Outside Playing: August 2018

Ultra marathons are hard. Mountain ultra marathons in the High Rockies of Colorado are world class hard. No matter how many times you take them on, you're in for a thorough ass-whuppin'. If you're not physically and mentally prepared for and maybe even relishing that reality, it's very unlikely you'll make it through. Instead, you'll be looking for the exit at some point. The second running of the High Lonesome 100 was held on August 3-4 and it was also my second running. Second time around is not any easier, but I was able to incorporate improvements throughout the course, especially in the latter stages, where I struggled most last time.

The High Lonesome 100
(Click on any photos to enlarge)

Bottom line is I was able to finish in 26 hours 40 minutes, vs 27 hours 55 minutes, good for 9th place overall, while running 3 more miles due to some course changes and some questionable navigation on my part. The only other 40-something to finish in the top 10 was the woman's winner, Kerrie Bruxvoort, who came in 6th overall. Proud of that...Hey, Let's Hear it for the Old Guys! Next year I'll be in the 50s and out of maybe the most competitive age bracket in this sport.

Some other numbers that stood out to me are improvements in my average moving pace by almost a minute/mile from 16:02 to 15:05. This was due to more running and less walking, improved downhill pace, and incorporating a more efficient stride in the flats. I also reduced my stopped time (mostly in aid/crew stations) by more than 30 minutes. This is due in huge part to Jennifer's preparation in advance of each of the 6 times she gets to crew me throughout and the NASCAR/Formula1 style that she swaps out my hydration, restocks me with food, imparts targeted words of encouragement and information, and sends me off.

Click on the image below for the full Strava data of my race and here for the full results.

If you are connected with Jennifer or me on Facebook, you know Jennifer does great updates along the way. This she does in between driving hundreds of miles on all kinds of backcountry roads to the various crew spots, making sure she's ready for my arrival, and looking for cell reception. She posted some of her best for this race. Each time she knew exactly what I was going through, so I figured I'd include them here.

The Beginning - 6:00am Friday

Race Strategy

Fresh off my improved performance at the San Juan Solstice 50 Mile Run and the confidence it gave me, I decided that I would take a more aggressive and risky approach to the start of this race. I'm not a pure runner. Rather, my strength is in climbing, consistency, and just grunting it out, so flat out speed is not my strong suit. In spite of this, I decided that I would line up at the front of the pack at the start, rather than somewhere in the front third of the pack and go out fast with the lead pack. The race starts in a field on a plateau and within a hundred yards or so, we're on the only paved road and almost the only road section of the entire course. We go downhill and then flat and slightly uphill for about 2.5 miles, then climb on a dirt road for another mile, before getting to the first climb on steep singletrack trail. My aim was to get to that single-track climb, where I would be among the fastest, ahead of the main pack to avoid traffic.

Raspberry Gulch 1 Aid

As it turned out, everything went exactly according to plan and I was able to stick with the top 10 runners through this section, even doing a sub-8 minute mile or two along the road and I ended up staying in that general position through to the finish.

Cool to get mentioned in a race update with the leaders.

Approaching top of first climb around mile 4
Credit: Mile 90 Photography

Race 1: To Monarch Pass-Mile 67.8

For this part of the run, I was primarily looking to replicate what I did last year, as I felt I ran a good race to that point. I was actually worried that I wouldn't be able to replicate what I did in the first half, but I felt pretty energized, was having a good time and wasn't getting passed, so things felt good. I hadn't memorized many of my split times into aid stations, instead going by feel and continuing to push as much as I could and keep numbers out of my head as much as possible. My post-race analysis showed that I was beating last years splits into aid stations by 5, 10, 15 and then by Monarch, 25 minutes. Plus, Jennifer was getting me out of aid as quick, or quicker than last time.

Mile 90 Photography had people all around the course taking great shots. I must've been feeling good at the top of the 7 mile, 4000' climb before the Antero Aid station, because I felt inspired to do a horrible Heisman Trophy impression. Hey, I was oxygen deprived at 13,000' and hadn't really studied the image of the trophy in a while.

The "Heisman"

Next up was the Antero Aid station at mile 17. It's on a rough downhill jeep road, I was very happy to see the friendly faces of the aid station volunteers, I came in a bit too hot and at the last second, decided to give the Aid Station Chief, Kelsey a hug. Didn't go smoothly. I slipped on the loose rocks and almost took poor Kelsey down to the ground.

Antero Aid - The Scene of the Debacle

Kelsey took it all in stride. Thankfully I didn't hurt her! The aid crew took my hydration bladder, filled it with the amount of fluids I requested, I grabbed a handful or two of potato chips, maybe a couple cookies, half a banana and I was off within a couple minutes.

The Antero Aid Crew - Kelsey in Red

Without exception, the aid station volunteers were positive, funny, super helpful and just awesome. These are hard jobs in challenging environments and these people always provided a positive oasis to which I look forward to arriving.

At the Finish Re-enacting the Botched Antero Aid Arrival to
Caleb (Race Director and Kelsey's boyfriend)

I had a relatively smooth descent down into the town of Alpine, but did roll my left ankle a couple times on the very rough jeep road trying to keep up with my friend Dave Scheibel from Seattle. Likely I was distracted by his amazing legs. They are something to behold.

The out and back to Cottonwood over Laws Pass (it's officially unnamed, but naming it after lead sponsor, Laws Whiskey House works for me) went smoothly. I got to see Jennifer at Cottonwood before heading back up to the pass and down to St. Elmo.

Climbing to Laws Pass

Down Toward Cottonwood from Laws Pass

We Got Rained on Here for a While

This is a cool section because we get a view of the leaders as we pass each other and also the rest of the field. It's also beautiful, but so is the rest of the course.

The Technical Descent into Cottonwood with Jeff Wanner

All eyes on my Crew Chief Kicking Butt

From Cottonwood, I turned around, power hiked back up to the pass and started running down the other side. Just after cresting the pass, I was happy to see my friend Matt Ozanic. I was excitedly yelling to him as I approached, but as soon as I saw his eyes, I knew all was not well. His gut was acting up every time the course went up above 12,000' in elevation. I'm glad we shared this moment out there, both battling hard.

Me: "Anything I can give you? Salt tablets, M&Ms?"
Matty O: "Nah, just get going. I don't want to mess your shoes."

Things went smoothly for the next 17+ miles into the Hancock Aid where I saw Jennifer again at about 5:40pm, 30 minutes ahead of last year. I was all alone for this section. I saw NO ONE in front or behind even where I could see a fair distance. The spacing was odd this race. I feel that most of the time, there was a small pack 7-9 of the elites ahead of me, then there was me alone on an island and then quite a ways back was the rest of the field.

Everything Prepped and Waiting for me At Hancock

Jennifer got me out of Hancock in 8 minutes with a veggie turkey, cheese and mustard wrap in my hand and ready to face the night.

It Was Tough to Leave

It's always hard leaving Jenn when I know it's going to be a long while until I see her again, but heading into the night alone and away from her for 6+ hours is especially hard for me. Fortunately, I had several more hours of daylight and was headed into some of the most beautiful and rugged sections (and this course sets a high beauty bar throughout).

Hancock Lake at mile 51.5

The Climb Toward Chalk Pass

By the time I got to the Lost Wonder Hut Aid at mile 55, I was feeling a bit creaky in the hips, knees and ankles, but fortunately ultra aid station nurse extraordinaire, Daisy Clark, was there along with the rest of the great volunteers who had hiked in to work that aid station, to take care of me with some ibuprofen and fresh pierogies in the 2-3 minutes I was there.

As I worked my way up the big climb to the high ridge that leads to Monarch Ski Area, darkness descended and I had to turn on my light to see. On the climb, I joined up with Leonard Strnad and his pacer, Clare Gallagher, 2016 Leadville 100 woman's winner. They were fun to spend time with as we climbed in the dark, traversed the ridge together, and enjoyed our mutual appreciation for salty language. I do try to give people I run with proper warning that I curse like a pirate when I've feeling really good and when I'm feeling really bad. Clare was very caring and paced and took care of Leonard and me together for a while, making sure we were eating and drinking as we should be.

Eventually, I was alone again, working my way through the darkness high up on the dirt access roads at the top of Monarch Ski area. Then I thought I heard someone call my name. This is not uncommon. I often see and hear things in the darkness, but this time, it repeated, clearly my name from up on a small bluff to my right. Then Brandt Ketterer strolled out of the darkness. Brandt and I had scouted and attempted Nolan's 14 together back in 2016 and I wanted him to pace me in this race, but he got injured. Brandt is one of the very few to have completed the Nolan's line in under 60 hours in 2017. If you want a very entertaining and twisted account of what it's like to do Nolan's check out his post about it. He said he might pop out to high-five me at some point, but I didn't expect to see him here deep in the night. I'm touched he made it out to talk with me for a few minutes. No idea what we discussed.

Race 2: Monarch to the Finish

I rolled into Monarch at 11:46pm, 24 minutes ahead of last year and Jenn hurried me off the camper, which she'd been assured she could crew me in, as long as the heater was not on. As I was about to climb in, a volunteer came running over to tell us that I'd be disqualified if I went in. After a few minutes, we had it straightened out and I was sitting down in the camper changing into new shoes and socks, eating a slice of pizza, and drinking some Gnarly Vegan Feast. Prior to this race, I'd only used this product for recovery, but it makes total sense to use it during long activities like this, especially when taking in solid food becomes challenging. It was satisfying and worked great!

After 19 minutes, I was on my way, up a short climb then down, down, down toward Fooses Creek Aid at mile 74.5. This was the beginning of the part of the race where I knew I had significant room for improvement and I viewed the remainder of the race as my big challenge. To this point, my goal was to move quickly and efficiently and leave enough in the tank to finish strong.

Looking at the course profile, it would seem to be easy sailing after Monarch Pass...mostly downhill with some small climbs. That's what I anticipated last year and I was wrong.

Course Elevation Profile with Fooses Creek Aid Marked

This year, I was focused on improving this section to the finish. In spite of some navigation uncertainties in the dark and a bit of backtracking to find marker flags, I arrived at Blanks Cabin Aid an hour ahead of last year. During this section, I spent some time again with Leonard Strnad and his new pacer, Kirk and we figured out some of the uncertainties together, as we leap-frogged back and forth several times. I appreciated their company and their checking in with me when I fell behind them...calling back to me in the dark to make sure I was ok. This is a great thing about this community of people. We share pretty unique experiences and although we are competitive, we look out for each other.

As I approached Blanks just before 4:30am Jennifer was yelling into the darkness to me, "Hey runner, are you #2? We have a surprise for you!"

Blanks Cabin Aid - A Sight for Sore Eyes Toward the End of Long Night

Just getting there and seeing Jenn at mile 82 is great, but sure enough, there was a surprise. My friend Julian Smith, was volunteering and was also there to welcome and help crew me. Julian did so much to introduce me to Nolan's 14 and we started out our attempts in 2016 together. He also brought me some hot broth, which really hit the spot. Jenn sent me back out after 8 minutes, but it must've really been a good stop for me, because it felt longer.

Arrival at Blanks and Big Smile with Julian

With some renewed energy, I set out to finish this thing. Next stop was Raspberry Gulch at mile 92 and I got there 1 hour 7 minutes ahead, still gaining time.

Mile 92

Preparing to push for the last 7+ miles

I was feeling pretty crushed, as expected, but determined. In the 2 minutes I stopped, I downed some Gnarly, Jennifer told me she'd see me in 1:40 at the finish, I was in 10th place and I can do this in under 27 hours, so GO finish STRONG!

Getting some final calories in

The Awesome Raspberry gulch Aid Crew - Thank you!!

Last year, I was able to rally and finish strong on this final section, picking up a place along the way to finish 10th. This year, I was able to cut a few minutes off my time and picked up a place in the last couple miles (to my surprise) to finish in 9th place overall and the 8th male. I'll let pics tell the story of these last few miles...

4 Miles To Go

Can Taste It

Finish!

Doesn't Get Any Better Than This (period, exclamation)

Relief

Team Kick Ass!

Spent

Two-Timer

This is a solitary sport much of the time, but it's also a team sport. You have no idea how much support I get from Jennifer in this. You may get a sense of what goes on during the race days, but there is so much more support and sacrifice that my partner makes for me in the months leading up to race day, fitting in training, planning, prepping, making time, packing, then driving, staying awake, chasing me around the course for the duration. Do people do it alone? Yes. But, in addition to improving my time significantly, creating these memories together with my Crew Chief, Wife Coach, Love and Best Friend makes them so much more enjoyable and meaningful.

💕TKA 💕

Thank you to the entire High Lonesome 100 team, headed up by Caleb Efta, for all of the incredibly hard work you do in putting on a truly special event with unwavering soul, spirit, energy, and class! #HL100isFamily

In March 2019, the HL100 team released the video of the 2018 event - You may recognize my stunt double in the opening scene. And here are some parting friend shots in the aftermath and after a few beers and Laws Whiskeys.