Catching Up

As usual, I have fallen way behind in keeping up with this. With two bike camps, the 50 weekend (which hosts both the 50 bike and 50 run on back to back days), followed by a quick trip out to Tahoe and back to put on a race, I have had little time to even see a computer. I did manage to squeeze in some decent running since July 8th (date of last post). I got in some short runs the Wednesday and Thursday before the 50s, and then ran 10 miles of the 50 mile run as a pseudo-sweep. It started in with a torrential down pour, so I let the search and rescue guys on four-wheelers take care of the rest of the race. I was glad it happened though, as I now know that I need a more rain resistant jacket. This has been ordered, and will be here any day now. The day after the run was clean up, and the following day we left for Tahoe. On the way out, we stayed in Salt Lake City. I had never seen the Mormon Temple before, so I decided to take a 10 mile run from our hotel to the center of downtown. It was a good run, but rained the entire time.

It is a pretty cool building, though not as large as I would have expected.  I stopped in to a little pub to grab dinner, and then took a cab back to the hotel.

The next day we arrived at the Northstar Resort on the north side of Lake Tahoe, and I grabbed a quick 1 hour run along the trails on the mountain, then we headed to dinner.  The next morning I did some speed work on the same trails, and then we started putting in long work days.

Saturday was the mountain bike qualifier, and we got up at 4am, to start working.  We worked all day long, and it was hot.  I had been planning for the possibility all along that I might go over to the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 that was being hosted the same day about 30 miles away after we finished work.

I was really tired once we called it a day, but decided I should go over and see if anyone needed volunteer help or more importantly a pacer.  After going to a couple of aid stations, Paul and I ended up at the 80 mile aid station.  The top 20-40 runners were just coming through at a trickle.  I told Paul I could find a ride, and that I was hanging around until I found someone who could use my services.

I knew this would be a good opportunity to run while tired, and to run at night.  What I hadn't planned on was pacing with someone who would eventually be a top 25 finisher.  I don't usually see how those guys finish races...you know, because I am so far back in the pack.

The first group I talked to about pacing, need some help.  A lady's husband had been in the top 10, but was going through some stomach issues.  It turns out that he has a history of similar occurrences at the 100 mile distance, but somehow manages to hack it out, and ends up doing very well despite the setback.

About 1 or 1:15 AM my runner rolls in to the aid station.  He looked like death.  He had that glazed over look, and had been puking some since mile 50.  He didn't resist the idea of a pacer, and we got some food and drink in him before setting off on the first leg of the last 20 miles.

Soooo...I hadn't really studied this course at all.  This is what the first two miles of the last 20 miles looks like:

Just look at mile 30, which is also mile 80, and see that immediately upon leaving the aid station you climb almost 2000ft in about 2 miles.

I am not a strong climber.  Kevin, my runner, is a very strong climber.  Even in his condition, and having run 80 miles, it took everything I had to stay with him.  I did my best to hide my heavy breathing.  I hung with him, and knew that everything else would be pretty easy after that.

He was pretty amazing.  He ran all the downs, most of the flats, and climbed at a very strong pace on the ups.  Towards the end, he even climbed most of those "small" ups you see on the profile.

It was great to get the training in during those conditions, but it was really important for me to see an elite type ultra runner hammer out a good pace when he felt terrible.

At every aid station I would get a good look at his face, and realize he still had that glazed look a lot of the time, and was not eating much, and somehow still went back out and handed it to that course while in that condition.  It is a lesson I hope to remember when I am merely tired during a run or the race, and want to walk.  I will remember that Kevin felt horrible, looked horrible, and still turned out that kind of pace, and finished 24 overall in a very difficult race.  It is still hard for me to believe that he felt so poorly, and yet he improved 9 spots in the standings from the time I started running with him until the finish.

Kevin Koch, you are my new ultra hero.

Here are some pictures and videos from the course.

Sorry if anyone had a seizure because of the videos.  I don't know how to control the speed or to give you play options.

Kevin and his wife Shannon gave me a ride back to the house, I showered up, and then went to work.  We started getting ready to leave later that evening.  After some work, we went back to the house, and I laid down on the bed for 2 seconds and fell asleep.  Paul woke me up so we could go back to work.  I went downstairs, and some folks were still eating.  I laid on the floor for 2 seconds, and went back to sleep.  Finally we finished all the work, and headed for home.  I got in the back of the truck, and immediately went to sleep.

We stayed the night in Elko, NV, and then got home around 6:30PM the following day.  That night I went for a 20 miler or so at night, and finished around 12:30 AM.  I took today off, and will not run tomorrow either.

There was a giant full moon, and pretty clear night as I ran.  It looked like this:

On Thursday there is some talk of doing a 26 miler called the 4 Pass Loop around Vail.  We'll see if that happens, and how it pans out.

I feel positive now.