When Ultra's Don't Go to Plan - My Leadville 100 Trail Run Story

It's been 2 weeks post-Leadville and I can finally sit down and finish this. I started it a couple days after but I just didn't have the energy to complete my thoughts. I know a lot of other things have happened in the Ultra world but I know I would regret it if I didn't get my thoughts out about this race.

It had been 5 years since toeing the line in a 100 Mile race. Going into Leadville, I knew a couple of things...it was going to hurt, it was going to be hard and it would challenge me in ways that I hadn't experienced in a long time. I was prepared for all of that, the pain, the challenge but what I wasn't prepared for was the puking...that's right, the puking. It got me and it got me early....2.5hrs early. I didn't do anything I hadn't done on long training runs or even in other races that I ran to help prepare me for Leadville and it happened SO early that you can't blame it on lack of fitness...I hadn't even really gotten to test my fitness at this point. And just to be clear, I'm ok with puking...later in a race, I almost expect it... but in the first couple hours...that was just hard to deal with. The reason it was so hard is after many hours of it, I started to deteriorate, I had no energy, my mind weakened, my body weakened and my race became a suffer-fest to the end. Here's how it went down...

The weeks leading up to the race were pretty stressful, not because of the race itself but, more because I felt a struggle at home with balancing my passion for running and training and keeping members of the family happy. I had to be careful not to talk about Leadville too much and I needed to make sure my training was done when it would least affect others so I could be present. If you are not an ultrarunner it may be hard to understand our passion for the sport. To me, it is part of who I am...I love running and I love how fun and exciting ultra running is but I also understand that it is not for everyone...just like baseball isn't for everyone. I only mention this because when preparing for a 100 you really need to be in the right mindset and I don't think I went into this race at my best.

modeling the CTS buff in her own way

Addie and I got to Leadville on Thursday with a friend Samantha Wood, and by the way, she ended up placing 3rd Place Female behind Magda Boulet and Cat Bradley...so pretty damn impressive! So happy for her. On Friday, my crew all got into town...so once everyone was there we had a team meeting at my hotel room. My team consisted of some pretty awesome people. I had Amanda Pevoteaux as the Crew Chief/Pacer,  and pacers Chris Sipe (who had just finished the Western States 100), and Josh Holer (local runner and also 2020 Western States runner). My Coach, Adam St. Pierre also swung by to tell us how it should all go down. My pacers would run in front, block oncoming traffic, be the ones to tell others they are doing great and allow me to just do my thing and run.

Pacers Chris and Josh

Prerace meeting

Headed out of Outward Bound

I thought I was fit, I thought I had done the training and I thought my race would turn out a different way. But, As I mentioned before, I knew pretty early on that things were NOT going to plan. My friend Brooks and I were running together for the first 5ish miles but I had to let him go as I had to stop for a potty break...no big deal I thought, I'm sure I'll catch back up...then I had to stop again and finally a third time. Ugh, this bothered me as I could see so many runners passing me by while I handled my business in the bushes. I arrived at the first Aid Station May Queen and didn't stop as I had everything I needed with me. I was running well but my stomach just didn't feel right. As I was running on the Powerline section I had to stop and puke...oh no, I thought, this is too early for that! Once I stopped I got back to running and Dave Mackey was next to me. I told him how awesome I thought he was and that I had really enjoyed hearing him speak about his accident at the Colorado Running Company. He asked me how I was doing and I told him that I just finished puking so I'm not sure...that's when he said well, it probably won't be the last time today...and boy was he right. I was running on pace or a little ahead when I got to the Aid Station Outward Bound. I informed my team of how I was feeling...my coach told me to "slow the F down" and they sent me on my way. I didn't feel like I was running too fast, it didn't feel like my stomach issues were because I was pushing too hard.

Probably telling me to slow the F down

Leaving Twin Lakes for Hope Pass

I took it fairly easy on the next section but still had bouts of nausea...my stomach just felt like the food wasn't digesting at all. I say this because of the sloshing I felt and because of the amount of liquid food that was coming up...it was a lot! When I got to Twin Lakes, my crew was there waiting and they worked me like a racecar in pit stop...they made sure I had everything I needed (which was amazing) and sent me on my way. I ran through the marshy section, trudged through the stream crossings and started hiking once I started the climb up to Hope Pass. I felt good, I passed people on the way up to include 6 women (Yes, I was counting). When I got to the Hope Pass Aid Station, I didn't stay too long, I sipped a cup of Ramen and then continued up the Pass for another 3/4 of a mile before descending down the other side to Winfield. I was feeling pretty good at this point and thought things were turning around until about 4 miles later the vomiting returned. When I got to Winfield, I started to feel it. I started to feel the loss of nutrition... I know this because my mind had suddenly taken a turn down negative-lane. I was starting to doubt if I could continue feeling the way I was. I was happy to see my pacer Chris who was donning the best pacer outfit ever...a pair of short shorts that were Mexican themed with what I think were tacos (if I'm remembering correctly) and a matching tank. At the time, all I could say was "wow, those are great"...It was hard to really appreciate how fun they were with how bad I was feeling! My coach was also there at Winfield and dumped a bunch of cold water and ice on me...he gave me some words of encouragement and sent me on on my way with Chris leading us out and holding some soup and chips for me. As we made the climb back up lots of people gave Chris props for his fun pacer outfit...I was glad someone was showing him the appreciation because I felt so bad I'm not sure I really said much to him.

Smiling because the worst was over
(or so I thought)...back to Twin Lakes

As we continued up to Hope Pass, I was continuing to feel rough...I was moving very slowly and had some more vomit sessions...when we got to the top, I sat down for a second while Chris got me some ramen and crackers. I sipped and ate the crackers and then we were on the way. He told me after a few minutes of letting the food settle we should pick up the pace. This solidified that fact that things were not looking good for me...normally, I love bombing it down mountains but at this point all I could do I was shuffle down...my stomach bouncing and sloshing with each step. When we got back to Twin Lakes, my crew was there along with Coach Duncan Callahan who is a previous Leadville winner (twice). I was having another low mental moment and I needed to hear that I could do it. I just remember saying that it seemed impossible...another 40 miles at that point!!! After about 10 mins I was on my way with a new pacer, Amanda. I knew she was looking forward to having some fun with me so I felt bad that I was not going to be able to give her the experience she was hoping to have. Not only was I struggling with not being able to keep any food down but I was also dealing with not being able to breathe properly...this happens to me in long races...after a while, I feel so congested and have a shortness of breath. Amanda tried to get me to take deeper breaths but when I did it would trigger coughing. It was so nice to have her with me because I felt like poo. I felt so bad physically that I couldn't help but be a Negative Nancy at this point...which I really didn't want to do. I wanted to be happy even if I was suffering but this just felt different. I still couldn't keep food down which made me feel so drained of energy that my mind weakened. Amanda led us back to Outward Bound Aid station...And, I guess I was a little loopy because after the race Amanda mentioned that the green reflective lights that I saw near the road were not, in fact moving like I had expressed. She also thought it was funny that for whatever reason when she said we were pretty close to the Aid Station I had asked who was going to be there...kind of a weird question when I knew all along who was going to be there. My mind was just not working right!

At Outward Bound my pacers swapped out. I picked up Josh Holer...poor Josh because the next 25 miles took us 7 hours!!! I complained, whined, apologized for being so slow...I asked to nap, to quit, I asked him to stop asking me to eat. He was just doing his job as a pacer but I was so sick of puking that I didn't want to put another thing in my mouth. I'm not sure if I said it or was just thinking it but I think I told him something along the lines that he had no idea how bad I felt and that if he did he would stop nagging me...it was probably just a thought because he's still talking to me which means I most likely didn't say it out loud!

28:01:22

The morning hours seemed to tick by in slow motion, the final climb went on forever and I only ran (more like a shuffle) when Josh would tell me to. He would point to a place on the side of the road, see that rock, run to there and then we can walk...see that sign, run to that and then we walk...he did this and I would do what he asked but it was definitely not a run...I felt like I couldn't physically bend my legs in a way that would allow me to run so I just did what I could. I moved forward. As I was about to round the corner for the final climb to the finish line my coach drove up, slammed the car in park, jumped out and gave me some final words of encouragement...he told me if he opened the dictionary to tough, my picture would be there...that made me feel super happy even though I may not have shown it. I finished the Leadville 100 with my crew and family beside me in 28:01:22, 4 hours longer than I wanted it to. I am not stoked about my time but I am so proud that I stuck it out and crossed that finish line. 100's are hard...so much can go wrong, it's not all about checking every block, things can happen that shake up your plan but it's about pushing on through the darkness, it's about friends that help you on your journey, it's about community and it's about finding things out about yourself that you can't in those moments when you are sitting on your couch watching a movie. You have to DIG DEEP in 100's and that's what I did. I didn't do it alone, if it wasn't for my crew, pacers, and coach, I may not be able to call myself  Leadville 100 finisher!

Best crew ever!

Crewing and Pacing Western States 100

Western States...we all know this as one of the most prestigious ultramarathons in the USA and the grandfather of trail ultras in the world. Each year, thousands of people try to get in through the lottery, some by obtaining a golden ticket which they win by placing in the top 2 positions at a select number of difficult races. However, every year only 369 people are lucky enough to run in this race. But that doesn’t mean it’s small or that it is any less competitive than say, a race that has thousands of runners running. Actually, some would argue that it is even more competitive because of those that run in this race range from the super fast elite to the seasoned ultrarunners with thousands of miles on their feet. Both are forces to be reckoned with! My point is, people who get in generally know what the hell they are doing and don’t take the race lightly!

Like last year, I knew I was going back to this race to crew. I originally thought that I would just help out with the CTS athletes. I had so much fun last year and enjoyed helping so much that I knew I wanted to do it again. So when a running friend I knew from Finland asked me if I would be his crew chief, I, of course, said yes. He was number 13 on the waitlist and based off of previous years, we knew that meant he was going to get in. It was only 3 weeks prior to the race that he knew for sure though when his name was pulled from the waitlist and he was a confirmed runner in Western States. It was a little after this when Jukka was contacted by another guy who is originally from Finland but has been residing in San Francisco since attending university many years ago (sorry Risto, I assumed it was many). Risto saw that a guy from Finland got off the waitlist and he wanted to help his fellow countryman out so asked to be part of our crew. It was a perfect and much-needed addition to the team and would allow me to not only crew but also pace. There were so many things that happened around this trip that was serendipitous - the first was that at the same time I was messaging Jukka to see if I could pace as well as crew, Jukka’s other pacer who was originally going to pace the entire 2nd Half of the race was emailing Jukka saying he would only be able to pace until Rucky Chucky. So it worked out perfectly...Will Cooper would pace from Foresthill to Rucky Chucky and I would pace from Rucky Chucky to the finish. Since I was bringing Addie along with me I hired a babysitter. Ellery is an 18-year-old about to head off for university and agreed to come along and help me for the trip during the times that I would be preoccupied. The plan was for Risto and the kids head to Auburn after leaving Foresthill. Will would pace Jukka and I would take Will’s car to Rucky Chucky so he would have it when he finished his pacing duties. This was all ironed out a couple days before the race.

Me after winning the
Altra Uphill Challenge

Two days before the Western States race, Jukka mentioned to me that there was a race for anyone who wanted to join on Friday morning at 10am and that I should run it. He said that was an uphill race called the Altra Uphill Challenge and that it was only 6km. I was not aware of this event until they mentioned it so I wasn’t sure if I would want to run it last minute but the morning of the race, which was the day before Western States I messaged my coach and asked if I could do it...his response was “yes, win it”. So a couple hours later I toed the line and what do you know, I did! It was so much fun and I won $100 gift certificate at Altra and a Suunto 9 GPS watch...I believe this to be the second stroke of serendipity as this was not even on my radar but ended rather well for me!

Sunset the night before the
race at Robinson Flat

Addie and I snuggling
in the tent

After the race and a quick meeting with Team Jukka crew, Addie, Ellery and I met up with Jason and Liz Koop as well as a guy from our area named Josh in Foresthill and we all carpooled to the first aid station where we would meet and crew for the runners - Robinson Flat. After last years crazy adventure down the road to Deliverance, I thought it would be best to follow people who really knew how to get there. We got to Robinson Flat a couple hours before dark, met up with John Fitzgerald, who is also a CTS coach as well as Stephanie Howe. We all ate our dinner and fell asleep in our tents or in Stephanie’s case, a kickass van so that we could rise early for Western States race-day. It was a super cold night especially for late June but I was lucky because I had Addie to snuggle with and she’s always so warm! 

Addie and Liz being cute

Team Jukka at Robinson Flat

A quick pic with Mr. Bill
(Previous RF Aid Station Captian)

The next morning we set up our support area right after the Robinson Flat aid station tent and waited for our runners to come through. This aid station is fun because the front runners come flying in...very exciting to spectate. I find it inspiring to watch the front runners putting themselves out there and really giving this race all they've got. I find it even more inspiring to see the mid and back of the packers doing the same, giving it all they've got. Since everyone in our little group had their own runners they were supporting things started to thin out as the morning went on. Since we were Jukka’s crew, we had to wait for him to come through Robinson Flat which happened to be around 12:30pm. 

Team Jukka at Foresthill

Once Jukka left Robinson Flat, Ellery, Addie and I got in our car and headed to Foresthill. Risto and Jon also drove in their car and met us for “linner” (lunch and dinner) at Maker’s, which was a restaurant with bar food options...nice and greasy, just what we needed after a long morning of standing out in the sun. Shortly after getting to the restaurant, Will joined us. The whole crew was finally all together. After we ate, we found a spot on the ground and watched runner after runner pass through. It was fun to cheer everyone on and see how the different athletes were looking. 
We had gotten word that the lead woman, Courtney had dropped, Clare had moved up and CTS athlete Kaci had jumped to third place. We also saw Amanda and her man Zach walking in the opposite direction of the course on their way to drop from the race. So much was happening in the woman's race at this point and it was very exciting! At around 10:30pm Jukka came through Foresthill aid station. When he came into the aid station he was feeling really low, so low he fell to the ground and was a little out of it when asked a couple questions by the medical staff. Will had just picked him up as his pacer right before Foresthill and by the sounds of how Jukka looked and felt we all kind of thought, his race might have been over. But Will did what a good pacer does and he told Jukka to EAT and before we knew it, Jukka was back and ready to go! 

After Jukka and Will left Foresthill we all left for our next stations...Risto, Ellery, Jon (Jukka’s 16-year-old son) and Addie headed to Placer High School while I went to Rucky Chucky. The plan was that I would go there and catch some sleep in the back of Will’s car and that I should be ready to pace 30 mins before the 30hr cutoff since Jukka was getting closer and closer to the 30 hr cutoff....actually when they left Foresthill they were only 15 mins ahead of it. At Rucky Chucky I set my alarm for 3am the fell asleep somewhere around 11:30pm however with the excitement of the race, I woke up on my own at 2:30am. I immediately grabbed my phone to see the last checkpoint they had passed through and it showed Cal 2, this meant they had one more aid station, Cal 3 to pass through before Rucky Chucky. I kept refreshing the timing website but it kept showing Cal 2 as their last aid station. A number of things went through my head such as, maybe they are moving really slowly (since he was looking so bad at Foresthill), or maybe they dropped, or maybe the website didn’t pick up their last aid station passing. At 3am I decided just to head down to the pickup point which is near the river crossing. I saw that there was a bus that ran every 15mins so I got out of the warm car and headed to wait at the cold “bus stop”. For whatever reason this bus did not come within 15 mins of the last bus - it was more like 20+ mins. But since I was expecting to have to wait for them, it didn’t really bother me that I had to wait a little longer for the bus. When it stopped, I jumped on and took the ride to the river. When I got off, I thought about using the toilet since I had to pee but for whatever reason, the third serendipitous thing happened. I kept walking to the aid station, passing the bathrooms and when I did, I saw Will! He was going through his bag which was on a table and I yelled: “Will, what are you doing here already?!” He said, “hey, tell Gordy you are here!” I then said “ok, here are your keys” holding them up to Will’s face. He didn’t grab them at first because he looked over at Gordy, yes THE Gordy Ainsleigh and said: “hey, she’s here!”...I said “Will, the Keys!” shaking them so he would take them. As he grabbed the keys from me he said: “tell Gordy you are here and will pace Jukka”. As I was about to head down the stairs, I saw Jukka at the bottom getting a life vest on and Gordy was at the top about to head down. I patted Gordy on the shoulder and I said: “I’m here”. I didn’t realize until we were in the boat, crossing the river that Gordy was going to pace Jukka! I apologized and tried to explain what had happened. Jukka said he was just glad it worked out. I then apologized for showing up because how cool of a story would that have been to have Gordy Ainsleigh pace you to a Western States finish?!?! Jukka agreed but was happy I showed up just in the nick of time!

Sunday morning sunrise
before ALT aid station

As the morning hours ticked by I really had to remind Jukka to eat and drink. I had to be a little tough at times and told him if he wanted to make the cutoff and get that belt buckle he needed to get in enough nutrition. So I paid attention to the time and reminded him every 30 mins. I also had to make him run when I knew he was hurting - I felt a little bad at times but we were so close to the 30hr cutoff that we didn’t have a lot of time to play with. Everyone says it’s all runnable after Foresthill, those people are crazy! Sure, there are lost of rolling sections, flat and descents but there was also some good sized hills that we had to climb! Jukka couldn’t run the hills, I remember I ran a little tiny climb and he said, “I thought you said we weren’t going to run the hills”. I had to remember he was coming at these little climbs with 80+miles already and I was fresh! We had fun though, I tried to talk a little about other things to keep his mind occupied.

Dean being awesome and taking
a quick pic with Jukka

Right before daybreak, we ran by some runners and in a small group. One guy was in the middle of the trail bent over stretching his legs. As I went to go around him, I looked up at the voice who was politely asking us to go around the guy cramping up, and I noticed that voice was Dean Karnazes. So I yelled out “Dean!” I then said hey “this is my runner, Jukka, he’s a big fan, do you think I could get your photo?!” Dean said “of course” and then he thanked me. He said, “hey, that was super cool of you” and then something along the lines of some people not liking him as much.  That’s when I said “well, I don’t know about that, you are the reason MOST of us are here!” That’s when I had to remind Jukka that we had a cutoff to chase and we took off. 

Later in the morning it really started to heat up. I kept reminding Jukka to drink and eat and encouraged him to run every chance we got. He never really complained. He just did what I asked. After we crossed No Hands Bridge I could tell it was really hard for him. At one point he said he felt nauseous so I told him to puke - sometimes as a runner, you feel you need to try and hold it in but what I’ve come to realize is once you get it out you feel so much better! Plus, I knew that if he puked whatever it was making him feel so bad, we only had less than 2 miles to go so it would not have been the end of the world. After he said he wasn’t able to vomit, I told him to just keep going then...no time to waste! As we crossed a little stream I told him to get wet, wet his hat and splash water on him as best he could. I could tell he couldn’t really bend over well so I helped him out. As a pacer, it’s your job to get the runner to the finish line in whatever goal they have set. We were meeting his goal of finishing but we weren’t quite there yet. As I started to pick up the pace on a flat-ish section he said I think we can just walk to the finish but that’s when I had to remind him of the time and how close we were to the 30-hour cutoff. We passed through the last little aid station and I remember telling him, this is it, just one more little hill but what I didn’t know is that little hill just kept on going...it wasn’t anything crazy but at mile 99 of your run, a little hill can seem like a 14er! It wasn’t long before we could see the track and Jukka was running to his Western States finish in the Golden Hour. 

It was such a special and fun experience - I loved pacing...I think I will continue to pace until I get in the race myself. The course seems like it would really suit me well and oh my gosh, coming into the neighborhood and stepping on the track was sooooo much fun! I freakin’ loved it! Western States is definitely something special! Congratulations to all the runners who gave it a shot, whether or not you finished...be proud you were able to get there. And to all those amazing runners who keep kicking butt year after year...you are something special!

Thank you to team Jukka for all that you did to help get him to the finish. As Jukka and I joked on course...Finnish guys/gals Finish!

Gettin’ Down and Dirty at the Dirty 30

Really happy with how my Golden Gate Dirty 30 race went yesterday. At this race, you could choose the time you start based on the time you expect to finish. Since I was shooting for a 6:18-6:30 I started at 8am which meant I was with the really fast peeps! We all started off pretty fast considering we immediately started going up a decent sized climb. After a couple miles I decided if I were going to have a good day I just needed to do my own thing and slow it down a bit up the climbs....which meant I let a lot of people pass me. I think I may have been last in that group, as I passed the first aid station without stopping, I looked back and couldn’t see anyone behind me. 

At one of the intersections, a woman told me I was in 10th place but I tried not to be concerned with it and just did my thing. The course was so pretty so I made sure that I enjoyed the trail time! It was also a really rocky course so it took a lot of concentration not to fall. At this point, I was in my groove and started passing people that were in the 7 hour start time and then some that started with me at 8am. I passed a couple girls that I thought started at my time which meant I was moving up in the field. As I passed one woman that had started with me, I told her to come with me and I asked where she was from, what she was training for....we ran the sketchy section together and all the way to the 17mile checkpoint. I was in and out of there in about a minute. I looked for her before leaving and was going to see if she still wanted to come with me and continue to share some miles but I didn’t see her and didn’t want to waste time so I just took off. On my way out I saw Courtney Dauwalter cheering folks on and got a high five from her. 

We immediately hit another climb so I made sure to eat my nutrition (M&M’s) on the way up since I didn’t really spend much time at the aid station. It felt good to pass people on the uphills and even better to reel them in on the downhills. I love downhill running because I just go for it. It’s more technical running where you have to fast turnover. It takes a lot of concentration because you are always looking ahead and acting fast on your feet!

On the last BIG climb up to Windy Peak, I saw two of my friends Sam and Melissa. They were a little ahead of me on the climb - on the way down I passed but soon after Sam came with me and since she too is a really really strong downhill runner she got in front and led us to the finish. There was a woman in front of her that I had passed a little earlier in the race but then she passed me again but that I had my eye on. I wanted to pass her and it was like Sam read my mind because right at the last corner Sam stepped off and let me go by and I was right on that woman’s heals, I asked to pass and she said there was no room so as soon as we got on the flat ground with the finish line ahead of us, I kicked it in and put 5 seconds on her for a 7th place finish! I kind of felt bad passing her in the end but we had been back and forth already and after all, it is a race. 

Pic Cred: Wendy Stalnaker 

Overall it was a really good day, no stomach issues, no real breathing issues...and I just felt strong! It was fun afterward too because we had a lot of friends there :) Good times!

Pic cred: Bj Howell

Pic Cred: Melissa Renee

Pic Cred: Wendy Stalnaker

Race stats:

32.2 miles

7250ft of Vertical Gain

6:37:40hrs

7th Place woman/2nd Age-group