I honestly don't remember to much about the day, except i was tired, the distance between aid stations was long on some sections, and it seems like a logistical nightmare for crew.
things started off at 5, still dark and cool, a good way to start, with a long slow grind for the first 2.5 - 3 miles up up and up. a good adjustment period. none of the climbs were too steep, they were definitely long, the kind you just need to find your gear and keep grinding away at.
I could have used more food through the first 30 miles, mostly poor planning and eating habits on my part, despite mike's best efforts, i wasn't really interested in eating, nothing really sounded good, and my plan to grab gels at the aid stations failed.
The lowest point for me came between miles 30 and 37 (coming from eagles roost to cloudburst), i ran out of water, and nutrition and crashed pretty hard on the long slow climb up to the road. to my surprise, i was greeted by Mike and Kariem at the top with a myriad of shoes to choose from, and socks too. i was pretty tattered when i got to the aid station, and was quite happy to just lay down and relax, trying to get some gels down and water.
i swapped out my asics for a pair of very cushy and quite pleasant salomon's from kariem's collection. i was eating a bit and drinking when i heard 20 minutes until the cutoff, if you want to keep going, you need to be out of here in 20 minutes.
with a little help from kariem and mike, i was on my way again. I made a conscious effort to eat and drink more and as a result was able to move steadily for the next 15 miles into Chilao, coming in a little after 8pm and feeling good. It was at this time that i found out Victoria's runner was out of the race allowing Victoria to pace me from 60 - 75 (hopefully).
i sat down, got some food grabbed my lights and relaxed for a bit. After a little bit, Mike and i were off, he was a little ambitious to start. after a little discussion, we settled into a comfortable pace and were plugging away. walking up the climbs and enjoying the flats. after 4 - 5 miles, we hit a fun little descent, and i couldn't help but let things go a bit, we were going down some pretty fun switchbacks at night and i was loving it. this ended too quickly, and transitioned to the climb up to shortcut saddle, which we were quite content to hike up.
once we got up there, kariem and victoria were quick to get me food a blanket a chair and try to bolster my spirits. just as quickly as the good stretch had appeared (a nice 23 mile stretch of moving well), it was beginning to fade. the chair was feeling really comfortable. then i started to get cold, really cold.
soon victoria and i were off on what promised to be another good section, some 6 - 7 miles of descent and a 2 - 3 mile climb up. after walking for a little, i attempted to run, i managed to shuffle for 3 steps, downhill, and it became horribly clear this section may take a little longer then i'd hoped. we continued trudging down the road. i'd occasionally try to must a jog, and abandon the effort within 3 - 4 steps. my stomach started rejecting all food and my mind began giving up.
victoria kept encouraging me to eat and tried forcing food on me several times, but i'm pretty stubborn once i make up my mind, and i was about done with this nonsense. the week had taken it's toll on me, i was ready to be done and start preparing for the leadville 100 mtb ride in 6 days. by preparing, i mean eating a lot and doing pretty much nothing physical. giving my body time to mend after the past 8 days of increased efforts.
we finally made it to newcomb's saddle, at 3:02 am (the cutoff was 3:00am), honestly i'm fine with this, i was ready to be done with the journey a couple hours ago, my feet hurt, my legs were tired, and my stomach was not interested in food. more importantly my brain had moved on from completing this endeavor to resting for the next go.
the best part of being pulled from the run for failing to meet the cutoff was when the volunteer looked at me and told me i had missed the cutoff, i was content, and would happily wait for mike and kariem to come drag my tired body home. and then the insult to the system: "you need to walk out to chantry flats". walk out? isn't there a fire road or something? apparently there isn't a fire road (at least not one that makes the trip any shorter). my choices: walk the 6ish miles out, or wait until noon with no place to sleep.
the good news for victoria (sort of), is she would get to drag me through almost all of her promised 15 miles, the bad news, is it was closer to a death march then a jog. about the time the sun was coming up, we emerged from the trail and saw mike sitting there in his truck awaiting our arrival.
all in all it was a great adventure, and a huge training week: i almost tripled my biggest weekly mileage since august of 2012, in time, distance and elevation gain. maybe if i paid attention to the rules of 10 i would be a better runner right now, and maybe i wouldn't.
i have 2 big take aways from the weekend:
- i have an incredible group of friends
- i need to make better use of my time in aid stations, i seem to waste a lot of time and accomplish very little. i need to focus more on getting gels for the next section, getting some calories in the form of solid food and drinking.
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