Subject: Long Day, Short Night and a Long Leadville Report From: "Jay Witherel" Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 11:52:19 -0500 Last weekend I was afforded the opportunity to be a part of the 20th anniversary of the amazing Leadville Trail 100, and let me tell you, it definitely lived up to the legendary status it has earned in the ultra running community. Ken Chlouber started off the final briefing before the run by duly bragging on his event, how it's backed by the entire town and about the people that have bested it over the years. What motivation!!! One guy was even approaching 19 finishes. For those of you who have not experienced it, I highly recommend going in the capacity in which I served if your are not quite tough enough to pull it off yourself. I was among the few to share the absolute best seat in the whole event, as a pacer and crew member for Letha Cruthirds. If you want drama, turn off that soap opera and get training cause you could be in for a real treat like I was. Think about it, over 100 miles (starting in the highest incorporated city in the country) in the mountains going over 12,600' you will experience the highest highs and the lowest lows all while viewing incredible super human efforts, competitive drives and overwhelming determinations. Hey, they even feed you as a pacer!!! The race started on a brisk Saturday morning at 4:00 AM when the only things up were the stars in the sky and the runners on the line, which were as happy and excited as the crews and pacers were to get the show on the trail. The race was on! Some of these people took off like bats out of hell, looking like they were ready to race Michael Johnson and I guess that's how you do it if you're as well trained as a Chad Ricklefs (CR 17 hrs and 23 min)!!! Others, they started conservatively with only the idea of surviving on their minds. As well trained as our North Texas Trail Runner friends and other Texans were, we knew quickly that some would have tough days and struggle in what felt like the awfully thin Lead-filled air of Leadville and the Rocky Mountains, as to be expected. Some, had an incredible first half like Robert Tavernini, some had an amazing second half like Max Roycroft, some were steady the whole day long like Tyler Curiel and Glenn Hamilton. Even some, finished in unbelievable fashion like Letha Cruthirds and Elroy Whitworth ("Last Ass Over the Pass.") On the whole, we were very blessed to show as well as we did for a bunch of Southwest flatlanders. I was lucky to share in the pacing duties with Mark Dick (Wasatch bound) and "Big" Jay Norman (my hero) as we were driven point to point by the great Chuck Chandonia as we pulled for Letha. Our pacing day started at the 50 mile mark in Winfield as Joe Prusaitis and I awaited our friends and looked closely at our watches expecting the likes of Letha, Britt Starnes and Rick Gastelum, having already seen Butch Allmon and many others. This was a pretty tense time not knowing how our buddies fared over the feared Hope Pass, all we could do was "hope" and "pass" the time while "pacing" about. Any minute, any minute, any minute. Talk about excitement, I could barely contain myself as the spectator in front of me offered up her binoculars so I could cool my heels. It almost worked too as I was truly geared up! The next thing I know, here comes this woman whose face was covered in blood and dust from a nasty spill on Hope Pass being herded to the medical tent for a rinse and a drink. Had she not toughed it out and hurried down like nothing had happened, she certainly would have missed the cutoff as many people did. This was the place where the "DNF" numbers really started racking up, hitting an understandable total of well over 50%. Many people said they just couldn't do Hope Pass again, leaving them time to rest and make plans for next year, but for others, the toughest parts of the run begged them to "come and get 'em." Letha and I started the day well, though she may not remember it, with a sign of good things to come. Here we are briskly walking down the road from Winfield while she is working on a cup of hot and tasty soup when what does she see, a dirty dust covered penny! (I was of course focused on more important things) We picked it up and figured it was worth carrying over the mountains for the luck it was sure to provide. Looking back on it today, I think we made a pretty good decision as good ol' Abe really came through for us on that trail more than once. Not only did we have Abe looking out for us, but starting up the narrow single track trail up Hope Pass, we were blessed by Suzi Cope and the famous ultradog, Jib. Suzi made sure that Letha knew if she wanted this one she was really going to have to work for it, and that she did! Being a first time pacer, I've never felt more pressure to do the right things, say the right things and above all, get her to the line on time! Well, we were well on our way up Hope pass when I finally realized that I could quickly peek back at the fabulous view behind us while I politely barked at Letha to stay focused and keep pushing. It WAS incredible, although I knew I had to stay focused myself and I quickly turned and got back to the business at "foot." We aimed to make up lots of time on the other side of the pass as Letha is a good downhill runner. Boy did we ever, I don't know how many runners we passed, but it was a significant amount for sure. Before long, we were nearing the valley and some doubts were beginning to creep into my runner's mind. I mean, what was thinking trying to do math and time calculations at a time like that, that was clearly my job. I just said, "trust me, I'm more with it than you right now." Then, the lady at the river crossing said if we were going to make it to Twin Lakes we were really going to have to RIP IT! I think this made her even more nervous than it did assured and I had to tell her to kick it into gear and pretend we were going to make it. Sure enough, after Mark, our next pacer, had been pulling his hair out, here we come blasting around the corner. If you know Twin Lakes - inbound, you know that this is a medical check. We had to check in, weigh and check out by 9:45 and I think we had something like 3 seconds to spare. The look on her face was classic, I'll never forget it, like holy crap I made it, now what do I do! Thank goodness for the guys who had everything ready and for Mark whose adrenaline must have been erupting like a volcano, cause they exploded back down the trail on their way to making up an incredible 10 minutes! I was exhausted and full of pride as we did what we came to do and at the fact that I didn't let her down in my first pacing attempt ever during a most important race. Mark and Letha passed runners like they were standing still, which I attribute to the still pumping adrenaline and brilliant pacing tactics of Mark who had been ready to roll all day. And now, I was ready to change out of my wet shoes, get a little rest and look for my buddies to come down the road from Half Moon at Tree Line. So, here I am snoozing and all toasty warm in the back of the van, when someone yanks open the door completely startling Chuck, Jay and myself. I try to focus (which was tough with sticky contacts in my eyes since 3:30 AM the morning before) and I hear Mark before I see him, "Go, go, go, I'm about to pass out!" He had understandably been experiencing a little altitude sickness and had thankfully been hiding it from his runner the best he could, I guess his head was erupting with something other than adrenaline after all. Turns out he couldn't even wear his hat his head was hurting so bad. So, before you could say, "I'll do it!" I was off again running with "Lethal Letha," who looked like she was getting a little taste of her own medicine. When the van came down the road a few minutes later they threw me some warmer clothes for her and a camel back and we were headed to Fish Hatchery. This is about 3 miles via asphalt road and while trying to keep her from veering off the road, I kept thinking if my wife were to see me looking like this she was surely have dialed 911 by now. I could see the lights of the Fish Hatchery getting closer and closer and lied to Letha, telling her we were just a few short football fields away. I'm not sure she believed me, but we kept cooking and after a few kind words from Eric, the mountain biking sweeper, we had arrived at the aid station with time to spare. I didn't really have to tell Jay and Chuck to do their magic, but I did anyway. Those guys are pros and they could clearly see it was time for a little reassuring/motivating pep talk, as she clearly didn't want to go back out into the cold, dark night. I was a little unsure myself of exactly what our plan was as you'll remember I was awaken out of a dream of a quick and painless finish, when Letha asks Jay, "So, who is going to take me over Sugarloaf?" He pointed at me with a smirk and a wink and said, "He is!" Alright!!! Not too many people would be thoroughly excited about getting to do the two hardest sections of the LT100, but I certainly was. So, I got a little something to eat, drank a coke and got ready to cruise. What I remember about sugarloaf was, here Letha and I are giving it everything we've got climbing to the moon and all we can hear in the background is little miss perky, cheerleader Mona. I wondered what kind of aid she got at the last station. As close as we were to the cutoffs going in, I think she was excited about finishing whether she made it or not, which was something we couldn't quite fathom at the time. But, thank goodness for her! We played yo-yo with her and her pacer for a while up the seemingly never ending climb, which made me feel like we were going at a good steady pace and that we weren't wasting any unnecessary energy. Several times I thought about a story that Suzi told about the time an overly excited Red Spicer was pacing her up this same section saying, "Wow, look at all those stars!" It didn't take me long to realize that he was serious when I busted Letha looking straight up to the heavens at some flashlights bouncing around the sky. Red, you're right on buddy! Let me tell you something, there were a lot of people in this run that had the cushion to walk the whole second half either cause they wanted to or because they had no other gear to, but our girl Letha had run quite a bit to this point. So, I wasn't too worried about her power-walking cause we had a good long stride and cause she was making my legs burn, once we crested the hill on our way to Hagerman Pass. We knew we were close, however, when a gentleman waived us onto the trail and told us we had a mile to go to Mayqueen. Just a mile to go ... maybe! The adrenaline was once again on the rise and whether or not that punk was shooting straight with us, we ran almost that entire section. We had agreed early on that the only way she was going out, was to have "Cutoff Cliff" cut her armband and that wasn't going to happen, at least not on my watch. Somebody must have been looking out for her early on that crisp morning though, because we heard stories afterward about people making radio reports to the officials at Mayqueen saying they had a runner roaring down the street toward their direction. At any rate, "Run like a champ," was something I only had to say a couple of times, as that's clearly the only way she knows to go. My day was coming to an end, and all I could think about was what a pleasure it had been running along side someone as strong, as talented and as dedicated as Ms. Lethal. To our collective surprise, quite honestly, being already told once that we didn't make it in time, we were told that we actually did make it by 14 seconds and she better move if she wanted to make it to the finish line, a place we tried not to think too much about during the day and night, by 10:00 AM. We had just enough time to look at each other and scream in excitement and then she was gone, my day was done ... almost. Big Jay Norman was on the case now and everyone felt a little better, knowing that if anyone could get her there on time, it was him. It was just a quick 13 miles to go, hopefully, at this point. Chuck and I gathered her belongings and hit the road toward town, past the beautiful Turquoise Lake, a place she would soon see in a blur. During the time that I was getting cleaned up and getting something to eat, I knew that Jay was working her over, telling her to, "open her stride" and "you can make it if you want it." I've got to tell you, our group was together and bouncing off the walls when we saw them come flying up from the Boulevard, we were cheering her name and whooping and hollering. Then, we noticed that something wasn't quite right with our friend Letha. Oh my gosh! Jay must have punched her right in the mouth to get her going was our thought, as we saw her approach with a swollen upper lip. Jay's tough, but he's not that tough ... is he? We didn't know what had happened, but we did know there was no time to waste worrying about it. After all, "you don't run on your lip," as Jay told her earlier. Later, we found out that she passed 16 people, while nobody passed her, and that she ran the stretch from Mayqueen to the finish in nearly half the time it took others that we knew well. We were all so excited as we took our buddy up 6th street, although there was a hush in the air as we knew it would take every last ounce of concentration and focus to get her up the long hill to the finish line. All she had to do was run her last mile in about 30 minutes, sounds easy doesn't it? But, after 99 miles at the elevations she was running, 1 mile in 30 minutes could be a pretty challenging feat. Our friend Letha Cruthirds finished this beast of a race in 29:41:39 (thanks again Abe!) to a crowd of cheering Leadvillians and friends and people that just wanted to share in the excitement and emotion that we were feeling for her at that moment. Yes indeed, as someone once said, "Pain is fleeting, but glory lasts forever!" Amen to that, brother! She says she'll NEVER go back, but me, I say yeah right! I'd like to give my heartfelt congratulations to Letha, the finishers, the challengers, their crews and pacers and the people of Leadville, who have motivated me to no end. It may not be next year and it may not be in five years, but one of these days I'll be towing that line and I just hope I have half as many people pulling for me as we had for the NTTR. Damn, I love this sport! Enjoy! Jay Witherel TricorBraun - Dallas 4730 Simonton Rd. Farmers Branch, TX 75244 972-392-9804(ph) 972-392-7433(fx) jwitherel@tricorbraun.com