Detailed report at:
I wrote up my detailed report for Rocky Raccoon 100. http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=612
Here's the short version, still only had some cat namps. This was my 4th time running Rocky. I hoped to break 20 hours, but didn't make it because of some issues, but still had a great run and my best placement ever there.
The temperature in the morning was 21 degrees, very fridged, so I wore long tights and long sleeves. I goofed at the start, was still preparing when I heard the count-down, so I had to pass more than a 100 runners until I caught up with those running fast. My first 20-mile loop was 3:00:30, a little faster than scheduled.
It was so fun to see ultrarunning heros on the out and backs running, Karl Melzer, Scott Jerek, Anton Krupicka, Hal Koerner, and Mike Wolfe.
On Loop 2, I had terrible pain in the gut that cost me about 15 minutes. I completed that loop in 3:41. After that loop, I took a very long stop, including a 15 minute bathroom break and I changed out of my warm clothes. Now I was running with a slower crowd but was able to pass a bunch.
Loop 3 was thrilling. At mile 56.5, Karl Melzer lapped me and I was able to hang with him. I wondered how long I could. I had been running lazy so had some good energy. In fact I ran ahead of him for a couple miles. We ran together into the start/finish area at mile 60. I thanked him for waking me up and he complimented me on my pace. We had run between 7:30 and 9:15 miles for 3.5 miles. Including my very long break, my loop was 4:05. Thanks to that crazy frantic run at the end of the loop I was only about 15 minutes behind my schedule.
Karl was much quicker than me at his drop bag, so I couldn't keep running with him. I needed to gather my jacket and gloves for the night. I needed to hustle, because I needed to run the next six miles before sunset to get my flashlight. I succeded and was ahead of last year's pace by 15 minutes or so.
It got cold pretty fast, but if I pushed the pace, I became pretty warm. I finished loop 4 at 9:25 p.m. Karl was in the tent, his race finished. He asked how I was doing. My problem now was that I was bonking, low in calories. My stomach just wasn't very happy and wouldn't let me run very fast. The 4th Loop was 4:40. I knew that my quest for a sub-20 was now gone. I could PR if I recovered. I was lapping tons of runners. Some realized it and said they wished they were on loop 5 too.
Loop 5, was very, very tough. I just couldn't intake enough food and when I slowed, I started to get pretty cold. I was still wearing shorts, but had two longsleeves on and a fleece over my face to help with the cold wind. I tried very hard to at least keep at 15:00 pace going. The final loop was a slow 5:56. I even had to sit down at a couple aid stations to recover and get warm. I lost my motivation to care about my finish time, I just wanted to get it done and get in a warm bed.
For the last 8 miles, I just made sure that no one passed me. One guy caught up with a mile to go, but he was power walking, so I ran on ahead and his light disappeard.
I finished at 3:22 a.m. for a 21:22, and by 4:30 a.m. was showered and resting in my motel room. Amazingly I felt great, better than usual, probably because of that slow finish and cool weather. After a few cat naps, at 8:30 a.m. I was back at the park to watch some friends finish. Next I went to the awards at 11:00 a.m. and was shocked that I won an award for 3rd place Masters (age 50+) That had been one of my goals for the race, to place in masters. My time was slower than last year, but my placement much higher, probably because of the tough cold weather. There were about 316 starters and I finished 34th. Not bad for a very, very competitive field, with some of the best ultrarunners in the world.
I flew home and arrived before halftime of the Super Bowl. | 