Leading up to Mountain Lakes 100 this year I had the feeling that I was seeking revenge but during the race my emotions turned more towards the notion of redemption. The circumstances surrounding my DNF (did not finish) at my first attempt in 2017 were largely beyond my control but I couldn’t help but feel a sting of defeat which lingered for years after. I am not going to spell out everything that happened because it’s in my race report from 2017 but it was the first time that I failed to complete an ultra marathon. The fact that it was a 100 miler on the other side of the country (at the time) which I had to plan logistics for and spend money on travel, made it an even tougher pill to swallow. In the aftermath of my failed attempt, I wasn’t sure when I would have the chance to get back to Oregon for this specific race but in the back of my mind I knew that I would someday have another go at it.
After 2017 a lot of things in our lives had drastically
changed and the biggest alteration was moving across the country from Detroit
to San Francisco. Since we now would be
living much closer to Oregon I had an optimistic outlook that my next attempt at
Mountain Lakes would become a reality.
However, I started running tougher mountain races with the influence of
a few new running compadres so my focus shifted to other 100 mile races over
the next 5 years. Finally in 2024 I made
the decision to sign up for Mountain Lakes and declared this is the year that I would get my
revenge on 2017!
Jessica said she would come along and crew for me which I
was ecstatic about since she is a champion at getting me to the finish line of
long races. She couldn’t make it to my
first attempt at Mountain Lakes so I was happy to hear that she would come to
this one. Also, we had plenty of room at
our AirBnB so we casually mentioned an invite to anyone who may want to come
along for the adventure and Jessica’s cousin Therese said she was in! This gave me some relief to know that Jess
wouldn’t have to be out there in the remote back roads of Oregon by
herself. Also, just a few short weeks
before the race our friend Tania and her daughter Luna showed interest in
coming and they bought last minute plane tickets! I was honored that Therese, Tania, and Luna
gave up some of their vacation and school time to help me run all day and night
through the Oregon forest. My confidence
grew because I knew I would be in good hands with this all-star group in my
corner. Stepping back to the beginning
of the year, after I signed up for the race, I put good care into designing my
training plan. I knew that not having
any major life distractions in 2024 would be good for training because my focus
on the race would be the main priority.
I had set my personal record at the 50 mile distance in
March at MUC 50 miler and my confidence soared.
Then in April my Mountain Lakes 100 training plan went into full
effect. Things were going really well
and I didn’t want to jinx anything but was feeling really great about the
pending revenge on 2017. The only
training injury I experienced was moderate heal pain for a few months; however,
it was a steady lingering pain and not getting worse so I was not too worried
about it. Then in August, about a month
before the race I found out that we were going to be moving due to Jessica’s
new job. Oh no! Something similar happened in 2017 where we
sold our house and had to be moved out by the Wednesday before the race and
this was one of the many things that lead to my DNF in 2017. When we were trying to figure out the best
time to move I was adamant that we try and wait until after the race which we
were able to work out. We would have a
week after Mountain Lakes to finish packing our stuff before the move. This helped to relieve the mental stress of
having to have everything done ahead of time and allowed me to focus on the
race more than the move.
I wrapped up my training feeling pretty great about
everything. The travel to Oregon was
seamless and we had a really nice couple of days with the crew. We were able to go sightseeing as well as enjoy
some relaxation and hang out time. We
arrived to the AirBnb in Government Camp right around check in time the night
before the race and I was able to take my time doing last minute race prep
along with going over all the details with the crew. This may have been the most prepared I have
ever been for a 100 miler and I was in bed super early. A rock-climbing documentary on Netflix helped
me fall asleep earlier than expected. Typically,
the night before a 100 mile race my mind is going a thousand miles per hour and
I can’t get to sleep. I would say two
hours of scattered light sleep is the best I can ever hope for in this
situation. For whatever reason this time
I was able to crash out and get maybe 4-5 hours of solid sleep! What a bonus!
That’s never happened before and I was happy about it since I would be
up for at least 36 more hours. Perhaps I
was able to relax more due to being so prepared mentally and physically along
with having such a solid crew.
The weather forecast was nothing short of perfect as it was
going to be warm during the day and cold at night. The drive to the start line at Olallie Lake
was extremely uneventful compared to 2017 when we had to drive as fast as
possible on the rutted forest service roads with a donut tire. We made it with plenty of time to get checked
in and line up on the start line. As we
got into position to start my mind drifted back to 2017 as I was standing there
trying to calm down from panicked events of the 24 hours leading up to the
race. I was in a much better mental
space now and was excited to get started.
Before I knew it the race was underway and I was caught up in the mass
crowd at the start. We hit the single-track
trail pretty early so there was not much time to spread out and the trail was
very dry and dust was floating in the air due to being stirred up by everyone
in front of us. Breathing in the dust
and trying to run uphill to stay with the crowd was not a very good way to
start. This distraction broke my
concentration and I tripped and had a wipeout not even 1 mile into the
race! Trying to wipe the dust from my
wound and clean up some of the blood while everyone was going by was not
fun. Great I thought to myself, here we
go again, I am cursed when it comes to this race! We kept going up a gradual climb for quite
some time and then eventually got to the downhill part. This was pretty technical single track for a
few miles and I was going slow trying not to trip on any rocks or roots.
 |
| Crew having fun in between aid stations |
I was having flashbacks to the nightmare that was the first
26 miles on this part of the course from 2017.
It crushed my soul back then and it was trying it’s best to crush my
soul again 7 years later. One good thing
is that half of the original first loop was cut out from the race this year and
the 14 miles left out of the race were some difficult technical miles so I was
not disappointed that we didn’t have to run that part. About mile 7 we were routed onto a forest
service road that had a nice long downhill and a flat section as well. I was flying along this part of the course
and getting my overall pace in a really good place. My confidence before the race was pretty high
and even though finishing was the most important thing I also had a lofty sub
goal of finishing under 24 hours, even though it would take a miracle for that
to happen. Then we had a mile or so on a
technical trail along Olallie Lake back to the start finish area which slowed
me down a bit. I was happy to see my
crew at mile 12 and I made really quick work of that aid station as it was
early in the race and I didn’t want to lose my good overall pace. The next section is about 28 miles on the
Pacific Crest trail which I was excited about.
From the 2017 race I remembered the trail being well maintained with
beautiful sections of forested single track trail as well as looking over some
beautiful tribal lands which awoken my spirit.
The first few miles of this section this year were a little
different though because a few years ago a wildfire had burned a big section of
the area. After the exposed burned-out
section we were deep into the Oregon woods and the well maintained single track
trail just flowed along nicely. There is
more downhill than uphill on this section but the 28 miles would be repeated
later on the way back to the finish line.
At that point it will be a net uphill and on tired legs making it more
difficult. I was excited at the chance
to do the return trip to the finish on this section because in 2017 I had
stopped right before going back. I was
enjoying the nice flow with fresh legs on this nice and easy section of
downhill trails and just soaking in the Oregon vibe. One of the aid stations in this section
provided some comedic relief as the volunteers were telling some funny “dad
jokes.” In the 2017 race this section
was hard for me because I was pushing myself to make up time from the train
wreck that was the first part of the course and I couldn’t really enjoy it. Overall, I was feeling pretty decent through
this section and the miles went by quickly as I passed through the remote aid
stations. I did start to feel some
fatigue as I got to the 50K mark and I started to slow down at this point. In 2017 there were a few crucial mistakes
that lead to my DNF and not staying hydrated and not taking in enough calories
were two of the biggest snafus which lead to the ischemic colitis that knocked
me out of the race. This year I was
doing a much better job at staying hydrated and consuming calories as I knew
what I had to do in order to achieve my redemption at Mountain Lakes 100.
Then I got to mile 40 at Clackamas aid station which is the
next place I would see my crew. It is
always so nice to see crew, sit down, and reset at an aid station. I usually leave these crew points feeling so
much better than I did going into them. Jess,
Therese, Tania, and Luna had an area set up for me with all the stuff I might
need spread out on the ground. This is
the point where I needed to load up my gear for the night portion of the race. Temperatures were going to drop quickly after
the sun went down. In 2017 I did not
take enough stuff for this portion of the course and I paid for it as I was
slowed to a crawl and freezing to my core from the frozen fog coming off
Timothy Lake. This year I shoved as much
cold weather gear as I could into my pack so I would be prepared and not make a
rookie mistake that might put my race in jeopardy. The next aid station was only 4 miles away
and mostly flat trail to get there, this section passed by part of Timothy Lake
and I was pretty happy to be able to see the lake in the daylight. The last time I went by this area in 2017 it
was well past dark and I was in a really bad place. At this point I was starting to feel pretty
worn down and my pace was reduced to an alternating shuffle and walk
routine. As I was getting to the aid
station at mile 44 there were some lead runners that had already done the next
out and back section of 16 miles and they were headed to finish the loop around
Timothy Lake. Nothing like seeing
runners that are 16 miles ahead of you to give a good reality check.
After leaving the aid station I began the long 8 mile slog,
mostly climbing uphill, to the Frog Lake aid station. I hiked most of this section because running
uphill, even with a gradual grade, was out of the question at this point. I had my waist light on as it was now fully
dark and there were frogs actually jumping around near the trail. It was pretty cool and I guess why the area
is called Frog Lake? There were runners
who were ahead of me and coming back from the Frog Lake aid station that were
passing by and I was jealous. Also, it
was a bit annoying passing runners coming at me on this section of single track
because it was now dark and their head and waist lights were glaring into my eyes. I tried to be courteous and cover my waist
light as I went by so I didn’t blind anyone.
I finally made it up to Frog Lake and was exhausted, it seemed like a
very long 8 miles, but I was glad to be at the half way point in the race. I was able to sit down and eat a little food
but it was starting to get cold fast so I didn’t stay long. The nice volunteers offered to let me sit by
the fire and warm up but I knew that would be a death sentence as I might never
leave. So I decided to press on and began
a slow shuffle on some of the downhill after leaving Frog lake. I was passing other runner who were still
going up and giving them some encouragement as I know how I felt when I was in
their position and other runners were on their way back down.
I made it back to the aid station which was at mile 44 the
first time in there and now it was 16 miles later at mile 60. Mentally it felt good to be close to the 100K
mark of the race as I felt like progress was being made and I was still well
under cutoffs even though my pace had taken a big hit on the out and back
section which I had just completed. Now
I had a flat-ish section to finish going around Timothy Lake. This section brought back really bad memories
of 2017. Back then my side was in so
much pain going around the lake. I was
extremely cold and so tired that I was leaning against trees trying not to fall
asleep. I had Jessica’s cousin Joe
pacing me that year in this section and he was trying everything he could to
get me out of my funk but unfortunately, I was too far gone. This year however
I was no where near that level of exhaustion and my side was not destroyed from
colon inflammation so I was just happy to be power hiking and shuffling when I
could. I had to laugh just reflecting on
the difference between the two races. I
finally made it to the next crew point at mile 64 which was three fourths of
the way around Timothy Lake. It was very
late at night now and my all-star crew were all there waiting for me! They even brought me a hot baked potato from
the Airbnb but I was pretty out of it at the point and declined. In hindsight I should have eaten the potato
because it would have been hot delicious food and I really did need the
calories. It’s just hard to eat
sometimes this late in a 100 mile race when nothing sounds good.
I power hiked the next 4 miles to Clackamas aid station to
complete the loop around Timothy Lake.
It was maybe 3:30 am at this point and Jessica and Therese were there to
get me loaded up with everything I would need for the long morning ahead. This was mile 68 and I still had 33 miles to
go and I wouldn’t see my crew again until the finish line. As much as I tried to muster a jog I just
couldn’t. I was reduced to hiking as
fast as I could. I was ok on time but
not as far ahead as I had hoped to be before heading back to Olallie Lake on
the Pacific Crest Trail. It got really
cold in the lower elevations on the trip back but then I would power hike the
uphill sections and get warmed up. It
was just a steady hike for what seemed like days and not hours. My thoughts started to turn a bit negative at
times as I was just telling myself that 100 miles is so freaking far and had self-doubts
about why I even want to do races of this distance. “This is really stupid” is a thought that
popped into my ahead a lot in this last 33 miles.
I arrived at the “dad jokes” aid station and they were still
cranking out the jokes and they were not repeats either! I ate some instant mash potatoes here and
they really hit the spot. Also, I
witnessed someone’s pacer take a shot of fireball and I was just extremely
happy that it wasn’t me. The aid station
volunteers said that a runner did one of these shots the day before at this aid
station and ended up dropping out of the race!
That aid station really helped to relax me and calm my negative thoughts. After leaving that aid station with a full
belly I met someone whose pace was similar to mine and we talked for about 5
miles or so which made the miles go by quick.
Then the sun came out as I was crossing back through the Tribal Lands
and it was pretty spiritual. As the
temperature started to warm up I removed most of my winter gear, my pack was
overfull with stuff and my mid back was absolutely killing me. Also, with about 10 miles to go I developed a
pretty bad pain on the top of my left foot that would nag me the rest of the
race but nothing was going to stop me from getting this monkey off my
back. After hiking for well over 7 hours
I finally reached the very last aid station and was so happy that I only had
three and a half miles to go until the finish.
Redemption was in sight and I had plenty of time left before the cutoff.
As I traversed the burnt section on the way to the finish my
thoughts turned to gratitude that I am physically able to come out here and do
this. I just felt so lucky to be there
in the Oregon wilderness and being able to share the experience with people
that I love made it all the better. I
will admit though, the last three miles seemed like they took forever! I finally popped out from the single-track
trail and onto the rutted dirt road which lead to the finish line. There were many people standing next to their
vehicles along this road and cheering me on.
One thing I love about the 100 mile distance is the comradery of the
crews and volunteers and everyone involved as it really is a shared experience
even if you’re not running the race. When
you are involved with the race you get a good sense of what an accomplishment
like this really entails and can’t help but get emotional for every runner who
gets across the finish line. As the
finish arch came into full view with Olallie Lake and Mt. Jefferson in the
background I thought to myself that I have been waiting for 7 years to see the
arch as a finish line and not just the starting line. I felt really happy to cross over the finish
and get this race done, redemption achieved!
We stuck around the finish line for awhile and cheered on
many more runners who were coming into the finsh. My final time was 28:37 so I finished more
than an hour before the cutoff which was relieving since my last 100+ mile race
(FatDog 120) I finished with only 5 minutes to spare and it was very stressful! I want to say this is a very well run 100-mile
race and it’s a grass roots family atmosphere type of race which I greatly
appreciate. The race directors Renee and
Todd do an amazing job and their race company truly embraces the spirit of
trail and ultrarunning. The volunteers
are top notch and the aid stations were phenomenal. Lastly, I want to thank my crew. Jessica is the best crew leader I could ever
ask for and Therese, Tania, and Luna rose to the occasion and were all
instrumental in getting me to the finish line.
They made the experience so much more rewarding to me and I was glad I
could share the Mountain Lakes redemption with them. The next day while in the airport waiting to
fly home I could breath a sigh of relief that I finished the race. The post-race beer in the airport bar tasted
so good!
