Rocky Mountain High 100 #36

Last year my friend Rhonda and I were planning to attempt a self supported run on the Leadville 100 trail course. Because I fell and injured my knee, eventually getting surgery, we stuck to the roads instead and I finished 100 miles from Frisco Colorado to Leadville and back. Rhonda did 100k of it with me! I was really proud of myself for finishing that run...a week before that run I couldn't walk a single mile. Found out later I had a complex meniscus tear, basically nothing left of the meniscus, an MCL strain and was running bone on bone osteoarthritis which led to my partial knee replacement...after doing 3 100s on that wrecked knee, lol.

Well, anyway, we decided to take another shot at it this year, for me as training and altitude acclimation to prepare for Ute 100, being held 2 weeks later in the mountains above Moab Utah. We'd been looking forward for a year to getting together again and attempting the real course, on the trails from Leadville Co, to Twin Lakes, over Hope Pass at 12.600 altitude, down to Winfield mining town and the famed "hopeless" aid station location, back over Hope Pass and a return trip to Leadville. I've been doing all kinds of trail running with a heavy pack, and heat acclimation at home in Virginia, running in the hot humid afternoons to prepare for both runs.

"Rocky Mountain High 100" we call this, named after the famous John Denver song that is 50 yrs old this year. I just adore him and his music and it always brings back memories of my kids early years and all our road trips through Colorado.

So Thursday after I sweated out the morning in my bee suit and took the first 27 lbs of honey off my beehives (Yay! Heat training lol) Jason and I hit the road to Colorado, a 26 hour drive, sooo long. We took turns sleeping and driving. I tried to get as much sleep as possible and managed maybe 5 hrs.

We timed the drive perfectly to pick up Rhonda at the Denver airport. Was so excited to see her, we have so much fun together. I don't know anyone who would just drop everything to go on a crazy self-supported run through the mountains with only a vague idea of how the trails were going to pan out haha. She and are are spirit sisters! :-D

We arrived in Leadville later in the evening, took some time to get organized and giggled alot, poor Jason sharing a hotel room with us two crazy girls! We took some OTC meds to try and get a long nights sleep, planning to start the next evening and most likely be awake and running for 40+ hours.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast & got out the door with our ammo can -bear proof- drop bags. Someone suggested it to me as a way to keep our supplies safe from wild animals and it worked out perfectly. They fit tons of food and supplies and I just filled up some water bottles and took bottles of apple juice to set out with them.

We spent the late morning till afternoon driving the 100 mile route, trying to get a handle on where we would be running, different landmarks on the trail etc. So excited and so looking forward to it! We grabbed some lunch, me gnawing away on a fat old rotisserie chicken for some good protein, then by 3pm took a long 3-hour nap to get in some last-minute sleep. We were all awake by 6pm so we got all our gear and supplies ready, I taped up my feet and legs where my knee brace might rub, doublechecked everything, and we headed into Leadville to our 7:30pm start at the intersection the actual Leadville race begins. Our plan tho wasn't to run this in the 30-hour official race cutoff (which now is even more insane to me than it was before I ran on this course) but to just take it easy, enjoy the views and time together, successfully summit Hope Pass 2x and finish 100 miles, however long it took.

The first mile we had some weird little quirky logistics trying to get everything set right, cords and bottles and stuff, sometimes they just aren't settling into the run right and you've gotta do some adjustments, but we settled into a good pace, mostly downhill and enjoyed the gorgeous cool night air and sunset. I think I would have been a bit terrified running off into the forest alone at night but because Rhonda and I were together it was just fun and exhilarating.

We did the long road climb up to the dam at Turquoise Lake and hopped on the trail that circles half the lake, just as it was really getting dark. The sky was still turquoise so you could see the lake and silhouette of the trees dark against the sky, but soon it was black. The TQL trail is only lightly technical, not much climbing, just gently rolling hills which made it a fun relaxing run. So far, I felt our pace and breathing were pretty good though the air was definitely thin, at over 10,000 ft altitude, and keeping our pace moderate. I really wanted to help keep Rhonda's calories and hydration on track, so we made a plan to drink 16 oz electrolytes every 3 miles and take in about 200 calories. I reminded her every 3 miles, as I tried to keep on top of it. That liquid ended up not being quite enough, even with a cool night I was still dehydrated by morning and the altitude wiped Rhonda out. I'm definitely to blame for that tho...I'll get to that soon. ha! Our first trail 'check' was when we hit a campground. The trail disappeared as the woods opened up into campsites. It was difficult to tell where to go. Luckily, we found some folks sitting by a cozy fire who directed us back to the trail head, so it wasn't a long delay, however a few miles later we got a bit bewildered by another campground. We followed the trail signs, but it led us to a road, and then there were no markers, we wandered around on the road for a while trying to pinpoint our location, where the lake was and the trail. We were pretty lost. After wandering a bit, we found a guy around 11 pm, who smelled heavy of beer. He was so sweet, trying to help get us back on the trail, but his directions didn't make much sense, however he did let us know Wi-Fi was working in the campground (our phones had cut out as we entered the lake area) so I was able to pull up gps, and find our way back to the lake, and back on the trail. It was probably a 30 min delay, frustrating but soon we were on a section of the TQL trail we'd run last year so were more confident. It had a bit more climbing and more rocks, but we made good time. We stopped twice to cut out our lamps and look at the stars. It was sooo beautiful and it just felt so great to be alive and out in the forest under the stars. I didn't feel nervous or anxious at all.

We were so happy to get to the May queen campground, about 13.1 mi and our first ammo can of stuff. We completely cleaned it out and Rhonda drank almost all the water, I was so glad, I wanted her to stay well hydrated! I filled up with apple juice and we grabbed all our snacks and ate everything like a couple hungry raccoons haha. We'd planned to meet Jason on the return trip so 'didn't need to save anything.

After this point was kind of a big trail mistake, the map took us to Timberline trailhead, so I mistakenly assumed that's the trail we were supposed to be on. We had a steady climb for at least 3 miles...in the wrong direction. 4 moderate sized river crossings, we luckily could rock hop across. It was Rhonda's first water crossings, and she was moving awesomely across once she got the hang of it! Though one of her poles got stuck in the rocks and came apart so we had to rescue it, hah. Some portions were very steep, and we were both huffing and puffing. When we reached some tents camped by a lake, I knew we were on the wrong path, and the path also sort of disappeared. So disappointing, and we had probably done a solid extra 1000 elev gain in 3 miles on a fairly technical trail. We stood around looking at the map trying to decide what to do, all we could do was backtrack and try to take a different trail.

About that time Jason managed to reach us in a brief moment of cell connection. He helped us kind of figure out where he thought we were supposed to be, so we went back down the mountain and found the Colorado trail. That was the correct route. Somewhat steep and rocky in sections. Around this time the altitude started getting to Rhonda. She was starting to have trouble breathing and was falling asleep on her feet. She was kind of going along in a zombie like state. I was handling the altitude pretty well so I let her use my oxygen so she could save hers for later. A couple deep breaths and she woke right up! That gave us some energy to climb up out of the trail and onto the road. I made another mistake here. Instead of taking a long winding section of road, we headed back onto the rocky technical Colorado Trail. Fortunately by some miracle, they ended up about the same place because when I saw the power lines and a big wide open road heading downhill, I knew we were on the Powerline section of the Leadville trail. I think we felt good for a little bit, also buoyed up by being back on track, but that really isn't an easy downhill. Its deeply rutted and has a lot of loose dirt and big rocks and steep descents, we couldn't just bomb down it. I'd made a big mistake with my batteries again...managed to buy a brand that went dim in an hour, so I went through 4 sets of batteries and kept losing my light. It was a slow, frustrating night.

Going down from Sugarloaf pass Rhonda kind of took a turn for the worse. We stopped to pop a blister' under her toenail, get rocks out of her shoes, try some leukotape on some uncomfortable chafing (i dunno how that actually worked out, some things are better not to ask about hah) and I think her stomach kinda started to turn here as well. To make it worse, we lost her favorite hat and one of her gloves. It was I'm sure, rather miserable and disappointing to her. I was hoping we could refresh at our next stop. Eventually we hit the road and made the loop around over to the outward-bound AS location, which we dubbed the A-hole aid station after Rhonda stepped on an ant hole the day before and got attacked by ants! I called Jason to come meet us, to get some things she needed out of the car. He was going to meet us around 6am anyway but we were hoping that would be at twin lakes. Sadly, we were still 14 miles away from there.

Though I'd been drinking all night I was peeing every 10 min coming down Powerline so that was the signal that I'd gotten dehydrated. I took some time @ the car to guzzle 16 oz electrolytes and some water. I was pretty concerned for Rhonda. she was clearly suffering from some altitude sickness and stomach digestive troubles, and I thought dehydration and possibly not taking in enough calories for the climbing & technical trail work we had done. I tried to get her to drink some electrolytes or chocolate milk, but she could only manage a few sips because of nausea. We started back on the road and Rhonda was only able to walk about a 30-minute mile. We decided I think mutually that it really wasn't safe for her to continue. Still suffering from altitude sickness and not being able to hydrate or fuel properly and going into a long slow climb of probably 10 miles till we reached the Twin Lake trail, in full sun... man my heart broke. It felt pretty early, only 28 miles, but we had done some tough climbing at high altitude, and it took its toll. We waved down Jason and she decided to go back to the hotel and get some rest, maybe to meet me later to climb Hope Pass.

About a mile after they left, I got double hit with nausea and diarrhea! Gah! I barely made it behind a bush within 2 seconds of a total catastrophe, haha, of course a car drove by right at that time. Luckily there was no serious damage and I only had to sacrifice one of my $3 Walmart mittens to use for toilet paper. :-D Thankfully my stomach settled after that, so it wasn't an issue but talk about a close call. :-D Also took a couple salt tabs and drank a bunch of water so I got on top of the nausea and felt better. This next section wasn't hard per se... a slight uphill climb on a chunky gravel road was mostly annoying, in full sun. The trouble was gps not locating roads or trails made it hard to follow the right turns to stay on course, so it was mentally challenging. I'd been carrying some extra capri suns in my pack for Rhonda because she wasn't carrying enough water in her bottles and she was too exhausted to carry any extra weight, that ended up being a blessing for me because in the sun I got really thirsty and ran out of fluid after a couple hours. I was worrying about resupply with at least another 7 miles to go. I was praying Rhonda was doing okay and not taking it too hard that she had to stop... I know that really hurts emotionally... and I was praying I could find a creek or something. Randomly alongside the road just a few minutes later, there was a full gallon of clean water! I chugged as much as my stomach would take and refilled both my bottles and got well refreshed to make it to Twin Lakes.

The second half of that trail section was along the Colorado Trail it got shaded and more runnable, though still some steep rocky sections. There were hikers along this section, so I was able to ask for directions and not rely so much on my spotty gps. I finally arrived at Twin Lakes I guess around 2 pm. 8 hrs. later than planned, it was a bummer but, it's just the way the day had gone. I decided to just accept it and not get down over how long it was taking. I was absolutely amazed in my head that people could pull off this trail race in 30 hours, and I hadn't even faced Hope yet!

Jason was so great and had some hot ramen which was delicious to eat after sugar all day long, nice to have some salty food before attempting the climb to the summit of Hope Pass. I'd basically been eating 2-300 candy calories or 2-3 gels every hour. Man... I was intimidated. I just up looked at those mountains looming above, feeling some fear, but I knew I had to get Dexter, SSgt Wilson Sgt Gray, LCpl Crewson and Nate to the top, so I grabbed my jacket & extra supplies for the 12 miles up and over, and a can of oxygen just in case of emergency breathing. I had no room to carry it, so I tied it on with my shirt haha.

First check going over Hope, is getting to the mountain trail. There is a bridge a mile and a half up the road, but the Leadville race has you crossing a river. I wanted to do the course, so I sucked it up, steadied myself with poles, stuck my phone in the pocket of my waterproof jacket, and forded the river. The water came all the way up to my crotch, deep and cold! But I was across quickly. About a mile of nice flat trail through marshland and then you hit the 5-mile steep trail to the top. This was.... challenging. Portions were very rocky. some sections were really very very steep. Overall, it wasn't so bad that I didn't have to stop and breath, I was mostly able to keep making slow but steady forward progress. It took probably 2.5-3 hrs to reach Hope Pass. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Red wood of the pines, fresh cool air, passing little rain showers, a swift river waterfall off the trail, it almost took your mind off the effort because of the beauty of making the climb. As I got close to the tree line the incline softened a bit, so it was a little easier.

This pic is deceiving, its actually pretty wide!

So, this is the dorkiest picture of me ever, but I decided to take an emotional selfie... When I broke through the tree line and it opened into an alpine meadow, and I could see about a mile up, the pass...almost there, Solder of heaven hit my playlist. I just go so overwhelmed with emotion that I had a good cry, so grateful to be climbing this mountain to bring my heroes, my sweet son, to the highest point I've ever been.

"I always dreamed that I would, serve high above, where spirits lead the way, the winds will never fade.... I’ll take the Stairway to heaven, I’m sky high, when I die, I’ll be immortal"

I just can't put into words the deep feelings that stirred in my soul. I had a prayer of gratitude and a rush of energy and fresh legs and pushed the switchbacks to the top!

Rocky Mountain High. No joke. Perfect. 'I've never felt such a high as making it to Hope Pass. So aptly named, running for victims of suicide, wanting to help over survivor's cope and help others find hope and courage to continue living, it was just about the most perfect moment I've ever experienced. I was a little out of breath. I decided to take a quick video instead of trying to put into words, how I felt. Planted the American and Ukraine flag.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP8g3Lro7qzsBAwcUIx2kUgGKaIstw6lt3oUECrdEWafiw1hy9ojVEl4fz5BucrHg/photo/AF1QipPgtDDiPG7P3gThQqPSD76bfrQNWeIgRJ2bN2No?key=eTM2NmpwRUx4dWFxTm44S1pDWWx2Uk5RUmRxeXFR

The downside of Hope on the way to Winfield mining camp was very steep but not as rocky so it made the descent a little easier, though I'm not sure I'd call anything on that trail 'easy' ha! I was worried about weather on top, there had been rain off and on, the sun came out when I was at Hope but as I descended there was a pretty good rainstorm. I had a chance to check out my new rain jacket and it performed wonderfully, kept me warm and dry. I was so looking forward to meeting Jason at "Hopeless" getting resupplied, and the return climb to Hope over with, and then I'd have the worst of the run done. Jason wasn't at Winfield when I arrived. I felt really disappointed, but I decided to just take my time, use the porta potty, attend to my feet which were in bad shape with some arthritis cream, lube, go through my pack and make sure I was mostly organized for the return trip. I spent probably 15 minutes just doing what I could to prepare, and he still had hadn't arrived. I sat for a while and I really started to get cold and got hit with a bout of despair.

The sun was spotty and there was a cold mountain breeze, and I was at the point of shivering. I moved up the road aways so he could see me better and waiting. I started to be afraid I was getting hypothermia. I was sitting by an old mining cabin trying to stay out of the wind...when he drove by, but didn't see me. I started crying and had to jog aways back to the aid station parking lot to meet him. I had a bit of a cry. He said the road was like an hour-long drive on washer board dirt road full of potholes, and there is zero cell service. The tops of the mountains had dark rain clouds, so I felt but maybe forgot to tell him that it was probably Divine help, keeping me from some bad weather on top.

All the stuff! Crazy the assortment of things needed to get through 100 miles.

Finished getting stocked, ate some hot ramen broth which greatly improved my mood and will to live, haha, I left Jason and headed back up to Hope Pass. What an insane feat to do in one day! Really, how do people DO this in <30 hours??!! I just can't comprehend being that fast... but, I do have the will to keep going no matter how long it takes, so up I went. It felt like there were a lot more rocks going up, and it was a tough ascent, very steep, even the switchbacks. Just no words to explain the amount of will and energy it took to keep climbing...raw and wild!

I got really thirsty and emptied both bottles, refilled in a stream. Had some brief rain but the clouds cleared out in time for me to see some beautiful stars as I hit the summit again. I thought the steep switchbacks exposed to the wind and sky would never end! Though it was cold and windy, at mile 100k at 10pm. Alone on the mountain, watching the American flag and the Ukraine flag flying in the wind, thinking of Dexter and the other Marines....it was hard to leave. I lingered at the summit for 5 -10 minutes, not wanting the moment to end. I called Jason to let him know I'd hit 100k while I added some rocks to the cairn at the top, and found a few heart rocks on it that I decided to claim for my Marines, took a short little video, and started my descent.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNA3jc7GqyE49gXn99NO_72kkUimjRjHg3ZdVXKgRCVBuo83IUH5nRsIxVFaWAXZw?key=c2Y0enJjVzdRb0p6bl9yNkFvX2FUR2ctSzBGMEZR

The decent was tough, my left knee was bothering me a little. I went as quickly as I could but it's so steep and rocky it's hard to go down faster than a crawl. Maybe if I was young and reckless, I'd have bombed down it more, but I want my knees to live to run another day, so I was cautious. So relieved when after 5 miles or so (?) it finally leveled out to the flat marshy land before the river crossing. As I arrived at the river it was about 1am and I stopped in my tracks. I was cold and didn't want to get soaked or risk the danger of crossing a river alone at night on tired legs. The alternative was to stumble on the 1.5 endless mile of rocks along the riverbank upstream to get to the bridge. I called Jason and asked what he thought I should do. We agreed on the river crossing. I prayed hard for support that I wouldn't fall in the swift water and headed across. I felt a warm confidence like I was not alone. Snapped a pic as my feet hit the freezing water.

Thankfully I happened upon a wider section, so it wasn't quite as deep as the earlier crossing, and I was over it with no problem. Made it out to the road and quickly ran the mile to the parking lot where Jason met me with food, hot ramen and refills for everything. I think I chugged a bang energy drink. I changed my socks and put on more arthritis cream, doubled up my coats because it was pretty chilly out, and headed back towards the Colorado Trail route back to Leadville.

I was feeling pretty confident if completely exhausted, my second night of being awake was nearly half over. Immediately ran into trouble when I couldn't find the trailhead after Jason left me. Hes so sweet, he walked like a mile up the road with me so I could finish eating my cup of noodles and not have to carry the garbage. I pulled up gps and I could see the trail was just straight north on the mountainside above me. After I looked for a bit for the trailhead and couldn't find it, I just decided to take off up the steep slope by the side of the road making my own path through the rubble and sage brush to get to the trail. Of course, it ended up being a much longer climb than it looked on the map and it took me probably half an hour to climb the bank and reach the trail. Phew..

I thought I was set now. I only had to follow the trail out to the confusing dirt roads and then out to the Outbound aid station on the road. Not so tough in the daylight. Going on 32 hours of no sleep, gps connection that kept giving me weird information, and feeling all turned around and confused in the dark, it turned into a rather frustrating trial. GPS refused to bring up the dirt roads on the map that I was looking for, so I couldn't tell which direction on the trail I needed to go. Then it kept telling me to make turns where there were no turns. It was bewildering, and to add insult to injury, I started having some pretty frequent hallucinations. I saw a big orange octopus, a giant stuffed animal purple cow, an african tiger and Robin Hood, and I kept hearing weird noises that were spooking me, turning around expecting to see a bear following me. Turned out to be the sound of my lungs wheezing.

I was in rough shape. Climbing Hope after dark the cold had really gotten into my lungs and they had started closing up making it hard to breath. It may have been an underlying chest cold (?) or the altitude but I felt like I was breathing through a straw and my lungs and breath were raspy. I was wearing a mask to try and protect them from the cold of the night. Had no blisters but my heel hurt and was pretty sure I had two toenails that had blisters under them which is always painful.

I kept on for an hour or two moving at a crawl just trying to figure out where I was step by step. Every time I would get cell connection, I'd try to get gps to give me a trail to follow but it kept wanting to take me to the road. Finally, when I reached a marathon left and had only made 6 miles in 3 hours, it reached a point where I felt God just kind of let me know that I'd done well, but this would become dangerous being in the condition I was in, on the trail alone in the dark. I felt that thought clear as day, that it was time to move to the road and finish the trip back to Leadville off the trail and where Jason could get to me. By that time, it was an easy decision tho I felt regret not finishing the rest...but to be honest the thought of climbing back up Pipeline was absolutely horrendous.

I had about a 10-mile descent on dirt roads to get to the highway. Jason met me and I was shivering and doing pretty badly, my 'good ' knee had a lot of pain and I couldn't stay awake. We restocked my pack and he set a 5-minute timer for me and I took a quick catnap in the car. It wasn't much but it was enough to give me a little more alertness. What an angel. Who else would drive all these crazy distances to help me get through a night?? <3

Had to do 4 miles on the highway which sucked with cars and trucks coming down the road, so I was relieved to get off it finally. I had a text from my good friend Connie asking how I was. I was too tired to communicate with anyone really, but I asked her to pray for me because my throat had closed up almost completely. After awhile the sun came up and the air warmed up and I felt like I could finally breath without a mask though still raspy.

Jason called with about 16 miles left and asked if I wanted Rhonda to come out and pace me the rest of the way. Oh, I was sooo grateful I almost broke down. I was so glad she wanted to come back out and was finally feeling good enough to come out. While I waited for them I found an American flag along the road and an antique insulator so that was really cool, I tried to pass the time scrounging for interesting objects. I picked a couple wildflower plants.

I had half a marathon left when they finally met up with me. I chugged another bang energy drink and felt sooo much better with Rhonda there, I had a good burst of energy, and we pulled probably a 17 min mile average, not the quickest but this is also almost mile 90. We took the road up around turquoise lake and had a bunch of fun. Had a great laugh taking a picture of me totally dead in the same location I got a picture of her totally dead last year. We're so weird haha! Totally not faking it, actual photos of the wall. :-D

It took us, gosh I don't even know, maybe 5 hours. The sun came out and it wasn't hot, but it felt pretty miserable. We power hiked the hills pretty well, the downs were torture, they hurt my knee a lot. Flats were ok. I got dehydrated in the sun and started having to make frequent pit stops and I didn't heed my own advice and chug a bunch of electrolytes, was just trying to crawl to the finish. I put on some LDs General Conference for a half an hour or so just to strengthen my spirit and my Hope.

I had some mild nausea but it never developed into full blown vomiting thankfully. The last 2.2 miles Jason pulled up in the car and got out and walked /jogged/crawled with us. I was so done with my pack!

Of course, the sky had to open up and give us a downpour. Thankfully had a poncho so I stayed warm but Jason got wet. Rhonda kept us moving at a good pace. With another mile to go and every step torture, another favorite song broke me down into sobs.

"Rise, from the blood of your heroes, you were the ones who refused to surrender"

There was what looked like a timing mat on the road, and it happened to be exactly at 100 miles, Jason being the amazing person he is, went out shopping and found cowbells so that he could properly cheer my finish. That was just the coolest ever. :-D I crossed the random timing mat and pretty much collapsed onto the road. So relieved to be done. So miserable. So grateful to Jason and Rhonda for seeing me through to the very long end. So grateful to the Lord for keeping me safe when my mind was obliterated from altitude and exhaustion on the trail, and so grateful for the company of Dexter and my marines who I know were with me every step of the way over Hope Pass.

Several cars stopped to ask if I was okay haha. I was probably not, but I was done! :-D

Those summit miles were the hardest I have ever done in any run, and the most rewarding. I will never forget that. I would consider that a life goal achievement. My pride was a little stung that I couldn't finish the entire Leadville course, but I wasn't running Leadville, this was Rocky Mountain High, and it was as hard and emotional and euphoric as I hoped it would be. <3

The hours after were some of the toughest I've had post-race. My lungs hurt so much! We made it back to the condo for a quick shower just in time to get Rhonda to the airport. I slept most of the way to Denver and back, waking up to painful coughing. Luckily its subsided in the days since the run. Looking back there are definitely things I'd do differently, and I think I would dare to attempt it again with a better mapped out course but I definitely wouldn't do it again without carrying satellite gps. That was just a joke trying to navigate from my phone. Luckily learned my lesson without any major trouble. We are crazy but Rhonda and I have already said, maybe we'll try again next year. :-D

I have until next Friday to recover, then I'll be running Ute 100 in the mountains above Moab. This will be the biggest race challenge I've faced. I don't know if I can do it. I will give it my all. I'll bring these Marines who gave us the best of their lives, to the top on Manns peak, 12,500 altitude.

"Each of us knows, in a night of unbearable sadness

Still a light can be found" - John Denver

My run stats. I don't know how accurate these are, just what my Garmin Fenix & Strava recorded: shrug: