Feeling good and cruising into Stampede Pass, mile33, photo by Glenn Tachiyama
Well, I'm not going to even pretend that I'm getting back to blogging on a regular basis but I did want to document my run so I can look back on it and try and gain some insight on what I did right and wrong heading into the race.
Its been a crazy year and nothing went smoothly with training, racing, or even planning what race I was going to take part in. I constantly have people ask me how I balance the running, 2 businesses, and my family. In short, its tough. When I'm training a lot, I feel like I am short changing work and family and when I'm not training enough... well, that is tough too!
My race results for the year were pretty solid. I had good runs at Hagg Lake 50K, Way Too Cool, and S.O.B. My only crappy race of the year was Silver State 50 miler when my body just kinda gave out on me in the last 25 miles and I struggled to a 5th place finish.
My volume of running was also kind of sketchy but I was pretty good on at least being consistent and most of my weeks were between 50-70 miles and I snuck in a few bigger weeks as well.
I also couldn't seem to decide on a race to run. I originally decided to race Wasatch but then I got bummed that I wouldn't be able to train on the course and I didn't want to spend all my time and a good deal of money on a course that I wasn't familiar with. Then, I thought I'd do Leadville. Easier course (at altitude of course) and more of a runner's course. But, then I had my mom and brother rolling into town and the timing just wasn't right. Finally, since I had signed up for Cascade Crest twice but had been forced to miss the race due to injuries, the R.D., Charlie Crissman gave me the green light to run the course.
I actually got very excited about the race due to the fact that it is a really tough course but it didn't have the heat or altitude factors of the other 100 milers that I have done.
Anyway, after a forced taper (family was in town), I loaded up the Eurovan (Ruby) and headed north to Seattle to run 100 miles in the Cascade mountains. I knew the course was tough as I had trained out there in the past years. With approximately 21,000 feet of climbing and the same in descent, I knew it would beat me up. I was okay with getting beat up though. I was hoping that my constant Achilles heel of running 100's wouldn't rear its ugly head. Yep, puking. I've tried lots of methods and I'm kind of convinced that I'm just a puker. I was a puker when I used to drink a lot in college and after... I'm a puker when I have the flu.... I'm just kind of a puker. I will say that if I have any good qualities is that I seem to be okay when I puke. It shuts some people down but I can keep on moving even though it is at a slower pace.
Okay, enough about puking.... I drove up to the race on Friday and, like an idiot, didn't make any plans at campsites and decided to figure it out when I got there. Bad call. I drove about 60 miles, up and down the pass, down dirt roads, trying to find a cool place to camp. All the campgrounds were full and the dirt roads were littered with motorcycles, etc. So, I just decided to camp right at the parking lot at the start. That actually turned out to be fine. I sleep in my van which is pretty darn plush but it would have been cool to have some better surroundings.
Anyway, one of the interesting things about the race is the 10 a.m. start. Its an interesting concept. On the plus side, you can sleep in and not stress that you are tossing and turning during the night. On the negative side, one reward you have as a "front runner" is usually you don't have to run too much at night. However, with the 10 a.m. start, I was forced to run all night and missed a lot of the true beauty of the course which was kind of a bummer.
So, goals for the race. Well, I wanted to win. Did I think it was possible? Yeah. There were definitely some very good runners in the field but I felt that if I ran well, I should be able to win. What would it take? The weather was supposed to be good so I thought a course record was going to be necessary to net the win. Sub 20 hours on that course was daunting but also seemed doable with the lack of heat. It was just going to take a very complete race... no big bonks or screw ups.
I did have a nice "ace in the hole". I had a hell of a pacer. Fellow Patagonia teammate, Justin Angle agreed to run the last 32 miles with me. Not only had he run the race twice but he had paced the winner the last two years! How could I screw that up??
Anyway, after milling around at the start with Justin and Walter (my other amazing crew person), it was business time.
We lined up and were off.....
Now, I'll totally admit it, I f'n hate to start conservatively. I like to go for it. It works for me in 50Ks and 50 milers but I seem to always have tough second halfs of 100 milers so I definitely held back a bit and started in about 7th place or so. The first couple miles are super mellow and follow a dirt road in a rural neighborhood. However, very quickly you are off the dirt road and on a pretty rugged climb. It is tough because while difficult and very rutted, it is also quite runnable on fresh legs and I had to make myself slow down hike sections that were very tempting to run. I noted that two people that I knew I had to keep in view were ahead of me. That was previous winner, Phil Shaw and Sam Thompson. I saw Phil as a serious threat as he has won the race before, always does well, and usually runs a pretty smart race. Sam Thompson was kind of a wild card. I wasn't overly worried about him but he had just placed well at Hardrock and has had some good results so who knows. But, I let them go and concentrated on my own race and tried to dial in my nutrition.
On the subject of nutrition, I'll digress for just a minute. I was feeling confident that I might have solved my stomach issues. In the past, I have eaten lots of energy gels during the race but have noted that after 40-60 miles, I just have not been able to tolerate them at all and either stop eating or start puking. So, I have been using a drink called "Carbo Pro". Great stuff. Pretty much no taste, 100 calories per scoop and I was really hoping it would help my stomach problems by drinking this and not having to eat as many gels.... we'll see, huh?
Anyway, as we got into the meat of the first climb, Goat Peak, I felt pretty good and was in a nice rhythm of running and hiking. I found myself annoyed by some of the people running around me who I knew shouldn't be around me. Guys wearing spandex short and crap like that. I started running with one guy who I gravitated towards since he was wearing a "Fleet Feet" shirt from Chicago. He was running some of the hill that I was walking and wasn't going any faster than me. I warned him that there is a lot of running ahead of us and to take it easy early (it was his first 100). He said he was a much better runner than hiker. Uh, yeah, me too but its mile 4..... Nice guy but I think the course got to him. I think he finished about 6 hours after me.
It felt good to get to the top of Goat Peak after a brief descent, there was plenty more climbing to be had. All in all, its about 3,000 feet of climbing in the first 8 miles. Nothing crazy but there is no doubt that it puts a little initial worry in your head of what is to come. Somewhere on the first descent, I was caught by Jesse Berwald of Bozeman, Montana. My thoughts going in the race was that this was the biggest threat in the race. He probably should have won the race last year but took a wrong turn about 75 miles into the race and lost the lead. I figured he had a real bone to pick on the course. I decided I would pretty much camp out on his heels and see how the race progressed. He turned out to be a cool guy and I enjoyed getting to know him and sharing some miles with him. At times he seemed to be pulling away from me and then I'd reel him in a bit. He seemed pretty strong though. I think since we were running together, we pushed the pace a bit and started reeling in a few more of the front runners. We passed Sam Thompson on a downhill and put some distance on him pretty quick. We caught another guy from Utah and we all hammered pretty hard ( I thought) into Tacoma Pass.
It was great to see Justin and Walter and a bunch of other friends there including Bend pals, Chris and Darla. I was also glad to see Jamie Giffords' wife Becky as she was giving my wife updates via phone which was super appreciated. I grabbed a sandwich and headed back out for another climb. At this point, I was pretty stoked with Carbo Pro. My stomach was feeling pretty darn solid, I felt good on calories, and I was only taking the occasional gel. I think leaving this aid station, I was now in 3rd place behind Phil Shaw and a good Belgian runner named, Wouter Hamelinck. I was surprised in the next few minutes that Jesse was not catching up to me but I figured he was taking his time and would be back soon.
I should mention that we had recently gotten on the Pacific Crest Trail and would be traveling on it for about 30 miles and most of them are amazing. Gone are the chewed up motorcycle trails and you are now on fricking pristine trails that were simply awesome to run. As I have read lots of other write ups of the race, almost everyone seems to be feeling they're best at this point on the race. The uphills are manageable and it was just sweet running. It was here that you do realize that although the running is sweet, its going to be a damn long day and you just kind of get in a groove. Somewhere in this section, I caught the second placed runner, Wouter, gave him some encouragement and headed off. He wasn't overly psyched that I was passing him so I tried to put the gas on to put some distance on him. I ran the hills to show him I was feeling good and was excited to be in second place.
My zen like focus was a bit broken a bit a few miles from the Stampede aid station (mile 33) as you run under these monstrous power lines that are making shocking and crackling sounds. It was so different from the quiet and beauty that we had been in that I felt a bit thrown off. Whatever. Keep on truckin, Rod. I came hooting and hollering into Stampede Pass. Phil Shaw had put some time on me but I wasn't overly worried as the race was young, I was in second place, and still felt pretty good. I was drinking carbo pro, eating some, and excited to be racing. I got some good advice from Justin and Walter and started up the fairly stout climb out of Stampede. I was kind of bummed to hear that I wouldn't see them for 14 miles though.
The next 14 miles are just kind of tough. Not sure what it is.... the trail gets a lot rockier and it is quite a while between aid stations. Lots of little ups and downs. I remember feeling a bit lonely in this section. You are still on the PCT (so they don't mark the trail) and I would have these little crisis' that I was off the trail. It was somewhere in this section that my stomach wasn't horrible but I also noticed I would not put it in the category of "great" either. I was definitely struggling a bit. Not horribly but miles weren't coming easy anymore. The trail was pretty wet, the rocks were tough and I was definitely feeling the mileage some. When I hit mile 40, I felt pretty beat up arriving at Meadow Mountain. I was glad to see Jim Kerby there but I felt down. He gave me some soup, a little pep talk, and sent me on my way. Bummer. About 2-3 minutes out of the aid station, I heard the next guy (Wouter) arriving. "Great", I thought. The next section of the course is probably the most beautiful but I was feeling crappy.
You enter an amazing watershed area. Lakes, small waterfalls, it is amazing.... unless you feel crappy. Yeah, I'm used to a shitty stomach in 100's but it sure doesn't mean that I like it. I just kept my focus, hiked as hard as I could and pushed up to Mirror Lakes. Beautiful. Lots of people camping. I was ready to join them and stop this nonsense! I thought this part was pretty tough. A lot of climbing, tough trails, and the mileage was adding up. I kept being surprised that I wasn't being caught by Jesse as I felt poker slow. Finally, I hit my crew at Oallie aid station, mile 47.
Before the race, I had been psyched to get to this aid station and eat some of the famous "pirogues". Of course, when I got there, I had no appetite and felt like shit. Phil Shaw had put a lot of time on me which at that point, I didn't care about. I now knew I had another tough section coming. After a few miles of descent, we would climb to Snoqualmie Pass. I felt okay on the downhill and tried to hike the uphills hard... which I doubt I did. We were on rough and tough ski roads. When we hit the top of the ski lifts, I was actually kind of shocked to see the route that we were taking down. It straight down the ski slopes and it was down a little game-like trail that was about as rocky as it possibly could be. I really struggled there and my legs felt absolutely pounded. I looked back and saw Wouter coming down the hill and knew he would inevitably catch me. Bummer. I tried to make him work for it and ran as hard as I could down the rest of the hill and onto some cross country ski trails. He eventually caught me as we got on some asphalt roads heading towards the half way point of the race, Hyak, mile 53. As I came into the aid station, I thought Walter was going to run the next 14 miles with me and I was excited about that. However, when I got there, he wasn't ready to go. "Walter, let's go!" But, he declined saying that he couldn't keep up with me. What a laugh! I was moving like a slug! But, as much as I tried, I couldn't talk him into it. I left the aid station with Wouter but there was no question that he was moving stronger than I was and he dropped me like a bad habit. After the aid station, you run 2.3 painful miles on asphalt and then head up for about 4.5 miles and gain 2,000 feet.
I'll spare you the drama here. I lost the race on this 7 mile section. My stomach hit the crapper. I started puking and I walked way to much of this trail while Wouter pulled way ahead of me. I ran about 1/2 the hill but probably should have run 80-90 percent of it. It was long. There were sections where there were no course markings for long periods of time which really freaked me out. It seriously felt like eternity before I hit the aid station. I was shocked to see Wouter still there. He bolted as soon as I got there and I ate some soup and drank some soda. Carbo pro, although very lightly flavored really started to bug me. I tried taking some GU20 but that didn't work either. In hindsight, I should have tried filling my bottle with some kind of juice or soda and mixing carbo pro with that. But, the brain wasn't all on cylinders anymore.
I then started the 7 mile descent. It is pretty easy running but I didn't feel great. The miles were coming but they were work. There were no real reference points so I just felt like I was on an endless journey into the dark. It finally ended and I got to the Kachess Lake aid station. I was psyched to have Justin pace me and immediately my spirits were raised.
We entered what many people think is the most frustrating part of the course. It is called the "trail from hell". It is pretty darn gnarly. I'm actually not sure how I would even describe it. Its kind of like a super rough, technical fishing trail or something. Lots of tough climbs, lots of downed trees to climb over, and some serious drop offs.
The nice thing was that Justin has been on this trail numerous times and knew every little turn and drop off. I was very lucky to have him here as this section probably would have taken me 20% longer without him and I think we had the fastest split of any person on this part of the course. But, it definitely takes a toll on you mentally as it is absolutely impossible to get in a groove on this part of the course and is much more similar to adventure racing than running.
Anyway, like all things, you eventually get there and get ready for the next challenge. It was great to see John Pearch and his crew out there as we were about to make our last "big" climb of the night. The next climb is called "No Name Ridge" and climbs 3,000 feet in 7 miles. It is definitely runnable but with over 70 miles on your legs, its definitely tough. I thought we ran this section pretty darn well. We could see the 2nd place runner, Wouter, in the distance and although neither of us said anything about it, we were ready to go get him. He was definitely walking the hill, and we started running pretty decent chunks and slowly reeled him in. Finally, once he was within striking distance, we put the hammer down (okay, it was a pretty small hammer :), and ran past him and just kept trucking. We put a lot of distance on him relatively quickly and I think we put about 15 minutes on him when we hit the next aid station. It was a long, tough climb but a fairly easy one to get a rhythm on. I should mention that I felt pretty crappy the whole climb and had a good puke or two along the way. That's just how it goes out there....
Once we hit the aid station, I felt my core temperature drop dramatically. I have never gotten cold in a race before but man, I was freezing. Justin gave me his jacket and gloves and we got moving. I wasn't moving well here at all. I had given my all on the last section and I hadn't gained any "real" time on Phil and realized that I wasn't going to win the race unless he totally collapsed. That and the fact that my stomach just would not cooperate... it made my outlook somewhat dazed and hard to shift gears to run really hard. Justin was awesome on staying on top of me to eat as I was trying anything I could to avoid it. Once Justin asked me to take a GU and I replied, "but I just took a big sip of carbo pro!". That made us both laugh as we knew that wasn't exactly much fuel over the last 45 minutes but man, when your stomach has gone south in a race, its hard to muster up the strength to put more in your body when you are sure you'll be puking it up.
Anyway, the next section is what most people find the most challenging of the course. It is called the "Cardiac Needles". It is about 5 really steep climbs over the course of a few miles. I would doubt any of them climb more than 500 feet but each one is pretty much straight up. I like hiking steep stuff but these are darn tough in the 80+ mile point in the race. I was also kind of bummed that I was in the most beautiful section of the course and it was still pitch black. I probably ran my worst through here but eventually climbed all the Needles as well as the cool climb (though is wasn't cool at the time) up to a fire lookout on Thorp mountain.
After that final climb, I knew we were on our way home. We hit the French cabin aid station where they were cooking bacon (which actually sounded good) but I was too early and they didn't have it ready. We left, hit the final climb and then started the 6 mile descent to Silver Creek. This was far and away my least favorite part of the course. Yeah, its downhill but it is just plain tough. The top is pretty cool with some nice stream crossings and meadows but the last few miles are on dusty trails and it just goes and goes and goes. Man, when would it end. Justin was great in giving me the play by play but I was just over it!
Finally, (and I mean, finally) we hit the final aid station and we ran straight through and kept going towards the finish. We could finally turn off our headlamps which felt great. I had really dreaded running on dirt roads and asphalt after 95 miles but it actually wasn't too bad. I had Justin continually look back over our shoulders as I sure didn't want to give up 2nd place with just a few miles to go. The coast was clear and we cruised back into Easton and headed to the finish.
Man, you want a low key finish, you'll get one at Cascade Crest. I guess since I was the second runner, barely anyone was there but I didn't care. It was great to be done. Another major and tough race accomplished. I didn't feel any flood of emotion or triumph. I was proud to finish in second place and I had the 4th fastest time in the 10+ years the race has been running (20 hours, 33 minutes), which I thought was cool. Here are the results.
So, some final thoughts. Great race. Tough. Real tough. Its got mountains, rough terrain, and great trails. Its definitely a "low key" race so don't expect a lot of hoopla. If you want a tough test, its a good one. Would I do it again? Yeah. I think I can run it a bit better now that I know the course a bit more.
Lots o' thanks: Justin Angle. I would have been over an hour slower without him and not in second place. Great guy.. salt of the earth style. Walter, amazing crew member and next time WILL pace me! :) Chris and Darla, Jamie Gifford, James Kerby, John Pearch, Tate Kelley, and everyone who encouraged and inspired me. I'm proud of my accomplishment especially with all I have to balance in my life.
I feel lucky to have a sport that challenges me physically, mentally, and spiritually. I'm unbelievably lucky to have a wife that lets me do this and realizes how much it means to me. Its now hibernation time. See you all this spring. Love and aloha.....
