This was to be an adventure, my focus was to accompany Victoria on her first go at 100 miles. my primary focus was to make sure she didn't do anything terribly stupid, offer some guidance along the way, and just run with her to help her through any tough spots that may have come up. It was also a test to see how my legs are handling the longer distances.
we started the run with odds stacked against us. We had a late arrival into rapid city on thursday night, then a bit of driving about to find some food a bit more driving to find camping, and some sleep before the sun came up.
On Friday we visited mt rushmore and crazy horse, each quite impressive in their own rights. then a short run to help shake off the travel lethargy. After which we went to registration, the race talk, and pasta dinner. Finally we were off to find a campsite. The nice thing about this part of south dakota is there is an abundance of free campsites. We wound up staying at bear butte state park.
as we were settling in, one of the neighboring campsite occupants came over and warned us to "keep your eyes on the sky", it looked like there was a bit of a storm coming in, and the wind was kicking up. so we set up the tent in case it started to rain. we stayed up for a bit watching the lightening in the distance before drifting off to sleep. after an hour or so, we felt some drops and moved inside the tent, within 30 or 40 minutes there were full on gale force gusts and a good bit of rain. the rain fly started to come off, so i went outside to try and re-stake it so we had some shelter from the rain. which turned out to be useless, somehow Victoria and her sleeping bag got soaked.
while i was outside trying to figure out how to drive the stakes in better to hold against the wind, a park ranger came by and informed me this should blow through in 10 - 15 more minutes, though the winds may pick up to 70mph or so.
i asked what we were at right now
he responded 40 - 50.
Then he was off to check on the other campers i presume. i sat outside holding the rain flap on as best i could. We decided once the wind provided a lull, we would break the tent down and throw it in the car. then wait out the storm in the car.
the wind lulled, we took the tent down, wadded it up and crammed it the trunk, then scurried around to get in the car ourselves. after "laying" in reclined seats for some time, i grew tired of this, and the rain seemed to have passed, so i went back outside to sleep. victoria stayed in the car, with her wet sleeping bag (i didn't learn of her situation until several hours into our run the next day).
This is not exactly how you want to spend the night before a 100 mile run.
4:30am rolled around and we were off to the start line. the good news is camp was particularly easy to break down.
we got to the start early and were able to get in a short nap before final check in and lining up for the start. the weather was very comfortable, which promised a warm one once we started moving.
we rolled out of the car, i do enjoy waking up multiple times in one day, and over to the start line. at the start line Billy, a local Lakota Indian, sang a native song wishing us all well and gave an incredibly compelling talk about the journey we were preparing to embark upon. he wished us all to run well and run strong and embrace the journey. He then treated us to some drumming and chanting.
and we were off. Victoria and i jogged along very patiently. the plan was loose, and called for 2:30 - 3 hours for every 10 miles, putting us at the 50 mile mark around 13.5 hours.
leading into the first aid station Victoria commented a lot of the people were passing us, "they seem to be going pretty fast". i checked the time and replied "if we maintain this pace all day we will be done in 20 hours, and likely be top 5". we carried on, people jogging by us.
the course had some little rollers which made it fun, particularly on the descents, which Victoria and i took like children, bounding down wiggling in and out and around the other runners. it was just too fun to let go a bit and allow gravity to do the work.
the first aid was about 6 miles in, we got in grabbed some food and liquid and were back on the trail pretty quickly. by this time the sun was coming out and things were starting to heat up, there was a little bit of humidity in the air to boot.
fortunately the trail had a good bit of tree coverage through most of the next 25 miles. before long we were at the 2nd aid station, almost 11 miles in and things were going well, Victoria was enjoying her day, and we continued to cruise down the hills like kids. and walk up the climbs. i was impressed (and still am) with Victoria's discpline. other then her 1 comment on everybody else going fast, there was little sense of urgency, even with the other runners passing us.
we chatted with a couple other runners along the course. then between the 2nd and 3rd aid stations it seemed things were getting more difficult, the heat was definitely taking it's toll. so the pace became even more conservative.
we were 15 - 20 minutes ahead of our goal time, at the 3rd aid station, around 17 miles we had our first drop bag with an avocado (thanks to sara for introducing me to these great little treats on runs, the nearly saved my day last year at leadville), some cherry tomatoes, coconut water and berries. the berries had been conveniently juiced, so the ziploc bag had an extra bonus: rasperry strawberry juice, fresh squeezed. Victoria laid down for a bit, while our packs were refilled with ice and water and heed. i rubbed her legs down a bit as there was still lots of mileage to come.
we likely spent too much time at the aid station, and this would continue on with most of them from here until the end. the next section of course was pretty shaded and relatively flat. nothing terribly exciting happened here.
at the 4th aid station (around 24 miles) Victoria collapsed down in a shady spot, the heat was starting to get tough. we refilled our packs and got some food in. i took a cup of ice and dumped it down Victoria's shirt. though probably a little late, it was time to start dissipating the heat before it got too bad. Coming out of the 4th aid station Victoria commented we were 3 hours ahead of our goal pace. i looked up at the sky, made some quick guesses then back at the ground and shook my head. i asked her what time she thought it was, and when we were supposed to be at 20 miles. it was around 12;30, and we were expecting to be at 20 miles between 11 and 11:30, 4 miles in in 1:30, puts us right on schedule, and maybe a little behind. as i said, ice might have come a little late, but at least it was on the radar.
we rolled into dalton lake aid station (mile 29) shortly before 2pm, the plan called for something closer to 1:30, so we weren't too bad. had i been more astute i would have picked up on the trend and taken more corrective action. Victoria was only interested in sitting in the shade, anything to avoid the sun. and she was having some trouble with her right hamstring and the back of that knee. again i tried to rub it out for her as best i could, and make sure she got some water and 1/2 coke 1/2 water mixture as well as some fruit.
i was eating everything i could get my hands on at the aid stations, 2 - 3 cups of water, ice in my pack and refilling water at every aid. i tried to keep Victoria on a similar regimen, at least as far as the water and ice goes. i let her eat what she wanted (mistake number 2 on my part). in the future i will be more conscious of the calorie and water intake.
we stayed at dalton lake for a while before moving on. the next few sections of the course would prove to be pretty relentless, a bit of climbing through switchbacks, that would dump us onto an exposed jeep trail. which soon turned rocky. we were now 30 minutes behind our goal time, and must have stopped half a dozen times to work through some issues in the 6 mile stretch from dalton lake to nemo.
i was unprepared to deal with this situation appropriately, and failed Victoria pretty significantly here (my 2nd biggest failure of the day). i should have planned better and been a little more insistent that we needed to press this part a little more. though honestly that would not have sufficed, i would have needed a way to help work through the issues experienced in this section, and i truly don't know how we could have done that any differently.
We were able to run the last couple miles into nemo, and again Victoria was quick to lay down in the grass. we were both aware of our tardiness, and Victoria asked that i not let us stay too long at this aid station. i failed again, we spent about 15 minutes. this time Victoria ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, got a quick leg massage again, and had vaseline re-applied to her feet.
about 1/2 a mile out of nemo, there was a creek crossing. Victoria got excited and we walked down to the creek and laid down in it for several minutes. this was quite refreshing. the next 6 or 7 miles into pilot knob or something like that were primarily uphill and through some pretty rocky jeep trail which made running very difficult at best. we ran what we could and picked our way through the rest. once it turned downhill we started to pick up the pace a bit.
at pilot knob Victoria took 2 tylenol and had some chicken noodle soup. i had 2 cups of soup, 2 or 3 grilled cheese sandwiches and some fruit as well as the usual 2 - 3 cups of water. the humidity and heat was still hanging out, it's not 6pm, the sun is sitting pretty low in the sky, and there is no sign of the heat subsiding. Victoria chatted with a couple people from merrel whom she'd run into on some of the other trail runs.
then we were off, the first few miles of this section were relatively flat and runnable, we jogged along pretty well, and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves back in the tree cover. the miles and time on our feet were catching up, we were walking the slight climbs and jogging the flats and descents. but still carrying on.
we did 2 fun little descents and ended up in a field which would dump us onto the road, after crossing a cattle guard bridge and about 1/4 mile we rolled into the turn around just as dusk was setting in. quick refills on everything, some cookies (no milk, but there was promise of milk being there next year). a can of tomato soup (they opened the can and put a spoon in it). excellent. and since the temperature was still in the 80s, or so it felt, the soup was a meal much better served cold.
Victoria was having some issues with her hamstring, so we rubbed that out a bit as well as the back of her knee. she finished off her tomato soup, i dug out my light, checked for cutoff times, and we were on our way back shortly after 9pm.
we started across the field with 2 or 3 other runners, i turned on my light, damn it's incredibly faint, guess i should have checked the batteries before leaving san diego. Victoria was following me, and hadn't turned on her light yet. i wondered what she was waiting for, it was pretty dark and getting difficult to see.
we carried on and got to the first little climb (about 1/2 mile from the aid station) before i realized why Victoria hadn't turned on her light . . . she didn't have one. then the whole conversation we had when we were turning in the drop bags came flooding back: in summary
"I can't find my light, i hope i left it in one of the drop bags".
when we went back for the dinner, she checked her drop bags, and came up with nothing. Nor was it in her camping gear. lovely. so here we are on some of the more techincal sections of the course (thankfully not terribly technical) with Victoria using my dying head lamp and me trying to see her feet so i can figure out where to put mine. on top of this we are in the tree cover with virtually no moon, so ambient light is minimal.
this experience gives me a new respect for blind people. we continued on like this into the pilot knob aid station, almost getting lost in 1 spot (pretty respectable navigation considering the lighting situation). at which point we were extremely close to missing the cutoff at dalton lake (almost 13 miles away). fortunately 1 of the runners there was dropping and was gracious enough to lend us his headlamp.
we took it, got some food in and refilled our packs and were off. its now a little after 12, and we are very pressed for time. this is one of the rockiest sections of the course and it's very slow going. we have 1 good light and 1 that barely functions, so we are not to much better off then we were in the previous section. Victoria musters a jog through several sections, which i opt to power hike in an effort to reduce the likeliness of twisting and ankle, or even falling.
Victoria is wobbling back and forth behind me, and asks to lay down and take a 1 minute nap. sure, we can do that. and in 1 minute we are back up and moving. apparently the lack of sleep is catching up to her, and she is pretty close to falling asleep on her feet. not good. she asks for another break.
i tell her about our time constraints and how it looks like we are going to come up short, so we should forgo the nap if at all possible, she reluctantly agrees. We carry on for a bit trying to run what we can, but the rockiness and darkness make it all but impossible.
we finally come upon some familiar landmarks, which i believe where about half way or so, then see a sign indicating that nemo is 4.5 miles away. i swear to Victoria the sign is wrong, we can't be more then 2 maybe 2.5 miles. she is pretty disheartened, as am i, though i am having a very hard time believing the sign is accurate.
we carry on for another 20 minutes or so and come to our familiar sign: trailhead 1 mile, and soon see the bridge under which we soaked in the creek nearly 10 hours earlier. at this point we have all but resigned the hope of making it to Nemo, it's about 2:30, has taken us nearly 3 hours to cover each of the last 6-7 mile sections. earlier today it took 2.5 hours to cover the section from dalton lake to nemo, in the daylight on fresher legs, and we are down to about 2 hours to do that.
it's was difficult decision, but Victoria chose sleep over an incredibly unlikely final section. in order to make the 5am cutoff, we would have to have a heroic section, covering 6.8 miles of pretty rocky and a good little bit of climbing in 2 hours (it's now 3am) would be challenging if it were light, it is currently dark, Victoria is falling asleep on her feet and we have 1 good light and 1 that barely works. I've called it quits with far more in my favor on numerous occasions.
Victoria now has a better understanding of the endeavor that is 100 miles and will hopefully comeback far better prepared for her next venture.
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