Running a very similar time with a very similar experience, but in 4th place, I crossed the line this year feeling almost nothing but relief. The main difference was that this year I expected to win (side note: I very much expected to win in 2006 as well, but pretty much only three other very informed people in the world expected me to as well), so when I crossed the line in 17hr and in first, I felt nothing but triumph. I ended up finishing the race 20min slower than in 2006 (my rally around Turquoise Lake wasn't quite as strong this year, and my implosion on top of Sugarloaf was a bit worse), but the course this year was likely 10-15min longer than the one I ran in 2006 (and I would estimate 25-30min longer than the course has been since it was tweaked in 2009 to re-route around a helicopter crash). This past Saturday, my experience was very similar except that I was already in 2nd place on top of Sugarloaf and when I started walking down the other side (again), two 100mi vets (Nick, followed very closely by Zeke) rolled past me with impressive poise, dropping me into 4th place.
#Leadville 100 updates Patch#
It was my first ultra ever and I had what at the time felt like an epic bad patch coming off the summit of Sugarloaf Pass at mile 80, but I somehow rallied and pulled it together for the win 20mi later. It's a funny thing how expectations can end up massively skewing one's perception of a result. Erik Skaggs' (incorrect) prediction of my reply: "His response will be 'f***' ten times." She agreed to oblige, but only upon the condition that I reciprocate with a 10 word account of my LT100 this past weekend.
![leadville 100 updates leadville 100 updates](https://www.velonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image_50364929.jpg)
![leadville 100 updates leadville 100 updates](https://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Leadville100MTB_JonathanIngraham_2015_GlenDelmanPhotography-121-2-o.jpg)
After this weekend, I texted Jenn Shelton, requesting a 10 word compendium of her recent run on the John Muir Trail.