Jeff Beecham and the Leadville 100
La Sportiva's 'For Your Mountain' slogan means more than just the physical mountains we face. We all have our own metaphorical mountains to climb, and our outdoor pursuits can be invaluable in facing those challenges. As part of our campaign to spread this message, we partnered with Life Time and Boundless Coaching to help get a runner to the finish line of the Leadville Trail 100 who is running for more than just fitness goals. After reading dozens of applications, we landed on a story from Jeff Beecham that embodied this idea in a special way. Read Jeff's application letter and learn some more about him below.
'For Your Mountain'
Six months ago we found out that our daughter, due to be born in December of 2022, was diagnosed with a life-limiting condition and would pass away shortly after being born. As you can imagine, we were stunned and heartbroken. Thankfully we were connected with organizations and others who had been through the same situation and diagnosis. They were great to work with and helped navigate us through the process. She ended up being born on October 20th, 2022 and we spent 84 wonderful minutes with her. Her siblings were able to come in and hold her as well as sing her Happy Birthday. As we wrapped that up and they walked out of the room, she chose that moment to leave as well. Thankfully we were blessed to be in a hospital that had a Caring Cradle which allowed us to keep her in the room with us for a further two days and we were able to say goodbye over those two days.
This has been a very difficult year but through it all, we have felt peace and purpose through it. After we had Birdie's funeral, we were able to raise money to donate a Caring Cradle to Grady Hospital in Atlanta which serves high risk patients but did not have a budget for this type of care. Through this, other parents who lose their children after birth will not be limited to mere minutes with their child but can take a day or two to process and say goodbye while keeping their baby in their room.
At this point, I am simply hoping to be able to run the race in her memory and I would love to be considered for this Boundless coaching and LaSportiva opportunity. I'm sure that many people will email you with impactful stories so I can only say that it would mean so much to me to be able to run in memory of my daughter. I don't know how to explain it except to say that it's the hope that as I run the "Race Across the Sky" that I might once again get to spend some time with my daughter Birdie, if only as her memory pushes and drives me to finish well. This would be such a special way for us to get to celebrate her memory.
1. Introduce yourself! Tell us about you as a person.
I'm a Wealth Management Advisor from Atlanta, Georgia and live on 30 acres, building out a small piece of homesteading heaven with my wife and our three children. I love helping people with their financial planning and enjoy running my own business. I grew up in Indiana with four other siblings and moved to Atlanta in 2008. I love to smoke meat on my Big Green Egg, enjoy movies, enjoy meeting with other men to do discipleship and mentorship and (obviously) love endurance sports. I also enjoy woodworking, blacksmithing, and working on the land we have.
2. What is your background as a runner/athlete? How long have you been running/participating in endurance sports? How would you describe yourself as a runner?
I'd never really done any working out or running until 2012 when I ran my first half marathon. I quickly signed up for a marathon after that but due to being sick and unprepared, I was on my hands and knees before the halfway point with terrible cramps. I didn't quit but it took a really long time to finish. I was hooked! I did more marathons but after those were done, I really didn't know what to do next and so I took a couple years off. A good friend encouraged me to do a triathalon and so, untrained and overweight, I signed up for a full Ironman that fall. I did the work, stuck to the plan, lost 50 lbs over that summer and finished in twelve and a half hours. It was a blast. I've done several other half IM type events since then but I've known since then that I wanted to try something longer. I would describe myself as a plodder who just doesn't quit. I have done a half Ironman not having trained, just to be with friends. I've done a half Ironman despite needing a root canal (which I had done on an emergency basis at 7:00AM the next day) and never considered quitting either. I don't know if that makes me the smartest contender but I like to think it makes me a persistent one.
3. How did you find Leadville? How much did you know about the race before finding this promo? How long have you had Leadville on your bucket list?
My friend who got me into Ironman races did a 100 mile race and I started to research them. I stumbled on a few videos online in 2019 and began to think about the training that I would need to get in shape enough to do it. I watched eveything I could on ultras and paid particular attention to the toughest ones because I wanted to shoot for something very difficult. Ultimately, life and Covid derailed my pursuit but it's always been my next target. The idea of improving my Ironman time never really interested me because it didn't scare me. This scares me.
4. What drives you to run? What drives you to want to run an ultra? Are there any athletes or specific achievements that inspire you? What drives you to run beyond running itself?
I love the process of running even if I don't always love to run, if that makes sense? The reason I love to run and specifically love to run endurance events is because it's easy for me to get comfortable in life. Running reminds me of how often I take the easy way out. When you are on a long run or in a long event, you come against your own excuses, your weakness and desire to just quit and it's that fight that draws me back, time and time again. Everything in this life is tough. It's tough to be a good husband, a father, business owner, etc. So often, like when I'm running, I'm tempted to take the easy way out. I think learning how to battle against that desire to take the easy way out while I'm running helps me to battle it in other areas of my life. I have been inspired by David Goggins' story in that same way.
5. What specific challenges do you expect to face while training for this race? What are you most excited about? Worried about? How is Boundless catering your training for this specific race - for altitude, the distance, etc.?
I am sure I'll face all of the same challenges everyone else will but overall, the things I'm most worried about are just the lack of long term training base. I know that I can fight pain and fatigue as well as anyone but this is an entirely different animal. I'm scared of letting people down. I'm scared that I'll come against myself in the night when I'm tired and empty and instead of pushing through like I always have, I'll have an injury that doesn't let me continue. The good news is that drives me and that I have a great "why", for why I doing this race. I'm super excited for the challenge and to be able to be a part of the team that is helping me to put together a plan and the equipment to compete in this type of challenging event. I am excited to try and raise money for Able Speaks and to also be able to donate more Caring Cradles to hospitals so that parents can grieve with their child over days rather than minutes. And I am excited to cross the finish line!
Boundless is really helping by keeping my training specific to me. Thankfully I live in Georgia and (apparently) heat training helps with running at altitude so I'm hopeful that will be a benefit. For my long term training, Jay and I have discussed ramping up the miles quickly but focusing on keeping me injury free. It has really helped already just to be able to focus on easy runs and hard runs as opposed to hang out in the middle as I've done in the past. I also will likely train on my incline trainer to be able to prepare my muscles for the uphill hiking and downhill sections as well.
