The week after Vermont 100 I realized that two 100-mile races within the previous three weeks had taken their toll on my body. Vermont was the second of four 100-mile races in this quest to complete The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning. The Slam is very similar to a multi-day stage race. Running each stage of the race is a challenge in itself but one of the greatest hurdles to overcome is simply making it to the starting line of each race. Let's be honest, training for a 100-mile run is a challenge, running a 100-miler is difficult and trying to string four 100-milers together over an 11-week span is just grueling.
Like any other runner, I deal with a few little nagging injuries throughout the year. I've got those reoccurring ones that I know exactly what they are when I start to feel a little niggle and know exactly how to deal with it. Then there are the "new" injuries that pop up every now and then that can completely knock the wind out of your sails. I know that my attitude is usually pretty poor when I'm out of commission due to an injury... and Katy can probably vouch for that too. So, a while back I asked God to help me stay positive through injuries and accept the down time as forced rest from above. Don't get me wrong, I still get pretty crabby from time to time but at the end of the day I'm ten times better than before.
So the day after Vermont 100 my Achilles was pretty inflamed but I knew that it would be easily fixed. I've dealt with some Achilles injuries... it was one of my usual nagging injuries... or so I thought. Well, a week after Vermont I was still barely able to walk and my usual recovery methods weren't making any difference. What I thought was just "normal" Achilles tendinitis was actually insertional Achilles tendinitis. I had never heard of it until trying to find out why it felt like there were knives stabbing me on either side of my right heel when I tried to walk. Well, turns out it's pretty serious. I have had plenty of leg issues over the past 5-6 years of running and to date this is the most painful. With only 5 weeks between Vermont 100 finish and Leadville Trail 100 I was already down to 4-weeks and was already eating into my training plan I had laid out for LT100. I was pretty frustrated... I found myself getting upset at the smallest things or snapping at my family/friends for no reason. I did NOT like who I was or how I was acting. Selfishly, I was thinking more about what "I" wanted and not what "God" wanted. In March of this year I had already committed to running the Grand Slam and was dealt an ankle injury at Georgia Death Race. I was pretty bummed then too and had realized at that point that if I was going to have a shot at any of these four 100-mile races it would not be from my own strength and determination but from the Lord's. I remembered, just like in March, that when I quit trying to control every little thing and put my hope and faith in God's plan that I found peace with whatever the outcome was to be. So now, halfway through The Slam I found myself back in a similar predicament and realized that I was focusing on my own goals instead of the Lord's. Like many believers, I know what I should do day-to-day but am easily lead astray and away from God's path.
I've heard many sermons about praying specifically for what is on our hearts and putting all of our faith in God. Now, I don't know about you, but most of the time my heart is filled with my worldly desires and the things that "I" want for myself. I'm not the most Godly person by any means, but I'm pretty sure that's not what was meant in Mathew 21:22 "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
When I think back on some of my best conversations with God and some of the best times of my life they all have one thing in common. They are when I put "MY" wants aside and asked God to simply use me for His glory and to use me to help bring others to His kingdom.
With more focused prayer about the rest of The Slam as well as the other day-to-day things going on with our family I found peace in knowing that God would take care of us just as He always has. If that meant I was to run Leadville then great and if I was done after two races then I was thankful for the experiences He had provided.
Fast forward 3-weeks post Vermont 100 and I was finally able to walk without pain and run with little pain. It wasn't perfect but then again God seems to gain more glory when things seem more impossible. To be clear, I had only run approximately 12-miles over a 3-week span and that wasn't exactly what I had planned for my training before Leadville. But, we could wait no longer to make air travel and lodging plans. So, we put our faith in God that He would use this trip for His glory one way or another and made our travel reservations. It was pretty ironic too... We had talked about making airline reservations on a Friday evening and I told Katy that I was going to go and try an 8-mile run that next morning to see if I had any pain and to just wait to see how that went before making the airline tickets... Low and behold that was my first pain-free run and when I got home to let her know the airline tickets were $50 less each.
My Dad, Stepmother and Jodi (trail dog) left on Friday, August 14th to make the drive out to Estes Park while Katy, the girls and I flew into Denver and drove to Estes Park Saturday, August 15th. We spent Saturday and Sunday night in Estes Park to get a few days at an elevation of ~7,500 feet. Here we visited the Rocky Mountain National Park and enjoyed some of the beautiful mountains this area has to offer.
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| Playing in Rocky Mountain National Park |
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| Rocky Mountain National Park Driving to Alpine Visitor Center |
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| Rocky Mountain Nation Park |
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| Hanging out in the morning sun before heading to Silverthorne, CO |
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| Found some flowers outside of Silverthorne |
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| Keystone Resort |
Tuesday morning we got up and packed the rest of our things to make the 45-minute drive through the mountains to Leadville. The elevation in Leadville is ~10,200 feet above sea level and we wanted to take our time getting there to try and minimize the chances for altitude sickness for all of us and also to allow our bodies to acclimate slowly. |
| Katy & Heidi Hanging out in Leadville |
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| Granddad & Harlow |
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| Leadville Colorado & Southern Railroad |
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| Running around Turquise Lake Trail (~13 & 87 miles) |
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| Twin Lakes (~40 & ~60 miles) |
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| Continental Divide Trail just before Winfield |
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| Winfield (50 miles & turn around point) |
Leadville is an awesome town and I can see why this race brings so many people. You really do feel like you're "racing across the sky." You are sitting at ~10,000 feet and yet you're surrounded by all of these 12,000-14,000 foot peaks. As Del Gue says in Jeremiah Johnson when referencing the Rocky Mountains, "The Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, I ain't never seen 'em but my common sense tells me the Andes is foothills, and the Alps is for children to climb!" and "These here are God's finest sculpturings..." This land really is one of God's greatest treasures on this earth. I am so excited to be able to toe the line on Saturday, August 22 for the 2015 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run. I have had little to no Achilles pain for the past 2-weeks and am thankful for the wonderful family time we've shared this week leading up to the race. I'm 100% certain that no matter what happens in Saturday's race God brought us out here as a family to bring us closer to Him and each other.
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| Leadville |
Mathew 19:26 - "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Until my post race blog,
Nathan D. Holland
2015 Rock/Creek Race Team
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