Leadville the run

So it was cold that early in the morning, and sleep had been a bit hard to come by, and my legs were sore from the ride, and three of my toes had gone numb, like completely numb (they still haven't really defrosted), and 50 miles is a long way, and I knew what was coming, and I knew it was going to be a very very long day. 

The sign said "Thinking of giving up-suck it up!"

 So I did. The next sign was a little more encouraging.

So I did what it said as well.

The turn around point, half way in under 6 hours.

12 hours later I was back where I started.

I'd done it...with a little (lot of) help from my friends

Now where's the beer?

The outbound splits can be found here Silver Rush 50 Mile Run but the inbound ones got a bit lost in technology malfunctions. Suffice to say that on the way back the climbing was hard, the slog out of Printerboy soul destroying, and the run down to and through the last aid station about as much fun as I'd had all day, until I hit the wall with about 2-3 miles to go then it was just hard.

Leadville

And so it was to Leadville.

The mountainbike race came and went. It was hard, much harder than it should have been, but then a glance at my training log kind of explained why. I had ridden more in the States in the lead up to and including the race than I had in the six months before. I knew deep down I could tough out any 50 mile mountain bike race and so it proved but it wasn't big and it wasn't clever. Still I finished and that's what counts in the end, for large parts it was an enjoyable grind and for one short (3-4 mile) section coming out of Printerboy aid station on the way back it really really wasn't.

Bring it on!

Bang! Now get out of the way.

I had the best crew!

Printerboy on the way out.

Right that's that bit done then.

Splits are here Silver Rush 50 Mile Mountain bike Race . I should have been faster, I should have hurt less, but then maybe just maybe I should have trained, even just a little might have helped.