Wisdom Wednesday- 6 Life Principles I Learned Running The Leadville 100

I am super excited to start my new weekly publication called Wisdom Wednesday.

Typically “Wisdom Wednesday” will feature a guest runner, coach, or another awesome human who will share a bit of wisdom with us. My first guest is Graham Orme. I may be a little biased as I have been married to this stud for 15 years. Graham is an experienced endurance athlete of 16 years and to name a few of his accomplishments, he has done everything from qualify for the Boston Marathon (on his FIRST marathon), to being a Mountain Guide on Mt. Rainer. This summer he ran his first 100 mile race at the Leadville 100. One of the many things that I love about ultra running is that there are so many life lessons to be learned that can be directly applied to real life outside of running. I had the honor of coaching Graham to his first 100 and it was incredible to crew him and see him fight so hard to get across that finish line. I hope you enjoy his write up as much as I did.

6 Life Principles I learned Running The Leadville 100

By Graham Orme

1) You can go much farther with a good team.The Leadville 100 has some of the most strict time cutoffs in the sport. If you don't reach a checkpoint by a certain time they will pull you from the course for your own safety. At the 87 mile checkpoint I arrived at the aid station a minute and a half before the cutoff. If I had not had such a supportive team that took care of my needs at half a dozen aid stations earlier in the race I would not have reached that cutoff in time and would have come up short just a half marathon from the finish line.

2) Just because you can go faster doesn’t mean you should. At mile 22 we faced a couple miles of steep downhill. Downhill is usually my specialty and I decided to bomb down that hill as fast as I could to make up some time. To put it bluntly that was a MISTAKE that early in the race. I banged up my knees so badly that every downhill for the next 78 miles was excruciatingly painful and slowed me down significantly. Don’t sacrifice long-term efficiency for short term gains.

3) A positive frame of mind is essential for when things go wrong (as they always will). At about mile 42 something popped in my left ankle and I experienced shooting pains anytime I bent my ankle more than a few degrees. From that point on, to minimize the pain, I basically treated my ankle like a prosthetic. All I could do was laugh and keep pressing forward. Later on in the race I employed positive mental mantras to convince myself that my legs felt fresh and strong and that I had the guts to finish the race. Life, and races such as these, is mostly a factor of mind over matter and this mindset powered me through and kept me moving forward. Your mind is a powerful thing. 

4) You are faster and better than you think you are. Remember that mile 87 mile cutoff that I barely made? Well with about 2 miles to go to the checkpoint I was about 20 minutes away from the 6am cutoff time. The problem was that I had been averaging 15 minute miles due to my fatigue, useless ankle and bum knees and at that rate I was not going to make it in time. I had to move!! All of a sudden my adrenaline kicked in and those mental mantras I had been repeating like a certifiably insane person for the past 20 miles miraculously came true. I had run 85 miles and all of a sudden my legs did feel fresh; they did feel strong as I began running 8 minute miles. When those 2 miles elapsed on my GPS watch the checkpoint wasn't anywhere in sight. The GPS was off by about a half mile (as it can often be) and I had to begin sprinting. There was no way I was running 87 miles for nothing. For the final half mile to the checkpoint I ran at nearly a 6 minute mile pace to make the cutoff with only 90 seconds to spare. When I absolutely had to run, and I didn’t think I had anything left in the tank, my body responded and I flew down the trail faster than I could have believed possible at that stage in the race.

5) You should still go for your goals even when you feel unprepared. While most of my training went according to plan, in the month leading up to the race I changed jobs and moved my family 750 miles to a new state. As a result I was only able to run several times in that last month and several people told me to just cash it in and wait for a better time in the future. My experience in life, however, has taught me that we often don't feel prepared to tackle big goals or changes in life. I decided to trust in the training that I was able to put in and go for it anyway. Too many times we wait for the right time in life to go after our goals instead of trusting in our abilities to use the experience we do have and adjust and learn on the fly. There will never be a "perfect" time so you might as well go for it now.

6) Success does not depend on pure talent alone. During the race I saw bodies of all shapes and sizes competing. People that naturally looked like ultra runners and I thought would easily handle the race dropped out. Other people, that from outward appearances, looked to have no business being out on the course killed it! You can't measure the heart and in long races (of which life is one) heart is what will take you across the finish line.

Turquoise Lake

mile 88

Leadville 100 Finish Line

29 hours 39 minutes