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| View From Starting Line |
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| Dropping off the drop bags |
Shaun and I finished up our last long training run of 41 miles exactly three weeks before the race. I think we were both a bit beat up from all the training. Shaun was dealing with an ankle / foot pain and I was dealing with a nagging pain in my shin. Throughout the taper I was doing short runs and just hoping the shin pain would subside. With less than a week to go before Bear my shin pain seemed to have moved to my calf. I was actually ok with that because the shin pain was so bad that it had hurt with every footfall however the new calf strain was manageable. Shaun had reported that his pains and injuries also subsided during taper so I was glad that we were both in a good place to start the race. The race starts on a Friday morning at 6:00 am. Shaun and I arrived on Wed. afternoon before the race and proceeded to organize our drop bags and make sure we had our overall race plan in order. The drop bags were tricky to piece together as it was going to be hot during the day but get pretty cold at night so we had to be sure we had the right clothes available at our estimated arrival times into the different aid stations. On Thursday we picked up Ram and Luc from the airport and went over the race day plans with them. Then went to bed early in hopes of getting some decent sleep the night before the race.
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| Last minute strategy session |
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| Epic Mountain Views |
As usual, the night before a 100 miler, I was unable to fall asleep. I tried reading, counting backwards from 1,000, and meditating. I have an issue with anxiety and nothing seems to quiet my mind when staring down the barrel of a mountain 100. I think around 1:30 am or so I was able to doze off but then woke back up around 3:00 am. I couldn't get back to sleep after that. Great, I thought to myself, going to start the toughest race of my life on 2 hours of sleep at best. Nothing I could do about it at that point so I accepted my fate and got ready to start this thing. We arrived at the start line and there as a fairly large crowd as 300 runners started the race. We both decided to start the race with trekking poles because there was around 5,000 feet of climbing within the first 10 miles or so. When they yelled go we ran a mile or so on pavement until we got to the actual trail to start our climb. As we got higher in elevation the sun was coming up and we were treated to some pretty great views of the valley below where we started. I was feeling decent on this initial climb. About 6 miles in I got bit/stung on the back of my leg by a hornet or some sort of wasp and it hurt pretty bad. Several other runners reported stings or bites in that same spot and on other parts of the course as well. I guess I fared pretty well as some people were stung multiple times! As we crested the first part of this long climb we could see some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. The serenity of the mountains and fall colors awoke me to the fact that this was going to be an epic adventure.
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| Just got done with the Floating On Section |
After completing the first 10 miles we had a bit more climbing and then a very long downhill on beautiful single track trail. Our overall pace was not to good from the amount of time it took for the first climb however this downhill allowed us to make up a lot of time. In fact, we arrived at the mile 19 aid station right on Shaun's estimated arrival time. It was the first place that we got to see our crew. Lucas and Ram took great care of us and got us everything we needed. I ditched the trekking poles for good here as they were more annoying than anything, I like to have free hands to eat gels and take sips of water etc.. We had 18 more miles before we would see our crew again. The sun was starting to do it's thing at this point and temps were rising. We power hiked the next section which was a very gradual grade climb up a smooth gravel road. Figured it would be good to not waste energy running this even though it was totally doable. I think our strategy paid off later in the race. We got to an mini aid station three miles later and they were out of water. This was ok with me as I still had a full bladder from the last aid station. Then we began another large climb out of this aid station and eventually another nice downhill to the next aid station at mile 30. By this time the heat was taking a toll and we made sure to eat and refuel for the next 7.5 mile stretch. I got some ice in my ice bandana to help keep me cool. Also, one of the aid station workers asked me if I could help her open this huge jar of giant pickles. I agreed to help as long as I could have one of those large pickles! They had been cutting them up into smaller pieces for runners but made an exception as I assisted in opening the jar.
The views and trails continued to be incredible for the entire race to this point. We had another climb out of this aid station up a jeep road where a lot of 4 wheelers kicked up a generous amount of dust for us to breath and then had a nice long gradual downhill next to a river. We were both flying pretty good through this section. Shaun said it reminded him of the Modest Mouse song "float on" as it seemed we were kind of floating along this section of trail. We got to mile 37.5 and were still pretty close to Shaun's estimated arrival time. Ram and Lucas were there and they brought us some special food..Shaun had some pizza and I got some McDonald's fries which hit the spot. We needed to stay on top of calories especially getting ready for night time and the second half of the race. I had also been feeling some hot spots or possible blisters on my right foot. Upon inspection I discovered there were a few blisters. This has not been an issue for me in my whole ultra career up until the last year or so. Since we still had a 100K to go I knew these blisters would have to be addressed immediately so they didn't become a larger problem. The only thing I could think to do was put some duct tape on the blisters to prevent anymore friction and that's what I did. Lucas helped me cut some sections of tape and I applied them directly over the blisters, not sure if that's the most sanitary thing in the world but all bets are off when your in the middle of a 100 miler. I threw my injinji sock back on over the tape and I was good as new!
We left this aid station feeling good as we had a complete reset. The next section of trail meandered through some large meadows which were really cool. Eventually we made it to mile 45 aid station where we filled up our water and went on our way. We had a long steep climb out of this aid station and at this point in the race it was a grind but then we were treated to a nice section of trail along a beautiful mountain stream. I remember seeing some people fly fishing and thought it was probably a really great way to spend a Friday evening vs running 100 miles..hahaha. By the time we got to mile 50 aid station it was getting dark. We had drop bags here with warm clothes and it was a good thing we did. In the time we sat here and ate food the temperature dropped big time as the sun disappeared for good. We were warned to make sure that we filled up with water and food because the next aid station was 12 miles away! Shaun and I left out of here and kept grinding away at the course. This was a pretty long stretch as we settled into the nighttime miles. Our crew was waiting for us at the next aid station which was mile 62 and we took care of everything we needed to including getting some additional cold weather gear. Lucas joined us at this point to pace for the next 14 mile stretch. It was nice to have someone that felt a bit fresh to help us watch for course markers and keep us going in the right direction as we were both very tired at this point. Although, the temperature had dropped quite a bit so the cold was keeping us awake. It was great catching up with Lucas and truly a pleasure to share some trail miles with him just like the old days!
These night time miles were a series of climbing through the woods and also high altitude meadows where the stars were out in full force. The sky was really quite a sight to see out there in the middle of nowhere Utah. We got to the mile 69 aid station and knew better than to sit down by the heaters. Didn't want to get to comfortable because that would make it harder to continue. We both ate some food here and refilled our hydration vests. Then we started doing math which is not the best idea on a mental level to start doing in the middle of the night during a 100 miler. We were contemplating that fact that we had about 12 hours to do a 50K and still had a lot of climbing left to do. At this point we were reduced to hiking everything, even the downhills. Shaun said that a finish was not exactly a layup and I agreed. In reality this was far from the truth as 12 hours for a 50K was plenty of time but in our wasted state we did not know any better. We left this aid station and had to cross a giant river by leaping between multiple rocks and logs to get to the other side. I think we all made it without getting our feet wet which would not of been cool with the temperature being so cold. Eventually we worked our way to mile 76 aid station where we would pick up Ram as our pacer from there until the finish. Even though the sun was coming up the temps were still cold and we had not yet made it to the area near Peter Sinks.
Peter sinks has extremely cold weather in the mornings. In fact, the coldest recorded temperature on Earth was here at -62 below zero or something like that. Anyway, the people at the aid station said it was a good idea to take our cold weather clothes with us as we would need them. We didn't have a place to drop them so we would have to carry this stuff all the way to the finish. Oh well, better safe than sorry we thought. Upon climbing out of this aid station we crossed into Idaho as there was a sign that marked the state line right off the side of the trail. It was still cold for the next hour or two but it quickly warmed up before we got to the area near Peter Sinks. Upon taking all my cold weather gear off my pack was bulging and I couldn't even get my full water bladder back in there. It was not comfortable but if we needed these warm clothes and didn't have them it might of turned out in a very negative way. We got to the aid station at mile 81 and I was not feeling like eating at all. I tried to tackle a hash brown burrito and was able to eat about 2/3 of it. By the time we reached the aid station at mile 86 the sun was out in full force. We had a decent climb out of this aid station and were treated to some more epic mountain views before getting to the last aid station at mile 93. A lady told us that we were "almost there" upon getting into this aid station. From a 30,000 foot view this is a true statement however going 7-8 more miles to finish a 100 mile effort is far from being almost there!
We refueled and set out to finish this thing up. There is a short but very steep climb out of this aid station. In fact it was the steepest climb of the race. We took it very slow and had a few rest moments which were cool because we had some of the most beautiful views of the whole race on this section. The yellow leaves on the aspen trees along with the green pines which lined the mountains were just majestic. Then we had about 6 miles to go to the finish and it was mostly downhill. This downhill was not exactly easy as there were some very steep sections that were tortuous on the already wasted quads. Views of Bear Lake came into focus and reality set in that we were going to finish this thing! With a few miles to go we knew that a sub 34 hour finish was very possible. Ram did his best to keep us moving at a fast enough pace to achieve that goal. We struggled downhill with all the usual physical and mental anguish that comes along with having 90+ miles on our legs. We finally popped out of the trails and had less than a mile to go on a flat smooth gravel road. We power hiked it the rest of the way in and ran across the finish line for a 33 hour and 45 minute finish and finished 150th place out of 300 starters. 100 runners dropped throughout the race because it was tough! Lucas was there cheering us on and it was great to be done and just take the pack off to relax and eat some post race food. We received some nice plaques and also the "black bear" buckle for a 30-36 hour finish. It was a better than expected finish for me and I couldn't be happier. All the training and hard work this year really paid off. An extra special thanks to Lucas and Ram for all their help during the race. They definitely knocked the crewing out of the park. Also, glad we were able to watch some football and drink a few beers with them Saturday night after the race and again on Sunday at the airport bar! Overall I would say this race went about as perfectly as one could ask for. Now it's time to enter the lottery for *gulp* Hardrock 100.
