The Leadville Marathon

            The Leadville marathon, round 2.  This is my second year running the race and my single goal was to crush my time from last year.  I will spare the details about the massive climbs, sketchy downhills, and hailstorm I got caught in at 12,000 ft because I want to write something more personal about this race.  I finished 40 minutes and 135 places better than last year, so my goal was accomplished and I was high on life when I came across the line.

Distance: 26.2 mi

Elevation Gain: 6,300 ft

Time: 5:47

            Exactly one year ago, I ran the Leadville marathon as my first marathon ever.  Due to it’s location and terrain, it is one of the most difficult marathons in the country and probably not one for a virgin marathoner.  I trained for several months leading up to the race and hoped I would at least be able to finish by the allotted 8.5-hour cutoff time.  What happened that day is difficult to describe.  There are not many moments in life when you can look around and say to yourself, “Wow, I DID IT”.  The closest thing I could describe it to would be graduation, when all your hard work, blood, sweat and tears comes to fruition at one moment.  When I crossed the finish line last year, I proved to myself that I could conquer the most insurmountable challenge I’ve ever stepped up against.  7 months earlier, I would have never imagined, nor wanted to run a marathon because I thought it was too difficult and not in my cards.  Throughout my training, I remembered something my high school principal told us.  “The saddest thing I hear seniors say is ‘I wonder what it would have been like if’… If I tried out for the team, if I took that class, if I ran for school president.  Everybody says why me, why should I do it?  The better question is, why not YOU?”  I took on the marathon challenge just to say screw it and give it what I had, just to see what would happen.  The experience taught me what I was truly capable of, far beyond my preconceived notion of what I thought my limitations were.  It’s moments like that you really feel alive and that was the moment I caught the running bug.  I had originally planned on running the marathon and calling it a day because running hadn’t infected my life yet.  But the trail running bug became like a virus to me.  Those who have an outbreak show obvious signs and become incredibly contagious to those around them.  Sometimes it flares up, other times it remains dormant, but like a virus, you will have it until the day you die.  I this it’s the best virus floating around out there.  It has a way of bringing out camaraderie and altruism in those it infects, not the dogfight we see too often amongst ourselves everyday.

The unique thing about trail races compared to many other sports is the amount of respect given to every runner who lines up and finishes the race.  It didn’t matter that I had lost to the winner by over an hour.  The uproar of the crowd at the finish makes every runner recognize that they have just conquered something truly special.  I am lucky to have the opportunity to run through the greatest mountains in the country and I hope that my experience has sparked an idea for someone to take on a crazy challenge, whether at work, at a competition, or in a relationship.  The lessons I have learned from running transcend all facets of my life and, I believe, have made me a better person.  If you’re reading this, I hope you take a chance with something one day and put your whole self in, because you might just surprise yourself.  Maybe you don’t know what to do, but the best time to start is the end of this paragraph.  Good luck!

A few of my close training and racing partners