guess it worked! She said her knees no longer hurt as she ran downhill and we were doing it together with ease, so something was good about that union. And here we were  running the 100 together!

Two miles after the long descent, at mile 23.5, you roll into Outward Bound aid station. Here I got to see ALL of my family (minus my dad who was not feeling well) and Todd. They had everything I asked for, including my new Tailwind concoction, and off I went. 

Can a girl get much sweatier? It was getting HOT!!!

Crew at Outward Bound (minus Todd who was taking picture)

This upcoming part is (I think) the most boring part of the course. First, you have to run on road for a little bit. Then, it is uphill, with limited views, but it really isn’t THAT long. I knew mentally this would be a hard part of my race, so I just focused on my running and keeping my heart rate consistent. 

Me...smiling even through the most unscenic part.

About 3 miles from the aid station is another place where a lot of people crew their runner. I preferred to have my crew only at the aid stations, BUT it was refreshing to see people here. It is here that I saw my friend Jay’s crew and my friend Donna’s crew – who told me she was just ahead. I plugged along another 4 miles to the next aid station and coming out (while I was coming in) was my friend, Donna. YAY!

After the aid station, I caught up with Donna and we chatted for a bit and then I carried on, running in front of her for a bit. It was so awesome to see her and know we were on our way to completing this journey together!

I am not sure of the mileage, but there is a point where you stop climbing and start descending into Twin Lakes. When I hit this point, it was game on again! I think my schtick for this race was just to not kill myself on the climbs, so I could really enjoy and run most of the descents. So, as soon as I was descending I was happy again. I passed the Mt. Elbert water station, and was glad I didn’t need water (since there was a line). I was also happy to see my friends Kelly and Eric there. Yay friends! We’re doing this! I thought.

I whipped out my walkie and had some talks with both Todd (who was crewing at TL) and my kids (who were “helping” Todd and my mom crew at TL). If you ever do this race, I HIGHLY suggest carrying radios. They help with what you need when you are coming into an aid station (so it’s prepared). This time, I asked for them to soak my Koolie in a bath of ice water, so I’d have it for over Hope Pass. It was getting HOT!

Got into Twin Lakes on/ahead of schedule and really just felt great. I was excited to be attacking Hope Pass (the next section – arguably the hardest) feeling so good. In general, I try to get to halfway in a race feeling “good,” whatever “good” may be… and in this case it felt – good!

Mom and the boys attending to all my needs!!!

The aid station went smooth. I grabbed my poles, switched watches (my battery was running lowish), switched bladders, refilled on nutrition and was off with Todd and Lincoln. No, I didn’t pick them up as pacers, BUT the two of them accompanied me on the course for about a half mile. During this time, it was nice to give Todd a more complete lowdown on how I was feeling (since in the aid stations, I tend to feel rushed). AND, it was fun to have my littlest running beside me in my 100. I really enjoyed that part. 

Pre river crossing on the way to the pass!

Then… it was up the notorious HOPE PASS! My new watch wasn’t registering my heart rate accurately, so I was a little worried about over or under exerting myself, but I juts went by feel. I am happy to say that I passed way more people going up then were passing me. This was a little moral victory for me since, normally, it is the reverse. In any given mountain race, I am used to being passed on the ascents, but not this time. (yay, me!)

 

About ½ way up the pass, a guy started more-or-less pacing behind me and we started chatting. He was actually heading up to volunteer at the aid station and he was delightful to talk to. Cindy had warned me to conserve energy and not get sucked into too many or too long of conversations, but I really just liked talking to him and it made the time go by faster, so I didn’t see the harm. (In retrospect, I say that I picked up an unofficial pacer then.) On the way up, there was also some rain. Not a lot, but enough to have me stop and put on my raincoat. Thankfully, this storm was short and passed.

About ¾ miles from the summit of the pass, there is an aid station. This station is AMAZING if, for no other reason, a team of volunteers guides up 20 llamas and 4 mules with 3,000 lbs of supplies for the station and then spends time filtering water from the nearby creek, so that us runners have all that we need on race day. A-FRICKIN-MAZING! Here's an article about it, if you want to read more.

It was here that I had my first visit to the medical tent. Nothing horrible, just what I considered a little chafing on my waist, so I asked for some Vaseline. They looked, told me it was worse than I thought, applied Vaseline, and then told me to continue to keep checking in with med tents to reapply and it, potentially, had to be wrapped. Yikes!

After an ample amount of aid at the station, it was onto the summit of Hope (yay!) and then DOWN! Now, the other side of Hope (the Winfield side) is NO JOKE when it comes to steepness, it is scary to run down and HARD to go up (notice I said “go", not “run”). I was glad that I had been there a couple times and had the chance to practice it. On the way down, I channeled what I knew and just went at it running down. I caught many people on the descent and was clipping along at a good place for the majority of it. I finally found a couple guys that were also clipping along and settled in behind them. It was a lot easier to pass people going down when you were a group of 3.

View from top of Hope coming down on Winfield side

Once you finish the steepness (2.5 miles of it), you turn and run another 4 miles to Winfield (rolling up, then down the last mile to Winfield). When I rounded the corner to the ghost town, I saw some signs and KNEW they were for me! Yes, I am the LUCKY GIRL who got to have fans who actually OWNED A CABIN IN WINFIELD (there are very few cabins and they are all historical landmarks). I saw Ethan and Cade and their cousin and aunt, got sweaty hugs and continued on into “town” which is really just the aid station at this point. 

Their cabin/cheer central for me!

Me with the Brook boys (Cade and Ethan) and their AWESOME SIGN!!!

 There were tons of people and I got lots of cheers running in. I was amazed that I STILL felt great! I was so happy to be there and just ecstatic that (other than chafing), my body wasn’t breaking down, I was still digesting food like a rock star – things were just falling into place!

I checked in with the aid station, the medical tent (more jelly, no wrapping), and found Ross, Kelly and Christi (my friend with family at the cabin). We quickly got my stuff ready, deciding on what warm weather stuff I might need over the pass with the sun going down and so forth, what food I needed, and I was happy!

Kelly and Ross waiting for me at Winfield -- who wouldn't be excited to get to that?!?!?!

Christi documenting me at the med tent (getting vaseline on my chafing).
When asked why, she stated "to keep it real". :)

Hope Pass. I had just climbed over that. Now, at mile 50, I got to turn around and do it again!!!

From there, Kelly and I headed out of Winfield – Christi accompanied us up to the cabin, then we headed on. In the short jog up there, Kelly and I were chatting away and Christi made the comment of, “I see how this is gonna be!” referring to us chatting all the way over Hope Pass… which is basically what we did. Kelly was an excellent pacer, listening to my needs and making sure I ate, knew the mileage AND was entertained by stories and/or lively conversation.

Now, here came an unexpected hard part of the race for me. Coming out of Winfield and heading up the pass, there was certain point (maybe 2 miles out) where we knew that everyone we were passing coming down was not going to be able to make it to Winfield in time for the cutoff… and their race would be done. This was really stinking hard to deal with, especially when we saw a few of our friends. This course is hard, takes no prisoners, and, this year, had even lengthened the course without lengthening the overall cutoff time.

Onto the climb. This puppy is steep and we just plugged away. We talked for most of it (minus the steepest parts where Kelly tried to humor me so I wouldn’t have to talk) and just kept going. Not a lot of talking around us, but that was ok. Up, up, up, we went and was happy to see the top when we got there. Yay! Kelly was on top of mileage and timing and let me know that we actually summited FASTER than we had the day she and I ran it about 2 weeks earlier on fresh legs – no way!

View looking back as we climbed

And up we go. You can't see it, but there was a family of mountain goats up there.

Over the top, down to the aid station. Visited med tent (again) and they said it looked much better, didn’t need wrapping. Got some LOTS of ramen (it was past my dinnertime). I was told to "thank the volunteers at the top," so I asked if I could hug a llama... and they were happy to let us! We asked for one that wouldn’t spit at us and they gave us this dude. 

Llama love.

Ain't no drama with this llama!

Then it was down, down, down. The Twin Lakes side was not as steep as the Winfield side and I ran what I could. With the sun setting and my legs getting more tired, it was harder to run some of the rockier spots, so I did what I could and was happy with that. (I think I wanted to run ALL of it, and it ended up being more like 70% of it, I think.) Once we were out of the forest, it was another 2 miles to the aid station, including through the river, and we entered Twin Lakes Aid Station in darkness.

Side note: Kelly took her pacer duties very seriously and even prepared a joke for me for our run. It went something like this: There were two tomatoes running the Leadville 100 and one of the tomatoes fell behind as they were coming into the Twin Lakes Aid Station… so the second one says, “KETCHUP!!!” Never dull moment with Kelly. ;)

Now, Twin Lakes, at 8-9ish at night on Leadville Night is a paaarty! We ran in. I saw Cindy (my coach) and just let her know I was good. (It was good to see her!) I had planned a full outfit change here, which just was… well, comic relief. We had a tent that Ross and my mom had set up the night before, they added a few sides so that I could have some privacy. Changing when you are tired, sweaty, a ton of people around, well… it was just kind of funny. And probably took a lot longer than necessary, but what can you say? I’m a newbie.

This aid station I wasn’t in-and-out, but that was ok. I got to see my parents, kids, coach, crew and friends. It was awesome. It was there that I picked up Todd as my pacer and off we went. 

Lotsa crew and love at Twin Lakes!!!

 Now, it is true that Hope Pass is the pinnacle and getting up and over it is a HUGE deal. So much so that a lot of people focus their energy on that task and don’t have anything (or much) left after they get down from the second crossing of Hope. I was aware of this and had “planned” to conserve energy, so I was glad that I had energy (as planned) when the day came. Yay!

*** THIS is the part where it got dark and the pictures stopped coming, so I apologize for the lack of photos from here on out. I understand if you want to skip to the end... :)

Coming out of Twin Lakes there is a 3+ mile climb… and I was glad I saved some in the tank for that! Todd (like my other pacers) was the best pacer ever!!! He had actually come out and run this (and a few other sections) of the course with me. He was great and dealt with me and my paranoia about being lost… “Yes, Randi, we are on the right trail,” to which I then further questioned, to which he then pointed out the trail marker (or just repeated that we weren't lost). God bless his patience with me!

Todd and I running a section of Leadville on a different day (obviously in the light).

We went off climbing up the big climb and then when we got to some runnable spots, I was SO HAPPY to still be able to run some. Being that I’d never really run over 55 miles, I wasn’t fully sure how my body would do and if it could keep going (at least a little) at a running pace… but it did!

We went along, run, run, run, walk, walk, walk. I needed to be ahead and all was good. We got to Half Pipe Aid station where no crew was allowed. It was kind of surreal to come upon this lighted tent with yummy and warm goodness inside. We went in and had some ramen. The medic saw us come in and checked in with Todd (to see how I was) and then checked in with me (to make sure I was as “good” as Todd said I was). I found it hilarious that, after I answered his question with one word, he told me that I had “good conversation skills.” I looked at him shocked and he told me that I had answered correctly and made eye-contact with him – I guess I aced the test. He then said I should have a seat and warm up. I said I just wanted to keep running, which he said was even better.

So, off we went, 5 more miles till Outward Bound Aid station – I couldn’t wait! This next 5 miles, the terrain is not too hard, mostly flat double-track and/or jeep road, so I was glad for the lack of technicality in the dark. As we got closer to the aid station, it got loads COLDER. (I think that was the coldest I was all race.) I was finding it hard to motivate myself to do too much running in this section, but as we got closer, I started saying “run to that such-and-such” and picking up the pace a little at a time. This helped me get warmer, so I also realized if I wasn’t going to freeze, I needed to keep myself moving as rapidly as possible for the rest of the way.

We rolled into Outward Bound (going inward – ha!), Krista and Ross were there. Yay! I was feeling good. I put on some tights and we adjusted for the dropping temperatures. And I was like, “KRISTA! We’re over 75% through!” and was so excited for that fact. I really was trying not to think about mileage in a mile-by-bile way and had just broken the sections between aid stations in my head, so getting to this aid station, in particular, I was EXCITED!

Picture of me and Krista. I guess I am always excited to see her!

 From OB, I knew it was a climb up and over Sugarloaf Pass. Weird enough for me, I was ok with that. I had done this before, I knew it would be slow, but mentally I knew where I was going so it was “ok” for me.

Krista was phenomenal! We set off, we had lots to talk about. We went up the Powerline climb – which she had mountain biked a gazillion times – so she knew EXACTLY where to tell me to go (to the point where she was like, “move over to the left side here, because it is less steep on this side of the trail.” Amazeballs.).

At the top, we got some coke and started to head down. I will say that this part I had ‘expected’ to be able to run down. Like I said, downhill were my “thing” and that was where I was excited about doing and making up some of the time I had lost on climbing. BUT, after 80ish miles on the legs, going down on the rocky terrain wasn’t as fast as I planned. I tried to run when I could, but it was really that I didn’t trust my jello legs and/or footing/ankles to get me down the rock pass without buckling. So, whilst I was still happy, I was a little slower than planned.

Soon enough, however, we were rolling into Mayqueen Aid Station – YAY! I was glad to see everyone (Steph, Ross, Todd) and get some more food. I can’t tell you how delicious ramen tasted at every station I stopped at. The sun was starting to come up and Todd informed me that I needed to pick it up if I could. 

Me and Steph (with Ross and Eric), looking MUCH better than I did that morning.

 I left there a little terrified that I wasn’t going fast enough. I thought, “oh, I run this section in like 13-14 minute miles” which I do REGULARLY, but at mile 88, I was struggling to do 18-minute miles. (This was the first time ALL RACE I had looked at my pacing.) That was a bit of a wake up. So, I plugged on doing what I could.

Steph was awesome and we had plenty to talk about. SHE informed me I was just fine at my pace to finish, it was only if I wanted a faster time would I need to pick it up – whew! I mean, I am normally bad at math, and after 25 hours of running I’m REALLY bad at it, so having her realize that Todd didn’t mean I had to pick it up to finish (only if I wanted a goal time) was super helpful!

We made our way through and around Turquoise Lake as the sun rose. It was just BEAUTIFUL! Again, my legs were having trouble with the rocky terrain, but I made it along as fast as I could.

There were spectators more so along this route because (1) it is closer to town and (2) it is through a camping area, so people can view a lot of it. At one intersection, I asked someone “how far till the dam?” and he said, “I don’t know, but I DO know that you can see your belt buckle from here!” – which was awesome.

We made it to the dam and down the mini-pipeline to where Todd and Ross were waiting for us. My last pacer – yay! And my husband. Double-yay! 

The only picture I have of us this section!

 From here till the end was 5.5 miles. Todd told me if I did 20-minute miles, I would finish in a little over 29 hours. At some point, I decided I wanted to finish in UNDER 29 hours (if I could). So, I just plugged away. I was happy at this point that the technical terrain was over. From here till the end was mostly graded dirt road. Walk, walk, walk, run, (more of a slog), slog, slog.

As the miles ticked down, I just got more and more excited to be at the end. One of the coolest things about the Leadville finish is that from one mile out, you are able to run in with friends and family… mine met me and Ross at about ½ mile out and ran to the end with me. They joined me and many of my friends and family were able to help me finish what, in essence, we ALL had started almost a year ago.

Heading in to the finish line with everyone in tow!

Finishing time-ish.

Getting my medal with Ken and Marilee

Congratulatory hugs!!!

I can't thank these people enough!!!!

Seriously! I can't thank EVERYONE enough for all the support, etc. in this journey. Near, far, and everyone on the way.

Todd, in particular, was there as my running confidant, advisor, support-giver, etc. Even though this blog does not show it in this blog, it is TRUE that he was there (almost) every step of the way. From the inception of the idea, the hours of training, the recon of the course, to the actual race day (STAYING UP 30 HOURS with Ross). There's no way I'd have gotten to the start line, let alone the finish line, without him.
My family, especially Ross and the boys, were with me every step of the way, either literally or as a support system from afar.
My friends all stepped up, whether it was in emotional support and/or physical support (running buddies).
Cindy, my coach, who paved the way for me. Who listened (for months!) to my woes and was always full of advice. She laid out a solid plan that went with my crazy life schedule AND got me to the start line healthy and with all the tools for me to have an AMAZING race.
And I can't believe the number of crazies I met along the way (some doing the race, some not) that I will keep with me forever - either in memories or as life-long friends and/or running partners.

People say this race changes you forever and they are right. What you do with it is up to you. I am glad I had a great journey surrounded my amazing people.

Here's a little of the aftermath:

First time sitting in 29+ hours.

We did it!!!

Got home to this!!!