It was insane. Like, one of the most incredible days I have ever had. LiverMan 100 was everything I had hoped it would be and somehow more. LiverMan 100 was slated for Saturday, June 15th and the few out of towners came in Thursday night, include my dad in his swaggy little RV, Greta. A big group of us packed into the RV on Friday morning and drove down to Colorado Springs where we ran a few errands and gathered the last bits of equipment and fuel that we'd need for the saga that would ensue the next day.
On Friday night, we had a welcome party at Kinship Landing, a super badass, adventure-forward basecamp of a hotel. We had a raffle with all proceeds going to the Chris Klug Foundation. Enduro Bites joined us as an exhibitor with their super tasty energy bars and beet powder. We ran into a father/daughter duo that was also hiking Pikes Peak the next day. We were all mostly staying at Buffalo Lodge that night so after the party, we zoomed over there to do some last packing of the cars and prepping for the early morning wakeup. With a 2am start, I had an alarm set for 1:15am.
I didn't sleep at all. A combination of nerves and excitement had me wide awake until my 1:15am alarm went off. I was ready to go! Our new friend, Tattoo Mike who lives in the Springs and was still recovering from a broken foot, picked us all up from the hotel in his box truck. We piled in and headed to the base of the Manitou Incline. Despite being almost 2am, the energy was high. Like everyone was ready to freaking go. And then, at the strike of 2am, we were off. In the dead of night. With just our headlamps. And positive energy.
There were five of us attempting the full 100 mile route which started at the base of Manitou Incline, summited Pikes Peak, biked down Pikes Peak and north to Chatfield State Park (just outside of Denver), ending with a 1 mile swim in the gravel pond. We had five others join us for just the hike. I was a little nervous because AllTrails reports were saying that there was still a decent amount of snow towards the top. We made pretty quick time on the hike, summiting around 8:30am. There was a little snow that mostly just required a little extra double checking and route finding but otherwise wasn't too much of a nuisance. I had a little bit of a scare during the last mile stretch or so, thinking maybe I was getting some altitude sickness but that seemed to subside pretty quick after reaching the top.
Summiting was incredible. I felt good. It was probably adrenaline of having the first big chunk completed and also just having friends around there were all pretty hyped. We had three folks join us for just the bike which was immensely helpful as having fresh energy continue the momentum was clutch. The first 19 miles were just going down Pikes Peak which was a blast. I was also terrified. But also stoked. Emma had pieced together a solid bike route that would get us out of Colorado Springs and towards Monument, through Palmer Lake and then up to Chatfield State Park. It was slow going getting out of the Springs as we had to stop at lots of lights and do some routefinding. It was probably for the best as it let our legs recover a bit.
Huge shoutout to Tattoo Mike for pacing the whole route in his car and waving off traffic in some of the busier, sketchier sections of the course. Also major shoutout to my amazing partner, Maddie, who was our crew lead for the day and with the help of our friends Morgan, Kyle, and Dalton, kept us fueled and hydrated throughout.
Bit by bit, inch by inch we chipped away on our bikes until we finally coasted down the last stretch of road to the gravel pond at Chatfield State Park. What a feeling. 99 miles down (technically a little over, like 101 miles and absolutely counting). One last piece to go. The swim was going to be tough but the part that I was least worried about. Since November, I had been going to Denver Squid, an LGBTQ swim group, which helped get me into shape so that I could hammer it home and complete what I had set out to do.
The five of us doing the full course quickly changed into our swim gear and our spotters got in the water on their SUPs and we took off. At this point, my legs were cashed and cramping real, real bad. I couldn't use them. Apparently my spotter was worried because she looked at Nate who was also swimming and moving real fast and then she'd look at me and I apparently looked pretty bad. I'm sure I did. I felt real bad, real real bad. But I was also really freakin' stoked because I knew I had it. And sure enough, I did. I finished the last stretch, came out of the water and was welcomed and cheered on by a ton of friends. Holy shit. What a freakin' day.
Honestly, when I first started dreaming up this race, I wanted it to be something I wasn't sure if I could finish. And through 7 months of training, up until that day, I still wasn't sure if I would be able to get it all done. And then to finally do it and with your friends and family, wow, it was just perfect.
Real quick, I gotta give a shoutout to the LiverMan 100 sponsors: Slate, for donating a bunch of delicious lactose free chocolate milk for chugging after the race. Sap's, for donating a million cans of their electrolyte drink to help fuel us during the race. Dis Burrito, for burritos, duh. They have tasty, tasty burritos. BUBS Naturals, for donating a whole truckload of electrolyte powder that helped us survive this very long, very good day.
Also, the Chris Klug Foundation! I love the Chris Klug Foundation! They've been a source of positivity and inspiration in my life since having my liver transplant in 2017. They're on a mission to educate individuals to register as organ, eye, and tissue donors and inspire those in the transplant community. Love that. While selfishly, LiverMan 100 was created as a personal challenge, it also became an opportunity to share the love and use it as a force for good. We raised a good chunk of change for the Chris Klug Foundation and that made me really, really happy.
A lot of folks have asked about 2025. What's the plan? Can I join? How do I get involved? This was not initially on the radar. I mean really, all in all it was a pretty terrible idea: have a race starting and ending in two locations, swim at the end, etc. But man, it was fun. So fun. LiverMan 2025? Maybe. Probably. Maybe. Follow @heyhappyworm on Instagram and sign up for emails for future updates.
It was insane. Like, one of the most incredible days I have ever had. LiverMan 100 was everything I had hoped it would be and somehow more. LiverMan 100 was slated for Saturday, June 15th and the few out of towners came in Thursday night, include my dad in his swaggy little RV, Greta. A big group of us packed into the RV on Friday morning and drove down to Colorado Springs where we ran a few errands and gathered the last bits of equipment and fuel that we'd need for the saga that would ensue the next day.
