I ran 100 miles! I still can't get over that. Every day that passes since the race, and unfortunately it's been a few now (Tony's note – OK, 3 weeks before posting this report!), I'm a bit tardy in putting my thoughts to screen, the entire event just seems so surreal. I expected to be sore, VERY sore for several days and yes, I woke up in the middle of the night on Sunday and felt like I had been run over by a truck. But then the strangest thing happened. On Monday morning I called my wife over to watch me walk down stairs…semi-normal! Typically I spend a couple of days walking down the stairs backwards, much easier on the quads, but there I was Monday looking like a regular human being!By Wednesday I felt mostly back to normal. This from a guy that used to waddle for a week after marathons! On Thursday I had enough, I woke up at my usual time of 4:45 AM, I was to the gym when it opened at 5 AM and I lifted weights and spent half an hour, easy mind you, on the elliptical machine. On Friday it was 45 minutes and on Saturday I did a 45 minute ride up Mount Kilimanjaro with my wife (OK, on the bike at the gym, it was the Mt. Kilimanjaro program). The reason I'm going on and on about my recovery is a) let's face it, to feed my ego and to have people reading this to say, "wow, what a real man!" but more importantly b) to let people know who stumble upon this race report prior to running their first 100 mile run and read one that says it was a GOOD EXPERINECE. That is wasn't even remotely as bad as many that I've read.
I'd love to explore this further at some point in the future. Since I've been doing ultras, roughly 12 months, I've definitely run more and suffered less than I have during my entire running career. I always point back to one distinct moment about 7 or 8 years ago. I worked for a software company and often had to go upstairs to talk to engineers (insert engineer jokes here, there are plenty). I remember walking up the stairs thinking, "Man, my legs are tired!" And I thought to myself, they'll always be tired thanks to the fact that I'm a "Marathon runner!" Well, here I am 7 or 8 years later an "Ultramarathon runner" and I don't have those same thoughts. I can run day after day and the legs feel fine. I really think a big part of that is that now I ALWAYS run with a handheld water bottle. Whether I'm running 3 miles or 13 on a weekday morning I run with water and I down an entire bottle. I believe that helps with recovery. I also eat immediately after I'm done. A yogurt, banana, apple, etc. Anyway, something to explore another day. I realize if I keep this up now I'll never finish this race report.
Race reports are wonderful, by the way and I read them all. Sure, they're self-indulgent, but I think they can serve a purpose whether to learn, motivate, etc. Short, long, I read any 100 mile race report that I could find in preparation for my first hundred and the majority of them talked about losing toenails, gigantic blisters, hallucinations, extreme low points. I had myself a tiny bit freaked out about what this whole adventure was going to look and feel like. And now, looking back, I almost feel like I didn't get my money's worth! No blisters, no extreme lows, my legs stayed with me until the mid-80's, I didn't puke (although I did come close), I didn't fall, I didn't yell at anybody, I just had a great time! Well, actually I did have one injury of sorts, more on that later.
UPDATE – Here I am almost two weeks post-run and I might lose a toenail! Whohoo! It'll be my first! Not exactly as exciting as having our first child, but my left-middle toenail is purplish-black. I'm afraid to cut it, touch it, etc., but my wife definitely thinks that thing is coming off. I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment when my pacer Derek emailed me a day after finishing Rio and simply said, "Welcome to the club." I expect similar good feelings in joining the lost toenail club. DOUBLE UPDATE – Now almost three weeks post race and I think it's just some sort of blood concentration in my toe. Bummer!
So if you find yourself reading this report prior to your first 100, if you're unsure whether or not you can run a 100, if you're signed up to run the Rio Del Lago 100, you can do it!
OK, onto the race report…
I have to say that about 3 weeks ago I decided I was going to finish, regardless. I know that sounds kind of like a no-brainer, but I truly do believe you have to take the "I might not finish" out of your mind set. Pacer extraordinaire Derek Semanski emailed me a couple of days prior to the race and shared some information that he had provided his crew prior to his successful Western States 100 run last year (24 hours and some change). He said that he told them no matter what he said during the race, he wanted them to make him keep running, unless he had sustained an injury that could cause some long-term damage. I liked that idea, so I shared that with my crew.
So I was mentally ready for whatever the day gave me. I've heard folks use the term "death march" to describe what the last miles of a 100 can feel like. I even read a report where a guy said he did a 55 mile death march to the finish. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to resort to walking it in but I wanted to finish above all, so death march or not, I was going to do it.
Part of the reason is I have such a darned big ego! I let FAR too many people know I was running the race. I didn't want to have to craft a story about me being TOO fast that they pulled me for fear of my health, or that I got bit by a rattlesnake or something like that. Now, to be honest, worst case, I was prepared to slather my calf with beef gravy and let my two yorkies have at it and tell people I was attacked by a bear! Thankfully that would not be necessary!
Truthfully, telling a bunch of people was some pretty serious motivation. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Leading up to Boston I not only told a zillion people, but I took advantage of technology and put together an email list of folks that would get updates of my progress along the Boston course thanks to a chip attached to my shoe. That turned out to be a terrible idea. What a hundred or so friends and family were able to watch was my complete disintegration via email. They saw me start fast and then every 5k they received an update that saw me slow down a bit, then a bit more, and then, if they did the math, found me basically crawling the last 10k of the race course. Here I was, once again, letting the whole world know that I was about to run 100 miles. If I failed I'd have to deal with a few days of why I didn't make it. It was much easier to simply go with, "I did it!"
This is me inserting random pictures to break up all of the text. This picture was taken at the Maidu Aid Station about 46 miles into the race.
I wish I would have kept track of all the foods I ate, salt tablets I consumed, but I didn't. My plan was to go with a GU Gel every 45 minutes, a salt tablet every hour and I was trying my best to pound about 48 oz. of fluid each hour as well. I carried two hand-held bottles, one with pure water, the other with a rather potent mix of 5 scoops of GU2O and one scoop of Endurox. More on that later. I ate boiled potatoes dipped in salt, I had soup, broth, tried a PB&J, a grilled cheese, I ate several packs of Shot Blocks (those were good!) and Jelly Beans (went down great!) and made it about half way through a pack of Sharkies (not working for me). After about 35 miles or so I had my first craving…Mtn. Dew. I don't drink Mtn. Dew, but for some reason it sounded great…and it was. Again, more on that later. Heck, I just gave the view from 30,000 feet, let's get to the details!
Let's go back in time.
I was born on an overcast November day in 1969, the 24th to be exact. OK, too far back, let me fast forward a bit. I've written on more than one occasion that I'm still a newbie when it comes to ultra marathons. A year ago in June I volunteered at the Western States 100 mile endurance run (and almost backed out at the last minute!), met my ultra running sensei (and Lincoln neighbor) Jeffery Johnston and the rest is history, sort of. Despite hitting the ultra scene running (literally) I had no desire to run a 100 mile race. Last October I was signed up to run the St. George marathon, and Jeffery talked me into running a 50k the next weekend. Still not sure how he did that, but we ran it and I was hooked. 6 more 50k's and one 50 miler and, to be honest, I was pretty pleased with myself as an ultra runner. I figured IF I ever did a 100 mile run it would be NEXT year…and when next year came it would be pushed out to the NEXT year. I truly wasn't feeling the call of the 100.
Jeffery got into Western States and he asked me to pace him. I was pretty content with pacing him the last 40 miles, taking a few summer months off before deciding how much I wanted to race the end of this year. Well, Western States was cancelled thanks to all of our forest fires and Jeffery, in 100 mile shape, said, "Let's do Rio Del Lago together!" I believe we were at a deadline for entry, not that you couldn't get into the race, but you'd save $10 for registering early. So for that $10 savings I made the decision on a Friday afternoon in an attempt to get my entry post-marked. I was in. And shortly thereafter Jeffery was out! He had a bad case of Achilles tendonitis. His Dr. recommended he take a couple of months off of running. So that led me to A LOT of solo long runs. For about a month and a half I bumped up my daily mileage to somewhere between 7-9 miles a day and I tried to do a marathon distance or more every Saturday.
At about 5 weeks out I did a 32 mile run in 100 plus degree heat, then 4 weeks out I did a 35 miler, again in the heat and 3 weeks out I was planning on doing 40-something miles on a Friday afternoon in the middle of the heat but I only made it about 28 and I was done. I was a tiny bit burned out at that point. I was doing 70+ mile weeks, it was hot and I was done. Some afternoons I would come home from work, and in the name of a "heat workout" I'd run another 4 or 5 miles as long as it was over 100. This was on top of the morning running.
One particular day I ran a half marathon distance in the AM, then, since it had hit 105 I decided to do a quick 5 miles when I got home. I had just gotten out of the shower and my two oldest daughters asked if I'd run with them in anticipation of their upcoming 5k. Never wanting to discourage them from running I said sure and we ran about 3 miles together, so there I was in the middle of the week running 21 miles. Even with that said I wondered if I was underprepared in the weeks leading up to Rio. There were a lot of folks saying that they typically ran at least one 50 mile training run leading up to a hundred mile race. My last 50 miler had been at the American River 50 mile race in April! (Tony's note – In re-reading the race report, which took several days mind you, I realize this might be as good as any point to say I think in the future I could get away with actually a bit less in the weekly mileage department. I probably would be too paranoid to do so, but I really think I could have).
The taper
I'll try to make this section short. I decided on a 3 week taper. Jeffery helped me work out a schedule that had me stopping my weight lifting a week and a half out. I had also made the decision to stop eating ice cream 3 weeks out. That was hard! I eventually caved and allowed myself to eat it only on Saturday nights. So on Saturday I would essentially cram an entire quart into a bowl. Those bowls were stacked to the sky, and I finished them, no problem. But I wasn't running much, I was taking a couple of days off each week and it was starting to drive me crazy. The last 3 days leading up to the race I did some serious carbo-loading (potatoes, noodles, deli sandwiches) and drank Gatorade like crazy and I hit the pre-race weigh in definitely NOT feelings like an ultra runner. I'll share my weight because a) I'm not a girl and b) it comes into play later in the report. I hit the scales around 168, a solid 6 lbs above my normal cruising weight which is a solid 10 lbs above where I'd really like to be. As a matter of fact as I sit here on the couch typing this report I can see my monitor for my desktop computer. I have it set to randomly show pictures from my computer. It just popped one up from this summer, me getting ready to jump in a pool. After I go crazy with junk food this week I really need to a) lose those extra 10 lbs and b) look into some sort of self-tanning crème! (Tony's note – 3 weeks later and I'm still eating ice cream every night, yeah baby!)
Pre Race Meeting
Friday before the race all runners met at Cavitt Elementary School in Granite Bay to receive pre-race packets, to get instruction for race day and to weigh in. There were several familiar faces at the check-in, and once again I was amazed at the shapes and sizes of those who ran 100's. There were very young (16-year old phenom Michael Kanning, with his sights set on a sub-20 hour finish) and very old. There were people who seemed to be a tad bit on the chunky side and there were others who came in looking like typical runners, i.e. skinny.
Rio Del Lago is run by race director Norm Klein. Norm is a character. He's 70 years old and he is very much still a runner. Two weeks before the race there was an organized training run covering the final 17 miles of the course. Norm wanted to keep the training run free, so he couldn't go pull a permit to let us all do our own thing, mark the trails, have aid stations, etc., so he told us we'd be staying together. The way he ensured that we'd stay together is that he led us on the first 6 miles of the run! We had a train of close to 50 people running single track trails. We stopped several times along the way whenever a) Norm came to a spot that reminded him of a story or b) whenever Norm needed a break. Ultimately the training run was a lot of fun despite it taking a LONG time to complete. I joked that Norm was like a docent for Sutter's Mill or somewhere like that, filling us in on the history of a particular stretch of trail, telling us a story about a previous runner, or spinning a tale about how the skunk got its stripe.
Norm was truly in his element at the pre-race meeting sharing stories of bravado (he got into an altercation with a gentleman the day before the race who was pulling down the trail markers because he felt that trail runners left too much garbage on the trail – this will come into play in a mere 20 pages or so) and stories of inspiration. He pulled several runners out of the crowd and told us stories about fast times or miraculous finishes. He let us know that it's hard to drop from one of his races. He said if you're thinking about dropping you have to inform an aid station captain who will then call Norm and have you talk to Norm. By the time you're done you're back on the course!
Norm announced that this was his final year heading up RDL and that he was talking to a few folks about possibly taking over the race. I'm glad to have run Norm's final hundred but I was also a bit disappointed to think that the race could disappear. With it in my backyard, I had already decided if all went well I would like to do this one more than once.
He also answered a question about how well the trail was marked. He said you could close your eyes and reach out your hands and feel the markers. This is called foreshadowing!
My Crew
Since Jeffery couldn't pace me he became my crew chief. I also was able to grab his pacer, sub-24 hr Western States finisher Theo Wirth. Theo would pick me up at Cavitt Elementary and take me the last 33 miles. I initially had planned on having a couple of my local running buddies, Kevin and Cody pace me from the Auburn Overlook to Cavitt, around 21 miles. Kevin and Cody had recently both completed their first half marathons, both had great races. I had taken them both up to the trails and they both seemed to enjoy the experience. Then I talked Kevin into driving down to Oakland with me and running the 30k portion of the Pacific Coast Trail Runs Sequoia run. More on that in my Sequoia report, but let's just say the day wasn't kind to the 17-year-old Kevin. He, for all intents and purposes, retired from running after the 30k.
Cody felt so great after his half that he put in for the St. George marathon lottery, and got in! He then went on a 5 or 6 week no-running bender and decided to back out of the marathon. So I had no one for that section of the course. At first I thought I'd be fine, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted a pacer for that section of the course. I didn't know the course, and I would cross that mental threshold of 51 miles, longest I had ever run. Luckily Derek Semanski had dropped me a note and asked how my training was going. I've been a big Derek fan since meeting him on the trails close to a year ago. He has been extremely supportive when I've run with him, and he's cheered me on both at the American River 50 and the Way Too Cool 50k. He's by far the coolest cucumber I've ever met. Even keel and I really like that about him. He's also finished Western States with a time of just over 24 hours, so I know this cat can run!
I started feeling Derek out, asking him if he was planning on being around for any of the race. When he threw out in an email that he was going to hang out at Cavitt and be ready as an emergency pacer I ran into that open door crack and asked him if he could pace me from the Overlook to Cavitt. He agreed and I suddenly had quite the All Star team!
I had lunch with Jeffery the day before the race and he had mentioned that he'd been told he was a type A personality a couple of times that week. For your crew chief that's a good thing! I've seen his garage, the guy is organized, plus you should have seen his pre-Western States crew handbook. I swear it was 50 pages; it had everything from what he'd need, how he'd feel and what to do if the weather turned, all broken down in 5 degree increments (OK maybe not that detailed). When we established that he'd be my crew chief about 2 months prior to the race he asked me weekly if I had my race plan laid out. I finally told him that I'd be lucky to have my act together the day before the race. I showed him, though; I had all my stuff laid out TWO days before the race.
My Plan
OK, so for those aspiring to run their first hundred here's my advice…hire Jeffery to be your crew chief and ask Derek and Theo to pace you, period, end of story. I read a couple of race reports this past week of folks who either tried to run a) solo, without a crew or pacer or b) who ran with a crew full of non-runners and it was a completely different ball game. You should have seen the organization and the precision of my team. I bought them all matching shirts and running hats. I decided not to put my name on the shirts, though, because I figured that'd guarantee they'd be a "one and done" shirt. We looked good!
One crew experience stands out, and it summed up the day for me. First, I'm terrible at remembering aid station names, but it was when Derek and I came running into one of the "Bar" aid stations, either Horseshoe Bar or Rattlesnake Bar. I was feeling GREAT. First, Derek had a funny thing that he'd do before an aid station. Despite the fact that our plan had been for him to lead, me to follow, when we knew we were close he'd tell me to take the lead. "You go in first and get the glory." That was awesome because by this point in the race the runners were so spread out that when you did come into an aid station you were a bit of a rock star for that minute or two.
We came into this particular aid station and immediately I feel like a NASCAR car in a pit stop. I stop and Jeffery hands me a cold Ensure, "Sip it, not too fast!" Then he starts talking to Derek, "How's he doing, what's he eating?" Meanwhile he now has a cold towel on the back of my neck and another in my hand; I'm wiping the sweat from my bald head and wiping off my arms. I also notice he has my fanny pack and he's replenishing my gels, my salt. Derek is telling him what I've been eating, that I'm running well. My wife is right there beside me and she says, "Is it weird that they're talking about you and you're standing right here?" I just smiled and said, "It's awesome!" Then I said in my best caveman, "Tony job run, Derek make Tony eat, Jeffery keep Tony happy, Tony happy, Tony run!"
And so it was throughout the race. Tony run, Tony happy! When I pulled into an aid station where Jeffery was it was towels, pack check, Ensure, change of socks, lube (and later in the race rubber glove for amount of lube necessary, more on THAT later). My only craving of the day was Mtn. Dew. I told Jeffery I wanted one when I was up around Cool, in the 30-something mile range. I really just wanted a cold, carbonated soda and I knew as a non-caffeine drinker that the caffeine would probably do a number on me to pick me up. And I used to drink a TON of Mtn. Dew, Diet Mtn. Dew to be precise, prior to giving them up. Jeffery had 4 bottles waiting on ice for me by the time I hit the Overlook. Later in the race when my tummy was struggling a little bit that Mtn. Dew hit the spot! Then sometime around 3 or 4 AM when my system was raw that was like liquid lightening, definitely kept me going.
Seriously, though, if Jeffery, Derek and Theo aren't available, or if their asking price is too high after announcing their precision to the world, I can't stress enough how important and comforting it was to have such a good crew. Only 50 people finished the race, 46 dropped. I never really experienced any of the lows, the concerns over heat, any of that and I truly believe it's because Jeffery kept me so well hydrated, cooled, fed.
The night before the start
RDL is local so I was able to sleep in my own bed. I grabbed Spaghetti Factory on the way home (marinara and browned butter with mazithra cheese, if you haven't tried the browned butter yet you are truly missing out) and learned that my three girls were spending the night at a friends. That left just the boy and he goes down easily. He was asleep by 8:30 PM and the house was quiet. It was perfect. I was actually able to get to bed by around 9:45 PM. You often read that the night before the night before the race is your best bet for sleep. That night I had gotten to bed around 10 PM but I woke up at 4 AM, wide awake. I only mention this because thinking about running through the night is strange enough for the race, but if you keep in mind that most folks only got a couple of hours of sleep the night before, it's just amazing what the human body can do!
Race morning
I set the alarm for 3:30 AM. Once again, Jeffery, the man, insisted that he pick me up and take me to the start. He said he didn't want me driving home by myself after the race. There was a chance my family wouldn't be able to make the finish. I didn't need the alarm, I woke up around 2:45 AM and went downstairs and watched TV and ate a couple of granola bars and started drinking more Gatorade. Man I was getting sick of Gatorade! Quick side note, at the pre-race meeting some students were doing a hydration and electrolyte study on those of us who wanted to participate. They claimed they would be able to tell you how hydrated you were pre-race and then give you some reading afterward. At the pre-race check I was told I was very well hydrated. That actually took a bit of the edge off and I eased up a bit on my drinking Friday night and Saturday before the race.
Jeffery was going to pick me up at 4:45 AM, the race started at 6 AM and we were about 35 to 40 mins from the start. I was ready to go at 4:30 AM so I walked into the living room to wait by the window. There was Jeffery. Turns out he didn't get much sleep either, so off we went.
The Start
Start slow, start slow, start slow. I had been rehearsing this mantra for weeks. I knew it was the right thing to do, although I can't lie, every now and again I thought, "maybe I could just go for it, run at a decent clip for 50 miles and then struggle the rest of the way in!" Thankfully I stuck to my game plan.
I can now admit one dumb thing I did the week before the race. I have a friend named Darren. Darren works for REI, his title is something like Outdoor Program Manager. He plans hikes for a living. He has a great job. He told me that he needed to go up Highway 50 and scout a trail for a potential hike with a group sometime next spring. He told me the trail was only 7 or 8 miles and that we'd take it nice and easy. I figured I would be going crazy with my taper by then and a nice walk would do me good.
Darren and I headed out at 5 AM the Tuesday before RDL. We drove almost two hours and eventually found a trail head somewhere near a ski resort up Highway 50. We were up around 8500 feet. It was cold! He was dressed like an REI hiker, and I was dressed like a trail runner, I was freezing! I had brought one 24 oz handheld full of Propel (no real calories to speak of) and a couple of Cliff Shot Blocks and a package of jelly beans. The plan was a nice easy walk, and have me back home by 1 PM so I could get back to work.We immediately started heading straight up a hill and did so for almost two miles. I don't know if it was the altitude but I was breathing hard. It was also quite a climb and all I could think of is that I was ruining my legs I had worked so hard to a) train and then b) taper. We eventually met up with the Pacific Crest Trail, a trail that runs from Canada to Mexico. It was beautiful and we were well above 9000 feet.
Darren will forever be linked to me for something that happened on the trail. I've been asked on numerous occasions if trail runners go to the bathroom on the trail? Well, of course we do! At least that's what I've heard. Sure, I've gone number one plenty of times on the trail but the other? Well, let's just say the call of the wild has never taken over in my year of trail running. I don't know if it was the hills, the altitude, whatever it was, this rookie was ready for a new experience on the trail and I let Darren know that something special was indeed about to happen. He asked me if I knew the rules of "dumping in the woods?" I said that I was pretty good at it at home so I figured I'd be able to manage.
The next thing I knew we were off the trail and he was showing me how deep to dig a hole, what to do with the displaced dirt, etc. Well, let's just say all went better than anticipated, memory created…kudos to Darren!
We stopped at one point and Darren was showing me how his hand-held GPS worked. He punched back in our start point and it said we still had 4 miles to go to get back to the car. We were already at 6.7 miles. I thought we only had a little over a mile to go. All of a sudden our time goal was in jeopardy and our easy distance goal was shot. Darren asked if I wanted to run, and I said sure! We ran a very, very easy pace the final 4 miles, somewhere between 10 and 11 min miles and made it back quickly. But the potential damage was done. I had drained my water bottle and eaten all my food. We ended up putting in just under 11 miles with 4 of them running. I was a tad bit worried I would pay for this, especially based on the fact that according to my taper plan I was supposed to jog 3 miles easy that morning.When I got home I emailed Jeffery and told him I was going to pass on my last easy run Wednesday morning. I told him I had gone up and easy-walked a trail with my REI buddy and that I'd just sleep in the rest of the week. Deep inside I was starting to panic that I'd done some damage rather foolishly with just a few days prior to the race. I made a vow to take this excuse to my grave, however, if I did indeed blow up at the race because I could just hear folks saying, "you did an 11 mile run at altitude 3 days prior to your first hundred with limited food and water!? How dumb can you get?"
The Start Part 2I had already joked with Monica Moore that I was going to simply follow her and draft off of her at the start. I've always felt that Monica was a far stronger runner than me based on a few training runs I've been on with her as part of a larger group of runners I've trained with. At my last 50k, Sequoia, I went out ahead of Monica, Jeffery, and Terry, a few others that I knew and I never saw them the rest of the day. I have to admit I thought I had beaten them all by a good margin. Immediately after I crossed the finish line I glanced back to see if anybody was close and I saw Monica looking like she had just started! She came in a couple of minutes after me. The only problem was that race had a 30k loop and a 20k loop. When we compared times later, I had her by 25 minutes after the 30k loop. That means that she made up 2 mins/mile on me on the 20k loop and I thought I was running it pretty well! So I did the math, dropped a zero, carried the two, and I figured Monica would beat me by a couple of hours at Rio.
I also knew that Monica had been trained by Julie Fingar, a well known ultra runner and great coach in our area. Julie trained Jeffery for his Western States bid as well so I saw all the effort Julie puts into training her runners. From weekly mileage to developing goals and running mantras, you name it, she covered it. I knew that Julie would have a solid race plan for Monica, so I can't lie, I thought if I stayed with Monica as long as possible I was essentially getting the benefit of Julie's coaching!
Monica told me that she was going to run with Deb Paquin and that they were going to go out SLOW. She told me I was welcome to tag along but she didn't think I'd be able to stand it.Starting with Monica and Deb was easy thanks to the fact that I didn't bring a headlamp for the start. I had read that although it was dark, enough people brought lights that those who didn't could run off the lights of others. It briefly dawned on me that if everybody thought like I did we were all out of luck, but thankfully many came prepared with lights. Deb took the middle, Monica on one side and me on the other. Norm yelled "GO!" right at 6 AM and we were off!
Everything I had read about the start was true. All the worry, fear anxiety of the last couple of weeks, the pent up excitement of the taper, everything was gone once we started running. It was dark, but we started on rolling ups and downs on a fairly wide dirt road. I've started and stopped this race report so many times I may have covered this already, but my plan was to break the race down into segments. The first being from the start to the Overlook in Auburn, some 23 miles into the run. I figured I could coast the first 23 miles. How funny was that to put the race into that kind of perspective? Coast almost a full marathon, but you had to, that left 77 miles to go!
I remember my Garmin 305 GPS watch beeping at me as we hit the first mile. I glanced down at my watch and it was somewhere in the 11 minute range. Success! I couldn't tell you the last time I ran an 11 minute mile that wasn't a hill. I truly felt like I could run at that pace all day. I can't lie, I got semi-freaked out shortly after thinking only 99 more miles to go! I yelled it out loud and nobody really found it funny.
Start to Twin RocksI really enjoyed the first part of the course. I continued to run with or by Monica and Deb up to the first aid station, Twin Rocks, around the 4 mile mark. It was starting to get light. I glanced down at the watch and we were pushing 50 mins. We had actually SLOWED the pace a bit, and that was perfect. I knew I should theoretically eat something at every aid station but at 4 miles I just couldn't quite pull the trigger. I did pop a Salt Stick capsule. I had eaten my first of many GU gels about 15 minutes earlier. As much as I didn't want to pay attention to the small details, I was determined to GU every 45 minutes and salt every hour until the heat of the day when I would probably need to salt every 30 mins.
Rattlesnake and/or Horseshoe Bar
Here's where I'm usually amazed at the really detailed race reports. I can go for days on feelings and thoughts before, during and after, but I really do enjoy the folks who can break things down mile-by-mile, aid station-by-aid station. Both on the way out and back I really couldn't put my finger on whether I was at Rattlesnake Bar or Horseshoe Bar aid stations. I know that Deb got out of Twin Rocks a little bit ahead of Monica and me. On the way to Rattlesnake I passed a couple of folks I've gotten to know through ultra running including Dr. Tom Zinkle, Kaiser Psychologist. I believe this was Dr. Zinkle's 10th hundred mile start. He's in his 60's, a really nice guy. We spent some time together at the training run two weeks prior and he gave me some good advice. What I loved, and I don't know if he would remember even saying this, was as I passed him he just said, "keep it up, Tony, good pace." He knew I was worried about going out to fast.
Monica and I talked quite a bit during this stretch. We talked about running, about our kids, the plans on seeing spouses during the day. We shared some clichés about running. I told her I had heard the one that goes something like, "finishing a hundred hurts for a few days. Dropping from a hundred hurts for years." That one resonated with me and I figured I'd pull from it later in the race. I can honestly say I didn't think about it again!Remember the part where I said I was well hydrated prior to the race? Well, over the first 10 miles I was doing my best to become regularly hydrated…at roughly the clip of once every other mile, or 5 times in the first 10 miles. I figured if I kept up that pace I'd finish with 50 times over 100 miles. I'm not sure what the world record is but I would guess that would be close. Hey, whatever motivates somebody!
I saw Jeffery at one of these aid stations and he, too, commented on my time. He said I was right on pace. He had an Ensure for me, counted my gel packets and got on me a bit telling me I was one behind. He swapped out my bottle of sports drink and sent me off eating shot blocks and promising I'd keep gelling.
Lon Freeman…the MasterAh, my sports drink. This brings on a story. A few weeks earlier I was really struggling with my hydration on my long training runs. I was routinely dropping 7 or 8 pounds on a 20-25 mile run. That didn't bode well for a hundred. I shared my concern with ultra elite Lon Freeman. Those in the ultra community know Lon well. He set a course record at the Miwok 100k last year. He was running in 2nd place much of last year's Western States until an injury forced him to call it a day at mile 85. He's won numerous 50k's, 50 milers, he's an Ironman, you name it. He's also a darned nice guy! I hate to give this info up in fear of him getting a slew of requests for information but he has helped me tremendously over the past couple of years. Here's the ironic part. I started interfacing with Lon well before I EVER thought about running an ultra.
I have a good friend named Rob who got to know Lon a couple of years ago. They live near each other. Rob knew I was into marathons. He knew Lon was a distance runner, although I don't think either of us knew what kind of distance runner Lon was at the time. He introduced me to Lon via email. At that time I was in my pursuit of qualifying for the Boston marathon. I bounced a couple of emails off of Lon asking for bits of advice. Lon came back with GREAT advice…although at the time I wasn't a big fan of some of the advice he was suggesting…primarily to eat better. But that's why I run, so I don't have to eat better! He quickly dispelled some of my, as we call it in the therapist business "irrational thinking" and he recommended a couple of books for me to read which I did and which changed some of the ways I thought about food. Don't get me wrong, I stayed with the ice cream but I definitely started cleaning up my act a bit. I went on to qualify for Boston and Lon and I traded emails before and after. Rob would occasionally forward me some race results from the internet of Lon winning a local 50 miler and I still didn't get how good of a runner Lon was (and is).
Eventually I started getting into ultras and Lon became a WEALTH of knowledge…and it was a lot of fun to say Lon is my "good friend" because everybody knows who Lon is. So back to my hydration issues. I threw a note out to Lon about my weight loss issues on the run and we proceeded to carry on some wonderful dialogue about hydration. He broke it down into a science, how many mg of sodium the body can handle in an hour (1000), how many calories the body can process (don't have my notes handy but I believe it was between 275-350), what too much protein can do, too much sodium, etc. I was also trying to eat solid foods on my long runs with not much success. He suggested I become "Gel Man!" and get the majority of my calories via sports drink and gels. This sounded great to me and while many people told me it wouldn't work, I think that was one of my saving graces on this entire 100 mile experience.
I have a terrible tummy to start with, but I was trying to force sandwiches and pizza and protein drinks and everything else into me whilst completing my training runs and it just wasn't working. I realize everybody is different, however. A side-bar column in Runners World last month showed three hundred milers and what they ate. One person ate pizza, turkey sandwiches, you name it, they ate it. Another runner was in the middle, gels but also potatoes and bananas and chips. The final runner downed 65 gels in a 100 and some sports drink. All three were elite runners. That, coupled with Lon's suggestions gave me confidence and I started running with gels and shot blocks and a dense sports drink mix…and I started feeling great on my long runs and I wasn't dropping as much weight!
For those wondering, my "mix" was 5 scoops of Gu2O (normally you would use about 2) and one scoop of Endurox (high calorie plus a bit of protein). Thankfully, despite how sweet this tasted, I actually liked it (I went with orange both for the Gu2O and the Endurox) so prior to the race I mixed up about 15 baggies that had this mix in it. I bought a couple of extra 24 oz. Ultimate Direction bottles (with the insulated holders!) and every time I saw Jeffery he handed me a new bottle. That dense of a mix takes a bit to get shaken up and it was great to have Jeffery hand me a bottle with ice, fully mixed. Each baggie, by the way, had something like 780 mg of sodium and 375 calories.
I'm getting ahead of myself but coming into the Cool aid station at mile 30 a guy asked me if I was Tony Overbay? Little did he realize that my wife and I have a joke about this. I write a humor column in the Lincoln Newsmessenger. I have been writing the column for almost 10 years now and it has my picture in the column. So from time to time I get recognized. It's flattering, I can't lie, but it really hasn't gotten me the free meals at restaurants I thought it would! Every now and again somebody will just see me and say, "Do I know you from somewhere?" I used to assume that it was always from the paper, so I used to pull the move where I'd say, "You probably recognize me from my articles in the paper!" and say it like a cheese ball. Well, a couple of times I did that and people would say, "no, no, I don't read the paper, are you the clown who made me stop my car short at a crosswalk while you were running thinking that you owned the road?" Needless to say now when somebody says the line "where do I know you?" I just say, "You have me mistaken for one of the other million bald guys in the world now."
Well, this guy at Cool was Curt Harvel, a friend of Lon's. Lon had told Curt to keep an eye out for me and the only description he gave Curt was that I was bald. When Curt saw me I had my hat off cooling off with a towel. He told me who he was and he called Lon and told him I was feeling great (which I really was!). Funny part of this story # 2 is that when I reached the Overlook on the way back to Auburn (44 miles) Curt was there and he had Lon on the phone. He handed me the phone and I think I said something rather lame like, "I'm doing it, Lon, I'm doing it!" And Lon said, "Well what are you doing on the phone, get running!"I can't end this "Tribute to Lon Freeman" section without giving him a huge thanks for his support, encouragement and for helping me figure out my eating and hydration plans which worked great. He also put together a KILLER spreadsheet for me with aid station split times for me and my crew which was invaluable, especially for my family. It helped them have an idea of where and when to meet me throughout the day (and night).
Rattlesnake Bar to the Power Plant and on to MaiduSomewhere a little before Horseshoe Bar Monica and I separated. I wouldn't see her again until the next morning on my way back to the finish from the turnaround at Mt. Lion Knoll (mile 83) and at that point we both knew we would finish. I really want to thank Monica and Deb for setting the pace early. Deb would go on to have some serious heat rash problems with her feet (she sent me the pictures of her legs and feet one morning pre-breakfast and let's just say it delayed the pounding of the Pop Tart for a bit). I also passed Scott from Yosemite during this stretch. Scott stood in front of me at the weigh-in line on Friday and did a fantastic job keeping me occupied while I was so excitedly nervous about what was going on around me. He was also very confident in his race strategy, nice and easy, drinking V8 and Progresso soup along the way. We talked for a mile or so on the trail before I pulled ahead. I saw Scott when I was at mile 90, he was at mile 77, he still looked strong. I was happy to see he finished the race under the 30 hour cutoff.
I also hit a scale at some point along here and I was only down 1 lb, from 168 at weigh in down to 167. I felt a huge wave of relief figuring I had nailed my hydration.
This next section was wonderful to run, but it was definitely in my head since the pre-race meeting. From Rattlesnake to the Power Plant was only 2.2 miles. From the Power Plant to Maidu was a little over 7 miles. The problem is that a) it was starting to get warm and b) there were a few jugs of water at the Power Plant, not a full aid station. So you would essentially be running 9.2 miles without aid. I was downing two bottles every 6 or 7 miles. I knew I could top off at the Power Plant, but still this would be the longest stretch without true aid of the run, both on the way out and back.
I ran alone to the Power Plant, although I was following a couple of runners. One was Melissa Johnson. I have met Melissa a couple of times and knew that she had done Rio last year. I never want to interrupt anybody just in case they are in a groove but when we hit the Power Plant one runner disappeared into a Porta Potty (my favorite one, called the Wee Chateau) and Melissa and I topped off our bottles together. The trail went single track for the next 7 miles so I asked her if she minded if I drafted her for a while. We went a mile or so without really saying anything and then we started talking. It made the next 3 or 4 miles fly by. We passed a runner fairly early on who looked like he was already feeling the effects of the day. We were only 15 or 16 miles in, that had the markings of a long day for that runner.
We also came upon a runner who had loud, audible music blaring from speakers he had mounted on his person somehow? We caught him and he had some Mexican Ranchero music going. Not my particular style, and he let us by. Then, however, he kept up with us for a couple of miles and we heard some Cure, a little Bob Marley and some punk rock. It was actually pretty fun for about a mile, then I noticed Melissa and I were having to yell a bit and we eventually pulled away from him.
Cardiac Hill!! (Queue ominous music)We hit the infamous Cardiac Hill, one of two major hills for the day (the other being K2 on the way up to Cool). I can't lie, I had myself psyched for Cardiac. I had run K2 a lot in my training and Jeffery told me that Cardiac was much easier than K2. I started to power walk up Cardiac and soon got ahead of Melissa. I actually passed three other runners heading up Cardiac and I did that thing were I was going fast thanks to how good I felt, but I was freaking myself out because of how fast I was going, meaning was I killing the rest of my day for this one mile stretch just to be able to say I passed four people on Cardiac?
I hit the top before I even knew it and felt great. You then run along the canal for a mile or two and I settled in behind a couple of women, one of whom was already making comments that this wasn't her day. I pulled into the Maidu aid station (21.24 miles) just a mile and a half from the Overlook where I'd see Jeffery and my family. As I stopped at Maidu to fill the bottles (I had timed it perfectly so I drained my "mix" as I pulled up to the table) and grab some potatoes and salt (those were going down fine in additional to a lot of gels) I was met with a "Tony!" by good friend Bill Carr. Bill ran a couple of long runs with me in anticipation of Rio and I think I sensed a bit of "you're here ahead of runners like Monica, Deb and Chuck!?" He took a couple of camera phone pictures I'll post here. Notice the cool orange shades! They were handed out at the pre-race meeting. They were cheap and fit me PERFECTLY! I love them and figured I'd run with them forever. I let my 4-year-old wear them Sunday afternoon and he immediately snapped them in half. If this race report ever finds it's way to Norm, and he has left over glasses I want a handful!
Check out these sweet orange specs! Photos courtesy of Bill Carr's camera phone
The Overlook! (22.74 miles)
I actually ran the stretch from Maidu to the Overlook at a nice sub-9 minute clip. I couldn't help myself. I knew it was only 1.5 miles. I was feeling great. I was excited to see my family and there were people ahead of me. I have a terrible problem with the need to catch people ahead of me and I used it to my advantage for this stretch and I passed the two women ahead of me from the top of Cardiac as well as the yo-yo guy (runs 100 mile races whilst yo-yoing!) and Dennis Curley who I have met on a couple of occasions. Seeing the yo-yo guy reminded me of a time in my first marathon where I passed a juggling clown…at mile 22. He wasn't a happy clown at that point in the race. I must say I was a bit miffed that it took me 22 miles to catch up to a guy running a marathon in clown makeup and big shoes who was JUGGLING!
As I turned off the trail onto the road heading up hill to the Overlook I was feeling great. Again, knowing I should be walking up the hill, saving some energy I just couldn't hold back and I started running as I knew my crew and my family would be there. I crested the top of the hill and saw the familiar red matching shirts of "Crew Overbay." My kids were excited, my wife was telling me I looked good and Jeffery was in full pit-crew mode grabbing my fanny pack and checking up on me. My three daughters all pulled out crafts they had painted at their sleep over from the night before and they were showing them all to me. It was cute. They were excited, I was excited, they didn't know what to do with that excitement so they were showing me their artwork! I made sure to pay attention to what they were showing me while downing a gel and drinking some Ensure.
The Overlook was another weigh-in station and I was doing OK. I had dropped a couple more pounds, I was down to 164 but still within a healthy range.
Overlook to No Hands (26.34 miles)
I love this stretch. I've run it dozens of times in training. It's mainly downhill and while there are some exposed sections there are also plenty of sections where you're running under a canopy of trees. There's at least one creek you can get to, and I dunked my hat in the creek. It was COLD and that felt great. It was also getting pretty darned hot. In the 4 miles from the Overlook to No Hands Bridge I downed about half of both of my water bottles. At the No Hands aid station I topped them both off with water and ice (the benefit of starting with a mixture so dense when you watered it down it actually became quite normal tasting). I will say I was continuing to try and eat a little something at every aid station. I tried a couple of chips but solids just really were sounding very good.
No Hands to Cool via K2
Now things were starting to get serious. K2 is a hill that feels like it goes straight up at spots. It's well over a mile long and I believe it gains somewhere close to a couple thousand feet in elevation. It is also just plain deceptive. You reach several "false summits." You think you're through and you turn a corner and the hill is going straight up. Still though, I've done K2 many times and I kind of enjoy it. I power walked it and it felt great. I passed a few people including Linda McFadden. I met up with her again on the Olmstead Loop a few miles down the course and had a nice chat with her. She's humble. I asked her a lot of questions about ultras and she shared some information with me but I had no idea she's done races like the 135 mile run across Death Valley, aka the Badwater Ultramarathon.
K2 has several "false summits" or points at which you think you've reached the top, you turn a corner and the hill goes up as far as the eye can see. Having trained on K2 I always wondered if hitting it with close to 30 miles on my legs would just ruin me? There's also one particular stretch where even on fresh legs it gets so steep that for a few steps you wonder if you can keep moving forward. I've wondered if I would have to walk it sideways, or backwards, or just do something different to make it up the hill. Thankfully I didn't, it seemed to be business as usual, although it was continuing to get very, very hot.
At the top, again, I felt surprisingly good and I ran at a nice, easy pace into the Cool aid station. There was Jeffery a little before the aid station with quite a spread! He has the table out, bucket of ice, had my fresh bottle waiting. I did what I would do every time I saw him for the rest of the day, and what I felt was invaluable, wipe down my face and neck with a freezing cold towel while he filled my 2nd bottle with ice water. He told me that I would need to do a weight check after running the 7 mile loop but I was admittedly pretty curious about where my weight was at this point in the race. I jumped on the scale at the aid station and a bit of panic set in. I was down to 162. I told the person monitoring the scale that I was on my way out (you didn't need to officially weigh in until you returned 7 miles later) so she didn't pay attention to the weight. I was determined to have both bottles drained before hitting the Knickerbocker Hill aid station in 5 miles, and then drain them both in the 2 miles from Knickerbocker back to Cool and the official weigh in.
I wasn't lying, check out Jeffery hooking me up with a cold towel! You can see a bit of the table he set out in the bottom left, this guy was prepared!
I'm very bald. Photos courtesy of Curt Harvell. 
Jeffery "So this runner walks into a bar with a duck under one arm…"
Cool to Cool (30.28 miles to 37.33 miles) via Knickerbocker Hill (35.74 miles)
I headed out of the aid station and immediately got onto the familiar Olmstead Loop trail. I had run this loop 3 times in the 12 Hours Too Cool night race held a few weeks earlier and I had been looking forward to this section. I personally like out-and-back courses, loop courses, I like knowing where I'm going. I also recognized the trail and there's always a bit of comfort in familiarity. The only negative to this stretch was that a lot of the trail was exposed. I read later that temperatures at this time were hovering in the low-to-mid 90's and several people called it a day after (or during) the loop.
I still felt good. I gelled when I needed to and started taking 2 salt tablets per hour (the bottle recommends 2 per hour with heavy sweating…I was heavily sweating as evidenced by the weight loss). Speaking of weight loss it's always fun to share how much one can lose and gain during an ultra marathon with a non-runner. Someone who weighs themselves daily might see a few ounces difference here and there, maybe even a pound on a crazy day. I've easily dropped 7or 8 pounds on a long run and I hear similar tales from others. Don't get me wrong, this means that I'm not doing a variety of things right, but typically by the end of the day weight has stabilized and everything is back to normal.
A couple of miles into the loop I could have sworn I saw the familiar Brooks Inspire Daily running top worn by top contenders Michael Kanning (16 year old ultra phenom, ran Rio last year at 15! This year he was hoping to set a junior national record at the 100 mile distance) and Jean Pommier. I knew that if I was approaching one of them at this stage in the race something had gone horribly wrong. I was hoping that it was just somebody else who changed into the shirt later in the race. Unfortunately it was Michael. I slowed down and checked in with him and he was having some knee trouble and had gotten lost for a while earlier in the race. I felt terrible for him. I was impressed with him, however, as he was still smiling and simply said that this wasn't his day. Funny that I ran the rest of the day (and night) assuming that he'd get it together and pass me, right up until the end. I learned later that he dropped, I believe, when he returned to Cool.
Thanks to the heat I had no problem downing my two bottles within the 5 miles. When I hit Knickerbocker Hill (not a bad climb but short, very short) I knew aid was near so I downed what water and mix was remaining in my two bottles. I'm sure it was only a quarter or half a mile to the next aid station but in one of the only true mind tricks my body played on me I thought for a second that I was wrong about the aid station at Knickerbocker because it wasn't at the top of the hill. I was just starting to panic when I crested a small hill and saw the aid station. I filled up with ice water and Gatorade (didn't have a spare mix bag) and then ran along the paved road to Cool. I chatted again with Linda and a couple of other runners who I didn't know. I came back into the Cool aid station having to pee but I wasn't about to let ANY fluid escape thanks to the weigh in. I drank as much as I could and when I hit the scales I had actually put on a pound, I was 163 so I was passed through without any comment. Jeffery cleaned me up, Kurt took a couple of pictures and I was heading back to Auburn. This stretch was HUGE for me. I couldn't believe I was at nearly 38 miles and my legs felt like I had just started. I still couldn't fathom it. My stomach was with me and I knew I was heading on a nice 3 mile downhill stretch to No Hands Bridge. I would then have a mere 4 miles to go and I'd pick up my first pacer. I was in a good place.
Cool to No Hands (40.79)Not much to report here. I had a nice downhill stretch, ran the whole thing at a decent clip and felt great. I've turned my ankles a time or two on this stretch so I was careful to pick up my feet and pay attention. It was so sunny, though, that at times coming in and out of the shade was a bit difficult but no casualties. Saw no one, passed no one, just in a good place.
At the No Hands aid station one of the very kind volunteers filled my bandana with ice and wrapped it around my neck. She filled my bottles with ice and topped them both off with water and she filled my hat with ice. I downed some banana and tried to eat a pb&j square (and actually choked it down but it sucked all the moisture out of my mouth).
No Hands to the Overlook (44.73 miles)As I ran across No Hands Bridge I realized that even though it was hot, I had too much ice going on. The ice in my hat was freezing my bald head and I had to dump it out. The ice in the bandana was great, though, and it lasted a long time. I don't have a clue how she did it but that ice stayed in my bandana for a couple of miles and really worked perfectly. Good call by Jeffery on the bandana. He recommended it on Friday during lunch and I ran over to Longs and found one. It was great throughout the day for wiping down my sweaty face and as an ice holder.
I ran this stretch nice and easy and I saw no one. It was actually nice. I knew Jeffery and my family would be at the Overlook. And I would pick up my first pacer, Derek. It was at this point that I hit a pretty significant stretch of the runner's high. I had felt it earlier as well, actually on several occasions, when it just felt good to be running, to be a part of the race. But for a couple of miles on this stretch, despite the heat, despite the majority of the section being uphill I just felt good. I didn't think it would be possible to feel so good at this point in the race. I started rehearsing what I'd tell my crew. My wife told me later that she kept waiting for me to come into an aid station and have the wheels come off. That my stomach was upset, or my legs were cramped. I couldn't wait to get to the Overlook and tell everybody that I felt great!
At the Overlook still feeling great!
The Overlook to Maidu (46.23 miles)
As I came into the Overlook I was on cloud 9…no, make it 10! I heard a couple of people yelling my name before I made it into the aid station. I had to check in first, and then all of the crews were set up a few hundred feet after the aid station. I jumped on the scale and for a brief moment the wind went out of my sails. 160 lbs. Man, down 8 lbs now from the start. Although not written in the pre-race guide, rumor had it that if you were up or down 10 lbs at any point in the race they'd sit you down for a bit until you gained some weight. I don't remember who was manning the scale, male or female, but they asked me how I was feeling and I told them I really did feel great, that I started a few pounds over, etc. They let me go.
When I made it to Jeffery's table there were a lot of friends around and that felt great. Derek said he had just made it there, apparently I was a little bit ahead of schedule. I would learn later that I was well ahead of 24 hour pace at this point but oddly enough I didn't care about my pace, the time, etc. I didn't even ask what time it was (and I wouldn't until I was back at Cavitt later that night where I would learn that it was 9:30 PM, still ahead of 24 hour pace!).
I will admit I was pretty turned off by solid food by this point. Derek started with me immediately, "Sandra has In-n-Out!"
"No, I'm good."
Jeffery jumped in, "How about a sandwich?"
"No, nothing sounds good. Really, I'm…"
"How about a chocolate milkshake?" Jeffery asked?
"Yeah, I'm in!"
First craving was the Mtn. Dew. Now this wasn't so much of a craving, but it sounded like the greatest thing ever made (which is what it sounds like pretty much all the time). Somebody handed me an In-n-Out chocolate shake and it tasted SO GOOD! I downed about a quarter of it, slammed a gel and downed some Mtn. Dew. I also changed my shirt; my first one was pretty salty.
Jeanne, Jeffery's wife, let me know that I arrived a bit too early for my family to make it. They'd try to meet me at Maidu. This was also where I had my brief phone call with Lon (mentioned earlier). Derek asked me if I was ready to go and we were off!
From the Overlook to Maidu was only a mile and a half. It was the mile and a half along the canal that I felt so good on earlier, and I was happy to show Derek that I still felt really, really good. I felt an odd sort of pride with being able to run. There was a part of me that worried that by the time I picked up Derek I'd be shot, either emotionally or physically and I was neither.
I will say this many times over the next few paragraphs, Derek is a phenomenal pacer. He spent most of the section going over the first 45 miles of the day, paying attention to how I've been eating, drinking, running, my mental state. We were at Maidu aid station in no time and didn't spend long there, just long enough for this picture with my family.
This probably cost me the win but I felt a quick stop for a family photo was in order.
I had also missed their artwork on the van, this was a wonderful surprise! My friend Jim told me later that his wife saw our van at Wal-Mart at some point in the day. I love the fact that the family unit was cruising around in the van, decorated up for the race, all wearing their crew shirts. They ate dinner at Fresh Choice, the manager came over and asked them about the shirts. They told him what I was doing and he graciously gave them a free dinner coupon for me to use later. Nice! For what it's worth, Fresh Choice was where Wendy and I had our "Last Meal." 10 years ago Wendy found out that thanks to a spike in her blood pressure, she would be induced with our first child the next morning. No wild rides to the hospital for our first kid, we were able to clean the house the night before, go to Fresh Choice for dinner, wake up, shower and go to the hospital and have a baby. Nice to tie Fresh Choice to another good memory (hey, this much of a plug deserves more than one free dinner!).
One more shot of the van and the kids, that was just too cool!
Derek and I heading out of Maidu
Maidu to the Rattlesnake Bar (via the Power Plant) (Mile 55.53)
With Derek in tow we headed along the canal and down Cardiac, much easier than running up. He started right in with me on when to take salt, when to eat gels. I had bought 30 something chocolate and strawberry / banana gels. I was getting VERY tired of these flavors so I traded Derek for a few of his. It was nice to have a little Tri-Berry and Orange to mix things up. I was able to go back to the strawberry banana later, but chocolate is dead to me! Chocolate the gel, not chocolate in general.
Derek and I settled into a great rhythm. He led, and he had a good feel for how I was running. He knew when to run and when an up hill was steep enough to power walk. I didn't have to think about it. I also never worried about a trail marker. Honestly, this was just a good stretch. With that said, I'll turn the time over to Derek who shot me some "talking points" the day after the race, let's go through them, shall we? (Note - The formatting of this section is terrible! I'm so fed up with trying to post this report that it's going up regardless!)
- Milkshake at the Overlook – Covered! In hindsight that's the only food consumed during the race that I didn't want to avoid for the next several days.
- Overlook Shoe / Sock / Shirt change – I did change the shirt and socks. I went with one pair of shoes for the entire run. This was significant to me and something I debated quite a bit heading into the run. I own a cheap pair of Vasque's that I bought on clearance from the Auburn Running Company to start my trail running career. I bought a pair of Asics Gel Trail Attack 3's when I thought I'd be pacing Jeffery at Western States. I was going to cross the river with him at mile 78 and wanted a dry pair of shoes so these were my backup pair. The problem is that I've never had a blister in any long run until wearing these at the Sequoia 50k in July. They're comfy shoes but first blister…now that was in my head.
After becoming part of the Brooks Inspire Daily team I bought a pair of Brooks Cascadia III's pretty much because that's what everybody else was wearing on the trails as best as I could tell. I loved them and didn't think about buying a backup pair early enough to be able to change into the exact same shoe half way through. So I brought all my shoes and stayed with the Cascadia's the entire 102 miles. Great shoe! I also had fun watching Jeffery pull off my Injinji Toe Socks and put me into a fresh pair. Now that's a crew chief! My feet were DIRTY and he didn't even hesitate. Good man!
Hang Nail Injury! – I would have forgotten about this one. At one point Derek asked me if I was having any minor aches or pains, any signs of injury. All I could think of was that I had a little hang nail on my left hand that I hadn't noticed earlier. I think it was from the way I kept adjusting my water bottle in that hand. I told him that it would be ironic if my only pain from the day was a fingernail.
- Drunk 4 Wheelers – I think we heard them when we were getting close to Twin Rocks, around 63 miles. They were partying hard down at the lake. We were joking about them seeing a couple of lights bobbing up in the woods and taking shots at us.
- The record – This is a section that the non ultra folk can skip over, PLEASE. One of the first, well, maybe 3rd or 4th questions I'm often asked is "where do you go to the bathroom?" Well, wherever you can! People lose all inhibitions on the trails. Long ago my running friend Tom Wagner and I were all ready to start the Salt Lake marathon. We had to pee and the porta potty lines were LONG! We ran a quarter mile away from the start, held near the University of Utah campus, and turned a corner thinking we were discreet to a small group of women doing exactly what we were planning on doing. They screamed, Tom screamed and we ran out of there embarrassed. I was shocked! Couldn't believe it. Pee'ing in the open, how terrible! Fast forward to one of the Western States training runs I did with Jeffery. There were 4 busses full of men and women, all hydrating prior to running 30 something miles that morning. The bus ride was an hour. When the busses let off in the middle of nowhere people were barely off the bus taking care of all matters of business, both men and women. It made the SLC marathon experience rated G.
All that to say that by the time 50 – 60 miles rolls around if your body needs to make noise it just does. Pacer, runner, nobody cares. I don't know if it was the 20 gels or so up to that point, the boiled potatoes, anyway, Derek, and later Theo, were both kind to point out that it simply meant my body was functioning well! The part about the record, well, some things will just stay on the trail, and Derek, no, the record was not broken. - Directly from Derek "Lots of questions / updates, nice to not have to drag info out of you about how you were feeling." – This is much appreciated feedback, Derek! During the Rucky Chucky 50k I hit a patch where I didn't feel well. Jeffery was trying to be supportive and I shut down emotionally. I was a real pain in the rear and I felt terrible about it afterward. I eventually rallied and we finished together strong and happy, but for several miles I wasn't very fun to be around. I worried about this with Derek and Theo…and Jeffery and my family for that matter, but I am happy to report I just felt so good I was in good spirits all along. I answered all of Derek's questions and I'd ask him questions about why I'd get certain up and down feelings in my tummy, etc.
- Double GU – Since I wasn't eating much in the way of solids, Derek started having me pound 2 GU's at the same time. I knew he was right and I did it despite how much I didn't want to!
- Resisted Solid Food Intake – I think people are getting the point. He did point out I did "pretty good" on a few potatoes and I tried a sandwich or two but not much going on there.
- Beef Jerky Good! Sharkies Bad! – Derek had some beef jerky on him. When I had a few tummy troubles during this stretch he suggested I try some. It didn't sound good, but it didn't sound bad. I tried some and it went down well and a few minutes afterward I noticed I was feeling pretty good. I think I might pocket some of this on another long run and see how it goes down again. I was good about eating my Shot Blocks and Jelly Beans, but I had bought a couple of bags of Sharkies, healthy fruit snacks with electrolytes in them. They're made out of brown rice and some other good stuff…good for you stuff. Those weren't working. I had a few bags left and gave them to Jeffery after the race.
- Saltstick vs. S-Caps (215 mg and 341 mg of sodium respectively) – I had been using S-Caps exclusively for my year of ultra running. I then read one little post somewhere that said that Saltsticks had more stuff in them so I bought a bottle and started using them. Derek is an S-Cap man so he was a bit surprised when I wasn't able to give him the details on what the Saltsticks had in them. I told him I was sure they were the same amount of sodium, looks like I was wrong!
- Passing Folks (including some 53 mile stragglers from the Sierra Nevada Double Marathon) – We didn't see many people along the way. We did pass Nancy Warren and a friend of hers at one stretch, I can't really remember where, Derek reminded me that it was prior to the Power Plant aid station. Nancy has been a HUGE support in my new running career. She's the race director for the 12 Hours to Cool race, she's run numerous 100's and has done Badwater multiple times. She's an amazing runner. It was great to see her on the course, but along with Michael Kanning, she's one who I thought I'd end up seeing again later. I was able to stay ahead of her but she did finish with a good time (at this point the race website is down and I'm unable to back up anybody else's times!).
Mainly on the way to Twin Rocks and then again from Twin Rocks to Cavitt we came upon a couple of groups of people. Seeing people was wonderful as I have a tendency to want to pass people ahead of me. It really gave me a burst of energy and we passed most going rather fast. Derek was quick to point out that these were folks finishing the 53 mile run (evidenced by their race numbers). Still, this felt good to finish my 67 miles ahead of their 53. - Great Stomach Recovery – This was a HUGE lesson for me. On a hundred you're going to have some problems. I had read that time and time and time again. As I mentioned earlier in this report, the normal emotion is that when something bad happens that part of your body is DONE, finished, game over. Example, in marathons my legs would cramp and they'd remain cramped until I was done with the race. I had experienced some tummy troubles in previous ultras, but these ultras were only 32 milers, so there was typically a little tummy trouble left overs even at the end. I didn't want tummy problems the entire 100 miles, or even the final 60 or 70 miles. A few miles into running with Derek I started to establish a pattern. I'd eat, my tummy would rebel and then I would feel better. No puking, but definitely not a lot of fun while it was rebelling. Sitting here two weeks after (OK, now three!) I can barely remember the tummy problems, nor would that be a deterrent for a future hundred. My body worked it out and that was a great lesson.
- Headlamp Issues – Well, issues aren't really true. First, I brought a hat that had some weird plastic piece on the back, so running with it at night didn't work, my headlamp coupled with the plastic piece caused my head to hurt. That was disappointing. I ended up clipping my hat around my waistband and running with the light on my bald head. This felt odd but it was better than I thought. Derek asked me if I had brought a headband. Derek and I both rock the Halo Headband at times. The Halo is great for directing sweat away from the eyes. Plus it would have given me a bit of cushioning for the headlamp. I didn't bring it! So I just left it on my bald head the rest of the way. Luckily it never gave me any trouble.
- Again, from Derek "Saying you hadn't seen a flag in miles 10 seconds after we passed 2 of them." – OK, he just made that up. I was sharp as a tack throughout our entire 20+ miles together!
- Only one trip – Derek pointed out that I really only had one trip/stumble in a very technical section of the course. This was true! I really thought I'd take at least one good fall during the run or stub a toe or twist an ankle or two but none of that happened and I was shocked! Granted, I probably wasn't tearing it up during any of the more difficult sections but it was nice not to experience my first fall during the race (that's right, knock on wood, a year of ultra trail running and I haven't taken a tumble yet!).
- Running everything I asked you to – That's from Derek, too. I tell you, a good pacer is key. Derek knew what I could really run and when he sped up I sped up. It worked and it made things so much easier!
- Asking if I should slow down on the levy before Cavitt (67 miles) – Here Derek is making up for the flag comment above. He said I was "feeling great and really moving" which is exactly how I felt. I really couldn't believe how good I felt coming into Cavitt.
- "Laughing at, or at least enjoying, the roller coaster up and downs you were feeling" – That's just because it was so, so much better of an experience than I ever thought I'd have. I remember us figuring out when I hit 51 miles (longest run ever), when I hit 100k (first 100k run!) and I just felt good.
Back to the report. I think by all of the above info one can get the feel that things were going well. When we hit the Power Plant I was very much hoping that there was still water left at the unattended aid station, and there was. But, before that, we crossed a river, and Derek recommended we get wet. I seriously thought he meant wade into it and I was just about to tell him I didn't want to get my shoes wet and he recommended dipping my bandana in the water, washing up a bit, it felt GREAT!
We came into Rattlesnake Bar where I believe, if I am correct, that we just filled up on a bit of food and kept going. Jeffery would be at the next aid station. Actually in reading over this report Derek informed me that I am indeed a bit aid station challenged. We met Jeffery and went through the experiences that I share below at Rattlesnake Bar, not Horseshoe Bar. But again, at this point, I can't wrap my brain around switching things up in the report…the cow is out of the barn, the water is over the falls, and a bunch of additional cliché's so forgive me for getting a couple of the aid stations mixed up.
Rattlesnake Bar to Horseshoe Bar (Mile 57.46)
This stretch was a little less than 2 miles. Again, here's where my lack of aid station prowess and unfamiliarity with the trail are to my detriment.
Funny memory from when we hit Horseshoe Bar, however. Derek let me take the lead and we came in to the cheers of my crew, some other folks crew (Sandra), Jeffery's wife and son were there, my family was all there so it felt great. Before I was able to reach Jeffery's table I had to weigh in. James Barstead was there. He's run Western States and he and I have done a couple of training runs together and have seen each other at a few races. I like James, and he's a positive guy to see. He was right there with me at the weigh in. I hopped on the scale and we all looked down, 159 – 160, darn it! Still low. The person in charge looks at my start weight and James notices that I'm about to get a "talking to" regarding my weight. He sees I look good and says, "Tony, you're looking great, how are you feeling?" I say enthusiastically, "Man, I feel great, James!" He looks at the person by the scale and says, "He feels great!" I nod my head and the person kind of gives a concerned look and says, "Watch your weight, and try to eat more from this point on."
"I promise!" I say and I give a nod to James. Safe for another weigh in.
It was great to see my family again. My wife looked impressed, and that felt pretty darned good. Jeffery checked in with me, Derek, I'm pounding more Ensure, more Mtn. Dew. Derek removes Mtn. Dew from my hand, "That's just sugar, try to eat something!" Jeffery makes me take a Roctane Gel and promise to eat some Jelly Beans. I kiss the family and Derek and I are off!
Jeffery and Derek taking care of me, daughter McKinley watching on
Ready to head out! I did remember to remove the towel.
Derek and I back on the trail.
Horseshoe Bar to Cavitt via Twin Rocks (Cavitt 67.42)
OK, based on the fact that I'm on page 22 of this race report AND the fact that things did get a bit fuzzy after dark, we'll start making up some time. Granted, this is my journal of my first hundred mile run, so I don't want to cheat myself, but I have a feeling I'll never get through this report myself if I ever come back to it to read it.
This section was very technical, a lot of rocks. Much of what I reported in Derek's talking points up above took place during this section, i.e. the drunken folk, the trip, the headlamp issues, but the bottom line is I was running! I do remember that I started pulling a little bit of "are we there yet" with regard to the Twin Rocks aid station. Derek rightly said that this would be the longest 5.9 miles I had run in a long time, and it was.
I believe Twin Rocks was the first place that I started to eat soup (correction, Derek reminded me it was at Horseshoe Bar, thanks Derek!) I've read often about how wonderful soup is during ultra marathons. I had tried some soup in shorter 50k races and to be honest I wasn't a fan. I became converted at Rio. Soup hit the spot. Theo would keep me eating soup throughout the night and it never really was a bad thing. I think I could go to soup earlier in the future.
Derek reminded me that we both tried to take in a little PB&J at Twin Rocks without much success. I was really trying at that point to be a good runner for my pacer but bread just sucked all the moisture out of my mouth. It brings back two memories. First, I tried my very first pretzels at the American River 50 miler last April. It was a similar experience to when you eat the saltine crackers and then try to whistle. Moisture in mouth…gone! I also remember my first experience eating a gel, probably a good place to share it figuring I ate 30 plus gels during this race. I was running the California International Marathon. I had never had a gel. I hit mile 20 and somebody was handing them out. I grabbed one without water…remember, this is the FIRST of these pure carbohydrate, syrupy, thick, odd tasting, paste-like substances I had ever had. I opened the top and sucked the whole thing in my mouth. I tried to swallow and WHAMMO it was back out on the street! Thankfully the PB&J experience wasn't that bad, but it definitely put a bit of a nail in the eating solids coffin.
When we hit the levee on the way to Cavitt I was practically floating. I knew there would be a lot of folks there. I knew my family would be there and I knew Jeffery and Theo would be there. You can hear the commotion at Cavitt as you turn down a 1/4 mile hill to get to the school. I started getting really, really excited.
On the left Derek and Jeffery dialing me in at Cavitt while my oldest Alexa helps out. Center, well, more of the same. To the right, pacers past and future, Derek and Theo ready to pass off the baton.
The brain trust, everybody together plotting out the next 33 miles! Derek, left, Jeffery, center and Theo, right (and me far right!)Again, breaking down my race, I had made it through several "chunks" and felt fine. As I made it into the aid station I could tell I was smiling ear-to-ear. A couple of our neighbors were there, Staci and Melinda, and that was a great surprise. They make me feel great constantly about my running. They're the perfect non-running running friends (although Melinda did recently run her first 5 and 10k races!). They ask a lot of questions about running and act impressed. They were there for my 50 miler and Staci tells me that she works my running 100 miles into plenty of conversations. You gotta love that support!
My kids were there, my wife was smiling. I just wanted to let them all know I was feeling great! I jumped on the scale, I was up a couple of pounds from the previous weigh in, which was a good thing. I ate some soup. I scrubbed up with the towels. I looked around and Theo and Derek were talking, Jeffery was in the zone filling up my pack. My kids were so cute. My oldest daughters Alexa and McKinley were asking me questions, they wanted to be involved and I did my best to respond to everything going on around me.
This was the point where I asked what time it was. Melinda told me it was 9:30 PM. For some reason I thought I could be to Cavitt by 7:45 so for a brief second I was disappointed, but Theo quickly reassured me and said, "The time doesn't matter, you're making great time."
I kissed the family good night, thanked Staci and Melinda and tried to express my appreciation to Derek. I'll never forget crossing the 51 mile mark, the 100k mark, etc., with Derek, that's a good guy!
Now the race was simply a 33 mile out and back. Simply…wow, as excited as I was, as good as I felt, I had a 50k and some change to run! I did a quick body check. Legs, good, stomach, so-so, mind, good, tired, NO! Let's go!
Cavitt to Folsom Dam Park (70.52 miles)
I knew that Theo would be a much different pacer than Derek and he was. I met Theo through Jeffery last year. Theo is a sub-24 hour Western States finisher and a great guy. He knows a lot about running and I knew that he'd keep me on task throughout the night.
I told him I needed to walk up the hill from Cavitt, that my routine for the last 10 or 15 miles was to take it easy for a few minutes after eating while my stomach complained and then I'd be OK to run.
We made it to the levee and then took the detour made necessary thanks to what Norm had said was simply "Homeland Security training exercises" on the levee. The detour was a series of loose-dirt switchbacks slightly downhill, not a bad way to start the last section of the race. Once we hit flat land, however, Theo came alive.
"You run ahead of me, let's go! If you need to walk up a hill I'll take the lead and you must keep up with my pace." I felt like saying, "Theo, I've run like 68 miles, right?" But I had also been doing some math in my head and I knew that I was sub-24 hour pace and I definitely knew that Theo knew that. Why not give it a shot!?
We kept up what I felt was a good pace for a bit and then Theo did something pretty funny that thankfully didn't take the wind out of my sails. He started walking very briskly alongside of me while I was running. I could have sworn that I was moving some dirt and he was, well, power walking. I joked with him, "Hey, shuffle the feet at least, will you?"
We quickly made it to the Folsom Dam Park aid station. Theo went ahead and had the volunteers get me some soup. It really was hitting the spot.
Here's foggy memory number one. At some point we decided I would switch to one bottle because now that it was night I wasn't sweating nearly as much and I would be OK without both bottles. I also lost my fanny pack at some point (gave it to Jeffery, not really lost it), but I believe that wasn't until 80 miles. I simply put the gels and salt in the pouch of my water bottle holder.
Folsom Dam Park to Negro Bar (73.27)
This area was starting to become a blur to me. My legs still felt great, but it was now somewhere around 10:30 – 11 PM. I had a couple of caffeine pills in my bag and I asked Theo if I should take one. He was from the school of thought that if I was feeling OK why introduce something else into my system at this point. He also advised against taking Advil for the same reason. There is a lot of discussion on taking ibuprofen on a long run and I had only taken it after twisting an ankle months ago with no ill effects. But still, I think Theo's advice was sound and I didn't take any ibuprofen until well into Sunday afternoon after waking from a nap unable to move very well.
Negro Bar to Hazel Bluff (Mile 77.77)– "Theo, I've seen this park before!"
There is a section of the trail called "The Bluffs." In hindsight I now remember this part from the AR50 course as well as the training run a couple of weeks earlier. I remember going up a hill, running along a fence line and down a hill. That memory would have sure been great during the race! We were heading toward The Bluffs and I was still feeling good. My stomach would backfire a bit, I'd do some sort of cough every now and again that could easily be mistaken for the start of a heave but I really didn't think I was going to purge. Theo was good to check in with me whenever he heard one of these coughs and we'd take it easy for a minute. If I'm being honest some of these coughs had a flare of the dramatic, but that was only when I thought Theo was pushing the pace.
We were in a groove, and as we headed up hill to the Bluffs I had talked Theo into taking on a similar approach as I had with Derek, that he take the lead and I would follow him. I told him to run what he thought I could, and power walk the rest. Theo came up with the phrase "Walk with a purpose!" I liked that and repeated it whenever we were at a point where we'd walk.
We were talking, running, talking more, up the hill to the Bluffs. Theo was checking in with me and we're following chalk arrows on the ground. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We went to the right at one point and headed toward a little play area. I made a mental note that the play area seemed like something my kids would enjoy. We then took a right, headed down a hill and hit a spot where I had to jump down a couple of feet from one part of the trail to the next. I stopped short on that section and Theo, seeing me, stopped and asked me if I needed help. I jumped down and I have to admit, at 74, 75'ish miles into the run that was a jolt! I couldn't believe we had to do that at this point in the race.
We hit a point where we could go right or left and didn't really see a good trail marker. We went right and it appeared to be correct as we eventually found another chalk mark. We turned left, headed up a hill and followed the chalk mark around again. We were moving pretty well, made a turn and, and I'll never forget this, there was the park again. I stopped, "Theo, I've seen this park before!"
We informed Ted and his pacer that they, too, were lost. It was a funny couple of minutes watching it register on their faces, too. I'm sure they thought, "No, YOU guys are lost, not US!" We went patiently with them as they, too, followed the trail around and down and viola, we were back at the park a 3rd time! We tried another route and stumbled upon a burned out blue car, not the right way to go.
Finally Ted's pacer just took off downhill and started yelling when he found trail ribbons and glow sticks. We had been going in circles, had we just gone downhill, along the aforementioned fence line, we would have met up with the ribbons. Theo apologized and I can honestly say I didn't care, it made for a better story. Theo calculated that we lost about 40 minutes while we were wandering and ran at least 2-3 miles (there were plenty of moments during the 40 mins where we just walked aimlessly looking for a trail marker).
The signs say it all!
The kids with a little more kick left than me.
Almost there! The picture was a bit blurry due to my speed!
Into the cafeteria, 25 hours 12 minutes 58 seconds after I started!
"I feel awesome!" I said!
"Pa, you're dirty!" Sydney said. My legs were FILTHY!
Norm sat me down and took my blood pressure, everything was OK. I lay down on the table so the folks at UC Davis could see how my body composition was post-run. They gave me the green light, I had salted and hydrated just fine. Eat, drink and be merry, you just ran 100 miles! I stepped on a scale, I was actually up a pound from the start, 169.
Norm taking my blood pressure, Finally, I'm done!
I thanked Theo and Jeffery profusely. It wouldn't have gone so well without the three of them. I can't thank them enough. I love this part of the race reports, similar to the Emmy's or Oscars, "I'd like to thank my agent, Marty, thanks for sticking with me man!" But seriously, what an effort to put on a 100 mile run. HUGE thanks to Norm and his staff of people who marked the course, manned the aid stations, everything was top notch. HUGE thanks to my crew who will forever be a part of my memories in helping me through my first 100. And a gigantic thanks to my family for their support. I seriously try harder than most I believe for my running to be little to no impact on my family. I want them to know I run, I want them to know I value exercise and staying in shape and of course I want them to run but I don't want them to resent running. I do all my week-day running before anybody opens an eye and I leave for my Saturday long runs in the pre-dawn hours in hopes of returning to still find them in their jammies watching cartoons. But this 100 caused me to miss a little more time on a Saturday AM, or to tell them goodnight at 7 PM while daddy goes off to run through the night. They were so supportive and it just cracks me up to hear them talk casually about their dad and his 100 mile race, or his 50 mile race. I'm sure they have teachers who just think my kids don't know what they are talking about.
Epilogue
Three weeks, 22,000 words later I've finally finished this race report. Work, family, and life have gotten in the way but I really wanted to lay everything out on the page. I became addicted to race reports prior to my first 100 and when I hit a long one I actually looked forward to reading about the experience. Hopefully there's at least one other runner who will find this information helpful.
I'm fully recovered, or at least I think I am. I'm running, lifting weights, cross training and eating ice cream much like I did before I ever took on this challenge and better yet, I can't wait to do it again. Just for the sake of the time involved I think the next 100 will be next year. Possibly the Headlands Hundred in August or maybe Rio again. I'm signed up to run the Helen Klein 50k on November 1st and I can't wait. If a hundred miler is on your list of things to do, do it! I truly do feel like I'm a different person coming out on the other side of the experience. Happy trails everybody!
5 comments:
Perhaps you should think about making this a podcast that people can listen to while they're running 100 miles-- it should get them through the last 25 miles easy! Seriously, I enjoyed reading your report, and even though I'm still sitting around with a cast on my foot, I'm even more inspired to put a 100 mile race on my future plans list...
Congratulations on a great race (and report)!
Congratulations! You finished the 100 mile .................... race report. Havent read it yet. Sunday is my curl up with a book day. Maybe then :). Sorry about the 28 minutes :( Will not slight you again. And No, I'm not a Doctor but I am an MD. Se you soon.
Great job Tony! You ran a very smart consistant race. I think that was a big part of you having an enjoyable experience. Well maybe your training had a little bit to do with it too. And perhaps Jefferey waiting on you hand and foot, and icing your head. But you did the hard part. Yes I'm talking about writing the report. Good grief 22,000 words is an all time record for race reports. I was very honored and happy to be able to share this experience with you. Congrats again, and don't ever give up ice cream in training.
Based on the length of your race report, I feel like you've ran 200 miles! The first 100 on the course, the second on the keyboard... ;-)
Great inspirational story for people who want to get to this distance. Congratulations for this milestone and achievement. I am also impressed by your crew, what a nice family and good friends!
See you on the trails,
Jean.
Farther Faster
Amazing Evolution and Great, Great Accomplishment, Tony!
I know Jeffery and Theo since we used to run together at Rocklin Running Race team and I worked with Derek.
So, a guy that has this kind of crew members (plus all supportive family) and pacers prove that it is an amazing person and friend.
You dedicated and trained hard for that. You proved that you can get everything you want.
Very good inspiration story.
This time I was not tired in read that, but very anxious to read the end.
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