Note:  The continuation of the Leadville series from Kelly…   Two emails were sent on this section.

Email #1 – no pics

I am writing quickly to let you know that Sean made it to the 50-mile mark around 3:40 PM.  Sadly, his crew was not there.  I was quite disappointed.  😦  We spent 2+ hours in the car trying to get up the 15-mile dirt road to the checkpoint.  We gave ourselves nearly 2 hours to get there, but that ended up not being enough with the amount of extra cars (no yellow “crew” tags displayed) and very little parking available.  Apparently this is the place for volunteer pacers to show up.  It was a line of traffic each direction and a thick dust bowl.

Anyways, Gordo left the car around 3:15 PM to start trekking an unknown distance to the checkpoint in hopes of still meeting Sean.  Meanwhile, Reece and I started walking in hopes of seeing Sean off – but had no idea what kind of distance we had before us.  Soon, we saw Allison driving down the mountain and she informed us that she saw Sean at 3:40 PM, but not Gordo… So we began hoping that Gordo cranked up the mountain to Hope Pass and caught up to Sean.  Reece and I hopped into her car and then stopped where Paul and Riley were, only to suddenly be stuck with no car within seconds.  Just as we were getting out the traffic guards released the hounds – Paul and Riley were in the line of cars permitted to go further up the road.  We ran as hard as we could to try to tap the back of the car, but to no avail.  I got desperate and hitchhiked (figured it was safe).  :-0  Reece and I got squeezed into a van with a bunch of people, including volunteer pacers.  They got us up to the parking area and we spotted the NY plates on our rental… i.e. back to where Paul and Riley were.  We had to circle the entire crazy checkpoint.

Fast forward a few hours… The kids and I nervously waited for what we hoped to be 2 guys at the Twin Lakes checkpoint – Sean and Gordo.  Yeah, they arrived around 7:40 PM and Sean was off at 7:50 PM.  He is definitely wearing down, but he is going to finish.

Now, 9:22 PM, we are preparing to leave in a bit to meet Sean at Treeline again.  This will be after he runs a solo 13 miles.  Then Paul will take 4 miles or so, Gordo will take 10-16 with him, and then I’ll take the last 6-7.  He won’t be alone the rest of the way!

Thanks for your continued prayers and encouragement.  You probably won’t hear from me until we’re done.  Anyone is welcome to text me though.  I’ll send more pictures soon, too.

Email #2

A few pictures to complement the email that I sent earlier.  (Tried to sleep a little – too nervous as we are in the hardest stretch.)

The line of traffic into Winfield (FYI – that’s the race director walking down the middle!) and then a photo of some of the madhouse in the parking area… where the runners are crossing in and out of the checkpoint plus picking up volunteer pacers.

The other photos are of the kids (and me) waiting at Twin Lakes and then big cheers for seeing our two guys coming in together!  Gordo was my hero for pushing it to find Sean and keep him encouraged.  Way to go guys!