Aug. 29—Chris Abell didn’t feel bad physically in the middle of the week. Not too sore, not too fatigued.
Abell, a 27-year-old, could’ve been excused a few aches and pains here and there after what he accomplished last weekend in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Abell finished the Leadville Trail 100 Run in 29 hours, 7 minutes, 35 seconds. The ultra marathon uses rugged trails and dirt roads through the heart of the mountains, and runners have to finish in less than 30 hours to have times recorded.
Abell is a music teacher at Estes Elementary School.
“I feel pretty great, I showed up to Project Rise downtown, I just walked,” Abell said. “The tops of my feet were tender and tight, my back was tight. The next day after I got back I walked around like I was in a western movie.
“I got eight hours of sleep, slept on the plane, got home, woke up next day, I had a hard time getting around, my dad was having to carry me around some, but by Tuesday I was good.”
Abell was serious about meeting that 30-hour time limit.
“The mental aspect is something I consider a strength, I have determination and resilience,” Abell said. “I told myself there was no way I’m pulling out of this race, too many have watched me, supported me — at no point was there a feeling of I can’t go. It was always a let’s go.
“I would come in to a crew station and would say, ‘I can’t get up out of the chair,’ and then I would hear somebody else say, ‘No, you’re going on.’
“The only way I don’t finish is if they drag me off this course.”
The physical demands were grueling enough with the race course climbing and descending 15,600 feet.
It’s called The Race Across the Sky.
He raced through the night and was literally without sleep for quite a few hours when he finished.
“In fact, from mile 77 to 88, I was actually nodding off while running,” Abell said. “Kevin (Brown) was my pacer at this point and he had to give me a lot of caffeine and play music through his phone to keep me awake. It was pretty dangerous because at this point we were going through a fairly technical, rocks and roots, part of the course. I stopped nodding off once I got more caffeine at mile 87 and the sun started to come up.”
Brown was part of a racing crew that ultra runners have to help them through a race.
Abell had a crew that consisted of his dad, Ronnie, along with friends Brown, Jordan Loucks, Suzanne Leach and Suzanne Anderson.
“With it being my first time in this race, I knew I would need a team of people, I wanted my dad, Ronnie, to be my crew chief, he’s good at planning, he’s a cyclist,” Abell said. “Jordan Loucks, he knows me as an athlete, how to interact with me when I’m breaking down. He’s ideal as a pacer. Kevin Brown, I wanted him to be a pacer. Suzanne Leach is a friend and a PT. She told me about Suzanne Anderson, who is a crew person for her husband, Lee Anderson, who runs in 200-mile races. Suzanne Anderson had ultra-marathon crew experience.
“I knew I had to have people who wouldn’t freak out if I was breaking down, people who would be aggressive with me.”
The first time Abell stopped at a crew station, it was hectic, but he and his team got in a good working order across the rest of the race.
“My only job was putting one foot in front of other, everything else was left to them,” Abell said. “It is such an incredible teamwork event.”
They would literally be helping him get shoes and socks on and off during the race.
“I have such a bond with them now,” he added.
Abell was picked for the Leadville race by a lottery. A friend from here, Matt Harvey, had been in the Leadville race two times, and Abell didn’t think he had a chance of getting picked.
He got an email on Feb. 23 telling him he had been selected, and Abell started preparing for a major physical and mental challenge.
He got housing for the weekend, then started figuring out how to train and prepare.
“I contacted different coaches around the country,” Abell said. “I didn’t want my friend to be my coach, I wanted somebody to hold me accountable, and I landed on a pro coach from out there.”
Addie Bracy lives in Colorado and is from North Carolina. She has competed at Leadville as a pro runner, and she is a sports psychologist.
“The mental aspect is a big part of this,” Abell said.
A U.S. Army reservist, Abell called completing basic training life-changing several years ago.
“Basic training changed who I was as a person,” Abell said.
When he returned to Owensboro, Abell started running and training with friends John Gleason and Loucks. Abell picked up distance over the last few years.
He put those skills to good use, along with his training regimens from Bracy, in getting ready for Leadville.
In March, he did a 50-mile race in Sewanee, Tennessee. Abell started training seriously in April, but not doing so much mileage that he would be burned out by the race.
He went to Colorado and camped at above 9,000 feet, helping him to acclimate to the altitude of Leadville.
He did some mountain running around Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and El Paso, Texas.
Then came the race last weekend.
He started at 4 a.m. on Saturday and finished at 9 a.m. Sunday.
It was a pretty amazing feat of running and perseverance that Abell accomplished. It was followed by a lot of family and friends on Facebook and social media.
“There’s a mountain you run up, Hope Mountain to Hope Pass, and you are thinking you are in this spot that not many people get to see,” Abell said. “It’s an amazing journey.”
Don’t be surprised if it’s a journey Abell tries to make again.