Journey to Leadville - Byrne - August 7, 2012

11 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

More words to follow but I have to get these pictures up! Colorado - what a beautiful state!

I left Iowa on Friday morning, August 3rd. Met up with a friend in Lincoln, NE, Susan Meyerle, whom I met at the Jack Canfield Breakthrough to Success Program in 2009. Haven't seen her in 3 years but it seemed like yesterday. She is doing great and it was so much fun to visit with her. It's really cool how you can go without seeing some people for years and within 2 minutes it seems like you are reconnected.

King Kong's - fast food restaurant in Lincoln, NE. Didn't stop to eat there but loved the name!

My friend Nita Lechner invited me to stay in Grand Island at her home. Nita is also a friend from Jack Canfield's seminar. Unfortunately Nita was in California but her daughter Allie was a great host. What a wonderful young lady. I could see a lot of Nita in her face and in her voice. I am so glad I had the chance to get to know Allie. Had dinner with her and visited. Saturday morning I started on my trek towards Colorado!

Arrived at my brother-in-law's family on Saturday around 4 pm and had a great time with Mike, Kyra and their kids. They took me out to dinner at Beau Joe's - a great pizza parlor and we had some deep dish pizza. Went to their house and watched some Olympics - go USA!

On Sunday morning my friend John Lawler drove down from Cheyenne and we ran 13.6 miles around the Horsetooth Reservoir - it was AWESOME! I finally was able to get a taste of the trailrunning that mirrored Leadville - rocks all over the place, embedded in the path. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I felt. We were running at about 5000 feet elevation and other than the first 5 minutes as we started moving and going uphill, I didn't feel any pressure on my lungs. It was a great run and I really enjoyed the conversation with John.

Afterwards I went to church with Mike, Kyra, and their children and then headed to Denver. I stopped in Littleton to see my friend Melissa, her husband Mark and their boys. It was a short visit but wonderful. It was fun to see her again and get to know her family. After a couple hours I headed over to Centennial (near south suburb of Denver) to see Kathleen Marvin - our good friend and member of our wedding party. Kathleen's 7 year old son Johnathon was there so I showed him some basketball drills and then we went to one of his favorite places, Steak and Shake. After a short walk around their neighborhood and tasting one of Johnny's 'secret' ingredient smoothies, I headed to Monument to stay with our good friends, Reid and April Christopherson.

Reid, April and I visited some on Sunday night and when I went to bed, April had written this message below on the whiteboard in the room I was staying at - how cool!

April Christopherson had this waiting for me in my bedroom when I stayed with them on Sunday night - way cool!

The next morning Reid took me to do "The Incline" in Manitou Springs - steep but awesome. I think I did quite well. The top put me at 8,500 feet and I was still feeling no effects of acclimation. Several pictures are listed below. Afterwards Reid and I went to Starbucks for a healthy breakfast and then back to his house. We worked on a couple of home projects and I left about 3:30 to meet some friends in Buena Vista. It was wonderful seeing the Christophersons - what a neat family and I admire them so much - they are very driven, very family oriented, and very kind friends. I miss seeing them - it makes me want to get to Colorado more often.

My good friend Reid Christopherson and at the end of our descent down "The Incline"

Looking from the bottom to the top of "The Incline" in Manitou Springs (the brown diagonal line just to the right of the tower in the middle

Looking up "The Incline" a little ways after starting

Looking down "The Incline" from about 1/2 way up

Looking down "The Incline" from about 2/3 of the way up

Looking down "The Incline" from the top - WOW!

I met my good friends Dave and Jane Cox at the Eddy Line Restaurant, probably the best restaurant in small town Buena Vista - the 30 minute wait on a Monday night was a good indication of the popularity of this establishment. Dave and Jane are moving on Wednesday so I felt privileged that they would make the time to see me in the hecticness of them trying to close on and move out of their home. Dave and Jane are friends I made in 2005 when I first ran Leadville - they are wonderful people and we talked about family and Leadville for the entire dinner - no surprise! They are great ultramarathoners and running is a big part of their lives - I feel inadequate talking about running with them but very much valued their advice and enjoyed learning from them. After dinner we said our goodbyes and I departed for Leadville.

My plan on Tuesday was to hike up Powerline (see pictures below) - I loved it! I had breakfast "City on a Hill" - a coffeeshop with Wifi :o)  They serve awesome breakfast burritos just the way I like 'em. Eggs, potatoes, and sausage - nothing else. Mixed in some healthy "Naked Juice" smoothie drink and headed for Powerline. The Powerline climb was longer than "The Incline" but not as steep. I know I'll have 80 miles under me before I go up this during the race and it will be different than on fresh legs but I felt really good about how comfortable it felt. I went up reasonably hard but nothing too strenuous. I enjoyed some time at the top and ran down at the pace I wanted to during the race - reasonably quick pace but not hard. In 2005 I went down too fast and it hurt my knees. Not this time - I ran it smart and still made good time. I stopped a lot on the way down to take all the pictures that you see in this post.

The pictures listed below are all from Powerline - the 2nd toughest part of the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run. Enjoy - the scenery is breathtaking!

Are those sunbeams?  LOL

Some bad photography - finger partially blocking lens :o(

This is Katelin, a 22 year old who just graduated from Texas A&M - GO AGGIES! What a cool young lady! We visited for a few minutes. First interesting note - she spells her name like my niece -which is sort of an unusual spelling. She's also been to Kenya and somewhere else internationally doing humanitarian work. She raced competitively in biking in college after playing soccer in college. What an ambitious and talented young person. She is riding the LT100 Mountain Bike Race this weekend - I hope she races fantastically!

I was really happy with how I felt after completing Powerline. I don't feel the least bit tired and I can honestly say I am feeling no effects of the high altitude. Maybe I'm speaking too quickly, I"ll let you know if it changes but so far so good :o) What a beautiful state - I can't wait for this race!

Until my next post, have a great day!  DIG DEEP!