Bighorn Mountain Wild & Scenic 100 Mile Trail Run – 6/14/2013

I opted to run Bighorn after losing out on both the Hardrock and Wasatch lotteries.  Fortunately Bighorn hasn't needed to institute a lottery system yet so it was just a matter of registering early enough to secure a spot after learning of my lottery disappointments.  The only real reservation I had about running Bighorn was trying to cram in enough training through the winter to be ready for a mid-June 100.  I pretty much sacrificed another ski season to get in consistent weekly mileage and made sure to get in at least one long run a week from Dec on.  Amazingly, I got through the entire winter and spring putting in consistent 65-85 mile weeks, never got so much as a sniffle, and ran every day from late Jan through to race day.  On top of the consistent weekly training I managed to squeeze in a 48 mile adventure run across Zion National Park in May with my regular training partner, Jake.  Beyond that I opted not to race any early season races and put all my eggs in the Bighorn basket for a few reasons:  First, I wanted to avoid the up and down periods of taper and recovery which disrupt the consistent training I feel I need to be successful at the 100 mile distance.  Second, I am incapable of lining up at the start of a race and not giving 100% effort.  Third, because of that effort, the demands of ultra-distance racing are such that I can only handle one or two efforts a year and adequately recover.  Fourth, distances of less than 100 miles don’t hold much mystery or allure anymore.

 My taper was uneventful but slightly different from the past few races as my coach, Howard Nippert, changed up the schedule to a 4 day rotation with some solid longer interval sessions than we have historically done.  Usually we work on shorter turnover intervals like 200’s-800’s but he gave me a bunch of longer 1 to 2 mile repeat workouts.  My body seemed to respond really well to these and I was seeing consistent improvement in my paces all the way through to race day.  I headed out for Sheridan, WY on the Wed of race week with Timmy Parr from Gunnison and we took a leisurely couple of days to get up to the Thursday packet pickup.  After leaving our drop bags we drove out to the start and ran the first few miles of the course to shake out the legs.  With an 11 am start time it was easy to get a full night’s sleep and it was more of an issue of filling the hours before the start.  I actually managed to get a bunch of work done before we had to drive out to the start for the pre-race briefing and 3.5 mile carpool to the actual start line.  We caught a ride to the start with my friend Adam Schwartz-Lowe and his friends from Minneapolis.  Little did I know that the hour Adam and I spent killing time before the start was just the pre-cursor to the next 20+ hrs we would share together.

The race start was uneventful with Adam and I jogging together on the road just behind a large lead pack of about 20 runners.  We quickly came to the trailhead and began the long ascent of the Tongue River Canyon.  While the early climb was mostly runnable, we mixed in a good bit of hiking and passed the first few miles to the first aid station with easy conversation.  I had to stop briefly to reload some Perpetuem in one of my bottles and quickly got passed by 3 runners or so.  The climb out of the first aid was about 3 miles long, pretty steep, and packed with about 4 or 5 false summits.  I caught up to Adam about 1/3 of the way up and we hung together until we topped out on Horse Creek Ridge.  After a short and sweet descent to Sheep Creek we climbed briefly to the mile 8 aid station.  We left the aid with one other runner and the 3 of us set an easy pace on the rolling uphill to the road crossing at Camp Creek Ridge.  Somewhere in that stretch we caught the lead woman and the 4 of us cruised the last bit of downhill into the Dry Fork aid station at mile 13.5.

Dry Fork was only one of 3 aid stations with drop bag access so I needed to spend a couple of minutes reloading my pack with gels and Perpetuem for the next 16.5 miles.  It took me a little longer to transition than I would have liked and I left the aid about a minute or so behind the group I came in with.  From Dry Fork the course generally went downhill in a rolling fashion for the next 6 miles.  They were mostly uneventful miles and I caught back up with Adam at some point in that stretch.  We came into and left the next aid station together.  We shuffled back and forth with a few other runners on the long rolling 7 mile stretch to the next aid station.  This was some of the best running on the whole course with generally smooth singletrack, expansive views, amazing wildflowers, and a great mix of terrain.  I’ll come back to Bighorn for this stretch of running alone.  We pulled into the 26.5 mile aid at Bear Camp, did a quick bottle top off, and dropped steeply into the Little Bighorn Canyon.  I took it pretty easy on my quads through this stretch and pulled into the 30 mile aid at Footbridge with my legs feeling exactly as planned, like I had made little to no effort thus far.  I figured with a long 18 mile climb ahead of us that I would probably reach the mile 48 turnaround with my legs feeling relatively intact for a good thrashing on the inbound.  I spent a couple of minutes reloading my pack for the long stretch to my next drop bag, paused briefly to get my weight checked, and headed out of the aid in lockstep with Adam.

The 3.5 mile stretch out of Footbridge to the Cathedral Rock aid station is the most technical of the entire race and climbs pretty steeply in spots.  I began to feel pretty woozy in here and had a few dizzy spells that kept my pace and effort in check.  I tried to push fluids and sugar as much as possible through here and I am not sure what the issue was as it wasn't too hot that late in the afternoon.  It didn't take too long to get to the next aid and I downed a couple of cups of Pepsi in the hopes of perking up a little.  It didn't make too much of difference over the next 6.5 miles to the Spring Marsh aid station but I increased the frequency of my gel intake to 1 every ½ hr instead of every 40 minutes and I think that helped eventually.  The stretch to Spring Marsh was a tough mix of technical rolling trail and I was stumbling a bit through here.  Adam and I continued to match pace and came into the aid together.  I took a minute or two longer than Adam getting my bottles refilled and eating some soup but caught up to him somewhere along the climb to the Elk Camp aid.  I made too much of an effort at keeping my feet dry during this stretch since once Adam and I got out of Elk Camp it was pretty much a mud and standing water fest to the turnaround at Jaws.  Despite the horrendous footing and shoe/soul sucking mud we made pretty quick work of the 4+ miles to the Jaws trailhead turnaround.  We ran into the leaders a few miles from the turn and it was cool to see that the gap wasn't huge meaning we were running a really solid race.  We came to the Devil’s Canyon Rd crossing (and course high point) sooner than I expected and it was another easy but wet mile to the aid.  We pulled in to Jaws just a little over 10hrs elapsed and got ourselves ready for the next 8 hrs of night running ahead.

After restocking my pack, organizing lights, downing a cup of soup and a coke, and throwing on a light jacket I headed out of the aid.  Adam was quickly on my tail and we began the long descent back to Footbridge in the twilight.  The next few hours back to Footbridge were mostly uneventful.  We each had to stop to deal with various foot issues and nature breaks but we always managed to end up running together and pulled in to Footbridge in lockstep.  We both stopped to deal with our feet and change socks.  It was pretty chilly down at the aid and we had our longest stop of the race there.  I was getting pretty cold by the time we were ready to head out but I figured a light jacket and brisk uphill hike for the next hour was sure to bring back the warmth.  

We left Footbridge together but the cold had sapped some of my energy and I found myself falling behind Adam a bit on the early part of the climb.  We came to a more runnable section and I tripped and fell pretty hard.  Adam stopped to check on me but I told him to go on and run his own race and that I would be fine.  It took me a minute or so to get myself back together and start moving.  I continued to eat pretty consistently through this stretch and my energy began to return as the climb got steeper.  My light began to fade and I reached into my pack for the spare I was carrying only to find that I wasn't able to turn it on.  It was in some weird lock mode and I didn't realize until the awards breakfast the next day that I had to keep the on button depressed for several seconds to unlock it.  I figured there was still a few hours of darkness left but if it came down to it I could switch my semi-working light to the reading LEDs to survive.  Fortunately, I soon caught back up to Adam and was able to use the light from his setup to provide additional illumination for me.  We knocked off the 3 mile climb from Footbridge back to Bear Camp in about an hour and moved quickly through the aid onto the rolling 7 mile stretch to Cow Camp.

We made pretty good time and did a lot of running over the next stretch.  Despite how well we were moving there wasn't a whole lot of carnage in front of us to pick up (although we did run down a couple of folks) and we even got passed by Tom Remkes, who was absolutely flying through here.  We came into Cow Camp as it was getting light and readied ourselves for the 6 mile grunt back up to the Dry Fork aid station and a chance to dump all our nighttime gear at our drop bags.

After rolling along through a lot of runnable terrain we finally came to the last steep climb up to the aid station.  At one point we looked back and were surprised to see a couple of runners not too far behind.  I was amazed because we had been moving so steadily and were on such a fast pace for the course but it turns out the front of the field was amazingly deep and strong this year.  We got into the tent at Dry Fork in the bitter cold of dawn, swapped out our lights, etc… and readied ourselves for a strong 17+ mile push to the finish.  We were still moving well as we climbed out of the aid and topped out on Camp Creek Ridge with the sun finally peeking over the mountains and bringing much needed warmth.  We pretty much hammered the next 4 miles or so back to Sheep Creek Aid clicking off sub 10 min miles and reeling in a few runners along the way. 

After a quick bottle fill at Sheep Creek we headed up the last climb to Horse Creek Ridge.  I still had really strong climbing legs and quickly passed Tom Remkes on the short grunt to the ridge.  By this point Adam and I had decided to finish together barring a major implosion by either of us so we hung together on the long steep downhill back to the lower Sheep Creek Aid station.  We could both smell the barn and with less than 10 miles left we didn’t need to preserve our quads for much of anything so we made good time heading down to the aid.  Amazingly, we were still in a group of 4 or 5 other runners and got passed by a couple of them on the run in.  I think we passed one or two others on our way out from the lower aid station on the awesome singletrack section along the Tongue River.  After a very long 2 miles from lower Sheep Creek we finally came to the trailhead and the last 5 mile stretch of the Tongue River Canyon Rd.

As we rolled along the road out of the aid station Adam’s friend Denny met us on his bike and accompanied us for the long dusty run in to the finish.  The road really kicked my ass at the end and I didn't have a whole lot of legs left after the hammering descent from Horse Creek Ridge but Adam and I matched stride for stride toward the finish.  Eventually we came to the pavement marking the outskirts of Dayton, crossed the bridge over the river, crossed the highway, ran past the Elk statue, turned into Scott Park, and ran the final few yards to the finish.  We crossed together at 22:23:50 elapsed in a tie for 9^th overall.  Not only was the race a monster 100 mile PR for me but it was also the first time I've ever broken 24hrs in a 100 miler.  I am glad I got to share such a strong finish (and every other step of the race) with Adam.  I look forward to returning to such a well run and fun event, just hopefully not during a "mud" year.

Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run - 9/7/2012

Wasatch was to be my final race in a very long 2012 season that started back in January at The HURT 100.  I had an incredibly consistent Spring and Summer of training, having run every single day leading up to Wasatch since my last week off in mid-January.  I pulled in to Salt Lake early Thursday afternoon for the pre-race packet pick-up and briefing.  I had planned on running solo but got hooked up with former Wasatch winner and 15 time finisher, Tim Spence, who offered to pace me from somewhere near Brighton to the finish.  After the meeting I checked in to my downtown hotel, grabbed a quick dinner, and got to bed early for the o'dark thirty wake up call and 4:00 am bus ride to the start.  On the 30 minute bus ride to the start I sat with fellow Colorado runner Jason Koop and the easy conversation kept the pre-race nerves to a dull roar.  When we got to the start line I lined up near the front and without much ceremony we were sent off into the darkness on a trail that contoured to the North on a bench a few hundred feet above the lights of Kaysville.

The pace was pretty fast at the start and I soon found myself running behind Koop in a small pack about 50 yards behind a large lead group of 20 or so.  I was trying to conserve as much energy on the first 4 undulating miles but wasn't too concerned about pace at this point because I knew the 4 mile climb up Chinscraper would keep me from going out too fast.  We hit the turn to begin climbing and I was surprised at how runnable the trail was considering what I had heard.  In training I definitely would have run every step of the climb but with 96 miles to go I dialed it back and just power hiked behind Koop and one other guy.  Eventually, when the trail got steeper I found our pace too slow and punched ahead of our group.  I had really good climbing legs and made pretty easy work of the early climbing miles.  I popped out of the trees just below the Chinscraper summit and was again surprised by how short and easy the supposedly steep last couple hundred of feet of climbing were.  From the top of Chinscraper we had an amazing 4-5 mile stretch of ridgeline trail running with the sun just coming up to the East and expansive views of the Great Salt Lake and the city off to the West.  I ran most of this stretch with Koop and we easily cruised the long downhill dirt road section into the Francis Peak aid station (mile 18.76) after a little more than three and a half hours.

I did a quick pit stop to reload on gels and Perpetuem for the next 20 mile stretch to my drop bags and left the aid at an easy jog.  The next 5 miles were a mix of dirt roads and faint game trails and except for one short, steep, downhill it was generally uphill to the next aid at Bountiful.  This section passed mostly uneventfully but it began to warm up quite a bit and I went through both bottles.  At the Bountiful aid I took on a lot of water and left the aid station at a walk to let my stomach settle.  This marked the beginning of a battle I would fight for much of the next 25 miles with my stomach.

I had to back off my pace during the 4 miles or so to the Sessions Lift Off aid station to keep my stomach in check.  When I came in to the aid I filled my bandana and bottles with ice and headed out with another Colorado runner, Eric Truhe.  We were chatting as we hiked out of the aid station through one of the many beautiful trail sections but I eventually let him pull ahead to keep my stomach in check.  I was right on the edge of losing my stomach through much of this section but tried to stay on top of my nutrition as best I could.  I began to get passed by a handful of runners coming in to the Swallow Rocks aid at the 50k mark but I couldn't be bothered to care.  My energy was tanking and I was getting sleepy and dangerously close to having my entire day unravel. 

At Swallow Rocks I ate a couple of popsicles, refilled my bandana and bottles with ice, and left at a really easy effort.  Through much of the next 7 miles to Big Mtn Pass I struggled with low energy and stomach issues but managed to just keep it together.  I took it easy on the switchback descent to Big Mtn and pulled in to the aid at a relaxed trot.  After a quick weight check, I refilled on ice, Perpetuem, and gels and did a quick relube of my feet and sock change.  Cindy and Tim Spence also met me at Big Mtn with an ice cold Mexican Coke (sweetened with sugar instead of HFCS) and Tim walked a ways out of the aid giving me the lowdown on the next 13 miles. 

The Coke helped my stomach settle and gave me a nice shot of energy which carried me through the early rolling climbs to Alexander Ridge.  I ran a good portion of this section with a local runner and multiple Wasatch finisher (Rodger Smith I think).  He gave me great beta on the run into Alexander Ridge and Lambs Canyon.  It was getting very hot and exposed through here but at least I was expecting it thanks to Tim and Rodger's info.  The course went through a series of steep, rocky, up and downs before eventually dropping in to the Alexander Ridge aid.  I did a quick bottle and ice refill here and headed out on the tough grind up to the halfway point.  I pretty much survived the climb and ran a relaxed descent into Lamb's.  The run in to Lamb's is a little mentally tough because the aid is visible for quite a while and the course runs back and forth past the aid station a couple of times.

When I got to the aid, I did a quick refill of Pepetuem and gels from my drop bag, refilled on ice, and was again met by Cindy and Tim with an ice cold Coke, and a cup of chicken noodle soup.  Tim and I walked up the road from the aid station together and he gave me a detailed breakdown of the next section.  He also explained where he would hike in to the course and meet me to begin pacing duties a few miles out of Upper Big Water at the Blunder Fork trail junction.  Since I had no idea where he was talking about I just nodded and said OK.

I began to feel much better on the climb out of Lamb's since it was in the shade and, once off the road, on a smooth singletrack bordered by a creek.  I was climbing well and soon found myself at the top of the ascent.  I wish I could say I flew down the backside of the climb but I was descending a little slower than I would have liked.  I eventually hit the road up to Millcreek and was feeling pretty good for the first time since the early am.  I ran/walked most of the lower angled sections of the climb and had a good powerhiking gear for the steeper parts.  I pulled in to the aid with a fair bit of time before it got dark and took a few extra minutes to take care of my feet, cleaning them, relubing them, changing socks and insoles, etc...  I reloaded gels and Perpetuem from my drop bag, grabbed my lights, and headed out to meet Tim somewhere in the next few miles.

I didn't realize that the course climbed for the next three miles but I was still moving well on the ups and was soon descending past Dog Lake just as darkness was beginning to settle in.  Not half a mile from the lake I came to the junction at Blunder Fork and there was Tim ready to pick me up for the last 2 miles to Desolation Lake.  We settled in to a nice run/walk rhythm and soon saw the light from the bonfire at the Deso aid station.  I only stopped long enough to grab a cup of soup and refill my bottles avoiding the warmth of the fire at all costs.  Tim and I left Deso at a nice run but soon switched to a power hike as we hit the grunt up Red Lover's Ridge.  From the top of the ridge there was some great running interspersed with the occasional uphill but it didn't take too long for us to reach the Scott's Pass aid (mile 70.79).  This was another quick stop and we headed down the rocky dirt road for around a mile or so before we emptied out onto a long downhill paved section leading to the Big Cottonwood Canyon highway. 

My feet weren't feeling too great heading down to the Brighton Ski Lodge and I wanted to get some blister problems taken care of when we got there.  Marc Collman, who is a dentist and helps out at Brighton, took a look at my feet, gave them a good cleaning and relubed them, but didn't want to risk popping the blisters so I just tried to get out of the lodge as quickly as I could.  I was probably in there 5-10 minutes longer than I wanted to be but I was in good spirits and feeling pretty strong for the steep climb up to Point Supreme.

Tim and I took the better part of an hour to top out on the climb and, after a bit of routefinding, began the steep, treacherous descent (1500 feet in 1.5 miles) to the Ant Knolls aid station.  The descent pretty  much reduced me to tears and really stoked my fears that the last 20 miles were going to be so much worse than I had heard.  I was really tentative on the descent with all the loose rocks, technical steps, and hints of exposure from the void beyond my headlamp beam.  I could see the lights from Ant Knolls far below me and, while it felt like an eternity, we eventually made our way to hot soup and a quick bottle refill.

We left Ant Knoll's and immediately confronted the 1/2 mile climb known as the "Grunt" before rolling our way down to the Pole Line Pass aid station (mile 83.39).  I stopped at Pole Line one last time to try and work out my foot issues but wasted too much time cleaning, lubing, and changing socks for the whole 5 minutes of relief that brought me.  The next 9-10 miles from Pole Line to Pot Bottom was an emotional roller coaster for me with periods of solid running and good energy and greater periods of incredible lows where even my best attempts at running barely cause Tim to break out of his power walk.  The climb to Stephens Point wasn't too taxing but was a noticeable effort this late in the race.  Even more demanding than the climbing was the two named descents "The Dive" and "The Plunge".  Both were incredibly steep, loose, and rocky and both entailed multiple falls.  The dust was so bad and my fatigue pretty extreme so I was having trouble seeing even with my very bright headlamp and an additional flashlight in my hand.  At some point after the "Plunge", I had a nice burst of energy that carried me most of the way to the Pot Bottom aid station (mile 93.13).

After a quick cup of soup, Tim and I began the 1.3 mile climb out of Pot Bottom and the last substantial bit of uphill before the finish.  The sky was beginning to grow light in the East as we reached the Crest Road of Wasatch State Park.  After topping out on the road we hung a sharp right turn and began the 4 mile descent down a rocky ATV track to the last mile of singletrack before popping out on the road 3/4 of a mile from the finish at the Homestead Resort in Midway.  I crossed the line in 26:48:30 and took a seat in the grass just past the finish line to soak in the experience.  After a while I hobbled over to the showers at the Homestead, had a great breakfast with Cindy and Tim, and caught a ride back to Salt Lake to fetch my car.  I hung around Salt Lake for lunch with a friend and then had to drive back to the Homestead for the awards.  The logistics of running a point to point mostly solo were a little difficult in the end but I managed to make my way back to Crested Butte by early Sunday and didn't fall asleep at the wheel so a total success on the whole.

Collegiate Peaks 50 Mile Trail Run April 28th, 2012 Race Report

After finishing the H.U.R.T. 100 in mid-January and getting in to Wasatch, I sat down to plan the rest of my 2012 season.  My initial thought was to do the 25 miler at Collegiate but when my friend Joe Constantino from Houston told me he was going to sign up for the 50 I decided to join him for the full distance.  I continued to work with my coach Howard Nippert after H.U.R.T. and put in a solid block of consistent training through Feb, March, and April.  I managed to hit all my key workouts through the early spring despite a hectic travel schedule and began to notice significant increases in strength and leg speed.  The only concern I had going in to the race was my perception of the quality of my long runs.  While I had hit all of them, there was not a single run that felt effortless and my paces were not quite as good as I’ve come to expect on Howard’s program.  I’m still not sure why my long runs felt that way as my overall volume was lower than the past few spring seasons and I felt well rested going into them.  I guess some of it had to do with the higher volume fall/winter due to H.U.R.T. preparation and I shouldn’t discount the impact of racing 100 mountain miles in January.  I did my last long run 3 weeks out from the race and tapered the volume a bit leading into the race.  I hadn’t really planned on putting too much focus on the race itself but I simply can’t get to a starting line and not try to do well.

I didn’t have too much of a race plan other than to go out with the leaders, eat, drink, and try and save some energy for the 7 mile grind back to the course’s high point after the turnaround.  I lined up in the front next to my buddy Espresso Bob and set a good early tempo on the flat first 3 road miles.  The lead pack only lasted for about 3 minutes before 25 miler Josh Arthur took off at 6:00 pace and strung the lead group out.  E-Bob and I traded pulls for the first 5 miles and a few other runners mixed in and out with us as well.  It was hard to know who was running the 50 or the 25 so I just concentrated on holding the appropriate effort for my own distance.  Bob popped into the porta-potty at the first aid which left me mostly solo for the next few miles until he caught back up at the steep rollers around mile 11.  At that point I was able to really assess how I was feeling and unfortunately I knew I just didn’t have that high end racing gear that carried me to the podium at Jemez.  I was having to put out too much effort to run 8:30 pace and just decided to back off and call it a good training day and a bit of a character building run.  After topping off my handheld at mile 11 I planned on skipping the mile 14 aid and refilling my bottle at the top of the big climb at mile 18.  I settled into a relaxed grind it out mode for the rest of the final lap and was only caught by one other runner on the 3 mile grunt to the course’s high point.  I drained the last of my bottle just before reaching the crest of the climb only to find the aid station missing.  It was 4 miles downhill to the next aid so I didn’t panic about running out of water but I was definitely a little pissed off.  Ultrarunning is all about dealing with the unexpected so I quickly shrugged off the inconvenience and continued to maintain a relaxed pace down to the next aid.

Fortunately I made quick work of the next section and was soon quenching my thirst at the mile 21 aid.  I downed an extra bottle at the aid and topped off for the final 3+ miles to the turnaround.  I began to feel the effects of running out of water on the long dirt road section down to the turnaround but got to my drop bag and an impromptu crew of friends who had finished the 25 miler ahead of me.  I took a little longer than I would have liked restocking my pockets with gels, grabbing Scaps!, and topping off a fresh bottle of Perpetuem.  I definitely didn’t feel like going out for another lap, particularly with a 7 mile climb staring me in the face, but I wasn’t going to waste all the training, tapering, and time away from my family for an unnecessary DNF.  I think I hit the turn around 3:35-3:40 elapsed and began to feel moderately better with some fluids in me.  I ran every step of the steep climb from the river to the dirt road and then proceeded to pick off a couple of 50 milers on the climb back to the course’s high point.  I always like the washing machine loop format because the outbound runners give me a great boost with all their encouragement and the back of the packers never fail to inspire (particularly the 80+ crowd).  By mile 30 I knew I was running in about 6^th place but my “racing” mentality was long gone.  I caught sight of Sean O’Day in 5^th place at the top of the climb but just didn’t have it in me to give chase.  The only way I was going to pick up any places was if someone in front of me faltered.  I settled in to a comfortable pace and just ticked off the miles as quickly as I could.  Sean remained about a minute or two up on me through the next 4 or 5 miles and I finally lost sight of him coming back through the steep rollers at mile 39.

I was running low on food at about hour 5 (for some dumb reason I only took 4 gels with me on the return lap when my nutrition strategy called for 5) and began to grab a cup of coke at each aid.  By the time I hit the last aid at mile 45 I was out of gels and needed to get some portable sugar to avoid a stupid bonk on the final stretch.  I grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies which went down about as easily as a cup of sand.  I was solidly on pace to break 8 hrs so I just worked through the final miles, tried to ignore the monster headwind on the inbound road section, and just maintained a running cadence to the finish.  I crossed the line in 7:52 for 6^th overall.  While I am disappointed in how I felt for much of the run I am pleased with the result as it shows some consistency even on an off day.  I’m not sure what the takeaways are right now but I think it would have been helpful to have a bit more food at my disposal just to see if that didn’t perk me up some (I ate 8 gels, 2 servings of Pepetuem, 2 cups of Coke, and 2 cookies for a total caloric intake somewhere South of 1500 kcal).  Running out of water for 30 minutes certainly didn’t help but I was already feeling low on energy and out of breath by mile 6.  Overall, I think the Collegiate Peaks Trail Run makes for a good 25 mile course but the lack of terrain variety or difficulty, and limited aid station offerings will keep the 50 off my future race calendar.

H.U.R.T. 100 January 14th-15th, 2012 Race Report

I unknowingly planted the seeds for a January trip to Honolulu and the H.U.R.T. Trail 100 back in May about a week prior to my run at Jemez.  As best as I can figure that is when I originally fractured my tibia.  That fracture kept me from running San Juan Solstice and Leadville which were to be my key races for 2011.  After hobbling around on crutches for most of the summer feeling sorry for myself and generally disappointed in my lost season, I hatched the idea of entering the August H.U.R.T. lottery.  I never would have planned on running a 100 miler in January if I hadn’t busted up my leg.  I asked my ortho if he thought I would be able to run the distance come January and while he didn’t exactly say yes he didn’t absolutely forbid it either.  I figured at best my odds of getting in were 50/50 and I thought it would be a nice surprise for my wife’s 40^th birthday to take a mid-winter break in HI so I didn’t let her know of my plans beforehand.  Come lottery day when my name was drawn I told her that we were headed to Honolulu.  Now I just had to rebuild all my lost fitness and do so on a tender and far from 100% left tibia.

I wasn’t entirely sure how to approach my return to running from serious injury and the internet didn’t offer up much of value beyond a very conservative program from Pfitzinger that looked geared to a recreational 5-10K runner.  I knew I needed to enlist the help of a coach to avoid another lost season and get me to the start line of race healthy for once.  After some research I reached out to Howard Nippert and embarked on a 5 month program to get me back to 100 mile fitness.

I started “running” again in early August with no more than 5 minutes of running separated by equal intervals of walking.  It took several weeks before I was back to continuous running and, while my leg responded well, I was constantly unnerved by every twinge.  I even went in for x-rays at one point to settle my mind.  My real training kicked in around the first of September and it wasn’t long before I was putting in consistently solid weeks of training with quality long runs interspersed with speedwork and ample recovery days.  I totaled just over 225 miles for Sept but Oct began a steady build and I managed to put in 315 quality miles by Halloween.  For November I wanted to get in one long confidence building run and the weather cooperated to allow Jake Jones, Josh Arthur, and myself to escape to the Grand Canyon for a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim adventure run on Thanksgiving weekend.  With a solid 11 hr run under my belt and another 300+ mile month I was primed to tackle a solid December training schedule in the lead up to H.U.R.T.

My December schedule called for 7 long runs between 12/1 and 12/25 with most occurring on back to back days every weekend.  I hoped for dry weather so I would be able to run locally for most of the month and was rewarded with one of the lowest snowfall totals in decades.  I was able to run on dirt all the way through my taper until leaving for HI.   I wish I could say the taper was uneventful but I managed to irritate my right Achilles on my last long run and added intensive PT to my reduced workload.  We got the inflammation under control by race week but it was definitely a concern heading into the race.

We arrived in Honolulu on Wed the 11^th to allow for some acclimation to the heat and humidity and were met at the airport by my high school buddy, John Helm, who I hadn’t seen in 20 years.  John was intrigued by the notion of running 100 miles in the rainforest of his adopted hometown and offered to take me and the family to the early a.m. start on Saturday.  Because the H.U.R.T. course is 5 loops with two aid stations besides the start/finish I had a pretty easy time planning drop bags on Thursday.  I was planning on going entirely liquid for my nutrition strategy so I only had to measure out 15 servings of Perpetuem and divvy them up with my 36 Hammer Gels into 3 separate bags.  I threw a few more miscellaneous items into my start/finish bag, called my pre-race prep good, and headed to the beach with the kids.  My only pre-race obligation was a mandatory meeting and packet pickup on Friday afternoon.  I grabbed a taxi to the meeting which was happily very informal, low key, and over in half an hour.  I needed a ride back to the hotel and fortunately previous women’s champion Tracy Garneau and her boyfriend were kind enough to give me and my 5 year old son, Peter, a ride back to our hotel.  She was a great resource on pacing, course conditions, and footwear choices.  I relaxed by the pool for the rest of the afternoon with another old friend from high school and we caught up all too briefly while watching my three year old flirt endlessly with a hot tub full of women.  After a light family dinner we retired to our condo for an early bedtime, only to be startled out of bed by a fireworks display from the Hilton down the beach.  That, of course, amped the kids up beyond belief and spoiled the early bedtime plan.

I managed to squeeze in about 4-5 hours of decent sleep before beating the alarm clock out of bed and forcing down a few hundred calories worth of breakfast.  I made my last minute preparations, roused the kids out of bed, and made our way downstairs to meet John for our trip to the start.  John had decided to make a mini documentary of the race and pulled into the hotel with the camera (and jokes) rolling.  We got to the Nature Center start/finish about half an hour before the start.  I checked in with the RD, posed for the obligatory pre-race “holy crap I’m nervous” photos, and made small talk with fellow Coloradan Ricky Denesik.  With a few minutes left before the start they ushered all the racers onto a little bridge, gave us a blessing, and sent us off into the dark with a blast from a conch shell.

The race immediately begins with the steepest climb on the course known as the Hogback.  It is extremely technical to boot and I was more than happy to settle in to a comfortable power hike and burn away my pre-race jitters.  I quickly found myself in the front third of the pack but made a conscious effort to let the front runners go and promised myself that I would take it super easy during the first of 5 20 mile loops.  At the top of Hogback the outbound course joins briefly with the inbound section and descends briefly before splitting off again and climbing sharply toward the road crossing at Tantalus.  One thing I immediately noticed was the intense humidity and it only took 20 minutes before I was soaked through and dripping wet, a condition that would persist through the rest of the race.  I also quickly discovered that the numerous rocks on the trail were greasy from the humidity and required some caution to negotiate.  Overall, though, I was pleasantly surprised to find the trail conditions far more runnable than I expected and I soon found myself crossing the road on Tantalus greeted by the most amazing pre-dawn views of Waikiki and the Pacific.  I actually ran backwards for a few steps just to take in the views before disappearing back into the canopy on the Manoa Cliffs trail.

The Manoa Cliffs section of the course is one of the smoother more runnable sections despite being slightly uphill.  The views from the ridge were spectacular and the sections of the trail cut into the rock were a pure aesthetic joy to run.  From the top of the trail the course turns down into one of the more technical root infested sections of the course that was also part of the two out and back sections meaning we would traverse this stretch 10 times during the race.  I continued to take it very easy through here and was surprised by how quickly I got through this section and was on to the moderately technical descent to Manoa Falls.  It was getting light at this point and there were a few breaks in the canopy that allowed stunning views into the surrounding mountains and down valley to the Pacific.  I had to stop briefly to take it all in and let another runner come by.  I continued down to the falls (which I failed to notice) at a very relaxed pace determined to save my quads for the 14 more descents.  I re-passed the runner I had let by earlier on one of the more technical sections and soon saw the leaders scrambling through the slippery rocks on their way back from the Paradise Park aid station.  Within minutes I hit the pavement just outside the aid station and cruised in for a quick bottle refill and a couple of gels. 

I left the aid station at a comfortable trot and settled in for a mellow run/hike back up past the falls (which I again failed to notice due to the extremely technical nature of the trail) and on towards the high point of the course on the Nu’uanu trail.  I maintained a leisurely effort climbing out of the Manoa valley and soon found myself on the very runnable ascent to the top of Nu’uanu.  The views and exposure from the ridge were fantastic and this was a section I looked forward to returning to 9 more times.  The descent was extremely steep with a few technical sections including some fixed rope on the steeper more exposed rock steps.  Towards the bottom of the trail the course loops out onto the Judd trail and the vegetation shifted from bamboo and banyan to some kind of conifer.  The Judd trail was very smooth and runnable relative to much of the rest of the course and I quickly found myself at the Nu’uanu stream crossing complete with fixed rope to assist getting over the very slippery rocks.  The aid station was just after the crossing and I cruised in for a quick refill of Pepetuem, water, and gels and was quickly on my way.

The climb back out of Nu’uanu was uneventful and I gained the highpoint with little energy expended.  There was still a little more out and back to cover before clanging through this really loud metal gate back onto another stretch of the Manoa Cliffs trail.  The views from this side of the trail were even more spectacular than anywhere else on the course and I tried to enjoy every step along this stretch but I had to be mindful of the exposure and moderately technical footing.  I made short work of this all too fun section, crossed Round Top Dr, and was back on the Makiki Valley trail I had been on earlier this morning after the Hogback climb.  I soon came to the split where the outbound course climbs toward Tantalus and the inbound heads downhill back to the Nature Center.  Within 10 minutes I finished my first H.U.R.T. loop and was greeted by the cheers of my family and friend John.  I hit the aid station exactly on my desired 4:30 split and felt like I had barely made an effort on the first lap.

I got a little distracted by all the fanfare at the aid station but managed to refill my bottles, grab a special bandana filled with ice that Howard had made, said a quick goodbye to my wife and kids (they wouldn’t be back until the finish), and cruised out of the aid station.  Unfortunately, I got a few hundred yards out of the aid when I realized I forgot my gels for the next segment and had to turn around and go back.  It turned out to be no big deal and gave me a chance to catch up with one of the runners behind me for a little company on the second loop.  Loop 2 would be the only complete loop I would do in the daylight and I was fortunate that the runner I hooked up with, Alex Nunn, was local and showed me some of the better lines through the technical sections.  We hung together through most of the second loop and there were only a couple of eventful moments both of which involved me falling.  The first fall I took pretty much dislodged my left big toenail from the nail bed, nearly sent my handheld flying off a 500 ft drop off, and left me with some significant toe pain for awhile.  The second fall was a little scarier and happened on the steep descent into Nu’uanu where my feet went out from me on loose dirt and I cut open my right wrist deep enough that I severed a nerve and lost feeling in my hand for about an hour.  Eventually Alex and I separated on the descent back to the Nature Center when I stopped to pee but I would catch him again on the 3^rd loop.  I hit the start/finish around 3:30 pm which was right on target and was psyched to see John with the camera out filming my pit stop.  By now my aid station routine was just that and I headed out for my 3^rd loop hoping to cover as much distance as possible before the darkness set in.

I picked up my light at Paradise Park knowing that I would need it sometime before or right after my next aid stop at Nu’uanu.  Most of the 3^rd lap passed uneventfully until my batteries began to run low on the inbound Manoa Cliffs section.  I think I was running with Jamie Gifford and Adam Schwartz-Lowe at that point and had to let them go as I couldn’t maintain much of a pace with limited visibility.  I ultimately resorted to holding my fading light about a foot off the trail trying to illuminate the roots and rocks.  I made it back to the start/finish around 9 pm and swapped out my light for a fresh one and was again greeted by John and a friend of his.  I was a little confused because I thought John wasn’t planning on coming out again until mile 80 but it made for a nice surprise.  I had to deal with a small hot spot on my heel and took the opportunity to re-lube my feet and change socks before setting out on the last couple of loops.

I headed out onto my 4^th H.U.R.T. loop and turned on my iPod for the first time all day.  I had waited so long because I wanted the battery to last me through the night as I figured my playlist might be my only company for a very long time.  I was still feeling really strong climbing Hogback and I was still able to run some of the mellower uphill grades.  I continued running strongly into Paradise Park where I caught back up to Adam and Jamie and left them at the aid with yet another fast transition.  I powered through the rest of the lap really only limited by the darkness and passed another couple of runners on my way back to the start/finish.  I think I came through the Nature Center at about 3 am and it was pretty subdued and quiet.  I made another quick transition and headed out on my final loop.

Everything was going very smoothly until I began the descent back in to Paradise Park and my light began to fail me again.  I resorted to holding it near the ground and probably lost another 20 minutes getting back down to the aid station.  I was able to swap batteries at the aid, continued with my totally liquid nutritional strategy, and began the 2^nd to last climb of the race.  I still felt strong on the climb and made quick work of the 5+ miles back to Nu’uanu.  The aid personnel had my routine down and were ready with my drop bag and refills.  For the first time all day I glanced at the leaderboard but it wasn’t in order and I didn’t have the mental faculties to do the math but I thought I might be somewhere in the top 10.

I climbed out of Nu’uanu elated to be on the last leg of my H.U.R.T. journey but also surprised at how good I felt with 93+ miles under my belt.  Every other time I have gone this far I have been in some kind of slow motion death march and it was a totally new experience to be able to maintain a running cadence even on the uphills.  I blasted through the remaining miles and clocked one of my faster splits of the race back to the finish.  I hit the line in 28:06 (9^th overall) to the cheers of friends and family, kissed the sign, and sat down with my boys to soak in the accomplishment.  I hung out at the finish for a bit while my boys played on the trails and I got a chance to cheer on a few more finishers and hang out with new friends.

All in all my H.U.R.T 100 experience couldn’t have been better.  The course was well marked (hard to get lost on a loop course but it happens), the aid station volunteers were phenomenal, race management was top notch, everyone was treated like family, and the vibe was incredibly low key.  H.U.R.T. was also the first time my family was able to see me race and it was a special treat to be greeted by them at the line.  Thankfully, we had booked a few more days on Oahu to hang out and do the tourist thing and our trip was capped off by a great last day with my buddy John seeing the sights, trying to surf, and catching a bit of his live music.  I am pretty sure the whole family is hoping I get into the lottery next year.  

Jemez Mountains 50 Mile Trail Run 5/21

I was really looking forward to returning to Los Alamos, NM for the 2011 edition of the Jemez Mountains 50 mile Trail Run.  I had run the race previously in 2009 and fell in love with the course.  In 2009 Jemez was only my 2nd 50 mile race and, while I had a great day (11:18) and my first ever top 20, I was determined to lower my time and try to crack the top 10 this year.  I knew the field was pretty deep and that I would probably have to run an hour faster than '09 to achieve top 10 but my recent performance at Desert RATS gave me some confidence.

My training leading up to the race was very consistent with steady 85-100 mile weeks and as much vertical as I could find that wasn't inundated with snow.  I knew going in that my fitness would allow me to go pretty hard and my only concern was potential heat as any possibility for heat training has not been available.  As luck would have it, race days temps were very mild and I only felt overly warm for a brief period in the last few exposed miles.  I had a relatively easy race week only putting in about 30 miles prior to Saturday but I was having some strange pains in my left calf/shin all week that I chocked up to "taper" week funkiness.  I expected the pain to go away once the race got under way but it turned out to be a nuisance and the only limiter I felt all day.

Despite the 5 am start I opted not to start with a headlamp as I remembered it being virtually useless due to the dust cloud kicked up by the mass start.  That wasn't an issue this year as I ened up out front early with just Nick Clark and Greg Hartman.  I ran the first couple of miles by Braille and was lucky I didn't kill myself but the early trail miles are pretty smooth.  After the descent into Redija Canyon, Greg bailed from our group of 3 leaving just Nick and I cruising towards the first aid station at the Mitchell Trailhead (mile 5).  Nick had gapped me on some gentle risers and I put aside any thoughts of staying with him on his succesful run at the course record.

I hit the first significant climb up to Guaje Ridge in 2nd place determined to run the entire climb.  After the first few switchbacks, though, I didn't feel like I had my best climbing gear.  I had to downshift on a couple of the steeper sections and use a power hike to get my breathing back in line.  The 3rd and 4th place runners (Corey Hanson & Nick Pedatella) were closing on me but I just kept after it as best I could.  I let Corey come by just before we topped out but quickly repassed him on the technical downhill leading to the base of the Caballo climb.

I came into the 3rd aid station at Caballo (mile 10) in 2nd place but 3rd-5th were just seconds behind.  I still didn't feel great on the start of the climb up Caballo and stepped aside to let the other 3 guys set the pace.  I felt confident enough in my downhill running that I didn't mind letting a few minutes go on the up in order to preserve my energy for the difficulties to come.  The fun part of Caballo is that it is an out and back and it was motivating to see that other than Nick the top 7 or so were really tightly bunched.  I made quick work of the descent and got a bit of a boost from the encouragement of the other runners still ascending.

I left the base of Caballo in 5th but took it slowly on the climb up to the Pipeline aid station to take on some calories as my energy levels were a little low.  I got passed by 2 more runners on this climb and hit my only low spot for the day on the gradual run in to Pipeline (mile 17).  I only stopped at the aid station long enough to refill my bottle and grab a waist pack I had stashed in my drop bag thinking I might need more than 24oz of fluid on the climb out of the caldera.  I left the aid ahead of the two kids who had passed me earlier putting me back in 5th place and I readied myself for the descent down Nate's Nemesis.

Two years ago I had taken a nasty fall on this section that left me picking gravel out of my ass for weeks.  I was determined not to repeat that fiasco this year and took a more cautious route down that left my shoes brimming with dirt and gravel.  I stopped briefly to empty out my shoes and socks but no sooner had I started running again then I had to make a pit stop to deal with some stomach distress.  I got repassed by the two young guns while I was off in the woods attending to business but we seemed to have a decent gap on 8th place at that point.  The next few miles in the caldera provide the best running of the race and I hit the Valle Grande aid station (mile 21) in a little over 4 hrs.

After loading up on supplies for the difficult cross country section over Cerro Grande, I left the aid station at the same time as the 6th place runner.  We began the long grind over the uneven grasses, huge talus field, and insanely steep wooded section before topping out on the ridge within seconds of each other.  Once on the ridge, the climb to the summit remains steep with uneven footing and I began to feel pretty good going uphill for the first time all day.  I caught the 6th place runner who was having cramping issues shortly below the summit and was soon descending quickly through the technical "trail" off Cerro Grande.  I ran into some minor navigation issues on the last bit of cross country (I guess the elk had eaten many of the course markings on this stretch) but soon caught sight of the 5th place runner and beelined straight for him.  I quickly passed him and began my favorite trail section on the course.

The run from Cerro Grande to Pajarito Canyon rivals any stretch of singletrack here in the Gunnison Valley and, in fact, is very similar to descents like Bear Creek and Doctor Park.  Despite being nearly 5 miles long, this section is too short.  I pulled in to the Pajarito Canyon aid station (mile 29) comfortably in 5th, feeling strong, and only 5:30+ into the race.  My legs were reasonably fresh for having carried me over nearly 50K and 3 major climbs.  At this point I realized I had a great chance to go under 10hrs provided I didn't blow up.  I had run a fast last 20 miles 2 years ago and knew that I only needed to get over one more long climb to enjoy a net downhill over those 20 miles.  I put my head down coming out of the aid station and determined to run everything I could to the finish.  I was focused on the clock and didn't really give much thought to place because if I held onto 5th I would have been ecstatic.

The nearly 4 miles to the ski area climb were more difficult than I remembered but were uneventful and passed quickly.  As I pulled into the Townsite Lift aid station (mile 32), I was surprised to see Corey just 2 minutes up the hill in front of me.  I made my way up to the early switchbacks and saw that both Corey and Nick Pedatella were only a couple of minutes ahead.  Suddenly I had the podium in sight.  I wanted to be conservative, however, and save something for the long downhill finish where my size would be an advantage as opposed to fighting gravity.  I hung back and kept my pace even, slowly making up ground on Corey.  I finally passed him near the first false summit of the ski hill climb but no longer had Nick in my sights.  After topping out on the resort I was carefully picking my way down the steep loose descent when I began to hear rocks cascading down from above.  I looked back and was surprised to see Nick behind me.  I asked him where the hell did he come from and I gathered that he had gotten off course.  We descended the ski area and came into the Ski Lodge aid station (mile 36) together.

We pulled out of the lodge side by side and began the gradual climb back to the Pipeline aid station.  I was hanging back a bit on the steeper sections of the trail trying to do my best to eat and rest for what was shaping up to be a competitive run in to the finish.  About a mile or so out from the Pipeline aid station the trail comes out into an open area and at that point I had managed to put a small gap on Nick who later told me he was starting to bonk there.  With virtually no cushion on the podium I put the hammer down as best I could and tried to get out of sight out of mind.

I blew through Pipeline (mile 39) with a quick bottle refill and dropped off everything else.  There was one more short, steep climb and then a mostly downhill run to the finish.  At Pipeline the volunteers told me Brendan Trimboli, running in 2nd place, had just left about a minute or so in front of me so I was both running scared from Nick and trying to catch one more place.  I hammered up the stinger on the Pipeline road looking forward to the long singletrack descent and the finish.  I forgot about one more grunt before making the turn onto the downhill stretch but made short work of that running every step.  I soon turned onto the serpentine singletrack that hugs Guaje Ridge and fell in love with Jemez course all over again.

Despite being in the thick of competition (or maybe because of it), I was enjoying the simple act of running on some of the most beautiful trails in the Western US.  The views of the mountains and canyons we had been running over and through all day are breathtaking even without trying to average sub 9 minute miles after 40+ miles of running.  I came into the mile 43 aid station a little over a minute down on 2nd place and no idea where Nick was lurking behind me.  I took off after a quick bottle refill and knew that I only had about an hour of pain in front of me.

My mantra over those last 7 miles was simply to run as strong as I could and if I got beat at least it wouldn't be because I faltered in any way.  I kept my pace as high as I could manage, ignored the accumulated grit in my shoes that felt like it was shredding my feet, and pulled into the final aid station (mile 48) about 30 seconds down on 2nd.  I had a critical decision to make: ignore my dwindling energy, need for sugar, and nearly empty water bottle to try and run down 2nd or take a few seconds to top off.  If I didn't refuel and totally blew up over the last two miles I would never forgive myself for blowing the podium so I opted for the less risky quick pit stop.

I climbed out of the Rendija Canyon aid station and was able to look back after a few switchbacks and see that Nick was nowhere in sight giving me a substantial cushion for a podium finish.  I tried to muster whatever leg speed I could to run down 2nd but he was out of sight by that point and it was going to be tough to pick up a minute or two over the last mile or so considering I hadn't been able to put that much of a dent in his lead over the last 10 miles.  I made the turn up the final rock gully to the finish chute and crossed the line in 9:39:56.

I couldn't be more pleased with my effort, result, and the entire race experience.  Not only is this one of the most difficult mountain 50 milers in the country, it is also one of the most well organized.  Special thanks to Bill Geist for putting on such a great event in such a special place.