Rocky Raccoon 100 - A great day and a tough night

Rocky Raccoon 100 has come and gone.  I've been training for this since July and I had been looking forward to it for a long time.

I’d be remiss if I did not start this race report by thanking those people who supported and encouraged me during my training as well as during the race itself.  In particular, my father, who always volunteers for these events; my wife, who thankfully was with me when the wheels came off in the middle of the night; and Jeremy and Cathlene Webb who planned to come out to pace and support me, but ended up doing a different kind of race support for me.  Also, I need to thank Ingrid who shared so much of the race prep with me and to Brett who ran with me for most of the race until my heel blisters caused me to do less walking and more running than he wanted to do.  I have to wonder if things might have ended differently if I’d stuck it out with him. They both finished well.

I did not finish this race.  As a matter of fact, I dropped out at mile 76 just after midnight when I was ahead of my goal 24 hour pace.  It was a bummer, but I had a lot of fun during this race and I got an overwhelming amount of support leading up to it and during the race as well.  I'd be running along and I'd hear a beep as a new email, text message, or twitter message popped up.

I don't have much experience dropping out of races and I certainly prefer not to do it, but at least it wasn't one of those situation where I agonized over whether to keep going or not and worried about regretting it later.  In this case it was very easy for me to drop.  Within a mile of giving up my 24 hour goal, I was sitting on a footbridge shivering uncontrollably and unable to move except to throw up.  Nonetheless, I was still being a smartass and making jokes to the runners who ran by me asking if I was ok.  I’m not going to let a little thing like complete body failure get me down.  When the ATV finally came for me and I was sitting in a chair in front of a propane heater drinking cups of Gatorade, my dad looked at me sideways and said, “You’re going to make me do this again next year, aren’t you?” and I probably would have signed up for the 2012 race on the spot.

OK, enough about the bad times.  I’d like to talk about the vast majority of the race, which was a tremendous amount of fun and a massive success.  The fact that I was able to run so fast and strong even past 70 miles is a validation of my physical preparation for the race.

I know the course really well.  I ran the 50-mile race the last two years and I’ve done quite a bit of training as recently as last month on the actual race course.  What I did not expect was the cold front that blew through the week before the race.  That turned out to be a real game changer.  My father and I drove up the day before on icy roads and secured the camp shelter I had so diligently reserved prior to the event.  Yes, we paid $30 per night for two nights of a camp shelter we never used because I spent the night Friday night in a hotel room.  I have no regrets on that one.  I got seven hours of good sleep the night before the race and there’s no replacement for a good night of sleep.

On Friday afternoon, we coped out the state park and the race setup.  I dropped my bag at the designated pre-race bag drop and went to the pre-race meeting.  I met up with Brett and we had dinner together before turning in for the night.

Race morning was clear and cold by Texas standards.  The race started at 6AM and the sun had not yet risen, so we set off with headlamps aglow into the 25 degree night.  I quickly found Brett and paid attention to our pace so as not to go out too fast.  We wanted to slowly build up about a ten minute buffer in front of our 24 hour pace.  At the Dam Road aid station, we located our drop bags and dropped off our headlamps for the day.

The first loop came and went with very little fanfare.  We stayed nice and slow and consistent and we came in right where we expected to.  We did some equipment swap and probably spent a bit longer at the turnaround than we should have, but it was no big deal.  One notable thing about the first loop turnaround was that I ran into Wade Barrett’s wife who was there supporting him for his 50 mile run.  Wade is the former captain of the Houston Dynamo and now he’s an assistant coach with them.  He’s also a really hardcore runner and I knew he would be putting up some strong numbers.  I believe he finished the 50 somewhere under 7 hours.  That is incredible.

The second loop must have gone according to plan as well because I have to say I don’t remember a single thing about it.  I know I ran it with Brett and I know that Wade actually stuck around after his race to wait for me to come in and cheer me on.  That was really great of him and I appreciate it.

The third lap was where things started getting a little weird.  By the time I got to the Dam Road aid station 7 miles into the lap, I noticed my heels were feeling a bit hot and I stopped there to change socks.  I had developed blisters on the outside of both heels.  These were not agonizing, but they steadily grew in annoyance.  I discovered that my feet only hurt when I was walking and not when I was running because when I walk, my heel lands first and when I run, I tend to land on my mid-sole.  As a result, I found myself running more and more while Brett was sticking to his comfortable schedule of running a bit and walking the hills.  I had to make a decision.  Do I stick it out with Brett or do I do what feels better now and risk blowing up later on?  I decided I had to run my own race and so I burned my candle on both ends.  I finished the third lap running strong—really strong.  To finish 60 miles feeling great and running strong gave me a lot of encouragement.  I was also about half an hour ahead of my schedule.  I wondered how long it would last, but there’s no point in wondering what might come so I grabbed some more food and headed out again.

I started the fourth loop running strong and caught up to my friend who was on his fifth loop, but slowing down a bit as he walked more.  This was a tremendous psychological boost having someone to run with and talk to.  In the future, I’ll line up a pacer for the 4^th and 5^th loops.  I stuck with him past mile 70 (90 for him) when I started having increasing stomach issues.  I’d step off into the woods and send him on his way and then catch back up to him.  Finally, I sent him off and that was the last I saw of him.  He finished a little over 18 hours.  What an awesome finish!  About half a mile before the second Dam Road aid station, I ran out of gas.  This was a really strange situation for me.  I was so out of gas that I could hardly walk straight, but I was still way ahead of schedule, so I decided to take a time out at the aid station and get some calories.  I had two cups of hot chocolate and probably 6 quarters of pb&j sandwich.  This was the beginning of the end but I didn’t know it yet.

After Dam Road, I was getting a little bit of energy back, but there had not been enough time for the calories to be absorbed by my body and my stomach issues were only compounding.  After two trips into the woods on the 3.5 mile trek to the next aid station, I finally called up my wife and asked her to meet me there with an Imodium tablet.  I should have had one of these with me to take at the first sign of stomach distress and I will do so in the future.  I ran/walked into the Park Road aid station where my wife was waiting.  At this point, I realized that sub-24 was simply not going to happen and I was satisfied to walk the three miles to the main start/finish aid station and pick up Jeremy as my pacer for the final loop and just see what happened.

Alida agreed to walk me in and we set off walking.  About a mile in, a switch flipped somewhere in my body and the race was over.  Walking lowered my body temperature and allowed the chills and fatigue to come flooding in.  My muscles seized up and it was all I could do to walk from that point to the footbridge thirty feet away to sit down.  After sitting there shivering for about ten minutes and feeling terrible, I finally got up enough energy to lean over and start throwing up.  All the hot chocolate and sandwiches I had force-fed myself in my desperate search for calories were rebelling and my body said “no more!”

I’m extremely lucky that Alida was there because otherwise, I would have been in really terrible shape.  Alida called Jeremy and Cathlene who came pretty quickly and the four of us assessed the situation further.  It was a strange situation because I didn’t really feel bad but I just couldn’t move or do anything.  I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to stand up, let alone walk back to the aid station a mile away.  The race officials were called and it was decided I needed an ATV to come and pick me up and take me to the medical tent.  I was hoping to avoid a trip to the hospital if possible.  I ended up waiting about an hour and a half before one could come pick me up.  During this time, runners ran by the three people standing over a runner lying on a bridge wrapped in jackets.  Everyone asked if I was ok, which I obviously wasn’t, but mentally I was fine.  I told people the race was so easy I decided to stop and do some sit-ups.

Finally, the ATV came and took me to the medical tent.  I sat in a chair in front of a propane heater and warmed up.  I was exhausted, but the vomiting seemed to clear up my stomach issues and I was able to sip Gatorade and water.  I turned in my timing chip, thanked everyone who helped me, and climbed in the back of the SUV to sleep while Alida drove home.

The next morning, I checked up on the finishers.  Ingrid ran a really strong race and finished a little under 25 hours.  As luck would have it, she ended up winning her age group and won an award at the race.  Great finish!  Brett also hit the wall, but he did it at mile 93.  So close to the finish, he opted to spend half an hour at an aid station wrapped in blanket and then limp his way to the finish in a little over 26 hours.  Great job, Brett and Ingrid!  You really earned your buckles on that race.

I’ve always said that wins are more fun, but losses are more useful.  This race was incredibly useful to me.  I learned more in 18 hours than I have in months of training.  I found out where my limit was and I also figured out what I need to do to increase that limit.  My physical training was spot on for this race.  My two biggest problems were clothing and nutrition.

Clothing is easy to fix.  I brought clothing appropriate to keep me warm while running below 30 degrees, but I should have brought clothing appropriate to keep me warm while WALKING below 30 degrees.  Nutrition is a harder nut to crack.  I had a pretty good plan from my previous 50 milers and several 50k races.  The problem is that none of the food I brought appealed to me at all.  I plan to work with a race nutritionist and figure out what I need for ultra-distance races and this includes my upcoming Ironman race.

I’ve never had a race where I failed to finish and didn’t go back the next year to right the wrong and this will be no exception.  I take hope from the fact that Brett says he wants to do it again and also, a few other people have expressed interest in the 50 and the 100.  This is great news.  I also plan to arrange pacers for the 4^th and 5^th loops.  Having someone to talk to makes all the difference.

Here's the tale of the Garmin for those who are interested in such things.  Ignore the last mile.  I forgot to stop the watch.