I started writing this stuff as kind of a way to keep track of my thoughts and training during the process.  I’m out for the 100 this year, but I will try again next year.  I thought this might be a good little bit of insight into what’s going on in my head and what to expect moving forward.  This post, and Part 2 were both written before I knew I was out. 

Well, here we (maybe) go.  I tossed my hat into the lottery ring for the 2022 Leadville 100 run. Why would I do such a thing?  Kinda like our chap George Mallory said of climbing Everest, “Because it’s there.”  Hopefully the outcome for me is more positive than it was for him.  I originally heard of the Leadville 100 my first semester of college at Western State in Gunnison.  My Kinesiology advisor/professor had run it the summer before, if I’m remembering that correctly, it was almost 30 years ago, so cut me some slack if the story isn’t 100%, and for not remembering her name.  At the time, it sounded like a near-impossible feat of human endurance, but when I made a list of 100 things I wanted to do before I died a few years later, it was on there.  If other people could do it, certainly I could finish as well, right?  It’s not like I was looking to walk on the moon or become the richest man in the world.  100 miles on my feet sounded downright reasonable.  And then, I moved on in life. 

The race was one of those things that would pop up every once in a while, I’d maybe check the website, think about training up for it “next year” but next years came and went and I kept thinking about the race on occasion.  I think part of the issue was my job and my perception of distance runners. A lot of them were men who looked almost waif-like and fragile, unable to jump & sprint & move heavy things or fight other humans.  I saw one such man running with his shirt off one summer day and he almost looked like an Auschwitz survivor.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely respect the hell out of people who are willing to sacrifice in some areas for greatness in others, but I need to be a well-rounded physical specimen, I can’t afford to specialize like that.

Enter Cameron Hanes.  So, around 2015, with life as I knew it pretty much falling apart, and me out of a job I loved at a place I loved, one of the best men I’ve ever known invited me to go elk hunting with him.  He had a tag in an area close to his house, so we could base out of there, and I could get an over-the-counter tag for the area next door.  I was in.  My friend killed an elk during the last hour of the last day of the hunt.  Neither of us had ever skinned out an elk, though he had done a ton of deer over the years so at least we had that going for us.  We finished the job in the dark and I wanted more.  I don’t know how I came upon Cam Hanes, but he seemed interesting. I ordered his Backcountry Bowhunting book, devoured it, and started following him on the book of faces.  Lift-Run-Shoot is his mantra and as I continued to see his posts, I saw he was strong, robust, and running hard/silly long distance, races.  That was what I needed to see.  In 2016, I first voiced my desire to run the Leadville 100, but it was still a backest-of-burners idea. 

After another, very life-altering event in 2021, I found myself thumb-banging my phone and an ad for the 2022 race showed up in my Facebook feed.  “The lottery is open” it said.  “You son of a bitch, I’m in!” was my reply.  I did not get selected for the lottery, and while I was able to register for the Leadville Marathon, time spent with the kids took over for that weekend (they did enjoy their camping trip to Mesa Verde) and I had to put it off until next year.