“The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.” J.R.R. Tolkien
GRANT: Wow.
VICKY: Wow.
GRANT: That is the elevation profile for the Leadville 100 Trail Ultramarathon.
VICKY: This is what the Tarahumara and Ann Trason ran. It’s to put some kind of visual to what is described in the book Born to Run.
GRANT: And of course at the end of that map they turned around and came back again. Brutal.
VICKY: This is the kind of thing that mere mortals like ourselves just look at and marvel. Afterall it’s one thing to run 100 miles (161 kilometers), but it’s another thing to do it up and down a mountain.
GRANT: Tell me about it. On Tuesday I ran 7 K up and down the Gatineau Hills and it killed me. My body aches all over. It’s nothing like a leisurely long run on flat surface. This reminds me, what did you think about Leadville?
VICKY: I think the spirit of Leadville is captured by the quote from founder Ken Chlouber: “You’re better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can!”. Leadville has an amazing history to it that is explained quite well in the book. It was basically a hard on it’s luck town before the trail race (and related races) brought increased attention and tourism to the area.
GRANT: And those related races are not all about running. Some are cycling races and one in particular is about to take the increased attention to a whole other level!
VICKY: Why is that?
GRANT: Well, Lance Armstong has been racing for the last couple of years at the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race (a route which roughly mirrors the ultramarathon). In 2008, Lance finished second behind 6 time winner and MTB legend David Wiens. Last August, 38 years old and fresh from an amazing 3rd place finish in the Tour de France Lance came back to try again. They’ve made a documentary about it called Race Across the Sky. It is getting rave reviews, not just for it’s telling of the Wiens-Armstrong duel, but for a great collection of human interest stories associated with other racers. It hit DVD shelves last week. Check out the trailer…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUol4meP9H4
VICKY: Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be featuring profiles and stories from some of the World’s greatest ultramarathons including legendary races like Badwater, Comrades and the Canadian Death Race.
GRANT: So stay tuned!
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Heard you on RRT interesting stuff. If you starting to explore ultras check out the Barkley Marathon, Hardrock and HURT all are well known in the community but not so much outside of it.
You might want to add Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon Neal Jamison and A Step Beyond Don Allison, to your book list
Thanks Stuart! We’ll look into the races and books you suggested. There are so many to choose from!
Have a good one!
Vicky