Even at 12,000 feet it was hot. Christy, on the left, and another woman cruise above treeline with Mt. Elbert, the tallest peak in Colorado, behind.

The annual 50 mile run, part of the ever growing Leadville race series, was on Sunday. Surging in popularity and now in its third year, more than 300 runners filled out the field, including Christy, who has now run the high altitude course every time. Falling a week after the Hardrock, where she crewed for me, I sat this one out and took the opportunity to return the favor.

Unlike last years string of passing rain and hailstorms, Sunday’s weather wasn’t cold and wet but was instead unseasonably hot and very dry, hitting 80 degrees in the afternoon. That doesn’t sound like much compared to the 90′s and 100′s reported around the country, but it’s definitely hot for Leadville, and on a course that hovers between 10,000 and 12,000 feet. Thankfully, aid stations are in good supply which meant that staying hydrated wasn’t too difficult, at least according to Christy, who also said it was only towards the very end that the high temperatures became an issue.

Rocky Kroeger, right, and a fellow runner who's likely wondering "who is this guy and why does he talk so much?", traverse Ball Mountain on their way to the halfway turnaround. Elbert(L), Massive(center) and Turquoise Lake(R) round out the views. Click all pics to enlarge.

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Island Lake and Ice Lakes Basin - just another one of the awesome views out there on the course. Click any photo to enlarge.

The 2010 Hardrock 100 is done and now, a week later, I’m still trying to put it all together.

In the days that followed, as I embraced my “recovery”, mostly in the form of sitting on the couch and watching repeats of the days Tour de France leg, I fought the urge to procrastinate and attempted to post something about the event. But as I sat with my laptop open, I just couldn’t seem to put anything into words. Now a week later, still feeling challenged with the task of reconstructing the day in my head, I’ve come to realize there was so much packed into the 30+hour effort that I can’t do it justice in a simple blog post. The memories I have from the day range from visual images of steep trails, creek crossings, and distant mountains that moved position with every pass I gained, to faintly recalled bits of conversations with pacers, fellow racers, aid station volunteers or myself in my own head(which comprise the majority), to broader moments like the sunset on Engineer Pass, Handies Peak at midnight, dawn in Pole Creek, and more acute imagery like the sickly elk we came upon at dawn, the passed out runner above Maggie, and the finish and kiss of the rock–  it is for the third time now, the most unique experience I’ve been a part of. So for that reason, I can only really sum it up briefly, and then hope the photos fill in the gaps.

The expansive view forward from Virginius Pass. The route to Ouray heads right down the snow to the pinch leading to the valley below. Click any photo to enlarge.

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8 works for me.

The gun goes off at 6am tomorrow and if all goes well I’ll be back here in Silverton sometime on Saturday, the earlier the better. You can follow the race through the Hardrock Live link on the homepage here.

I’m trying to stay optimistic about it but the weather looks pretty bad. I overheard a few people at the pre-race meeting mention heavy rain and even snow for tomorrow afternoon– maybe I should be excited that it won’t be hot out? Hopefully it won’t be more than the standard summer afternoon storm, because if it goes on longer, I won’t be the only one unhappy. Christy is pacing me more than 25 miles, from Ouray to Sherman, including the leg over the 14er, Handies Peak. My estimations have us arriving atop its summit a bit after midnight and it would be nice if it wasn’t raining then. But it would never rain on Handies in the middle of the night– it would snow. And rain could make Neal’s already long 28 mile leg from Sherman to the finish take even longer. If the stormy forecast is right he better bring two raincoats.

Whatever the weather does, I’m super excited and am looking forward to it. Now it’s time to get some rest.

Here's the chart. This year the course runs clockwise.

Lissa and Ted at the top of Buckskin Pass.

On Saturday of July 4th weekend, Lissa, Ted and I hit the Four Pass Loop, one of our favorite long runs through the Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wilderness. We started from Maroon Lake and ran the loop counter clockwise, tackling Buckskin Pass first. With the Hardrock 100 only days away, Ted planned to come along for just Buckskin Pass but couldn’t resist tagging along, down the other side to Snowmass Creek, before turning back.

For the most part, the trail was in good shape, with just a little snow on the passes. One thing worth reporting is the presence of a significant number of downed trees between Trail Rider Pass and Frigid Air Pass– on the section of trail between the waterfall and the Fravert Basin creek crossing. Although it’s a little tedious to get through, it’s totally passable- just count on needing a bit more time, especially if you have a large backpack. The wildflowers looked like they might be a few weeks out from peaking so we might have to run the loop again in the next couple weeks to catch the all the fantastic colors. read more>>>

Ed’s note: With the Hardrock set to kick off Friday morning, crew member, friend and writer Tim Mutrie thought it would be cool to share an interview he did with the 2008 winner and current course record holder, Kyle Skaggs.

In the wake of Kyle Skaggs’ annihilation of the Hardrock 100, almost two years ago, there were a few folks in Aspen (and elsewhere, no doubt) who were damned curious to know how he did it. What the 23-year-old Skaggs did was stage a tour-de-force on the undisputed toughest/baddest/insanest ultra course in North America, finishing in 23 hours, 23 minutes. For context, that put Skaggs six-plus hours ahead the runner-up and two hours and 45 minutes in front of ultra-running legend Scott Jurek’s course record, established the previous year in ’07.

Said observers (Ted, Christy, me, etc.) were stunned. An analysis of Skaggs’ split times (results, in pdf) and an article in the next day’s Durango Herald provided some insights into the blockbuster run… but we wanted more, more meat. I also thought it would make a good story for me to, you know, write about. So I tracked down Skaggs’ digits via a PR rep from New Balance and eventually made plans with him to talk. We ended up talking for quite a while, with Skaggs going into candid detail about his life and how this race had sort of intersected it and overtaken it, object-of-obsession style.

I never managed to sell a story to places like the New York Times or Outside, but I tried. I still think it’s their loss. More surprisingly, to me, is that the stuff covered in this Skaggs interview hasn’t really been reported anywhere since, which is weird and also too bad because it’s pretty freaking interesting. Fitting then to unearth the interview now, the eve of the 2010 Hardrock 100 (in which Skaggs will not be competing) and the first clockwise course orientation since Skaggs blew that s%$# up in July 2008. Roll tape: the July 30th, 2008 “lost” interview:

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Christy and Lissa on the ridge, seen here form the summit of North Traverse Peak. The route heads to the highpoint out to the left, Grand Traverse Peak.

Christy, Lissa and I did the Gore Grand Traverse the other day. Not to be confused with the popular ski race, the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse, often discussed here on the blog and which was a grand disappointment this year, the Gore GT is a Vail area ridge traverse between North Traverse and Grand Traverse Peaks, and requires an approach and descent via two different valleys, creating a really cool loop. read more>>>