My dad has always been an inspiration to me. Growing up, I just kind of assumed that every other dad out there took their 8 year old son to ride single track after the school day or drove through the night with their son sleeping in the back of a VW Westfalia to catch a big storm cycle at Alta in early March. That was the normal I grew up with, and I am who I am because I was afforded those opportunities by him and got to follow his every move during those rides after school and those waist deep powder runs. • In 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1987, my dad etched his name in the endurance running history books by winning the Leadville 100 running race, all in blazing fast times of 19 hours or less. I’ve heard hundreds of times from other people over the last 3+ decades how badass my dad is for what he was able to do in that race alone. Most of those people don’t even know how badass he was just being a father too. So it seems fitting that in +/- 6 weeks I’ll be a father and will have just raced my first Leadville 100. Hopefully it’s the first of many, and hopefully in the not too distant future my children will be able to cheer for me at the Twin Lakes road crossing just as my sister and I did for our dad 35+ years ago. I couldn’t be more proud of my dad for who he is as a person, an athlete, but most importantly as a dad, and finally bringing the Leadville race experience full circle just feels right. • I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bummed that I’m not starting a bit further up in the wave start, but coming out of the 6th wave will give me motivation to keep reeling people in ahead of me and I think I’ll be able to absorb even more of the infamous Leadville energy by really being in the thick of it. Just being able to pin that race number on and do my absolute best is an opportunity I’ll always be grateful for. Thanks @lifetime.life and @ltraceseries for ALL the support. Here we go, time to fly!