Old Man Still running

I ran up Timp early this morning, my 62nd career summit and 6th of the year.   I was on the trail about 2:45 a.m. with about 200 college kids.   I was planning on taking it easy, doing about a 4:20 round trip, but somehow a 3:42 came out the other end.   The weather was great, the moon partially obscurred by clouds but still casting an glow on the mountain.   Many of the kids were hiking by moonlight.  

With all the lights on the mountain, it was a great challenge to run hard and try to catch the lights.  It was funny how some of the young guys reacted as I caught up.  I think they just couldn't handle having someone pass them.  Some would kick it up a notch as I approached and made no movement to stop and let me pass. Too macho.  Finally I would be right on their tail and ask to pass.  They would look back surprised, but then move over.   Some would try to keep up, but within one minute they were far behind.  I should have told them: "I'm an old Please follow Fast Running Blog policy regarding vulgar language 51-year-old, aren't you in shape?"  But I kept my mouth shut and enjoyed being on the mountain with all the kids.  Most gave me great complements about my pace.

Once I reached the saddle (1:50), it looked like there were 30-40 kids trying to stay warm waiting for the sunrise.   I didn't slow down a bit and ran fast, dodging the bodies all over the ridge.  I heard comments that they had tracked my green light for miles and that I had an amazing pace.

It looked like no one was hiking up to the summit.  I ran at a steady pace, looked back and saw some kids had decided to follow me.   I was very pleased at how strong I felt above 11,000 feet.  I didn't feel any dizziness like last week on Lone Peak.  My pace was steady and strong and the legs felt great.  

I reached the top in 2:10, a good clip.   There were several guys sleeping in the summit hut.   I ignored them and went ahead and signed the register and then started to head down.  The wind was blowing pretty hard, but it felt like the temperature was in the upper 30s.  I did put gloves on, but didn't need a jacket.   I quickly returned to the saddle to some cheers.  I didn't stop to talk, ran fast through the bodies and continued on my way.

I kept a steady pace going for the rest of the run, making sure that I didn't trip and fall.  I passed another 100 kids on the way down.  Some had tracked my light clear up to the summit and back.   I was glad that I finished before sunrise, because it is easier to pass groups if they see my green light coming toward them.  Still, I almost plowed right into a young guy who wasn't paying attention.

Labor Day is the biggest day on Timp. I would guess more than 500 will be on the trail.  As I drove out the the parking lot I could still see dozens of hikers walking up the road because the parking lot was totally full.  Their long day, 10 hours plus was just beginning.  My Timp run was finished, time to go home for breakfast.   I returned home by 7:30 as the family was just getting up.

OK, I am now officially in my Wasatch 100 taper.  No more big runs before Friday, only little tune-up runs to keep the taper phantom pains away.   I'm very pleased with the readiness.  I feel strong and fast.  Minor injuries have healed and my problem ankle is behaving.   I'm about as ready as I can be.

I noticed that my 2009 miles are now only 5 miles behind 2008.

Lots of good sleep.  No running plans today.

I'm all packed and ready for Wasatch 100.  My four pacers are amusing themselves today making fun of me in a private email thread.   They laugh now, lets see how they feel on the trail!

Taper pains started last night.  Silly aches in muscles that make you worry that they will develop into serious pains during the rain.  They rarely do.  I should have done a few little short runs to keep these away.

The race begins at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning (Friday).  You can follow my progress at: http://www.wasatch100.com/updates.htm

To see if I'm doing well or poorly, you can compare my actual pace to my goal pace below:

	miles	Goal	Clock
Start	0	0:00	5:00 AM
Francis Peak Aid	17.7	4:05	9:05 AM
Bountiful B	24	5:35	10:35 AM
Session Lift-off	28.2	6:30	11:30 AM
Swallow Rocks	34.9	8:20	1:20 PM
Big Mt	39.4	9:20	2:20 PM
Alexander Rg	47.4	11:30	4:30 PM
Lambs Cyn	53.1	12:45	5:45 PM
Big Water	61.7	15:30	8:30 PM
Desolation	66.9	17:10	10:10 PM
Scotts Peak	70.8	18:30	11:30 PM
Brighton	75.6	19:45	12:45 AM
Ant Knolls	80.3	21:45	2:45 AM
Pole Line	83.4	22:55	3:55 AM
Rock Springs	87.4	24:25:00	5:25 AM
Pot Bottom	93.1	26:25:00	7:25 AM
Finish	100	28:30:00	9:30 AM

 

I will write my full race report in a couple days, but here is the "short" version.  244 runners started and 156 made it to the finish before 36 hours.

This was my focus 100-mile race of the season.    I really wanted do well at this home-town race.  In 2006 I struggled to a 34:15 finish and that has bugged me for three years.  This is a very tough 100 and any finish is great, any finish under 30 hours is super.   I set what I thought was a realistic goal of 28:30.

Pre-race: Matt Watts mocks my 28:30 goal. I start to doubt.  I spent the night at pacer David Hansen's uncles's home just a few block from the start.  Mark Swanson joined us. I only slept for about 3 hours.

Mile 0-10: Reached the top of Chinscrapper in only 2:19.  I was running with Dave Hunt and other runners who went on to finish in under 24 hours.  I was feeling great and hydrating well for a warm morning.

Mile 10-20: The dirt roads slowed me down, but then I picked it up on the rough trails. At mile 20, heard running buddy Phil Lowry below me.  I knew he would eventually catch up, so I decided to pull a prank on him.   I found a concealling tree near the trail, hid behind it for about a minute, and then jumped out and scared the wits out of him as he passed.  Tom Remkes was with him.  We had a great laugh.  Got to love 100-mile races when you have plenty of time to have some fun.

Mile 20-34: After running with Phil for 14 miles, I just couldn't keep up with him any longer.  The heat was slowing me down and Phil was running the downhills faster than me.  Previous to this, Phil and I had a great time pushing each other.  Sometimes I would run fast ahead and mock him for being behind.  He went on to finish in just under 26 hours.

Mile 34-35: The heat was becoming bad.   I went into defensive survival mode instead of offensive race mode.  Many runners would start passing me.   I just concentrated on staving of dehydration.

Mile 35-39: Met up with my first pacer, Craig (jun) at Big Mountain.  He was great to have along. I was feeling better and we had fun catching and passing a few other runners.

Mile 39-53:  The heat became terrible.   I ran out of water going into Alexander Ridge.  The next leg was among my worst.   I couldn't push it in the heat.  I had plenty of liquid with me but blundered and didn't drink enough.   By the time I came into Lambs, I was dehydrated and down about 5 pounds.

Mile  53-62: I ran the Lambs-Millcreek leg with David Hansen.  He did a super job in helping get me recovered.  The climb was tough, still dehydrated, but once over the top we flew and passed several runners.  I could also run hard up the Millcreek road.  My legs weren't tired, but my energy level was being stressed

Mile 62-67: Now running with Brad, I again felt a bonk coming on like I had at this exact point in 2006.  I took approriate measures and didn't crumble like 3 years ago, but I slowed down.  I knew I had a good race going, so I just held on and tried to get my body systems balanced.  I had a long stop at Desolation Lake to tape my thighs that were getting chafed.

Mile 67-76: At about mile 68, I finally recovered and was feeling great again. I pushed up the pace and could tell that I was working Brad as hewas doing his best to keep up.  We started to pick off runner lights one by one as caught up and passed runners who had passed me going up to Desolation Lake.   When we hit the paved road (about mile 73) that took us to Brighton, we noticed runners ahead who kept looking back at us with their headlamps shining, a sure sign of runners worried about being passed.   I grinned and told Brad that we were going to turn out our lights.   We then ran very hard in the dark.  We could see the glow of the center line on the road so never worried about falling off the road.   It was great fun to come up on runners unaware that we were coming.   We could also look far up the mountain and see many lights on the road near Scotts Peak.   I would blink my green light up to them and it was funny to see lots of them blink back.  Obviously I was feeling fantastic since I was fooling around.  Once at Brighton, three of my pacers were there to crew me in the parking lot.  I was determined to NOT spend any time in the warm Brighton building.

Mile 76-83:  Mark took over pacing duties. The climb up to Catherine's Pass wasn't anything to write home about.  No runners passed me, but my pace was pathetic.  By the time I got to Ant Knolls my energy level was very low and I was pretty incoherent.   I sat in a chair for several minutes, trying to recover.  At Pole Line pass, after eating two sausages, I started to feel better.

Mile 83-87:  The next leg to Rock Spring went very well.   I felt great again and could run fast again.  I was racing again. I noticed that the runners around me were not running the uphills any more, but my legs were ready and willing to run anything.   We passed a bunch of runners along this stretch and one guy thanked me for helping him really push the pace.

Mile 87-93:  I dreaded the next leg to Pot Bottom, but it went very well.  I really enjoyed it.  My spirits were high when I hit the "Dive" before dawn.   I had never been at this location in the dark so early, including the years I paced strong runners in 2004 and 2005.  Dawn arrived when we reached "The Plunge" and we came into Pot Bottom at 7:42 a.m.  Olaf gave me a happy greeting. Wow, at this time in 2006 I was about 16 miles back. 

To the finish: Mark pointed out that my last split time was just as planned in my goal pace.  I was now only 17 minutes behind my goal pace to finish in 28:30.   We discussed that 28:30 was still possible, but on the climb out of Pot Bottom I lost my motivation.  My thoughts started to turn to Bear 100 in only 13 days.   I decided to save something in the tank for that race.  I told Mark that the goal was now to break 29 hours.   I thought I was well ahead of any runners behind me so I started to take it easy.  With about four miles to go, Shane Martin flew by me.  Wow, he was going very fast.  With two miles to go, Eric Johnson passed me and Deanna McLaughlin also caught up.  That woke me up.  I was being lazy.   I hung with Eric for about a mile and Mark struggled to keep up.  We flew through the single-track by the golf course.   I finally lost sight of Eric, so slowed back down.  Once we hit the paved road, I could see that Eric was out of reach but we still ran hard to stay ahead of Deanna.

I crossed the finish line in 28:33 in 42nd place.  Only one runner older than me beat me in a very competitve race.   My recovery went well and 24 hours later I feel very little pain.  Bear 100 is in less than two weeks.

Below are my split times.  You can see that at one point I was about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, then fell about 40 minutes behind schedule.  The strong finish brought it all back.

	miles	Goal	2009
Start	0	0:00
Fernwood Picnic	3.6	0:35	0:35
Chinscrapper Summit	9.6	2:20	2:19
Francis Peak Aid	17.7	4:05	4:01
Bountiful B	24	5:35	5:18
Session Lift-off	28.2	6:30	6:10
Swallow Rocks	34.9	8:20	7:56
Big Mt	39.4	9:20	9:09
Alexander Rg	47.4	11:30	11:16
Lambs Cyn	53.1	12:45	12:55
Big Water	61.7	15:30	15:23
Desolation	66.9	17:10	17:38
Scotts Peak	70.8	18:30	19:01
Brighton	75.6	19:45	20:10
Ant Knolls	80.3	21:45	22:09
Pole Line	83.4	22:55	23:23
Rock Springs	87.4	24:25:00	24:45:00
Pot Bottom	93.1	26:25:00	26:42:00
Finish	100	28:30:00	28:33:02