Bear 100 Race Report

Bear 100 race report

9/28 -29 2012

With several months of training under my belt, I approached 100-mile race with nervous confidence.  After all, I was going into unknown territory.  I had completed two 50-mile runs during this calendar year but that was just half of what I was about to take on.  Adding to my anxiety was the fact that my brother had suffered a brain stem stroke just one week prior to race day.  He has recovered remarkably and was able to re-gain strength in his right side and speak clearly after just 3 days in the hospital.

The fact my brother had experienced such a terrifying event at the young age of 42 made me even further realize that I’m very lucky to be able to take on such a monstrous challenge.  I also decided that it was going to take something pretty serious for me to drop out of this race.   In the big scope of things, we’re not talking about life or death with a race.  Sure, it’s painful and pushes a person to their absolute limits but it’s nothing compared to the challenges people don’t choose to take on.

On with the story, the first 36 miles to the Rt Hand Fork aid station were relatively uneventful.  I was cruising along at a moderate pace and was on my projected pace for the first few aid stations.  My approach was pretty simple; start out slow and steady, keep moving, hydrate well and avoid “sweet,” calories (sweet seems to turn my stomach after a few hours).  I stuck to this plan and pretty much drank straight water and used Perpetuem for energy.  In my drop bags I had an assortment of jerky, nuts, Payday candy bars and a few sweets in case I had a craving.

Not Leatham Hollow but a pretty cool picture from an area  nearby

I’ll never forget heading down the canyon to the Leatham Hollow aid station.  From the top looking down was one of the most incredible sights I had seen in my life.  I mentioned to several people that the view changed my life, which may be an exaggeration but the view was spectacular!  The canyon was lit up with yellows, green, pink, red, orange and the light was hitting it in such a way that the hillside seemed to glow.

At mile 36 I picked up Corey Vigil who was planning to pace me from Rt Hand Fork to Tony Grove.  All was going well and we kept a pretty good pace up through Temple Fork aid station.  Just past this aid station was the first time the Bear took a swing at me.  Nausea was starting to set in and we had about 2800’ of elevation gain over the next 5 miles staring back at us.  Suddenly, nausea turned to full on vomiting.  It started as just a little puking at first and we would press on.  A friend of mine who is a physician assistant caught up to me and gave me some Zofran (nausea medication) and advised me to place it under my tongue.  It was very bitter and led to very violent puking, which turned to dry heaving when everything available in my stomach had been purged.

Not feeling well here

After taking several breaks, I wondered if this is how my adventure would end.  I decided that the only way back was to get myself re-hydrated and start eating.  Slowly, it started to work.  I began to feel energy coming back and the nausea had left and never did return for the rest of the race.  After getting to Smithfield Canyon junction I was able to start running again, Corey and I cruised into Tony Grove aid station, which is about mile 51.

This aid station I was given the royal treatment.  I was both surprised and grateful to all the people attending to my needs.  Aric Manning had a chair out for me, Jim Skaggs was fetching me food from the aid station and Dan Frey was getting my gear ready for the next section.  An additional bonus at this aid station was my wife, 3 daughters and my mother had made their way to the aid station to greet me.

Happy Birthday Dano!

Dan Frey and I headed out of Tony Grove and into the dark.  It wasn’t as cold as I expected and I did my best to just keep moving.  At this point I was about 52 miles into the race and officially had passed into higher mileage than I had ever gone.  Dan was patient with me while trying to urge me to move a little quicker.  I was somewhat stubborn and just wanted to walk.  We were ascending White Pine Canyon Ridge when Dan asked me to stop for a second.  The next thing I new, he was jamming a noisemaker in my mouth and putting a birthday hat on my head.  It was his birthday and we celebrated right @ midnight.

We had a good laugh and I sang the happy birthday song to him and we were off again.  We both kept our hats on for the next couple of miles.  The next section had a lot of downhill in which we walked some ran some ultimately making it to the Franklin aid station.

These were great, I had them in all my drop bags

Franklin Aid Station

                 Dan and I got out of Franklin pretty quickly and began yet another long climb and I was getting tired.  I don’t even remember the last time I had stayed awake over 24 hours.  My body began revolting to this whole no sleep thing.  That’s when the yawning began and continued over the next couple of hours.  Into the darkness, we continued trudging along.  We made our way over to Logan River aid station.

This aid station turned out to be one of my most memorable.  They had a fire going, chairs set up and most importantly had grilled cheese sandwiches that were fresh off the grill!  For some reason they tasted like the best thing I had ever eaten.  I had 2, warmed up by the fire a bit and we were off again.  The next section included about a 1000’ climb to Preston pass followed by a descent to Beaver Mountain where I picked up pacer #3.

Pacer number 3 was Aric Manning aka Manners.  His job was pretty much whipping boy.  I was in no mood for running and pretty much walked most of the last 25 miles to the finish.  I was fatigued and in the mood for this adventure to be over.  Aric was great at trying to keep me motivated.  These last 25 ‘ish miles are pretty blurry.  However, it was the first time during the race I had experienced hallucinations. 

Seeing things that weren't there

I’ve heard it can happen but have never actually experienced the bizarre phenomenon of sober hallucinations.  At one point I stopped Manners and was trying to point out the largest bull elk I had ever seen.  He played along for a moment and was really looking for this figment of my imagination.  I insistently kept pointing out what clearly wasn’t there.  As it turns out, I was actually looking at an old dead tree and my mind was filling in the gaps.  Hallucination number two happened around mile 90.  I stopped Manners and asked him why there was a car in the meadow ahead with a man out playing with his young child.  Again, he had a puzzled look on his face and urged me to consume more calories and keep myself hydrated.  I can’t even explain hallucination number two.  It seemed so real to me. 

At this point I am pretty much on a zombie death march.  The thought of quitting never even entered my mind.  The thought of finishing and being able to rest did cross my mind a lot.  Thanks to several chunks of grilled Italian sausage wrapped in pancakes at the Beaver Creek aid station, I was able to grind out the next few miles to the Ranger Dip aid station.  I was in and out of Ranger Dip pretty quickly and now heading up the steepest climb of the entire 100-mile excursion (Thanks for saving that for mile 93).

The climb out of Ranger was a grind.  I tried to keep moving.  However, fatigue was taking its toll.  I slowly ascended with intermittent stops along the way.  Relieved to see the top I knew the rest of this run was pretty much downhill.  There was just one problem, at this point my legs were so fatigued that it was all I could do to just try to trot once in a while.  I had heard that many people feel the end is near and find a new gear.  That was just the case with my friend Joel Hatch who came flying by me with such exuberance that he actually jumped and clicked his heels over a knoll just ahead of us.

I wanted to join Joel in his bolt to the finish but just couldn’t.  At this point I was beaten down.  I knew I was going to finish but just could muster up the ability to string together more that about 100 yards of running at a time.  So we mostly walked to the road where I began to trot.  This is where we ran into BJ aka “Squeaver.”  I was so happy to realize this journey was officially about over.  Manners and Squeaver got me to near the finish line and then peeled off to allow me to cross the line.  It was great seeing the crowds of people and all the HUMR’s cheering me on. 

I crossed the line, shook the race director’s hand and realized I DID IT!  My first 100-miler was in the books.  My wife and 3 daughters greeted me and were happy to see me finish this long journey safely.  I was escorted over to a chair where I was once again given great treatment.  My daughters pulled my shoes and socks of and helped clean me up and get changed into some clean clothes while others were getting me food and drinks and making sure I was comfortable.

Done!

Hugs

Lounging and getting cleaned up

This was definitely an adventure I won’t soon forget.  The course was beautiful and the aid stations were friendly, helpful and well stocked.  Also, kudos to the Bear 100 organizers for one of the best post race meals ever.

Speedgoat 50K 2012

Speedgoat 2012 Race Report

Hello and welcome to my first race report ever.  I distinctly remember having butterflies and being very nervous when I pointed the cursor to the submit box and clicked enter for the 2012 version of Speedgoat several months back.  I was intimidated by this race and it turns out justifiably so.  I am relatively new to the Ultra scene and Speedgoat is legendary for being one of the toughest 50K’s in existence.  Additionally, the race director seems to pride himself on adjusting the course making each year more difficult than the last. 

As it turns out, everything I heard was true and this race did not disappoint in the challenging department.  To make things a little more interesting on this day, I was battling the pain of a recently cracked rib which I received during a trail work mishap the week prior.  I was told by the doctor that running will not make the crack worse, it certainly won’t help it and the bottom line is it will be uncomfortable.  With that not so helpful bit of information, I decided that this would be a day filled with pain and why not just make this little setback part of the adventure.

I felt relatively good starting up the first big climb to Hidden Peak.  I had trained hard and tried to get in as much vertical as possible in the weeks leading up to this race.  I remember passing through the first water station around mile 4 and realized I had barely drank any water.  I made a mental note to get on top of my hydration as this was going to be a very long and hot day.  I arrived at the Hidden Peak tram and was happy to see a few HUMR’s (Britta Trepp, Bryce Warren & Cory Johnson) greet me.  They offered encouragement, assistance and a Popsicle.

As I descended off hidden peak, I recall being blown away by freshly bloomed purple and orange wildflowers.  I was in awe which was quick disrupted by fatigue that was already setting in.  I skipped the Larry’s Hole aid station and headed straight for the next climb on the course which was relatively uneventful.  However, the section after this climb was one of the most difficult sections of the entire course for me.  It was a 2 mile section that descended about 2000’ through what I can only describe as a dry river bed.  It was extremely rocky and technical.  This section slowed me to a near crawl and I lost a lot of time.  I have battled ankle injuries over the past year and the last thing I wanted was to turn an ankle in this rocky horror (yes, the wh version of that same word would also apply).

Thankful to be through this section, I was now out of water.  Uggggh!  I promised myself I would keep hydrated.  I saw Shawn coming out of Pacific Mine as I was entering, she assured me the aid station was a mile or so down the trail.  During my journey to the aid station I also encountered Manners and Joel and was happy to see some familiar faces.  I was very relieved to arrive at what proved to be my favorite aid station.  I was greeted by someone spraying a mister on me and a cold towel to place on the back of my neck (THANK YOU AID STATION VOLUNTEERS).  After chugging water, eating potatoes with salt and filling my bottles I was off again.

I was able to get about 100 yards out of the aid station and was struck by tragedy.  I tripped over a rock.  This trip was followed by a thud and many curse words.  I stood up, assessed the damage (scuffed up hand, elbow and knee) and was relieved that I had protected my sore rib.  I put the embarrassment of crashing and burning and decided I needed to make up some time.  “Keep moving,” I told myself.  On my way out of the Pacific mine I was happy to see another couple of HUMR’s (Forrest and Alicia).  The climb out of Pacific Mine was slow and steady.  I knew I was getting way behind my projected pace and made an effort to make up some time.  I was feeling surprisingly refreshed and was able to pass many people who had entered the zombie death march mode.  I made the second pass through Larry’s Hole topped off my bottles, had some fig newtons, sipped some Big K Cola and pressed on.

This next section can be summed up with three words, Mt F’ing Baldy.  I got to the base of this beast and was sure the volunteer was pulling my leg when he pointed up the hill.  “Where’s the trail,” I stated.  The volunteer just smiled and told me to follow the flags.  For the first time in this race, I wanted to quit.  It’s hard to describe this section, from the bottom looking up; it looked like I needed ropes.  Ironically, as I started to ascend this beast my iPod was playing the following lyrics:                                                    

Strapped down to my bed, feet cold and eyes red.
I'm out of my head am I alive? Am I dead.
Sun kissed and Sudafed Gyro scopes and infrared
won't help. I'm brain dead. Can't remember what they said.
God Dam%. Sh$@ the bed.

It seemed to sum up exactly how I felt at that moment.  BTW, the crazy lyrics are from a song called Rosetta Stoned by the group Tool.  Yep, that’s how this HUMR rolls.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally made it to the top of Baldy and worked my way down to the tunnel aid station.  I was happy to see a couple of HUMR’s (Breein and Jim) fueling up at the aid station.  I topped off drank half of a beer (why not?) that Jim somehow was able to get from the aid station and was once again on my way.  The tunnel was perfect!  I thought long and hard about just lying down in the cool air and taking a nap.  The tunnel ended unfortunately and to my horror we were descending.

I was happy to get some relief from all the climbing.  However, I knew going down was bad because it mean just one thing . . . I still need to get all the way back up to Hidden Peak.  The trail descended about 1000’ and then the bonus, MORE CLIMBING!  Now it’s getting later in the afternoon and the heat is peaking.  It was a long, hot climb.  By the time I got to the ridge, I was completely spent!  A special thanks to Lindsay and Britta for providing a Popsicle and much needed morale boost at this point.

I inched my way to the Hidden Peak aid station where I was greeted by Larry who was very helpful in helping me get rehydrated and fueled up for the final push.  Much to my surprise, I ran into Joel and Ryan who informed me that we were finishing this sucker together.  HUMR’S Unite!  We waited for Jim and Breein to get in and get fueled up and then we were off for the final 5 miles (all downhill).  The six of us were joined by fellow HUMR Britta.  Time to find that finish line!

The last five miles were pretty uneventful.  I had reached the point that I just wanted this experience to be over.  My legs were shot and I was not able to keep up the pace I had hoped for.  I was actually OK with this.   I knew I was going to make it back and even though I was going to go over my projected finish time I had conquered Speedgoat 2012.  The seven of us got pretty scattered during the last 5 miles and I ended up crossing the finish line at the same time as Breein at  10 hours and 8 minutes.  DONE, FINALLY!  At the finish it was fun mingling with friends and meeting new people.  This day proved to be one of the most challenging experiences of my life.  I plan on learning from my experience and be back to take it on again next year.