M'kay

Cascade Crest 100

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Location:

Eatonville,WA,USA

Member Since:

Nov 01, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

Short-Term Running Goals:

Regain consistency.

Build up slowly and come out strong.

Regain "speed" (relative)

Finish WR50 again.

Improve at Cascade Crest. 

2013 Races:

  • Capital Peak Mega Fat Ass 17M (1/19) - 2:48:48
  • Yakima Skyline Rim 50K (4/21) - 7:16:20
  • Grey Rock 50K (5/13)
  • White River 50M (7/27)
  • Cascade Crest 100M (8/24-25)

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Find my true running potential, then exceed it.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Hoka Stinson B Lifetime Miles: 982.34
Hoka Stinson Evo Lifetime Miles: 452.95
Altra Provision Lifetime Miles: 139.73
Altra Torin Lifetime Miles: 380.08
Hoka Bondi 2 Lifetime Miles: 706.15
Hoka Mafate 3 Lifetime Miles: 81.12
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
180.220.000.000.00180.22
NB 860 - Blue Miles: 42.71NB MT 101 Miles: 2.11NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 24.57NB 915 Miles: 102.13
Night Sleep Time: 98.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 98.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day 0 - At the hospital 

Day 0 - Foot at the Hospital

Day 1

Day 1 

Day 2

Day 2

Day 3

Day 3

Although the swelling and discoloration is still pretty bad, I'm actually pretty encouraged.  Pain is minimal and I'm walking pretty normally.  I'm also doing some aggressive rehab and maintaining most of the strength in my ankle and am working to loosen it up to restore range of motion.  Hope to be running on level ground soon (wish I hadn't broken my treadmill a couple of months ago).  I may just be able to run Cascade Crest after all...

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.080.000.000.006.08

LM warmup, 6.08 miles in 58:47, 9:40/mi, HR 148, foam roller, stretching.

Foot still swollen but regained a bunch of range of motion, especially laterally (inversion/eversion) today after getting it adjusted by the chiro yesterday.  That was quite the experience....he was tugging and pushing on my clown foot and I kept holding on waiting for the excruciating pain, but it was all good.  Evidently its a good idea to visit a chiro after a sprain, because when you roll your ankle, your calcaneous (heel) stays in place while the rest of the bones roll.  In any event, after the adjustment yesterday, the foot was definitely stiff and a bit on the sore side, but after getting it warmed up this am with the alternating hot/cold treatment and some massage, the range of motion was much improved.

Which led me to try a slow run today.  Since it was upper 70s and sunny, the slow part wasn't a problem.  The 3 day layoff helped keep things slow too.  Some pain, probably better classified as discomfort.  Back to the hot/cold treatment after the rolling and stretching.  Good thing I like shoes on the big side, otherwise my swollen foot wouldn't have fit.

NB 860 - Blue Miles: 6.08
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

60 minutes on the recumbent exercise bike, level 1, fat burning mode, 18.4 miles.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

60 minutes on the recumbent exercise bike, level 1, endurance program, 19.19 miles.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

60 minutes on the recumbent exercise bike, level 1, endurance program, 19.26 miles.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

60 minutes on the recumbent exercise bike, level 3, interval program, 19.6 miles.  The bike is really working the glutes and quads, but not so much the hamstrings and especially not the calves.

Foot swelling has subsided from balloon level but is still substantial.  Good planarflexion, dorsiflexion merely okay, and inversion/eversion poor.  Pain in the perioneal tendons along the leg, around the ankle and into the foot.  No looseness in the ankle ligaments but the ankle overall is tight.  Went to the doctor today and despite my aversion to pain meds, he convinced me to try 10 days ibuprofin regime to knock down the inflammation and to help "speed healing".  Activities to pain tolerance, which becomes problematic once the ibuprofin kicks in and the foot feels "better".  One day at a time....

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

6o minutes recumbent bike, level 1, endurance program, 19.24 miles, core workout & stretching.

 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.110.000.000.002.11

LM warmup, 2.11 miles in 18:19, 8:40/mi, HR 145, 45 minutes recumbent exercise bike, interval program, level 4 & stretching.

Trial run.  Range of motion in the foot is improving, regaining some flexibility in my soleus, so time to test the waters.  A couple of walk breaks but things felt pretty good, considering I've run 6 miles in 2 weeks.  Left hip was as much of a problem as the ankle was.  On the bike, 4 shorter (5:37 w/ equal rest) but harder intervals got the HR up quite a bit.  

NB MT 101 Miles: 2.11
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.250.000.000.008.25

Yardwork warmup, 8.25 miles in 1:10:32, 8:33/mi, HR 149, core workout & stretching.

I broke no land speed records but at least I managed some decent mileage.  Now to see if the ankle liked it or not.  Felt really good to get out there and moving again.  Still getting more ROM from the calf stretches.   

NB 860 - Blue Miles: 8.25
Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.250.000.000.008.25

LM warmup, 8.25 miles in 1:06:29, 8:04/mi, HR 157, w/ 13 x Strides, & stretching.

Foot ached something fierce last night when I laid down to try to sleep.....took some time to ignore it enough to fall asleep.  Felt fine this morning and decent enough on the run.  The ache is mostly the achilles attachment point on the heel, but I figure its weakness leaving the body, right?  Stride is still not quite right, but today's issue was more from tired (out-of-shape) legs.  I hope a few sessions will wake them up to the fact that they couldn't possibly have lost as much fitness as they're claiming right now.  The strides were okay but tiring.  Overall, about as happy as I have any right to be. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 8.25
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.220.000.000.008.22

LM warmup, 8.22 miles in 8:10/mi, HR 158 & stretching.

16 miles in the last 2 days and my legs were trashed today.  Great.  Muddled through.  I hope they start coming around soon.  Pretty dire when I limp thru < 25 miles in 3 days and expect to run 100 at once in less than 2 weeks. 

NB 860 - Blue Miles: 8.22
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.280.000.000.008.28

LM warmup, 8.28 miles in 1:06:05, 7:59/mi, HR 162 & stretching.

Managed to keep all miles under a 9 minute pace uphill today, then suffered greatly on the return trip as my legs went from jello to mush.  HRs were pretty high throughout today, so tomorrow definitely needs to be a rest day.  Shouldn't be a problem with a 6+ hour drive in my future.

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 8.28
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.010.000.000.008.01

8.01 miles in 1:13:18, 9:09/mi, HR 164 & stretching.

Early morning run around Colfax, WA.  Ran up out of the canyon that the town is in into the hills on both sides of town.  Plenty of steep ups and downs.  Not a great run, but merely okay.

NB 860 - Blue Miles: 8.01
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.050.000.000.006.05

6.05 miles in 51:53, 8:34/mi & stretching.

Another run around Colfax, WA.  Skipped most of the hills this time around.  Left hip was freezing up again, so this run was difficult and I stopped at 6 because of time constraints. 

NB 860 - Blue Miles: 6.05
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.170.000.000.002.17

LM warmup, 2.17 miles in 20:59, 9:40/mi, HR 140 & stretching.

Terrible run.  Left hip is definitely out of adjustment and running more than 1/4 mile at a time was impossible.  Turned around and went home after 1 mile. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 2.17
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.700.000.000.008.70

8.7 miles in 1:22:38, 9:29/mi, HR 148 & stretching.

AM trip to see the chiro for an adjustment.  Then an 8.2 mile run/walk where the adjustment clearly hadn't fixed things.  Threw in some short sprints and some high-knee drills just to try to shake the hip loose.  All in all pretty crappy.  Back to the chiro in the pm and another adjustment followed by a 1/2 mile run, which did go much better.  Unfortunately, by that time, my left achilles was hurting from the earlier run.  I'm a mess.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.100.000.000.006.10

LM warmup, 6.1 miles in 55:55, 9:10/mi, HR 160 & stretching.

Slightly less crappy than yesterday but only slightly.  Hips were sore and legs were dead tired.  Ran walked most.  About the only real excuse is that it was hot and sunny and even a bit humid.  And my left achilles hurt a few miles in. 

NB 860 - Blue Miles: 6.10
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.730.000.000.001.73

LM warmup, 1.73 miles in 16:47, 9:43/mi.

1/4 mile into the run the left hip issues began again (loss of coordination, leg 'seizing').  Made it 1/2 mile then turned around, jumped in the car, and headed for the chiro.  Adjusted neck, jog (worse, hamstring & adductor kept tensing at the wrong time), adjusted sacrum (better, but now the quad felt a bit weak), then adjusted hip.  He theorized that I might have a deep groin pull and recommended some isometric exercises and waiting to run until tomorrow.  Still very frustrating.

Discovered a thread on letsrun.com "Loss of coordination in leg" that actually (finally) describes my symptoms.  There's a bunch of different stories there and I haven't read thru all of them (40+ pages) but at least I'm not completely alone.  I also see I'm not the only one who experiences symptom differences on different surfaces (asphalt/concrete bad, trails good).  I'm still holding out hope I can get to a runnable state for Saturday. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 1.73
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.140.000.000.004.14

LM warmup, 4.14 miles in 41:47, 10:05/mi, HR 154 & stretching.

Left hip locking up again.  This time the left hamstring and adductor were contracting during swing phase, shortening stride until it was really wreaking havoc on my stride.  Reverted to run/walk to get thru 4 miles.  Ran a few short fast strides afterwards, which were fine.  Also did some high knee and heel-to-butt drills without any issues.  Ankle flexibility is still lacking somewhat but improving.  Pain was tolerable.  Still holding out hope for Saturday. 

NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 4.14
Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.130.000.000.002.13

Leg swing warmup, 2.13 miles in 19:03, 8:57/mi, HR 165 & stretching.

One last quick shakeout jog in the morning.  Actually not too bad.  Yes, the left hip tightness and uncoordination came during the run BUT I managed to muddle through without walking and it seemed to be starting to work itself out and loosen up.  At its worst, I noticed my left hip muscles "tensing" for impact.  I think part of the problem might be the anticipatory pain that remains in the ankle, exacerbated by the pavement.  Maybe its anticipatory jarring of pavement alone.....looking back on the bouts, things are definitely better when I'm off-road.  I can only hope that is the case tomorrow, as I take comfort in being in the company of guys like Jeff Browning, who won last year in course record time despite banging his shin the day prior and being in pain the entire way; Scott Jurek, who won the Hardrock 100 in 2007 4 days after spraining his ankle, and our own Jon Allen, who overcame hip problem that largely sidelined him for 6 weeks prior to his first 100 miler and went on to go under 20 hours on his first try.  Thanks guys.

So, despite the worst case of nerves I've had in a long long time, I'm all in. 

NB 915 Miles: 2.13
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments(3)
Race: Cascade Crest 100 (100 Miles) 26:30:42, Place overall: 38
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
100.000.000.000.00100.00

Aid station splits up front.  Official ones are in black, blue are mine from when I departed the aid stations where they don't track time in/out.  I recorded mine when I departed the aid station (or within a few minutes if I forgot), while the official ones appear to be the arrival time.

  • Goat Peak (4mi) 0:40
  • Cole Butte (11mi) 2:20
  • Blowout Mt (16mi) 3:17
  • Tacoma Pass (23mi) 4:57
  • Snowshoe Butte (29mi) 6:53
  • Stampede Pass (33mi) 7:42
  • Meadow Mt (40mi) 9:30
  • Olallie Meadows (48mi) 11:18
  • Hyak (53mi) 12:44
  • Keechelus Ridge (60mi) 15:05
  • Lake Kachess (68mi) 16:21
  • Mineral Creek (73mi) 19:00
  • No Name (80mi) 21:08
  • Thorp Mt (84mi) 22:51
  • French Cabin (88mi) 23:58
  • Silver Creek (96mi) 25:48
  • Finish (100mi) 26:30:42

Now, onto the story.....LONG READ WARNING!!!!!

First, this is now officially the hardest thing I've ever done.  For about 70 miles I was swearing I'd never do anything like this ever again.  As a matter of fact, I spent much of the race willing myself to not drop only so that I wouldn't feel like I had unfinished business and kept going merely to get the belt buckle so I'd never have to come back.  Pretty sad, huh?  But I know some perspective will dull the bad and sharpen the good memories, so we'll see how I feel in a week.

The day started well enough.  Got up at 5am, Dianna and I drove to drop the two puppies off at the kennel, then proceeded over the pass to Easton to arrive shortly after 8am.  Nerves were really an issue....I was a mess and tried to used the drive to distract me from the looming effort.  I'd been having trouble wrapping my brain around propelling myself for 100 miles.  My injuries of late haven't helped my confidence, and neither has my mileage.  But there we were, so I dropped my drop bags and started prepping.  Problem #1....left my body glide at home, sitting on the edge of the bathtub where I'd been applying it to critical areas while getting dressed that morning.  Problem #2, putting on my compression socks, the right one ripped at the ankle, a big hole, and I'd left my other pair at home.  This was a bigger problem, since I was really counting on them to support my left ankle during the race, so I decided to apply some duct tape over the hole to attempt to keep the dirt out.  Lessons learned?  Bring extra stuff.

Got some breakfast, race brief @ 9am, US & Canadian national anthems at 9:55, and we were (finally) off at 10.  The morning was already warm and the sun was unobstructed overhead, so it would warm quickly.  The left hip started affecting my stride early, but fortunately the start was on softer gravel/dirt and relative flat roads so I just held the pace I could and hoped that it'd loosen up when the climbing started and I downshifted.  It did and those first couple of miles were the only time it bothered me at all.

I'd written up splits based on 24 hour finish.  Basically, I was just hoping for some race day magic.  The initial climb to the Goat Peak trailhead was fairly benign and I hit the first aid-station ahead of schedule.  The next climb to Goat Peak and beyond was much tougher and by the time I hit the Cole Butte aid station I was 16 minutes behind schedule.  Fortunately, I quickly recognized that a sub-24 finish was a clearly overambitious goal, so I just kept plugging along at a pace that seemed to straddle the border between reasonable and crazy.  

Hydration was already difficult.  The heat really takes it out of me and while mid 80s might not seem hot to some, I was boiling over.  The weeks before the race here in WA had not climbed into the 80s.  The week *of* the race had been in the 80s all week.  As I write this a couple of days later, we're back in clouds and the 60-70s.  Needless to say, the heat would be an issue for me.  I was running with 2 handhelds and was regularly emptying them between aid stations.  I was also pushing S! Caps every hour, which seemed to help keep my stomach on an even keel.  

Anyway, Cole Butte to Blowout Mt moved from single track to dirt roads, a long 1500' descent followed by a long 1500' climb.  I ran with another runner here for a while, Gavin, who was also a former Army officer and who had last year biked from Seattle to Mount Rainier, climbed Mount Rainier, then ran unsupported on the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier, in sequence.  Wow.  Made me feel a little less crazy but a whole lot impressed.  Gavin left me behind on the climb as I downshifted once again to a power hike.  Rolled into Blowout Mountain aid station at 3:17, now over 20 minutes behind my original schedule.

Don't really remember much about the stretch to Tacoma Pass, but I think this was the section where I ran across Davy Crockett.  Had a chance to introduce myself briefly and make some likely inane passing comments, but I was anxious to make progress and to cover as much distance in the daylight as possible.  I think this was the section where I had to make a fairly quick potty stop, but it was brief.  Tacoma Pass arrived at the 4:57 mark, now 31 minutes behind. 

Instead of spending some time there to rehydrate and refuel better, I left fairly quickly, anxious to cover the mile or so remaining before hopping onto the Pacific Coast Trail for 30+ miles.  The trails and roads so far were nice, but I'd really been looking forward to the PCT section since signing up for the race.  It didn't disappoint.  The trails provided some nice shade, scenery, and diversity, covering exposed hillsides with views, cool shady forests, and much in-between.  If my back hadn't really started acting up at this point, I'd probably really have enjoyed it more, but it did.  Friday I'd made a last visit to the chiro for an adjustment and I think he went a bit overboard...by late friday afternoon my back was stiffening up.  Foam roller treatment worked those kinks out, but it was tightening again and no foam rollers were in sight for at least another 75 miles.  An aching back would follow me for the rest of the race.

Got a brief pickup from the cross-country team manning the Snowshoe Butte aid station (6:53, 55 minutes back), considered stopping to address a blister on my right foot that I'd been feeling for several miles but decided to wait until the first set of drop bags at Stampede Pass and pushed on.  Coming thru the aid stations was a real highlight, as mentally I was struggling trying to deal with the distance, both behind and ahead of me.  In fact, I probably spent miles 15 to about 70 or so with serious thoughts of quitting, which I managed to stave off by convincing myself that I'd regret it later, wind up signing up for another 100 again, and then would have to cover the entire distance, whereas if I just kept on going, there was only X miles left.  Makes sense, right?  It did at the time.

Stampede Pass came at the 7:42 mark, 59 minutes behind schedule.  Here I did take some extra time to get my lights, pack my arm sleeves and gloves, and grab some additional honey stingers, as well as to grab some additional liquids and food.  I definitely got behind on liquids during the day, but foods I was still doing okay and was managing to keep at least one GU down per segment in addition to grazing at the aid stations.  

The trip to Meadow Mountain (9:30, 1:15 behind) and on to Olallie Meadows (11:18, 1:28 behind) was long.  Darkness started descending after Meadow Mountain and I got passed by several runners in this section.  The nice thing was that the heat of the day was passing but I was feeling pretty wiped, hurt pretty badly, had little energy, and still had well over 50 miles to go.  The pierogi's at Olallie Meadows were a good pickup....actually, the food at each aid station was a real boost each time I got there.....watermelon, pierogi, ravoli, potato and chicken noodle soup, and quesedillas all took their turns during the race giving me a boost.  Olallie Meadows was the first aid station where I allowed myself to sit down for a couple of minutes and it was heavenly, but I made myself get going quickly lest I never want to depart.  After Olallie meadows, it was off the PCT, down a steep aggregate gravel road to the ropes and then the tunnel.

The ropes were absolutely required.  If I'd had a harness and carabiner I could've just repelled straight down, but instead it was a combination walk/slide/dangle event until I finally lowered myself onto the John Wayne trail, a blessedly smooth gravel (former rail) trail with a slight uphill climb thru a 2+ mile tunnel.  I seemed to catch a bit of a second wind here and made some good time in this section, passed a couple of runners, and emerged from the other side looking for all the turns to the Hyak aid station.  Got a bit disoriented twice trying to find the arrows and markings but didn't get far off course and stumbled into Hyak, the notional half-way mark, at 12:44 (1:16 behind).  A good section where I even managed to make up some time.

Dianna and Blue were waiting for me at Hyak, big boost #1.  Half-way, big boost #2.  Easy place to drop, big minus #1.  2-1 for continuing but a surprise bonus pushed me onwards.....a runner named Nick came up and asked if I'd like a pacer to Lake Kachess.  That was like asking me if I'd like to win the lottery.  So after some soup, another dip into the drop bag to grab my cobbled together garmin recharge device (USB charger and the charging cable), change my shirt and some more stinger gels, we were off.

Nick was a godsend.  He got me chatting and took my mind off the fact that I'd been at this over 12 hours now and face yet another climb, although this one was on gravel roads.  Nick's uncle is running the Ultrarunning Grand Slam this year (uh, wow) and thought it'd be a good idea for Nick to experience an 100 mile ultra, so he and his buddy should offer to pace runners from Hyak to Lake Kachess, where his uncle was volunteering at the aid station.  During our time together, I discovered that while Nick was a outdoors kind of guy, he was really just getting into endurance running and this would officially be the longest run he'd done.  I might've been more concerned had I been more conscious, but I was glad for the company.  When I planned to run this, I figured I'm used to running alone and could handle no pacer easily.  Well, I might've made it, but having Nick along really helped.  The long climb to Keechelus Ridge (15:05, 1:40 behind) went faster than it would've otherwise, especially since the climbing gear in my transmission was gone.  The descent to Lake Kachess (16:21, 1:55 behind) was a bit brutal as by this time my quads were shot and every downhill step hurt.  We passed some people and got passed by others, but Nick got me there and gave me a mental break that I really needed before the last section of the race.  Sorry about all the whining and talk about quitting, Nick!

Lake Kachess was a great aid station.  I spent some time in a chair there getting tended to by the Grey Rock 50K race director, putting back some soup, and steeling myself for what came next.  This aid station is listed as the place to quit if you're not up for the remaining 30+ miles.....the next section, the Trail From Hell, is described as nothing less than brutal and leads further into the backcountry where places to catch a ride back are extremely limited.  But, after 5 minutes, Nick chased me out of the chair, helped me stash my watch recharger (worked great, got the whole 26+ hours course recorded on my garmin) and raid my last drop bag and got me to the TFH trailhead, where I bid him farewell.  

The race manual says not to worry about pace in this section.  I might've taken that a bit too literally, but the initial bush-whack just to *get* to the TFH was....hellish.  Climbing over, under, and around blowdowns was really tough, especially this late in the race where just bending and moving select joints was not easy.  Then I got to a section where I almost made a big mistake....I lost the trail, couldn't see the next trail markers, and was trying to decide between 2 fairly well established and wide trails.  It just didn't seem right.....and after wandering between them for a few minutes, I finally decided to go back to the last marker and slowly turn 360 degrees.  Then I spied the distant marker in the other direction away from the nice trails and straight down towards the creek/river.  Oh boy, a couple of logs across a pretty wide stream/river crossing where balance would be an issue.  I gave myself a 50/50 chance....and actually made it.

So now I'm on the TFH and it doesn't initially seem as bad as advertised, but it really was.  Plenty of steep rollers, unkempt trails, washouts, blowdowns, and just generally slow going.  I had my handheld light out since it was brighter, but carrying it with 2 bottles really made for slow going.  About the only thing that pushed me periodically was the sound of others behind me....I was sick and tired of getting passed.  I was maintaining a *blistering* 26:xx/mi pace thorough this section.  A few small stream crossing throughout and another wider and deeper one at the end where I felt sure I was going in since the crossing log was tiny.  Threw my handhelds across, managed to dive to a stump that was 1/3 across to resteady myself and somehow managed to take the 3 or 4 steps to arrive mostly safe and dry at the other side.  By the time I hit the Mineral Creek aid station at 19:00 (1:59 behind) I was *so* ready for some nice gravel roads.  I lingered a bit long here until another runner who'd been lingering even longer than I finally departed, so I left shortly thereafter to give chase.

The 3000' 7 mile climb up to No Name Ridge was a long slow grind, but the sun was coming up and I was starting to feel a bit better (or less worse).  I caught and put some distance between myself and the runner ahead and caught and passed another later.  During the climb, I saw some behind me that were maintaining a decent hike pace so I kept pushing as much as I could so they wouldn't overtake me.  Ditched the light about 1/2 way up.  Rolled into No Name Ridge at 21:08, 1:57 behind).  Only a few minutes spent here and I was off to give chase to some runners that had left when I'd arrived.

Back to single-track for the remainder of the race until getting back into Easton and the finish area.  This section contained the first of the "Cardiac Needles", meant to reflect their extremely steep climb/descend nature.  Supposedly 5 in total, 3 between No Name and Thorp Mountain (1 itself), with one after.  Well, there may be 3 official ones, but there were plenty of other steep climbs and descents.   Nonetheless, I managed to find both a climbing and descending gear again for a while.  I'd stopped taking S! Caps overnight once it cooled off and that may have been a mistake, because my quads felt sore but better after taking them and on the gentler downhills I managed to make up some time.  Not particularly speedy, but better.  Got to Mt. Thorp and trudged to the top for my "proof of summit" ticket, got barked at by the ranger's dog that lives at the cabin on the peak (great view), and got my Glenn Tachyiama happy-snaps.  The descent was the worst....my quads were done again and every step was agony.  Finally got to the Thorp Mt aid station at 22:51 (2:20 behind), grabbed some more water and some snacks, and left.

One more needle and a short trip to the next aid station.  Unfortunately, quite a bit was downhill that I could not longer walk, much less run, and I shuffled as fast as I could.  It was getting warm again quickly and I was going thru water just as fast.  Got to French Cabin in under an hour (23:58, 2:07 behind), took a brief seat, grabbed some more quesadillas and headed out for the final climb and the descent back to the final aid station.

This section was a slow blur.  A blur because I was tired and getting hot again and just wanted to be done.  Slow because I was tired and just couldn't run for very long on the descents.  About the only reason I ran it as fast as I did was that I had some runners on my tail the entire time.  They nearly caught me once (the pacer did, the runner was still a ways back), which spurred me on to just accept the pain and run as much as I could.  I'd run anywhere from 10' sections to 1/2 mile, depending on the terrain, but was reduced to shuffling down steeper portions.  Numerous stream crossing were in the stretch, which soaked my feet and reminded me about the blister on my right foot I'd been nursing since early in the race, but I was too far in to worry about much aside from getting done as quick as I could.  Arrived at the Silver Creek aid station at 25:48 (2:35 behind), refilled my empty water bottles and got moving quickly, hearing the volunteers start cheering for another runner coming in.

The final 4-5 miles was just hard.  Mostly flat or rolling, which was nice.  Dirt road (okay) and pavement (ouch).  Definitely hot and definitely smelling the barn.  I tried to run as much as I could until my breathing got out of control or I just ran out of juice, regroup and repeat.  I was really afraid I'd get passed here if I wasn't pushing, and I thought I had the 3rd place female bearing down on me (as it turned out, she was the 4th place woman).  Took what seemed like forever, but I finally hit the outskirts of Easton, made it into town, then across the gravel lot to the Firestation and the finish.  26:30:42, 2:30:42 behind my 24 hr target, enough for 38th place overall. Charlie Crissman, the RD, met me at the finish with my brand new Belt Buckle....way cool.  Gave Dianna a big smelly sweaty hug and stumbled into the shade of the firehouse to sit, soak my feet, get some food and drink, and attempt to recover.

As it turns out, the blister on my foot had long ago popped and was about silver dollar sized.  Amazing it didn't hurt worse on the course, although it made up for that error later.  I crashed pretty quickly and Dianna managed to get me packed off into the car for the trip back to pick up the puppies and for home.  I even managed to sleep in the car for a bit (quite rare for me). 

So quite the adventure.  There was a good 70+ miles in the race where I swore I was miserable and would never do something this idiotic ever again.  Of course, I knew at the time that was probably a big lie...I'm already thinking about next year.  It was definitely a new experience for me and quite rewarding (now that its over!)

NB 915 Miles: 100.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.50
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Legs are still pretty sore.  Blister is healing nicely.  Ankles have been the worst so far....they intermittently ache, so badly at times that it's woken me up at night for the last couple of nights and prevented solid sleep.  But I feel like I'm finally starting to recover and might feel human again this weekend.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
180.220.000.000.00180.22
NB 860 - Blue Miles: 42.71NB MT 101 Miles: 2.11NB 860 - Black #2 Miles: 24.57NB 915 Miles: 102.13
Night Sleep Time: 98.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 98.00
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