"It seems so irrational and unusual, but special and intriguing at the same time."
At mile 36, I became aware that my knee was hurting and was likely a tendinitis flare up. Every steep uphill climb and downhill climb it felt worse so that I even had to hike the downhills that were supposed to be fast. Was it because I had run a fast speed workout the week before? Was it that I had averaged only 30 miles per week for the last 4 months leading up to this race? I knew it wasn't the shoes because I was wearing relatively new low-drop Altra Olympus 2.0 shoes. I was in one of the most remote parts of the course between Orchard and Jacobs road aid station. Up to this point, my times were on target for a sub-24 hour finish. Now I was contemplating stopping at 50 miles and calling it a day. It was decision time.
The Thursday night before the race, they had a nice supper with Pizza, salad, and cookies. I loaded up on two plates of salad and cookies, and talked with a running friend, John. It's always nice to see familiar faces and to feel at home in the running community. The race director gave out some helpful tips for the runners, and had an opportunity for people to ask questions, and such. That evening I checked the weather forecast--rain on Friday.
Friday morning, it was raining as expected, and was cold. At 7am I started off with the 100 miler and 50 miler runners going up and down Badger, then up and down Candy, and then on 4 miles of road to mile 10 at Jacobs' road A/S. The pace was solid--just under 10 min/mile. After Jacob's road, the path winds around vineyards and has multiple short and steep hills--reminds me of the hills at Lost Soul 100. On this day, however the rain continued and made muddy slopes of these hills. This was shoe-sucking mud. It reminded me of the mud at Zion 100 and Bighorn 100. It was very slippery, making me glad I was wearing the better traction 2.0 rather than 1.5 Altra Olympus shoes.
When I arrived at McBee Parking, I was 15 minutes ahead of schedule at 3:15 elapsed time, and feeling great. After a quick stop I climbed up McBee ridge with ease, ran to Chandler Butte and then back down to mild 30: McBee Parking A/S at 5:57 elapsed time, 3 minutes ahead of schedule. At the 50K mark I was at about 6 hours 10 minutes, right on schedule.
At mile 36 now, everything changed. With a sore knee, how could I finish when I couldn't even run without pain? When I walked, it felt ok, but when I ran, it was a different story. I decided to give it some time until the 50 mile point before I decided to stop there or continue on. Maybe the knee would get better eventually, like at Zion 100...
From mile 36 on, I had to walk more than run. Thankfully, I am can walk fast for miles and miles if needed. At mile 47, just 3 miles from the turnaround point, the knee pain just continued. This wasn't fun any longer. If I stopped at 50 miles, which would be around 10 hours, I would place fairly well, have a 50 miler PR (since I haven't run one yet), and not have to walk most of the last 50 miles.
As I summited Badger Mountain at mile 48. I thought about how I would tell the volunteers and RD that I would stop at 50 miles. I thought about what I would say when they asked me, "Are you sure?" I know I would say, "No, I am not sure." Sometimes the best thing to do is to just keep moving. I remembered how much I enjoyed running through the endless dark culvert West of Candy Mountain, singing songs in there and hearing the echoes from the culvert walls. "No I will press on, even if its just so I can run in that culvert two more times." As I descended Badger Mountain at mile 49, I was running again, my knee didn't hurt (maybe because adrenaline was taking over. Upon arriving at mile 50, I went straight to the food tables and got my drop bag. It was 5:05 pm, just 10 hours 5 minutes since I began the run. In 2015, my 50 mile time was 10:45, and in 2016--it was 10:30. It would have been a great 50 mile time for me, but I didn't care. I had signed up for the 100 miler, and I had to finish the job--if at all possible. Fueling had gone well up to this point, leaving me full of energy.
From miles 57 to 64, my outlook went from positive to doubtful quickly. Stomach issues took off 30 minutes of time in the next 7 miles. Gatorade has always worked well for me, but that was the only recent addition to my intake for the last 50 miles. So I had to resort to water and salty foods. I opted for delicious potato soup and potato chips at the next aid stations. My time was slowing down now and I started to question myself whether I had made to right choice to continue. I reasoned that If I can just make it up to McBee ridge, I would be able to "see the finish". Upon reaching McBee parking mile 68.5 at 10:58 pm, I swallowed the fact that I was 1.5 hours behind my schedule for sub-24 hr finish.
Despite reports that there wasn't much wind or rain on McBee ridge, I knew from the past 2 years that McBee ridge always has 20-50 miles winds and at night the wind chill is enough to send the runner into hypothermia quickly. On went the ski mittens, ski jacket and wind shell. Upon the reaching McBee Ridge, the wind was howling at 30 miles per hour with a temp in the 30s around midnight. The wind chill must have been around 10F--maybe colder than my recent Mt Hood skiing outing. If I was able run much, I would have been ok. Since I had to walk most of the time, I had to just think of every way to cover up any exposed skin. At Chandler Butte, they had really nice heaters and soup. I only stopped for 7 minutes before heading back into the windstorm. Running on McBee Ridge at night with so many other runners is one of the most amazing things experienced. You see the lights of Tri-Cities, while you realize other crazy people are out there in the 30 mph wind with wind chill close to zero, on a mission to complete a run. It seems so irrational and unusual, but special and intriguing at the same time.
After descending the ridge to McBee parking mile 80, it was 3:16 am, a full 2:16 behind my schedule. After a quick food stop for a quesadilla, banana, etc. I headed back out into the night. From here on out I was on cruise mode--power hiking. I reached the 89 mile mark at Jacobs Road A/S at 6:09 am, stopping only to refill the water and to grab a couple of quick snacks. The sun would be up soon, and the finish.
On Jacobs road I ate a raspberry newton, and this gave me an extra dose of energy. I sang inspiring songs through the culvert, hiked fast up, up, up Candy Mountain, ran all the way down Candy mountain cheering the 50k runners who had just started, and kept running, running, running to the base of Badger Mountain, I ran past the West Badger Aid station at mile 96.5, and continued to cheer the 50k runners coming down Badger Mountain. On the final descent, hundreds of 15K runners were coming up the same path as I was running down. Just like last year, I got to encourage them while they seemed to be inspired by a 100 miler running to the finish. After 25 hours and 36 minutes of running, 100 miles was finished. This year would make three Badger Mountain 100 finishes in a row.
I am so thankful to the race director for putting on such a great race, to all of the volunteers who were out in the elements for hours and hours providing all kinds of food for us and giving us encouragement, and keeping us warm. I am also thankful to the other runners on the course for the encouragement and inspiration.
