Last weekend's Sulphur Springs 100 Mile Trail Race was my 9th 100 miler and my 3rd time at Sulphur. I like this event because it's where I ran my first 100 and where I got hooked on this crazy distance. The viking and I run here a fair bit during the year, especially in the cold months putting in long mileage and/or back-to-back runs. I know this race course very well and that's both an advantage and a disadvantage on race day. No need to mention the advantages, but the disadvantage was that I was rather disheartened by how wet the new course would be due to an endlessly wet and cold winter and spring season. Wet feet = problems. I ran 23:53 here last year and was hoping to run another sub-24, but closer to the race I was starting to revise my plan and my goals. On Friday on my lunch break I wrote a quick and easy race plan, factoring in my slow-down due to darkness and sleep deprivation, which is always a factor, because I never sleep well before a race:
1st loop 2:30
2nd loop 2:35
3rd loop 2:40
4th loop 2:45
5th loop 2:50
6th loop 3:20
7th loop 3:30
8th loop 3:30 for a 23:40 finish
This was a somewhat aggressive plan with a bit of a cushion for a sub-24. Then I pondered the wet trails and I thought... just finishing on that course would be grand. The viking and I made a last decision not to camp at the start/finish (on a cold foggy evening!!), but instead drove back to Toronto on Friday after the pasta dinner. Saturday morning we woke up at 4:00AM to drive in and set up at the start line. I had slept 3.5 hrs, but felt rested enough for the big day. Our two friends decided to jump in to crew us and did so the entire event. It was great to have them help us get in and out of the aid station in mere seconds. They were the ones helping us at theBeast of Burden 100 last February.
I had a good start of the race, ran with some of our training buddies and ran a faster pace than I wanted, but it was all good. My guts were behaving amazingly, none of my usual "fertilizer trips" in the forest...
I drank Gatorade throughout the race and was on top of my salts like never before. No salt/hydration issues, no water retention, no bloating, nothing. Ran 2:18 for the first loop, which was ok, I just wanted it out of the way. Second loop 2:27, still on pace building a cushion and still feeling good, chatting away with my buddies. The shorter races started and the course got busier and noisier, which was fine, but also got badly chewed up on the wetter sections. I got the impression there were not as many in the shorter distances as in previous years... maybe the wet course had something to do with it? Cruised along, finished lap 3 in 2:31. I was eating mostly Ensure/Boost, the occasional cookie, some bananas and boiled potatoes. I would grab a bottle and drink it in small sips on my walk breaks on the hills. The theory was to eat in small amounts and mostly liquids. I had a few peanut butter pretzels, which were awesome. Small but powerful... I didn't want to have any major bowel issues. When it started to feel warmer on lap 4, I felt it at times, but was happy it didn't heat up like last year to 28-30 degrees for so many hours. I felt a bit of a slow down and my feet were starting to get uncomfortable with all the mud in my shoes. I finished lap 4 in 2:32, putting me at 9:50 for the first 50 miles (PB!). I thought to myself, I am way ahead of schedule... but let's enjoy it while it lasts, because the feet will start deteriorating soon and I wasn't going to deal with them till I'm done. That was the plan...
After lap 3 and for the rest of the race between laps, I had a shot of Vega supplements, which we lovingly call 'lawn clippings'... Vega Complete Food Health Optimizer. Don't ask me what's in it, because it's not from my stash, we don't do powders or anything, but my friend had a tub of it at her 72hr ultra a few weeks ago. We fed this to her and now she wanted revenge, so she fed us the same sh!t. We used it mixed 2-3x thicker, so as to only do 1-2 little sips. The stuff tastes awful, but I think it helps. It's all in the head, no?
Going out into lap 5 I had a cup of apple sauce with 1-2 cookies. I started to feel like I have to stop at the outhouse and was dreading what was to follow. Had a major dump and things shifted in my guts and I started feeling very hungry and bloated, but was afraid to eat anything big, so just stuck to rice crackers to settle things, and then had some watermelon, oranges, half a cookie, gel. Oranges would be what I fed on in the second half of the race. I felt slow for the better part of the 5th lap and well into my 6th lap, waiting for things to stabilize, trying to get rid of the bloating. On the second half of my 5th lap, I forgot to refill my Camelbak and 2 minutes after the aid station I ran out of fluids. Not only was I fading, but now I was going to get a bit dehydrated too. Great. I asked the first person passing me on the uphills if she had a sip of water to spare. She was a relay runner and had nothing on her. Travelling light, I thought... d@mn! The next person to catch me was a friend, the winner of the 100 miler, Ken, so I bummed a few sips of water off him and he was happy to oblige. That put the spring back into my legs, so I managed to run the downhill from the farmer's field to the aid station and then back to the start finish again. Doh, mistakes happen we're you're tired... Lap 5 took me 3:03 to do and I still wasn't feeling awesome, but luckily stable, so I was content. On lap 6 I was starting to feel my feet getting uncomfortable and I was still a bit leery about eating bulky things, so stuck to apple sauce, rice crackers, oranges, bananas, gel. I also popped a Kick Butt Ball to wake up a bit from my slow pace. I walked a bit and realized it hurt more to walk than to run, so I tried to run. It was starting to get dark and had to turn my light on. At the 13k aid station I was sooo hungry, I had to get half a cup of soup and had more of my trusty rice crackers with it. A friend came along, he had a weak flash light, but a good pace, so I decided to join him to pick up the pace a bit. I ended up running ahead, lighting the course and calling out roots and mud spots for him. We ran well together and I was feeling strong again, though I knew the next 2 laps were going to be tough. Lap 6 done in 3:24 and starting to feel a bit wretched. My feet and legs were covered in mud, which was awful and annoying. At the beginning of lap 7 my good friend Charlotte offered to jump in to pace me and I said yes. I had a sip of the lawn clippings, some green tea, courtesy of casual_runner (thanks!), took my multivitamin pill, popped a Motrin, grabbed an apple sauce and some caramel coconut cookies, which just hit the spot. I told her that I'd like to finish sub-24, but things might change depending on my feet and if I could stay awake. Also told her that I'd like to save some strength for the last lap because I don't want to do a death march. She said sure, whatever I wanted... So what do we do? We run the d@mn thing, some uphills included and just tear down the hills from the farmers field! Lap 7 done in an amazing 3:09, setting me up for a very tough last lap, but hey, 140k done in 19:27!!
Lap 8 was a lap of whining and cursing and I was having difficulty focusing... My pinkies felt like pickled tomatoes, skin separating and all... I was starting to get tunnel vision and getting dizzy from the cone of light before me, so I was asking my friend to shine her light at my feet to break up the cone effect. It was awful. It felt like wearing scuba goggles. I've never been scubadiving, but that's what the light looked like in front of me. I was getting cranky and very tired, couldn't control the pain any more. Charlotte was pushing me gently, mostly reminding me what time it was, complimenting me on my form, when I had any, and trying to get me not to slow down on the flats. Those flats on the Gatehouse loop are sooooo tedious... I couldn't wait to get to the out and back, but the big downhill from the farmers field, which is my most favourite section of the course, was now terrifying me, because my legs were shot. I also had my 2 spills of the race on this lap, one going down to the Sulphur creek, at that steep muddy hill around km 5 and the other spill right after the second aid station going down to the trail at around km 12. The trails were greasy and sloppy, it was hard to stay upright... Charlotte was pushing me, reminding me again how much time I had to break 23 hrs. I was telling her I was trying my best and I didn't care about the time, I just wanted to be done, so I could take those rotten shoes and socks off already! The last 6-7km I must have done like 5-6 gels. I lived on oranges on the last 2 loops, a couple of caramel coconut cookies and gels... lots of gels. But they worked and we were making progress, so I wasn't complaining too much. With about 5k left when it became apparent that I have a shot at breaking 23hr, I picked up the pace, which hurt a lot, but I figured there's nothing to save now, so just go for it and try not to wipe out on the trails. I said hello and goodbye at the last aid station coming out to the road and psyched myself to run up that hill to the finish.
Finished in 22:59:13, hitting an unexpected PB and running better than I had hoped on a very wet and muddy course. This is a much faster course when it's dry, the new additions are ok, with the exception of that wretched bog on the G.Donald trail where those hills drain onto the trail, washing all the deer and horse droppings into one big ankle-deep bog... I really hope the RD reconsiders this stretch, maybe have us skip this loop and just head straight for Martin Road and make up the 800m distance somewhere else. The new setup with the fewer aid stations is great, too, I love it. Less stress on the volunteers, less time wasted at aid stations. The start/finish area is much roomier and logistically better suited for this growing event. The organizers did great maintaining the aid stations and marking the course... no issues at all, though, as I said, I know this course with my eyes closed...
A big Thank You to my friends Charlotte and Chris for crewing us and then pacing me to an awesome finish. Thanks to casual runner for the green tea!! It was nice to see a lot of maniacs, lots of newbies to the 100 mile distance (well done trailzen aka Dale, westgreyrunner aka Ron, ajax aka Chris!!) and some regulars (great job chrismcpeake and Maryka!!) Saw lots of other maniacs, the Striders, Doonst, hezzy and her husband, chainsawbaby and curly, but also missed a few. Hope to see more maniacs at the summer trail events, Limberlost, Dirty Girls and ITT. Have a great summer everyone!
Happy feet,
UQ
Congratulations on a fantastic run.
