Hi everyone! I am excited to say that I was able to finish the Leadville Trail 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was brutal in its own way! This altitude thing really kicks our butt. I huffed and puffed the 1st 30 miles or so. My heart must have been racing faster that the lead runner! I have to admit this was the 1st time a DNF thought(because of the strict cut offs at aid stations) ever crossed my mind. Thank God I was able to control my breathing in the early 30s. I know you are probably saying, "Slow your ass down. Walk. Control that heart rate!" But, trust me. I wasn't moving much. We must have looked like those end-of-the-pack marathon runners! Although the first 13.5 miles(May Queen is the 1st aid station at 13.5m) were downhill(somewhat), I was having a hard time breathing that early in the race!!! The next 5 miles or so were our first climbs. Those were a BITCH!!! This is where Pierre and I looked at each other and said, "Buddy, we're getting our ass kicked!" I have to say it must have been the a! ltitude that got to us. I mean, we've climbed steeper mountains at WS100! Who knows, maybe we should have camped out on top of one of those 14,000' mountains that entire week! I take that back. It's too damn cold up there! From the Fish Hatchery aid station(mile 23.5) through mile 30, it is relatively flat. We should have just flew through this section(this is where Roger Boak passed us). However, again our breathing was just out of wack. We were forced to run from tree to tree, light pole to light pole, shrub to shrub!!! I bet we had those confused, tired, and scared looks on our faces. Halfmoon Campground aid station is at the 30.5 mile mark.The next 7 miles were our second climbs(not as brutal as the first, but still quite long). By now, our breathing had managed to control itself. After these 7 miles, we ran hard downhill for over 2 miles to try to make up all the time we had lost on those uphills. The old town of Twin Lakes is the next aid station at mile 39.5. There was a lot of Hoopla here. I bet it was because we were about to climb Hope Pass(the highest point at 12,600')!!!

Hope Pass? It deserves its own paragraph. This was a BMF... a mother of all climbs! I don't even know how long it took us to get to the Hope Pass aid station(located at 12,000')! I just know it was brutal. There were two things I thought were cool about this aid station. One was the fact that you get that, "I'm on top of the world" feeling. The 2nd are the many llamas!!! They act as the burros for this aid station hauling all the supplies up this trail. Inside the dome tent there was a man on a laptop checking the runners' progress. There was a Doc on hand with sleeping bags(it was raining and the temp must've been in the 20s), oxygen tanks/masks, and hot foods. I went ahead and took in some oxygen for about 1 minute after finding out it was free(meaning you won't get a DQ if you take it). I didn't know if it would help any, but at this point we were giving everything a try. Plus, someone said it would send oxygen to my tired legs as if I was back at sea level. We ! aren't through climbing, yet! Hope Pass sits at 12,600'. We still had to climb some switchbacks for another 3/4 of a mile or so. God, this was tiring. I remember thinking, "Imagine climbing Mt. Everest?" More power to those guys for they climb twice as high as I do! The backside of Hope Pass is were we again began pounding some distance. We had lost so much time we were desperate to get to our pacers at mile 50. By now, we had been passed by many of the front runners and other runners we knew. Miles 47.8-50 are on a slight gravel road uphill. It sucks here, too. It seems forever to get to that turnaround. When we finally got there I told my impatient, eager-beaver pacer, Carlos to slow his roll! I looked at him and said, "I'm not f-ing around. This course and altitude are kicking our ass! We're gonna have to take it easy." Going back over Hope Pass was steeper, yet shorter than the outbound side. At times, Carlos had to push me up those steep rocks! That was cool. I was just havin! g a hard time climbing. Who knows, maybe the 'slam' had gotten to me, maybe it was the altitude, or maybe it was just my weak-ass legs!!! At the top of Hope Pass Carlos and I took a memorable picture. Then we began pounding some more miles downhill. It is here where us 'pancake city' guys make up our time. We passed a lot of people that must've been a few miles ahead of us! We were demontrating 'relentless forward motion.' We were definitely moving with a purpose at this point. Plus, it was getting dark and we had to make it to our drop bags at mile 60.5. This is where we would pick up our lights. Well, when we got to this aid station(Twin Lakes inbound) I hurled again. Don't worry. Nowadays, I experience it quite often at these ultras.

From Twin Lakes to Halfmoon Campground aid station, I pushed as fast as I could up those hills. By now, my legs were responding very well. My quads felt fresh as they hadn't in this course earlier in the day. I was determined to pass as many runners as I could. I wanted to ride this wave as long as I could.

From Halfmoon Campground to the Fish Hatchery aid station(inbound mile 76.5), it is again flat and easier. If you remember, this is where Pierre and I were forced to run from light pole to light pole because our breathing was out of wack. By now though, I was doing a whole lot better. I was tired, but glad that I was still in the race and that I was suffering less than others. From Fish Hatchery to May Queen(inbound mile 86.5), it's a Bitch once again! We climb these false summits(6, I think) up under these high line power lines. Nevertheless, we kept digging. Carlos was impressed with my uphill climbing. He said I was back from the dead! I remember saying, "Let's Rock and Roll!" whenever I felt great. He would tell me, "C'mon Juan, eye of the tiger!" whenever he felt I needed to push more. It was touching to know that we were moving strong while others were just moving. However, as most ultrarunners do, I would always say things like, "Great job, guys! We're almost there!" as I passed other runners.

We finally arrived at the May Queen aid station. From here, it is only 13.5 miles to the finish line!!! I remember Carlos saying, "C'mon Juan. It's like a half marathon. Let's run as fast as we can." I remember agreeing only to find out a few minutes later that my body was not in sync w/my thoughts! This is where I finally began to bonk!!! I could no longer push as I could before. Plus, we were again on a slight uphill. We ran/walked w/out letting anyone catch us and passed those we could. It was daylight now and everyone looked beat! I was in what I call 'survival mode.' This section is mentally tough because 8-9 out of the 13.5 miles to the finish line are run around a lake. It feels like you're never going to get to the other side! Once out of the lake single track, it is easier. Yeah, right! The course hits a long gravel road with rolling hills. It was here that Carlos and I again began running fro! m tree to tree, ribbon to ribbon! Finally, after lots of shuffling we made it out of a second(and more brutal) gravel road called The Boulevard! There was a man at the asphalt road banging a gong(?). He had been at various points along the course chanting and banging. He was motivational. We thanked him for the uplifts and proceeded to the main road that leads to the finish line(1mile to go). Here, again my plans went out the window. I had originally planned to fly through this last mile on rolling street hills to the finish. It didn't happen. It couldn't happen! I just didn't have much energy left. Carlos was getting impatient once again. He took me all the way until the last 300 feet. This is where I finally just kicked it in and ran that uphill to the finish line. I passed a couple of guys who were beat up in this last mile. I'm sure I passed at least 150 the second half!!!

Leadville Trail 100 was a breath-taking course...any way you define it! It took a lot of persistance and determination for all those runners to get to the finish line. Thank God I was one of them. Only 206 finished out of the nearly 500 who started. I happened to be the 109th finisher in a time of 28 hrs. 26 minutes.