30 March 2012

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So my usual running buddies all decided to be out of town, which meant a lack of ¨motivation¨ on my part to go out and get my run in. But after I finished packing for my trip to Europe this afternoon, I decided to at least stretch my legs for a couple of miles before I´d be stuck on a plane until tomorrow. It would also be my last run before Sunday´s Connemarathon 39.3 mile ultra on the West coast of Ireland.

29 March 2012

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Today, I only managed a slow 5 miles in the morning with Richard. We met at my house for an easy run around the UAH campus. Once again, the temps were already nice and warm at 6AM. With a 40 mile race on Sunday, I plan to have my last run Friday morning, but I might abandon that idea, if I´m not feeling it in the AM. More rest is better than too much training before a race, at least that´s what I´m telling myself:-)

28 March 2012

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After not having run for 3 days, the hill workout on the schedule for today sounded a bit intimidating, but that worry disappeared very quickly. James and I met up at Richard's house to run a 1 mile warm-up to the bottom of "puke hill" on the Cotton Row 10K race course. My training plan called for 12 hill repeats and while I was perfectly fine settling for 10, James "convinced" me that we should do 12 as originally planned.

24 March 2012

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One of the coolest finisher´s shirts out there.
It was that time of year again, the middle of March, when there isn't just a 10% chance of rain, but a guarantee of it. Why, you ask? Because it's the week leading up the the McKay Hollow Madness 25K Trail Run and you're not going to have this race without the proper amount of rain to guarantee the mud fest that is "the Madness". But why was it called Madness? That's easy, because it's a lung burnin', quad bustin', hamstring shreddin' and mud slingin' type of a race and this year was to be NO different. In short, it's one of the most fun times one could have while trail running on Monte Sano mountain in Huntsville, Alabama, IF you're into that sorta thing and from the registration numbers this year, a whole lotta people were into this kinda thing.

Don't get me wrong, if you're looking for a "Tough Mudder" or "Warrior Dash" or "Viking Race" type of event, this was definitely not it. I'm not trying to take anything away from those events. They're great fun and they present their own challenges, but they are also generally flat and short. Neither was true for "the Madness". This thing had participants climbing a total of 2300 feet over 25 kilometers (or about 15.5 miles for the metrically challenged folks). And as a special treat, runners got to climb 700 of those feet over the last mile from the lowest point of the race course to its highest point at the finish. In short, it was one awesome race!

To add to the uniqueness of the event, runners had to "earn" their race shirts. It's not really a finisher's shirt, you just had to make it across the finish line to receive it and it's well worth it. The actual design of the shirt warranted two pics (front image above and back image below) just because it's that cool. There was pizza and cake and soda and beer at the finish line, but overall, it's pretty low key which was probably another reason that it continued to gain popularity.There were no age group awards, which didn't mean there wasn't plenty of trash talking before the race (you know who you are and if you don't "I was talking to you Cary Long";-)

Even the back of the shirt is worthy of a pic;-)
The race started just after 7AM and while I tried to keep a faster than originally planned pace for the first mile or two, it wasn't quite fast enough to avoid getting caught in the congo line that formed once we hit single track trails (note to self: next year, sprint the first mile to avoid the congo line only to get passed by everyone later on when you're completely exhausted from the mindless push early on). My plan was to keep a PR pace early on and to see how I felt after the early miles. I was still struggling to recover from a few tough races over the last 5 weeks and if I needed to, I was going to back off as needed. As it turned out, I didn't need to back off too much.

I was able to maintain a 9:30 minute per mile pace for most of the race with the exception of the climbs and the really muddy sections peppered throughout the race course. Overall, the race went as well as I could have expected. My pace was almost 30 seconds per mile faster than 2 years ago and if I get just a little stronger on the climb another PR is definitely possible again next year.

I am smiling...I´m just too busy watching my step.

Throughout the race, I kept excellent company. I stayed just behind Jason Shattuck for most of the race and I even had a brief chat with Cary Long early on in the race before I made him eat my dust (you know i'm just kiddn', Cary. I had to get in a couple of jabs for your MM50K comments;-). For the rest of the race, I pretty much focused on the trails ahead and on my breathing. There was lots of mud....and then there was some more. I'm still wondering how Eric Charette finished second overall with barely a splatter of mud on him. He must have been in Brandon Mader's wind (read: mud) tunnel. What a performance from Eric while being seriously sick with a stomach virus.

When I finally ran out of gas during the final climb to the finish, I realized that a sub 2:30 finish was out of the question, but I continued to push anyway. During my last training run on this particular section a few weeks ago, Jason smoked me and I didn't want that to happen again. I crossed the finish line after 2 hours and 39 minutes, completely exhausted and thankful for the familiar friendly faces and helping hands at the finish. A couple of Cokes and slices of pizza later, I felt whole again.


Thanks to RD Blake Thompson for putting on another great version of "the Madness" and thanks to all of the awesome volunteers. One of these years, I'll actually be able to part-take in the after party as well;-)

This ¨little¨ trail race packs a punch (read: elevation gain), especially the final climb.

21 March 2012

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"Hill repeats" was the name of the game this morning as I arrived at Richard's house and met up with Rich and James. We hadn't done hill repeats in forever, so I decided to do 10 repeats before increasing to 12 next week and 14 the week after. The temperatures were already above 60 degrees again, indicating another hot day. This was day 3 of my new training regimen and it felt good to have some consistency back in the training schedule.

20 March 2012

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I almost didn't manage to squeeze a training run in today and that would've been disastrous...considering this was only day 2 of my new training effort. I got home from the office at 5:30PM and immediately jumped into my running clothes and my new pair of Hoka Bondi B that I'm trying to break in before the Connemarathon 40 Miler in Ireland next month.

19 March 2012

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It's official, while I did manage to oversleep by an hour, that did not deter me from heading over to Richard's house for our first official ultra training session after a 2 week recovery period that consisted of little more than maintenance runs. I arrived at Richard's house at 5:30AM and we took off right away. It appeared that Richard managed his allergies a lot better than the last two times we headed out for an early morning run. I'm sure actually taking allergy meds before heading out had a lot to do with it.

18 March 2012

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No swag here, just a good ol´ no frills road race.
This Saturday morning race didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. The Rocket Run Ten Miler is a no frills road race in Mooresville, Alabama home of the oldest continuously operating US Post Office (see picture at the bottom). The course is a flat and fast course that leads runners through Mooresville before leading them out of town and onto county roads before leading them back for the finish. While my usual racing buddies (you know who you are;-) didn't register for this one, Dan Brooks and James Duncan (fellow training partners and Dixie200 relay team mates) did.

I got up early enough to give myself some time to warm up once I got to Mooresville. There were lots of familiar faces already getting loose for the race. This year, they had record numbers show up. Over 220 runners had registered. The race started at 8AM sharp. I had lined up in the second row and quickly settled in a 6:55 min per mile pace. My goal was to keep that pace through the entire race.

My race plan worked for the first 5 miles. During mile six, I slowly started to doubt my ability to keep this pace going for another 5 miles. I started thinking about the races i had run over the last 4 weeks and that maybe I wasn't quite as recovered as I had hoped. The unseasonably warm weather started to get to me, too. I also realized that my heart rate was quickly approaching the max zone, which was way too early. I tried to hang on and was somewhat able to until mile 7.

The next mile was a complete disaster. As I continued to question my will to continue at this pace, my watch signaled the 8 mile split and it wasn't pretty. I had slowed by more than 30 seconds on this mile. I immediately tried to pin up my pace, but I only managed 5 seconds. Ugh, this was ugly. It wasn't long before a runner closed in on my and finally passed me. I had already done the math in my head, I had passed three runners and now three runners had passed me. There wasn't going to be a fourth. I finally picked up my pace and continued to push to the finish. Mile 10 was rough. When I finally crossed the finish line, I was exhausted. I missed a new PR by 30 seconds and I was close to dry heaving.

I hung around the finish line to see James and Dan finish before checking the preliminary results. I had missed my goal to beat my race number (#22) but I was close, finishing 24th overall. Since the overall masters winner came from my age group, I moved up from second to first in my age group, which meant another sweet gift card from Fleet Feet.

I had really felt like I would handily beat my previous 10 mile PR, but it wasn't to be. I am clearly still in recovery mode and until I get back to my regular training regimen, better results might have to wait. I expect to be back to my full regimen within a couple of weeks, starting next week.

Oldest continuously operating U.S. Post Office in Alabama.

16 March 2012

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Well, today was more an excuse of a run and not a real run, but I got up at 4AM and was out the door by 5AM. Richard was struggling with allergies, so we opted to cut the run short. We also opted for a slower pace, stopping here and there along the trail to check out the raging streams that had formed along the Fagan Springs trail due to the rainfalls last night. The temperatures were nice and mild and we managed to keep our feet mostly dry and just a little bit muddy. In any case, I got a slow 5.5 miles in, which is still better than nothing and a nice way to ease back into serious training, which will kick off next week.

13 March 2012

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My first run since Delano Park 12 Hour Race on Saturday. I met up with Rich at his house at 5AM and we headed up Bankhead Parkway and Tollgate Trail to the Monte Sano State Park Ranger Station for a 10 mile out & back. The temperatures were already in the mid 60s but it was slightly overcast, so we really didn't have any daylight until late in the run. We kept a very slow pace as both of us are still recovering from the activities of the last 2 weeks. I'm still going to skip the hill workout that is on schedule for tomorrow and substitute a flat UAH loop for it instead. Hills are back in next week. After all, the ranger station run itself already provides plenty of climbing with 1400 feet gain during a recovery week.

10 March 2012

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This year´s Delano swag;-)
I really had no plan for the Delano Park 12 Hour Race this year other than showing up and hanging out with friends. This would be my third ultra within 4 weeks, having just completed two of my goal races for the year (Fuego y Agua 100K and Double Top 100M). As a result, I really didn´t want to set any goals for this one. Instead, I wanted to treat it like a bonus mile run and a party. I admit, I did set a very small goal when I lined up race morning (complete an easy 50K by lunch), but other than that, I just wanted to hang out, eat good food and help my fiancee Anya accomplish her longest running distance to date. Suffice it to say, we both met our goals. While I barely met mine, she blew hers away by running 50k for the day. Until Saturday, her longest run had been a 15 miles training run a few months back in preparation for her second half marathon. Now, she actually has an ultra marathon distance under her belt. That´s another reason I like timed events. Folks can just go out there, aim high and more often than not, actually accomplish it.

Richard came by my house at 4:30AM Saturday morning to give me time to find a spot to set up my canopy at Delano Park. I had sent RD Eric an email asking about spots for tents and he had no objections. He only advised us to show up by 5AM or else we might find ourselves without a convenient parking spot behind our tent. Sure enough, when we rolled up at the park, people were already busy setting up shop and getting ready for the race. I was smart enough to let Anya sleep in just a little, so she would be well rested for the day;-)

Anya showed up shortly after Richard and I finished setting up our spot right across from the bathroom just after the starting line. As you can see in the pic below, both Anya and Richard had a hard time waking up for this one.

Race morning started off a bit on the chilly side.
I remembered that there were about 5 or 6 tents last year and maybe even less the previous year, so imagine my surprise when I took the snapshot below just minutes before race start. The Park had developed into tent city with around 15 tents and canopies lining one side of the course around the start/finish area. If I hadn´t known better, I would have thought I was at a tailgating party. Aside from folks running a few laps, some running a few more than others, the atmosphere was the same. Folks were cooking out burgers and enjoying a cold beverage of choice (beer? Gatorade? who can be sure).

Tents and canopies lined one side of the course.
The race started shortly after 6AM and I took off like I was being chased. I decided to run hard until I would fold. After all, I was running on empty after last weekend´s DT100, so this was to be a run to see how I was feeling. Sure enough, after 15 miles of decent running, I started to run out of gas...and motivation to push. Instead, I took a looong break. After a little less than an hour, I decided to pick it up again to log the 50k I promised myself before lunch. Richard had packed in his stuff earlier after getting his own recovery run in. Anya was still sticking to her plan, run 5 miles, take a break, run 5 miles, take a break, and so on. By lunchtime, I had completed my mini mission and Anya had accomplished her goal of 20 miles. We still had 6 hours left. What to do? Well, first I went to a fellow local runner´s tent (thanks Cary Long and crew!) to enjoy a freshly grilled burger (meat for me, vegetarian for Anya, yum yum!). Next, I put an idea in Anya´s head.

¨You know, even if you walked for a few hours, you could easily log 31 miles and still feel alright.¨ ¨Really?¨ she replied and that was that. After a nice long lunch break, we went for a speed walk in the park. Three or so hours later, Anya had completed her first ultra marathon distance of 50 kilometers. This was quite a rewarding experience for me. After having had two amazing ultra experiences over the last 4 weeks, I actually  was lucky enough to pace Anya to her first ultra. It had been a great 4 weeks for sure.

Her smile gracefully hid the pain her first 50k finish had to had left her with. 
During the course of the day, I met lots of runners, but I also failed to meet a few others I had planned to introduce myself to. Hopefully, I am more successful in doing so the next time around. Thanks again to Eric, Jon and their tireless crew of volunteers for putting on yet another fantastic Delano Park 12 Hour event. Every year it turns into more of a party and people continue to break course records and put on amazing performances. This year was no different with Kathy Youngren as the overall winner of the 50 mile race in under 7 hours and the Fleet Feet Huntsville relay team ¨destroying¨ the old course record with 117 completed miles. Very impressive and awe inspiring!

08 March 2012

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Wow, I was still floating on cloud 9, when Richard and I met up at my house this AM to go for our first recovery jog since the big Double Top 100 Mile Endurance Run weekend. I had a near perfect race weekend. I say near, because my right knee is slightly inflamed on the inside, but some pain and discomfort was to be expected after the amount of climbing involved in the race, and come on, it was one hundred miles!

04 March 2012

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Race swag and, of course, the buckle;-)
The Trip
What a crazy day it was. Just getting to this race was an adventure. Richard and I had decided to head to Dalton, Georgia early enough on Friday to be able to check into our hotel, figure out the time it would take us to drive from the hotel to the race start and pick up our race packets as well. Our crew/pacers (James Duncan, Mike Trice and Jay Naves) had planned to head up there early to set up an overnight camp and check out the aid station locations for the next day. As it turned out, those initial plans had to be adjusted as North Alabama was unexpectedly pounded by thunderstorms and multiple tornadoes just as we all planned to leave for Georgia. Richard and I decided to leave for Georgia after the initial tornadoes touched down in an effort to stay ahead of the storm and get to Georgia before the weather made its way there. Our crew decided to stay with their families until the worst was over. They would leave around midnight to drive straight to the race start as camping was no longer an option considering the severe weather that was now moving west.

Thankfully, no lives were lost during the tornadoes that almost nixed our trip to Georgia, but my heart goes out to all the folks who lost their personal property and will have to rebuild from scratch. Rich and I arrived in Dalton, GA around 2PM on Friday afternoon and headed straight to Chatsworth and Fort Mountain State Park to pick up our race packets and check up on a very good ultra running friend of ours, Dan Burstein, who had by now already been running for close to 34 hours. This crazy guy had registered for the race a long time ago and had to back out from the official race due to a family conflict that weekend. So instead of backing out of the race altogether like a "normal" person would, he decided to run the inaugural Double Top 100 solo and more or less self-supported (his one person crew back out in the last minute) exactly 24 hours before the start of the official race.

While I have no doubt Dan would have been able to complete this event completely and entirely on his own, I as reminded once more of why the ultra running community is just different than any other group of athletes I have ever been associated with. Another good ultra running friend of mine, Ronnie Hines, had heard that Dan had lost his only crew and so decided to be there for Dan as much as he could. And he did. Ronnie basically crewed Dan through the night and did not leave him until later that following morning to catch some sleep. Why you ask did he leave to get some sleep? Well, Ronnie was also registered to run the DT100 the next day and had now been up crewing Dan for almost 2 days, risking his own ability to attempt a finish at the DT100.

There was also Brad Goodridge who was in the same situation as Ronnie and still decided to help out Dan to finish this thing. In the end, Dan completed his challenge and Richard and I were fortunate enough to catch up with him just before he started the final 10 mile section after the Cohutta Overlook. Dan, you are indeed the man!

Prior to catching up with Dan, Richard and I drove my Jeep up to Fort Mountain State Park to meet RDs Perry and Kena to pick up our race packets. Just the drive up to the state park was intimidating, to say the least. We continued to slowly climb up the mountain for about 7 or 9 miles, barely ever even seeing a guardrail to separate us in my old 2-wheel drive Jeep from the abyss. It was flat out scary. It didn't help either to find out later that other racers who arrived the day before had to have the passenger hang their head out of the passenger door to watch for the road surface below as the fog was so thick, you couldn't see the road below your car. Guardrails would have been reassuring in that situation, I thought.

Regardless, Richard and I made it to the state park in one piece to pick up our race bibs and t-shirts. Once Vikena handed us our bags, I managed to bribe Perry to give us a glimpse at the finisher's buckles. Well, that's not entirely true. I basically threatened not to give him a ride to pick up his rental car unless he showed us the buckle;-) Thanks Perry, that glimpse gave me the motivation I needed.

The ¨Double Top 100¨ Buckle
After dropping Perry off at the rental car center, Richard and I headed back to Dalton for some carb loading at Tony's restaurant, where we ended up getting some excellent Italian food and an ice cold beer before heading to our hotel. By 8PM, Rich was sound asleep and I managed to watch TV for another 30 minutes before passing out myself.

The Race
My alarm went off at 2:30AM, allowing me time to shower as we planned to leave for the state park around 3:15AM. Before I got up, I checked James' Twitter feed and received the first bad news of the day. While our crew waited out the storm in Huntsville, Jay got sick with a high fever. So before the race ever started, our crew was already down to 2. Oh well, it just meant even better planning than before, which wouldn't be a problem. Our crew consisted of engineers and boy scouts, nothing could go wrong and it really didn't, at least not from a crewing pr pacing perspective.

Instead of meeting us at the starting line of the race, our crew James and Mike met us at the hotel. After a quick chat about the aftermath of the tornadoes at home and a review of the weather forecast for the race, we jumped into our cars and slowly headed towards the state park.

We arrived at the park around 3:50AM or so, enough time to hang out and see who else was running. I started to search out a couple of buddies and I soon found Enoch, Ronnie and Brad. I am always in a better mood when I see familiar faces at the start of an ultra race. You know it's gonna be a long day and you would have a chance to swap the latest ultra stories with everyone. While the rain had stopped in time for the race start, the temps weren't quite as mild as I had hoped. Thankfully, the drop bags had not been taken to the aid stations yet, so I started scrambling through by bags for an additional layer of clothing.

With five minutes to spare, Perry directed all of us to head into the parking lot for the start of the race and with an informal "ok, it's time to go" from Perry, we were off. We started down a road within the state park before we were directed onto the first section of single track trail, I believe it was the Cohutta trail. We would run along this trail and up a serious powerline cut section before we even made it out of the state park. Cool, the race had barely started and we were already climbing. At least we knew right away what type of race this would be...a tough one!

Runners eagerly awaiting the race start (I'm in the center;-)

The first few miles were dark and foggy and I quickly engaged Enoch and Ronnie into our usual banter while Rich was surging slightly ahead of us. However, by the end of the powerline cuts section, Rich and I had lost sight of both Ronnie and Enoch. Oh well, I knew they would catch up to us later on. After all, it would be a long day. After just under 7 miles, we reached the first aid station at Bearpen and it was still dark. I grabbed a couple of orange slices for breakfast but forgot to refill my bottle and so did Richard, duh!

Since I forgot to refill my bottle, I had the stretch the remaining contents of my bottle for another 6 miles. Luckily, it was still early in the race and I had enough time to make up for that mistake without having to pay for it. We breezed into the second aid station at the Cohutta Overlook as the sun was slowly rising on the horizon. Our crew was meeting us here for the first time to check in with us. Mike and James had switched vehicles and were using my old Jeep as the crew shuttle. Once we reached the 52 mile turnaround point, they would alternate as pacers for Rich and I for the remaining 50 miles. At least that was the plan.

Richard and I were both feeling really well. No issues, no pains, no heavy breathing. This time, I refilled my bottle, grabbed a piece of banana and continued on. I had gotten used to a basic food schedule, one gel and two SCaps every hour and one bottle of fluids between every aid station. I continued this schedule throughout the race until the final 6 miles. We continued on our journey and started to wonder if there would every be a flat section during this race. So far, it had mostly been an uphill race and we continued to climb, climb, climb.

I had created a pacing plan for myself that I shared with Richard and our crew. I planned to run the first half in 13 hours, which would be just over 15 min per mile pace. For the second half, I allowed myself 17 hours or slightly above a 20 min per mile pace. While I was much better trained this time than in my previous two 100 mile finishes, I did remember how much I struggled in the second half of both of these races. Tiredness during the late hours, blisters on both feet, those were things I remembered all too well, because they reduced me to a mere walk for almost 40 miles in both races. While I hoped to avoid that same fate this time around, I couldn't bet on it, so instead, I tried to come up with a reasonable game plan. However, if this didn't work, I would be just as happy to finish. I just wanted to try to be out there no more than 30 hours. The Georgia Jewel took me almost 34 hours to complete and I just didn't want to be out there that long, if I could help it.

Richard and I arriving at the Cohutta Overlook #2 aid station.

I guess I should have told Perry about that, because his course certainly didn't take my goal into consideration. Instead, it seemed more likely that I would be out there longer than ever before. I was still looking for a flat section, just 200 yards, 100 yards, anything, please! Oh well, I guess not. As we entered and exited the third aid station at Conasauga Three Forks, I spotted a couple of runners entering the aid station just a couple of minutes after we left. Crap, I already felt chased. Why was that? It must be my competitive nature, I guess. But I quickly reminded myself to stick to my original game plan and if those two runners would catch us, so be it. It was going to be a long day.

Eventually, the two runners did catch up to us and I was glad I had decided not to try to stay ahead of them. As it turned out, it was Ronnie and Enoch who had finally caught up to us. We all ended up running the next 20 miles or so together and it really made time fly. Our crew continued to meet us at every crew accessible aid station and we continues to move through pretty efficiently. By the way, according to the RD, there wasn't going to be any creek crossings but one, where runners' feet would get wet. Someone should 've told the creeks about that. Due to massive rainfalls the night before the race, we actually had to wade ankle and even knee deep through quite a few creeks (I stopped counting after 5). While it is actually a lot of fun to do, I quickly became concerned about my feet. So far, I had blistered in every ultra event beyond 50 miles and I was certain that the wet creek crossings wouldn't help. As it turned out, my feet actually stayed almost completely blister free with the exception of a couple of toe blisters. I swapped shoes and socks a few times, but not until the 52 mile turnaround point.

Richard and I cruising on one of the few downhills.

I continued to stay on target pace feeling great. The next aid stations came and went and time flew as the company around me made it very easy to enjoy even the toughest climbs at this point and believe me, there were many many tough climbs and not a lot else. Our crew continued to take care of us and I continued to choke down one gel and two Scaps every hour. Everything went according to plan...until mile 41. Richard started to slow down on one of the climbs complaining about an upset stomach after just having stopped at an aid station for some food. This is nothing unusual for Richard and he usually recovers after a few minutes of walking. I continued to climb with Ronnie and Enoch just behind me, but Rich started to fall behind. After the climb there was a nice downhill and I just leaned forward for some easy running. Before I knew it, Richard was out of sight and I decided to stop and check on him. I really wanted to make it to the halfway point together, but he really needed to try to recover first, so we decided to split. I was hoping he would recover and catch me later. About a mile later, I also lost touch with Ronnie and Enoch, who were slowing down a little on the climbs while I continued to try to power hike each climb while running each downhill. This race strategy paid off as well, although I was initially worried that the sheer number of climbs would really cost me significant time if I continued to walk every climb.

The weather was perfect during the day.

When I reached the turnaround, James notified me that Richard had texted him and had pretty much decided to drop from the race as soon as he made it to the turnaround. He did recover, but looking at the race clock, he just didn't feel like possibly being out there more than 30 hours. That meant Mike would join me as a pacer for the next 10-13 miles. He and James had decided to swap pacing/crewing duties every 10-13 miles until the finish, which meant each one would run about 25 miles alongside me. I was glad to have such a great crew around me as the night was as tough as I expected. The temperatures dropped quickly and I continued to add layer upon layer until I couldn't add any more. I had switched from hand bottles to a hydration pack at the turnaround to keep my hands free during the night, I figured it might be helpful to have both hands free while stumbling through the North Georgia mountains in the middle of the night, sleep deprived and tired. Thankfully, I didn't take a single fall nor did I turn my right ankle. I had decided to run without an ankle brace for the first time since tearing my peroneal tendon at the Dizzy Fifties race in November. It was a gamble that paid off. I was able to avoid the blisters on top of my foot that I had developed during a 100K just two weeks ago as a result of wearing the brace and I didn't reinjure my ankle, win win all around...phew!

After I made the turnaround, I briefly saw Enoch and Ronnie and they both seemed in great spirits. I figured they'd catch me later. As I found out later, Enoch dropped at mile 65 with severe stomach problems while Ronnie was able to continue strong, picking up Philip Sustar as a pacer at mile 65. Mike and I continued to run the pace I had been holding since the start of the race. In fact, I was close to an hour ahead of my pacing schedule at the turnaround. I decided to try to hold that pace for as long as I could. I was certain that once I hit the final 20 or so miles, I would slow down so much, that I needed any extra time I could gain now. After all, I still felt great and I still had no problems with blisters at all. However, i did have issues with chafing and as it turned out, I would have to deal with that for the rest of the race. I don't need to tell anyone how debilitating that can be. I continued to reapply Bodyglide at an alarming rate;-)

While the weather stayed dry, we did have to deal with strong and cold winds every time we would reach the top of  switchback or the peak of a mountain or just another ridge line. The only way to stay warm was to keep moving and so I did. We continued to surprise our crew by showing up early at aid stations and that really gave me a boost of confidence. I wanted to keep that streak going. However, it was now dark and I was over 60 miles into the race and I started to slow down here and there, managing the occasional burst of speed as Mike and James can attest. But I was still banking minutes against my goal pace. I wasn't really capable of doing math anymore but I knew I was still making up time. It was a great feeling. I started to realize that I was having a great race. It seemed my training was actually paying off.

Mike and James continued to encourage me and as we continued through the night, we continued to hear stories of lost runners and bonus miles. I felt bad for everyone affected by that and i was just glad that I managed to stay on course. I know how demoralizing it is to go off course, especially in a 100 miler. My pace continued to slow, but I continued to be ahead of my goal clock. I didn't know by how much, but I tried to hang on. Encouraging words from my crew did the rest.

Struggling through the night.

Most of the late night really is a blur to me other than I was really cold for most of it but I managed CFM, which was key. I do remember aid station volunteers mentioning lost runners and the fact that I was somewhere in the top ten. What? That couldn't be right. I'd only been in the top ten once before in an ultra (which happened to be two weeks earlier at the Fuego Y Agua 100k), but never before, let alone in a 100 miler. Wow, that's kinda cool, I thought. But surely, the other runners will catch me sooner or later. So i just decided to enjoy it while it lasted. I remember telling Mike or James, "dude, remember that I was top ten in this race at some point, otherwise no one is gonna believe it". At least I think I did.

As we continued to make our way from aid station to aid station, I slowly moved up in the rankings, not down. Runners dropped or got lost, but I also caught a couple. Wow, every time I moved up a slot I started to feel stronger. Weird. I was now in the top six and we only had 10 killer miles to go. By now it was James turn to finish the race with me and we continued on our way. I was told that the next runner was only a couple of minutes ahead of me, but I remembered her passing me earlier around mile 75 or 80 with an ease that made me wonder. How is that possible? How can she be running this strong this late in this race? I just admired her and told Mike. Yeah, there is no way I'm gonna try to keep up with her, she is flying down this course.

What happened next can only be described as surreal. We had exited the Cohutta Overlook aid station a while back and I was just focused on moving one foot in front of the other as were were moving through an area with lots of creek crossings and I was already dreading wet feet. It was still dark when I noticed what seemed like big headlamps, no headlights behind us. What the heck was that, James? I was freaking out. I was too tired to think straight and thoughts of the movie Deliverance did cross my mind. James confirmed that it was a couple of 4-wheelers. What? 4-wheelers, at 6AM on Sunday morning? This didn't make any sense. Within two minutes, they caught up to us. I told James to step aside with me to let them pass, but they stopped and started shouting at us. Huh? What's the idea here? "Tell me your race number" one of them shouted. I responded and asked them why they needed to know. "This race is over!" he replied. Before my brain could even process a reasonable response I shouted back "Oh no, it's not!" It went back and fourth a couple of times before I told him that I was continuing my run and that I was headed to the state park and no one was going to stop me.

James hung back a little and I started to "sprint". There was NO way anyone was going to stop me from finishing this thing. I was 24.5 hours and 94 miles into this thing and I was going to get that buckle. Five minutes later, they stopped us again. I was thinking to myself "What the h@!!, I'm in a race here, quit stopping me!" I continued to walk while they proceeded to explain to James that they were involved in some type of search and rescue situation. Either way, I was not in the mood for any more discussions and I continued on. As James can confirm, I had quite a few choice words describing this particular situation and I want to apologize right here and now for the thoughts that went through my head at that time. S&R is a serious situation, but all I could think of was the finish line.

I continued to press and right after this strange encounter, we caught up to the runner who had passed me so easily around mile 75. She was with her pacer and we briefly discussed the whole encounter with the local rescue team. One thing was clear, she wasn't going to stop either. Just as we approached the final aid station, I made a push to pass her and after checking in at the aid station, I continued on without stopping. I wanted to hold on to the top 5 spot I believed I just gained. Until this point, I just wanted to finish in under 30 hours, maybe 29? However, when I realized a top five finish was in the cards, I really started to push. So much so that I briefly lost my pacer during the climb to the finish. After a brief confusion about what trail to take to the finish, I caught up to another runner.

However, this guy was not going to go down without a fight. Instead, he smoked me during the uphill. There was no way I was going to catch this guys, so I kept it steady, trying not to blow up 2 miles from the finish. With about a mile to go, I caught up to him again. After a brief chat about what direction to take, I told him that we should just finish this race together as I was not going to challenge him for what I thought was third male overall. I was quite happy to finish fifth. I crossed the finish line after 27 hours and 51 minutes, way below my sub 30 hour goal. I was ecstatic. This was my best finish yet and when I received the official results two days later, I realized that I had actually finished 4th overall and 3rd male overall. I couldn't have been happier. To do this well on a course of 102 miles with >22,000 feet elevation gain according to Garmin (and even more gain according to other tools) was very rewarding and encouraging to me. My training paid off and I can't wait to do it again. Due to different circumstances, only 13 runners out of 33 starters finished the race. The official results can be found here.

After a quick shower and an unreasonably large breakfast at the local IHOP, Richard, James, Mike and I returned to Huntsville. I want to take this opportunity to thank Perry, Kena, James, Mike and Richard and all of the volunteers who so graciously agreed to spend their free time out there supporting us runners and allowing us to enjoy this amazing adventure.

This is one scary course profile.

01 March 2012

/

Final "training run" before the big race, if you can call it a training run. Rich and I met at my house for a short and easy 2 miler run to UAH and back to shake the cobwebs lose. It also helped us talk through some of our pre-race anxieties. The weather was very mild, unlike the weather we will be dealing with this weekend. It's going to be interesting after having run in 90 degrees heat less than two weeks ago to now run in temps just above freezing in the Northern Georgia mountains. Double Top 100, ready or not, here I come.

US STATES WITH 100 MILE RACES COMPLETED (15)

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COUNTRIES WITH ULTRAMARATHONS COMPLETED (13)

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RACE CALENDAR

  • Mount Mitchell Heartbreaker 50M (Old Fort, NC) - March 23, 2024
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  • Cocodona 250M (Black Canyon City, AZ) - May 6-11, 2024
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