Bateluer
Lifer
So, clearly, that is not a 100 mile finish. If you're not familiar with the JJ course, its 6 15 mile loops around the Pemberton trail at McDowell Mountain Regional Park, with a 7th ~8 mile half loop. I'd call one half of the trail very rocky and technical, with the other half mostly sandy washes. With the washing machine style, alternating directions, of the race, half of each loop is guaranteed to suck.
First two loops went very well. The large crowd at the start really kept me from going out too fast and I kept a very leisurely pace through the first loop. Even early on, I stopped at every aid station to take it food, mostly pretzels, but I had a few gummy worms early on too. In the second loop, I started to get a little queasy, the same thing happened to me at the Javelina Night Run, but this time, I took a couple Tums. Thankfully, that took care of it. Didn't really experience any stomach problems through the entire race.
Before heading out onto the third loop, I picked up my second water bottle from my HQ drop bag. It was getting hot by then, and I don't like rationing my water that stringently. I like to have very generous water allowances when I run, drink what I want when I want without care. But, that wasn't happening with only 1 20oz bottle. Even with 2 20oz bottles, I still had to be mindful of how much was left because I'd be running low by each aid station. The second half of the third loop, I started to really feel it, and adopted a run 5, walk 5 strategy. This worked very well through the relatively flat, though sandy, part of the trail. Didn't work so well on the more rocky, hilly half. Following that timer, there would have been times where I had to run up hill and walk downhill. Not exactly ideal. 😛 On the second half of the 4th loop, when I hit that technical part, I just ran when I could and walked when I had to.
Towards the end of loop 4, the sun went down. Me, being an idiot, left my head lamp in the HQ drop bag at the start of the loop. And hit the rocky part of the trail right as the sun went down, around 6:10pm. Without a light of my own, and with runners coming in both directions by this point, my eyes couldn't adjust to the dark and see the trail. To avoid a painful fall, I started walking. Almost completely. The rocks in this part of the trail had caused a blister on the ball of my foot as well. There are some areas of the foot where I can tolerate blisters, and push through, but right smack dab in the middle of the ball of my foot isn't one of them. The medic at the aid station lanced it. Then he chewed me out, and rightfully so, for contemplating dropping at the 4th loop. I left that aid station and trotted 2mi though the flat sandy wash into HQ. Luckily, my pacer was there and after a short refuel and PJ break, we headed out into the 5th loop. Which was nothing short of disastrous for me. Being the rocky part of the trail again, the lanced blister got progressively worse with each step. My pace slowed to almost a standstill. By the time we got to Jackass Junction, the midpoint aid station, my foot was in such a sad shape that I was trying to walk along the edge of it. Not a good thing. Sat down in a chair to have the medics there tape it, or mole skin it, and while they worked, my body just shut down. Wrapped in one of those silver mylar blankets, I couldn't stop shivering. Up until this point, I'd have considered my brain alert and coherent, but it just went down fast. After trying to get down some hot ramen, a few other runners had rolled in with serious problems. One had passed out on a cot, when the medics constantly checking his vitals. Another suffered when he called an 'IT band blow out'. The three of us ended up dropping there and riding back to HQ in a truck. 🙁
My second DNF, but a big improvement over last month's Night Run. Few things I still need to work on though. I should have used two drop bags instead of just the one at HQ. A bag of disposable things, and probably warmer clothes, would have been handy at Jackass Junction. Even though I hydrated much better at this run than last month, I still only peed twice during the race, each time with whiskey colored urine. I gotta hydrate better, but I'm not sure how much more water I can really drink. In the first loop, I was downing 20oz between each aid station. On the third, I was finishing off almost 40oz between aid stations. Since I didn't seem to experience any major dehydration issues, I would have thought that was enough, but the urine color says otherwise.
Last, I really need to figure out something to deal with the blistering. Thats what really took me down at this. Its difficult to test anti-blister methods because I don't experience them at my training runs, and it usually takes a good 50 miles to even get a hot spot. I can recover from nausea, dehydration, lack of electrolytes, etc, but I can't just heal a blister magically.
There were some really awesome costumes out there though, and its stunning that people can wear them on such long races. The runner in the full Jester suit, including gloves, tights, and belled hat and cowbell was mind boggling. 🙂
I'm pretty sure I'll attempt JJ100 again next year, but at least by then, I'll have several more ultra under my belt.
Still got a finisher's buckle, but it says 100K Finisher, not '100M Finisher'.
First two loops went very well. The large crowd at the start really kept me from going out too fast and I kept a very leisurely pace through the first loop. Even early on, I stopped at every aid station to take it food, mostly pretzels, but I had a few gummy worms early on too. In the second loop, I started to get a little queasy, the same thing happened to me at the Javelina Night Run, but this time, I took a couple Tums. Thankfully, that took care of it. Didn't really experience any stomach problems through the entire race.
Before heading out onto the third loop, I picked up my second water bottle from my HQ drop bag. It was getting hot by then, and I don't like rationing my water that stringently. I like to have very generous water allowances when I run, drink what I want when I want without care. But, that wasn't happening with only 1 20oz bottle. Even with 2 20oz bottles, I still had to be mindful of how much was left because I'd be running low by each aid station. The second half of the third loop, I started to really feel it, and adopted a run 5, walk 5 strategy. This worked very well through the relatively flat, though sandy, part of the trail. Didn't work so well on the more rocky, hilly half. Following that timer, there would have been times where I had to run up hill and walk downhill. Not exactly ideal. 😛 On the second half of the 4th loop, when I hit that technical part, I just ran when I could and walked when I had to.
Towards the end of loop 4, the sun went down. Me, being an idiot, left my head lamp in the HQ drop bag at the start of the loop. And hit the rocky part of the trail right as the sun went down, around 6:10pm. Without a light of my own, and with runners coming in both directions by this point, my eyes couldn't adjust to the dark and see the trail. To avoid a painful fall, I started walking. Almost completely. The rocks in this part of the trail had caused a blister on the ball of my foot as well. There are some areas of the foot where I can tolerate blisters, and push through, but right smack dab in the middle of the ball of my foot isn't one of them. The medic at the aid station lanced it. Then he chewed me out, and rightfully so, for contemplating dropping at the 4th loop. I left that aid station and trotted 2mi though the flat sandy wash into HQ. Luckily, my pacer was there and after a short refuel and PJ break, we headed out into the 5th loop. Which was nothing short of disastrous for me. Being the rocky part of the trail again, the lanced blister got progressively worse with each step. My pace slowed to almost a standstill. By the time we got to Jackass Junction, the midpoint aid station, my foot was in such a sad shape that I was trying to walk along the edge of it. Not a good thing. Sat down in a chair to have the medics there tape it, or mole skin it, and while they worked, my body just shut down. Wrapped in one of those silver mylar blankets, I couldn't stop shivering. Up until this point, I'd have considered my brain alert and coherent, but it just went down fast. After trying to get down some hot ramen, a few other runners had rolled in with serious problems. One had passed out on a cot, when the medics constantly checking his vitals. Another suffered when he called an 'IT band blow out'. The three of us ended up dropping there and riding back to HQ in a truck. 🙁
My second DNF, but a big improvement over last month's Night Run. Few things I still need to work on though. I should have used two drop bags instead of just the one at HQ. A bag of disposable things, and probably warmer clothes, would have been handy at Jackass Junction. Even though I hydrated much better at this run than last month, I still only peed twice during the race, each time with whiskey colored urine. I gotta hydrate better, but I'm not sure how much more water I can really drink. In the first loop, I was downing 20oz between each aid station. On the third, I was finishing off almost 40oz between aid stations. Since I didn't seem to experience any major dehydration issues, I would have thought that was enough, but the urine color says otherwise.
Last, I really need to figure out something to deal with the blistering. Thats what really took me down at this. Its difficult to test anti-blister methods because I don't experience them at my training runs, and it usually takes a good 50 miles to even get a hot spot. I can recover from nausea, dehydration, lack of electrolytes, etc, but I can't just heal a blister magically.
There were some really awesome costumes out there though, and its stunning that people can wear them on such long races. The runner in the full Jester suit, including gloves, tights, and belled hat and cowbell was mind boggling. 🙂
I'm pretty sure I'll attempt JJ100 again next year, but at least by then, I'll have several more ultra under my belt.
Still got a finisher's buckle, but it says 100K Finisher, not '100M Finisher'.
