Post Grand Slam Thoughts

Well, now that my Grand Slam adventure is over, and I’ve had a few days to let it sink in, here’s some random thoughts on the experience.

I had already decided that if I made the Western States lottery cut, I would sign up for the slam.  So, once I knew for certain, I signed up for the remaining races as soon as I could.  Who knows when I would get another chance?

I’ve kind of had it in the back of my head that one day I would do the slam, especially if I could afford it and make the cut at Western.

I definitely spent some cash this summer doing this little adventure.  Four entry fees that weren’t cheap, a plane ticket to Boston, a rental car, hotels, food, gas for my car on the road trips, etc.  It added up pretty quick.  Couple all of that with the other races I did this year and this has been a pricey race year.  Was it worth it?  Some people would say no, the average person can’t afford it, some of the races are way overhyped, entry fees are too high, you shouldn’t race that much, etc.  Well, I’m happy to say that I’m not an average person, I could afford it, and who cares about the hype, whether I race too much, etc.  I had a great time.

Did I find running four 100's difficult?  Well, yes and no.  The actual races all went very well.  I ran within myself, knew what to do and just got the job done.  There was never really any point in any race where I had serious thoughts of dropping or giving up.  You always have those fleeting thoughts, but serious ones never really entered my head.  Did I have to "dig deep" to finish (or any other of those metaphors).  Nope, I just ran or walked until I got to the finish line.  I think my biggest concern was the possibility of getting injured, either by taking a good fall and breaking or spraining something, or just an overuse or over training type injury.  That kind of had me stressed, especially as Wasatch got closer.  But that didn't happen, and I finished injury free.  Indeed, I actually feel pretty good just a few days after Wasatch.  Goes to show just how amazing and adaptable our bodies really are.  You can train to recover quickly.

I was able to go do some races that maybe I would have never done without signing up for this adventure.  So here’s a little recap of my thoughts on each race.

Western States – The granddaddy of them all.  Lots of history, lots of extreme talent show every year.  Lots of hype.  I let myself get sucked in and enjoyed the event.  Phenomenal organization and attention paid to every runner.  I had a great time with Aric and Alicia.  Went in a little undertrained, but managed a respectable finish.  I wouldn’t mind doing WS again, but it gets pricier every year, plus you have the lottery to contend with.

Vermont – Another old school ultra.  I got to run with horses and that was a real treat.  Vermont is beautiful in the summer.  Running the back roads, topping out on hills with great views, past the farms.  I also had a great race, sub-24 hour and my fastest 100 in many years.  Larry was great at pacing me for the last 30 miles.  I would go do this one again.

Leadville – Now the largest 100 mile event in the country with 600+ this year.  Very scenic, not a tremendously difficult course other than the cutoff time of 30 hours and the altitude.  Corporate owned now, which makes for a different atmosphere and vibe.  Not sure I like it, but it is what it is.  Great organization, aid was spot on.  Once away from the headquarters, it was more like the typical ultra.  My lovely wife was able to crew for me for the first time, and Carolyn was another great pacer I had.  Fun.  I don’t think I would do this one again.  Running with that many people doesn’t interest me a whole lot.

Wasatch – What can I say?  It’s my home course and I love it.  Always a great event.  Intentionally kept low key and low cost.  It was also the cheapest 100 I ran.  The support is always superb.  One of the reasons I love this race is that so many of my running friends are running it or volunteering and it’s way too much fun to see them, socialize a little, cheer them on, etc.  My pacers were great, and I felt good for the most part.  Run it again?  Hell yes.

I’m not sure what I can do next year to top this year.  Maybe I should not race so much and do more adventure type runs.  That actually appeals to me quite a bit.  Still, I do have a few other races that I would love to do, so who knows what 2012 will bring running wise.

So, should you do the slam?  I would recommend it if you manage to get into Western States.  Doing one or two 100’s a year is an achievement that an extremely small portion of the population can or will do.  Doing four of them in less than three months is an achievement that very few ultrarunners will do.  Completing the slam certifies you as a truly badass runner, one not to be messed with at all.  At least that’s what my friends tell me.  I think they're just stroking my ego ;-)

Grand Slam Adventure Part 4, Wasatch 100

Wow, the last race of the series.  Finally.  It’s been a pretty grueling summer running wise, but one I wouldn’t trade away.
Prerace
After Leadville, I had three weeks to rest up, do a little running, and anticipate running Wasatch for the 5^th time.  I wasn’t apprehensive at all, I was excited.  I know this course, I’ve done it before several times, I know what to expect at every point.  Bring it on.
During the three weeks between Leadville and Wasatch I did very little running.  I took a complete week off after Leadville, then basically ran every other day until the week before, and took most of that week off.  I did manage to take Joel on a preview run of the course from Brighton to the finish, but we cheated and took the Sandy Baker cutoff, thus shortening our run by about eight miles.
I went to the prerace Thursday, saw lots of friends, met with my two pacers, then headed home.  My wife and I went to our favorite Italian restaurant for some carboloading, then home to bed.  This time I slept like a baby, relaxed, no worries, no being all keyed up.  It was nice to say the least.
I had huge plans for a sub-30 hour run and had made up a pace chart to reflect that.  I also told all sorts of people that I planned on going sub-30.  Best laid plans and all that.
Race
The race started at 5am and we were off.  I took a nice relaxed pace for those first few miles before we started our climb up to Chinscraper.  The legs felt pretty good, not tired, my attitude was good.  I was excited to be out here and get this last race done.

Looking down from the top of Chinscraper

Little bit of snow left over from last winter

As I went up the climb to chinscraper, I chatted with Charlie Vincent.  He did the Slam a couple years ago and we had a good time running the miles away.  Once on the ridgeline, I got stuck in a conga line of about 10 runners.  There really wasn’t any good spot to pass, so I just went with it.  A few people stopped at Landis spring and I was able to get by them and make a little bit of time.  At about 11 miles, I saw something I’ve never seen while running Wasatch.  A nice big snow cornice left over from last winter.  It must have been 3-4 feet thick still.  We actually had to cross it.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some of it is still there when the snow flies in a month or so.  On past Grobben’s corner, past the radar towers (passed Joel here), and down the gravel road to the Maintenance Shed aid station.  Since Farmington Canyon road was closed, the race wasn’t allowing crew or spectators there.  It seemed really quiet and subdued with only a handful of cars and people.  Nice and quiet.  Not only that, but there weren’t any motorcycles or 4-wheelers to raise all sorts of dust.  Very nice.  The section between the maintenance shed and the Bountiful B aid is one of my least favorite sections, a couple of steep climbs, some almost bushwacking, just not fun.  However, I persevered and managed to keep on a sub-30 hour pace.  I felt pretty good to this point, but in a couple of miles after Bountiful, my attitude went south.  I felt ok, my stomach was fine, it’s just that my legs were tired, heavy, and so was my brain.  Once I left the Sessions aid, Karen called.  First, I was surprised that I got cell service there, second, she got really worried after hearing me complain.  At this point, it just wasn’t fun.  It continued to not be any fun all the way to the Swallow Rocks aid.  Here I got a couple of popsicles, some potatoes with salt and bolted.  The good thing was that I was still on a sub-30 pace.  A couple miles past Swallow Rocks something clicked.  It was instant, my attitude changed 180 degrees, I felt better, I took off for Big Mountain at a little quicker pace.

Descending to Alexander Ridge

At Big Mountain (39.4 miles) I met Britta, my first pacer.  She brought me a Coke Icee, and that hit the spot.  That, coupled with more potatoes and I felt like a new man.  We took off for Alexander Ridge and Lamb’s Canyon.  I have never run the section between Big Mountain and Lamb’s in under four hours.  We did it in 3.5 hours.

Lamb's Canyon for a few minutes

At Lamb’s I picked up Meghan, my next pacer.  Meghan has paced me for the last 47 miles before and we always have a good time, so I was looking forward to a few miles of interesting conversation.  We took off up Lamb’s Canyon at a dead……walk.  It’s uphill and just steep enough for me to not run when I’m tired.  Still, I managed a pretty good power hike up the road and up the trail to Bear Ass Pass.  My goal was to get there before dark.  Our headlamps were on when we got to the top of the pass, but Meghan pointed out that it was technically still light since you could still see the remains of sunset.  I’ll buy it.  Down Elbow Fork Trail and up Millcreek road to Upper Big Water we went. 

Upper Big Water is always a cold spot.  It sits in a bowl and collects cold air.  During my first attempt at Wasatch I dropped here due to the extreme cold and not being prepared.  My plan was to eat a couple of bowls of their spaghetti, put some dry warm clothes on and get out.  We were out in 15 minutes.  Going up to Dog Lake, and ultimately Desolation Lake I started to slow down.  I had no climbing legs left.  I could do the downhills and flats just fine, but if it was uphill, I was going slow.  I saw my hopes of a sub-30 finish slipping away and knew that I little chance of getting it back.  My uphill legs were gone.  I knew I would finish, but my time would be less than spectacular.
The Desolation Lake aid is always an interesting place.  Another cold spot at over 9000’, it’s easy to sit by their nice big campfire and warm up.  Since I’ve wasted time doing that before, we left after about three minutes.  By now, the moon was out and it was almost full.  At times along the ridge above Brighton we would turn off our headlamps and just run by the moonlight.  The shadows were bright and it was pretty cool.  Running by moonlight at 10,000’ is something that most people will never experience and one of the reasons I do these things.  Park City lights off to the left, Salt Lake City lights behind, Brighton lights off to the right.  Very cool in my book.
By the time we got to Brighton, I was slowing down even more.  I had been looking forward to Brighton for some time because I knew I could get some scrambled eggs with ketchup.  Scrambled eggs with ketchup at 3am after running 75 miles is some of the best tasting food there is.  I just wished they’d have had some Tabasco sauce.  That would have been awesome (next time in my drop bag!).  I decide to take a little break here and we stayed here for about 45 minutes.  I did manage a short nap before we took off a little after 4am.

Sunrise over the Wasatch, love it

The climb out of Brighton on race day is one that always gets to me.  Usually my asthma is acting up a little and it’s a long slow 2.5 mile climb to Sunset Pass.  This time it wasn’t too bad.  My lungs were fine and we made the climb to the pass in a little over an hour.  Once on the other side, it’s a very steep, loose and rocky trail into Ant Knoll’s aid.  Everyone is pretty timid here because of the possibility of a nasty fall.  I hammered it pretty good.  I had run this section two weeks earlier and knew what to expect.  Not only that, but my quads were still good to go as far as downhill running.  I was wearing my Hoka’s to absorb the pounding and away I went.  We made Ant Knoll’s by 6am, spent a couple minutes getting some sausage and took off.  The next climb up the Grunt wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and we made it to Pole Line Pass aid in a little over an hour.  I was so sleepy along this section that I decided to take a 10 minute nap here.  That did wonders for me, but I wish I would have just had some caffeine instead and saved a little time.  The next few miles to Rock Springs aid were uneventful except for the elk we saw up above us on the mountainside.  We were hoping they would just leave us alone.  All along this section we marveled at the sunrise over the Wasatch.  This section is one of the most scenic and I love running through here when the sun is coming up.  Beautiful.  We basically ran through the Rock Springs aid and kept going.  Next up was one of the toughest sections of the course, the dive, the plunge, the seven hills of Babylon.  Very steep and loose rocky downhills followed by short steep uphills.  Kind of demoralizing after 90 miles.  Still, it didn’t seem as bad as it has in years past.  Don’t know why, it just didn’t.

Eventually we made it to the last aid station, Pot Bottom.  From here it was a fairly easy climb, some long downhill miles followed by a short section of road.  Home free!
I did manage to run the last half mile or so to the finish.  The run across the lawn with everyone cheering is something that always is enjoyable, especially this year since I had just completed the Grand Slam.  A good portion of the Utah ultrarunning crowd knew I was attempting the Slam and I got all sorts of cheers, good jobs, etc.  It was pretty neat.
Crossing the finish line I always thank John, the race director for the abuse I’ve put myself through.  He just laughs. 
Aftermath

One tired, but happy little boy

Once again I had a pretty uneventful 100 miles.  No stomach issues at all, no chafing, and shock of all shocks, no blisters on my feet.  No blisters has never happened at a 100.  I finally managed to complete the section from Brighton to the finish in under 10 hours.  I have never been able to do that before either.  This time I did it in about 9:30.  Not too bad for tired legs.
Once again I did 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot as my main source of fuel for the first 75 miles.  After that the stuff just won't go down.  I switched to some energy bars that I found at the Outdoor Retailer show back in August.  They're called Journey Bars and they aren't sweet.  They have flavors like Mequite Bar-b-que, Wasabi ginger, Coconut curry.  What I did was nibble on one an hour and that got me 200 calories per hour.  Kept me fueled just fine.

So, I had some good sections, some not so good, but nothing terrible and horrible, just the usual ups and downs associated with something like this.

The 12 Grand Slam runners who made it

I think the main reason I couldn’t go under 30 hours this year was just the fact that I had run three 100-mile races in the past 11 weeks.  Maybe some tired legs?  Maybe I'm getting old?  I don’t know, just a thought.

The nifty eagle Grand Slam trophy

The awards ceremony was pretty neat.  When they were calling up the 12 of us who completed the slam, they announced me as the only Utah runner to complete it this year.  That got the loudest cheer.  I have to admit, I enjoyed the attention.  It’s something when all sorts of people  tell you they’ve been following your progress all summer.  I had all sorts of other runners during the race cheering me on.
I have to say thank you to my awesome pacers, Britta and Meghan.  Not only did I have the best looking pacers out there, they were great at keeping me on task, eating, drinking, moving.

My awesome pacers, Meghan (L), and Britta (R)

By the numbers
Time – 32:35
Place – 114^th out of about 240 starters
Calories burned – the same 12,000
Calories taken in – roughly the same 6000 as usual
Time wasted at aid stations – roughly 1.5 hours
Shoes – La Sportiva Raptors for the first 53 miles, then the Hoka Mafate’s for the last 47.

Grand Slam of Ultrarunning Round #3, Leadville 100

Well, the Leadville 100 is done, I survived just fine.  My fears of failure were unfounded.

There was five weeks between the Vermont 100 and the Leadville 100.  This allowed me to take a week off completely, train hard for two weeks, then taper for the remaining two weeks.  My hard training consisted of a couple of 60+ miles weeks, including running the Speedgoat 50K race at Snowbird. 
My main concern at Leadville was the altitude.  The course itself isn’t particularly difficult, it’s just that it’s all above 9000’.  So my goal for training between Vermont and Leadville was to get up high as much as possible.  Thus my running of the Speedgoat 50K. At Speedgoat, I had all sorts of people calling me crazy for doing a race that difficult in between two key 100 mile races.  Yeah, I have to agree, it was kind of crazy.  I managed a finish, but it certainly wasn’t pretty.  I bonked pretty hard over the last ten miles.
Prerace

Ken and Marilee doing the prerace pep talk

The Thursday before Leadville, Karen and I drove out to Frisco, CO, where we were staying.  After checking into our hotel, we drove over to Leadville to check in for the race and just look around.  The one thing we both noticed was a headache from the altitude.  I got a little worried, but knew it would probably disappear after a bit.  The Leadville area is beautiful.  The town kind of sits in a valley, but that valley is 10,000’ above sea level.  You really feel like you’re on top of the world.  We stayed in Leadville for the pre-race dinner, then headed back to our hotel.  After breakfast Friday morning, we drove back over to Leadville, finished the check in process (drop bags), stuck around for the prerace briefing (1200 people in a gym got pretty warm and stuffy), then drove part of the course so Karen could get familiar with where the aid stations were.  She was going to crew for part of the race with Carolyn Luckett, my pacer.  We met Carolyn that afternoon, discussed all of the logistics, concerns, etc., then headed back to our hotel for the evening.  I usually get a lousy night’s sleep the night before a race, and this was no exception.  It didn’t help that we had some noisy neighbors and I had to bang on the wall to get them to shut up.

Race

Still sleepy at 3:45

2am came awful early, but that’s when we needed to get up in order to make the 4am start.  Why oh why can’t most 100 mile races start at a decent hour?  Say 6am at the earliest?  Or be like mine (the Buffalo Run) and start at noon.  Sleep in, nice leisurely breakfast, mosey over to the race start, then wait for the gun to go off.  Nope, we have to start at some ungodly hour when it’s still cold and dark out.

So anyway, the gun goes off at 4am and about 620 of us make our way across the starting line and into the dark. I was glad the first few miles were essentially downhill. It let me warm up without having to really exert myself. Especially since I didn’t know how well I could do at 9000’. 

Now, corporate owned, bigger and better?



By the time we made our way the 3-4 miles to Turquoise Lake, the pack had strung out some.  As we made our way along the trail beside the lake, you could look back and see a huge string of headlamps going back for over a mile.  It was actually a pretty cool sight.  There was some conga line action along this trail, but by the time I made it to the May Queen aid station (13.5 miles), crowd conditions were better.  In fact, after May Queen, there never really was a point where the runners bunched up.  After May Queen, we began the ascent to Sugarloaf Pass going up the powerline. 

The ascent up powerline to Sugarloaf Pass

This pass was just a hair over 11,000’ and would give me an early idea of how I would fare at higher elevations.  I was glad to find that I was doing just fine.  I really didn’t seem to notice the altitude at all during the race, even going over Hope Pass twice.

After Sugarloaf, we made a long decent into the Fish Hatchery aid station.  In and out.  Karen and Carolyn met me there, fueled me up with a dose of 1^st Endurance Ultragen (320 calories) an kicked me out.  Then began a few miles of paved road, followed by a gradual climb up to the Half Pipe aid station.  Once again, in and out.  Next stop, Twin Lakes.  Karen and Carolyn met me here and fueled me up again.  I spent a few minutes talking, then left for the trek up to Hope Pass. 

Hope Pass off in the distance

River Crossing at Twin Lakes

You could see it in the distance and it was a little intimidating.  3400’ of climb up to 12,600’.  All over about 4 miles.  Not tremendously steep, but not a walk in the park either. It was along this section that I caught up to Tom Remkes and had Cory Johnson pass me.  These two are usually quite a bit in front of me, so I was a little surprised to see them so close to me after 40+ miles.  Nonetheless, they pulled ahead of me and I only saw them again on their way back up Hope Pass.   

Once I got to the treeline, there was the Hopeless aid station.

Hopeless aid station with Twin Lakes down below

This is a group that has been doing this aid almost since the beginning.  They pack everything in on llamas.  And they have quite the setup.  It was definitely a cool sight to see about two dozen llamas staked out in the meadow grazing, occasionally looking up to

see what was going on.  It was during the last ¼ mile to the top of the pass that the front runners started coming through on their way back.  This meant that they were about ten miles in front of me.  That sucks, but oh well, happens all the time to me.   

Once I got to the top of Hope Pass, my cell phone let me know that I had several messages.  Funny how down lower I didn’t have service, but up on some remote Rocky Mountain Pass, I did.  I spent a couple minutes sending a couple messages, enjoying the scenery and views, taking a few pictures, then headed down the other side to the Winfield aid station.  Going down the backside of Hope Pass was definitely more technical than the way up.  Steeper, rockier, although with less vertical. 

I have no idea what the couple was doing in the background.  Hypoxic yoga?

 

I finally made it into Winfield after 11:30 of running.  I still felt great, just a little tired.  I wasn’t going quite the speed I had hoped, but I knew that it was a more realistic time.  The key thing was, I felt great, no altitude issues at all. 

Heading down the other side into Winfield

I spent about ten minutes at Winfield, then took off for the return journey to the finish line.  Everyone complains that the trek back up Hope Pass is demoralizing, but I didn’t find it that way at all.  Steep, tiring, had to dodge out of the way of runners still coming down, but I knew that once I hit the top, the hardest part of the race would be over. 

Top of Hope Pass, yeah buddy!

One of my new buddies

Once again, at the top of Hope Pass, I had some texts to look at.  I answered them, then headed down.  I was in a good mood.  I felt good, I knew I had seven miles of downhill running ahead of me.  I spent a little more time at the Hopeless aid.  Took some pictures of the llamas, had my picture taken with one, then headed down.  This section of trail was a blast.  Nice easy running, not too technical.  You could get some speed up and make up some time.  This I did, passing several people on the way down.  I finally came out on the flats near the Twin Lakes river crossing and made my way into the aid station.  Karen and Carolyn were there, fueled me up again and I took off, this time with Carolyn to pace me the rest of the way.  Going out of Twin Lakes, I knew we had a 1200’ climb to greet us, but I also knew that after that was a long rolling descent.  We made the climb, then once we hit the descent, I felt really good and really picked up the pace.  I’m not sure I’ve run that fast at that point in a 100 before.  I think I was clocking right around 8 minute miles, and they felt easy.  By now it was dark, and we could see the runners in front of us and it became fun to try and pick them off one by one.  We must have passed well over 20 runners during this section.  But once we got into the Half Pipe aid station, my stomach was starting to bother me.  I always felt hungry, not to the point of wanting to throw up, but close at times.  I also was starting to have some lower GI issues and had to visit the woods a couple times.  In hindsight, I think it was the continuous use of Ultragen that did that.  Needless to say, after Half Pipe, my pace slowed considerably.  I was still able to run, just not at the same pace.  We still had a downhill run to the Fish Hatchery, so I tried to make the most of it and run as much as possible.  One cool sight on the way into Fish Hatchery was a badger that I caught in my headlamp.  He had a burrow in the bank alongside the road.  Kind of had a confused look on his face.  We didn’t get too close.  The Fish Hatchery had some wonderful potato soup.  That stuff hit the mark and I had a couple of cups.  I did sit here for about 20 minutes just to take a little break.  I also had some coffee here to try and keep me awake.  I don’t remember what time we came through, but it was in the middle of the night.  After Fish Hatchery, I knew that we had a pretty steep climb back up powerline and over Sugarloaf Pass.  It was a grind and I hated it.  What didn’t help any was that my lungs were getting weezy.  We were thinking it might be HAPE.  It also got a little cold up here, probably down in the upper 30’s and a little breezy at times, but not too bad.  We either passed or were passed by others grinding their way up as well.  At the top of the pass, we could see the May Queen aid station in the distance.  I still wasn’t moving too fast, but I trotted when I could.  I got into May Queen at about 24 hours.  They had pancakes!  I had couple of those with syrup and a cup of milk and that hit the spot.  I spent about 15-20 minutes there and when I got set to leave, I couldn’t find Carolyn.  Come to find out, she had taken off thinking I had taken off.  I ended up doing the last 13.5 miles sans pacer.  No big deal, but the trek up the “boulevard” was truly a drunken death march.  I was so tired and sleepy, I would walk up the road with my eyes closed.  By now the sun was up, and it was interesting to look at the stragglers making their way to the finish line.  As I got closer I could hear the cheers as each runner crossed the finish line.  Finally I made it to 6^th street, the last half mile.  Karen and Carolyn met me about ¼ mile from the finish and jogged with me for part of that.  I found out the story behind my pacer mix up.  Anyway, I crossed the finish line in 28:20 and got the best hug from the lady that put my finisher medal around my neck.  I just stood there and enjoyed it for a minute.  
Aftermath
I was still pretty wheezy at the finish line, so I went over to the medical tent and asked them to evaluate me for HAPE.  They did a pulseox and listened to my lungs and pronounced me just fine.  My lungs were clear, pulseox was normal given the elevation.  In talking with them for a bit, we figured it was probably my asthma acting up.  Nothing that really slowed me down, but noticeable anyway.  Guess I should have remembered to bring my inhaler. 
Karen and I took off for the hotel to shower and get cleaned up a little.  After that we grabbed some breakfast and drove back over to Leadville for the awards ceremony.  We thought about hanging around for the post race BBQ, but the prospect of a nine hour drive home meant that we hit the road as soon as I got my buckle.
By the numbers
Time – 28:20:22
Placing – 193rd out of 622 starters, 22^nd in my age group (50-59). 
Shoes – I wore my Hoka Mafate’s until the return through Twin Lakes.  After that I wore my La Sportiva Crosslite 2.0’s.  My feet survived just fine.  Just a couple of blisters of no consequence.
Calories burned – 12,500
Calories eaten – 6,000.  Maybe 6,000.  I forgot to bring all of my Liquid Shot and had to devise a backup.  Thank goodness I had the Ultragen in my drop bags.  I also ate more solid food than I usually do.
Next up, Wasatch 100 on September 9^th.  I’m looking forward to this one for a few reasons.  First, it’s the last one of the slam, second, it’s on my turf, third, I have lots of friends either running it or pacing others.  Should be a good time if I feel good.  I’m hoping to finally go sub-30 hour this year.  Wish me luck.
Some Post Race Thoughts
A couple of weeks ago I happened to check on the ultralist and noticed a thread about corporate ownership of races, particularly Leadville, and what it means for our sport.  Ultrarunning has always been a small, little, grassroots sport that typically draws not only the hardcore athlete, but athletes who are generally eglitarian by nature.  Many believe that any race should donate all proceeds to some sort of charity, or should be non-profit.  As our sport grows (the number of participants has roughly doubled since 2000), it will draw the interest of companies looking to sell us stuff.  It will also draw compaines that see races as a profit center to be exploited.  Last year the Leadville Race Series was purchased by Lifetime Fitness.  Lifetime clearly saw an opportunity to enter the extreme sports genra and make some money.  Is this bad?  Some people would say yes it is.  It takes away from the sport's nature. 
Here's my take as I posted to the ultralist. 
"As an RD I have to weigh in on this a little bit.  If Lifetime Fitness wants to charge that much for a race, let them.  Why can't they make money doing this?  They are in the business of making money, fitness products are they means to that end.  That is the prime reason any business exists, including mine.  Whether I, or any other RD, chooses to donate all of the proceeds to charity or to their own pocket, is beside the point.  In order to donate or line your own pocket, the bottom line is that you still have to make a profit.  Since I am not independently wealthy, my family budget cannot and will not take a loss just so my race is cheaper (they're already pretty inexpensive even by Utah standards).  Lifetime is clearly charging what the market will bear.  More power to them.  If the market won't bear what they are charging, they will be forced by economics to lower their entry fee, it's that simple.  As it is always said on this list, if you don't like what's being charged by the organizers (including my events), find another event or start your own.  Free enterprise is one of the things that make this country great.
Oh, and I'm running Leadville this Saturday, yeah the entry fee was a little high, but I willingly chose to enter and pay it."
For Leadville, I don't think corporate ownership detracted from the race.  Yes, there was the usual corporate shilling going on during the pre-race, etc., but each aid station was still like the typical ultra aid station.  With well over 600 runners on the course, did that take away from the experience?  This was my main concern, the "crowds".  I don't think it did.  By the time I got past May Queen, the "crowd" had thinned out and it wasn't an issue.  Yes, I was generally always in sight of another runner, but so what?  Ah, but the key questions is, would I go back and run it again?  Probably not, it was beautiful, the organization was impeccable, but there's other races I want to run, and I do have something of an aversion to crowds.  I'd rather run smaller races, but that's just me.
 

Vermont 100, leg two of the Grand Slam

Probably about time I wrote this since the sharp memories are fading a little.

The Vermont 100 is the second leg of the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning.  This race started back in 1988 and is one of the oldest 100’s in the country.  The unique thing about this race is that you get to share the course with horses competing in their own 100 mile event.

Post Western States

I spent the three weeks in between Western and Vermont resting up, doing a little running, but that’s about it.  Oh, I did go swim some laps a couple of times.  I didn’t run at all after Western until the Thursday after the race.  This was intentional.  So Thursday I went out for a short few miles and felt pretty good.  I took Friday off and then did one of my favorite summer runs on Saturday, up Ben Lomond Peak.  I went with a bunch of friends and we couldn’t believe the amount of snow still on the mountain.  We crossed several snowfields, saw a good-sized rattlesnake (had to take pictures), and the rest of them made their way to the top.  Since it was nothing but a big snow cone for the last 1500’, I elected to not go up.  I could see myself falling and sliding all the way down, getting injured and not being able to complete the slam.  Instead, while they went up, I did a short out and back at 8500’ just to add a few miles.  All in all, a good time.  The next week I did three runs of around 8.5 miles with a day off in between.  The week before Vermont I shortened the distances further and didn’t run at all from Wednesday on.  By the time I got to Vermont, I felt pretty well rested and ready to go.  Knowing that this race would be a little easier and faster (hopefully) than Western, I made it my goal to try and go sub 24.  If I did, this would be my first sub 24 100 in a several years.

Prerace

So three weeks after running Western States I found myself on a plane to Boston.  The plan was to fly there, rent a car and drive to White River, NH to my hotel.  The flight was uneventful, the drive was uneventful.  I checked into my hotel Thursday evening, checked into the race Friday morning, then went to play tourist for a bit.  I did a short little hike around the Quechee gorge and met another slammer (Tammie Massie) out doing the same thing.  I went back to the race for the dinner and met up with Larry Adams, the guy who would pace me for the last 30 miles.  Had a good dinner, went back to my hotel and went to bed.  As usual, not a good night’s sleep, but oh well.

Game on

So I get up at 2:30am on race day.  Vermont is one of those races that starts at a horrid time of day, 4am.  Why can’t they start at a decent time like 8am?  I managed to get out to the race HQ in plenty of time, mill around, then take off at 4am with almost 300 other runners.  Ugh!

The initial few miles were primarily downhill, so I was able to take it easy, warm us and get a rhythm going before anything hard came along.  These first few miles seemed to fly by.  I felt great, my pace was good, I had no issues at all.  By around the 10 mile point, we could hear the first of the horses coming down the road behind us.  As we were trotting along, theses three horses just seemed to float down the road.  I was amazed at these animals.  They were gorgeous and in superb shape.  You could tell that they wanted to be out there running.  They made my  horses look rather fat and out of shape.  All day long we had the opportunity to watch these awesome animals perform.

Most of the day was pretty uneventful.  The weather was pretty decent, it warmed up to around 80-83, with low humidity by northeast standards.  The aid stations were plentiful and well stocked.  The scenery was what you would expect running through rural Vermont, beautiful.  The views from the hills were gorgeous.

Short course description.  76 miles of gravel road, 22 miles of trail, 2 miles of pavement, none of it flat.  We were either going up or going down.  Very, very rolling.

My only issues during the day were a somewhat upset stomach between 50-60 miles.  For some reason I couldn’t get it to go away.  Still, I managed to hit the halfway point at 9:30, for one of my fastest 50 mile times, and hit the 100K point at about 12:15, one of my fastest times for that distance as well.  The legs felt good.  The first time I went through the Camp 10 Bear aid station (47.2 miles), my weight was down about 8-9 pounds (5%).  You get pulled from the race if your weight drops more than 7%.  This got me a warning to take a break and drink and eat.  I took off anyway, but it scared me enough to make sure that I drank plenty and ate plenty for the next 20 miles, knowing that they would weigh me again when I came back through at 70 miles.  When I got back to Camp 10 Bear at 70.1 miles, my weight had come back up and I was only down three pounds.  No problem now.  At Camp 10 Bear I picked up Larry Adams, my pacer for the rest of the night.  He lives out here in Utah but was back in NY on business and drove up just to pace me.  What a nice guy.  Anyway, by now I had started to chafe, and this always slows me down.  Still, Larry kept me on track and on a good pace through the night.  Night running is always kind of cool during a race, you’re in your own little world, occasionally see other runners or an aid station, but time seems to slow way down.  The night was just as uneventful as the day.  I was still on pace to break 24 hours as long as I stayed focused on the job at hand.  Larry kept me focused and before I knew it, we had passed the last aid station and only had 2.3 miles to go.  Home free.  For the last mile or so, we could hear the commotion at the finish line.  We weren’t getting closer just yet, but going kind of parallel to it.  Finally, over the last ridge, down through the woods, and there it was.  I finished.  My final time was 23:27:31.  I had gone under my goal of 24 hours.  It’s always a good thing if you can finish a 100 mile race before the sun comes up.

Aftermath

This race went pretty well.  I felt much stronger than I did going into Western States, even though I had run a 100 just three weeks prior.  I felt really good except for some very minor stomach issues and the chafing for the last 30 miles.  I’m convinced that had the chafing not been an issue, I could have finished under 23 hours, it slowed me down that much.  My race was uneventful, and that’s how I like it.  Afterwards, Larry and I went back to his hotel slept for a few hours, then went back out to the race HQ for the awards ceremony and BBQ.  I got my second belt buckle (you don’t get a buckle from Vermont unless you go under 24 hours) of the summer, and felt pretty good about the rest of the races coming up.

I was a little worried about the flight home.  Sitting in a cramped, pressurized aluminum pipe for four hours after running 100 miles I thought would be painful, but it wasn’t too bad.  I even managed to sleep for a couple hours.

By the numbers

Time – 23:27:31

Placing – 78^th out of 297 starters, 10^th in my age group (50-59).  Much better than my performance at Western.  There’s some fast old farts out there.

Shoes – I wore my Hoka Mafate’s the entire time.  With all of the packed gravel roads, these things saved my feet.  I didn’t need any technical trail shoes.

Calories burned – 12,500

Calories eaten – 6,000.  I got pretty tired of the 1^st Endurance Liquid Shot after about 60 miles.  I still ate the stuff, but started eating more aid station fare, ramen noodles, chicken noodle soup, etc.

Next up, Leadville 100 on August 20^th.  This one kind of worries me due to the altitude and the 30 hour time limit.

Western Freakin' States, Baby

It's about time I got around to posting a report from Western States, especially now that the Vermont 100 is history. Guess I'll have to get that post going as well. Enjoy the read - Jim

Prerace - So way back in December I got lucky (or unlucky) enough to draw out in the Western States Lottery. 1600 people vying for about 275 slots….in June. I decided then that since I got into WS, that this would be perhaps my only opportunity to attempt the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, four 100-mile races in 11 weeks. Western States, Vermont, Leadville, and Wasatch.
For those not in the ultrarunning know, the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run is the oldest 100 mile race in the country (38 years). It’s kind of the unofficial 100 mile championship since all of the really fast burners show up to race each other. Figure it’s the Boston of 100 mile events.
So, Aric Manning, Alicia Kirkman and myself ventured out to Squaw Valley, CA the Thursday before the race. We had the opportunity of staying in a house with the Pearl Izumi Ultrarunning Team. These guys are fast, I’m not. It was fun to get to know them, hear how they prep for a race, their strategy (mine was to finish in under 30 hours, theirs was to win). When we got to the house, Nick Clark, one of the PI team, told me that I was picked for 4th or 5th place on the Irunfar website in a reader poll.
Needless to say, I was greatly amused. Obviously whoever did those picks clearly does not know how fast I run, or don’t run.
Friday was pretty uneventful other than a short four mile run in the morning and the race check in hoopla. I gave in to the WS hype and spent way too much money on shirts and other paraphernalia that I really don’t need. I bought a couple of shirts for my crew and pacer as well.
I actually got a decent night’s sleep Friday night, roughly five hours worth. Unusual for me prior to a big race like this. I usually toss and turn all night. Must have been the cool mountain air and the sound of the river rushing just outside our window.
Race day - Saturday 5am. Race start at the Squaw Valley Ski Area base. The first 3.5 miles were all uphill, mostly on a service road. We hit snow at about three miles and had pretty much continuous snow for the next 10-12 miles. A lot of the snowpack was anywhere from 5-10 feet deep. It was interesting to follow the course markings. Since there wasn't a "trail" we went from ribbon to ribbon, sometimes able to make a straighter line than the ribbons did. It was kind of easy to miss ribbons too if you weren't paying attention. We finally left the snow for the most part at the next aid station (15 miles).
The next several miles found us cruising a trail along French Meadows Reservoir, a completely new portion of the course since access to the higher country was blocked by snowpack. I wasn’t a big fan of this section, too many rollers, couldn’t get a good rhythm going and I didn't feel quite right. I couldn't put a finger on it, but just not my A game. I finally got into Duncan Canyon and back on the original WS course. Hopefully all would be right with the world now. I was still running on a sub 24 hour pace, but I figured that wouldn’t hold unless I got really lucky.
So Duncan Canyon goes by, Mosquito Ridge, Robinson Flat, Miller’s Defeat, actually most of the day was pretty uneventful, I just cruised along, kept drinking, eating etc. Just enjoying the run. When I got to Last Chance I knew that the infamous canyons section was next. We had a really steep decent to a river, cross the bridge and then went up over 1600’ in the next 1.25 miles. Holy crap that was steep! I arrived at the Devil’s Thumb aid station pretty well worn out. That climb took a lot out of me. But time to continue on. Michigan Bluff at 55 miles was the first place that crew were allowed. Alicia met me there and I changed packs, shoes, socks, sat for a couple minutes, said goodby and took off. The next aid would be Forest Hill at 62 miles. Forest Hill is the biggest, most major aid station on the course. You run through the middle of town, everyone is out watching and cheering, plenty of parking for crew, generally a good vibe going on. Alicia met me here again. I managed to get to Forest Hill in 14:09. A little slower than I wanted but oh well. Still on pace for a sub-24 hour finish. At Forest Hill I picked up my headlamp, a long sleeve t and left. I wasn’t sure how cold it would get at night, but I figured a long sleeve t would be good enough. Dardenelles, Peach Stone, Ford’s Bar. Don’t remember too much about any of those except I was slow. Down to a walk. In every 100 mile race you have a slow patch, for whatever reason your energy is low no matter how much food or drink you’ve had. You just have to push your way through it. The next aid station I remember was the Rucky Chucky river crossing. In normal years you wade across the river. When the water level is high, they put you in an inflatable and row you across. I got there at around 10pm, and the area was lit up and reminded me of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. You could hear the rapids upstream but couldn’t see them. I half way expected to hear some people singing “It’s a Pirates Life for Me”. They had plenty of people helping you down the steep path to the water’s edge, put a life jacket on you and loaded you on the boat. When I went across there was some young kid rowing and he had us across is about six strokes. He pulled hard. We made it to the other side, unloaded and started up the dirt road to the Green Gate aid station (80 miles). This is where I met both Alicia and Aric. Aric was going to pace me the rest of the way in. At this point I was still in shuffle mode and had about six miles to go to the Auburn Lake Trails aid station. We had heard that this was the party station, and it was somewhat noisy. I sat down here and immediately got a little chilled. The aid station was in a low spot and so was I. I sat down and one of the medical staff treated me to a wonderful shoulder massage. I downed some chicken noodle soup, some of the most horrid tasting coffee I have ever had (I mean it was really, really BAAAADDDD), and told Aric to wake me in 15 minutes and was promptly out. 14 minutes later I woke up and got up. It must have been what I needed because I basically ran nonstop for the next four hours. I felt pretty good. That coffee must have been rocket fuel. After that the next aid station I remember was the Highway 49 crossing. Lot’s of good vibes there, especially since there was less than ten miles left. No Hands bridge was beautiful. An old railroad bridge over the American River. Very cool. One last climb up to the bluff where Auburn was and I hit the road for the last mile. Now I was getting excited. No sub 24 hour finish, but a finish nonetheless. We turned the corner and could hear the announcer at the high school stadium that was the finish line. Down one last path, and into the stadium and on to the track. Then you hear your name being announced, people cheering and clapping. It was pretty cool. Alicia met me part way around the track and videoed me as I crossed the finish line. It sure felt good to be done.
Aftermath – Immediately after you finish you can have your blood drawn and a urine specimen taken for research. I opted for that and had the blood test results in a few hours. What the result showed is that I was a little dehydrated (to be expected), but not bad, it showed that I fueled and hydrated just fine during the race. My CPK, a measure of muscle cell death, was somewhat high (also to be expected).
Shoes – I wore my La Sportiva Crosslite 2.0’s for the first half. They were very grippy and perfect for the snow. I almost felt like I was cheating. People were slipping and sliding all around me and I just motored on by. I did go down on the snow three times, but nothing serious. I wore a pair of Hoka Mafate’s for the second half of the race. Great on the downhills and rocky sections. Saved my feet.
Fueling – Once again I did a primarily liquid diet. Lots and lots of 1st Endurance EFS Liquid Shot, probably 5000 calories worth, plenty of chicken noodle soup, probably 400 oz. of water with Hammer Fizz tablets thrown in. A little bit of fruit such as melon and cantaloupe. For electrolytes, I relied on the sodium and potassium in the Liquid Shot and the Fizz tablets. Must have been ok, because I took very few Succeed! Tablets and never had any issues. My weight stayed consistently two pounds below my check in weight. This is a good thing. The only downside to this kind of diet was that by the time I was at about mile 70, I was getting pretty sick of vanilla flavored gel. It took some effort to keep downing the stuff every 30 minutes. But it works.
Observations – Overall the race organization is outstanding. They treat you like rock stars at every aid station. You have your own handler every time you come in. Their goal is to get you across the finish line. The scenery was beautiful, but I’ve run other courses that were just as scenic, if not more so. I did have a lot of fun. I got to hang with some elite runners for a couple days. I got to see other runners that I don’t see very often. I met new friends, including some that are doing the Grand Slam as well. I had a couple of friends that made the trip with me and helped me out, then drove home while I slept in the back seat. All in all, very worthwhile. Not sure I’ll get the chance to do it again, but who knows? I would given the chance.
Here’s the stats –
Time – 27:59:27

Place – 222nd out of 310 finishers, roughly 350 starters, 34th age group (50-59) out of 59 finishers. Not a particularly good finish, but a finish nonetheless.

Calories expended were roughly 12,500 and calories taken in were roughly 6,000.

A Grand (Canyon) Weekend

Sometimes running isn’t about the races or the training but about where you are and who you’re with when you go for a run.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Grand Canyon and do a rim-to-rim-to-rim run again. This would be my fourth time doing a double crossing. I also had the opportunity to go with a group of running friends from the Ogden area. I can’t think of too many other things I would have rather done than do a run in this spectacular place with a bunch of friends. We had a great time. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Prologue

We began planning this adventure last year and all sorts of people said they were going. What I’ve found out is that when the date gets closer, most people end up dropping out and the group ends up being two or three people. This time we had ten total runners that did all or part of the journey. For several, this was their first visit to the Grand Canyon as well as their longest run ever, by a long ways. Since I had done this run a few times, I became the defacto tour guide.
On Friday afternoon, most of us were able to get in a view of the canyon with me pointing out where we were going. There were several “wows”, “what did I get myself into”, “this is kind of scary” comments, but everyone was still up for the run. We agreed to start at 4am so that we would hopefully avoid most of the heat of the day in the inner canyon.

The last supper

Journey

We ended up starting at 4:20am on Saturday morning. The air temperature was about 32 degrees but there wasn’t any breeze. Generally a pleasant morning and we were excited. Since it was dark, no one could see the trail from the rim, let alone the canyon. One of our party went down the trail a ways so she could get pictures of the headlamp train coming down.
After about an hour we came to Indian Gardens. This is about half way to the river and is a campground, water stop, etc. We took a short break to refill on water, eat a little something, take some pictures, marvel at the scenery.

According to this sign, we’re all going to die if we attempt to hike to the river and back in one day

After that we kept going down and down and down. Finally we saw the river and began the short run to the silver bridge. Along the way us guys had to stop and throw rocks into the river trying to hit a large boulder. It’s a guy thing. We trotted across the silver bridge and a few minutes later came to the Phantom Ranch. Here we stopped, filled up on water, ate some, took a break and let everyone catch up. Everyone agreed that this was an awesome place to go for a run.

The motley crew at the Phantom Ranch

We began the run up Bright Angel Canyon as the sun was just hitting the upper walls of the canyon. The run up was pretty uneventful, just going along, marveling at the scenery, enjoying every minute of it. Eventually we got to Cottonwood Campground. Last year I did this run the same weekend and the water was on. This year it wasn’t. A few people were concerned, but I mentioned that the caretaker house was just a mile or two up the trail and the water was always on there. Sure enough, when we got there, the water was on and we were all able to tank up. By now our group was starting to spread out and I went most of the way to the north rim with a fellow R2R2R runner from San Francisco. I got to the north rim by 12:30pm.

At the north rim and feeling good

Felt great and took about a 30 minute break waiting for the others to show. A couple of the faster guys in our group had already headed back down. Eventually I decided to head back down because I wanted to get back to the Phantom Ranch before they closed at 4pm and buy some lemonade. So Jerome (the runner from SF) and I headed down. We had to push fairly hard to make it before closing and we managed to do just that. When I walked into the Ranch, I was the last customer. I put down a $20 and told them I wanted to buy as many lemonades as I could. I ended up with eight and as each runner in our group came in, I handed them one. That was some good stuff. I ended up spending two hours at the Ranch waiting for people to come through. Jerome and I finally took off for the south rim at 6pm with a few of the others following a few minutes later.
As we went up the Bright Angel trail and the skies got darker, the frogs really started to croak. Huge sounds echoing off the canyon walls, but coming from these tiny little frogs about two inches big. The bats started to come out as well and would fly extremely close to us snagging bugs. We made it to Indian Gardens a little after 7pm, took a short break and pressed on. I was still feeling very good other than getting hungry. I was out of food and worried about bonking. I’ve bonked before going up this trail and it’s not fun. Next was making it to the 3-mile resthouse. That took us 45 minutes and based on that I told Jerome that it would take us another 1.5 hours to get to the top. We must have picked up the pace because we made it to the 1.5-mile resthouse just 35 minutes later and 35 minutes after that we were coming out of the canyon. So, after some 17 hours in the depths of the Grand Canyon, I was finally out. I ended up waiting at the trailhead in my car until 12:45am when the last person finally made it up.

Aftermath

As people finished, several swore they would never do that again, it was the hardest or worst thing they had ever done. However, by the next day, most were ready to go again. Some of us spent Sunday just hanging out enjoying the scenery, watching the California Condors and eating, rather than driving home. It was a nice way to relax and relive the experience.
For me, doing this run was a reward for the training that I do as well as a break after directing the Buffalo Run. Doing it with a bunch of friends just made it that much more special.
I was a little worried about how I would do given my seeming lack of running, but I think the biking and swimming I’ve been doing more than made up for it as I felt great the entire day. I wish I had taken one more 1st Endurance flask for the calories. Next time.
I wore my La Sportiva Crosslites and they worked perfectly, but I think they’re ready for retirement as the coolest lawn mowing shoes on the block. I know I’m ready to go again. Maybe try some different trails next time.

Next up on the agenda is the Red Mountain 50K down near St. George. I've never run this one before so it'll be interesting. Looking forward to a nice warm weekend in the desert and away from the cold and rain.