Part 6 of a 10 part strategy to finish Leadville Winfield to Twin Lakes Total miles 10.5, miles running 7.0, miles walking 3.5 Cutoff time 17:45, planned arrival 16:30 The 2 mile section of road back to the trail is gradually downhill and should be run unless you are still eating when leaving the aid station. When you hit the trail, you will be walking in a few hundred yards. the climb on this side is steeper but shorter. The gain is about 2,400 over about 2 1/4 miles. Again, you should try to hike at a pace where you don't need to stop until you get to the top. Once you are above tree line, this will be very difficult and will probably need to rest regardless of how slow you go. Just keep plugging away and you'll get there. Your heels won't be touching the ground the entire way. Once over the top, let gravity do it's job. After Hope pass aid station, the descent is more gradual and very runable. As you loose altitude, you will be able to notice the richer level of oxygen and will feel a lot better. When it levels out at the bottom, try to keep running all the way to the aid station. You will save valuable time by doing so, even if you don't want to. Don't forget you'll be crossing streams and it will feel great. At the Twin Lakes aid station it is time to prepare for the night ahead. You will need flashlights warmer clothes, possibly a hat and gloves. You should change into dry shoes as well. If you are careful, they will stay dry all the way to the finish. When dressing warm, you won't need to dress too warm just yet, but as the night wears on, you'll need to add clothes. I have yet to run here when the temp didn't drop below freezing at night. Compounded by being tired and unable to stay warm, you need to really bundle up. More on this later. You should arrive at Twin Lakes at 16:30, take 10 minutes. This will be the last 10 minute break, the rest will be 5 minutes. You should leave by 16:40 with flashlight in hand and 1:05 ahead of the cutoff. Hint for Enjoyment: In addition to the spectacular views, when at the Hope pass aid station, check out the llamas they use to pack in the supplies. They are so at home. My first year doing Leadville, I was sitting on a log at the aid station not doing well at all. I remember looking at the llamas contentedly eating grass. They seemed to really give me peace and strength. I soon got up and was able to run my buns off down the mountain. Also look at the flowers and the rushing mountain creeks along the way, they're just great. Next Segment: Twin Lakes to Halfmoon If you missed segments 1 through 5, e-mail me direct and I'll forward them to you. Or, Stan Jensen has put them on his homepage if you have web access, http://www.run100s.com/Pb Dana Roueche Boulder, CO danar@us.ibm.com