In the leading up weeks going into this event, I was attempting to gain a little better running fitness, as I had kind of let go of serious training during the first couple months of this year. I really needed a break from the last three races of last year and how beat up my body was. I had volunteered at aid stations and swept the courses at both Holiday Lake and Terrapin Mountain 50 k races, so was not training for them. I had run a couple of road marathons in March, but was not very fast since I was not training too hard. Mostly just an opportunity to check off two more states on my 50 states marathon quest, and have something on the calendar race wise that would force me to at least train a little. By the beginning of April I went ahead and registered for the 24 hour solo division at Hat Creek and thought I would just use that as a personal challenge to see how close I could get to 100 miles in 24 hours on that 5 mile loop course. The only gauge I had going in was Todd Thomas' 105 miles at Hat Creek in 2014, and the 55 miles I got tag teaming the course in one of the relay divisions last year.
I knew I would not be as fast as Todd (he is after all about 18 years younger than me). I did not have time on weekends to do any real serious long runs. It seemed like my Scout Troop had something going on about every other weekend I was involved with, or some other activity was tying me up to where I just did not have the time needed for those extra long runs (like 20 or more trail miles...always takes longer than road miles). I did get in an 18 mile run in the mountains the week before the Promise Land 50 k ++, then ran the Promise Land race (34 miles, but 48 minutes slower than last year) just three weeks before Hat Creek. Those were my longest runs other than the two road marathons in March. I had a couple of 12 to 15 mile runs on Candler's Mountain and some shorter, faster road runs, since the PL 50 k, but no defining progress as to where I really stood with a long endurance event like this 24 hour event now staring me down. To make matters even more doubtful, I have chronic issues with my right knee that get re-inflamed when I do things like try to keep up with younger, faster runners (it is doggone hard to just shake competitive mindset), that I managed to re-aggravate a couple weeks before the event. There always seems to be something to rattle confidence. I started with an elastic knee brace on, but took it off after about 25 miles or so, as it was restricting blood flow and my knee actually was doing ok.
About a week or so before Hat Creek, I started to realize from looking at the list of registrants that I might have some small chance at something here...this got me to strategizing a bit on lap times, and trying to remember what my lap times were from last year in the relay. I began to think that if I could average around an hour per lap during the daylight and somewhere around an hour and a half at night I could be close to 100 miles, depending on how much time I take resting at the start / finish area eating, re-hydrating, etcetera, which I did not give much thought process to... future reference...plan on about 5 minutes, maybe 6 or 7 minutes as you get more mileage and no sleep, to turn yourself around after each lap, even with crew help. Prepare mentally for the push you will need to kick yourself back out on the course. "Beware of the chair", as Dave Horton has said.
Saturday, May 16, 2015, high noon and we are off on our first lap. Trying not to go too fast downhill on a wide grassy section, I hear Clark Zealand commenting to Micah Jackson I think, about pace and something to the effect that it feels so easy but it seems hard to believe we are going as fast as we are until you check in with your GPS watch...something like that, anyway, I remember looking at my pace on my watch and it showed 7:43 per mile, whoa, way too fast! Trying to slow down, yet not wanting to get bunched up behind folks as we come to single track, knowing that was downhill and sometimes you can put more effort into slowing down than just letting gravity take over, I gave up arguing with myself on pace. It was plenty hot, around 90 degrees, but I felt good and my knee was not complaining so I concentrated on where I was stepping and just kept moving, trying to stay hydrated. At some point I was able to pick out Carlton McFaden who was also in the 24 hour solo, and stayed right behind him for awhile. He began to pull a lead and I let him go realizing that he might be faster and maybe would finish the 24 hour solo ahead of me. I knew Shane Glass was right nearby and was also in the 24 hour solo, so I kind of had to keep tabs on him. Sam Price was in the hunt also and had run some good training runs on some of our Blue Ridge Trail Runners Wednesday evening runs on Liberty University's Candler's Mountain Trail System, so I was hoping to do ok in this event with these younger, and possibly more fit guys. You never know how an event like this might turn out. Lots of stuff can make the wheels come off at any time. Shane and I did the first several loops within sight, or at most a minute or two of each other. It seemed like we were leap frogging at the start / finish area frequently. Anyway, at the end of the first loop after running it in 53 minutes, with the continuing hot, humid afternoon and evening ahead, and more than 23 hours left, I knew I had probably just caused some as yet to be determined problem / slowdown, and / or crisis that would sabotage my run. Well, can't dwell on that. Get my hand held replenished with GU electrolyte drink and back on course...as I'm leaving Jeremy Ramsey says to me " Hey, take it easy, it's hot!" I determined right then that I did indeed need to take it easy or risk blowing up in the heat of the day, so I made backing off the pace I had been going a real priority, now that the crowd was thinned out along the course it would be easier.
The end of lap two and several friends, some with their spouses, are at the start / finish to run their legs of the relay divisions, or just cheer us on, or to volunteer on the course. They all came to my aid helping with refilling my bottle with whatever I asked, pouring coffee, soup, getting me food, handling a myriad of chores that are difficult to think about sometimes, and getting me back on course each lap through out the whole weekend. On top of that, I did not even ask any of them to do that, they just jumped in and helped! Amazing! Alexis Thomas and Chelsie Viar did a stand out job as crew along with Todd Thomas, Kevin Corell, Joe Alderson, Bethany Williams, Blake Edmundson, and Grattan Garbee. Several of these folks are parents, and at times I felt like they were taking care of me just like I was one of their own kids, even though I am old enough to be their parent! Thanks, big time!
As the night wore on, I did get slower, gradually getting to where I was dead on my feet and straying off the path a little with "micro naps". How in the world can the human body fall asleep while running and hiking? Todd Thomas kept encouraging me to get back out on the course when he thought I was spending too much time in the chair with my make shift crew. He kept telling me "You got a goal...100 miles... get moving! You know you aren't going to go faster on the second half! You need at least 50 miles by midnight!" At one point I woke up tripping around in the bushes and not sure which way the path was or which way to go when I found it! I think I had a couple loops in the 2 hour range where I hiked about 80 percent of the loop. Knowing I did not have 50 miles before midnight I began to adjust my goal to 80 miles, considering the heat and humidity, and just hoping my digestive system would not shut down. I had already seen plenty of attrition from the heat dehydrating people to the point they could not keep anything on their stomach. Once that happens your body will protect the vital organs and the brain by shutting down your muscle function. I feel helpless to try to aid someone who is in that condition, and I certainly did not want to wind up that way myself. Speaking of things that can "happen"...one of the times I stopped at the "outback" aid station, 2 and a half miles out on the course, I grabbed some M&M's and shoved them in my mouth and started chewing. Within seconds I realized something was not right. I spit out the mouthful and realized I had split a molar and half of it was on the ground with the M&M's! Fortunately, it did not cause any real pain as the tooth had been filled long ago and only the outer enamel had cracked off the inside of the tooth. Just some minor irritation to my tongue now. And... I fell pretty hard on one loop in the wee hours of the morning. Tripped on one of those little 1 inch diameter tree stump nubs that sticks up about an inch or so above the ground. I rolled and slid on my back and caught another little stump on my right hip from the belt line down about 4 or 5 inches. That stung pretty good for awhile with salty sweat getting on it. One of the things that happens to me when I trip and land hard is every muscle in my body tenses up to absorb the impact. If I have already gone 20 miles or more, it is pretty much guaranteed to lock up at least one leg, or sometimes both with rock hard muscle cramps and spasms. It must be comic to watch me get back up off the ground when that happens. No humans witnessed that, but maybe it provided comic relief for the snakes and mice and possums and raccoons and deer (and lions and tigers and bears, oh my)! I finally got enough caffeine in me to wake up enough to run a lap in an hour and twenty minutes, then another one in an hour and 11 minutes, then finally daybreak.
After it got light enough to run with out a headlamp I think I had one more lap under 1:15. All the rest were up around an hour and a half. At some point in the dark early morning hours, Carlton had got off the course and laid down in his tent. I was in the lead now, but Shane was right behind me. I put a lap on Carlton but did not know if he would get back on course, rejuvenated from a nap, and maybe run me down with a couple 45 minute laps...who can know about these things? I found out later Carlton was not able to come back on the course due to digestive issues from the heat. Later in the morning Shane went to his car and took a nap. I knew I had to make good use of the time remaining if I wanted to get to 80 miles, so I just kept on rolling. A little after 10:00 am Sunday morning I set out on what I knew would be my last lap. It was already getting hot again. I was noticing I was a little jittery from too much caffeine so I stopped intake of that. My taste buds were not happy with all the sugary sweet stuff I had run through my mouth in the preceding 22 hours. My stomach felt bloated and swelled up, and I felt like I had gained 10 pounds. I have never eaten so much and taken in so much hydration as I did while attempting to cover as much ground as rapidly as possible in these conditions. I took just plain water back out with me and my Endurolyte capsules. I had a GU energy gel with me but I was loathe to the thought of trying to eat anything sweet. I trotted out most of the first couple miles to the bottom of the steep hill that goes up from the creek bottom to the camp ropes course with the climbing wall. I don't recall running much at all after that, just hike it in and get back before noon and you will have 80 miles I told myself. As I was coming back toward the main part of camp around the lakes, both Sam Price and Shane Glass had rested and now were back out on the course for a final lap.and had caught up to me there, although I had multiple laps on them. It was good to see them back out. I think Shane finished with 65 miles and Sam finished with 40, so congrats to them for getting back out there!
I finished around 11:37 am, so in 23 hours and 37 minutes I had covered 80 miles in some real hot, humid conditions. Not to brag too much, because we all know that pride goes before a fall, but I will be 59 in four weeks. I know there are some younger people out there that can do a lot better than that, and some masters and older folks too! Hope to see you on the trails in the near future. I feel kind of like one of those NASCAR guys that maybe wasn't the fastest, but managed to some how stay clear of the big wrecks, and finish in the lead on the last lap. I have heard more than once, " you only have to lead at the end of the last lap"! Some how I won the men's 24 hour solo division of the 2015 Hat Creek Trail Races!!! Thank you once again to all those who helped, volunteered and worked to make this event possible. Thanks to Race Director Jeremy Ramsey for his effort as director , and thanks to Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Homes, who operate Camp Hat Creek, for letting us use their property for this event.
Congrats once again on your race! Well done, sir, well done.
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