Rio Del Lago 100 Mile
On Saturday September 11th I attempted my first 100 mile race. This race had been in my sights as my first possible attempt at 100 miles, but I didn’t officially register for the race until a couple weeks ago. I wanted to make sure I would be healthy before committing the big bucks that it takes to register.
On Saturday September 11th I attempted my first 100 mile race. This race had been in my sights as my first possible attempt at 100 miles, but I didn’t officially register for the race until a couple weeks ago. I wanted to make sure I would be healthy before committing the big bucks that it takes to register.
The weekend events began with the Friday afternoon race briefing. The new race directors, Molly Sheridan and Jimmy Gabany, gave a nice introduction to Norm Klein, the previous race director for this race and previous RD for Western States for 14 years. Norm started the proceedings with a reminder that the race was going to be run on September 11th and how fortunate all of us were to be able to participate in such an event. He then proceeded to tell us how he would kick our butts if we considered dropping from the race.
The race started at 6:00 am on Saturday. The sun had not yet risen which posed a little bit of a challenge for people like me that didn’t want to carry a flashlight during the first half of the race. Fortunately the trails during the early part of the race are pretty smooth and soon the sun began to rise. The sunrise provided several photo worthy opportunities, but in all my race preparation I never managed to pick up a disposable camera for photos. But take my word for it, the scenery on the trails and around Folsom Lake is stunning during the early morning sunrise. The early miles in the race seemed to pass by fairly easily and I maintained my plan of drinking water and taking a gel pack every 30 minutes.
Feeling good early in the race
The course starts to get more difficult as you approach mile 19 and Cardiac Hill. Cardiac is just under a mile long uphill climb that gains around 800 feet in elevation. It is mostly a walker, with just a few short runnable sections. While it takes its toll, I still felt decent at the top and made my way to the Auburn Overlook aid station at Mile 23, where Rachel met me for the first time. This first meeting was somewhat hectic, as I had taken a short detour from the course due to some vandalism to the course markings (which would happen several times during the race). Fortunately I knew this part of the course fairly well from the AR50 race and the detour wasn’t much of a distraction, except that Rachel didn’t see me as I approached the aid station. She had to run back and forth to the car for my various requests, but managed to get me in and out of the aid station in a few minutes. If you’re not careful, you can end up spending a lot of time at the aid stations which over the course of the race can significantly impact your final time.
From Auburn Overlook, the course descends over the next 4 miles to No Hands Bridge and then up K2, the second big hill on the course. K2 is about 1.25 miles with about 1,000 feet elevation. The climb up K2 took just under 20 minutes. It was nice to have these two big climbs early in the race. Once completed, you know there won’t be another climb like that during the remaining 70 miles of the race.
After K2 you make your way to the Cool Fire station and around the Olmstead Loop which is gently rolling terrain with a couple small hills thrown in. This part of the course is mostly exposed with little shade and this is where I started to notice the temperature starting to rise. The last few miles back to No Hands Bridge were maybe the easiest part of the course. It was a steady downhill which allowed for a good pace. My only pause during this part came when I needed to remove some of my duct tape from my left foot which was starting to rub the wrong way. After lots of trial and error, I now duct tape many of my toes (as a preventive measure) prior to the start because I know those are the areas that can give me problems. Unfortunately, sometimes the tape comes loose or rubs the wrong way becoming its own problem.
After these nice downhill miles, you then cross No Hands again and head back to Auburn Overlook. This is a particularly difficult part of the course with mostly steady uphill for around 4 miles. It is runnable, but by the time you reach the Overlook you can be drained, which is how I felt. I was fortunate to have Rachel there with the kids and her mom to help brighten my spirits. For as tired as I was arriving to the aid station, I recovered fairly well after getting some needed refreshment. Rachel was trying to get me to eat more, but there is only so much my stomach could handle. I did remember to grab an extra water bottle and filled one with Gatorade which helped as the next section of the course is during the hottest part of the day and where I ran out of water and crashed during last year’s Sierra Nevada Double Marathon. I was able to maintain a decent pace over the next 10+ miles and was feeling pretty good…..Until I wasn’t.
Savanah waiting at Auburn Overlook
And helping me into the aid station
That was at mile 57 at the Horseshoe Bar aid station. I was doing pretty well until literally a quarter mile to the aid station where I really hit a wall. Upon completing the short climb to the aid station, I sank into the chair and felt completely wiped out. I think I was probably low on calories at this point (rather than being dehydrated) because I was drinking fluid fairly well. It could also have been the heat, which would approach 90° on the day. I slowly ate what I could (PB&J, mellon) and doused my head with the cold water sponges. After a few minutes I decided I had to get out of the chair. I walked around in circles around the aid station to make sure I was ok and then proceeded to sit back down. While this didn’t help mentally, it was what I needed physically at this point. After another short stint in the chair, I decided “I can’t sit in this chair all day” and got up. I was feeling a little better and took another PB&J for the road. It was “only” another 10 miles back to Cavitt School where I would meet my brothers who would be pacing me the last 30 miles, and my pit stop at Horeshoe helped me refuel enough for this push. There are some technical rocky sections after you leave Horeshoe which forced me to slow my pace which was probably a good thing. This part also included my wildlife sighting as I spotted too small bobcats on the trail. They were not too interested in me and quickly moved on. I did take pause to make sure there was not a momma bobcat lurking nearby. I am familiar with this part of the course and managed to run the last few miles before Cavitt at a decent pace. I arrived back at Cavitt (mile 67) around 6:00 pm, almost exactly on pace with my predicted time.
At Cavitt, Aaron was there with Rachel and the kids. I proceeded to change socks and get the needed supplies for the last 30 miles out to Fair Oaks and back. My weight was up a couple pounds from what I weighed at Auburn Overlook, so my slower pace and pit stop probably helped me recover a bit from my low point at Horeshoe. I grabbed some soup and sprite and refilled the water bottles and was off. The next several miles Aaron and I proceeded across the levies, later to learn that we had missed a detour onto the trails. I thought we might have made a wrong turn at one point and waited while Aaron ran back a ways on the course to check for markings. After he didn’t see anything we pressed forward. I was pretty sure we were going the right general direction, based on what I remember from reading the course description and it turns out I was right because we soon saw the intersection with the trail and bike path.
We continued on through the Hazel Bluffs and bike trail and at one point passed the race director out checking the course markings and putting up glow sticks for the night section of the course. My only frustration on the day was that I wish the director was out a little further ahead of us, because he would have caught some of the vandalism with the course markings that cost Aaron and I some time as we made some wrong turns and had to double back. Overall, we made decent time during this part of the course which had some downhill which helped. However, I was constantly worrying that we were missing course markings and taking wrong turns, which didn’t help my focus on actually running. It was good Aaron was there because he knew this part of the trail better than I did and was gracious in putting up with my requests to double check our direction.
Once we reached the Hazel Bluff aid station (mile 77) Dave and Aaron switched spots and Dave and I ran the next 6.5 miles out to the turnaround at Mountain Lion Knoll (83.6). The markings on this part of the course were much better (including glow sticks) and Dave helped push the pace. Everything was getting to be a blur for me at this point and I found myself focusing on how long it seemed between aid stations, even though I felt like we were moving at a decent pace. That decent pace was probably between 11 and 12 minute miles, but at least we were “running” and not walking (aside from my short breaks). This would definitely be a nice trail to run during the day where you could see the surroundings. After being in 4th place since around mile 20, this part of the course allowed us to see the leaders and how far back I was. There was clearly no way I would catch the leader (Greg Bomhoff) which I knew, but I held out hope that I could catch #3. However, he was well ahead of me as we crossed paths around mile 80 and was moving well. I also saw the runner directly behind me and figured I had a 20-30 minute lead. This helped motivate me to maintain my position over the remainder of the race.
After returning to Hazel Bluff, there were only 10 miles remaining. I was 90% finished! Dave and Aaron both wanted to run the last section and I could use all the help I could get. The race director had finished marking this part of the course which made it much easier to find our way back. We tried to provide encouragement to the runners heading out as we worked our way back to the school but I couldn’t help feel for these runners knowing they had several more hours (up to 10+ for some) of running ahead of them. Hopefully they were enjoying the experience. My main focus on this part was not falling, as my legs became very heavy. Dave and Aaron were running ahead of me and my only focus was keeping them in sight and making sure I didn’t fall and hurt myself. It would have been hugely disappointing to not finish due to a sprained ankle or knee after running 90+ miles. Our main excitement came when Aaron suddenly had a skunk running at him. We all stopped and thankfully the skunk moved off trail without spraying us.
As we approached the last few miles, I knew I was in reach of finishing within my original goal of 19 hours. I had taken off my watch earlier in the race and was therefore asking Aaron for a time check every 10 minutes or so. While we thought we would make it with time to spare, the course seemed to drag on longer than expected. A nice part of the course came when we reached the levies because we could all run side by side. This might have been the most enjoyable part of the race for me. The finish line was near, I was pushing to meet my goal but also able to enjoy the great weather (which was perfect for night running) and the company of my brothers. At several points Aaron or Dave would bust out a song or throw in a short sprint just for competitions sake. I didn’t have much energy to join in the singing but it was certainly entertaining.
Finally, we saw the school and had just a couple of minutes to spare. As I rounded the corner, I saw the clock and crossed the finish line in 18 hours and 59 minutes! It was pretty amazing to spend all that time running, go through the ups and downs physically and mentally, and cross the line with less than a minute to spare from my original goal. Not having ever ran a 100 miles before, the goal was really just a rough guess of what time I might finish in and I would have been happy finishing in 20 hours or even at all, but it added a nice touch of excitement to the whole experience.
After finishing, all I could do was sit. I was too tired to eat, drink, or stand. I managed to finish in 4th place and 1st in my age group - see full results here: http://www.desertskyadventures.com/rdl/
After finishing, all I could do was sit. I was too tired to eat, drink, or stand. I managed to finish in 4th place and 1st in my age group - see full results here: http://www.desertskyadventures.com/rdl/
This definitely exceeded all my expectations. After several days of extreme soreness which prevented me from getting decent sleep, my legs are returning to normal. Thanks to the race directors and volunteers for making the event possible. I now understand what a huge production it is putting on one of these events.
Thanks to my brothers for spending their weekend keeping me safe and on course. You definitely provided a huge boost and helped make it a special event. Maybe I’ll be able to repay the favor some day :)
And special thanks to my wife Rachel for being my crew, support and putting up with all the training time it takes to prepare for such an event. I am very fortunate to have a wife so understanding.
A week later and I’m still in a bit of shock over the whole experience. I feel like I accomplished something I never knew I could do. Would I do it again? Definitely, without a doubt. Just not anytime soon.
At the Finish! Too tired to stand
Up next…Hopefully my legs will be recovered enough for the Gold Country 34M run on 10/2/10. This is the 12th race in the www.ultrarunner.net race series and will by 9th race of the series. A decent showing and I will clinch 1st place overall for the year.
