“The Dude abides. I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. The Dude. Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh. I sure hope he makes the finals.” – The Stranger (The Big Lebowski)

What was my key to this race? I was going to run with love no matter how scared, hurt or tired I became. I thought about Khalil Gibran, who wrote what has become the theme of this journey:

“Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distills a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night. All work is empty, save when there is love; and when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.” – The Prophet

Pre-Amble: I write this race report about an epic event that started over a year earlier and “ended” in a celebration that took over a full day to complete.

I will try to stick to the race itself and leave the surrounding pre and post-drama to other episodes of my blog.

The Numbers: By the numbers, my team and I ran the 2010 Leadville Trail 100 in 27 hours, 50 minutes and 35 seconds. WAHOO!!!

Well, I found my crew who always did an awesome job getting me to our crew chair.

After spending a few minutes in tent getting food and looking for a doctor. NO NO NO, I learned my lesson. I was just going to confirm that every doctor in Leadville had my picture and was notified to mess with me. As I walked out of the aid station officially, i found my chair. What happened? I love aid stations. I sat down and decided to change socks, powder my feet, eat and chill. I know, I had to do it. At this point, the big gun, Don Sansom, a Boston Marathoner, was pacing me home. He had the legs, but Joe informed him that it would take us a long time due to my condition.

This was by far the coldest aid station. I put on an extra top and gloves to get home. Somehow, in the aid station, i begged and found another Tylenol (just 1…they said their very last one…sorry everyone). When I started to talk to the crew (while in the chair relaxing), a woman DOCTOR who was crewing for someone next to us handed me 3 Advil’s and told us that you can mix pain meds. I felt like I was cheating to take pain meds, but my vagisil was not working.

We left May Queen at 7 minutes before 5am. My goal was 28 hours. To do this, I had to leave May Queen a little after 4am. Don and I walked down the road, shot some video and laughed about having a little over 5 hours to make it. As we hit the trail by the lake, a miracle happened. My IT bands were not buckling. I asked Don to open it up and we ran. Did we run? We broke speed records. I am not sure what it is, but when I am getting close to the barn, I haul ass. I also enjoy passing people and saying, “good work” while they look at me in contempt. Maybe this is a guttural reaction to training for a year with people faster than me. Sorry…I enjoyed passing peeps! (NOTE: My last 13 miles ended up being one of the fastest legs of all racers…again, Lippman’s advice to run faster allowed me to end the pain sooner:))

Don and I somehow ran the entire lake section (besides a few uphills) and finally hit the road. I drank enough to stay hydrated and ate, but my consumption had gone down now. The cold and the excitement was fueling me. Don and I ran the entire road to the train track turn off. When we hit that turn, we walked a little and then ran to the uphill climb to a long dirt road. We must have caught 40 people since May Queen.

As we ran this road, the excitement was building. Did you know that this road has more false summits than Sugarloaf. WTF? This road just became the single longest track in history. I wanted to run the entire track (out of fear that the 3 “Advil” that I was slipped in May Queen…OKAY…It had to have been Narcotics…I felt awesome!) but after the 2,300^th false summit, we walked some.

As we crested the road and saw the stadium and the finishing road, Don and I began to run. Then we power-walked up the finishing road until we could see the red carpet. When it came into view, I was STOKED. We ran the entire 1-mile finish in. I did it. I was going to beat my original 28-hour goal by 10 minutes!!! We ran from May Queen in less than 3 HOURS!!! Ken, it must be narcotics. Praise you oh DOCTOR crew member in May Queen, I owe you.

Joe and I left the crew and headed down to road to Sugarloaf. I power-walked again. We were now a few minutes behind schedule, but I was not worried. Joe and I hit the road and were immediately passed by a runner holding onto his pacer. We ended up seeing them again and the runner continued to be dragged up (THIS IS CHEATING) Sugarloaf. BAD FORM! Your pacer can be a mule by carrying objects, but they cannot hold on or be pushed. BULLSHIT!

As Joe and I began to climb Sugarloaf, my IT bands decided to wage war against me on the uphills too. This was the first time this really happened. The ROAD (that #$%^*& road) must have trashed them all over the place. I should have done more clamshells. I had to teach my right leg how to move up hill. The sticks help some but every step my leg would buckle!!! I was laughing and nervous BUT this was not going to beat me. I willed my legs to work and in 2-3 minutes, I began to power walk up the huge mountain. Joe and I made awesome time catching 10’s of people including the two brothers that the pacer dragged the runner up the mountain. When Joe and I hit the 137th false peak, we started to descend. The uphill on Sugarloaf is awesome. My lungs were working well. I was drinking and continuing to eat and salt. As we headed down, my legs began to buckle again. In truth, I was happy to power walk but I really really wanted to run. Everything else on my body was working except for my knees (and the broken toe and blisters but this was table stakes).

After walking 17 miles down a 1-mile stretch from the base of Sugarloaf to the entrance of the Colorado trail, we began to descend. OUCH!!! I could not walk and began to pole vault down the trail. This was the most painful and difficult section of the course for me. From the time I started the race to now, the 1 mile Colorado trail grew to 9 miles, added 3 more bridges, and became much more rocky than I remembered. Joe was awesome to get me through there. We were passed by a few people and all I cared about was getting to May Queen by 4am. We made it there by 4:33am. I had less than 5 ½ hours to get to the red carpet. At the current pace and with my math inability, I was going to skip the aid station.

Joe Haus picked up the baton to the disappointment of Bixby and began to pace me. The temperature began to drop here and we were about to hit what I thought last year was DEATH ON A STICK MATE! I decided to practice judo and go with the road this year. I had two strategies. First, I wanted to make it to Fish Hatchery in less than 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Walking at a sub 17 minute pace (17 times 4 divided by the square root of pi would be the remainder of…damn, this math is too hard to do at this sleep deprivation). Thank goodness Joe is a numbers guy and told me that our current pace would work. Of course since Jason and I walked last year and were caught by the entire field on that road (not really but it sure felt that way), I was going to run if the headlamps behind us were running too. Well, no one else ran and based on my super-human ability to power walk with the titanium sticks, I chose to walk.  SOMETHING ODD happened here and is something that makes no sense: The 4 miles somehow was longer than I remembered. Our sub 17min/mile pace still took longer than 1 hour 15 minutes.

NOTE: The space/time continuum coming back into Leadville the last 50 miles changes. 50 miles is really 70 miles. I promise.

Well anyway, we made it to Fish Hatchery aid station. I checked in and weighed. I was 3 pounds heavier now than when I started. Oops…too many gu’s! I asked the doctor (well, he acted like one) to help me. Unfortunately every medical person on deck was working on some poor soul having a seizure or something. All I wanted was tape or something for my IT bands (which were killing). When they finally finished, I had the following conversation with the “doctor”:

KIRK – “Can you tape my knees? My IT bands are shot.”

DOCTOR – “That will not work. You are an idiot.”

KIRK – “I am sorry. I am not dying, but it would help me finish this run. What can you do to help me?”

DOCTOR – “What have you done in the past about this?”

KIRK – “I have never had this problem before. What do you recommend?”

DOCTOR – NO REPLY

KIRK – (WTF look on my face. Is this guy for real?) “Uhhh”

DOCTOR – NO REPLY

KIRK – “Well 10 years ago, I had an IT issue, but that was when I was fat.”

DOCTOR – “Well, what did you do then?”

KIRK – “I don’t remember.”

DOCTOR – NO REPLY

KIRK – (this guy will be strangled sometime, but I am in too good of a mood to do it myself)

DOCTOR – NO REPLY

KIRK – “Ok dammit, can I have a pain killer?”

DOCTOR – “Yes”

KIRK – “And????”

DOCTOR – “Here is ONE”.

KIRK – “C’mon Joe, were are outta here”.

I decided here to keep on my street shoes despite the blisters forming. I was not sure if the blisters were due to the water crossing even though I dried them, added powder and changed shoes in Twin Lakes, due to the street shoes, due to being on my feet all day, and/or a combo on them all. So, I did the best think, nothing.

We finally entered Half Moon aid station and it was unfortunately not filled with leprechauns like 2009. However, we did run into Barefoot Ted and the sweet little Paulette who we met climbing up Sugarloaf the first time on the way out. She was talking to the doctor about her fractured foot. He told her that if she wanted to QUIT, she would have to walk down to Tree Line or Fish Hatchery (towards the finish line anyway). Welcome to Leadville. I also asked the doctor about taping my knees or cutting out my tie band. He just laughed and told me that nothing could help me. Thanks!

As Bix and I headed down, I kicked a rock with my street shoes on. I thought that I burst a blister and it was bleeding, but come to find out, I broke my middle toe.

Bix and I decided to leave after downing raw ramen (this is just wrong…they had plenty of time to cook it, but this was obviously a tactic to break the weak mind…not gonna do it!). I noticed that I was drinking less due to the cold but continuing to eat and take my salts. We basically hobbled down to Tree Line.

When we arrived at Tree Line, my fearless crew was sleeping WELL!!! We woke them up and began to change pacers. Bixby got me to Tree Line early. We were back on track to hit 28! Bixby earned his title.

The one story out of the aid station is this (JASON ARE YOU LISTENING), I loved and enjoyed every aid station. I sat down. I ate. I talked to my crew.  I changed my trail shoes for my brooks street shoes (ahhhhh).

Coburn at Every Aid Station: Calm, Cool and Loving the Chair

Day Chair and current chapter secretary of team T-Rex, David Bixby, led me out of Twin Lakes up into what I consider the most psychedelic portion of the trail. It was getting dark and both of my IT bands were shot. In the first 5 minutes, we caught up to Cindy Henges. Poor thing. She was not happy and did not feel well. We moved on and never saw her again until less than a minute shy of 30 hours on the red carpet. Her finish was inspiring and showed me that her heart is as big as my tongue. Wow.

Now, Bixby is also the Executive (CEO) pastor at Austin Ridge church. If a church can make David Bixby a senior executive pastor, there is hope for us sinners yet. I mean it. “It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. The Dude. Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners…”. Bixby was my Dude for the next few hours. I do not remember anything about the run except that Bixby pushed me to run when I could and allowed me to talk about the hypocritical church-goers (I was complaining for the first time about other people who really represented the man in the mirror: me…what an oxymoron for sure…Leadville…dig deep). Since a man of the cloth was with us, I figured that God spared me from a lightning bolt up the a**. Well, instead, I was just given the “to the pain” treatment:

TO THE PAIN

Just before I left Winfield, I had to eat and enjoy my crew…50 miles in…(I needed everything I could to get back over Hope Pass, a 12,600 mountain pass). 

As I took off down the dirt road with super pacer and bow hunter Matt Heineger, I was joking and trying to hide my only true fear of the race, getting back over the vertical climb of this huge mountain. I knew that going up the backside of Hope Pass was going to be hard and I did NOT want to have a break down. I was going to blame Matt if we failed (actually, no one to blame but me). As we ran down the road, I saw John Peck and then David and Carrie. Peck looked focused and worried about coming back.  David and Carrie looked tired which worried me and I tried to pump them up without success. I then ran into Aaron from the training camp and gave him a huge hug. He told me that if I did not encourage him there, he was not sure he could/would finish. I would love to take credit for this but the truth is that he ran an awesome last 50 miles and finished with minutes to spare. As we hit the climb up, I ran into Gordon (who was not going to make it this year) and then a woman running at break neck speed just behind the cut-off window: Iva. I am not sure what she said to me but she was gone before I could respond. The rest of the climb was hard but my lungs felt strong and we continued to pass people until we caught: Guess Who? Jason again.

At the top of Hope Pass, I turned to Matt and had an idea. Matt was here running in memory of his father-in-law, an avid outdoorsman and adventurer, who died this past February on a snow mobile in an avalanche accident. His family wanted him to be here. My pacers all ran with a bib that included 2 patches of Matt’s father-in-law’s initials. We stopped on Hope Pass and buried one of the patches inside of the pyramid rock memorial. Matt teared up and my run just stepped up another notch. I was witnessing an epic journey and I was not only a participant but also a supporting cast member.

After the moment passed, we headed painfully down to Hopeless aid station as Matt recorded the Llamas. I asked them for a massage and sure enough, an aid worker had experience with IT band issues and worked on both of mine. After eating, laughing and getting a massage, we decided to run down the hill. I was pain free until the trees and decided to just man up and smile all the way down.

Once we hit the river heading into Twin Lakes, I decided to lay down to wash off the dried gu all over my shorts (I didn’t want people talking) and to soak my legs. NOTE: Cold Water makes your legs slower! But for those 30 seconds, I was in heaven. Matt and I followed Shoeless Joe Jackson into Twin Lakes. We asked him why he wore two pieces of rubber, string and tape as shoes and he seriously told us that “these feel better than shoes”. Wow (no comment). Don, the Servant and Boston Marathon stud met us in Twin Lakes and guided us to the oasis that the crew prepared for me. I lost time BUT was right on my original schedule of a 28-hour finish.

As I headed out of Twin Lakes feeling like Rocky Balboa (beat to hell but loving to be beaten). The trail becomes a valley that crosses 4 or 5 streams of the same river before heading up the Hope Pass vertical climb. I put in my iPod and turned it up. Oddly enough, my high school theme song came on: One by Metallica. It definitely had the impact of getting my legs moving again. As I crossed the last stream, my toes were cold and my legs were stiff. The tunes changed over to my theme song of this year’s race: Big Dreams and High Hopes by Jack Ingram (his daughter Ava is in Perry’s class this year). “And to this day, I don’t know why I’m restless, I guess some hearts are simply born to run… Big dreams, high hopes…They’ve led me through the hard times like a north star shinin’ showing me where to go…But even though I hardly ever catch ‘em, God, don’t it just feel good to try?

Big dreams, high hopes…They’ve led me through the hard time like a north star shinin’ showing me where to go…They’re what got this whole thing started…They’re what keep this cowboy ridin’ down the road…Big dreams, high hopes“.

At this point, I headed into the woods and started to climb. As I stated earlier, I had NO IDEA how to gauge whether I was aerobic, anaerobic or not breathing. So, I just power walked up Hope Pass using my “why are these legal” carbon-fiber-titanium walking sticks. Everyone around me would pause every 30+ minutes to sit and breathe. I decided to just plow through and get to the Hopeless Aid Station. I wanted to catch Anton there and record his passing; unfortunately, he came by before then. I stood off trail and clapped for him and his pacer. He looked at me like Lance Burkhart (Laird Hamilton) in North Shore thinking, “You Idiot”. Or maybe he was pissed since lost the bet after picking me at the pre-race meeting to DNF first. Who knows, but it was cool to see him haul ass down the hill.

A few minutes later, I made it to Hopeless Aid Station with the Llamas. Jason Lippman was there. I love running into Lippman. He is so encouraging despite his own race feelings and situation. Of course, he does not believe in aid stations and took off before I could comb my hair and change underwear (wait a minute…). Did I mention that my legs worked going uphill? In the aid station, I ate the best potatoes on the course with a heap of salt on top and told them that I could not WAIT to see them again. In fact, I tried to bribe someone to take my number to Winfield and back while I hung out with the Llamas. No takers. On my way up the last section of Hope Pass, I saw Merredith Terranova running behind a chick that was setting the downhill course record. As I crested Hope Pass, I took video and started down. OUCH, my IT bands (now the left as well) did not work. I pole-vaulted down the first ¼ mile. People started to pass me which is not normal for my downhill, but this was Leadville and I was going to take whatever was thrown at me. On the way down, I gave Muz a hug (did you know it was me? Muz was focused and looked good) and ran into the Barbie Doll from the training camp and a few Austin speedsters. I finally made it down to the road into Winfield and began to power walk. I saw Ken and Paul Sali. I gave Ken a huge hug and began to almost power cry. It was awesome. I was not feeling great so I put my iPod back in and Limelight by Rush came on (one of my former daydream theme songs that I would listen to as a kid while I imagined sinking a 30 foot birdie putt on the 18^th green of the Open (the British Open to you yanks) to be the first amateur to win since Bobby Jones in 1930. I finally found Winfield and ran in with my video recording and me smiling HUGE. It was awesome to be here to see my pacers for the first time and bask in the glory of making it to Winfield 10 minutes faster than 12 hours!!! (C’mon Jason, DIG DEEP!).

I looked at my watch, It wasn’t even 4pm YET!  The staff weighed me and I was only 1lb down. This is good for running but I also wanted to lose some Lbs as well to look stout during the finish. I sat down as my total crew (including Team T-Rex) helped me re-apply my vagisil and other products. This was also where I saw Claire and Russ again who whispered something to me (I have no idea what they said) that somehow made me feel even better. There is something about 2 amazing athletes especially a husband and wife team that just got back from running across Germany telling you that everything is looking good (or maybe they said “you need to eat some food”).

I walked / ran the up and down section of the trail that heads around Mt. Elbert and eventually comes to a nice downhill into Twin Lakes. I did not feel bad, but my IT band was in so much pain that I could NOT run the down hills. I finally figured out how to put all of the weight on my left leg and run downhill. This was going to be a long day if this kept up. I was not going to let this beat me. I did not however record any video during this section since I was in concentration mode. Jason also pulled one of his Houdini impersonations by vanishing. This is the section where Anton got lost going out. I laugh because I know the exact place he got lost and where 2 guys in front of me made the wrong turn. What is funny is that when you are going as slow as I was, you have plenty of time to see the markers. I finally ran into Twin Lakes holding onto an almost 30 minute gap against my original goal. Despite my pain, I was making good time. As I stumbled downhill into Twin Lakes, recording of course, I saw my crew. I was happy, excited to have run 40 miles so far and be ahead of plan.

My nutrition plan for the day was working:

• Thermolytes every hour (1, 2 or 3 depending on heat, effort)
• Gu Gels every hour (1 or 2 depending on heat, effort)
• EFS in my water (electrolytes supplement)
• Aid Station and Crew Supplied Hard Food like Subway (Italian bmt toasted), peanut butter snacks, ramen, potatoes and salt (the best food of the day).
• Mt. Dew

As I sat down, a local resident yelled at my crew to move a bicycle that was laid against a fence. She was worried that the bike would knock the entire fence down. My crew just looked at her and told her to do it herself.

As I sat down in Twin Lakes, I ate well, smiled and mentally prepared for the Hope Pass throw down! At this point, my pacing team was not ready turned to find out. As I left Twin Lakes, I knew that would see Team T-Rex next. See you in Windfield.

Note: It was awesome to see all of the crews. I felt like all of the crews were there for me: Claire and Russ, Angie, Sarah, Kelly, Jen, Misa, Jeffrey. It was such a joy to see everyone. They were there which meant that the rest of my family was also out on the course. That was an awesome feeling.