The Personality for Ultrarunning

“Suffering leads to endurance. Endurance leads to character development. Character development leads to hope.”

When I mention my long distance running exploits to other people the reactions I get are usually some form of incredulity. "I can't even imagine running a marathon not to mention four consecutive marathons!" "I heard that running is bad for you." "I can't even run five miles!" "Do you listen to music or something? It must be so boring running that long." For years I have felt misunderstood in a similar way over many of my activities or accomplishments. Folks just don't understand why I chose the field of Adventure Education or why I climb, backcountry ski, drive long distances with no music, throw myself at projects for months on end, etc. I have always wondered why there are so few who can’t even imagine what it would take to run 50 or 100 miles but I think in my reflections I am starting to understand. Lately, I have come to realize that there is a certain personality that is perfect for ultrarunning and that I naturally have this personality.

I learned several years ago that people believe I am intense. Yes I am. This intensity manifests itself in many ways: focus, attention to detail, and motivation are some of my best qualities that come with intensity. Of course, obsession, high expectations, and stubbornness are some of my biggest weaknesses. Ultrarunning allows me to use my best qualities to my advantage.

I get lots of questions on how I stay motivated to train. That answer is easy. I love to run. The views around Leadville are amazing, the runner's high is so great, and the exploration though running is exciting. As I run I truly forget about the pain and get lost in my own thoughts. Before I know it I have climbed 2000 vertical feet or run 6 miles. I admit that at point sooner or later the pain becomes too intense to ignore, but at that point the focus kicks in. I imagine a finish line of an ultramarathon and focus on it. This gets me through some tough times.

I have also come to realize that bad days running are good for training. "The more I suffer now the less I suffer later" I always say. With running the suffering is never that long anyway. The hills end quickly or my body adjusts to the pace. Truly seeing the positives in a tough run is one of the ways in which I stay motivated. Not many can do this.

At long distance running races there is a cool statistic. Most of the runners are in their late 30s to late 50s. There are a few 20-somethings out there tearing it up but many of the top finishers in any given race are older than 40. They say that ultrarunning events take experience to be successful (however one defines it). It is because the experience allows a person to work on their systems of nutrition, equipment, crewing, pacing, training, etc. In other words experience helps iron out the details. Personally, I have a good ability to plan the details of any given run. This has allowed me to be successful (just by completing two of three races) at a young age. I have used my very little experience wisely and have gleaned a lot of lessons from just three races!

I spent several years trying to change my intensity before realizing that it is just a part of who I am. I now know that I just need to find ways of living who I am. Ultrarunning takes my intensity and uses it to accomplish something. My discovery of running long distances is part of a never-ending process of finding ways of fitting my personality into the world.

Weekly Run Log - Sept. 19-25

09/19/2010: Ran Evans Gulch toward Mosquito Pass. Took the first left on a jeep road up toward Lake Isabelle. The road was loose and steep. I was forced to walk for a couple of minutes. I topped out just above the short descent to the lake and turned around. It might be easier to approach the lake from the other side and descend the steep loose road. :40, 3 miles, 800' vert.

09/23/2010: Made a loop of the road that climbs the basin above the Diamond Mine and the road to Prospect Hill. The headwall of the basin is steep. Would be completely runable in the opposite direction or a good anaerobic workout with a hill-climbing challenge in the direction I ran it today. Knees felt good once I started running. 1:00, 4 miles, 1000' vert.

Not a whole lot of running this week but at least the quality was great. Linking together runs I have done before and exploring were the highlights of the week! I am getting ready to go back to New Hampshire so there will be some old territory to run but at a much lower altitude.

Weekly Totals: 7.0 miles, 1800' vert.

Weekly Run Log - Sept. 12-18

09/12/2010: Ran from Evans Gulch to the basin off (North) of the road to Mosquito Pass. About 40 minutes with 700' vert. Pain moved around. Reminiscent of last spring. No tendonitis in left knee though. Just pain everywhere else so I am not worried. 3.0 miles.

09/14/2010: Evans Gulch 1.5 mile loop. 3B to 38 back to 3. Really enjoyable run. I wanted to continue running but worried about overdoing it. A good decision I feel. :20, 1.5 miles, 200' vert.

09/15/2010: ran down to the Fish Hatchery and back up by way of the longer (eastern) section of the Hatchery's Nature Trail. Ran in my Fivefingers. :15, 1 mile, 100' vert.

09/17/2010: Ran to the first switchback of the Mosquito Pass road from Evans Gulch parking area. Was able to get in the "climbing zone" once more. Awesome longer runs are ahead! :50, 4 miles, 1100' vert.

Totals: 9.5 miles, 2,100' vert.

The Tendonitis seems to be gone. There are residual pains that I seem to remember from last spring so I think they are mostly psychological. My strategy for now is to run and walk at a reasonable level and wait for that one-week period that I will not be able to run (I don't know when but it is coming. I can feel it.) to recuperate fully.

Weekly Run Log - Sept. 05-11

9/09/2010: Parked at the junction of 2b and 2 up California Gulch and walked on 2 until it turned to dirt and then switched back on roads that were questionable as to whether they were public roads. 15 minutes walking then a stretch session. No markings. Ran for 25 minutes after stretching out and back to the same little pullout. Rehab is going well!

09/10/2010: LCing a course at Halfmoon Pass Trailhead in the Holy Cross. Ran 20 minutes total with 400' vert on the Mt. of the Holy Cross Trail (Trail 2009, also called Halfmoon Pass Trail). Short and strenuous and normal pain only!

It was almost three weeks after the 100 that I could run again for short periods without pain (or normal pain anyway) in my joints. I tried running several times within this week but I have aggravated the tendonitis in my left knee every time I tried. I suspect that I could have whittled down my recovery to two weeks if I had just gone out for power walks of various lengths to rehab the knee. Regardless, it is nice to be out running again exploring new areas again.

Memories of Leadville Trail 100: August 21-22, 2010

Intro

It is funny to think that two years ago I was sitting in the fish hatchery aid station thinking about the glory inherent in running the Leadville 100. Though many of the runners were stumbling into the aid station in a zombie-like state they still had family members and friends cheering them to the finish. The following morning I watched many of these zombies come running through the finish line almost completely rejuvenated. The glory was evident on their faces. Now here I am a Leadville finisher and I now know that feeling of glory is better than I could have imagined! Two years of dreaming of my own glory and now I have it! It almost leaves me with a feeling of not knowing where to go from here. Luckily, there are hundreds of other races around the world that interest me! Western States! Hardrock! Here I come!

The Start
Just as I did last year the hundred started for me at local coffee shop, Provin' Grounds. At 4am the gun went off, the feet started to move, and the waypoints started to pass by at a perceptibly faster rate than last year. I made the effort to slow myself down by running behind slow runners and taking pee breaks more often but I arrived at the May Queen a few minutes earlier than last year's split.


The First Long Slog
It’s funny how time passes quickly when one is fully immersed in such a long project. I have found that when running, hiking or driving long distances I get in a headspace that compresses time. The first half of the race passed somewhat quickly: It was great to see the turnout of my Outward Bound “family” at the Fish Hatchery aid station. As I had been running I had imagined all of these funny sayings that I was going to shout as I approached the timing mat. When the time came I just smiled and jogged into and out of the aid station stopping to some snacks only (Brenden was filling my water bottles already!). Upon leaving the Fish Hatchery the flats across to the pipeline were painful (I am a climber not a speedster) and the descent down to Twin Lakes actually felt good compared to last year. These were the highlights of the first 40 miles.


Hope Pass I
Out of Twin Lakes, I crossed Lake Creek for the first time of the out-and-back course. The water froze my legs giving me a short reprieve from the pain before the big 3,250’ climb to the top of Hope Pass. The climb was uneventful and fast (like I said, I am a climber). Hopeless aid station was wonderful with all of the llamas tethered in the field. The amount of supplies required to set up an aid station is pretty great and it was the 30 llamas that had carried the supplies to the aid station planted at 11800’ of elevation. It was one more thing that makes this race unique! The descent from Hope pass was slow going for me. I always descend slowly, taking it easy in the joints. Many of the runners that I had passed on the way up now passed me on the way down but I felt good running it almost entirely down to the Winfield aid station at the halfway point, having built up a 2 hour cushion ahead of the cutoffs! In 12 hours of running I had lost only 1.5 pounds indicating that I was doing a great job of hydrating and eating.


Hope Pass II
From fifty onward I was glad to have pacers. I would have survived without them but it would not have been so fun. Rohan was waiting for me when I arrived at Winfield ready to go. We departed the aid station started the steepest climb of the 100 back up to Hope pass. I walked the entire way at a good pace making it to the top of Hope pass in what I believe was about 2 hours. Rohan was good company, good humor as always. We descended to the "Hopeless" aid station, fueled up and took off at a good pace all the way down to the flats where Lake Creek dumps into the Twin Lakes. It was a painful descent, more than 3,000' long but I gritted my teeth and went for it. The second crossing of Lake Creek was welcome chilling my “undercarriage” once again. I cruised into Twin Lakes just before the sun set fully.

Running Through the Night
Anna (pacing me the next 11 or 12 mile section) and I walked the first section out of the Twin Lakes traveling steeply up a Jeep trail to the Colorado Trail that carried me up and over to the next aid station - Halfmoon II (or is it IV because it is the second time through?). The climb went well as I was feeling strong and I did my best to cruise down to the aid station after cresting the high point of the section. Running on the flats or slight downhills were difficult so I employed the strategy of making small running goals and running to them. It was a great strategy that I used a lot on the run. When we cruised into the aid station I realized that I had lost some time due to excessive talking. A good sign I was enjoying myself but also a sign I needed to speed it up a little. Anna and I didn't dally in the aid station. It was only 4.5 miles to the Treeline crewing area again so we ran as much as we could to make up time.

At the Treeline crewing area we met Judith, Bryan, and Brenden. A quick changeover and we were out again. I was shooting for 1:15 am at Fish Hatchery but the flat, paved road coupled with the long period of time that I had been awake caused me to crash mentally for the first time in the race. I walked more of this section than I had wanted to. Knowing that my sleeping bag was across the field was difficult when Brenden and I passed the end of Outward Bound's driveway. I walked into the Fish Hatchery around 1:30 am.
Katherine paced me for the last long section in the darkness of the night. We started the climb up the Powerlines with a good pace. The pace was good most of the way up but towards the top of Sugarloaf Pass the sleep deprivation was starting to get to me. At the summit I asked Katherine to give me about 12 minutes to take a nap and though it was hard to fall asleep I finally managed somewhat of a doze for 5 minutes. Whatever happened it made it easier to go when Katherine said "Alright Levi. Let's get going." So down we went I tried a run but the road was too loose and we settled for a fast downhill walk.
The final “descent” was the worst part of the section because it felt like we were rising the whole time. While we could see the aid station no more than a half-mile the trail kept traversing and climbing until the sun rose. The trail finally spit us out at the timberline trailhead, a half-mile from the aid station.

The Home Stretch 

Leaving the May Queen, the final aid station, I had a full four hours to make it to the finish line. Not bad, but also not good. I would still need to hustle. Tyler (bringing me in as my final pacer) and I got to work running the singletrack sections as long as we could. We arrived quickly at the Tabor Boat ramp and then the Turquoise Lake road near the dam. The final section to the finish line proved difficult - it kept going and going! We kept getting the updates on how far it was from folks cheering on the side of the road but we didn't seem to be getting any nearer. We continued to run as long as I could manage, passing folks who did not look to be in so good shape. Several times I saw a runner start to wobble to the point where their pacer needed to catch them from falling over. We finally pulled up onto he pavement in town and turned up the final hill of Sixth Street. At the crest of the hill (now one of my favorite places to revisit) it dawned on me how long sixth street is. Katherine and Sam came out to run with Tyler and Myself until the red carpet. Running down the red carpet felt so good. I kept seeing people that I knew and I was stoked to have them there. The glory of that moment is unparalleled in my life. Upon crossing the finishing line (29 hours 28 minutes 49 seconds!) I got the biggest group hug I have ever received from my friends and crew and we moved off to find a spot the chill near the aid tent. I got weighed in at a pound heavier than the start and I decided to go watch the final runners come running in. It was neat to finish of my race day with cheering other runners in. I had gotten to know some folks so I felt good giving them some cheering as they came through the finish. 

Photos by Brenden Goetz (Provin' Grounds) and Judith Robertson (Remainder).

The Starting Line

For several year now I have enjoying writing about my adventures in special journals dedicated to skiing or trail running. I don't know why I hadn't thought of blogging before now. I just makes sense to post my adventures for others to see. I will do my best to present my accounts in an engaging manner!

Perhaps it is because I am introverted by nature but I like to reflect upon my bigger days in my favorite activities. Not only does it provide me with a source of pride to read my memories of my accomplishments but it also provides me with a way of processing these accomplishments to take away the bigger learnings. Each activity that I engage in (Telemark Skiing, Trail Running, Mountain Biking, etc.) requires skill and planning in order to do well. Doing well makes me feel good on many levels and therefore I make every effort to learn about the activity as soon as possible. This generally takes the form of reading and practicing but reflection plays a major part of learning. It pairs the reading and practice to accelerate performance. I will probably be thinking aloud (processing) in many of my posts but I promise to go back and edit out the more boring parts!

For now I will probably typing up old journal entries from past adventures and posting them. I only have a few that I can think of right now that are publish-worthy so I suspect there will be some current "events" posted soon.

So thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy.

Levi