"In a 100 mile race, familiarity with the trails gives a huge confidence boost."
After running and finishing this race in 2015, I was excited to start the year off with this 100 miler. Not only did I know the trails well, my good friend Sebastien would pace me the last 50 miles.
The weather report would call for cooler weather this year, with comforting clouds and no risk of a sunburn. More people signed up this year with approximately 70-80 signed up. Only 26 of those would finish. Would I be one of those 26 finishers? If not, I would be one of the 2/3 of those signed up who either didn't start, didn't finish or stopped at 50 miles. The odds were against me. The only thing going for me was my past experience, Sebastien who would pace me, and my desire to finish.
At 7 am, the 100 milers and 50 milers started together in cold weather. All day and all night I would wear long sleaves, gloves, hat, and windbreaker. Ok, shorts were fine too.
Each 50 mile loop would entail about 7500 ft elevation gain and would each require 2 more miles and 1 more Red Mt. ascent compared with the 2015 course.
The course starts up Badger Mountain with nice single track, with most runners alternating hiking/running the uphill. I started in the middle and passed many people and many people passed me, but on the downhill, I zoomed past many again. This year I would have quick aid station stops, planning ahead of time exactly what I needed so there was no delay. I would use GuBrew that was provided because I had tried it before and it worked ok.
After running down Badger Mountain the course goes along the highway a short distance in Goose Gap and head up Candy Mountain. I met a nice runner named Guy and we talked a little and I let him go ahead. After Candy Mountain, I met Kandice who Sebastien paced last year and is a fast runner and we leap frogged along the course until the Red Mountain ascent where she went on ahead as she was at a faster pace for the 50 miler course. She also redirected me 2 times when I didn't see the ribbon which was helpful. New to me, the course heads along the back side of Red Mountain with switchbacks and tumbleweeds to a road below before climbing sharply back up Red and then plummeting to Sunset Aid station. I ate a banana, filled the bottles, and ran down Sunset Road towards McBee Parking.
Even though the course was 2 miles longer this year, I still arrived sooner at McBee parking which gave me confidence. Maybe it was the cooler weather, maybe it was my training. It was about 10:40 when I arrived there and I quickly refueled and headed up McBee Ridge. McBee gains about 1400 feet in 1 mile. This year for some reason, there were fewer people ascending McBee with me. I guessed it was because I was no longer smack dab in the middle of the pack, but actually ahead of the middle. The views were amazing and I enjoyed talking with a few of the runners going up about the views and other stuff. At the top, I was feeling a little tired so I took it easy for a few minutes on my way to Chandler Butte at about mile 25. I was happy to see the leaders coming towards me on Chandler Butte and they encouraged me as I cheered them on. I wasn't racing them so it was just nice to see them doing well. After Chandler Butte, my pace picked up some and I passed a few runners up on this section and down to McBee parking. The aid station volunteers were great like last year, I just had less time with them this year because I hurried through aid stations.
After McBee parking, I saw a 50 miler runner going the wrong direction away from the course so I redirected him for which he was thankful. That's one thing about ultras that is so amazing. There is time to be friendly, to talk, to encourage and to inspire.
The course then goes up and down sandy trails through coulees and vineyards, with many short and steep parts.
At Jacobs Road I was able to run the whole segment to the culvert before ascending gradually up to Candy. Last year I crossed paths with Gabe on the North side of Candy, and this year it happened on the South side, and I was definitely ahead of my pace from 2015. After going up Badger, I zoomed down the other side to meet Sebastien who would pace me. 50 miles and 10:30 on the clock. 21:30 left to make it before cutoff time.
I grabbed my lights and some food, and we headed out for the last 50 miles. I was feeling great--I was looking forward to the slower pace at night though. I would walk/run uphills and flats and try to run as much of the downhills as my stomach would allow, which got more difficult as the night wore on.
The first hiccup was dropping my gloves at Badger aid station and having to backtrack 5 minutes to find the gloves before resuming the course. I told the volunteers now I wouldn't get hypothermia. I was now "the glove guy" according to the aid station personnel there. I didn't find that I was "the glove guy" until I returned at mile 97, when I responded, "I didn't get hypothermia, see!" I liked it that they remembered me, and they were amused that I remembered them.
Over the next 50 miles, Sebastien and I would pass up more runners than passed us, although it happened gradually. This year, the winds weren't quite as strong, and it didn't rain much but overall it was colder, especially at night. At McBee parking, one of the leaders Nathan who just descended McBeee advised me to wear a face mask if I had one, and thankfully I did and wore it for hours and hours. On McBee Ridge, the wind chill must have been in the teens with real temps in the mid 30s. The fingers felt numb at times even in gloves. I was wearing 2 long sleeve shirts, a down jacket and a windbreaker. Yet running shorts were in order. Runners get this because we burn so much heat with our legs but not much with our chest/arms, so that explains the need for more upper body clothing.
As the miles went on and on I would just will myself from aid station to aid station, hitting a wall right before the next aid station due to depleted energy stores. I would eat real food again and have more energy until the next aid station, and so on. Sebastien was great to run with as he would stay focused about finishing and we would talk occasionally but didn't have to talk all the time, which was nice and peaceful for me.
As many ultrarunners have said before, the sunrise brings energy to the runner, especially if the end is in sight. Even when moving meant hiking some flats as fast as possible--at a 14 or 15 min/mile pace, the early morning was inviting and the finish was in sight.
Foods that went over well were potatoes, potato soup, Quesadillas, bananas. The flagging was great all night long.
As we summited Candy Mountain for the last time, we checked our watches to see that soon we would cross paths with the 50K and then the 15K runners. We did see many fresh runners and we encouraged each other. The descent from Badger Mtn was incredible because we had less than 1 mile to go and there were myriads of 15K runners heading up the Mtn. It was inspiring to see so many people heading out for the run and everyone was encouraging as Sebastien and I sprinted to the finish.
It was 25 hours and 25 minutes since I started the morning before. This was a full 2 hours and 17 minutes faster than my time in 2015 on a course with 4 more miles and 2 more Red Mtn. ascents.
What went well?
1. Strong training weeks with mileage peaking over 100 miles in one week
2. Lots of hill running, on rocking logging roads mimicking the course
3. Accurate drop bag planning with cold weather clothes
4. Having a pacer made the second half faster than if I were running alone
5. Better hydration and fueling
6. Quicker passes through aid stations
What could I have done to run even faster?
1. More fueling
2. More years of experience
3. More core body training/cross training
Badger Mountain Challenge 100 is a race a highly recommend to anyone who like ultras for many reasons:
--Nicest runners
--Nicest volunteers
--Great organization
--Great food
--The open scenery makes it easy to see where the runner is going which gives confidence
--The few drops make it easier to find what you need in that drop bag
Thanks for the race recap!
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