Subject: Leadville: report on the women's race Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 7:50:16 MDT From: Peter Bakwin With several very strong women and no ringers, the women's race at Leadville promised to be very exciting this year, and so it was! I paced my wife Stephanie Ehret for 50 miles, so got a good view of the action. We were supported by a most excellent and experienced crew consisting of Steph's parents, Cynthia & Dick, her sisters Eliza and Kirsten, plus Eliza's friend Sandy. The weather was cloudy and rather threatening, but nicely cool all day. We had rain squalls on and off, but I did not hear any thunder, and most of the rain was fairly light. The lead pack separated early in the race. At Twin Lakes (40 miles) Pam Reed (3rd place last year in 23:03) was in front by a couple of minutes over Valerie Calwell. Steph was about 20 minutes back and was about 5 minutes ahead of Amanda McIntosh. Pam was on the same pace as last year (roughly 6:45). Between Twin Lakes and the turn-around point at Winfield is Hope Pass, about 3300 feet up to 12,600 feet, and back down the other side. The two crossings of Hope, which have roughly half of the total climb of the entire race in 20 miles, are really the make-or-break of Leadville for many competitors. Every pacer knows the anxiety of waiting for their runner, and so it was for me at Winfield. A nasty squall blew down the Clear Creek valley and the many waiting crew and pacers took shelter in the aid station tent. Hope Pass was socked in for a while, but fortunately the rain move out quickly. Valerie was the first woman into Winfield in about 9:40. She moved quickly through the aid station and departed looking strong and business-like. Pam came in about 10 minutes later, now quite a bit behind her 1998 pace, and she sat in the aid station for about 10 minutes getting some food in. It was clear that Pam was already in trouble. She left shortly before Steph and Amanda came in very close together, with Amanda 2-3 minutes ahead. Steph & I quickly left the Winfield aid station. Her split was 10:07, within a minute of her split in 1998 when she finished in 4th place in 24:06. As we ran down the Clear Creek road back to the Colorado Trail I was stunned as she told me that she wanted to drop out of the race! About 3 weeks before she had suffered a myofascial tear in her soleus (calf). She had been aggressively working to rehabilitate the injury, and had felt cautiously confident before the race, though she had not run a step for nearly 3 weeks. However, the injury was immediately apparent when she started running, and her left calf was completely bound up. This of course was throwing her stride off badly, and her legs were feeling very stiff, heavy and sore. Every step of the race so far had been a chore for her, with no "free" miles. She was obviously thinking about cutting her losses (and thinking possibly of recovering in time for the 24 hour at Olander). The main job of a pacer is to keep the runner moving and in the race. Every effort should be made to dissuade the runner from dropping out. The decision to drop should be made 100% by the runner. So, I made arguments for staying in the race. The damage was already done, I said, so Olander was out of the question. Finish Leadville and then take a few week off to recover fully. I told her she was running fine (her stride looked stiff, but at least symetrical), she was moving well and was right on her projected schedule, and with Pam obviously struggling she had a very good shot at a top 3 finish if she could just keep moving. Let's just run back over Hope Pass and see how it goes. She agreed to try. We walked slowly but steadily up the steep trail to Hope. It was fun to greet the runners coming down, and to see many friends. Before long we encountered our friend Kurt Blumberg lying by the side of the trail, his pacer standing by with that confused look that every pacer has when their runner is incapacitated. Kurt's quads had given out, and he was cheerfully resigning himself to dropping out. "Hey Kurt," Steph called out, "Let's go to Cottonwood Hot Springs!" I had to get her out of there quick! A short distance farther up the trail was another casualty. Pam was lying by the trail. Her pacer was trying a stern approach to get her moving: "This is ridiculous, get up, let's go!", that kind of thing. Steph called out some words of encouragement as we went by. I heard that Pam did eventually make it over Hope Pass, but dropped out later on. She is a remarkable runner with incredible focus and drive, but this was not her day. Running back down Hope to Twin Lakes Steph was feeling better and moved well. We agreed that a brief break at Twin (60 miles) was in order to get some calories and dry off the feet after the crossing of Lake Creek. Amanda was leaving the aid station as we pulled in. Valerie had apparently increased her lead. After Twin Steph suffered a classic "bad patch". Her stomach was unhappy about the small amount of "real food" that she had eaten, and she was quite nauseated. "No more food," she declared, and for the rest of the run used only XL1 energy drink. She moved very slowly up the climb out of Twin, and was not able to run well on the gentle downhill sections. The nausea began to abate as we approached Halfmoon (68 miles), where we found we had slipped to 25 minutes behind Amanda, with Valerie still leading by 20 minutes or so. Steph's energy gradually increased as her stomach settled, and our pace improved. We ran very well on the boring Halfmoon road and on the paved road to the Fish Hatchery (76 miles). Steph was buoyed to pass a few runners including our friend Todd Holmes, who finished in 7th place last year, but was having a tough time with his stomach. At Fish we were still 20-30 minutes behind Amanda, who appeared to be gaining a little on Valerie. Our split at Fish was about 17:00. I paused to eat a sandwich and had to work pretty hard to catch Steph again, she was moving very well. This strong pace continued up Sugarloaf and down into Mayqueen. At the Mayqueen aid station (87 miles) Steph's sister informed us that Valerie was sitting in the aid tent and Amanda was only 12 minutes ahead! We bolted through the aid station, and I grabbed a bottle of XL1 from the crew. Our friend Buzz Burrell, who was pacing Valerie, said later: "Seeing you in the May Queen tent was priceless! I had my camera with me, and wish I had a picture of you two. I would had to have gotten it out and taken the photo in less than 0.5 seconds, so I've captured a memorable moment in my mind's eye only!" Valerie had been running without a pacer and with only her husband as crew, a big disadvantage against the well organized efforts backing Amanda and Steph. My understanding is that the race was her third 100 mile attempt, and she had a 27+ hour finish at Leadville in 1997 and a DNF in 1998. Buzz was supposed to pace Kurt Blumberg, who dropped, so he was happy to find a runner in need of a pacer at the Fish Hatchery. I think that Valerie could not have found a better pacer. Buzz very well understands what is required physically and emotionally to do this sort of race and is a very sensitive soul. Apparently Valerie had some stomach problems after Twin, but was toughing it out well. As they started up the Sugarloaf climb the she became very nauseated and had to stop several times. Amanda caught her just at the Mayqueen aid station. At Mayqueen Valerie took a short break to get her stomach back together. She and Buzz left shortly after we came through. They walked most of the way to the finish, and Buzz reports that Valerie is an extremely fast walker. She continued to have some stomach trouble, yet finished 2:19 ahead of the 4th place woman. Its obvious that Valerie Caldwell is an extremely talented ultra-runner, and one to watch! After the adrenaline abated Steph & I slowed to a reasonable pace and discussed strategy for overtaking Amanda. Obviously Steph was very tired after 87 miles of running. Her injury had made every step of the race difficult, but her stomach, which had given her a lot of trouble in the past, was good. I assured her she could win the race as we had put good time on Amanda since Fish. We needed to run strong and steady and to have some reserve if we caught Amanda. Unfortunately for us Amanda had something left (doesn't that girl ever have a bad patch?), and was no doubt well informed about our position. Despite strong running we were unable to make headway against her on this final segment and finished 12 minutes behind. On the Boulevard, about 2 miles from the finish, Steph remarked that she was very glad that she had not dropped 50 miles earlier! She is undoubtedly the toughest person I have ever met! The final results of the women's race: Amanda McIntosh 34 TX 22:05:22 12th overall Stephanie Ehret 36 CO 22:17:02 14th overall Valerie Caldwell 35 NM 23:00:00 16th overall To have 3 women finish in 23 hours at Leadville is truely extraordinary. Only 8 women had broken 23 hours in the previous 16 years of the race! Congratulations to these three outstanding athletes, and to the 206 other runners who finished the 1999 Leadville 100! Peter Bakwin Boulder August 24, 1999