Detailed report later. I think about 50 runners started. We started in a snow storm and I had my garbage bag on. I took the lead going up the hill. I heard, "There goes Davy." The storm only lasted a few minutes. Tim Long caught up and went ahead an near the top Karl Meltzer passed me as I was taking off my bag and said, "the rabbit rarely wins." On top of the ridge, I ran past Karl, how cool is that, passing Karl Meltzer? Later near the top of the hill up to Elephant Head as I was trying to get my music turned on, Karl went on ahead. We did the Elephant Head out-and-back first. Tim started the loop first and got all confused when he looked up and saw us on the ridge high above. We yelled at him to just continue, but later he climbed up a steep slope to get on the Elephant Head Trail. I hit the turn-around in fourth place. At that point I no longer tried ot stay with Karl and it was great to see so many happy friends on the way back. There was a couple inches of snow on the trail but it was nice and soft.
My speed went away at the switch-backs. Tom Remkes and another runner passed me and I just couldn't keep up on the flats back to the aid station. The trail was very muddy and slushy. During the last few miles of the loop the mud attached to the shoes and made them very heavy. There were also slippery sections, causing me to go off-road to find some traction. It was slow going. I was just glad that I wasn't further behind. Each time a runner went through it got worse.
I finished the first 19-mile loop in 3:09, a little slower than last year. The trail conditions were much worse. I turned on my Garmin and it would help me keep my pace on the long out and back to the Ranch. I really didn't care about my race position. The plan was to not worry about that until about mile 60.
My pace was good. Ahead of me I could see a runner who would walk the small hills but run the flats fast. I just couldn't quite catch up to him. It turned out to be Tom Remkes. I noticed that Karl was now about six miles ahead of me (at mile 30). Tim Long and Dan Vega were also way ahead.
I did pretty well and reached the Ranch exactly on schedule at 5:40. Maurine mentioned that Tom and I were in 5th place. That got my attention because I went into this race with a dream goal of a top-5 finish. At the start Cory Johnson had told me that he was betting on me to finish in the top five and he believed Tom and I would be the best bets after the elite runners.
I left the Ranch before Tom but he caught up within a mile or so and for the next ten miles we leap-frogged. Tom is a much better runner than me. Last year he beat me in every 100 we ran by several hours. But I knew I had trained well for a flat course like this. Could I beat him this time? For the next couple hours I observed his running. He was using walk breaks on the small hills and then would run at 9:30-10:00 pace. I would on the other-hand run almost everything and keep a steady 11:00 pace. At times I would even run the uphills faster than the flats just to show myself that I could do it. If you can keep running uphills clear to mile 80 and beyond, you can place very high in the results. I was glad that I could still easily run the hills.
My four sons met me at the aid station below the ridge. It was fun to see them. They made wise crack, but my mind was mushy at that point and I didn't have come-backs.
Tom kept a 50-yard lead on me when we arrived on top of the ridge on the pavement and he kept that lead for the rest of the first 50 miles. The sun went down as I started the trail at the campground. I couldn't see Tom's light ahead and wondered if he had a light. But once the trail opened up I saw his light, he was still less than 100 yards ahead but picked up his pace and so did I. I finished the first 50 in 9:02, just about right on schedule and an hour faster than last year.
My son told me that one of the front-runners dropped out (Tim), that Tom and I were in 4th place. My aid station stop was very fast at my car. All my aid station stops were less than four minutes for the entire race. I left before Tom and started the crazy 19-mile loop again. I told my sons that I wouldn't be back until 1 a.m. or later.
I was slow on that loop. Way too slow. I was surprised that Tom never caught up to me. With all the mud, the velcro keeping my gaiters on came loose and I had to stop about ten times to pull them down, tie my shoe tighter, etc. It was more challenging doing this loop in the dark. However, I don't know why, but after mile 50, it seems like I can run the uphills much better than earlier in the race. When I hit the bottom of the switch-backs, Mark Tanaka, the next runner ahead of me was already past the top. I thought I would never catch him. Tom was gaining on me, but I flew up that trail and increased me lead.
After the aid station, I could see Mark's light ahead and it looked like I was gaining. I decided that I would try to reel him in. I couldn't quite do it. I arrived back at the start after a slow 4:33 loop, somewhat discouraged because I was now 45 minutes behind my schedule to break 20 hours.
But Mark was still taking his sweet time at the aid station. He told me that he was very impressed how I nearly caught up to him on the loop. Well, I knew that third place was out there waiting for me to take for my own. My sons were off snoozing in their tent, so I just made a quick 2-minute stop. On the road up to the ridge I was now in 3rd place but could see Tom and Mark's lights chasing me.
On the out-and back to the trailhead, I could see that I was a half mile ahead of Tom and over a mile ahead of Mark who was now going slowly with a pretty heavy coat on. I knew that if I wore all those clothes that I would be very slow. For the entire race except the first mile, I wore a long-sleeve running shirt. The jacket I had wrapped around my waist never went on even though it got below freezing. If I kept up my pace, I stayed warm enough. The wind was an issue at time. It seemed like we had a head wind in both directions at times.
On the long out-and-back to the Ranch, the race leader, Dan Vega was about 20 miles ahead of me. Next came Karl, who was 17 miles ahead. Wow! The next runner was me! There would be some lonely aid stations ahead who wouldn't see runners for a long time.
My next big problem was painful chafing. It became terrible. I had treated it at last visit to my car, but that only helped for a few miles. I could stop and try using tape, but Tom's headlamp less than a mile behind was haunting me. I knew if he passed me, I would be in trouble, so I just sucked it up and tried to ignore the pain for the next 28 miles. But over and over again I had to stop and walk to ease the terrible pain.
When I got to Lower Frary (mile 77), Charlie Vincent greeted me and congratulated me for being in third place. He did warn me that Eric Storheim, an elite runner, had started 5 hours late and could still catch me. All the way to the ranch, I thought I kept seeing Eric's light gaining on me fast. (Turns out Eric dropped at mile 50). It was just an illusion, Tom was still about a mile behind.
I arrived at the Ranch at 4:45 a.m. The volunteers had not seen another runner for almost four hours. I was still 45 minutes behind schedule. I didn't stay long, drank some warm broth and then was on my way. For the entire race, I just ate gels, Ensure, Reeses, a little broth, and one quarter sandwich. My stomach never really complained.
On the way back now, I could gage the competition. The fifth place runner was almost two miles behind so that brought me some comfort about reaching my fifth place goal. I never saw Eric, so by the time I returned to Lower Frary, I no longer worried about him. Third place was still possible. But when I left the aid station, Tom's light was not far behind. I kicked it into gear on the next uphill and then could see that yet another light, Robbie Asbell's was within 50 yards of Tom. That put fear into my pace. I now could again find that 11-minute-mile pace, sometimes dipping toward nine minutes.
Dawn arrived. I turned off my light quickly so the guys behind couldn't see me. Matt Watts came toward me about 17 miles behind. It was great to see him. He commented that I was taking my sweet time. The guys at the aid station said the same thing. Yes, I should have been going faster. As I left the station, going up the steep hill by the fence, I cried out, "Oh no!" I could see a runner in black approaching the station. I don't think it was Tom. I concluded the runner behind him caught up and was moving very fast.
All I could do was push harder. Up on the ridge I didn't even want to look behind me, expecting to see that runner reeling me in. If he passed me, I would crumble. Lots of cars coming for the 25K were on the road. It felt good to think I only had about five miles to go. I didn't stop at the Bridger Bay aid station, just ran right by it. I looked up. Where was that runner? I stumbled through the rocky section at a pathetic 17-minute pace. Once out of that mess on the next little ridge I stopped and looked back carefully. As I looked back, a tiny runner came into view almost a mile behind. Wow! I could maybe do this. I kicked in 11-minute pace again, looking behind me every few minutes.
When I finally reached the dirt road to the finish, I finally knew third place was mine, but I couldn't help looking behind me continually. Lots of 25K runners were warming up on the road giving me strange looks. Most of them didn't realize I was a 100-mile runner finishing.
I crossed the finish line in 20:27:10, nearly two hours better than last year when I was the only runner to do 100 miles. It was a 100-mile race PR by 26 minutes! That elusive sub-20 finish is still out there somewhere. Karl Melzer was there to greet me and congratulate me. My sons missed my finish, they were looking at the hills as I ran by. Tom crossed the finish eight minutes later, and Robbie Ashbell, came in less than three minutes after him.
I watched Kevin start his race and then went and sat by a heater with Dan, Karl, and others, feeling like a hot-shot runner rubbing shoulders with those truly fast guys. I went out to watch a few 50-mile runners go by, hoping to see jun and Kelli, but then started to feel sick so went back to wash up and rest for awhile.
I stayed around for six hours after I finished to talk to lots of runners. Wow, there were so many great people there who were so kind. Congratulations to you all for your great races. My son Kevin finished his first 25K race in 3:35. He first said, "That sucked." But ten minutes later he was talking about his next race, Bighorn 50K.
After watching all the excitement, my 14-year-old son Connor told me two days later that he was going to take up running and wanted to run the 25K next year. Thanks Jim Skaggs for bringing such a great event to Utah.
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