Keeping the Pace

Or is it faith?

I paced K from mile 76 to mile 86.5 of the Leadville 100 mile Trail Run this past weekend. It was fantastic. Which window on the race should I choose to show you? The picturesque scenery? – it was.

From LT100 2009

From LT100 2009

From LT100 2009

The race itself? Anton Krupicka challenged the course record all day, only to drop at 78 miles. Read about it here (no, really – it’s good!). Timmy Parr won in 17hr27min. Lynette Clemons won the women’s race in 20hr58min. The organization of the race, the inner workings of the crew? Complicated and impressive. The state of our runners throughout the race? Well, there were ups and downs, and I’m pretty sure they were tired at the end.
Each of these is a long story. Some of them aren’t really mine to tell.

What struck me about Leadville at the end of the race was the people. The racers. Some, maybe even half, were people like me. Oh, not our people. No, all of them are talented runners. They win overall awards, they set course records – they are talented. Maybe about half the field at Leadville were talented runners. But the rest? The rest were more like me. We’re decent runners, sometimes winning age group awards – especially the women as there are few of us at races. Mostly we don’t win, though. We’re in the top ~30% at races. We train hard, but not as hard as the talented runners. You can’t tell a talented runner from a decent runner by looking – yes, the scrawny arms help, but there are some slow looking fast people, and some fast looking slow people out there. But combine the appearance with the stride and with their focus, and you can make a good guess. There were two people I knew that finished to whom I could relate – no guessing necessary. One finished in 29:50 – she beat me by one minute at the Bandera 50K. The other finished in 27:43 – I beat him at Bandera by 16 minutes. These are people that run like me. It’s not as simple as, “well, if they finished, I’ll finish.” But it does mean that finishing is within my reach. I CAN do it, if I train hard and if the day goes well.

Part of the race that surprised (and haunts) me is the engagement of the RD with the spectators and the runners. Ken Chlouber holds a pep rally for the runners at 4 am – 24hrs before the start of the race. He fires them up, and makes them promise, to swear that they will not quit – they will finish this race. He sends off the race the next day with yet more words of encouragement, and a shotgun. Then, at the finish line as the 30 hour cutoff comes nigh, he turns to the spectators. He points down the course to a hill 1K away that cuts off the view of the course. He explains that runners cresting that hill have to make it to the tape before 30:00. That the runner that crosses the line one-one hundredth of a second over 30 hours will not be an official finisher. Their hard work over the last 30 hours, and over the months and years preceeding this day will not earn them a finish. Then he tells us spectators to make some noise and bring ‘em in. And we did. And runners kept cresting that damn hill, singly and in groups, and we yelled and clapped and stamped, telling them they had to hurry. Hurry, after almost 30 hours, or you won’t make it. They kept coming, even after we were certain that those runners cresting the hill were not going to make it. Yet your heart couldn’t help wanting them to get there. Until finally, Ken Chlouber raised his shotgun again and fired, ending the race at 30 hours on the dot, with runners a mere block away looking him in the eye. I wasn’t the only one to shed a few tears for those runners who were so close.

Two hours later, Ken held the awards ceremony. And he spoke to those that missed the cutoff. “I want all of those who didn’t finish to stand up. I want to talk to you. Two days ago, you stood amongst your fellow competitors, and you made a promise. You promised to finish this race, not to give up, not to fail. Yesterday, you started the Race Across the Sky, and today, you did not finish. The relentless climbs, the heat, the distance, they prevented you from finishing. But you did not fail. That’s right, you can come back, yes, you can – come back and finish what you started. We’ll see you next year.”

If you want to watch live drama, come to Leadville next year.