This fall I missed meeting my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. I wasn’t totally disappointed, the time I ran was over 20 minutes better than my previous best marathon time, it just meant I had more work to do. Not wanting to let any of the training I did over the summer go to waste, I decided that I would attempt to accomplish another goal, a 100 mile trail run. I started looking for any upcoming 100 mile trail runs; there was one coming up on February 5th in Huntsville Texas, The Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Trail Run.
Thursday Feb 3
Judy, my wife, and I drove down to Huntsville, TX. Much of Texas was getting hit with snow and sleet; however, our drive down was pleasantly uneventful. We arrived to the Days Inn around 5 PM and checked into our Double Bed, Smoking room… that’s what I get for waiting until the last minute to reserve a room.
Once we got our luggage unloaded, we walked to the Mexican Restaurant across the Days Inn parking lot. Judy and I were both starving so Judy ordered a guacamole dip appetizer. The waitress brought all the ingredients to the table and made it right in front of us. Normally I would be fine with this; however, I was paranoid about getting sick this close to the race and the waitress was obviously fighting a cold, wiping her red, raw nose every three seconds as she made this dip with her bare hands. Once the waitress left Judy started chowing down on the dip and asked why I wasn’t having any… I just told her “I have my reasons”.
Friday Feb 4
We awoke Friday morning to a light sleet. I was able to look out our room window and see that our van was covered with ice. Realizing that getting out and driving to IHOP would be a hassle we decided to walk over to the lobby and take advantage of our free complimentary breakfast. As we ate our breakfast, a group of four people, two men and two women, came into the lobby to check-in. I could tell that they were there for the race just by looking at them, their slim physiques and trail shoes gave it away. I was able to get the attention of one of them and asked if they were there for the race. He said they were. He went on to say they were supposed to get in the night before but it took them several hours longer to get there than expected. They had hit the bad weather and ran into a guardrail along the interstate.
The rest of the group came over and joined in the conversation. One of the women asked if I was doing the 50 miler or 100 miler. I told her the hundred. She asked if it was my first hundred. I told her it was. She asked what other ultramarathons (any distance over 26.2 miles) I had done. I told her this was my first. The group gave each other looks and one of the guys asked “you are doing a hundred as your first ultra?”. “Sure,” I replied. “If I come up short what is the worst that could happen? If I drop out, then I drop out”. We talked for a while longer and wished each other luck in the run.
Once it warmed a bit and we left the hotel, Judy and I spent most of the day trying to figure out the access roads running along interstate 45 and going down to Huntsville State Park to scout out the trail and also determine the locations Judy would be able to support me along the trail. The course was a 20 mile loop that the runners would run 5 times. There were 5 aid stations along each loop and we determined that Judy would have access to the 1st, 2nd and 5th.
Friday night we went to bed early because we needed to get up around 3 am so we would have time to eat breakfast at IHOP before the 6am start time the next day. I slept from about 8 pm until midnight; my nerves were getting the best of me.
Saturday Feb 5
After an early morning breakfast, we arrived to the starting area just before 5 am. I sat in the driver’s seat of the van with my nerves going crazy and Judy sat in the passenger seat wondering why we had to get there so early, especially since it was around 25 degrees outside.
1st Loop (6 am – 10:34am)
6 am came soon enough and the race began. Just over 300 runners started the 100 mile portion of the race. The first few miles were pretty slow because this part of the course was single track and the runners hadn’t had time to spread out yet. There were several frost covered wooden bridges that we had to cross and I saw several runners take some hard slips. One runner took a bad enough fall that it didn’t look like she would be able to continue the race.
For the first 10 miles the Gatorade bottle I was carrying kept freezing making it somewhat difficult to stay hydrated. Around mile 15 I started running with a guy who seemed to have quite a bit of ultra-running experience. He dressed a little differently than most everyone, he was wearing cargo pants, a floppy fisherman hat, and instead of having typical water bottles, he had two old juice bottles with screw caps tied to thin ropes that were crossed over each shoulder. He told me about several of the races he had done; some he finished and some he didn’t. Hoping he could pass on some wisdom I asked, “What would you say is the number one reason for not finishing the races that you didn’t complete?” I assumed he was going to say something along the lines of “not hydrating enough”, “not consuming enough calories”, or perhaps “going out too quickly”. But instead, he gave me a half offended look and said “I guess I was too slow and didn’t meet the cutoff times”. I didn’t mean to offend the guy, but our conversation died down a bit after that. After a few more miles our paces didn’t match up, he started to slow a bit and I tried to outrun the uncomfortable situation.
I came in to the aid station at the end of the final loop right on time (4 hours and 30 minutes). I had pre-determined lap times that would have me finishing around 26 hrs, well below the 30 hour time limit. Judy was there waiting for me and read me some texts that my brother, who has completed several ultra runs, had sent her reminding me to hydrate and eat and then I texted some people at work letting them know that I had completed the first 20 miles.
2nd Loop (10:34am – 3:32pm)
This loop was probably the most pleasant. Temps finally started to warm up and my legs were still feeling fresh. I was becoming more confident that I might be able to finish the race. I had run the loop once and I knew none of it was too terrible, I didn’t categorize any of the hills as being brutal, and the roots that everyone had warned me about weren’t nearly as bad as what I dealt with on the Ouachita Trail during training.
I finally started to see some of the 50 milers early in the 2nd loop. The 50 milers started about an hour behind the 100 milers and their course was similar to ours, only they cut off 3 ½ miles off each loop and only did 3 loops instead of 5.
Around mile 30 I was running behind what appeared to be a married couple or at least two people who were dating. They were running along at a pace similar to mine when the guy doubled over and vomited. I had heard that many people have stomach problems and we were getting to a distance that many people hadn’t reached in training so I figured I would only see more of this.
With about 2 miles left in the 2nd loop I started running with a guy who appeared to be in his 60s. He seemed like he was still pretty fresh and more than motivated to finish. Conversation was flowing easily for us and I was happy that we had started running together because I had hoped all along that I would find someone running around my pace whom I could run the rest of the race with. Ideally, he would push me when I would need it and I would do the same for him.
We strolled into the 40 mile aid station and I talked to Judy for a minute and told her that I was feeling good, I sent my text to my co-workers letting them know I was done with my 2nd loop and I was ready to go. I looked around for my new running partner and I spotted him 30 feet away sitting next to the propane heater. I made eye contact with him, gave him a smile and yelled “ready to go?” as I pointed to the trail. He looked away from me and focused his eyes on the propane heater, rubbed his hands together, held them next to the heater and finally shook his head “no”. I left without him. I’m not sure if he ever got up, but I never saw him again.
3rd Loop (3:32pm – 9:12pm)
This loop started out fine, but it quickly became the loop that set the tone for the rest of the race. Around mile 45 my knees started hurting and walking became more and more appealing. I saw Judy at the first aid station of this loop and I told her my legs, mainly my knees, were hurting. She said that my brother had told her that would happen in a text that he sent her and that his advice was to just keep going. I pulled out 2 ibuprofen pills from my pocket, swallowed them, grabbed a few pieces of pizza from the aid station and kept going.
I got to the 3rd Aid station of the 3rd loop around 5:30pm and they were reminding everyone to get their lights from their drop bags because it would be dark soon. This seemed impossible. “Already getting dark?” I wasn’t quite half way done with the race and I had already run out of daylight and to make matters worse I could hear cheers coming all the way across Raven Lake… the 50 milers were starting to finish. They were getting to go to dinner, take a shower and most of all get in a warm bed. I was still here, in the dropping temps and I was going to be here much longer. I wasn’t even halfway done.
It took a while but I finally finished the 3rd loop, and it was really dark by that point. I told Judy I wasn’t feeling well and probably most of all I was just mentally “down”. I stayed at the aid station tent long enough to eat some soup and I overheard two guys talking. One guy said “I’ve been here over an hour just sitting here.. .I don’t know... maybe my night is over.” It was pretty obvious what this guy was going through, he didn’t want to quit but going back out into the dark and cold was too much. If you sit there long enough, you can waste enough time that you won’t have time to make the 30 hour cutoff so the decision “to go or not to go” is made for you.
I texted my co-workers and again I was on my way.
4th Loop (9:12pm – 3:56am)
At the beginning of the 4th loop I was at a better place mentally than I was at the end of the 3rd loop. I was able to tell myself “Over halfway through” or “This is like the Thursday of the work week”. However, physically my knees hurt more and more. I saw Judy at the first aid station and I told her that I would have to walk a lot of this loop.
I was still feeling confident about finishing, but mentally this part of the race was tough. The 50 milers were done, the fast 100 milers were done, and although I didn’t know it at the time 40% of the runners had dropped out of the race. I would go miles without seeing anyone. As I walked along a section called Park Road I fell asleep a few times while walking, not for any extended period of time, more like when you fall asleep while driving, my head would bob down for a second and I would jerk it back up, causing me to go in and out of a dazed state.
Around mile 75 I caught up with some guy who was talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone. He told her that he was dropping out. I walked on past him and he got off the phone and asked if he could walk with me. The batteries in his lights died several miles back. He told me he was dropping at the next aid station. I tried to talk him out of it, “there are only 4 miles left in this loop and just one more loop after that.” It seems weird to try to minimalize a distance close to that of a marathon, but when you have just completed the distance of nearly 3 marathons that is the way you start to think.
I finished the 4th loop in somewhat of a panic. The 4th loop took a long time, much longer than I had expected. I had 8 hours to finish the last loop but the way my knees hurt I didn’t feel 8 hours guaranteed me anything. I couldn’t imagine coming all this way and then getting disqualified because I went 5 minutes over the 30 hour time limit.
I gave Judy a hug and I was on my way. I was so cold and in such a rush I didn’t text my co-workers with an update.
5th Loop (3:56am – 10:02 am)
I’m not sure what my pace was on the first part of the 5th loop, but it was faster than I had run in several miles. Judy was really surprised to see me at the first aid station, even without wearing a watch she could tell I was progressing much faster. I checked my watch and told myself that I wanted to be at the 3rd aid station by 6am, I was there by 5:45. At this point, I knew things were looking better. I didn’t even stop at the aid station I just kept going.
Just after mile 90 and right before sunrise I started to hallucinate. I had heard stories about this happening to ultra runners, but I didn’t think it would happen to me. I was moving along at a relatively good rate when I saw a family about a hundred yards up setting up camp. They had tents, and chairs, and flashlights and the dad was giving his son a piggyback ride. It made me excited. I hadn’t seen anyone in a while and I was looking forward to seeing someone just to tell them “hello”. I took my eyes off of them briefly and when I looked again they were gone. A few seconds later I saw two runners trying to adjust each other’s reflective running vests and like the family, these people also disappeared. I soon realized that the reflective vest I thought I had seen were glow sticks hanging from the trees to help mark the trail, as for the family, I guess that phenomenon was caused from the flashlight of a woman that was running a few hundred yards in front of me.
A guy that I had met earlier in the race caught up to me and asked “how are we doing?”. His watch had gone out and like me he was worried about the cut off time. By this point, I was feeling pretty comfortable and I told him we shouldn’t have any problems. This was the first 100 mile race for both of us and we wanted to ensure we had plenty of time to finish so we started running again.
Around mile 95, I texted Judy “park road aid station in 10”. My new running partner and I got to the aid station at mile 96 around 8:30 am. Judy wasn’t there, so I assumed she didn’t get my text. “How are doing now?” my new running partner asked. “We’ve got 3 ½ hours to go 4 miles,” I replied with a smile. We both knew that finishing this thing was a given. We both agreed to walk the rest of the way.
We arrived in sight of the finish line right around 10 am, shook each other’s hand and congratulated each other. Crossing the finish line was an amazing feeling. The woman at the finish line gave us both a hug and presented us with our belt buckles.
I looked around to find Judy and she wasn’t around. I called her on the cell phone and without saying “hello” she asked “where are you?” . “Done,” I replied. “But your text said you would be at Park Road at 10.” “In 10,” I replied. “Oh good grief,” she said and hung up the phone.
Judy was at the finish line within minutes and found me lying on the ground. It was finally starting to warm up outside and the warm rays of the sun had never felt so good.
Sunday Feb 6 - After the Race
Judy had to help me into the van, out of the van and into the hotel room. I needed to get into a cold bath but I wasn’t able to undress myself because I couldn’t bend my knees, so Judy had the honor of pulling off my socks and underwear that had seen me through 100 miles.
After my cold bath, Judy ordered us a pizza and we made it halfway through the super bowl before falling asleep.
Here are some video clips from the run. At 3:34 I say I am at mile 84, but I mean mile 64
