Leadville Training Camp

Tim and I are up in Leadville sharing a tiny room at the Delaware Hotel.  We arrived late this afternoon after a beautiful drive up from Denver.  We checked in with the Training Camp folks, checked into the hotel and then checked on the two houses I rented over the internet for our respective crews to use during the race in August.  It turns out renting a house sight unseen can be a hit or miss proposition.  In this case it was both:  the house I rented for Tim and his crew is a "hit" -- big, spacious and clean.  The house I rented for me and my crew is a solid "miss" -- small, dark and sticky.  The only good part was the pungent odor coming from the kitchen region; it stung my eyes and burned my nose so as to distract me from the small, dark stickiness of the house.  But, I'm sure it'll work out just fine because we won't be spending all that much time in the house during the race weekend anyway.

After we checked out the houses and we had a hearty meal, we took a walk down 6th Street, which happens to be the first and last mile of the LT100.  It's just a neighborhood street running out of town, but because the race starts and ends there, that stretch of road has seen some powerful and dramatic moments.  We both felt it as we walked down the hill out of town where in the distance we could see later sections of the race course:  Turquoise Lake, Sugar Loaf, the Power Line and the Fish Hatchery. We felt that energy even more so after we turned around and walked a mile back up towards where the finish line will be in August.

Setting sun casting a shadow over 6th Street

 I was chatting away (when I could catch my breath), and Tim asked me to be quiet so he could enjoy the moment and the view of the approaching finish line in silence "... so I can remember this view in case I never see it again."  He's not fooling me -- I don't think for a minute that he has any doubt that he'll be seeing that finish line again on August 21.

I, on the other hand, felt my confidence dip a little when we got to Leadville.  When we got to town and checked in with the Training Camp staff, there were many other runners out and about in the area -- serious looking ultra runners.  I couldn't help but notice how damn fit and athletic they all seemed.  I also couldn't help but notice how I was out of breath just walking up the steps at the hotel, so I didn't feel particularly fit or athletic.  I felt a twinge of that what-have-I-gotten-myself-into feeling mixed with that who-am-I-kidding feeling.  It was fleeting, but it shook me a little, even though I should know better.  I'm sure I'll feel better after our run tomorrow morning.

I shared this thought with Tim, and I expected him to say, "Of course you feel inadequate -- you ARE way out of your league."  Instead, he told me he's felt that way a time or two in the past, and I shouldn't worry about the feeling; I should embrace it and use it to train harder.  Ultimately, he said, my race is my own, and the only real competition will occur inside my own head.  It's just the runner and the trail and that's it.  Like Yoda he can be sometimes.