Journey to Leadville 2012 - Byrne

Journey from Leadville - December 1, 2012

2012-12-02T00:12:00.000-06:00

My apologies for being away so long - it's time to wrap up the Leadville 2012 Race.

I need to take you through the last 22 miles to the finish line! Jay Gates took me up Powerline in the dark. At this point in the race, there are a couple of things running through my mind. First, as you can imagine, I'm feeling tired. I continue to feel so oxygen deprived and have come to the conclusion that it isn't going to get any better before the race end. Climbing had been my weak spot since mile 40 but at the same time, this would be my last climb. I was a little ahead of Rick but figured that he would catch up with me like he had on the previous mountain climbs.

Jay was awesome and we had some great conversation. Mentally I was trying to figure out what time I could get to the finish line. The great news was that I KNEW I was going to finish. The more pertinent question was, would I finish under 24, 25, 26, 27, or 28 hours? My goal all year had been sub 24 hours and I really believed my training had prepared me to achieve this. I didn't anticipate the difficulty I would have with breathing. Going up Hope Pass it was becoming increasingly clear to me that sub 24 hours was not going to happen. I thought the 25 hr finish was possible but it would be really difficult. Nonetheless, the Big Buckle that is awarded to sub 25 hr finishers is a badge of honor that I would be proud to wear.

Our climb was really good, just slower than what I had hoped. Sometimes I didn't talk very much because I was focused on breathing. Jay and I conversed about the Leadville experience, our year of training, and how much I appreciated him and others training with us. Jay had an important role in our training - he did a lot of the toughest workouts with us - 48 miles to West Branch and climbing the stairs at Jumers.

As we approached the top of Hope Pass, Rick and his pacer, Curt Johnston, caught up with us. I was really glad to see them - we were both that much closer to the finish. We visited for a few minutes and then we began the descent downhill to the MayQueen Campground aid station. The pattern for this race had been Rick gaining or passing me on the uphill climbs and me gaining or passing him on the downhill and flat sections of the race. Since this was a downhill section of the race I decided to take off again and thought we might cross paths again. Also, if I had any chance at a sub 25 hour finish, I needed to get going again.

Jay and I ventured out ahead. Rick and Curt were walking for a bit, largely due to Rick's sore feet. Even though we were going downhill I was probably not running as much as I should have been to the Hagerman Road. By the time we hit the lower part of the trail after the mile run along Hagerman road, I could feel my energy beginning to wane and probably started to let my mind think about my knees starting to hurt a little bit. Jay and I also talked about how cool it was that Rick and I had trained over the past 12 months and how neat it would be to finish Leadville together. This idea had a tremendous amount of appeal to me and I thought it would be really fitting. So I decided this was the way I wanted to finish the race. We finished this leg of the race at MayQueen and within 2 minutes, Rick and Curt showed up. We fueled up and headed out together for the final 13.5 miles!

John Lawler and Larry Ratigan joined Rick and I around Turquoise Lake. Rick's feet were really hurting so we walked for quite a bit of this section. When we reached the Tabor Boat Ramp, we picked up Doug Himmelman and Scott Passman and continued on our way. I stopped a couple of times to retape my feet so Rick made his way ahead and I eventually caught up with him. At about 95 miles we met up with a few others - my sisters Kim and Debi and Todd Hornbuckle. Technically we violated the 1 pacer per person rule but many of these rules aren't really that important to enforce when there isn't much traffic on the trail or road.

The last 5 miles seemed much longer than 5 miles but we made it. The last mile at Leadville is especially awesome because as many of our team can join us as they want. With the exception of my 82 year old mom and our official photographer/videographer, my sister Michelle, our entire team ran the last mile of the race with us. We walked quite a bit of it but ran it in for the last 1/4 mile or so. It was one of the greatest feelings of my life - what a wonderful accomplishment with a very special group of people!

Rick and I crossed the finish line together at 27 hours, 22 minutes, and 17 seconds and received our medals and hugs from Merilee (Oneal) Mappin. I always love seeing Merilee, especially at the finish line of the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run.

We had a quick post race medical check in everything checked out just fine. We gathered everyone together for a big thank you and team picture. It felt a little sad to say goodbye to everyone but people had to get back to their lives and we were so grateful they could be with us at Leadville.

Mom, Debi, Kim, Katelin, and Michelle joined Rick and I at the awards ceremony where Rick and I received our finisher hooded sweatshirts and belt buckles. We were a little sore in the legs :o) after a shower and a quick nap but the ceremony was wonderful and I'm so glad we were able to attend.

Thank you for reading about my Leadville experience - it has been most enjoyable to venture through this journey and it is my hope that sharing some of these thoughts will help and inspire you to achieve more satisfaction and joy in your life.

Have a great day! DIG DEEP! DIG DEEP! DIG DEEP!

Journey from Leadville - September 24, 2012

2012-09-24T10:35:00.002-05:00

Miles 60 - 78.....

Thomas and I at Notre Dame vs. Michigan football game 9/22/12 - Irish victory 13-6!

Wow - I can't believe 12 days have passed since my last blog! As I was preparing for Leadville, the "Big Goal", blogging seemed to be part of my daily routine. I've been busy with a number of other things - good things - but it has resulted in me being away from the blog. I have some unfinished business though - logging the experience of the remaining 40 miles of the race.

Picking up where we left off....felt really good leaving Twin Lakes. Once we started the climb out of Twin Lakes (about 2.5 miles of incline) it was clear that Rick's climbing superiority would reign again. I was happy for him and encouraged him to go as fast as he could. I told him I'd catch up later. My breathing troubles kicked in again and it remained my biggest nemesis. My pacer, John Lawler, was amazing! I didn't realize it at the time but he was strategically thinking with me the entire time we were together. John made great conversation and kept reminding me to continue taking deep breaths to get oxygen in my lungs. He had me drink more than I wanted with his objective being to get me to stop to go to the bathroom many times. It took a little while but before I knew it I was stopping every 5 minutes or so. This is what I needed as it was a sign that I was beginning to hydrate. The more we climbed the further Rick and Melissa distanced themselves between us. Jeff Friedman also passed us early on in this segment and we caught up with him once we reached the top.

The next 9 miles went quite well, mostly because it was downward and flat. The breathing was still difficult but it was starting to get better. We had stretches where we we were moving really well and my spirits improved. There were still times I needed to walk to catch my breath. Our most common pattern was to run counting 100 paces with the right foot and then walk. Sometimes we'd pick a landmark ahead or find a point that started going uphill again. John did everything I asked and knew when to encourage me to push even further. At one point we wondered whether we were still on the trail since we had not seen a green glowstick for sometime but soon thereafter we learned that we were on track. As we continued the decline my speed was picking up to the point where I felt like we had to be making up some of the gap between Rick and I. Rick is a good downhill runner but this is my strength in downhill running. Maybe I take more risks than I should when going downhill but it feels right to me and given the difficulties I had been experiencing in other parts of the race, these were my opportunities to make up some time.

I'm not exactly sure where we caught up with Rick and Melissa but I think it was around mile 68. Given the pace I was moving I thought I would have caught up with them sooner but I was glad they were making such good time. We ran the next couple miles together into the Half Pipe aid station. I learned at this point how much Rick's feet were hurting him. He had successfully trained for a year with these shoes but in retrospect they probably weren't the correct ones to have running trails in the mountains. I was fortunate enough to not have hurting feet. As a result, the running was hurting him quite a bit. Melissa was awesome with Rick - she had him on a program of run 15 paces with the right foot, walk 15 paces with the right foot. I'm sure the walking hurt too but probably not as much as the pounding of the running. I think I could have kept going faster but it was great to meet up with Rick again, we enjoyed the company of him and Melissa, I wanted to try to keep him motivated, and honestly it was nice to let up on the pedal a bit. My breathing was still very difficult.

Another milestone - hitting the 71 mile mark - only 29 miles to go! This was a relatively quick stop - ate/drank a cup of soup and drank a coke or two. The four of us left the aid station together. This was a flat segment and I was feeling pretty good so John and I ran off ahead and figured I would probably see Rick again on the climb back up Powerline. We cruised into an area about 1.5 miles further up the road referred to as Treeline. It is named Treeline because this is the altitude above which markedly fewer trees grow. At this station I traded out for a new shirt and bundled up more for the night. I was finally beginning to feel colder - the night sweats had finally left my body. I also traded in my friend John Lawler for my niece Katelin Gannon.

The breathing wasn't easy but my spirits were uplifted. I felt like I was getting back into my stride again a bit and I only had one giant incline to go - the dreaded Powerline. I could do one more big incline - no problem. I was also watching the time and wondering if 24 hours was still possible. I thought I would just run for awhile and see how I was doing later - then I could make the decision how hard I should push. Katelin and I took off out of the aid station and all was going well. As we turned right out of the aid station we followed a gravel road. Up ahead we could see the paved road and cars driving on it. I knew we would eventually be running on this road so we kept running toward it. About 1/4 - 1/2 mile further something seemed a little strange - we couldn't see any green glowsticks, no people in front of us and it felt like we were running away from our destination - DARN IT! We looked back and couldn't really see anyone else either. What a horrible feeling - I had this same feeling in 2005 at about mile 37 when I wasn't sure if I was still on course. We stopped and tried looking for some sign to see where we needed to go. I walked ahead a bit further to look for a marker - no luck. Katelin ran back to look for a marker - nothing! We were pondering what to do. I did not want to back track only to have to run a part of this course twice - once was long enough! On the other hand, it would have been disastrous to continue going in the wrong direction. It was one of those moments where you are feeling helpless and scrambling to figure out what to do. We probably only spent 2-3 minutes figuring it out but it seemed like 5-10 minutes.

When we looked back where we came from again, we could see a few headlamps heading diagonally across the field - that was where we needed to go. You might wonder why we couldn't see these headlights before - good question. Part of why we didn't see them was because we weren't sure where to look and part of it was that it this point in the race there aren't a whole lot of people in any one stretch - we're sort of out there by ourselves. So we backtracked to get back on the trail and when we did come up on the next group, it was Rick and my sister Debi! They were doing well and we stayed with them for a very short time. Soon thereafter Katelin and decided to go ahead again. My race was a combination of going fast and slow - Rick's race was steady throughout. He was a great measuring stick for me. Whenever I fell behind, I set my sights on trying to catch up with him again and knew that when I did, I was doing well.

Much of Katelin and my run was along a paved road that ran north and then 90 degrees west into the Fish Hatchery. It was run/walk the entire way. A few times I tried extending the run further to some telephone poles or to the end of a downward slope. We did a good job of passing people. Sometimes on our walk stretches we would get passed up but we overtook these people when we started running again. It was at this point in the race where I was wondering where I would finish in terms of time. My 'off the course' detour discouraged me a bit and made me think, "If I miss my goal by 5 minutes I'm going to be really disappointed", and I was beginning to doubt if I would be able to hit my sub 24 hour goal. I wasn't ready to give up on it but I just truly didn't know. There were so many variables - how would I perform going up Powerline? At what point does fatigue seriously impact my performance? Would my breathing get better? stay the same? get worse? If I couldn't achieve the 24 hour goal, could I still get sub 25 hours which would earn me a 'big belt buckle'? The big buckle is a badge of honor that separates those with an extraordinary finish from those who have an admirable finish. It still had some appeal to me even though it wasn't my original goal. Katelin kept me grounded and said that I should just keep doing the best I could and make the decision later based on where I was at later in the race. I still thought about it but agreed she was right and tried to put it out of my mind for awhile.

I had fun with all my pacers. Katelin was a great conversationalist and she, like the others, was very sneaky and manipulative in getting me to drink and eat more than I wanted. I'm grateful to her and all my pacers for taking care of me. We reach the Fish Hatchery and I feel like I'm doing fairly well - only 27 miles left! I grab some soup and coke at the aid station, stop to use the restroom and get ready for my tackling the last big climb, Powerline!

Doug Himmelman is my pacer for this stretch. Jay Gates joins us as well since he will be pacing me up Powerline. I was hoping to run quite a bit of this mile leading up to Powerline since I would be hiking for over an hour once we started our descent. However I was also trying to eat and drink along the way and did not want to upset my stomach further so we actually walked most of it. My breathing was still a struggle so I thought that walking could help me regain some oxygen. I'm not sure if it made a difference but it seemed right at the time. This mile to the base of Powerline seemed longer than it should have been but that was becoming a common theme throughout the entire race - everything seemed to be farther away than it was supposed to be!

I can't believe how long it is taking to write about this race but I guess it is a long race. Next time I will try to finish it up!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey from Leadville - Byrne - September 12, 2012

2012-09-12T14:24:00.003-05:00

A summary of the miles 50 - 60 of the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run - 2012 (this is taking longer than I thought!)

Our crew was ready for us at Winfield, as they were the entire day. We were both required to weigh in. I don't remember what Rick's weight was but I don't think he had lost any significant weight. I stepped on the scale - 191 lbs. Holy mackerel! My weigh in on Thursday night was 203.6 lbs and I would venture a guess that I probably put on some additional weight on Friday before the race. Part of me didn't care that I had lost the weight, it meant that I had 12 lbs less to take back up over Hope Pass! On the other hand I knew this was not good. I was frustrated because I felt like I had been diligently eating calories and drinking more water, gatorade, enduromax, and coke then I thought my body needed. I'm not sure what my crew was thinking but I'm sure they were seriously concerned. The race volunteers were equally concerned and they may have been justified in making me wait around awhile but I appreciate the judgment that they exercised.

John Byrne and Kim Greder on the way back from Winfield - mile 52

I've heard it numerous times that the volunteers will do everything in their power to get you back on the trail and see you - it is 100% true. They cared about my health but they also cared about me finishing. I am not privy to what they told my crew but they insisted that I drink and eat a significant amount before leaving the aid station. I ate another teaspoon of salt, drank 16 oz of water, a couple of cokes and a few other things I don't remember - bananas? The night sweats continued on and I was still feeling shortness of breath. I laid down while my crew worked on my feet - I think they took some tape off my feet and gave me a fresh shirt and pair of socks. I did not want a new hat or sunglasses. I wanted to get going but they weren't letting me go until I had eaten and drank a little more - which I begrudgingly did.

I'm not sure when Rick left with his pacer Gordon Staley - it may have been when I went back into the tent. I'm glad they went. Rick was ready, he was feeling strong, and there was no reason for him to wait for me. I visited the port a john to change into a new pair of slider shorts and vaseline my body again and I left Winfield with Kim. At the time I didn't know that the crew was semi-depressed over my weight loss and outward physical appearance. I looked so much weaker than just 4 hours earlier and I had a more difficult 50 miles ahead of me. In some ways more difficult because it was the second 50 miles but in some ways it is mentally easier because I was on my way back and I didn't have to climb the front side of Hope Pass which, in my opinion, is the hardest part of the race.

Kim was nothing short of amazing. As we were leaving Winfield, she reiterated that for the next 3.75 miles the key objectives were to refuel my body and get my breathing back. Running was a secondary goal and if necessary, we would walk the entire 3.75 miles before meeting Scott Passman to continue up Hope Pass. I knew she was right. I needed nutrition despite feeling bloated in my stomach and I agreed that I would take it before reaching Scott. I did delay her requests on a number of occasions but made good on my promises. Except for the first 3/4 mile or so out of Winfield which was very 'up hill' the rest of the trail was up and down with a fair amount of 'down'. I wanted so badly to run it but my breathing was still very difficult. I was also trying to negotiate the trade-off between giving up time now to be stronger for the steep incline up Hope Pass or making good time on this stretch at the risk of struggling up Hope Pass. I opted for the former so we did walk much more than I had wanted to and I concentrated primarily on trying to get oxygen in my lungs and force nutrition down my throat. We came across another bonus less than 1 mile into this segment when we caught up to Gordon!

Gordon started off with Rick but Rick was feeling so good he went ahead of Gordon. We had told our pacers from the very beginning - "If we are feeling good enough to move faster than you are, we love you but we are leaving you." We subscribe to the philosophy of "One man left behind!" I was glad to see Gordon and he stayed with Kim and I for a few more miles. Technically we violated the "one pacer only" rule but in the middle of the mountains nobody really knows and honestly nobody cares :o) Leadville has rules but I appreciate the fact that they don't let the rules get in the way of common sense and manage the rules in a way that maximizes its runners the chance to be successful. By the time we met up with Scott, I was actually feeling more fueled and I'm not sure the breathing was much better but there was a slight improvement. Doug Himmelman had made the 1/4 mile climb to meet us there too - it is always awesome to see more people!

Scott was ready to go and so was I. Kim made me bend over and take 10 deep breaths before we left. We began on the steepest climb of the day. I knew this was coming and I was mentally geared up for it. It wasn't easy and I don't feel like I was moving fast but I was moving and as we made our way up Hope Pass we started passing others - a very good sign that I wasn't struggling anymore. Just the opposite was occurring on the front side of Hope Pass, I was continually being passed by others. It was depressing and made me feel like I was getting worse. Everyone on the course is so great though, encouraging each other, regardless of whether they are passing or being passed. One time as I was passing a water bottle back to Scott, the exchange went awry and Scott had to climb down a steep gulley to retrieve it. I felt bad about it but I wasn't going to get it! He was able to catch back up to me within 5 minutes or so.

I had not seen my friend Christian Robbins during this race. As a former Leadman and previous sub 24 hour finisher of the race (twice), he was one of my measuring sticks that I was going to keep tabs on. I had learned at mile 30 that he had been behind me to that point. I figured he would pass me going up Hope Pass (since everyone else was!) but that didn't happen. As I was leaving Winfield I thought for sure I'd see him soon. When I didn't see him I figured that we had missed each other at the half way point and that he was not far in tow. After climbing for some time, I passed him on his descent. I felt bad for him because I know he wanted to be much further along. Given his location at the time, his chances of finishing were not looking promising. We exchanged an embrace and he told me I was doing a great job and to stay strong. Again it dawned on me how lucky I was to be where I was at. Christian, without question, is a superior runner to me and has proven it multiple times, yet he did not finish Leadville in 2012. It was a very humbling moment.

After we made it through the trees we could see further up the mountain and we were able to locate Rick and his pacer, Jay Gates. They were easy to spot because they were both wearing red shirts. They were way ahead of us, I would estimate 20-30 minutes. As climbing was Rick's strength throughout the race, the distance continued to increase between us. I was really happy that he was doing so well and thought that I might be able to catch back up with him if I could just get to the top!

As we were climbing the air started cooling off, the sun hid behind the clouds and the mountains and it even spit rain for a brief time. I could tell that others around me were getting colder but I welcomed the cooler weather. I was still sweating more than normal and had hoped the rain would pick up.

As we approached the upper half of the mountain I did begin to feel better. Part of my feeling better might have been mental - knowing that I was getting close to completing my 2nd climb up Hope Pass and looking forward to a long descent down the front side of Hope Pass.

Finally we reached the top! Awesome, awesome, awesome!!! I looked over the mountain and didn't see Rick and Jay anymore - they were well on their way down. Later on Rick told me they had made good time on the way down from Hope Pass. After a short celebration, Scott and I began to make our way down. We started running when and where we could. The path was narrow and steep and there were people in front of us so it was difficult to pass people. I was also happy to be able to catch my breath some more and feel the relief or pressure off my quads from climbing so I was okay descending at a quick walk - it was only a quarter mile until the Hopeless Pass aid station.

Quickly I began to feel more energy and more motivation. As we came into the Hopeless Pass aid station I grabbed a cup of ramen noodle soup with a scoop of potatoes in it, a couple of cokes, a teaspoon of salt, and some fruit. I found my guardian angel volunteer and said, "I bet I look a lot better than the last time you saw me!". She agreed. I gave her a big hug and thanked her profusely for forcing salt into my body - she knew what I needed at a time when I didn't. Jeff Friedman caught up with us at this station - I was glad to see him again.

Upon leaving the aid station I had said to Scott that I wanted to run but thought we should let the food digest for a few minutes. During this time Jeff and his pacers passed us. At first I wanted to wait 5 minutes but after a few minutes I said that I was ready. My stomach wasn't completely settled - it never is during this race - but the time seemed right. We began to take off and I was beginning to feel a surge of positive energy and strength that I hadn't felt in 30 miles. Scott encouraged me to go at whatever pace I felt comfortable with and he would keep up. We started FLYING down the mountain - I am not kidding! It was a controlled, very fast pace. We were passing people left and right and these people were moving quickly too. For a brief period of time the breathing didn't seem to be an issue anymore - oh how I wish it would have been that way for the rest of the race! It was unbelievable how long we were running at such a fast pace - doesn't this mountain ever end? This is probably why it seemed to take forever to climb up the front side of the mountain.

I felt very satisfied when we reached the base of the mountain. We had made up great time and honestly I was surprised that we had not caught up with Rick and Jay. I figured they had done well coming down the mountain but I thought for sure we would have caught up to them. We had a couple miles across the meadow and the shallow creek before reaching Twin Lakes and did a good job of running/walking this stretch. Scott would count off 50 or 100 paces with his right leg and then we'd walk for a bit. The cold water from the creek felt great - I was still feeling a little warm even though the temperature was dropping.

John Byrne and Scott Passman - Mile 60 outside of Twin Lakes

As we approached Twin Lakes I kept looking for Rick and Jay and wanted to try to catch up with them. We ran into Twin Lakes very strong and the expression on our crew's eyes was 'priceless'! I yelled, "I'm back!" and was feeling on top of the world. I learned at that time that Rick and Jay had just arrived a couple minutes before us. Given how strong Rick looked and how horrible I looked at Winfield, the crew rightfully thought that I would be way behind. Thanks to the crew and my pacers Kim, Gordon, and Scott, I was able to rebound and was back on track. Our arrival at Twin Lakes was about 7:30 pm, 90 minutes behind the plan but still in good shape.

It was not going to get dark for a couple hours but it was time to get prepared for night time. I was still hot so I didn't want running pants. I changed out of my wet shoes, put on a new shirt and fueled up a bit. I ate another teaspoon of salt and had a little food and beverage. John Lawler was going to pace me and Melissa Dawson was going to pace Rick. Jeff Friedman and his pacer also arrived shortly thereafter and we saw him some on the next section. I was not ready to put on any warmer clothes yet asked John to carry a jacket, hat, and gloves for me. John, John, Rick, and Melissa left Twin Lakes together feeling really good!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey from Leadville - Byrne - September 9, 2012

2012-09-09T23:29:00.001-05:00

A summary of the first 50 miles of the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run race experience.

John Byrne and Rick Fountain

The Crew

Rick Fountain, John Byrne, Jeff Friedman

We left Leadville at 4 a.m. on our quest to knock out 100 miles. In the year leading up to Leadville Rick and I were not planning to run together based on the rationale that both of us would experience highs and lows at different times during the race and it would be counterproductive for both of us to try to stay together. So at the starting line about 5 minutes before the race we decided that we would start the race running together and see what happened. We also started the race with Jeff Friedman, a friend of ours that we met earlier in the week who also stayed with us at the condominium. Jeff successfully ran Leadville in 2010 and was back for another run at it.

We ran 1 mile west on 6th Street to the west end of Leadville before reaching the dirt road called the Boulevard. We had planned to run at about an 11 minute mile pace but it felt very comfortable to run at about a 9 minute mile pace. Jeff, Rick and I stayed together for the first 6 miles or so and Jeff went on ahead. At the Tabor Boat ramp our crew met us with fresh water bottles.

As we were continued running the trail around Turquoise Lake, we eventually caught sight of Jeff again - he was probably only 25 yards ahead of us the entire time but we couldn't see him because it was dark. Eventually the sun began to light up the sky and around 5:45 we were able to turn off our headlamps since we could see. We hit the Mayqueen aid station at 6:18 a.m. - about 12 minutes ahead of schedule. Originally we thought we would shed our jackets and gloves but since it was still a little cold, we decided to hang on to them. We were able to get in and out of the aid station relatively quickly. I grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a banana and started walking up the road toward the Colorado Mountain Trail. Rick and I stayed together.

As we made our way up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain we caught up with Jeff again. At the top of Powerline (about mile 20) we started to descend the very steep incline. Running downhill is my strongest asset so I decided to take advantage of it. I went on ahead and had a great run down Powerline. After reaching the road I walked and ran another mile before reaching the Fish Hatchery aid station at mile 23.5 at 8:15 a.m., 15 minutes ahead of my plan. I was feeling great and was able to get in and out of the aid station quickly.

The next stretch was 5 miles of pavement and several times I was able to see our crew several times as they passed me on the road. It was very uplifting and motivating to see them. My 82 year old mother made the trip to Colorado and I was able to see her several times throughout the race - it was awesome! Near the area called Treeline (approximately 29 miles) my crew was awaiting me with some chicken noodle soup, food and beverage. I left the aid station again on my way to the Halfpipe aid station at approximately 31 miles. I hooked up with a young guy named Steve from Boston and it was nice to get to know him and have some conversation. Around this point I began to have difficulty breathing. Until now I had been thinking that my breathing was excellent until about mile 42 but now as I'm going back through the race I remember some breathing difficulty as early as mile 30. It wasn't bad at this point but it was beginning to get more difficult.

I did a good job making my way to Twin Lakes (mile 40) from the Halfpipe aid station. I was right on target with my plan, hitting this aid station at 11:30 a.m. It was great seeing everyone again and as they did throughout the race, my crew took excellent care of me. I left Twin Lakes feeling very good and was hoping I could perform well going up and over Hope Pass. I saw my Mom on the way out of Twin Lakes and felt some extra motivation before the big climb. My stomach was feeling full and rather uncomfortable. I felt like I kept stuffing more food and drink than I wanted to in my stomach but knew the nutrition was essential for me to continue on. An additional challenge that accompanied eating and drinking was figuring out when to begin running afterwards. Of course I wanted to run as soon as I could, yet I was concerned that running too soon might adversely impact my digestion and perhaps make me throw up. I sually walked for a bit after I ate but no matter how long I walked my stomach never seemed to feel fully settled before running again.

As I started my climb up Hope Pass I really began to struggle with my breathing. From my Leadville run in 2005 I remember my biggest challenges at this point being pain in my knees and my hips - although I had a hard time breathing then too! This time it really was ONLY breathing; however, when you are having trouble breathing, it is difficult to move forward - period. My legs felt strong but it didn't seem to help. I knew it was a long way up Hope Pass but it seemed like it was taking forever and it continued to get harder the more I climbed. I began to stop to try to catch my breath every so often and the more I climbed the more frequent and longer I seemed to stop for. Sometimes I would bend over and take 10-15 breaths hoping to get more air in my lungs to make it easier. Jeff Friedman came up from behind and passed me. It was great to see him and I was very happy for him that he was progressing so well. At the same time I felt like I was falling back and getting weaker. The time I had targeted to reach the Hopeless Pass aid station had already passed and I wasn't anywhere close to it. Giving up never entered my mind, I was just hoping that somehow I could begin to breathe better.

As I was climbing Hope Pass and struggling with my breathing, I began to think about my dad (Dan Byrne) who had died a little less than 3 years ago. For the past several years of dad's life he suffered from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and was frequently hooked up to an oxygen tank. While I felt empathy for him, I finally felt like I could really relate to what he must have been going through. It was miserable! I was feeling a pretty close bond with Dad at this time and used this as extra motivation to continue on.

The climb continued on - this was by far the most difficult part of the race for me. Not too long after Jeff had passed me, I heard a familiar voice from behind in a green t-shirt and white hat - it was Rick Fountain! As glad as I was to see Jeff, I was even happier to see Rick! It was very important to me to have Rick finish Leadville in 2012. He has been such a loyal friend, hard worker, and we trained faithfully to achieve this monumental goal together. Rick offered some great encouragement to me and I will be forever grateful for his words. I lamented at how difficult it was for me to breathe, he just kept telling me I could do it and to keep going. When I stopped a few times to catch up on my breathing, he reminded me that I needed to keep climbing. I could tell he was willing to hang with me for a bit but I told him to keep going and that I would catch him later. He looked back a few times, offering further encouragement. A couple of times I waited for him to turn his eyes toward the top of the mountain so I could stop again and try to catch some breaths - I didn't want him to see me stopping but I felt like I needed frequent breaks. As time passed, the distance between Rick and I increased. A couple of times I would mark where he was and see how long it took me to get to that spot. 2 minutes, 4 minutes .... Eventually we did get out of the trees and could see the top of Hope Pass! It was still a little ways but at least it was in sight. About 1/4 mile from the top was the Hopeless Pass aid station. By the time I made it there, Jeff and Rick had made it through and were on their way to the top.

It was great to reach this station. I looked at it as an opportunity to drink a coke, eat some fruit and refill my water bottles. I also knew I was within 1/4 mile of the top of Hope Pass and would be finished with the most difficult climb of the race. As I came into the aid station, a knowledgeable volunteer looked at my face and gave me one of those looks that you don't want to see when you are a runner. If her expression could speak it would have said, "You look like hell. Have you been eating or drinking anything? You are not in good shape right now." But these volunteers are wonderful, compassionate, knowledgeable, and committed to helping runners finish and I met a really good one. She asked me if I had been eating and drinking. I told her "Yes, I feel like I have been eating and drinking a lot. I feel like sometimes I've been eating and drinking too much to the point where my stomach was full and hurting." She asked me what I had been taking for salt. I replied, "I've been drinking some Gatorade and chicken noodle soup." I thought it was enough but I couldn't have been more wrong. She told me to hold out my hand and poured a t-spoon of salt in the palm of my hand and told me to eat it. Yuk! But I did and washed it down with some Coke. She told me that I needed to continue eating salt at future aid stations. I think she could tell by the ghost like color of my face that I was becoming dehydrated and void of salt. There are many things I did well in preparing for this race but not paying attention to my salt intake was a critical mistake. Thank God for this woman - she saved me in a big way.

As I left the Hopeless Pass aid station I did not immediately feel better; however, I began to gradually feel better, which was a great improvement over how I had been feeling. Soon I made it to the top of Hope Pass and I started my descent over the back side. I struggled most with my breathing on the climbs, a little less on the flats, and not too much on the downhills. The backside of Hope Pass was a very steep descent and it felt good for me to get moving again. I did not descend as fast as I did on Powerline but I was moving at a reasonably quick pace. Part way down the mountain I passed Jeff Friedman again and I caught up with Rick on the bottom half of the mountain as we were getting into the trees. Rick and I ran together for the 4 miles on the trail leading to Winfield. This trail was more up than down and flat but there was a mix. We did some walking and some running. I was struggling again with my breathing and was hoping I could make it to Winfield to use the portable restrooms. Nearly a mile before reaching Winfield I had to make a temporary stop in the woods to use a natural outhouse - one can only wait so long!

It seemed to take a long time to reach Winfield but eventually we made it. We were 1 hour behind our scheduled target time. I wasn't happy about this but given the problems I was having with my breathing, it was understandable and we were still making good time - we made it 50 miles in 11 1/2 hours.

It was wonderful to see our crew waiting again for us. I"m sure they were wondering where we were and what was taking us so long but they were ready to take care of us. The good news is that we were half done with this race, we would always have someone with us on the way back, and we didn't have to make the long ascent up the front of Hope Pass again!

This race summary is taking a little longer than I thought it would and I need to sign off so the next entry will summarize the 2nd half of the race :o)

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey FROM Leadville - Byrne - September 8, 2012

2012-09-09T01:04:00.002-05:00

Note the change in the title of this blog entry :o)

When I started this blog on January 2, 2012 I knew that the "Journey to Leadville" would end on August 18th because we had reached our destination. I never really thought about what would happen once Leadville was 'over' - I thought that perhaps my blog would be history.

The more I thought about it, it seemed fitting to think of Leadville, not as a destination but rather as an awesome highlight of my life, which it certainly has been. So I want to introduce you to the "revised" title of this blog "Journey from Leadville". I do not plan to run the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run in the future but this race will always have a special place in my heart and I would love to be involved with it in the future as a pacer, crew person, supporter and advisor/coach to others who wish to run this race, and there might even be some other ways to staying involved.

The best way i can honor Leadville is to use it as a catalyst to make other positive things happen in my life and in the lives of others - I fully intend to do that! Today was the first day that I have run since Leadville (3 weeks ago!). I've played quite a bit of basketball since I returned from Colorado and did a set of stairs this past week at the stadium but have not felt the need or desire to jump back into running.

My buddy Rick left town on Friday as the Fighting Bees had a football game today in Ft. Wayne, IN - Bees won 15-14! Rick is a linebacker coach for St. Ambrose University - the players are very fortunate to have him as a mentor and coach. It was kind of weird to not be running with Rick as we've been nearly inseparable for the past 12 months in terms of running and workouts.

I did, however, have the distinct pleasure of running 10 miles with Jen Paul, the Quad City celebrity super-stud woman runner - the video map of our run is listed below for your viewing pleasure :o)

Jen Paul and me at the end of our 10 mile run - great morning for a run!
I have had the privilege of meeting and running with some very cool people over the last 12 months - people that I never would have met if it weren't for running. As a matter of fact, I can't think of a single person that I have run with that I have disliked or wished I had not met. This reason alone should convince everybody to take up running as one of their modes of exercising - seriously. Jen certainly epitomizes the feeling I have toward members of the running community. It isn't easy to describe but she exudes so many wonderful qualities that I wish everyone in the world possessed. Jen is kind, encouraging, positive, humble, talented, hard working, loyal, compassionate, and makes other people feel very important. She is highly successful in her personal, athletic, and professional life and is admired by everyone I know who has met her or heard about her. Ironically though, it is she who makes others feel like they are highly successful. I would love it if this world had millions of people like her :o)

I promised that I would write more about Leadville and I already know that I don't have time tonight to write everything that I want to. I'll offer a condensed version of content that may surface later and will certainly be in the book that I WILL publish! Since I last blogged on August 10th I'll do my best to cover the highlights of the past 4 weeks.

From the 3-8 days before our race Rick and I ran some trails on the course and did a few climbs up the mountains on the course either by ourselves or with friends Jay, Melissa, and Christian. All of these workouts did not seem to be strenuous or difficult. We usually ran or climbed between 1 - 2 1/2 hours and it was the only exercise we did that day so we didn't feel particularly taxed. Others had advised us to rest, rest and rest some more but we felt like we were already resting a bunch. We were sleeping in until we wanted to wake up and were doing quite a bit of lounging around when we weren't working out.

Beginning Thursday, we were done exercising - all we did was eat, sleep, drink, strategize, and sit around waiting for the race. Our friends began to trickle into Colorado during the week leading up to the race and it was a lot of fun having them arrive and reveling in the excitement they brought with them.

The pre-race pasta dinner on Thursday night was not what I thought or hoped it would be. The meal was fine but the 6th Street Gym, where the dinner was held, was not well attended and pretty unexciting. There seemed to be much more buzz and excitement when I attended it 7 years ago. Since the race was purchased from the local founders by the Lifetime Fitness organization, many people feel as though the race has lost its local charm. We also completed our medical check in and registered for the race. Later that night Doug Himmelman, Melissa Dawson and John Lawler arrived at the condominium.

Rick arrived 7 days before the race and Jay Gates showed up on the Monday before the race. Our friend and fellow runner Christian Robbins came up on Tuesday. Gordon Staley, Larry Ratigan, Mike Cavins, and Todd Hornbuckle made it to Denver on Wednesday to take in a tour of the Coors facility (and sample some beverages) and attend a Rockies baseball game. They arrived in Coppermountain on Friday morning and made it to the pre-race meeting.

On Friday morning we went to the mandatory pre-race meeting and it felt very similar to the pre-race meeting from 7 years ago. The gym was packed (standing room only) and you could feel the energy and excitement in the air! The motivational speech was given by Ken Chlouber's son, Cole as Ken was attending the funeral of his brother. Cole did a great job and it was really cool to hear his dad's voice and many of his dad's words from a similar speech I heard 7 years prior. Following this meeting there was a crew meeting that was good for many of our crew to hear. Following this meeting, Rick and I held our own private meeting with our crew to talk about what we wanted them to do for us during the race. Then Rick and I headed back to the condominium we were staying at in Coppermountain to begin to lay around, eat, and rest. Many of our other crew members stayed in Leadville and drove around some of the course to figure out where they were going to meet us. They also probably had a private meeting to talk about how to take care of us if and when we became grumpy or difficult during the race!

Another friend and fellow runner, Jeff Friedman, stayed with us at the condo and he brought a pacer and crew member to stay with us as well.

It was hard to sleep the afternoon/evening/night before the race as you might imagine. We were able to nod off at different times and grab a few winks throughout the evening - that was about the best we were going to do. My mom, sisters Debi, Kim and Michelle, niece Katelin, and friend Curt arrived on Friday afternoon/evening. Except for Curt, they headed ot Leadville to stay at a hotel. Scott Passman drove 12 hours from Boise, Idaho and showed up a little after midnight. Our team was assembled and we were ready to go.

My friend Tom Rudbeck was so gracious to host all of us at his condo. We were able to spend some quality time with him and his friends who happened to be vacationing in Colorado at the same time. Thursday and Friday night required some creative rearranging of beds, sleeping bags, mattresses, couches and futons to sleep nearly 20 people! It was fun and a week I'll never forget!

We woke up around 1:30 am to get ready for the race, pack the vehicles, grab something to eat, and travel the 30 minutes to Leadville. Everything went off as planned and we made it to the starting line about 1/2 hour before the race started. Mom slept at the hotel but my sisters and niece made it to the starting line. We took a bunch of pictures and videos with our friends at the starting line before starting the race at 4 a.m. It was very exciting to be with all these crazy people in the middle of the night heading out to run 100 miles in the middle of the Rocky Mountains - I wouldn't have traded it for anything!

An interesting observation to note is that 1100 people signed up and paid the $295 entry fee to enter the race. 900 people showed up on Friday to pick up their packets and go through the medical check in. Only 800 people actually showed up to the starting line! I was amazed. I sort of get the 200 no-shows since they had signed up and paid more than 8 months prior to the race - many things may have happened (e.g. injury, change in life circumstances). What blew me away was that more than 100 people who traveled to Leadville and were planning to run the race as late as Friday morning decided to back out of the race. I'm not sure what was going through their minds but maybe the fear of such a daunting feat caused them to withdraw, even so close to the race.

I need to go to bed. I promise to return and will share more of my race experience on my next post.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - September 7, 2012

2012-09-07T15:04:00.001-05:00

Leadville 2012 Byrne/Fountain Team - Best Crew I have ever seen or could possibly imagine at Leadville - This is what it is all about! from left to right - Kim Greder (sister), Lois Byrne (mom), Debi Byrne (sister), Jay Gates (friend), Melissa Dawson (friend), Larry Ratigan (friend), Rick Fountain (amazing stud athlete), Gordon Staley (friend), John Byrne, Mike Cavins (friend), Curt Johnston (friend), Doug Himmelman (friend), Scott Passman (friend), Todd Hornbuckle (friend), Katelin Gannon (niece), John Lawler (friend), Michelle Ribble (sister)

0 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run! It's over - happy, sad, many mixed emotions.

First of all I want to apologize to all of you for falling off the face of the earth for the past month! As you know I was a little busy with a small run :o)

The days leading up to the race, while not too hectic, were busier than I thought and I didn't get back to the blog. I have a zillion pictures and videos and have to figure out an efficient way to post them - my last post with + 25 pictures of Powerline was very tedious to post and probably more tedious for you to look at. I have a bunch more and will figure out the best way to share them with you.

I will plan to put together a nice post this weekend that will probably scratch the surface of this WONDERFUL experience. The rest should come out in the darn book that I need to finish from 7 years ago!

Thanks for being patient and I'll be back soon.

Rick Fountain was outstanding and amazing - an awesome training partner and friend and he rocked! Our team was the best I could have ever imagined.

The journey to Leadville is over but it is the precursor to the bigger journey called "the rest of our lives". There are so many good things that have and will continue to rise out of this amazing experience.

Thank you for all your thoughts, love, and prayers. I send mine right back at you with about 5 times more feeling :o)

Until my next post, have a great day! Dig Deep!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - August 10, 2012

2012-08-10T11:22:00.000-05:00

10 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Words to follow but I want to post pictures :o)

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - August 7, 2012

2012-08-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

11 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

More words to follow but I have to get these pictures up! Colorado - what a beautiful state!

I left Iowa on Friday morning, August 3rd. Met up with a friend in Lincoln, NE, Susan Meyerle, whom I met at the Jack Canfield Breakthrough to Success Program in 2009. Haven't seen her in 3 years but it seemed like yesterday. She is doing great and it was so much fun to visit with her. It's really cool how you can go without seeing some people for years and within 2 minutes it seems like you are reconnected.

King Kong's - fast food restaurant in Lincoln, NE. Didn't stop to eat there but loved the name!

My friend Nita Lechner invited me to stay in Grand Island at her home. Nita is also a friend from Jack Canfield's seminar. Unfortunately Nita was in California but her daughter Allie was a great host. What a wonderful young lady. I could see a lot of Nita in her face and in her voice. I am so glad I had the chance to get to know Allie. Had dinner with her and visited. Saturday morning I started on my trek towards Colorado!

Arrived at my brother-in-law's family on Saturday around 4 pm and had a great time with Mike, Kyra and their kids. They took me out to dinner at Beau Joe's - a great pizza parlor and we had some deep dish pizza. Went to their house and watched some Olympics - go USA!

On Sunday morning my friend John Lawler drove down from Cheyenne and we ran 13.6 miles around the Horsetooth Reservoir - it was AWESOME! I finally was able to get a taste of the trailrunning that mirrored Leadville - rocks all over the place, embedded in the path. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I felt. We were running at about 5000 feet elevation and other than the first 5 minutes as we started moving and going uphill, I didn't feel any pressure on my lungs. It was a great run and I really enjoyed the conversation with John.

Afterwards I went to church with Mike, Kyra, and their children and then headed to Denver. I stopped in Littleton to see my friend Melissa, her husband Mark and their boys. It was a short visit but wonderful. It was fun to see her again and get to know her family. After a couple hours I headed over to Centennial (near south suburb of Denver) to see Kathleen Marvin - our good friend and member of our wedding party. Kathleen's 7 year old son Johnathon was there so I showed him some basketball drills and then we went to one of his favorite places, Steak and Shake. After a short walk around their neighborhood and tasting one of Johnny's 'secret' ingredient smoothies, I headed to Monument to stay with our good friends, Reid and April Christopherson.

Reid, April and I visited some on Sunday night and when I went to bed, April had written this message below on the whiteboard in the room I was staying at - how cool!

April Christopherson had this waiting for me in my bedroom when I stayed with them on Sunday night - way cool!

The next morning Reid took me to do "The Incline" in Manitou Springs - steep but awesome. I think I did quite well. The top put me at 8,500 feet and I was still feeling no effects of acclimation. Several pictures are listed below. Afterwards Reid and I went to Starbucks for a healthy breakfast and then back to his house. We worked on a couple of home projects and I left about 3:30 to meet some friends in Buena Vista. It was wonderful seeing the Christophersons - what a neat family and I admire them so much - they are very driven, very family oriented, and very kind friends. I miss seeing them - it makes me want to get to Colorado more often.

My good friend Reid Christopherson and at the end of our descent down "The Incline"

Looking from the bottom to the top of "The Incline" in Manitou Springs (the brown diagonal line just to the right of the tower in the middle

Looking up "The Incline" a little ways after starting

Looking down "The Incline" from about 1/2 way up

Looking down "The Incline" from about 2/3 of the way up

Looking down "The Incline" from the top - WOW!

I met my good friends Dave and Jane Cox at the Eddy Line Restaurant, probably the best restaurant in small town Buena Vista - the 30 minute wait on a Monday night was a good indication of the popularity of this establishment. Dave and Jane are moving on Wednesday so I felt privileged that they would make the time to see me in the hecticness of them trying to close on and move out of their home. Dave and Jane are friends I made in 2005 when I first ran Leadville - they are wonderful people and we talked about family and Leadville for the entire dinner - no surprise! They are great ultramarathoners and running is a big part of their lives - I feel inadequate talking about running with them but very much valued their advice and enjoyed learning from them. After dinner we said our goodbyes and I departed for Leadville.

My plan on Tuesday was to hike up Powerline (see pictures below) - I loved it! I had breakfast "City on a Hill" - a coffeeshop with Wifi :o) They serve awesome breakfast burritos just the way I like 'em. Eggs, potatoes, and sausage - nothing else. Mixed in some healthy "Naked Juice" smoothie drink and headed for Powerline. The Powerline climb was longer than "The Incline" but not as steep. I know I'll have 80 miles under me before I go up this during the race and it will be different than on fresh legs but I felt really good about how comfortable it felt. I went up reasonably hard but nothing too strenuous. I enjoyed some time at the top and ran down at the pace I wanted to during the race - reasonably quick pace but not hard. In 2005 I went down too fast and it hurt my knees. Not this time - I ran it smart and still made good time. I stopped a lot on the way down to take all the pictures that you see in this post.

The pictures listed below are all from Powerline - the 2nd toughest part of the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run. Enjoy - the scenery is breathtaking!

Are those sunbeams? LOL

Some bad photography - finger partially blocking lens :o(

This is Katelin, a 22 year old who just graduated from Texas A&M - GO AGGIES! What a cool young lady! We visited for a few minutes. First interesting note - she spells her name like my niece -which is sort of an unusual spelling. She's also been to Kenya and somewhere else internationally doing humanitarian work. She raced competitively in biking in college after playing soccer in college. What an ambitious and talented young person. She is riding the LT100 Mountain Bike Race this weekend - I hope she races fantastically!

I was really happy with how I felt after completing Powerline. I don't feel the least bit tired and I can honestly say I am feeling no effects of the high altitude. Maybe I'm speaking too quickly, I"ll let you know if it changes but so far so good :o) What a beautiful state - I can't wait for this race!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - August 2, 2012

2012-08-02T22:31:00.001-05:00

16 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

A 6.07 mi fitness mapped on Thu Aug 2 2012 and more routes in Bettendorf, IA on MapMyFITNESS. Find route
What a great way to finish my training in Iowa - running 6 miles on a beautiful Thursday evening with my son Michael. Mike and I had a wonderful talk about him leaving for college and how much he has enriched our family in the 18 years we have had the privilege of raising him. I'm going to miss him a lot, fortunately I will get to see him quite a bit too since he is attending St. Ambrose where I work. Life is good! Off to Colorado in the morning!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - August 1, 2012

2012-08-01T10:36:00.001-05:00

17 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Rick had a great idea for today. We ran up and down a reasonably steep .75 mile hill 5 times this morning out near his house. For those of you who joined us for some longer runs this past winter, you may remember it being a tough hill to run. The last three times he had us run 'pretty fast' for the first 1/5, 1/4, and 1/3 part of the hill, respectively. Combined with the mile run to and from the hill from his house, we did about 8.25 miles in about 1 hr 20 minutes. A nice preview into Colorado and Leadville! I think I will be leaving early Friday morning for Colorado.

A 8.25 mi fitness mapped on Wed Aug 1 2012 and more routes in Le Claire, IA on MapMyFITNESS. Find route
Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 31, 2012

2012-07-31T10:19:00.002-05:00

18 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

Wow! The end comes quickly! I believe I started this blog with 222 days until race day and now it is under 20 days! I am proud of how hard we have worked for the past 200 days and believe that it will keep us strong during the race. I plan to leave for Colorado in my Ford Explorer in the next few days and I know at that time it will feel like 'race time mode'. I have quite a bit to do before I go but am excited for the final phase of the pre-race journey.


John, Charly Erpelding, and Rick

Last night was special. Rick brought ice cream over to the Erpelding family and I had the privilege of meeting Charly - what a beautiful spirit and awesome little girl. I was so impressed with the closeness of Charly's family and extended family. They were so appreciative of us and so upbeat - it was wonderful to be a part of their family love and camaraderie. I would like to think that Rick and I have physically prepared ourselves to do well at Leadville, but I know I received an extra boost of motivation and inspiration last night and when I feel tired, I WILL be able to push harder. The kids also made signs to keep us going - which we will be able to see around mile 20, 40, 60, and 80 - supercool!

Rick Fountain, Todd Hornbuckle, Gordon Staley, Jay Gates, Kevin McCarthy, and Phil Pancrazio

Today was my last day at Bettendorf High School for stairs. 61 sets - good day. It was dark for awhile and quite humid. My friend Kevin McCarthy joined us today - he wanted to work primarily on the track. It was good to see him. Curt Johnston's ankle is still sore from the Bix so I didn't think we'd see him but he walked/jogged down to see us - that was pretty cool. Seeing all these guys working out at this early hour in the morning was inspiring to me and will give me extra motivation at Leadville.

Todd Hornbuckle, John Byrne, Gordon Staley, Jay Gates, Kevin McCarthy, and Phil Pancrazio

I'll do my best to keep posting and hopefully provide some beautiful pics from Colorado over the next couple weeks but if I'm without internet access or get sidetracked with my training, thank you in advance for your forgiveness.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 28, 2012

2012-07-28T19:32:00.001-05:00

21 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Thomas, Dan, Joe, Michael, Katie, Joan, and John - ready to run the Bix 7!

Dan and one of his roommates from Notre Dame - Tyler Thomas - Tyler rocked the Bix!

Today's training run was the Quad City Bix 7 Mile Run. My wife Joan signed our entire family up to run this race - I haven't officially run it in 15 years. A few times I've run the course the week before or the week after just for fun but this year I was one of 14,000 runners - I enjoyed it a lot - seeing many people during the race and on the roadside cheering us along. Joan, Katie, Dan, and Joe ran the Quick Bix - a 2 mile run. Dan's assignment was to stay with 11 year old Joe - they ran the 2 miles in 13:55 - sub 7 minute mile pace - pretty good!

Michael ran the full Bix on his own, as well as Dan's roommate from Notre Dame (Tyler Thomas), Thomas, and I. Everyone had good races. The weather was good - Bix race days are normally hot and humid - today was warm and a little humid but I would be foolish to complain.

My assignment was to stay with Thomas. I thought he would run a good race as he is on the high school cross country team and has been running several times each week. I thought most of their training runs were 4-5 miles so I thought he might tire a bit toward the end but I'm happy to say that he was a beast today! We ran a 51:30 and I felt like I was spent at the end. I am not sure that I could have run any faster today. In the beginning I think I could have started faster but it may have drained my energy for later. I also violated a cardinal rule of running - not double-tying my shoelaces - no excuses, just stupidity on my part. Around mile 1.5 I had to stop for 20 seconds to retie my shoes and then run extra hard for a few minutes to catch Thomas. I was impressed with Thomas' resolve. There were a couple of times where he was cramping up a bit and wanted to slow the pace but we were still going at a decent pace. I persuaded him to walk a bit on some of the hills, telling him that getting a refresher would help us start back up again stronger. We passed up many of the people who passed us during our brief walk breaks. We finished extremely strong and I felt pretty wiped out! Great job Thomas!

A number of our friends ran today and people seemed to have a good day at the Bix!

Tomorrow I take Dan back to school at Notre Dame - he has a football manager meeting at 7 pm tomorrow night.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 27, 2012

2012-07-27T12:48:00.000-05:00

22 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Today I met Rick and his wife Jeanie at their house at 5:30 am and we had a nice 45 minute walk around the neighborhood and golf course - a great tune up for the Bix tomorrow. I am excited for Rick and Curt and think they will post an incredible time tomorrow. I will be running alongside my son Thomas and hope that we will have a good run as well. Thomas will be a sophomore cross country runner in a few weeks and has been running quite a bit with his teammates this year. He's used to running more 4-5 mile distances so we'll see how this goes.

Since I missed going up and down the Exterminator yesterday I thought I would catch it on my way back from Rick's. I had about 30-35 minutes so I thought I'd see what I could get in. This time I decided to run up and down the Exterminator - running is a lot harder than hiking. The runs up were pulling at my quads but it felt good. I did 30 sets in all - ran 10, walked 5, ran 5, walked 5, and ran 5 for a total of 20 runs and 15 walks up Exterminator and 30 runs down Exterminator. I felt challenged aerobically as well so it was a good work out for me. We'll see if I pay for it tomorrow at the Bix. Either way, I'm glad I did it.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 26, 2012

2012-07-26T16:23:00.000-05:00

23 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/117702533"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A 7.15 mi fitness mapped on Thu Jul 26 2012&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; and more routes in Le Claire, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;
Rick and I had a good run from his house down to the river into LeClaire. We ran for 59 minutes and had a negative split on the back half of our run, which was uphill. Rick is running the Bix this Saturday so he's taking a couple days off so he can go sub 50 on the difficult, hilly 7 mile run. Run started off with nice cool weather and the humidity set in as we progressed into the run but it was never that bad. Rick asked a question about how long I was in aid stations in Leadville 2005 - that was his mistake. I answered his question and then started another 30 minute continuation of my first Leadville experience. It's kind of crazy but my energy level rises and my tiredness disappears whenever I start talking about this race!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 24, 2012

2012-07-25T00:05:00.001-05:00

25 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Front - Paxton and Cheech Back - Curt, John, Todd, Gordon, and Rick

This camera is ticking me off! The cell phone is brand new - I have to figure out what is going on - looks kind of blurry :o(

Cheech's neighbor Paxton joined us this morning for our weekly Bett High School stadium steps - always love having new people join us. Paxton did great, especially for the first time. Today's plan was to knock out 61 sets of stairs and that is just what we did. It was dark when we started and light soon after. Humidity reigned - the shirt came off right away and only back on for the picture :o) Some did some track work, some did a combo of stairs and track runs - Rick, Cheech, and I focused on stair work today. The Bix 7 Mile Race is coming up this Saturday - Rick and Curt are going to run it fast this year - I predict they will both go sub 50 minutes. I'm running the Bix for the first time in 15 years! Joan signed up our entire family. My assignment is to run with Thomas, our high school sophomore who is on the cross country team :o) I'm predicting we will go mid 50's but whatever time Thomas wants to go for, I'll try to keep pace with him.

In addtion, there were a few other guys working out on the track - Phil Pancrazio, Jake Beck, and Jake's running partner - they were making fast time around the track getting ready for the Bix! Three younger women wandered onto the varsity soccer field, sat out in the middle of the field, and sat down. Not sure what they were doing - they actually looked like they were just enjoying the sunrise. While they had workout clothes on, it didn't seem like they were stretching, running, or doing calisthenics. After about 30 minutes they left in a good mood so whatever they were doing, it got their day off to a great start :o)

I would need to review this blog to determine the exact date but it seems like we've been at it a while with this big group doing stairs on Tuesday mornings. I'm impressed at the level of commitment and enthusiasm these guys/gals are demonstrating at 5 am in the morning - it is inspiring to me!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 22, 2012

2012-07-22T21:25:00.001-05:00

27 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

It's Sunday - I'll summarize Friday and Saturday's workouts. I thought I might play basketball tonight but that didn't happen so today was a pretty easy day :o)

Friday morning Rick and I met Gordon and Todd at "The Exterminator" at 5 a.m. It looked really dark down the hill but you could always see at least 15-20 feet in front and we knew where we were going so we weren't worried. We did 50 hikes up and 50 runs down the Exterminator. It felt really good. I was encouraged that #45 really didn't feel any different than #15 - I hope that is an indication that we are getting our bodies in condition for mountain climbing at Leadville.

While Rick and I hiked up and ran down, Gordon and Todd ran up the hills and walked down. I think they had the harder workout but our training is more appropriate for Leadville so we did what we needed to do. Todd and Gordon have come SO far since their first days training with us in terms of speed and stamina - it is SO cool to witness the transformation they are going through. We took a couple of pictures with Gordon's camera but I don't have them yet to post. - NOW POSTED :o)

Gordon, Todd, and John

Rick, Todd, and John

Saturday morning's run was great too! We started off with three at 4:30 a.m. - Rick, John O'Brien, and myself. We decided to take off in a different direction today for a change of pace and had some great conversation with John O about his upcoming 24 hour run in Boston next Friday. He has done an outstanding job of training and he will knock out the goals he has set. #1 - he is going to run 54 miles in honor of his mom who passed away at 54 years old - he is working on getting his dad and brothers to run that mile with him - isn't that AWESOME? #2 - he will run 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) because he can. John has already run north of marathon mileage (33 and 44 miles) so these are the next records to fall. Best of luck to you John - you have worked hard and earned it.

Brent, John O, Curt, Rick, Phil, John B - photographer Len Hawbaker - new camera, better than old one but I'm hoping this was just a bad picture and not indicative of future pics (seems blurry)

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/116298243"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A 8.58 mi fitness mapped on Sun Jul 22 2012&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; and more routes in Bettendorf, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;
When we arrived back at Crow Creek Park at 6 am we had 3 others waiting for us - Phil Pancrazio, Curt Johnston, Len Hawbaker and Brent (a colleague of John O's at John Deere). On this leg we ran north and east of Bettendorf. We had a very good run, moving faster than I thought we were. I was loosely contemplating a 3rd leg at 7:30 a.m. but decided against it. I had some chores to do at home before heading off to a Fellowship of Christian Athlete's Father Son Basketball camp with my 4 sons at noon and my legs were feeling pretty worked over. I think the 50 trips up and down Exterminator Hill took more of a toll on my legs than I thought.
&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/116299297"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A 9.83 mi fitness mapped on Sun Jul 22 2012&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; and more routes in Bettendorf, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;
I also learned that I was successful in my audition to give a motivational speech in September for John Deere's Forestry and Construction Division. I am very excited about another opportunity to speak to a large group of important clients for John Deere and hope that it will lead to other speaking opportunities inside and outside of the John Deere organization.

The Fellowship of Christian Athlete's Father Son Basketball Camp was a 22 hour camp that took place at St. Ambrose University from noon Saturday - 10 a.m. Sunday. It was a great time to be with my boys, staying overnight in a college dorm room, eating pizza, and playing games. We had two coaches (and friends) of mine who came to the camp to teach the boys some basketball skills and also to share some of their philosophies on success on and off the field.

A few messages that came through clearly were...

1. Support your child in athletics, regardless of their performance. Don't love them less when they don't perform as well - don't let them think your love is based in any way on their ability to perform on the field.

2. Let your child handle disappointment that may come when they don't get the starting role, the preferred position, or more playing time. Not everyone is a great athlete and not everybody has what they might want to have. Support their desire to excel if they want to work toward it but it is important for them to learn how to put the team above themselves, how to play a role that may not be a star role, and how to accept whatever happens.

3. As a parent, do not tear down teammates, competitors, or officials to make your child feel better, make them believe that they 'deserve' better but are getting the short end of the stick, or promote disdain for their teammates or the competition. Everyone out on the field is someone's son and they have the same goals as you. We are all God's children and we need to stop viewing anyone who gets in the way of our children's achievements or success as evil, undesirable, cheating, or lucky individuals.

The talk these guys gave was a wonderful reminder of how we need to approach athletics.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 19, 2012

2012-07-19T14:33:00.000-05:00

30 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...
&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/115126325"&amp;amp;amp;gt;A 7.13 mi fitness mapped on Thu Jul 19 2012&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt; and more routes in Davenport, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;amp;amp;gt;Find route&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

Rick and Curt

Rick and John

Thursday morning run with Curt and Rick. None of us felt like getting out of bed but we knew that feeling would change once we started into our run. Typically when we do our Thursday runs, there are about 3 hills on the way out where we take walk breaks and 1-2 where we take breaks on the way back. It's all Rick and Curt's fault - they started asking me about my talk yesterday and my meeting on Wednesday, I never shut up, and before you know it, we were within a mile of the finish and had passed all of the places where we normally walk. Someone said, "Hey, we didn't even walk today." The run seemed to go by really fast because we (i.e. I) were talking the entire time. I've noticed the runs that seem to go the best and the fastest are those where we talk a lot.Close to the end we passed a lady walking, said 'hello' to her, and she said, "Are you the guys running Leadville?" - she had seen the article in last week's Bettendorf News. She mentioned that her nephew ran Leadville last year, had completed the Western States ultramarathon recently, and was going to pace a runner at Leadville this year. We had about 2/3 of a mile left but I HAD to talk to this person. I told Rick and Curt to go on ahead and I would catch up. So we visited a bit and I'm going to try to connect with him in Colorado - what a small world. I visited a little longer than I originally thought and when I took off running again, I was not optimistic about catching up with my buddies. I took off on as fast a run as I thought I could muster for the remaining 1/2 mile. I had not run that fast for that long for quite some time. My lungs were searing a bit and when I came to the end, Rick and Curt were waiting there already. It was kind of different and fun to do that again. We walked a bit, sipped some water and gatorade, did 2 sets of 20 push ups and parted ways for the day.

Tomorrow we plan to do Exterminator hills at 5 a.m. and on Saturday do a long run beginning at 4:30 a.m. at Crow Creek Park with a loop back to the park at 6 am, and maybe another loop at 7:30 am - am not committing to a 3rd loop at this point.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 18, 2012

2012-07-18T16:35:00.003-05:00

31 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Awesome day! I had the privilege of being the motivational speaker at the Western Fraternal Life Association meeting in Riverside, IA this morning. The audience, while I could tell was anxious to get on the golf course, was really great! I believe my talks usually go well and I think I hit the mark today. Following the talk I was approached by one of representatives from Michigan who is interested in having me speak there in the future - AWESOME!

One of the subjects I spoke about was determining your own 'definition of success' and how it is different for each of us. About 8 years ago a coach asked me to answer the question "What fires my jets?" in an attempt to learn what I am passionate about. I took a week to answer the question because I wanted to answer it to the best of my ability. I identified a few of my jets to be.....

Todd, John, Cheech, Curt, and Gordon (Rick photographer)

1. Running the Leadville 100 Mile Run
2. Raising children who have integrity, who are generous, and who exhibit compassion toward others
3. Teaching my students how to succeed in business 'the right way' - being profitable, honest AND ethical
4. Speaking to groups on success, leadership, goal setting, motivation, and working through adversity

Yesterday was a different story. I had what you might call 'an interview' for a speaking engagement this fall. The people I presented to were kind, fair, professional, and I would even add generous. In my opinion, I was horrible! I'm not sure why. I need to stop analyzing it too much and just accept I had a rough day. Fortunately I think they still want to work with me so I'll reload and re-polish and I am confident I'll have a day with them like I had this morning! God has been good to me!

Rick, John, Cheech, Curt, Gordon (Todd photographer)

Knocked out 62 sets of stairs - we felt the humidity! Starting to notice that it is getting darker earlier than in June. Bummer - was liking the earlier sunlight. We also saw a few runners on the track including Phil Pancrazio - Phil is as steady as the sunrise - seems like he is always around exercising - biking, running, taking pictures :o) - it's always good to see him.

We also saw Jake Beck, Tom Beck's son. I miss seeing Tom - he is the early morning front desk guy at the Y - always super positive and a joy to be around. Jake was doing some quick laps around the track - I assume he was training for the Bix. I see some of Tom's positive traits in his son. Another great job of parenting! At the end of the workout we did one set of 15 push ups. I had hoped that this number would entice everyone in the group but we only had 4 acceptances and 2 rejections :o)

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 16, 2012

2012-07-16T20:16:00.003-05:00

33 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Sunlight, Moonlight, and Starlight Chase :o)

Saturday morning my son Joe had a baseball game at 8 a.m. in Clinton, IA so a morning run was not going to work very well. Rick and decided to try to work in a run later in the day. It worked out perfectly for us to go for a long run to Eldridge on Saturday evening. We had a number of friends who were running the Moonlight Chase - an awesome 4 mile run through the city of Eldridge at 9 p.m. Our good friend

Doug Himmelman decided to join us for the evening. He started out on the bike, carrying water and gatorade for us. After a while he ran a bit with us in exchange for giving us a break from running to ride the bike. We took off a little after 7:30 and made it out to Eldridge around 9:15, just in time to see the fastest runners finishing up. The winner finished with a per minute mile pace of 5:10 - WOW! Our wonderful friend Jen Paul was the first female finisher (she usually is), and broke the course record with a 5:43 per mile pace. I learned she was running another race the next day - incredible!

We recognized a number of friends and runners from the LiveUncommon group - always good to see this bunch of people. Katie Gaffney, Chad Uhde, John O'Brien, Josiah Campbell and I know there were others that we didn't see. It is a great race and it seems to draw a ton of entrants. So after watching our friends finish the race and visiting for a bit, it was time to head back to Bettendorf for the second half of our own version of the Sunlight, Moonlight, and Starlight Chase - a 22 mile trek to and from Eldridge! We saw both daylight and nightlight - a beautiful evening for a run! The race path is below.....

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/113462229"&amp;gt;A 21.85 mi fitness mapped on Sun Jul 15 2012&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; and more routes in Bettendorf, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;gt;Find route&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

We had about a 45 minute stay over in Eldridge before heading back home around 10 p.m. It felt like at times we were moving at a pretty good clip and I could feel it in my quads and hamstrings. Nonetheless, it was good to push the pace a bit. My legs were a bit sore and tired Saturday night and part of the day on Sunday but back to normal by the end of the afternoon.

Sunday night Rick, Gordon Staley, and I played some competitive basketball. Rick was outstanding as usual. I had fun. Took Monday off - back at the stairs on Tuesday morning!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 13, 2012

2012-07-14T00:28:00.001-05:00

37 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Today was an Exterminator Day! Gordon, Rick and I met at the hill at 5:15 a.m. We were wondering why Todd didn't meet us there, only to find out later he was there at 5 a.m. and left around 5:10 a.m. when we hadn't shown up :o(

Our plan was to tackle at least 40 Exterminators. We had completed 30 Exterminators the previous Friday along with running 5 Exasperators and 5 Incinerators. Today we only did Exterminators and completed 45 in about 50 minutes. It went well. It is good to practice running downhill, figuring out how to minimize the pounding on the quadriceps and taking advantage of the down hill run. Gordon shot a video of us running down and hiking part way back up the Exterminator - thanks Gordon!

The following pictures are of us posing by the sign and running down Exterminator. As the clock moved forward the light on the course increased. There was some dew on the grass but not enough to cause us to slip.

Rick and Gordon

Rick and John

John and Rick running down Exterminator

My friend and college, Matt Carroll, produced a really nice video of us doing our 24 hour run a couple of weeks ago. Thank you for doing this Matt - the video can be seen below.

In addition, our local newspaper, the Bettendorf News, wrote an article about Rick and I preparing to run Leadville and our efforts to attempt to raise money for Charly Erpelding's family. The link to the article can be found below.

http://www.thebettendorfnews.com/news/doc4ffdf5de6733a421832403.txt

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 11, 2012

2012-07-11T23:02:00.000-05:00

38 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

This little darling is 8 year old Charly Erpelding. She is the daughter of a friend of ours and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments for Stage 4 Ewing's Sarcoma.

http://www.cheerinforcharly.com/default.html

Please check out this link. Rick came up with the idea about a month ago that we should run for Charly and donations are already flowing in - WOW!

It is interesting how situations like this put life into perspective. For those times where I think that our training is tiring and difficult, it doesn't seem so bad when I compare it to what Charly is going through. May God continue to bless Charly and her family.

It had been a long time since we have run down to the river - today was a good day to do it. It was really nice and cool to start out this morning. We knocked out about 7 miles in just under an hour. The map below shows a little more distance than we ran.

Best of luck to those traveling to Racine, WI this weekend to compete in the Wisconsin 1/2 Ironman - Aaron Maurer, Jay Gates, and Jeff Paul. They have trained hard and will do great!

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/112223385"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A 7.27 mi fitness mapped on Wed Jul 11 2012&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; and more routes in Le Claire, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 10, 2012

2012-07-10T15:14:00.003-05:00

39 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

Tuesday morning workout - stairs at Bettendorf High School. 61 sets. Decent temperatures - still warm by the time we finished :o)

Todd, Gordon, Rick, Cheech, Lindsay

John, Gordon, Rick, Cheech, Lindsay

Ok, this is weird - both of these pictures were taken horizontally with the camera and they are both saved horizontally on my desktop. Why the one on the left will only post vertical is beyond my digital abilities! Sorry Todd, you are standing sideways. You can get a good look at the everyone else on the right.

Some friendly advice - READ this book! Whatever I might say cannot do justice to the incredible spirit of Louie Zamperini - a world class miler who served in the US Air Force as a bombardier, survived 46 days in shark infested waters in the South Pacific on a raft, and then endured several years in Japanese war camps where we was brutally beaten, starved, and treated most inhumanely. The human spirit is TRULY amazing - Louie is a living example of what a person is capable of handling.

One of our football players at St. Ambrose, Patrick Schmedeke, recommended I read this book and I'm disappointed in myself that it took me several months to finally read it but am I glad I did. I am so grateful to the men and women who defend and have defended our country - some of what they have endured is unspeakable.

In terms of my Leadville training, Louie's story has humbled me and has made me realize that whatever difficult training I have engaged in is literally nothing compared to what this man went through. My life will never be the same after having read this book. I will draw on Louie's experience to keep me grounded and help me work hard whenever I feel like I want to give up. Thank you Louie.

Below is a recent video of Louie being interviewed for a class at USC, his alma mater. It is preceded by a CBS special documenting highlights of his life. The video is over 2 hours long but well worth the view. Louie is 95 years old and he still has the energy of a man many years younger. The book shows a picture of Louie skateboarding down the street at 81 years old. Too many people use age as an excuse as to why they can't or won't do something - too young to start a business, too old to attempt a physical feat. Your 'mental' age is a reflection of your attitude - your physical age is much less important.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 9, 2012

2012-07-09T12:41:00.001-05:00

40 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

Friday morning I played basketball at the high school at 5:45 am - good time. Hot and humid but hey, it's July in Iowa.

At 9:30, Rick and I decided to try a different type of workout - the "Exterminator". My wife Joan went with us and did some hills, running, and exercises. She introduced us to the "Incinerator" and the "Exasperator" - two hills in Crow Creek Park that are fairly close together. Rick and I decided to run each of these hills 5 times - they were good hills but not too steep so we ran up and down both of them. The Exasperator hill was longer, less steep, and had sprinklers running which felt good on this very hot, humid day.

Following this, we headed back to the Exterminator, a steep hill that is dreaded by many in our community - which is exactly why wanted to tackle it. Rick recommended that we get some practice on this hill and I was in full agreement. We decided to work this hill for about an hour.

I'm not exactly sure how long the hill us but I am guessing that it is 60 yards. We had no intentions of running this hill - hiking it uphill was difficult enough. There were two reasons why we wanted to do this.

#1 - climbing one of the steepest hills (if not the steepest) in the Quad Cities on natural ground, best simulating the mountain trails we will be running in August.

#2 - getting practice running down steep hills - something we have not practiced but is very important at Leadville. Running too fast and hard down the steep mountains can result in trashing the quadriceps, causing pain in the hips and knee joints, and creating blisters on the toes due to the feet slamming into the front part of the running shoes.

With the two dimensional pictures it is difficult to capture the steepness of the hill but this hill is difficult to climb even once. We scaled the Exterminator 30 times. It was a great workout! We certainly could feel the fatigue on our muscles as we increased the number of trips up but we kept pressing on and completed our hour long workout.

We decided to trade in our Wednesday morning Jumer's Tower workouts for 'Exterminator' workouts for the next several weeks. We'll continue to run stadium stairs on Tuesdays, continuing the regimen we started last fall.

The "Exterminator"

Looking up near the top of "Exterminator"

Looking down "Exterminator"

John 2/3 of the way down "Exterminator"

Aaron Maurer, Jen Paul, Emily Bucy, John O'Brien, Curt Johnston, Rick Fountain - John Byrne photographer

On Saturday morning, this was the crew that met at 4:30 a.m. to get in a good long run. Emily was sweating more than the rest of us because she had already completed 3 miles before we started! Our original plan was to run two 90 minute loops. Even at 4:30 a.m. it was hot and humid - the temperature was already in the mid 80's and the humidity was high. We ran for about an hour (nearly 7 miles) before taking a break.

We dropped off Jen Paul after 7 miles and Aaron Maurer after 8 miles. We picked up Phil Pancrazio and Anne Ryerson for the final 5 mile run.

We then ran about a mile for another 10 minutes before taking another break. Our final trip lasted close to an hour, capturing another 5 miles. In the end we ran closer to 2 hrs instead of 3 hrs and knocked out 13 miles instead of the 17 - 19 miles we were anticipating. Part of me was disappointed that we didn't follow through with our original plan. The other part of me didn't mind. We had been working hard the past 4 days in very hot and humid weather and our bodies were wearing down a bit. Rick and I decided to cancel tomorrow's run - hopefully we'll play basketball on Sunday night :o)

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/110825673"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A 13.12 mi fitness mapped on Sat Jul 7 2012&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; and more routes in Bettendorf, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Sunday night I played some basketball - had fun!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - July 5, 2012

2012-07-05T23:32:00.001-05:00

44 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

It's been 7 days since I've been on the blog - WOW! I need to add some entries for some workouts, some photos and some commentary so be patient with me as I complete this entry :o) - COMPLETE!

Where I left off last was the day of leaving for Wisconsin to be with my wife's family for my niece's wedding - weddings are awesome!

Derek and Kathleen Ausman

The kids danced up a storm at the wedding reception and a good time was had by all. It is a great reminder for the rest of us 'old married' people to see the magic of love and hope in the eyes of a newly wed young couple. My 11 year old son Joe dived for the garter tossed by the groom and wrestled it away from his cousin - I don't think he had a clue as to what it means to catch the garter. Come to think of it I would say that a young boy catches the garter almost all of the time anymore. The tradition has remained but I don't think the significance and the meaning are the same in the modern era.

The day before the wedding my brother-in-law Jim Geraghty graciously invited me and my boys to accompany him to his health club, Gold's Gym. Michael racked up a big sweat on the treadmill, I played some basketball with Joe and Thomas, and did get in some weightlifting. It wasn't an intense workout and I didn't record what I lifted - just did a variety of bench presses, squats, lat pull downs, curls and other exercises for about 45 minutes. I miss my weightlifting and look forward to resuming it once Leadville is over.

I did absolutely nothing for exercise on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Part of me felt guilty and part of me said, "Breaks are nice once in a while - let the body recuperate." I guess I listened to the latter.

We spent some time with Joan's family on Sunday. I enjoy being with her siblings, their spouses, and their children - I wish we could see them more often. Unfortunately everyone is busy with their own lives and we don't get together that often. Fortunately we enjoy the time we do have together and I am grateful for these times.

Late Sunday afternoon we traveled west to the Twin Cities to see our good friends John and Maria Slavens. I used to work with John about 20 years ago. He and his family moved away a while back and we don't see each other that often but when we do, it is wonderful. The occasion for this visit was not one that anyone wanted. John and Maria's 19 year old daughter (Sara - pictured below), took her life less than two weeks ago. She was a beautiful person and had been struggling with the accidental death of a very close friend from a few months ago. Sara was a fun loving, kind young woman who served as a steady rock for many of her friends. John and Maria were delighted to learn at Sara's 'celebration of life' how instrumental she was as a source of friendship and strength for so many others.

Sara Slavens (1993-2012)

While the circumstances were sad, it was SO great to spend time with John and Maria, their other children, and some relatives who were staying at their house. We had the best visit for about 2 1/2 hours and talked a lot about family, communication, struggles our young people face in this day and age, and appreciating all the wonderful blessings in our lives. I was amazed at the positive attitude I witnessed from their family during our visit. John and Maria have been reaching out to Sara's friends and making sure they know the Slavens' home is one where they are always welcome and a safe haven for them to be heard, valued and appreciated. In the midst of a tragic event, they have opted to honor Sara by making a positive difference in the future of others - I'm in awe of their strength, courage, and love. I pray they continue to be blessed in the future - they certainly deserve it. This Sunday late afternoon visit caused us to arrive home at 3 a.m. on Monday morning but I wouldn't have traded it in for an earlier arrival at home in a million years. I was also very pleased with my children who exhibited the kindness, compassion, and love that all parents dream their children would display. I don't typically make it a habit to brag about my children but I am proud and thrilled to express how very pleased I was with their character and demonstrated behavior on this very difficult visit. If there are days I wonder whether Joan and I have done a good job raising our children, this was a day when I KNOW we have raised them right.

So Monday was my 3rd day of 'no exercise' :o)

Tuesday we were back at it on the stairs at Bettendorf High School football stadium. We had a great group again - Curt, Lindsay, Gordon, Todd, Rick, and I. Everyone had their own workout agendas but Rick and I settled in on 61 sets of stairs. Not a whole lot to report - we did what we had set out to do - Mission Accomplished!

Tuesday night my very good friend Peter Witty decided to come visit and he brought his 2nd oldest child, his oldest son, Peter Jr. along. They drove out after Pete Jr's baseball game and arrived in the Quad Cities around 8:30 pm. Our family was down at the River Bandits baseball game and they met us there to watch the fireworks show afterwards. We stopped by to see the murals Michael had been painting for the last month. We came home visited a bit and set our plan for the morning. We also went to the backyard to show them our basketball court and Pete Jr. started shooting. My conservative estimate is that he made about 45/50 shots from all over the place - what a shooter! We decided we would go for 76 sets of stairs at 6:30 in the morning - seemed like a patriotic # to shoot for - birth of our country in 1776.

John, Pete Jr., Pete, and Rick

It was a hot morning - as it should be on the 4th of July. My wife Joan joined us but she did her own workout on the track and did some plyometrics. We had been running about 61 sets of stairs over the past few weeks but since Pete and Pete Jr. came all the way out from Northbrook, IL I wanted to make sure we made it worth their while :o)

I wasn't sure how much Pete and Pete Jr. wanted to do - not because they aren't excellent athletes but because stair training is the type of activity that one usually builds up to. I believe we stopped at 30 or 40 the first time Rick and I did a 'stair workout'. We've had a number of friends who have joined us for stair workouts and I can't remember anyone who did more than 30 stairs their first time.

As we started in our sets of 10, Pete and Pete Jr. were looking strong. We reached 20 and then 30. I wondered when they might want to stop. They wanted to keep going and I became really impressed once we hit 40. I had remarked to both of them that they earned the Ironman award - most stairs completed by any of our friends for their first time. Pete Jr. ended up going for 50 - phenomenal!

Pete, as tough as he is, is a US Army veteran and is still in incredible shape. I wasn't the least bit surprised he went the entire 76 sets. Rick commented that Pete was looking even stronger at 70 than he was at 50. We finished up with a pyramid of 5 push ups (25 push ups).


John, Pete Jr, and Pete


Rick, Pete Jr., and Pete

I was extremely humbled that my good friend was willing to drive for 6 hrs for a 75 minute workout. While I don't see him as much as I would like, I'm quickly reminded why I value his friendship and respect him so much every time I see him.

Pete Jr and Dad

Leadville symbolizes many important things in life to me and I know Pete recognized this, thus his desire to make to take the time and effort to come work out with us.

I love this picture to the left! Pete wanted one last photo where he was taller than his son! I have really only known Pete Jr through annual Christmas letters but it didn't take me long to learn that he is a remarkable young man. Pete Jr is respectful, polite, hard working, and athletic - he is going to be successful in whatever he chooses to do. He has fantastic parents as role models. Some people are worried about the future of this country. I'm not when I know there are young men like Pete Jr. in our future.

The next day Rick Fountain, Curt Johnston, and I ran 6.5 miles at 6 am. It was a bit humid but the run went well after the two days of stairs and we finished up with 36 pushups.

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/110238467"&amp;gt;A 6.54 mi fitness mapped on Thu Jul 5 2012&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; and more routes in Davenport, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;gt;Find route&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; 
Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - June 28, 2012

2012-06-28T08:06:00.002-05:00

51 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

A much shorter post today :o)
Last night my sons Tom and Joe went to play some drop in soccer by the bike path and since Michael had not yet run today, I asked him if he wanted to run along the bike path. He said 'yes" so we did. What a great kid! It was pretty hot and humid so we worked up a good sweat. We had some meaningful discussion about college, life, and what my goals were after Leadville. I'm so lucky to have him as a son. He also taught me some Myrtle stretches after the run - it's really fun when you start learning things from your kids!

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/107618629"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A 3.34 mi fitness mapped on Thu Jun 28 2012&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; and more routes in Bettendorf, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

This morning I met up with Curt Johnston for a good 6.4 mile run out north of town. We started off slow as usual and I could still feel some of the tiredness from the previous weekend. Relatively quickly though, I loosened up and at the end we were running at about a 7 minute mile pace. According to Curt's Garmin, our last recorded mile was around 7:30 - not bad for a first run back after the 103 mile effort last weekend. Rick is still nursing a swollen ankle but I know he'll be back soon.

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/107623217"&amp;gt;A 6.39 mi fitness mapped on Thu Jun 28 2012&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; and more routes in Davenport, IA on MapMyFITNESS. &amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com"&amp;gt;Find route&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; 
Heading off to Wisconsin to see my niece get married this weekend so I'll be off the blog for a few days.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!