top of page
Search
Writer's pictureRosie Nanette Gagnon

Rocky Mountain High 100 #55, Leadville Colorado

Updated: Aug 18, 2023


"Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.

Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry.

Sunshine on the water looks so lovely.

Sunshine almost always makes me high.

If I had a day that i could give you

I'd give to you a day just like today.

If I had a song that i could sing for you

I'd sing a song to make you feel this way." -John Denver



I just love everything about the Leadville 100 course, except for what I think is the insanely tight 30 hr cutoff. I honestly can't imagine being a fast enough athlete to traverse the high-altitude course that includes the steep technical double ascent up over Hopes Pass at 12,600ft. This is why I choose to come out and run the course at my own pace, able to enjoy the scenery, deal with the altitude sickness and embrace all the solitary hours alone under the milky way. Maybe one day I'll attempt the actual race but for this 100, it was going to be solo after a couple friends weren't able to make the trip to run with me. I had originally planned to push my pace and try to keep a sub 36 hr time, but then because I'm some kind of genius, jumped into 5 Lakes 100 at the last minute. With 6 days between that finish and this run, I told Jason I basically had to treat it as a 200 miler, I was definitely not fully recovered and ready to go. We drove out from Virginia with our son Peter, on our 20th wedding anniversary. Poor Jason, not the most romantic way to spend a milestone wedding anniversary! I love him and I'm grateful for all the love he has for me and all the sacrifices he makes for me!



We arrived Thursday and realized it was the weekend for Leadville MTB100, a 100-mile mountain bike race. We were lucky to find a camping spot because everything we saw was reserved. It was right off the course on the Turquoise Lake trail so just about perfect. My daughter Hannah drove out with her family to camp with us and help crew. We had fun setting up tents, playing with the babies, going for walks with little Ellie to look for pinecones, throwing rocks into the lake and just spending time together. I was really proud of this amazing blackberry cobbler; I brought frozen berries from home, and it actually cooked pretty well on a grill over the fire. That was my primary carb-up to run 100 miles, I ate sooo much after dinner, and another helping served on blueberry pancakes Friday morning! Haha. Sitting around snacking and talking and laughing, I felt Dexter with us, and it was just a special time together as a family, though messy and chaotic too!









I planned to start running @ 5pm on Friday, so we did some family stuff early, including a 2–3-mile hike to check out a part of the TQL trail where my friend Rhonda and I got lost last year. I mostly tried to rest my feet. We had fun eating a big lunch at taco bell (5 hard shell tacos, YUM!) then I tried to take a nap in the crappy little tent I'd bought for the occasion. We didn't sleep very well on the ground the night before because we'd forgotten the cap to our camping air mattress, so it was pretty uncomfortable. Between that, some rain, and frequent trips crawling out of the tent to pee from trying to stay hydrated, all in all I was pretty tired when Jason drove me to the MTB100 start line in Leadville to use as my start line.








I realized quickly, within the first mile, that this was going to be an ordeal! My legs felt pretty good, but my cardio system was n.o.t. happy about the altitude. Even running downhill at a 13 min mile pace I was winded and breathing hard. I fought it for a few miles and tried to push through but finally had to just accept that I was going to have to slow down and go a snail's pace to keep my heart rate in a moderate aerobic zone. The first couple miles are basically all downhill first on paved roads through the outskirts of town, then switching to fairly smooth gravel roads. I could see if you're running the official race this would be the place to be cranking up your pace as much as possible. Eventually the gravel road turns into bouldery technical dirt ATV type road and you follow that for a mile or two along some railroad tracks until the trail brings you out again to the paved road and you make your way out to Turquoise Lake. It was late in the day, and I could see a big storm rolling in off in the distance, lighting far off over Hope Pass. That was about the time when I started to get excited about the journey. I'd been kind-of dreading it in a way, knowing I was still fatigued. I knew it would probably rain on me and be cold and sketchy alone in the pine forest overnight, but the sense of adventure kicked in and I didn't care how long it took me, just as long as I got the miles finished. These mountains are no joke.


After a steady climb up the Turquoise Lake road there is a right turn at the dam onto the Turquoise Lake trail. That was where I felt, alright...rubber hits the road, game is on. Of course, I only ran about half a mile until I was at my family's campground, ha-ha. It was starting to rain, and everyone was busy trying to get everything covered with tarps. Jason who isn't generally the guy to cook anything, had toasted me a hot dog bun and grilled up a hot dog, had all my favorite condiments on it, still warm. Sooo good! Had fun chatting for a few minutes while I got out my rain gear and lamps and supplies for the night. I wouldn't meet Jason until close to mile 38-ish. I had 2 drop bags in ammo cans hidden at various points on the trail, but as we were nearing sunset I was basically on my own for the rest of the night. The rain moved in and was really heavy for probably a solid hour. I was ready to accept this was going to be a wet soggy night, but the storm rolled through and gave me the cleanest, clearest most brilliant sunset over the lake. Because of the rain not a single person was on the trail except me, and it was glorious!





At the May Queen campground, I refilled my electrolytes and food, kept my jacket on for the cool night ahead, and headed up the road to hit the Colorado trail. It got dark as I started into the deeper part of the forest. I had a few miles where I felt started to feel a little spooked thinking about bears or mountain lions, but then I just had this warm feeling fill up my heart and I could almost feel SSgt Wilson's smile & voice say like, you're not alone out here, I'm leading your team tonight and nobody's gonna mess with you. It was just a momentary thought but so clear in my head that from that point on I wasn't afraid of being alone on the mountain.


After an uphill technical climb on the Colorado trail, the course comes out onto sugar-loaf mountain road. (?) I think it was like 5 miles of steady uphill running on dirt road. I felt grateful to my buddy Paul who earlier in the year had helped me figure out the Gaia app. I was able to download the Leadville 100gpx file so while it took some time to check my map and make sure I was on track, there was never a fear of getting lost. It was extremely accurate and worked even when I had no cell service. A real lifesaver!



Because the road climb was mostly smooth dirt/gravel, I shut off my headlamps periodically to soak in the brilliance of the milky way, and the occasional meteor as this was the peak weekend for the Perseid meteor shower. I thought it really didn't matter how fast or slow I was going, the fact I was up above 11k alone around midnight, watching the meteor shower, there was no place I would rather be! It was a really long section getting to the top of the mountain where I'd hit the power-line trail and begin a steep technical descent. Running up the road I came across a group of 4-5 campers who sounded mildly drunk. They asked about my run, so we chatted a bit and they sent me off into the night with whoops and hollers and “Godspeeds.” That was really fun. At the summit there were cars and campers everywhere, people awake sitting around their campfires and watching the meteor shower. People were friendly and said hello tho it was past midnight. One camp I passed pointed out to me this slow streak across the sky, about the width of the top of a telephone pole, long and rectangular and a deep teal color. It looked nothing like the fireballs and golden meteors falling and went almost sideways and slow in the sky. We all stood there watching and the campers were all like “What the h*** is that? “It then disappeared so I wished them a goodnight and headed to power-line.


Because of some new Colorado law, hikers can sue property owners in the mountains if they get injured, so there was now a sign on the trail that said this was private property and I had to have a signed waiver to enter. I'd read a news article that this was new for the official Leadville 100 races, so I knew it was still part of the racecourse. It gave me some major anxiety, but I turned off my headlamp and ran by my waist light to be more incognito, lol, hoping nobody would notice me on the road/trail. It late so I wasn't too worried, but I did have a backup plan to hide behind a tree if I saw lights coming my direction. I covered ground quickly as I could on the steep descent, and after happily finding a porta potty, got back out on the main road for a short 5-ish mile road section to the next trail. I had the road to myself and turned off my lights again and ran under the milky way watching for meteors. It was spectacular. I refueled at my drop bag hidden along the road behind a bush. No people out that hour of the morning so I took my time to check and make sure I was all set for the next 12–15-mile section -unsure of the distance. I lifted some a picoff the internet of the meteor shower just to show what it was like. I've never seen the milky way so bright!



For some reason I didn't think clearly about my food, I ate some applesauce and drank a Nesquik but only took a few hundred calories with me. A couple miles down the road I realized I should have carried double what I had. Luckily, I had a couple gu's tucked into my pack for emergencies because I was running out of gas by the time I met Jason around 5am. Last year I'd struggled through this section of ATV road and trail in the heat, but with the Gaia map in the dark it was smooth sailing. I refilled drinks in a few creeks and kept an easy pace, so I didn't burn up too many calories. Felt like I was on that section for a good long time, got a little sleepy, occasionally turned off my lamp to view the stars, cranked up the music and enjoyed being out in the night. Thank goodness for my amazing supportive husband, 5 or so am, he was waiting in the Twin Lakes parking lot for me, with hot ramen ready to go! I was sooo happy to see him. The sky was just starting to get light so I was able to drop off my headlamps, kept my coat on because I expected it would be chilly up top of Hopes Pass.


I had to cross the river with knee deep water that flows into the lakes, go about a mile and then the ascent to Hopes Pass began. I was still having a hard time catching my breath in the thin air so as the trail steepened and got technical, it was a long slow slog to the pass. A beautiful trail, but a chilly cloudy morning that didn't help my mood. I was feeling frustrated at my slow pace, the rattle that was starting in my lungs, presumably high-altitude pulmonary edema, aka altitude sickness. I tried to keep a steady forward motion, but found myself doing the -100 steps, rest- pattern for the 4 miles to the summit. I'd spent $12 on this Rec Pak product, a 700 calorie 'shake' that is lightweight to keep in your pack, then fill-shake-and drink. I was looking forward to the calorie boost. Maybe I didn't fill it correctly, but it ended up having the taste of sweet, powdered milk with the texture of toothpaste. Trying to choke it down was horrendously gross, I was gagging but that had been my main calorie choice, so I had no alternative. I choked it down followed by some cold creek water. Def not a product I'd purchase again!







Near the summit above the tree line the trail gets pretty technical. There were a lot of hikers-runners- out by this time and it was so demoralizing to have them blowing past me. Granted they were probably not 40 miles into an all-night journey, still, I beat myself up a little bit for being out of shape and slow! It was getting hard to stay warm, so I'd dug out my hot hands for down my shirt and into mittens but with a drizzle of rain and high winds, temps had sunk down into the mid 30s. I felt mildly hypodermic, was bonking hard, having trouble breathing. Great relief to make it to the top. Though I should have kept my pack on for warmth, I had to pull it off to get a picture. Found a couple heart rocks at the summit to paint and with relief started the descent down into Winfield.






This far side of Hope pass gets extremely steep, but I was able to move quickly and once off the pass, the wind died down, so I warmed back up. Refilled bottles in a creek and pushed for what took the longest time to finally reach the Winfield turn off the trail, to backtrack into the teeny, little mining town where I would meet Jason. As I jogged into the parking lot the sun was shining and I felt relieved, halfway finished! Peter was out to help Jason, they got me some hot food, and all stocked up for the return trip.




I dumbly left my coat because the day was getting hot and was back on my way up the backside of Hope Pass. Jason had arranged with a lady named Beth from Wear Blue to have a runner from their local group come out to meet me and pace me through the night. I was glad to have 62 miles to myself but heading into my second night awake, I would be grateful for the company. Wow, the climb back up to Hope Pass was absolutely brutal. I don't know if it was general fatigue, altitude sickness, sun, low oxygen, raspy lungs, etc. but I really really struggled. The 4-mile ascent I literally took 50 steps, stopped to breath, for hours, up to the top. I was getting lightheaded, so I finally broke into my can of oxygen and used it during the steepest parts of the climbs. Met a couple girls who encouraged me and snapped a photo. I look way happier than I felt, ha-ha. The weather turned cold about halfway up the mountain. I'd left my rain jacket with Jason, so I'd put on my rain poncho, and it kept me moderately comfortable until I got up above the tree line and the wind picked up. I was shivering and just really struggling but finally, finally made it to the top.







I called Jason to let him know I was on my way back down to the Twin Lakes parking lot, that it'd take me a couple hrs. to make the descent. That was when I found out Hannah back at the campground, had become almost comatose and had a stroke. They had to call 9-11 to get her to the emergency room. I was sooo worried! I thought I would have to drop out of the run and get to the ER as soon as I got down the mountain. A while later on my descent which seemed so rocky and slow, it took forever, and I was so worried and praying and shivering in the cold... Jason said Hannah had been released from the hospital and was doing okay. Shed have to have follow up tests once she got back home but that the stroke had been mild, and everything was good to continue. I felt guilty like maybe I should still get back to camp and be with her, but I knew Hannah wouldn't want me to quit. It was getting late in the afternoon when I finally crossed the knee-deep river and wound my way thru the mosquito infested marshes to the Twin Lakes parking lot at mile 62, where I met Jason and Mark who would be my pacer for the rest of the course! Originally, he was going to do two 13 mile stretches with me, but he'd decided to stick with me and go all 38 miles overnight to the finish. The nicest! Jason got me warmed up and refueled with hot ramen...sooo good, my headlamps and a coat I could take for overnight. He hiked up the road with us while I ate my ramen, and this year between Gaia and some gu wrappers I'd strategically placed under a rock, we easily found the path back to the trail that would lead us on course towards Turquoise lake. Last year I couldn't find it and ended up hiking up the side of the mountain through scrub oak and dirt, with no trail, trying to locate it. What a relief, lol.




I had such an awesome time with Mark. What a neat guy. Active-Duty army, married father of three, Mark had served with John Hallett, husband of Lisa Hallett, who was killed in action Aug 25, 2009 leaving behind his wife and 3 children including a baby girl he never had the chance to meet. Lisa went on after his death to create the Wear Blue run to Remember organization, so I felt so blessed and honored to share miles with a comrade of Johns. Mark had also paced Lisa when she ran the Leadville 100 last year, finishing well under 30 hours and raising $100k for Wear Blue. It felt like we were almost family. He had his Wear Blue shirt and hat on as well. We slogged up the steep climb for about 3-4 miles, and then it mostly trended downhill all the way back to what's around the “outward bound” aid station location for Leadville 100, aka my drop bag by the bush by the side of the road, ha. We were chatting away, and Mark was navigating. The trail was confusing at a few points, and we were enjoying the most gorgeous golden evening sun in a forest of thick aspen trees running a soft downhill trail that just felt amazing...until we realized we'd gone off course! It felt like a loooong hike getting back on track. It worked out okay because the mileage we did there, let me finish at my campground vs slogging all the way back to town and gosh, the golden aspen forest was magical!


After we talked awhile, I put on music and we just pressed through the night, making conversation here & there, occasionally pausing to check out the stars. It got chilly out, but we stayed comfortable as long as we were moving. That section is just kind-of a blur, I tried to keep up with Mark, he has a strong power hike, and I was poking along behind, but to be fair it was my second night awake, and I had 75+ miles in my legs by now. Jason met us by the side of the highway in the dark sometime in the wee hours of the morning. I was falling asleep on my feet, so I had him set me a timer for 5 minutes, I climbed in the car and was instantly asleep. Poor Mark was in his shorts waiting outside the car in the cold chatting with Jason while I dozed, but I woke up feeling good so after we fueled up, we hit the 3–4-mile stretch of road that would take us to the Powerline Trail.


Last year, I had gotten terribly lost in the woods and was hallucinating badly so I took to the road for the last marathon distance. With Mark to push me along, no excuses, I was determined to make the hard technical climb up over power-line & the mountain, down the long gravel road, taking the rocky Colorado Trail back to the Turquoise Lake Trail. The climbs were rough. I still had to stop every 50-100 steps and breath, making the ascent slow and painful. Mark was patient and never complained or pushed me, but kept a steady forward pace. At one point he shared with me how a year or so ago he started seeing a professional for PTSD, and that he made sure all the folks in his office knew when he was headed out for his therapy appt. That just touched my heart so much, and I felt honored to be sharing miles with a war hero who was taking steps to get the help he needed to overcome the demons so many of our guys in the military come home with. Many losing the battle with them, to suicide.

I felt he was the perfect companion to be with me, Dexter and my Marines as we pushed through the death march of the final marathon.


I ended up being dehydrated and nauseous, so made frequent stops to pee or sit down and dry heave. Always charming behavior when you're spending time with a new friend haha. I knew he'd paced Lisa's later miles so hopefully was at least somewhat familiar with the brutal gross reality of late ultras, ha. My lungs were inflamed and I could hear the raspiness in them as I tried to breath. I did wear a mask through both nights to help prevent some of the edema but I was feeling it towards the end. Jason lent me his inhaler so I used it a few times in hopes it would help my lungs expand a bit. My feet had dried out after the river, but I had some pretty big blisters on my heels that were painful. I was craving salt and tried to keep food going down. Mark carried a big bag of Fritos for me that I watched for endless miles swinging from his pack, but they were dry and would catch in my throat causing coughing fits so I sadly eventually gave them up, and soon gave up pretty much eating or drinking anything. A little TMI note. After so many hours the seams of your clothes on your skin get quite chafey and painful. I'd finally had enough of my bra straps digging into my back and shoulders, so decided to just undo it and tighten up my vest. I'm happy to note no serious repercussions and a minor increase in comfort level. Ha.



Jason wonderfully met us pre-dawn, at the MayQueen aid station campground. Oh, I was sooo happy to see him. He and Mark waited again while I crawled in the front seat with the heater on and blacked out for another 5-minute nap. Jason was gonna give me 10 minutes, but I woke up after 7 cuz it was time to go! Its about a 5-mile trail, technical in places, with a small climb or two around Turquoise Lake, but beautiful and fairly easy compared to what we'd done, though we were at abt. 94 miles! I still had to stop for breathers on every climb and still was making dry heave stops. Since It was Sunday morning I put on some hymns. I didn't think he would mind since we'd already talked enough to know he was a believer, so I felt comfortable doing that. He'd said he liked classic rock but with the internet cutting in and out we were stuck with my playlist. We were finally approaching 100 miles as we neared our camp, about 1.5 miles short! Mark did the math, I dropped off my coat down by the lake just below where my family would be camping and we finished the Turquoise Lake trail, chatted happily across the dam and back. We did finally put on two songs he suggested for our finish, the final countdown and eye of the tiger. It was so funny and fun singing with him and bringing in that final mile, across the parking lot to hit 100.00 right at the car with my family there, my little grand baby Ellie coming out to see Grandma Rosie. My heart!!! <3 <3 <3 Right at 40 hrs.



I was a little disappointed in my time, I'd hoped to do 36-38 hrs but I had to remind myself I was only 7 days out from my last 100 miler, and actually I finished 2-3 hrs faster than last year, and that was sticking to the hard trails instead of moving out onto the flat road. I was bummed that the climb over Hope was less exhilarating and more of a struggle this year but I had to stop chiding myself and be grateful for another 100 done.


I laid down on a sleeping bag in the parking lot and was instantly asleep so I didn't get the chance to really say goodbye to Mark and thank him, but Jason made sure to send some honey home with him. Ben had cooked me up some crispy bacon that I nibbled on that I randomly said was “totally jawsome” (words printed on a mug Hannah has with a shark, haha.) Someone asked how many 100s this was and when Jason said #54, I guess from my nearly comatose state I called out #55!!! haha.

But wow really, so so grateful to have 55 under the belt! Last year this course was my #36, which means I put down 19 in 1 year.


I crashed for an hour or two while my family packed up the campground and we headed to KFC for some lunch. Happily my stomach didn't give me any trouble and I ate like 3-4 pieces of fried chicken & mashed potatoes and gravy before I crashed at the booth while the family finished eating. We had to wait a few hours to check into our condo in Silverthorne where we'd spend 2 weeks acclimating for Ute 100 on Aug 26th, so we found a park where Ellie and Lucy could play, and sadly instead of playing with them I fell asleep on the grass for 2 hrs. It went that way for the next 48 hrs, just completely wiped out, but I did get to play in the hot tub with Eliie a bit before Hannah and her family drove back to Utah. Unflattering pics but SO real haha!







It'd been such a gift to have them here, all Hannahs amazing support and the fact she never shames me for talking about Dexter is something I appreciate so much. We are praying her doctor can figure out soon why she had this stroke while camping with us. :(


4 days since my run, I'm still struggling to catch my breath when I try to do any real running or climbing. Our condo is about 10k altitude, so hopefully between now and next Saturday I will get better acclimated and be ready for Ute 100. I wish I was more athletic and hard core that I could churn out a 30 hour run on the Leadville trail and actually take home the real race buckle, but I wouldn't trade the time to myself with Dexter, Jake, Jacob, Nate and Taylor out on the trail or the private struggles alone in the woods. Its a different beast than an actual race, and I am grateful that though the Lord didn't gift me with great athleticism, he did give me a drive to push forward and never quit. I'm grateful for where that does take me. I pray every footstep will continue to raise awareness for veteran mental health and suicide and no more families will have their hearts shattered and lives devestated by such excruciating loss. I hope to help break stigma both of talking about suicide, and stigma against grief, that it's okay to miss our loved ones, and talk about them, and keep them alive in our everyday life as we move forward.




"You see I'd like to share my life with you

And show you things I've seen.

Places that I'm going to

Places where I've been.

To have you there beside me

To never be alone.

And all the time that you're with me

We will be at home. Follow me where I go, what I do, who I know

Make it part of you to be a part of me.

Follow me up and down

All the way and all around

Take my hand and say you'll follow me." -John Denver

  • 120,000 American service members and veterans have lost their lives to suicide since September 2001.

  • The veteran suicide rate is 57% higher than the national average.

  • Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. It was responsible for over 48,000 deaths in 2021 - which is about one death every 11 minutes.

  • It is estimated that approximately one in four people know someone who has taken their own life and that one suicide death leaves six or more suicide survivors.











30 views1 comment

1 Comment


scrisp
Aug 18, 2023

Wow Roșie, that does sound like quite the killer altitude and race. You are amazing, and so is your family, the community of runners, military folks, and relatives who have lost loved ones to war or suicide.


You do such a great job of raising awareness for this cause, and to honor Dexter and the rest of your family. I do hope Hannah can find out the cause of her strokes. Great that you have the time to bond.


Wishing you all the best, and congrats on #55!

Like
bottom of page