Dateline: Leadville

It’s one thing to read about Leadville and prepare for Leadville … but it’s an entirely different feeling to actually arrive in Leadville.

Once you’re here, there isn’t anything else you can do other than to soak in the charm of the town – and in my case, there’s nothing I can really say that I haven’t analyzed to death here already.  So I’ll just share some photos and leave you with information on how to track the race if you’re extremely bored this weekend.

If you ever wonder why Leadville is often described as a one-street town … here you go.  

A view from Harrison Street (the main drag pictured previously) looking down 6^th Street, which is the first and last mile of the race.  I couldn’t help but notice that it’s almost all downhill on the way out.  Which means … nevermind.  I don’t want to think about it.

If you’re looking for the Best Wild West Saloon in America, look no further.

Apparently while Leadville’s men are getting rowdy in the saloon, its women are out climbing mountains in Sunday dresses.  Or something like that.

Look closely at the crowd hanging outside the pre-race meeting hall: Hey, is that Anton Krupicka?  I never know what to do when I see people I admire: take their picture from afar like some crazed stalker, or actually go up and say hi.

In this case, I did both.  I’m glad I did, because Anton’s super cool.  I hope he crushes this race tomorrow.

As for me, I’m just hoping to stay ahead of cutoffs and make it back to 6^th and Harrison within 30 hours.  Since I'm not one of the leaders, it may be difficult to track my progress, as the Leadville site doesn't have any resource posted as of tonight. The best overall coverage will be on Bryon Powell's iRunFar website, but I'm not sure what kind of updates he'll have on mid-to-back of pack runners.  If you need it, my bib number is #313; it’s a palindrome, which the check-in guy told me was good luck – then again, he may have just been trying to distract me from the fact that it has a thirteen in it.   

But seriously, find something better to do with your weekend than staring at a computer screen checking up on me.  I’ll post a result here as soon as possible after the race, so come on back Sunday night sometime to find out if I made it.

With that, there’s nothing left for me to say – and nothing left to do but to do it.  It’s finally go time at Leadville.

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