There was no moon that weekend. The night was calm, dark and warm. Occasionally I would hear rustling in the brush along side the trail. Doug kept on me to pick up my pace when I started to slow down. My watch alarm would go off, indicating another hour had passed and I needed to take electrolytes. Then, I noticed the dim sound of humming generators in the distance meaning that ALT was not far ahead. Doug and I covered the distance to ALT in ~90minutes minutes. I had some more coffee, a can of Boost from the drop bag, and we moved on. I noticed Alan's dropbag in the pile at this aidstation too.
It was in the next section , between ALT and Brown’s Ravine Aid Station (around 87-88miles), that I started noticing soreness in my quad muscles . I was being whittled down another notch, but still hanging in there. I took an advil hoping that might help reduce or even erase the quad soreness. Soon Doug had noticed that I had slowed down. I told him about the changed status of my quads and I did not know whether or not to conserve what was left in them for after sunrise, when I would be able to pickup the pace more. He did not reply; if he had an opinion on the matter he did not express it. Sunrise would occur about 5am. It was around 4:45am by now, and approaching Browns Ravine (BR ) aidstation I began to hear music. It was the Eagles… Hotel California, and then Desperado. Desperado finished up just before I entered the glow of light coming from BR aidstation.. We passed through at 4:55am just long enough for me to get a sip of coffee and cap off the water bottle.
Between BR and reaching the River, there became ample daylight to turn off the headlamp. The next mile or so along the river and then the turnoff up the 1.5miles of single track up to Hwy 49 Crossing were uneventful trudging. Having sunlight again was wonderful and I enjoyed looking at the Foothills on the other side of river… they were now brown, in sharp contrast to the lush greens that I had enjoyed on a training run on this section of the WS course the day after Rucky Chucky Roundabout in March. It had seemed like a rainforest then with low hanging clouds and mist and salamanders scampering about. The Dogwoods and Crabapple trees were in bloom. Thinking back to the details of the run on that Spring day kept my mind off of my slow forward progress. Being at a lower elevation now meant that the air temperature would warm up quickly as the sun started to climb overhead in the sky.
Doug is a strong runner. He’s run countless ultras including HardRock and he did the Grand Slam plus AC100 one summer in the 1990’s. 40 miles is a long distance for him to do at my slowed pace in the later stages of a 100. He needed to stretch out his legs and run his own pace and stride for a bit. About halfway up the single track trail that goes along the quarry property and leads to Hwy 49 Crossing, Doug ran ahead to the aid station where Gigi was waiting for us. Katie was tired and was sleeping in the rental car which was at the Cool Firestation parking lot.
At my slow pace, I passed someone on this climb. Eventually Hwy 49 Crossing came into my sight, I ran down the hill to the opening in the fence and a volunteer walked with me across the asphalt road…I arrived at 6:07AM , one hour and 16minutes ahead of the plan. There I find Doug eating a peanut butter-bacon sandwich. Blech. Yuck ! I was tired of Boost by this point, but Boost sounded better than a peanut butter–bacon sandwich. After being weighed, I grabbed a Boost out of my dropbag. It was great to see Gigi, but I think I came off as being rather despondent. I did not want to stay long—like all the other aidstations before, I was just passing through. In my haste to leave, I forgot to change into the clean singlet that I had in the drop bag.
Again Doug ran ahead and he would wait for me at No Hands. I like the section from Hwy49 Crossing down to No Hands. Running along the single track trail through the gentle rolling oak-studded golden hills caused my eyes to tear up. It was a moment to savor, being in this familiar territory within 7miles from the finish line. Starting the descent to No Hands Bridge, I became aware that the soreness in my quads had increased some. Fortunately I was not reduced to a death march, but I could not run this last long descent with the joy and speed that I had run all the others on the course. This cost me being able to break 27hours. That was okay though. I knew I had a 28:30 finish in the bag even if I had to crawl in. Chances were I figured I could easily reach the finish in under 28, which was a bonus.
About a half mile before I reached No Hands Bridge, I heard the footsteps of a runner approaching from behind and then a familiar voice. It was Alan again. He was feeling good and taking the descent at a nice clip. It seemed to me that he had a shot at breaking 27 hours. [ He would finish in 27:00:39.]
When I arrived to NHB, I had my bottle topped off. The time was now around 7:12am , and as we crossed NHB , I relished the view of the river canyon and what it meant to be crossing this historic bridge during WS100. I thought back to Sept 2001 when I had finished my leg of SNER relay, and stood on the bridge curious about the rest of the WS100 trail. Now I knew.
Meanwhile, Doug had it in his mind that I could still break 27 hours. I deeply appreciated the sacrifice that Doug had made this particular weekend to come to WS to pace me. I had asked him to push me, and he had. But at this point, I did not want to argue with him about sub-27hr. I felt it was highly unlikely to traverse the remaining 3.5 miles in under 48minutes. I had run NHB to Auburn HS in about 41-42 minutes during the third day of WS training camp with quasi-fresh legs. Now I had whittled legs. I felt my assessment was realistic versus pessimistic and negative. It was bad enough that I was undoubtedly going to break Doug's 3-mile rule. All I could do was remain quiet and press forward. I felt bad to disappoint him, but from my perspective I was very happy with my progress…it was much better than I ever expected I might do. Finishing in 27hrs and some change sounded wonderful to me!
Whether it was due to mental fatigue, or knowing that I was within 3.5 miles of the Finishline , I stopped drinking water as regulary in the section between NHB and Robie Pt (RP). In retrospect, this was not a good thing to do. More whittling was occurring. Part way up the climb to RP, Gordy passes by me with astonishing zip up the trail. I do not remember if he was still toting the plastic bread bag or not..
Doug knows Gordy; they had run sections of LT100 and WF100 together the year they both did Grand Slam. Seeing Gordy zip by must have resurrected Doug's sub-27hour ideas. I was among a clump of runners and pacers still trudging up to Robie, when Doug suddenly announces in a chipper, happy voice “Anybody want to try to break 27 hours?” There were no takers, only silence. I have done this climb probably 6 times, and have memorized little landmarks. I was looking forward to seeing each one of them, and when I reached each of them I felt a sigh of relief. Finally RP was in view. Gigi and Katie were to meet up with Doug and me at RB.. As I stepped off the trail onto the asphalt , Robert Mathis welcomed me to RP. It was good to see him.
Gigi asked me how I was doing. I told her I was in survival mode. I did not want to whine and complain, so I left it at that. The air temperature was beginning to warm up. I had experienced no problem with the heat on Saturday , but I was feeling it now. Gigi asked me if I had been drinking water and I said yes out of habit… in retrospect, I had not been drinking my water.
The first few tenths of a mile from RB are still a climb up, then there is a quasi-inflection point where the road levels off for a short distance before one more uphill segment. Reaching the level section, Doug was asking me to run. Everytime I tried to start running, I felt as if I would pass out. Some runners passed by me, which was okay with me. I did not want to pass out this close to the finish line and be DQ’ed with an IV. So I took the pace easy. Finally Doug said to me “There is no dignity in walking here” . And I replied “I AM dignity right now:”
I gave Gigi my water bottle. With some more minutes passing by, we reached the top of the final climb. The next few tenths of a mile to the HS track entrance are downhill. I ran this stretch. I noticed the pretty deep bluish-purple hydrangeas in the front yard of an older bunglaow house. The foothill towns are full of these cute older bunglalow–type homes, and Auburn is no exception. I had pointed out the hydrangeas to Gigi on Wednesday afternoon when we were driving around Auburn. I remember thinking then that the next time I would see these hydrangeas , I’d almost be home.
As I approached the track entrance, I stopped running and wanted to walk a few steps. Doug and Gigi both immediately chimed in “You can’t walk now:” I should have known walking would incite such a response from them. I was very grateful they were there with me. So I started the appeasing ultrashuffle when I stepped foot on the track. Then, Doug and Gigi were really concerned that the guy who entered on the track behind me would pass me in fullview of the spectators sitting in the stands. But I knew better; I was prepared; I had a plan. I had saved a little packet of energy in my side pocket to use on the track… the plan was to wait to use it until I was rounding the final curve . Then I would have a little bit of kick to finish strong to the finish line.
As I rounded the bend in the track, I kicked and picked the pace up . I looked ahead at the FinishLine Clock and it read 27:13:40 something. One final reach. I said to myself “Get to the finishline before it ticks over to 27:14”. I finished in 27:13:54. I met my three-tiered set of goals, including beating my RDL100 time (by over 30minutes). I was satisfied. I was home.
Someone recenlty asked me what I feel like right after I finish a 100. The best way for me to describe how I feel mentally is "high impedance". Inside the clocks are still running and I'm feeling very happy, but the output drivers are tri-stated and not much gets communicated to/from the outside world..
I must have spent 15-20 minutes in that lawn chair. I gave someone a spit sample for the medical study. Then Gigi and I headed over to the kiddy pool full of ice water to soak my feet. Jay Norman saw me and took a photo of Gigi and me by the pool:
My aidstation awards go to:
Best Food: Last Chance
Most Helpful: Devils Thumb
Overall Favorite: El Dorado Creek.
Most Bizarre Experience: Rucky Chucky Far Side ( it took some arguing with a volunteer to be permitted to have my drop bag).
Despite its length, I enjoyed the Awards Ceremony. It was a chance to see some of the runners that I knew and those I had seen and run with on and off throughout the race. The other runners from Texas were in attendance as were the runners I had leaped-frogged with and seen in the aidstations between Foresthill and the Finish. We were all cleaned up now. Some of us were walking with more difficulty than others, but we were there.
It was fun and inspiring to share in the celebration of everyones' successes on the course as folks received their buckles . Two people whom I had met at the WS training camp and who had spent time answering my questions about the course and lent me very valuable advice, finished very well at Western States this year: John Ticer of Oregon finished under 20hours and David Williams of Herald, CA finished under 22. I enjoyed seeing them receive their silver buckles.
I learned from this 100miler; and have noted areas where I can make improvements with some patience, more practice and training. Hopefully some day I will return to WS and get a silver buckle too.
T H E E N D