Leadville 10k: A high altitude date

We started our day driving through the high plains and mountains of Colorado to reach our run date, the Leadville 10K, in Historic Leadville, Colorado.  We spent the previous day celebrating our friends recent nuptials around Aspen and enjoyed the Aspen Brewing Company followed by the Grand Opening of the Aspen Art Museum (where they made a publicity splash with the tortoise with iPads on their backs stunt).  We climbed over 10,000 feet into the sky to compete in the 10K the next morning.  Nick is competing in the Pikes Peak Ascent next week while Jessica is training for the Denver Rock n' Roll Marathon.

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Leadville is a beautiful mountain town which has gained more recent fame for the Leadville 100 mile Ultra-Marathon and the multiple high altitude races it hosts.  It also contains a lot of history as a mining town and still contains the rustic, blue-collar feel of such a secluded place.  Its proximity to Denver, Colorado Springs, Breckenridge, Vail, and Aspen make it a worthy part of any trip to Colorado.

Prior to our race, we explored the town a bit, and Nick had to complete a long easy run prior to the race to prepare himself for the altitude of Pikes Peak next week.  We shared our pre-race affections and lined up with a myriad of characters including Barefoot Alex, and the complete crew from Marvel's Avengers.  At the gun we took off for our 5K descent, only to next turn around and head back uphill to where we came from!

We both had the learning experiences of  no matter how much you try to hold back running downhill for the first 5K, that last 5K is going to hurt!!  The course is a beautiful approach in to the mountains on primarily dirt road followed by a lung-grinding escape back up and away from them.  We both demonstrated our finest survival shuffles on the final step hill up 6th street prior to the finish where we enjoyed the camaraderie of a truly unique running community.

After one short race in Leadville terms we both fell in love with the idea of returning!  I'm not sure if either of us have the 100 mile bug, but Nick may dream about it knowing how the boy's brain works.

Happy Running and don't forget to find and live your love.

Nick's 3rd Place Overall Medal!