Well the time has come to put to pen what has been in my head for some time now. That is the story about my third 100 mile adventure of the year , actually in the time span of 8 months in 2015.
I really just want to talk about the race its self but there are some factors leading up to the actual race its self that I will include.
You know how there are those races that everybody else tells you that "you should run " well this was one of those ( Hawk 100). When the year 20215 started I had already jumped into the 100 mile club by running the Pistol 100 in Tennessee, and it was one of those paved trail 100's.
God forbid a dirt trail runner do paved trail and call it a trail. This is something I had to learn the hard way. It seemed that as the days ticked off post Pistol 100 and I spoke of it I almost became less interested in telling anyone about it. The truth of the matter is it was not as easy as you would think, I know there were no roots and rocks but dang man was there some rain. There were times in the middle of the night that I spent dredging thru knee deep water to transverse the course. That was my way out now as I told people of my first 100 trail run on pavement that it was still pretty hard because of the rain , seemed to work. The bottom line is a 100 miles on your feet no matter the terrain is still hard to finish, there are black dogs waiting for you on a paved course just like a dirt trail.
That leads me into my second 100 for the year PST 100 in Ottawa Kansas. I had longed to do this one because of my experience at the Welda aid station the year of the Blizzard. There was something about it that I wanted to see if I could finish with better time than Pistol, which was a slow 25:19:51. It was the flat rail to trail course that everyone talks about being not really a trail either because you do not have to navigate any roots or rocks. I can't win for loosing here with these trail 100's.
PST was very flat and very straight butt too had it's own demons waiting for me. I did better there with a finish time of 23:42 I think. Yes it was a pr for me and I was pretty pumped but there was still that trail race that everybody told me about that I knew if I wanted to prove to myself that I was a true trail Ultra runner I must do. That trail was Hawk 100 in Lawrence Kansas , put on by the Lawrence Trail Hawks. having already done the 50 mile race there I knew what it was all about and was eager in some weird kinda way to see if I had the Balls to sign up.
Ultra Sign up is such an enticing place to find yourself on lonely nights when you feels like you want to challenge yourself, so that day came and I signed up for the hundo. I honestly knew that if I could just transverse the course and not get hurt and make it to the finish line before they said go home I would be happy. I had made no real predictions of the time it would take to finish but I initially thought it should be doable in about 27 or 28 hours. Hell it can't be that bad... right? I later learned that it was every bit of as much of a challenge as anyone had ever touted it to be.
The training leading up to this 100 miler proved in the long run to be ok. What I mean by that is, it was enough to survive but it might have been better, had I ran more on a weekly basis. It was the thing that I always struggle with is the amount of time I can train during the week doing the type of work I do as pest control specialist. I find myself walking anywhere from 4 to 8 miles on any given day and some times I just don't want to do any more than that. Over the course of the year my weekly training average run distance was barely ever more than 35 miles .
So now I am all trained up tapered down and ready to run. I knew that a fast start would be a killer for me so i had a plan to run a little slower at the start and make sure I did not over due it early on. In order to do that I needed someone like Brandy Holey to run with me for the first 50 miles to slow me down. I think I asked her if it would be alright if I ran with her and she agreed. There was a little bit of good for both of us in that first 50 miles as we had run together quite a bit over our running careers. I knew her speed an I felt like it would be perfect for me.
Next thing you know we are standing at the start line ready to take this race on with all we got or don't have. As we got started and filtered out of the conga line I found myself with Brandy , John Knepper, Dean Russell, and Brandy Holey. John wanted to run the first loop with us so he too would not run to fast and be able to finish strong on his first 50 miler, and he did just that.
Dean knew he was a fast runner and also wanted to stay back with us and just put it on cruse control for the first 50 miles of his 100 miler.
What I remember of the first 50 miles was not bad at all , it seemed to me to tick off rather quickly, I think we all had a good time running together. There were a couple times when I might have felt like I wanted to take off but was very glad I did not. I really enjoyed the company of everybody in our little group.
We had all understood that at the 50 mile mark we would all go our separate ways since we each had our own pacers except for Dean, and he started that he might just hang with me. I was planning on picking up Cody Cox at the 50 mile mark and Brandy would have Danny Loental for her third loop. I was happy to have a pacer for the third loop because I was told that it would certainly be the hardest. One thing I will say for my inexperienced pacer, he did great, he took excellent care of me and kept my mind off the pain and the darkness as much as is possible. There was one bump in the road that I remember very well during the third loop though. It came at a point in the race when Dennis and Amanda had come along and we followed them for a while before they left us. It was during the time together that I took a hard blow to the head from one of the overhanging tree limbs. It was such a hard hit that both of my feet came completely off the ground and the first thing I thought of was, why am I awake I should be knocked out. It was rather amazing that I could hit so hard and not be knocked out. The time after the big head blow I do remember slowing down some but not really from that I was just worried about falling in the dark or tripping. I had a good light and that never was an issue. Even though the third loop was my longest I was still very happy with the fact that the two things that I worry about some times were still in good shape after 65 miles, one being my nutrition and the other my feet. I will admit that the rocks had started to take a toll on my feet as far as bruising and being sore but no blisters. My plan for nutrition was to use U-Can for the entire race but I changes up plans after 50 miles and decided to go to food until the last 11 miles. That proved to be the best thing I could have done for myself. I never had a stomach issue and was able to go pee and eat very well without any great energy loss.
Upon completion of my third loop I changed pacers and Matt my youngest son came on board to take care of me. By the time I was back on the trail with Matt I think we had about 2 1/2 hours to daylight. I forgot to mention that at the 50 mile mark Dean had decided to drop due to foot issues and was no longer running with us. I felt bad for him but I knew that he knew what he could handle and it was his choice.
Matt and I made our way out on the blue course and I remember running pretty good on that part. I had told myself that running when I could was something I must do and when I came to a hill I would just walk. The good thing was that Matt never pushed me or complained that I was walking to much, even though I ran more on the final loop than I did with Cody. I remember getting to the West End Park Road aid station and decided to give my U Can another try and see if it would give me some energy to finish strong. I will say that all of the food at the aid stations made all the difference in the world in my race , hats off to all of the volunteers that made that possible, you guys rock.
So we left the second to last aid station on my last loop and felt pretty good considering that the feet were a little banged up. It was when we got to the Lands end aid station that my race took a very different turn for the better, believe it or not. Up to that point it was that part of the course that I actually dreaded the most and so wanted not to run the last bit of mileage to the finish from there on white. I found myself sitting down for a bit gathering my thoughts and watching others come and go from behind me. It was then that a runner who I had not see all day and his pacer came into the aid station and did not stop. It hit me in a funny way, I first thought, where did this guy come from and then I thought how in the hell is he not stopping to rest? But then in a matter of seconds I looked at Matt and said, " I am going to catch that guy and pass him". I think Matt looked at me kinda funny and said , " yea right". I think at that time there was that old man or father vs son attitude in me that said , " I'm gonna show this kid what I got in me", so we took off. I never once felt like it was not possible for me to catch him but I just wanted to make sure if I did that I could hold the lead all the way in. I had never run at this pace in a trail race before at least that is what Matt told me after the race. The time and distance it took me to catch him is a little sketchy but it came and I saw an opportunity to make the pass. I got right on the tail of the runners and the pacer said " do you want to pass", I instantly thought " hell yes" I feel great. It was at that point that I sensed that I had made a challenge to myself to finish this bitch with everything I had or die trying. Up to this point I had never had the opportunity to pass people with such power and agility this late in a race, it was the most amazing thing I have ever been apart of in my life. It seemed that the further I ran the stronger I felt. I am not sure if it was because I could hear Matt back three saying he was getting hot and was a little out of breath or that I was just having so much fun I just did not want to stop. It was then that Matt reminded me that there were two guys out front of us that I might have an opportunity to catch that I was behind most of the race. As I kept dodging the branches and bounding over the rocks like a gazelle I envisioned what it was going to be like when I caught up with those two and made my attempt to pass them. I first wondered if I could, or would I run out of trail before I caught them. Well the first runner was in our sights now and he was walking, Matt let me know the status of him and I made pursuit. I think at this point it had become a game for me and I was trying to push myself even harder as I drew on the energy it gave me to catch them. I came up on Dennis first and figured that as he saw me he might take off and run some ,but to my amazement there was no run left in him, and I passed him and never looked back. Matt and I both knew that the only other runner that I had not seen the whole race was Andrew and I most likely would not see him . But it was at that moment that Matt said there he is.. I said.. did he see us yet? Matt said oh yes he sees us, he too was walking now, I think there was about a mile and a half left in the race when we passed him and he and his pacer looked pretty rough. Later did I find out that his pacer was having some issues and he was walking with her. I continued to run fairly hard thinking that the only person that might try to catch me would be the first guy for maybe even Andrew. But to my surprise none of them came to hard on me at the end and when I crossed the finish line I felt like a million bucks. It was not that I was glad it was over but that I had just ran my ass off for the last 3 miles and finished this 100 miler strong as hell and was super excited about it. At the end of the day it showed me that the mind can make the body do things that you never imagined even possible, and when those times come , and they will , get on board and run with the wind and enjoy every minute of it.
I want to thank all of the runners out there that gave me a chance to prove something to myself, and all of the people that took excellent care of me thru out the race and my pacers who were two of the best I have ever had an opportunity to run with. At this point in my life I need to re evaluate my running and see what the year 2016 will hold, I do know that an International Marathon will happen in Guam in April 2016 and I want to run Flatrock 101, and Silver Rush In Leadville. All of that is if God is willing to carry me all the way as he lines my path with friends and family to cover my ass when I get out of control and help me with my filter too. God Bless everyone that reads this cause I know I am a terrible writer.
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