José Wilkie's Leadville 2001

5 Down, 6 to GO

Every August, the town of Leadville, Colorado opens it's doors to hundreds of Ultra Runners. This is the story of one of those ultra runners.......José Wilkie, "The Running Man"

Our cast of characters:

The Runner: You already know him.......José Wilkie

The Crew: Joan Wood(José's significant other), Kim & John Stone

The map of the course.....

Well off we go to Leadville, CO.........................................

We fly out of Cincinnati/Northern KY airport, 'cause we got a real cheap fare......We arrive in Colorado Springs, cause it's way cheaper to fly into then the "STUPID" new Denver airport. We get our rental vehicle.....a KIA Sportage(don't rent one of these they're dumb!). So off we go to Highway 24 to Copper Mountain, where our friends Cathi and Craig Kneuper, owners of Copper Vacations, if your planning on going to Copper Mountain to ski, snow board, or just hang.....call Cathi and Craig for a totally rocking crib.....

Craig, Cathi holding Samos, Kim, Joan and Jose.....I'm taking the picture!

After getting to Copper, we head over to Leadville, to get José's physical check up....of course we're the first ones there......

The check up is at the Leadville Community Center, and here is José waiting outside the center it's around 6:30 or so AM. Then so more folks arrived....

Some more folks arrived and then some more.....

So then José, is the first in line for his physical.....

He gets weighted.....

...and he gets his pulse taken....

and his blood pressure.....

So off to the race........