1st Place: Leadville Heavy Half

A lot of snow and cool temps resulting in slow melting have forced many Colorado races to alter their courses or even flat out cancel their races this year. The Leadville Mosquito Pass Heavy Half was not exception. With snow still 2-3 feet deep at 12,000 feet and much deeper on parts of Mosquito Pass the race had to find an alternate course for the weekend. The Heavy Half 2019 course ran up 5th street to Adelaide Park, over and down to Cal Gultch, up to Printer Boy, down to Iowa Gulch, up Iowa Gulch towards the base of Mt Sherman and then back again.

I was ready for a great race. This was my first big race of the year and I was ready! I felt fit and ready to roll for the 15 mile race. My race plan was simple. Uptempo from the gun all the way uphill and see what my lead would be. I knew I would be up front and was ready.

I had an easy mile warm up and a few slow easy strides:

I was ready. The Star Spangled Banner sung and then the shotgun blasted. We were off.

I took it easy running a 7 minute opening mile. Yet, I found myself with only 2 or 3 other runners everyone else had fallen back in the pace. The first 2 miles gain over 800 feet. The dirt road we ran up got steeper. I maintained the pace and dropped the other runners. This gave me a slight 10-15 second lead. I now had the lead, my job was to increase it. I cruised down from Adelaide Park to California Gulch then once again pushed the pace up the paved road to Printer Boy.

The road was familiar. I've run it 100's of times mostly in the winter. I would not let up. I summited Printer Boy and from here the trail got fun. There was the following 1 mile rocky jeep road decent, followed by the 3 mile uphill to about 11,800 feet. I pushed all the way up, feeling strong and knew I was extending my lead. I hit the turn around in 59:47. My lead was about 1 minute 20 seconds ahead of 2nd. Solid.

I took off controlled downhill maintaining a comfortable just under 6 minute pace per mile for the next 3 miles. The run felt comfortable almost like a training day. Meanwhile 2nd place pushed his pace on the downhill to catch up. This maneuver paid off. With 3 mile to go 2nd place caught me. Averaging sub 7 minute miles above 10,000 feet with 2,500 feet gain for the previous 12 miles was not enough. It was time to race!

We hit the dirt road and hill up to Adelaide Park with about 2.8 miles to the finish. I raced up the hill and gained a messily 15 seconds. It was enough. The last 2 miles I ran downhill running 4:52 and 4:53 miles back to back. This was enough; my lead was secured.

I crossed the finish line clocking a 1:39:25 for the 15 mile course: Sub 6:30 average/mile on the course.

The race was fast! My Altra Olympus did the trick. They were both light enough yet also provided grip and cushion for the rocky trails, pounding downhill, and speedy conditions. Special Thanks to Altra. Glad I can be a part of # Team Altra. Thanks for thinking outside the box and making great shoes.