I have again moved through the Sawatch Mountains outside Leaville Colorado for 100 continuous miles. On foot. Earlier this morning I crossed the finish line at the Leadville Trail 100, for a second time. I missed the sub-25 hour buckle by 36 minutes, but still beat my previous time by almost 4 hours, so I am thrilled. I have not really slept much, so this will be my first priority before any sort of race report.
I will say, one of the most exciting aspects to my experience this year was actually finishing in the dark. More than finishing sub-25, I have always wanted to break the tape at Leadville...in the dark. Crossing the finish line at 5:36 am this morning, I was able to complete this goal. 10 minutes later, the sky began to light up. Also, I finished completely alone. I ran down 6th street with no one in front of me and no one behind me as far as I could see. I managed a full-on sprint down the street towards the finish line while everyone was cheering for me. It was incredible. Lastly, my pacer was incredible. I will go into more detail in the race report, but the short story is that Sophia ran all 50 miles with me, and I wouldn't have done as well as I did without her. So thank you Sophia.
More to come later.
