Leadville 100 Miles (2024) - The Race Across the Sky

[@SeeChadRun]

This makes me want to run Leadville 100! Thanks for sharing Simon and well done on another epic accomplishment.

[@runningwithsimon]

Likewise - it was great to see you with your kids and wife and brother at UTE :)

[@SeeChadRun]

@@runningwithsimon They were a bigger support than I could have ever anticipated or imagined. I love that they were part of my experience!

[@lindawilliams6220]

Good luck on your race in Italy 🇮🇹

[@runningwithsimon]

Thanks - we're so stocked for that one! We're actually in Gevena right now only for the night, next stop Courmayeur - and straight on trails for Tour du Mont-Blanc!

[@TheDeterminedRunner]

Great video Simon, good to see the route & get more of an idea about Leadville. Well done on grinding through & collecting that buckle 👏

[@runningwithsimon]

Thanks! If you are looking to know better the course because you'll be racing, suggest you have a look at my course review. Not as exciting - it's really meant to be informative and narative. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bavEeHaHnaakgMk

[@Sanko1960]

I love a lot of things about your videos, Simon, and one of them is your music. The night running with Nora and John was amazing - good job! Thank you for an excellent view of this great race.

[@runningwithsimon]

Thanks! I really take time to pick something that reflects my mood music wise. And John was really unlucky - poor guy. I don’t think there was a single step of running in that segment. I just wanted to be done! So I was walking a solid 15min mile. Which is this annoying pace of too fast for a walk, but too slow to run. I was very glad to hear he raced and finished run rabbit run 100 few weeks later! First 100!

[@Sanko1960]

I'm sure John was happy to be pacing you no matter the pace! And good for him for completing his first hundred!

[@Gator35]

Congratulations on another Leadville buckle! I can't wait to see TDG coverage!

[@runningwithsimon]

Thanks! Leadville is always a hard fight! It’s a huge satisfaction when that switch in my head happens and I know it’s happening!

[@SeeChadRun]

You're amazing! Love seeing the support.

[@Kbuck5280]

It was nice to meet you in person at the finish line! Thank you for this awesome video! You did a great job of giving us future newbies a good look at the actual course and the struggles to overcome. I am looking forward to it next year. What a privilege that we have the ability to ‘feel’ it all! (Note: I recognize that it is easy to say that when I am not actively doing ‘the thing’! 😅). Thanks again for your time and energy!

[@runningwithsimon]

So you're planning it for '25? That's great - I think we'll probably be back (depends on lottery of course - but with Brian likely going for 1000 miles buckle, we'd probably be around no matter what). And don't worry - it's certainly not easy. But it's both harder than it looks...but also...easier. I can't verbalize it, but basically, it's totally doable! But also, a struggle.

[@Kelly_Ben]

Congratulations Simon!! You are the boss at pushing through the mental and physical hard times. Listening to you talk about the lows, struggles, cut off times etc, I was shocked to see how well you placed!! That's getting it done in style! I wish you a speedy recovery.

[@runningwithsimon]

Thanks - I think I'm all good. I was already soooo much better at Leadville (compared to Angeles Crest). Tor des Geants will be a butt kick regardless btu hopefully my achilles hold long enough.

[@Kelly_Ben]

I struggle with a cranky Achilles too, which makes mountain races interesting... If anyone can tackle that epic challenge, it's you! So excited for you, and the video!

[@runningwithsimon]

@@Kelly_Ben Thanks! Well it's interesting how things go. I can't predict it apparently. Or I can to some extent only. So it WAS a massive problem for the first 2 days. And then, I don't know, my achilles were like "ok FINE...whatever.. do what you want". And then everything else was hurting more. But hey, we made it! Conditions up there were hardcore at time too... the distance and elevation gain was not the hardest thing!

[@rustyfork2]

Awesome video and congrats on the strong finish! I ran with you for a little while coming down Powerline on the outbound. Looks like we ended up having pretty similar races. You passed me coming back around Turquoise. I was definitely on the struggle bus at that point. But as a first timer it's good to see that even the veterans struggle too sometimes!!

[@runningwithsimon]

Hey congratulations!!! I was struggling around turquoise too, and we all knew by then that we 100% finish thanks to decent cushion, but also, no way we do sub25. At first I was tempted to go slow, but I just wanted all the pain to be over! I think my pacer said I was walking a casual 14-15min miles pace the whole way haha

[@runningforme]

Another epic race and video. Merci Simon

[@runningwithsimon]

Thanks! And now on our way to the biggie of the year at Tor des Geants!!!

[@sammy_lu552]

Congratulations! Great video as always 🤩

[@runningwithsimon]

Thank you!! 😊

[@ArcaneSpells]

nice job!! enjoyed seeing the pre race too. thanks for sharing

[@runningwithsimon]

That's the best part at leadville!

[@youngsugaryoungsugarkim7826]

❤❤❤❤❤👏👏👏👏👏😄👍

[@youngsugaryoungsugarkim7826]

👏👏👏👏👏😄💓💓💓❤️💓🐣🐥🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡👍

[@runningwithsimon]

Thank you :)

[@Ultra-Lawyer]

Congratulations, gang! That was a great race because it was hard and gorgeous. Mother Nature, huh? She’s something else.

[@runningwithsimon]

She sure is - and 100 miles is a looooong way. A lot can and will happen. It's "funny" to think that of our little group, I'm the one who had the smoothest day! Terrible IG issues for Mark, Brian in deep pain cave around 45, Ryan with huge blood blisters...

[@Ultra-Lawyer]

@@runningwithsimon, I’m proud of them for roughing it out and would trust them to handle any personal/emotional issues with strength. 💪

[@sethgrad2908]

Good job, Simon! Nice to finally meet you and Nora at Outward Bound. I'll be curious to hear about your experience with the Speedlands. Been looking into them and tried them on at the expo. They felt great but obviously I didn't run a race in them 😊.

[@runningwithsimon]

Nice seeing you briefly there :) I'll eventually post a full review on them (I'm a bit late on all my gear review...oopsies). But overall, I'm happy with them. I think it was a good choice for the type of trail we had at leadville. The ones I had were not the most grippy - which was fine there (but for say Tor des Geants...would have been a disaster). Other than that, I think the extra cushy is very helpful on those longer races. I also really like the BOA thing, although I think like anyone else, I'm worried it'll break and the shoe becomes useless (which I never saw happened so maybe it just in my head). I think I'll use those speedland again at Javelina in oct - not technical and rocky so cushion will help with my heels. I guess the main complaint would be the price tag - which i can't complain myself since they gave me that pair. I think if it helps you with injury - 100% worth it! But then what I'd probably do myself is use them mostly for (very) long training runs and races, and use 'normal' shoes for the rest. Hope that helps - again full review later this year. Not sure when, but probably once racing season slows down!

[@sethgrad2908]

@@runningwithsimon thanks for the thorough sneak peak review. I've heard they're supposed to last so long that the price works out, but I have no experience with them.

[@ryanf9028]

Love the Zelda music 💪

[@runningwithsimon]

Thanks - brings back memory for me!

[@JonasSpangberg]

Well done! 👏🏻👏🏻

[@runningwithsimon]

Thank you! 😃

[@Alex-fl2yh]

The leadville race founder supposedly once said "Make friends with payin' and you will never be alone". Or maybe he said pain, which of course only would apply to bakers because pain = bread in french.

[@runningwithsimon]

Works even better with pain au chocolat!

[@jchaptter]

Are you looking to do the UTMB someday ? That would be an awesome video ! :) It would also be great to see you do the UTHC in La Malbaie. Good job on the race !

[@runningwithsimon]

@@jchaptter UTMB would be a great experience and is as a race high on my list. But I have yet to bother getting any stones as I’m not the biggest fan of the attempted monopoly there. But we’re actually on our way to do Tour du Mont-Blanc, so we’ll see the whole course and even better it’s going to be daylight!

[@johnf168]

What is your verdict on the Speedland shoes?

[@runningwithsimon]

Non-guilty! I'm happy with them - I think Leadville was the perfect race to use them. Not the most technical course - I think the sole is alright but I'd be hesitant to use in a slick place like Quebec Mega Trail or HURT. My understanding is that the carbon plate is likely not the most helpful on trail, but if there is any course I've done this year where it'd help - it'd be a runnable course like Leadville (the first 40). And the cushion is awesome - feels like a cloud. And it's not just about confort - I often struggle with heel pain and that was not an issue (or not while I was using them in the first 60). Love the BOA tightening system - although slightly worried that if it breaks, the shoe becomes useless. Oh and no blisters despite wet feet after the river creek crossing at 40. So all and all - happy with them. But I also got them from speedland - I wonder if I'd pay full price for them. Maybe - but then I'd only wear them for specific race. If it saves my heel, it's worth it. But training, nah, I wouldn't burn them on that.

[@Flower6child]

What head lamp are you using. Is there a brand and type you would recommend for ultras

[@runningwithsimon]

I've been using a Fenix HM65R-T V2.0 for about 6 months - and so far so good. I'm sure there are a lot of brands and model that would work just fine, and I don't claim to be an expert. For the Fenix, the batteries last very long (of course that always depends on settings). I appreciate that it has different options for the light - from a smart economic low light that is most of the time sufficient for me, all the way to 'wow this is so bright, I'm blind now'. The BOA system for the headband is practical - you can quickly adjust if say you decide to wear a hat for cold. But what I care most about is that the batteries are affordable and fairly common (it's not your AA or AAA but it's easy to find different brand). That's very helpful because you can keep extra battery in your running vest and your drop bag. Before that, I had switched from a Peltz switft, which was fine. But extra battery were pricy, and the headlamp would often die during the night especially as the batteries were getting older. No regret switching to Fenix, but also, it's not like I was miserable with Peltz (and I'm sure they have newer models now). Hope that helps!

[@RBobul]

37:50 😂

[@runningwithsimon]

haha yeah they always go for her headlamp!

[@RBobul]

Lol more like 37:43 then 😂

[@cypriano8763]

does anyone ever run the full 160ks?

[@Not_So_Common_Sense]

David Roche did-while setting the course record this year

[@runningwithsimon]

Did he? I only saw him coming down Hope, so maybe, but when I was faster, winners would still power hike up Hope. It’s just more efficient imo.

[@Not_So_Common_Sense]

@@runningwithsimon He said so himself. In a interview he said the only way to break Carpenter's course record was to run the whole distance., Obviously I cannot verify his claim 😅