And Then There Were Six..

Leadville. It is always the great collector of broken Grand Slam dreams.

In a normal year Leadville will claim a full 1/3 of the souls attempting this incredibly hard feat. This year is not a normal year.

This year the Slam started with a higher than normal number of participants, 37. Thirty plus seven of us went to Squaw Valley in hopes of completing Western States and the three other jewels of the Slam.

June 28, 2008, Western States: I've seen Fire.
Without even firing the starter's pistol 10 Slammers called it quits at Western States. The race committee at WS prudently cancelled the 35th running of the Western States 100 due to raging wildfires throughout California, several of which threatened the race course.

The Grand Slam committee quickly chose an alternate race, the Arkansas Traveller 100. This is where 10 Grand Slam Applicants, either unable to secure more time off work, short of funds, travel weary, or simply no longer interested with Western States out of the picture, withdrew from the Slam.

Now we were 27.

July 19, 2008, Vermont: And I've Seen Rain.
Vermont is normally the easiest of the Grand Slam races, but following the lead of Western States, this is not a normal year! Vermont's temperatures soared to near 90 degrees with humidity approaching triple digits. This humidity turned into significant rainfall and hail storms on the course. Still, Slammers are a hearty bunch and 24 of the 27 of us made it through the entire 100 mile journey. Our times and our bodies suffered, but most of us were alive to fight another day.

Now we were 24.

August 16, Leadville: This would not be the Sunny Day that would Never End.
Leadville normally claims a full 1/3 of the Slam participants. Last year there were 30 signed up for the Slam and 10 didn't make it through Leadville. At Leadville this year, I guessed that Leadville may claim up to 1/2 of the 24 remaining Slammers. That proved to be an optimistic assessment.

500 races stood on 6th Street in Leadville with cold rain pounding on them as they waited for the 4 AM start. Within a few minutes after the start that cold rain would turn into hail. A couple of hours later the hail turned into sleet and later still snow. Leadville with it climbs to near 13,000 feet of altitude is never an easy race, with the challenging conditions on this August day the race was near impossible. There were some heroic efforts, most of which ultimately ended short of the 100 mile goal, and only six of which ended happily at the 6th Street Finish Line in Leadville.

And Now they are 6.

How tough was it?
Out of the 24 well trained Grand Slammers, none finished in less than the 25 hours required for the "big" buckle.

The fastest time by a slammer was from Arkansas' Stan Ferguson at 26:20:45.

Perry Edinger of Arizona, the fastest slammer at Vermont in 18:34:16, came in less than one hour before the cut-off in 29:18:33.

And then there was me.
I entered the Slam having finished 10 of 10 100 miles races.
After Vermont I was a perfect 11 for 11.
I've been training for this for a solid year.
I didn't even make it 1/2 way.
The Leadville website will tell you that I timed out at Winfield, the 1/2 way point. In truth search and rescue found me at mile 48 and the sherrif cut my wrist band on the spot. A race official then drove my wrist band to the Winfield aid station.

This was not a normal year. The slam saw fire and it saw rain, I am hoping for the remaining six that Wasatch will be a sunny (and not too hot!) day that will end in victory!

Congratulations and best wishes to:
Allan Holtz, MN 29:39
Carol O'Hear, 28:31
Dan Brenden, 27:55
Kristina Irvin, 28:53
Perry Edinger, 29:18
Stan Ferguson, 26:20

Please soldier on, please keep the slam alive!

I'll see you in Arkansas.

It's Been a Slice!

Well darn, just darn. I thought I could, I tried. I didn't quit (thanks Chase!), but it wasn't happening.

I guess the telling story came from the plane ride to Vermont. Sitting next to my great friend Jon Docs on the tarmac at the Tampa airport. Jon says to me, hey we're at 8 feet of elevation. He has an altimeter on his watch, he wasn't guessing. This was on the plane, the wheels must have been at sea level or below.

I tell that story so I can tell this one. Hope Pass at Leadville goes to almost 13,000 feet. Leadville is the nation's highest (altitudinaly speaking) incorporated city in the USA. It made a huge difference.

But, I am proud of my effort. I kept going as long as they let me. I kept going even when I knew there was no chance of making the time cut-off. I kept going even thought the altitude had reduced me to one minute of walking 30 seconds of rest. I kept going even when I was dizzy and had to lay down (no nap, more like avoiding passing out.) I kept going after the time cut-off had passed. I kept going until search and rescue found me and cut off my wrist band.

I'll write a report later, but just so you know, I'm fine, I'm happy, I really exciting about skipping Wasatch (no way I'm putting myself through that torture twice in a month) and I'm excited about tackling Arkansas (I want to see if I can still do relatively well on a fairly flat no altitude course).

Thank you all for your huge support, I didn't think I'd fail, but I went down swinging and I learned it's the journey, that's the stuff.

AndyMan

Tough Luck in Leadville.

After much, much training, Andy was pulled at Leadville for time at an aid station. Candi called me at about 10:30 p.m. EDT and gave me the news. It was the altitude. He'd had only two training sessions at altitude, and knew that that might be his undoing. Apparently, the lack of oxygen at 10,000 feet is a greater foe than streams and rocks and lots and lots of miles. But hear this: he did not quit. Andy doesn't have anything to prove, and he's got every right in the world to coast a bit. But I bet he won't. So, what's that mean? 411 days in the slam?

Okay, you want an update? Here's an update. I'm really tired. I made the last station cut-off time with 20 minutes or so to spare. My foot's holding out okay. My spirits are pretty good. Alicia, my crew-chief is taking pretty good care of me. I'm about ready to go into Hope Pass, which will get me near to half way. I prolly already told you, but these here is Mountains. See? http://www.leadvilletrail100.com/merchant.ihtml?id=1535&step=2. The local weather? The weather's pretty good at the moment, about 53 degrees. Check this out: http://www.weather.com/weather/local/80461?lswe=80461&lwsa=WeatherLocalUndeclared&from=searchbox. This is tough, but I ain't quitting. No way.

Somewhere, Over the Rainbow...

Roger and I aren't big fans of Western States. Their favorite sport is screwing runners out of money, they are very good at it. They are arrogant, they are heartless, for goodness sake they wouldn't let Anton in.

That said, they have a great race in spite of themselves. And one thing they do very well is update interested parties on the whereabouts of runners. Vermont, I love those guys, but they don't even have a clock, if you aren't wearing a watch, you may as well wait till Sunday noon and check the Internet to see if you finished and if so when. Arkansas, same.

So, today isn't Western States, so my guess is you don't know where I am on the course, heck, I may not know either. I aint lying, I'm scared of this one, it's high in the mountains engulfing Leadville, it's not a Florida friendly course.

But, I will not quit. I won't nap on the course (shoot that can turn into hypothermia and even a light death in the Rockies). I won't lose my phone, so I'll be able to call SuperDave and update him. I will soldier on, I will do all I can do to be all I can be to have a super nice day and keeping my higher being and my power animal in the forefront of the cosmic karma (good pizza!) at all times. (Just practicing stream of consciousness for mile 83.6.)

Be cool (underrated movie with John Travolta and the Rock and Uma)
A-Man

Fair to Say this would have been Easier!

Ok, this is what we are going over tomorrow (Good Lord willing and the snow don't rise too high!):

That's Hope Pass. Look like fun? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Now, this is the race I proposed as the third (now second) leg of the Grand Slam. It's in Alabama, it traverses this:

That's Fair Hope Pass. It's in Fair Hope, Alabama. Looks kinda boring, but I don't see any snow, I don't see..... er, er, a MOUNTAIN! Yeah, that's looks a little easier.

Next year, it's the Southeastern Slam. No running, we go to Fair Hope and drink some Alabama Slammers, then down to New Orleans to Pat O's for a couple of Hurricanes, then Mississippi (it's a big river, can you spell it?) for some Mud Pie, and we finish in Key West with some Key Lime Pie, and some , "I never knew you liked," Pina Colada's!

Finish rate 100% and the tattoo is wicked cool!

Song of the Week: Could it be Another?

This was as easy as Parcheesi! I mean this choice.... easy peezy, lemonjello squeezy!

It's John Denver. It's 1974. It's me in Leadville, Rocky Mountain, can't get much Rocky Mountain Higher!