About 37 miles into the race I shuffled down a gentle grade to a saddle and switched gears to start up the far side. I was moving slowly but still moving when things took a sudden drastic turn for the worse. My stomach warned of immediate emergency evacuation. I took a few deep breaths and planted my poles on the side of the trail and prepared for projectile vomiting. I think voiding would have felt good but I needed to absorb the liquid, not water the plants so I fought the urges. A few deep breaths later I thought it was safe to move a bit, but then an urgency at the other end made itself known. Fortunately this wasn't an area with a narrow trail on a steep brushy slope. I moved off trail to prepare for the full Godzilla syndrome projectile voiding out of both ends...
Last February I agreed to do an ultra marathon trail run with my friends Sam and Raquel. The date was Aug 1, and that seemed far enough away that we could train and do it. We started running while we were together in Salt Lake City for the OR show. Very slowly and over a short distance. Raquel is more organized about these things than the rest of us and she looked up various training programs and sent me a training schedule. Needless to say it wasn't long before I wasn't following the schedule properly, although I did run fairly regularly, gradually increasing my distance and going marginally faster over the months. Then I compared what I was doing to the schedule and realized I was at about 50%. Well, that schedule was for doing well in the race, and my goal was to finish.
I have always had a fascination with trail running - it seems like a pure way to get out and see a lot of gorgeous terrain. The problem is that I am not really much of a runner. Back in College when training for wrestling I was told that if I was a running animal they would put me down. It isn't that I can't run, just that I am slow and I don't much enjoy it. Compared to the average American of my age I am in fantastic shape and can run quite well but compared to anyone that actually does run, my efforts are pretty pathetic.
As spring turned to summer I started running in the hills and then mountains around my home in Bishop, California. Most of these were steeper than it really makes sense to run, but I tried to run anyway for training purposes even if I'd walk any uphills near that steep in the race. I also started upping the distances and did mental calculations - for example after a rather painful 20 miles would I really want to do that again twice more and a little faster... yikes. I often took my dslr camera with me on these runs with a Cotton Carrier chest holster to carry it. This was ok, but not really ideal for running. On one run as I was fumbling with putting it back I tripped and took a weird fall spraining my wrist as I did midair contortions to save the camera. I am not sure it was worth it as healing was slow followed by a re-injury when I slipped descending a wet granite slab. At least a wrist injury doesn't really stop you from running right?
By now I was doing a pretty big day in the mountains almost every week. Sometimes it made me feel like 100K was a doable goal and sometimes not so much. I could always tell myself that with aid stations and no camera I would go faster and that the trail would be better than the sometimes off-trail talus and rubble strewn mule trails that I was on. That is what I told myself anyway. At least I did manage some trips through spectacular Sierra terrain including the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.
My last big training run started in Pine Creek with a long steep climb. I took Leki trekking poles which really helped me keep up the pace when powerhiking uphill. Then I had a long bit of mostly downhill running through Hutchinson Meadow to the PCT and then down that a bit before turning around. When I got to the steeper uphill on the return my knee informed me that I would not be doing any more running. That was ok for the steeper uphills because I would be walking them anyway, but for the level sections I wanted to be able to run. Instead I power walked for about 15 miles before I was able to do a pole-assisted old man shuffle down the last steep trail back into Pine Creek. 44.8 miles in 15:48 worked out to under 22 hours for 100k - maybe I could do this after all even if I had some trouble.
From there I began to "taper" running less distance and less mileage to let my body recover before the race (and because I was busy doing other things). The week before the race I did participate in a so called "slack-pocalypse" where the goal was to see how far one could walk on a slackline in an 8 hour period. My goal there was pretty modest and I exceeded it with a total of 2.78 miles on the line (lots of laps and lots of resting). Others did less resting including Jason who notched a very impressive 10K on the line (6.2 miles). While not running, this was still an endurance event and it really worked all sorts of little stabilizing muscles in my hips, ankles, and sides. I told myself this would help prevent injuries. Overall I ended up doing about 600 miles of training plus some biking and hiking/scrambling.
I left for Utah two days before the race with a stop on the way to try to get extra sleep. I went to bed early but didn't actually go to sleep a lot earlier. In Utah I spent some time putting together drop bags that would be taken to various aid stations along the course. They contained enough food so that I would survive if the stuff at the stations was gone or unpalatable to me. I also packed some changes of clothes, sunscreen, salve, vitamin I (ibuprofen), a headlamp for the evening, etc. The other benefit of having a drop bag at a station is I could leave stuff there that I was finished with (like my headlamp in the morning). Then it was time to head to the pre-race dinner and meeting.
The dinner was pretty standard spaghetti, rolls, salad, pie, and ice cream. I ate a lot even though the race would start in about 7 hours for me. Then John Bozung, the race director, told us about the course, and greeted some of the runners who had been to many previous races. They also had a raffle and I won a flashlight. Since I already had my headlights planned for the race I loaned it to Rachel (a friend of Sam's) for the start.
I got to the start/finish location around 9 and tried to go to sleep. Despite being horizontal in the back of my truck for about 3 hours I don't think I got a lot of sleep.
12:30 came way too soon. I got up, dressed, and started drinking a "full throttle" energy drink that had been kicking around for a long time (I think since the 2008 TMF expedition in Montana). It didn't go down easily, but I figured it would help jump start me. Then I carried my drop bags over to the start and put them in the correct piles. There I saw Rachel who along with Mike are friends of Sam and Raquel who were also convinced to run the race. Mike actually does ultra-running and was going to do the regular 3 am start while the rest of us were planning on the 1 am early start. She said S and R had opted out for a number of reasons including lack of sleep, injury, lack of training, etc. Bummed I went back to my truck for the last of the full throttle and some more food and to get the last of my stuff and lock up. When I returned a few minutes before the start Sam and Raquel were there almost ready to go.
This was not the easiest of 100k races to do. There is a lot of up and down (probably around 16,000 ft of it but maybe 17,400ft) and at least some of the course would be hot, rocky and/or dusty, and overgrown. The course web page says "A VERY, VERY challenging, difficult and scenic loop course through the Wasatch Mountains above Provo, Utah." Sure, a less challenging 100K would be an easier entry into ultra racing, but it wouldn't be the YogaSlacker way. At least I was pretty used to running at altitude.
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At 1:00 am about 20 of us started off. I think we were in the middle to middle front of the pack jogging off at a 5 mph or so pace. Soon we turned onto a dirt road and started uphill. We alternated walking and jogging depending on how steep things were. The conditions were pleasantly cool with a full moon lighting things up.
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I will try not to bore everyone with a step by step description of the race course but probably will anyway. We went uphill to AS#1 where we ate some food, drank some drinks, and moved on to AS#2. Then on to AS#3 which actually had a good bit of runnable downhill. We covered the 16 miles to AS#3 in about 4 hours. There we were dismayed to learn our drop bags had not yet arrived. This was a problem since my hat was there and once the sun came up I knew I'd need it. Oh well, maybe I could rig something or use a heap of sunscreen and my sunglasses, but I knew I would really miss a hat. From AS#3 we left the road and started up a long steep climb on a loose rocky trail. This is where having poles really helped and we made good progress up and up as the sky grew lighter and the vistas opened up. Just before Lightning Ridge I started to go faster than Sam and Raquel (Rachel started out slower than we did). The view here was my favorite of the course - we were on a slope covered with wildflowers while early morning golden light lit up the peaks ahead of us and spread out across the valley to the west and a full moon was low to the southwest. Sorry folks, I opted to travel light and didn't take my camera. I stopped to re-adjust my shoes and socks before the descent where the first of the regular start runners passed me. That is the last I saw of Sam and Raquel as I was able to descend much faster than they were (Raquel was having knee trouble and Sam was still nursing an ankle injury). As I descended more and more of the speedy regular start runners passed me. This was a long steep somewhat loose descent. 3500 feet lower I had to shade my eyes to look across a construction area to see the flagging marking the trail out the other side. Almost immediately I arrived at AS#4. There I was greeted by John who told me he brought my bag from AS#3. Whew, I would have my hat after all.
AS#5 was a hike to get to (for the support personel as well as the runners) and the spring nearby was barely flowing, so we were all told to load up with water here. For me that meant the 3 liter bladder plus a small bottle (with red bull and ginger ale). I switched into a t-shirt (from the long sleeve shirt I was planning to run in but seemed to be too warm), sunscreened up, ate, drank, and headed on down the trail. It was only down for a little bit though, and then up, up, up nearly 3500 feet to AS#5 at Windy Pass at mile 29.something. Mostly this was ok, but the parts in the sun were getting pretty hot. Still, I am able to hike uphill with the poles at a respectable pace (compared to my running pace especially). The watermelon there hit the spot, and then I headed on for the 9 miles to AS#6.
The trail started out up but soon leveled off and began descending. I no longer felt fresh or well but I was only 1/2 way done (although more than half of the elevation gain was behind me). It was hot, the brush on the side of the trail was encroaching and impeding my treking pole action, and I just didn't feel good. I also wasn't moving very fast - but I was still moving, maybe 3 mph. A bunch of people passed me, but then it seemed like everyone must have passed me and I was in last place (obviously not so, but that is how it felt). This is where I my real woes described above began. After moving off trail I took care of some unstoppable exercise induced urgency and my urge to vomit decreased. I could walk along at a moderate pace but my nausea returned if I tried to push things, especially moving uphill. Luckily it was mostly downhill to AS #6. I was making mental calculations - if I can just keep moving at 2.3 mph I will finish before the cutoff. When I got to the aid station I was glad to see a cooler full of ice. I filled up my little bottle with ice and powerade and sipped it in the shade. I think I did this twice and then I did the short out and back (to bring the race up to an even 100K) with only the icy water bottle. I also took a few ibuprofen. Andrew came into the AS at this point. I expected him to pass me before the next AS. Then I unloaded my pack of things I shouldn't have still been carrying (like my headlamp), changed my oversocks, ate and drank some more, dumped out some warm water and added ice to my water bag, and headed on down the trail (which was a dirt road at this point). I had spent a lot of time here, but I think it was well worth it to get back to a more functional state.
Most of the way to AS#7 was a fairly gentle uphill. I imagine the leaders ran this, but I was walking. At least I went from slow walking to moving fairly quickly up the hill with a little bit of shuffle jogging when it leveled off or went downhill. I didn't spend long at this AS and continued on uphill for a while before passing the high point for this segment and starting a gradual but obvious descent. I went from a pretty pathetic downhill shuffle to actually sort of jogging during this segment. It also cooled off a lot as the sun was now sinking lower in the sky. At AS#8 I enjoyed some slushy ginger ale and coke and refilled my pocket with cookies and peanut butter pretzels (something I did at most of the AS). There we heard some radio chatter about someone choosing to drop out because they were "tired". "I'm tired" we all chimed in. The next section was a singletrack down through the Dry Creek canyon. I think it was the high point for me as I actually started to feel pretty good and was able to run much of the descending roller coaster trail and even passed at least one runner. Unfortunately this feeling didn't last and as I neared the last AS I was beginning to flag a bit. There I ate more grapes and fruit and started off just after a group that were also at AS#7 with me. I managed to catch up with them and used them as a pace group for the final 6 paved miles. At this point I knew I would finish in time even if I had to walk and despite the relatively painful pavement pounding I was able to keep up with the group (they had all started at the regular start so were really 2 hours ahead of me). It was surprising how many people were out shooting guns along this road. There were also many campgrounds that were not the end. Just as it was starting to get dark enough that I was considering stopping to get out my headlight (not so I could see, but so that cars could see me), we saw the flashing lights and cones directing us off the road, across the grass, and to the finish line.
The time on my watch was 20:02:54, the official race time was 20:03:11. A long time to be moving, but 100K or 62.1371 miles is a long way to travel on your feet - by far the farthest I have ever gone in a day by foot. I could have gone more, but I was really glad to be done. I just sat there sipping water with Rachel for a bit 'til Andrew came in a few minutes behind me, then I forced myself to move for some warmer clothes and to eat. Rachel and Sam and Raquel had all dropped out at AS#6. Sam and Raquel were planning on meeting me at the finish, but their sleep deprivation caught up with them and they were sleeping. The burger, corn, and pie and more hydration were a welcome thing for my body. Later that night I just crawled into the back of my truck and went to sleep.
It was nice to succeed in my goal of finishing this race in under the 23 hour cutoff. I figured my time would be somewhere between 18 and 22 hours, and I came in just about the middle of that. This put me in 46th place out of 52 finishers (and close to 80 starters?). In contrast the winner came in at 12:36:30. I figured there would be some low points in the race, and my low point was pretty low. What I didn't expect was how much better I would feel by mile 50 or so. In hindsight there are a few things I would do differently and a few things that I think worked out well. For starters I'd have packed my hat in with me from the start - I did this with my prescription sunglasses as I figured I'd really want them at some point and had John not come through and brought my hat to AS#4 I think I'd have been hurting pretty bad. I also should have drunk a lot more between AS#4 and AS#6. The warning of limited water set me into conservation mode and even though I had plenty I didn't drink as much as I should have (I drank a fair bit, but I also ended up bringing at least a liter and probably closer to 2 liters into AS#6). I think this reduced drinking contributed to my crash.
Things that worked - the ToeSox compression sox - I wore these the whole time with 2 different pairs of low-cut sox over them for added cushioning. The Inov-8 roclite 295 running shoes - these worked well, although it felt like the aggressive tread was poking into my foot on the pavement at the end and the mesh allowed a lot of dust to sift through into my feet and toes. I only got one little blister between 2 toes and it didn't seem to effect my running. The Leki carbon trekking poles helped me use a lot of arm strength on the uphills. Without them I think I would have gone uphill a lot slower, probably taken a few good falls on the downhills, and been really weaving and maybe even fall down a few times when I hit my low point. I wore a hydration pack I made out of an old school backpack. This was about the right size for my gear, but I should have done a better job of removing things I didn't need at the AS and it didn't have the best suspension - fine for my slow pace, but if I was really running I think it would have been more of a problem. As for food, the stuff they had at the AS was fine for me, although I probably carried a little more water than I should have (or I should have consumed more of it). I also had one small water bottle that I used for non-water. It was nice to have something different to sip on from time to time.
The next morning it took a bit of effort to stand up, but after a few feet I was able to walk fairly normally. I had some rather painful "quality" time with the RAD roller system working my legs and hips and washed and wore my compression ToeSox for a few days. It took a few more days before I felt up for anything that required much effort, but I wasn't crippled.
You can see some more info and some pictures at the Kat'cina Mosa race home page