So, I'm Sitting In the Public Library...

So, I'm sitting in the public library, minding everybody else's business when lo' and behold, I see this staring over at me....Hey Kate, I mean the Jimmy B. Keel Library sure is nice, a great place to bring the twins, but it's a long way from the Springs! Oh, I guess you really did move. Well, welcome the Keel back!

Any way, in my classroom, I have nice new high tech equipment (that I have no idea how to use!), and it turns out that Kate is now training people on how to use said equipment. Hey, I'll be missing out on a lot next week when that hardware comes in that will allow me to use the Internet at home. Of course it will be nice to be able to read Chase's blog again, my school filters just don't cotton to the phrase, Dirty and Thoughts in the same lifetime (we are a fine Catholic institution, yeah, but it's fine to have tit and tu in the same word, I guess as long as shun is in there tu!)

Anyway, just some of the stuff besides running that happens in Tampa...

47? Try Not to Run any on the Way Home!

Like Dante said in the excellent movie Clerks (not Clerks II, there was no inter-species erotica in the original), "47?! You're gonna be 47? Try not to run any miles on the way home!" I think that's what he said, and I think that was the subject matter.

Anywho, On Tuesday, one week from today I'll be turning 47, hence, annual birthday run. Last year I ran 46 with the help of Woody and Becky I think. This year A2, the Professor and I have signed up. The run will be on Monday, why? It's Labor Day and if the run goes anything like the last two, I'll be laboring.

Yall come on out now. We'll be starting at Gulp, 1 AM. Yoikes!

After the run come on over for brew and burgers at the annual Labor Day Croom and Que.

It'll be a hoot!

And Most Importantly, It's Ali's 14th Birthday today. Her Mommy, Mr. Jeff, and I are taking her out for Sushi, yum, yum! On Sunday she got to go see these dudes with the Good Doctor and I, it sure was fun! Er, only slightly less fun than running 47 miles!

Como Se Llama

Como Se Llama! They use these guys to stock the Hope (less) Pass Aid Station.
Pre-race with Robo, Michelle and Alisa. Shoot Alisa ran almost as far as we did because she paced someone to the finish from mile 60. The rest of us, well... er, you know the story.

Hey, I'm stuck at school cause it took me 2 hours just to order some stinking Internet from Verizon on-line. They suck, if can afford another service get it, they have the worst customer service I have ever seen! Mary, you shouldn't have retired, they have gone to Hades in a handbasket, and I don't mean maybe!

Ok, anyway, I promised Leadville pictures, so here you go:

Chaser before the pain. He coulda made it, he coulda been a contender, he just needs to do a better job picking his running mates!
Gee, I sure wish these clouds would clear!

Hey, wait that snow wasn't there yesterday! Isn't this August.

I was feeling pretty good here, but they wanted me to climb that! And I did it! Only I did it about 1 1/2 hours after the time cut-off. Yoikes! Not many of these in FLA!

I met this cool Doctor lady, she was Dutch, from the Netherlands, of course I was thinking from the Netherworld when she wouldn't let me take Oxygen at the Hope Pass aid station! That meant I had to keep going even though making the next cut-off was Hopeless.

Pre-race in Leadville, that is NOT an inviting sky!

After the race I needed several of these to forget.... And the hangover, it wasn't so bad!

The drive back to Denver. You know, we rarely get this much snow in Florida, in August. Very rarely, as a matter of fact August is our 12th snowiest month!

Working for the Man!

Hey, I haven't gotten caught up at work yet, so tough to justify blogging at school.

Also, I still haven't rigged any free Internet yet, so until then I'll be the Dalmation of bloggers, spotty, very spotty.

Later!

Hey, You.... Thanks

I'm not the sentimental type (more just mental :), but thanks.

So many people cheered. So many people prayed. You guys were great. Some of you I don't even know, but you were great too.

I wanted this to end at Arkansas, but sadly, I didn't make that far (this time!)

You'd think I'd be discouraged, but really I'm not. I draw out of this all the positive beautiful things (and I don't have to go to Wasactch!)

To name a few:
As I was going up Hope Pass, obvious to everyone, including me, that I wasn't going to make the time cut-off, nameless people clasping my shoulder or patting my back in a show of understanding and solidarity. "I feel your pain my brother, I've been there, it sucks, but you are going for it. Soldier on!" I can't tell you what that meant to me, but it was a lot.

One gentleman who obviously reads my blog, "Oh no, Andy, I'm so sorry." I'd never met him, but he's been following me and cheering for me.

I met a beautiful lady and her husband from Salt Lake City, and her remarkable crew at breakfast in Twin Lakes on Sunday. We were both too fresh and not sore enough, we knew we a two DNF's at the same place. She was also one of the 18 who had the Grand Slam snatched at Leadville. We talked, she has also been keeping tabs on the blog.

And of course the fabulous Florida Ultra Runners. You guys..... you rock. Advice, money, supplies, but mostly love and support.

I lost the Slam, but I gained..... I gained, if I ever have to pay it back, well, I hope yall take checks :-)

(tomorrow pictures, I swear, gotta draw this out someway, don't I?)

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