Friday Oct 26th - the day before the race:
Brian was here by 6:10am and we loaded a few things in and were gone by 6:15am. It was a 5 hour drive to the far side of Phoenix and specifically to McDowell Mtn Regional park where the race is held. We headed straight to expo so we could get the parking pass allowing us into the staging area at race head quarters. In and out of the expo it looked just like last year. Shirt, bag, a look around and gone. Although when I re-read this before next years race I remember to buy a Hoppy Javelina IPA beer just because a race that has its own beverage is a great idea. We said hi to John Jones, grabbed our race shwag, I remember commenting on the warm temps and headed back to his sweet Subaru ride that made us look like a couple. We got back in the car and headed 15 mins down the road to headquarters.
The headquarters was packed by 2pm and we ended getting our pop up and chairs in the lower right corner of this photo as you look at the fish hook loop to the turn around/ finish line and back. The camp was surprisingly crowded and full. I believe the 100k and the night runs made it much harder to get a spot then last year. We dropped our stuff and headed to the hotel. We checked in and slept some and then watched the world series. A little later we went to the local restaurant and grabbed a beer. One only for me instead of my usual wine that Brian makes fun of. After a while we grabbed some food, Brian ordered meatloaf and I had a fairly simple burger and a salad... (no fries). Back to the hotel and lights out at 9pm. Turns out that WS game went 18 innings. Good thing we didn't stay up until the end of it.
Saturday Oct 27th -race day:
4:15 am wake up. Shower, coffee, giant Payday candy bar and a banana. That was breakfast. Paydays are my go too now with the nuts and not being sweet. Keeping the stomach under control was going to be key to any tempo and effort. You have to fuel, and you have to keep moving. Stopping either derails the other. Quick restroom and grabbed all our stuff to leave the hotel. I'd prepped both of my race packs the night before. The 1st is a dual (separate) bottle holder. The second is a standard camel pak with more volume, and much more comfortable straps. The plan was to go out just how I had trained. Water in one bottle, Gatorade /water 50/50 split in the other. Straight Gatorade causes me issues and until later in the race when i would be way behind on electrolytes and the temps dropped, I didn't want it straight. Loaded into the car and driving in the dark to the start I continued sipping green Gatorade. In my mind I felt decent, kind of excited but not hyper but there was also a little 'oh sh%^$' what have I decided to do? Will my knee hold post surgery?' Lots of unknowns and things I likely may not be able to control. I sat for 10-15 mins stretching with the music blasting from headquarters and then joined the field. The chick twirling fire was pretty cool. My thoughts... 'I but you she doesn't normally do this at 5am'. Man time flew by and as I checked the watches I carry, 1 is the Garmin 405 & dies at 5 hours and change. The other is a simple kids pink stop watch and normal clock. I have 3 daughters, what other color would it be. A check of the head lamp, and we were off at 6am sharp.
Loop 1 - 22.5 miles :
Seeing that with my knee surgery I went into the race under trained for overall distance and general running &climbing, I tried to be rested and not injured thus relying on experience a bit. Even though my last training cycle had lots of 6,8, and 12 mile runs for 6 days in a row, overall distance was still a major concern. The goal was to hold 10-12 min pace avg for the first 22 mile loop. The first 10 is slightly climbing through some rocky sections but nothing too crazy you just have to watch your step and leave a gap in the conga line so you can see. Just before sunrise on the way to aide 1, mile 3ish where the trail is still nice.
The 2nd 10 miles of loop 1 has a slight descent on nicer trails making for easy running. By this time the pack of 600 has broken into pockets and there is room for passing if desired. The first 10.5 went well and I was out of Jackass Junct aide in 1 hour 58 mins. A few mins under last years time? Huh...? mental note... too fast?But I felt fine and wasnt working. I gained 7 spots in the overall race position out of 600+ runners from the race start. 196th place.... and the day continued. Fueling was again burritos and GUs every 30-45 mins.
| Jackass Junction (10.5M) | 01:58:16 | Saturday 07:58:16 | 196°  7 |
Mile ~21, pictured above, has some slower climbs back to headquarters on the one-time portion of this loop with 3 extra miles. A few ppl runnning in the pack I was in started to pull away and I looked down at a high 9 min mile pace and just stayed where I was. 5 mins later they were walking saying they were running to fast and we all split up. And like that, without too much effort, loop 1 was done. No pushing, just cruising. Timing shows me at 4h 06m for loop one. Thoughts, '1 minute under the previous years time again?' Lots of food, bean burritos, pickle juice and pumpkin pie and some apple slices. Brian refilled the bottles while in some odd costume (below) and I sat for 3-4 mins in a chair thinking about food. He handed the bottles to me and off I went. I lost 20 spots to 181st in the overall race position out of 600+ runners from the last aide station. No worries. Just interesting. That is the stretch that the Race Director and experienced runners say people go to hard on early in the race.
| Javelina Jeadquarters (22.3M) | 04:06:47 | Saturday 10:06:46 | 181°  20 |
Loop 2 miles 22.5 to 42:
Since the race is run washing machine style, meaning that you reverse run each loop in opposite directions each lap, you get to see all of the runners ahead and behind you. This means that we restart the slow climb for 10 miles back to the half way point at Jackass Junct aide station. But the first part of loops 2 & 4 are the easiest and most run-able terrain/trail. But its also easy to assume it is flat (false flat from your eye ball perspective) and push too hard. Or to wonder why what seems to be 'flat running' feels like you are struggling. From there if you let the mental games start that you are having a bad day at mile 26, that can kill the race right there. If I'm struggling at 26, how can I do 100. If you ask anyone, the biggest issues during this race are on loop 2 and 3 while it's hot and to assume the look and feel is flat. You will over-work in the hot sun and dry air and get behind on hydration and fueling. Last year a bigger guy like me said, "Be smart and back off during the day. Just make it to sunset in decent condition and you are good to go. From there you can run as hard as you want and not worry about temp problems." I tried to follow the same style of running that I was told last year and was preaching to newer runners this year and just hold a 12 min or so pace while I could again without pushing. I fast walked any climb or anytime I felt a little tired. Leaving headquarters with a slight climb in and out of washes and it was 4 miles to rattlesnake aide. And a marathon was done.
| Rattlesnake Ranch (26M) | 04:55:18 | Saturday 10:55:18 | 177° 4 |
| Jackass Junction (31.2M) | 06:08:15 | Saturday 12:08:15 | 191° 14 |
Dropped 14 spots/positions out of 600 coming into Jackass (31 miles) on loop 2 (of course I had no clue about this while running. The data is just available post race when viewing results). This is where I knew when planning my race day I had to be careful . It would be in the middle of the day ... no shade, and warm if not out right hot. First, at the end of loop 2, I would be traveling 20 miles further than I had run on my surgery knee. And two, it would be the hottest part of the day. The knee was holding on and I was super happy about that and literally was so thankful and thanked God all afternoon that I was even able to start the race, let alone go this far with no issues. I simply ran happy and thankful instead of worrying about the clock. I did unfortunately burn through my 2 bottles way too fast on this 6 miles and spent about 15 mins with no water. Hot and dry (91-92 degrees from reports) and I was struggling a bit with heat. I had my ice bandanna on and that dried up very fast. I had used some of my water to wet my arm sleeves and that kept me nice and cool. I even poured Gatorade on one before I noticed. It was a bit of an eye opener that I wasn't thinking clearly and told myself to reset, and pay attention as a mistake here can end the race on fueling, heat management, and kicking these stupid rocks like last year. Pay attention to what you are doing and when you are doing it sir! Once I hit the aide again at Coyote Camp (mile 37) I fueled, & iced everything down again (head, neck, back, legs) and wet the arm sleeves and off I went.
| Coyote Camp (37.7M) | 07:39:38 | Saturday 13:39:38 | 192° 1 |
Down 1 position. The wash the last few miles before the end of loop 2 was very hot with no breeze. Re-enter the aide station with Brian's refilling expertise and had more food(burritos, sandwiches, oranges, apples, watermelon, pie, coke, and prepped for loop 3. Completed loop 2 in just under 4 hours 30 mins. I felt amazing and just tried to stay relaxed and cool. I was still enjoying the heck out of the day. Warm day at this point even though Brian said its cooler than last year. Liar! hard to believe I had been running/jogging for 8 and a half hours already. Up 12 spots...
| Javelina Jeadquarters (41.7M) | 08:31:21 | Saturday 14:31:20 | 180° 12 |
Loop 3 miles 42 to 61.3:
It really is an odd feeling when it is 2:30pm in the afternoon and you have to pack a headlamp because you want finish the loop until after dark. I tried to be extra careful here on loop 3 as its 10.5 of a slow elevation gain again and some more rocky parts of the course that as I said if you kick them your day could be over. Last year I kicked 3. 1 caused me to fall. The other two just destroyed my toe nails. I jogged very slowly the flats and just power walked anything that was a slight climb. "The goal is to make it to sunset". But I was really thinking... Make it to Jackass Junction (mile 51) before 12 hours/ 6pm/ before sunset,.... and then cruise that slight down hill in the cooler air after refueling.)
And that's exactly what I did. The photo above is about 2 miles prior to the aide station on the trail. No that is not me. I made it there while the sun was still up. Last year it was dusk when we were sitting there. This year I seemed to be a little ahead of schedule.. (45 mins?) and I started to feel my stomach. A lot! If I couldn't get my stomach under control, it was going to derail everything. I struggled with anything they gave me and did a little dry heaving. The aide workers were awesome and just stood there to assist me as I struggled to get my shiaaat back under control. Was it lack of food? Heat, Water? Cold Gatorade or ice water that made my stomach go south so fast? Then recalled last year. I sat back and relaxed a little and I asked for a burger (no cheese) with tons of ketchup (Gary Robbins special). That and a big coke. They gave me both and I started working on the burger. The lady laughed and said geez, that is like a full meal. Do you want fires too?,... and laughed. The clock was ticking but I needed to eat, and running would make me hurl with my current stomach feeling the way it did, but I needed calories. I sat thinking... My legs hurt, my knees ached and I wanted to make it all go away. But I sure felt alive and started to think how lucky I was that I could do this!!! Eli would say 'of course your legs hurt, you just ran 50 miles what did you expect?' Then it occurred to me, 'you going to complain about your sore knee to the guy running over there on a full prosthetic leg? Shut up and stop complain you love this and you know it! Sipping coke to wet the burger bun and help it down worked perfectly and caused me to burp... a bunch, fixing my stomach issues!!! Up 5 spots. Note, this is when I really saw some runners at the aide station were showing signs of heat and fatigue. Some lying out on cots. Others attended to by medics.
| Jackass Junction (52.2M) | 11:25:15 | Saturday 17:25:15 | 159° 5 |
| Javelina Jeadquarters (61.1M) | 13:26:51 | Saturday 19:26:50 | 164° |
Loop 4 - Miles 61.3 to 80.5:
Looking at the times now, I went a 100k in the hot desert on a refurbished knee from 6 months earlier, under trained in 13 and half hours? That's not too bad. Originally I had not intended Brian to help me get through lap 4 as I was doing well and in a happy place enjoying myself until that last 4 miles. I decided it was best he pull me along and asked for his help to keep me moving.The next 10 hours looked something like this...
and this...
Loop 4 hurt. Everything hurt, but I kept trotting along and Brian kept hassling me to run. My knees oh lord my knees..... There was a lot of trying to walk fast, 30 secs of jogging and then walking. This when he would hassle me about needing to bank time on the flats when possible as we were starting a climb again. I began praying to God to help me with my knees and to make the pain go away. We slow trudged up to jackass again. 2 hours to Jackass was better than expected.
| Jackass Junction (70M) | 15:57:32 | Saturday 21:57:32 | 143° |
After this we turned that virtual corner and headed back down a little, but there are some rollers and some rocky sections again that tend to naturally slow you down. I felt pretty beat up but I had a little mojo to keep me moving. I drew one just like below on a piece of paper for motivation and had it in my pack. I would not quit. So I wasn't going too. Tempo picked up a bit. Or at least my mood did and began to see what I can do when I want. Unstoppable for a goal I want. Hooooahhhh!
| Coyote Camp (76.5M) | 17:36:40 | Saturday 23:36:40 | 104° 39 |
In and out of coyote camp for fueling and lots of salt, burritos and watermelon. Didn't feel great but but could keep moving. Sitting caused things to just ache. Brian kept running and pulling away from me as his form of pacing, so I had to work hard to stay with him. I'm sure he was dying about how slow the pace was but it worked well.
| Javelina Jeadquarters (80.5M) | 18:35:41 | Sunday 00:35:40 | 135° 31 |
Loop 5: Miles 80.5 to 100.1
Sitting at headquarters I looked at Brian and said something to the affect of... "10 mins and we are outta here. That gives me 5 hours 15 mins to go 19.5 miles. Can I really break 24? Is this happening." He said its gonna be tight so you gotta move. He rolled out my legs and we got up and started walking. Always forward... always moving forward is what i need to do. From there is was the mellow flats for 3.5 until the short climb to the first aide again. He kept saying we need to bank time on the flats so keep moving...keep jogging. Id have moments of time where I could jog for a few mins but then had to walk. About a mile out of Jackass I felt myself slip a little on a slight down hill and my foot slid (what was probably a 1/4 inch) in my shoe. Immediately a big blister raise on the ball of my foot just behind my toes. From there every step on that side hurt. I knew Id have to have that taken care of by medical at the aide station. I also had to go to the restroom. That was odd. late in a race the restroom? then again I had been eating a ton for the last 24 hours... so why not right? We reached the aide station and I dropped my pack and went to the restroom. Immediately after I told Brian about the blister and he said there was no time and to suck it. I argued briefly and then realized I might still make it under 24 hours. In my head that was still not realistic and I assumed at best Id be 24 and change. I even joked I would be 24:03 or something ridiculous like that. Refuel, and off we went.
| Jackass Junction (91M) | 21:26:46 | Sunday 03:26:46 | 53° |
The last ten miles was a bit of a blur. GUs and any food made me gag and a 1 time drive heave. I didn't want food. Even sipping water made me want to hurl. Id been awake and moving for 24 hours now and was somewhere around 95 miles into a run in the desert. Part of me felt it was a dream as I had a knee that has wrecked playing soccer, then surgery just 6 months earlier and had done aggressive rehab on it while pushing the running. That fact that I was running and jogging still at all was amazing. I tried to remember how lucky I was. The pain in both knees helped keep me awake and aware that this wasn't over. One missed step and a tweak of the knee or roll of an ankle and it was over. Run smart!!! Pay attention to the trail and your footing and get this right! Eventually after trotting off and on for 6 miles and stopping to stretch for 10 secs quite frequently we got to the last aid station at Rattle snake. I sat for a few and still felt there was no way I'd really hit the sub 24 hour mark. No way, how. I was less trained and had surgery! I did more fueling this time tried noodle soup.. BLAAAAA, tried to not throw up... sick of everything and not wanting to eat at all I said screw it. Lets just finish. I don't need fueling to go 4 miles! I told Brian I was gonna walk the first 10 mins to try and get my stomach under control. He latched on to 2 other guys and kept walking faster than I wanted too. At the left hand turn into the last valley they started to jog slowly and I went with them. At one point they actually went down the wash and off trail and I yelled to get them back. You can see off to the right side a ridge-line even in the dark against the stars for the valley you run in. Once that ridge drops off, you know the final turn with a 1/4 mile to headquarters is close. You make a right and can now hear music and see lights. I recall glancing at my watch and not really believing it. In fact I didn't and continued as I did all day. Just get to the finish line, happy and not permanently damaged (knee). As I went through the arch that starts the 1/4 mile fish hook path to the finish I remember asking Brian to grab his phone and try to grab a photo at the finish if he could. He said to drop the pack at our chairs as I passed by and I had already started pulling it off. This is when it hit me. A very weird and comforting feeling of awe and disbelief. For the last 24 hours... heck last week to 4 months. There was always an underlying what if? I can hold out, right? I can endure and push away the pain, I know that. But the surgery knee is something completely different and out of my control. If it shuts down . My day is over and I will accept it. But just general fatigue and discomfort. No way. Tune it out, ignore it, go to the other side, that other place and keep moving. I'm gonna finish! And I did.....! 23 hours and 27 mins! Just a tad under 3 hours faster than last year! Unreal. I literally was stunned and so darn happy. I sat in a chair post race next to the main aide station in a bit of shock and a little teary eyed. What the heck did I just do.. complete. Thank you Lord... Thank you Brian for crewing, pacing and putting up with me.
| Finish | 23:27:51 | Sunday 05:27:50 | 125° |
