Greg Burger's comments on his first attempt at a 100 mile race - the classic Leadville 100.
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Hello all,
Just got back from my two week adventure in Leadville, Colorado. As many of you know I was attempting my very first 100 mile race. It was a learning experience to say the least.
Some of you already are aware that I did not make it the whole way. I did end up doing the Winfield 50 (I did not make the cutoff time at the turn around).
At 3 am on Aug 18th the alarm went off; I needed to be at the start by 4 am. I ate some yogurt and a bagel and almost immediately became nauseous (nausea that would not go away until around the 40 mile mark of the run).
Maybe it was nerves.
The gun went off and we were on our way. The first part of the race was pretty easy. Most of the first 13.5 miles is fairly flat or downhill to the first aid station at May Queen. The nausea wasn't too bad and I told myself I needed to eat and drink or I wouldn't make it very far so I forced stuff down and hit my target time of 2:30 at May Queen.
The next section was to the Fish Hatchery over Sugar Loaf Mountain (also known as the powerline section). I was excited about tackling this difficult section because there would be a lot of walking involved and maybe it would give me a chance to get my stomach settled.
Again, this section was a lot of difficult uphill walking but again I hit my target time of around 5 hours for 23 miles in and started to feel good. The feeling good part did not last long.
On my way to Half Moon (31 miles) it is mostly on pavement and is also mostly flat to slightly up hill. I tried to stay under control (doing 6 minutes of running and then 1 minute of walking) but the nausea started to come back. I got to Half Moon almost 2 hours ahead of cutoff and felt good about that because it important to have some cushion for the return trip back. Again, the nausea just wouldn't go away.
The next section was a 9 mile section over to Twin Lakes. It is a difficult section because there are a lot of uphill sections in it, all on single track trails. This is where I lost 1.5 hours of time. My stomach just would not empty and it started cramping really bad. I had to walk most of this part of the race because my stomach hurt so bad if I started to run.
Needless to say this was very disappointing but I remembered a lot of the advise many of you have given me.
WORK THRU IT!!! You will have stretches like this.
So, I did and about 1 mile out of Twin Lakes I started feeling great again. 40 miles down and still 1/2 hour ahead of the cutoffs.
I can do this!!!
Well, I left Twin Lakes at 1:55 pm (9:55 minutes into the race). The next section is up over Hope Pass (12,600 feet) and then back down to Winfield at 50 miles. I felt strong going up Hope Pass and passed a lot of people but once I got about 1/2 mile to the top I slowed considerably.
There is just not much oxygen up there!!
Also, not eating for 3 hours between mile 30 and 40 finally was catching up to me and my energy level dropped. As I approached the top of Hope Pass the aid station people yelled at me, "Where are you from in KANSAS?"
I told them and also said "Yes, I am 11,600 feet above my house right now and circling the drain!!!!"
Well the rest of my story is pretty uneventful. Gary [Henry] met me half way down Hope Pass to give me company to Winfield. I had no energy to run down Hope Pass and walked into Winfield in 15:20. We did pass a guy that had fell on a rock and broke his leg. He had to be life flighted out from Winfield.
Other highlights of my trip....I worked the 100 mile mountain bike race the weekend before and got to see Floyd Landis battle it out with the locals....he finished 2nd in a tough race.
Greg Burger