"Are you Nate's Wife?" - 2015 Leadville 100

"Are you Nate's wife?" guest blog (within a blog) Grand Slam series: Volume 3 - Leadville 100!

Whew! Halfway finished and a five week break between races?!? That felt almost like a vacation! Except for the tiny little nagging thing that took shape in the form of Nathan's achilles injury from Vermont. 
When we returned from VT Nathan could hardly walk and the future of the last half of the Grand Slam races was questionable, to say the least. I don't think he ever really thought that we wouldn't go to Leadville - but I certainly did. I mean, how could he go do something as difficult as run 100 miles when it took him 10 minutes to cross the street? Well, let me tell you that it came down to one week before we were supposed to leave before I was convinced he was healthy enough to attempt Leadville. He came home from a 12+ mile run on that Saturday morning and said his achilles hadn't hurt during his run, so I went right then and bought our tickets! And boy am I glad that we did!

This trip to Colorado has been my favorite GS trip so far! I had only ever been to Colorado in the winter and was really looking forward to getting to see it in the summer. It did not disappoint. 
Living at an elevation of 680 ft. above sea level and going to an elevation of 10,200 ft. without getting altitude sickness can be quite the challenge. Thankfully my FIL had a wonderful plan set out for us and other than a few headaches in the bunch I am happy to report that no one ended up with altitude sickness. Our plan was to spend two nights in Estes Park (elevation 7,522 ft) and one night in Silverthorne (elevation 8,730 ft) before heading up to Leadville. 

Our hotel in Estes Park was only about 0.5 mile from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park and on Sunday we drove the narrow and curvy road up to the Alpine Visitors Center (elevation 11,796 ft) where we had lunch and enjoyed the views. (Except for our poor Heidi who got car sick on the way up and did not enjoy any part of that trip.)

Top of Alpine Visitors Center

The many faces of a car sick Heidi

On Monday morning we left Estes Park and made our way to Silverthorne, CO. Nathan had spent a winter season working in Keystone years ago so it was nice to take the girls and walk through the village. We tried to take the girls up in the Gondola to the top (for some more altitude training) but a storm came blowing through and they wouldn't do anymore rides for the day. 

Tuesday morning we loaded our things into the car and headed to Leadville. Our friend, and Rock Creek Race Director, Brian Costilow and his family were so awesome and let us rent their house in Leadville for the week! It was perfect for us - 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and only 3 blocks to the Start/Finish! (Not to mention the playground park for the kids at the other end of the block - where we spent a lot of time!) We spent the next few days walking and exploring the town and going on the famous Leadville train ride! It was probably my most favorite thing we did!

On Friday we went to the Race Expo and got to visit with some of the other Grand Slam runners before the mandatory race meeting. We stayed for the Crew meeting afterward (mostly because I wanted to) and got some good tips for the course. My favorite tip that I actually put to use was to get some index cards and make a card for each aid station so that the Crew could remember to grab all the things that he may need or want! I will definitely be using these in the future!! 
That night we had a delicious dinner of homemade turkey meatballs, mashed potatoes, and vegis before heading off to an early bed!

Race Day is finally here!
Woo! Those 4:00am race starts come way too quickly! Thankfully being so close to the race start allowed us to sleep in just a tiny bit later! I came down the stairs, put my coat on, and we were pretty much out the door walking to the start. Joshua Holmes (fellow Grand Slammer and $lam Water finisher) had come that morning and was going to be leaving his car at the house and then coming back and showering/resting after the race before the awards ceremony and it was nice to get to visit with him on the warm up walk to the start. 
The Start line had lots of energy with plenty of family and friends cheering on from the stands and the side of the shoot. Nathan & Josh made their way towards the front and I got into position to get the 10 second countdown (I have a video from each of the races so far) and with the traditional Leadville shotgun blast they were off! 

In the months leading up to Leadville I had reached out to Brian for crewing advice and he pointed me in the direction of his sister, Kay. She had crewed him for 10 Leadville races and she is the Leadville crewing Queen! She was so amazing and sent me a wonderful email chock full of information and tips about the aid stations and what worked for them in the past. Thanks to her we knew to avoid May Queen-Outbound like the plague and head back to the house to get ready for our day! 

So while my wonderful Mother (and best Gramma ever, seriously) stayed at the house with the girls so that they could keep sleeping... Dennis (Nathan's Dad) and I headed out to the Outward Bound aid station (mile 24.5) just before the sun came up! 
The aid station was set in a field this year and it was really easy to crew. They had plenty of parking in a big open field and a large section marked off just for the Crewing Zone! 

The Sunrise hitting the mountains at the Outward Bound aid station

It was easy to watch for Nathan coming down the road into the aid station and we were able to get some nice people whose runner had not come in yet to let us move in front of them to be able to assist him better. He was looking and feeling good so we refilled his supplies and he was out of there!

We packed up our things and decided to head straight over to the Twin Lakes aid station (mile 39.5) to find a parking spot. They were not allowing you to park in the town this year and were supposed to be shuttling people in. My mom and the girls met us at this aid station and even though we were parked right by where the shuttle pick up was we never saw it and had to walk the 0.5-0.75 miles into the town. Yes, Twin Lakes is a town. Granted, a very tiny town. We found a spot close to where they jump back on the trail off of the paved road through town and set in to wait. Like I've said before, my FIL is amazing at figuring out Nathan's pace and calculating when we should expect for him to come in, so when it got close to time I walked up the hill and around the corner to meet him where he comes off the trail. I waited and started getting anxious thinking he should've been in already. I swear in the future that I am not going to wait to meet him at another aid station like that, because every time that I do I swear he comes in feeling like crap. Which is exactly what happened. He was walking and said that he hadn't thrown up but that he felt really awful and hadn't eaten much since we saw him at the last aid station. Crap. I see why most people drop at this aid station... because they feel like Nathan felt and still know that the hardest part of the race, Hope Pass, is staring them right in the face. Well, if we've learned anything from the last two races it's that Nathan isn't a quitter and so even though he felt lousy he pressed on to the mountain that was before him. 

 

Now the worry starts to set in. I prayed a lot on our way to Winfield. Prayers that his stomach would settle so that he could eat, prayers to give him the energy he needs to climb up and over Hope Pass, and most importantly just to deliver him back to me safely.

Leadville is an out and back race and Winfield (mile 50) is the turn around point. A lot of Crews don't go to Winfield and I can see why. The dirt road leading up to it has ruts so big you can lose a car in them. Once the first runner hits the road in Winfield then they stop allowing cars all the way up to the field at the top and they start parking you on the side of the road and you have to walk in.

Our backpacks were heavy and the oxygen was low as we made our way to find a spot in the grass and wait. This was also the place where the pacers could start running and I got some good entertainment "people watching" all of the nervous pacers waiting for their runners.

From where we were sitting you could just barely see the runners as they came down the road and Nathan was easier to spot because of his orange R/C shirt and yellow-green shorts. So as soon as I saw what I thought was him I ran down the road to meet and walk in with him. He said that he had thrown up a few times after he had left us and again up and over Hope Pass. We made a quick pass through the aid station for some fruit and went to meet Dennis. As soon as Nathan sat on the ground any of the fruit that he had decided to eat came back up - time to get moving - so Dennis and I made quick work of refilling his pack, changing his shirt, and making some ramen for him to carry with him. 

I walked with him down the road and told him over and over again how proud I was of him and how he's got this. I tried to remind him to smile because it magically changes your entire attitude! When he was about to get back on the trail I wrapped his jimbo bandana full of ice (it gets hot at 12,600 ft) on his neck and a told him I would be waiting for him in Twin Lakes!

Dennis and I made the trek back down to the car and down the rut-ridden road back to Twin Lakes (mile 60.5). We ended up getting a sweet parking spot right in the middle of town and it was nice to not have to carry our stuff far to get set up. My Mom & the girls brought us some dinner from High Mountain Pizza and I wish I had had more of an appetite because the 2-3 bites that I had were really good! I also grabbed some cokes and such from the tiny little store in town, Pass Gas, and giggled to myself like a 5 year old. 

 

It was just before dusk as Nathan made his way to us and when I finally saw him he was actually jogging which totally lifted my heart! He got to where we were set up and we changed out his socks and shoes, refilled his nutrition (aka: coke and perpetuem), and stuffed his pack with warmer clothes and his headlamp since it was about to get dark and cold. He had originally planned on switching to his other pack and ditching his poles at this point, but with some more climbs coming he made a good choice and decided to keep them! I walked with him up the road until he got back on the trail and may have tried to guilt him a little with reminding him that he would get to run with me in 2 more crew aid stations!

After we left Twin Lakes we had to swing back by the house in Leadville to get a few things. I took the opportunity to take a quick 30 minute rest on the couch as the girls climbed all over me and told me all about their day. I also felt super guilty because here I was laying on the warm couch and Nathan was out pushing through miles in the cold dark. 

Once we got the text that he had come through the Half Pipe aid station (non-crew) then we gathered our jackets and headed back out to Outward Bound (mile 75.5). Before we left I had changed into my running clothes and then put my other clothes back on and I was thankful for the extra layer because it had gotten cold. By this time the runners are so spread out that there was plenty of room to find a spot to set up and we didn't have to fight for space.

Headlamps coming across the field

One of my favorite sights of the night came from this aid station as well. The runners came in across the huge field that they went out of that morning and it was so cool to see spots of headlamps coming across the field in the dark! 

"Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path"
Psalm 119:105

Dennis was right on the money again and Nathan came strolling through at about 12:15a. Dennis stepped away for just a minute and almost missed him. He was cold and needed his warmer clothes so I stripped off my warm jacket to wrap him up as we worked to get his clothes on him. Once we got him dressed and drinks refilled I went with him through the aid station and then up the road for about 0.75 of a mile or so. In the aid station he picked up some "mashed potatoes" that were more like mashed potato flavored soup but the few bites he took ended up coming back up once we hit the road. I told him to hang tough because he would get to pick me up at the next aid station to pace for a few miles and that is something that we both have been looking forward to from the beginning of these races. With a quick kiss on the cheek he was off and I headed back to pack up at the aid station.

The drive over to May Queen (mile 86.5) was pretty quick since they allow you to go over the dam on the inbound trips. It was still pretty busy, but nothing like it was that morning I'm sure, and we had a small hike to get to the aid station. It was about 1:30a in the morning now and we weren't expecting him until around 3:30 so we used the spare time for a mediocre attempt at some rest. When it was finally time then we got out of the warm truck and got a nice "warm-up" walk into the aid station. While we were waiting for Nathan I remember looking up at the sky and just being amazed! I had never seen so many stars at once in all my life! You could even see part of the Milky Way! It was the most beautiful sight and I wish I could've gotten a picture of it. It truly was stunning! What an awesome God we have!

Now back to the race... this was going to be my first ever experience pacing and running at night. Until now I had never done either of these things! I was extremely nervous - everyone knows that Nathan is the hare and I am the tortoise in our relationship. But this was also something that he had wanted me to do ever since these races started and something that I hadn't had the chance to do yet. He came jogging down the hill (yay!) and with a quick refill on his coke and perpetuem we were off. It was a 6-ish mile section to the Tabor boat ramp around Turquoise Lake and we had actually run this section earlier in the week so I felt a tiny bit more comfortable. I learned quickly that my headlamp sucks as I easily tripped over every rock and root there was but somehow managed to stay on my feet. When he walked, I walked. When he ran, I ran. In between sucking air I tried to keep a tiny bit of a conversation and the miles flew by! Nathan said he was feeling pretty good and I knew that the next section after this was mostly road and dirt road and I didn't want him to have to wait on me when I knew he just wanted to be done; so I told him to drop me at the boat dock with his Dad and I would just see him at the bottom of 6th street. So before I knew it we were there and I went with Dennis and Nathan took off towards his last few miles. 

I had originally planned to run in from the bottom of 6th Street to the Finish with Nathan but on the short drive over there I started feeling like crap. I was super nauseas and couldn't stop shaking. (Now I know how Nathan felt/feels, blech) I spent most of the time waiting there with my head in my hands trying not to puke all over the car. Finally Nathan crested the hill off of the Boulevard and was looking for me to run with him. I told him I felt awful and that I would just meet him at the Finish. He understood, of course! So Dennis and I booked it up the hill, found a parking spot, met up with Mom & the girls and quickly made our way to the Finish just in time to see him close the last couple hundred yards! He deserved every step of that Finish and I could not be more proud of him! He is truly one remarkable human being that I love so so much!

Coming up from the bottom of 6th Street

I would also like to take this time to say a special Thank You to a few people. Jenny Baker is a beautiful, God-fearing woman and ultrarunner who came up with a wonderful idea to start a Prayer group so that our friends and family could send prayers for Nathan, our crew, and the runners during the race. (As well as provide emotional support to me during the race!) She is a friend that the Lord has recently brought into our lives and He has really blessed us with her and Franklin's friendship!

Also, my amazing sister/best friend, Theresa, who helped set up and organize the time slots for those that wanted to cover a certain time frame in prayer! I love her to the moon!

And lastly, all of the wonderful and amazing friends and family that sent up their prayers during the race. There are too many to list, but they know who they are, and I just want you to know that we felt the prayers during the race and know what a difference they made! You all mean the world to us! 

We are seriously the luckiest! 

#threedownONEtogo