Hope Pass Training
Funny how easy climbing 3,000 feet of elevation over 4.5 miles seems when I haven’t run 42 miles before it.
The goal was to hike up to the top of Hope and run down. Zero running up, lots of running down. Wearing layers as I still had fear from previous weekend’s Silver Rush 50.
We drove up early with the goal of hitting the trail around 9a. We started about 1 mile up the road from the Twin Lakes aid station to avoid the water crossing. I’ll save that experience for race day. Finding the spot wasn’t difficult and parked right by the river.
I had vague directions about how to start on the trail and getting over to the actual race course. When I asked a fellow runner, she said “after crossing the bridge, go up.” Well, after crossing the bridge, both left and right went up. Fortunately, as we were crossing the bridge, a couple runners came up behind us.
Me: You doing Hope?
Them: Yup!
Me: Good so we’re on the right path!
Them: Definitely … take this right and up ahead stay to the right.
It would be a common theme throughout the day that everyone we ran into was either running or pacing the Leadville 100 Mile Trail Run in a few weeks.
The goal was to start out very easy, adjust to the breathing, and not kill ourselves early. Again, my only recollection of this climb was last year’s Leadville 100 after running 42 miles. Details were a little fuzzy.
About 2 miles into the climb, we ran into more runners …
Runner: Hey Alex!
Me: Joe! Getting in some last minute training?
Joe: Yup. Sorry to hear about Silver Rush as I read your recap.
Me: No worries at all … great 14 hour training day in the cold rain!
You never know who you’ll run into on the trail in Leadville.
For some reason, the incline didn’t seem all that bad. Again, I hadn’t just run 42 miles and my nutrition is much smarter this year.
Once we made it to the top of Hope, we stopped to take in the view. I had a Snickers Peanut Butter candy fun size. Those little suckers have more calories than a gel! While noticing that we were at 12,600 feet above sea level, we chatted with a few runners as they came up. All training for the same purpose.
After Derek ate a Cliff Bar, we put on our jackets and began the descent. The wind was whipping pretty hard above the treeline. On the way down, a runner coming up didn’t move out of the way fast enough. That caused me to jump off the side of the trail, twist the ankle, and go for a slide. What does an ultrarunner do when they roll their ankle? They run on it to put it back in its place! I was lucky to only have a blood blister appear under the skin as it could have been much worse.
A brief stop at Hopeless Aid Station, remove jackets, and time to fly down the mountain! About halfway down, I noticed that my feet felt different. As I looked down, I noticed that I could see my toes popping out of my shoes. I guess after 850 miles on a pair of minimalist shoes, holes are bound to happen. Looks like I would have some shoe shopping in my future!
Post-run I used Mother Nature’s ice bath:
This run gave me the last shot of confidence needed … truly excited to take part in such a historic race soon!
