| W e s t e r n S t a t e s 100 M i E n d u r a n c e R u n S q u a w Va l l e y, CA June 26-27, 2 0 0 4 page 3 of 4 |
| THE CANYONS: I like the Cavanaugh Ridge section of the course. The soil and plants noticeably begin to change as one starts to drop in elevation. About a half-mile out of LBM, I came upon Carlos. We ran together for a short bit . A rogue aidstation was once again set-up (as it had been last year) along a bend in the trail in this section heading to Deep Canyon. Around the 30mi mark , out of the blue, I began to feel rumblings in my abdomen. Some gas and discomfort. A little while later I was surprised to be having diarrhea. The gas and pressure made running uncomfortable. Britt came running by me, and a train of runners gradually formed on the single track trail that leads down to the junction with the dirt road where Deep Canyon aidstation is located. I was able to hold on to the back of the train since it was downhill and I arrived to Deep Canyon at around 11:55. I had emptied most of my water, and had both bottles refilled. There were some nice chunks of watermelon at this aidstation.. so I had some watermelon and some PB&J quarters, an extra cup of water and some GU20. Leaving Deep Canyon, there is about a two mile stretch of downhill to reach the bridge which crosses the Deep Canyon Creek. This section is a blast. The abdominal discomfort disappeared and I dismissed it as one of those things that is a minor discomfort for a short period of time. During the descent I came up a friend of mine from Houston , German Collazos, wearing his colorful Texas running attire. We ran together a bit, and continued to stay together for part of the ascent after the river. He is stronger on uphills than me, and he went ahead. Like last year, this section passed by quickly and soon I was approaching Dusty Corners aidstation. Entering the near edge of the aidstation I heard my name called, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Dave. Dave was the person who was supposed to pace me, but became injured. It was good to see he was able to walk around okay. I was very happy to see him. The time was around 12:55p-1:00pm. Once again, I had bottles topped off , grabbed some melon and PB&J from the aidstation table, along with an extra cup of water and some GU20, then continued down the trail. Leaving Dusty Corners and making the right turn-off to Pucker Point, the abdominal pain returned. It hurt to run . So I walked sections. I had to stop once and there was more diarrhea. This was starting to concern me. I lost time in this section. (There is something about this section of trail—last year I hit a rough low energy patch along Pucker Point and walked through it). I was not feeling well when I finally reached Last Chance at ~43miles. It was around 1:54 when I arrived, a few minutes ahead of plan. A volunteer met me and brought me my dropbag. I got the Boost and poured one can in a bottle then gave the bottles to the volunteer to cap off with water. Thankfully, there were port-a-potties at LC, and I then made a beeline for one of them. This diarrhea was bizarre. Why was this happening? I came out of the port-a-potty and my friend Lee, a volunteer, started talking to me. All of sudden I had to return to port-a-potty. Another bout. Leaving the port-a-potty for a second time, I asked the volunteers if they had any anti-diarrhea medicine and they said no. I decided to head out. Wini was at the far edge of the aidstation logging out the runners. She said to me with a big smile that I was right on my schedule. And I was! She said Lee would be at Auburn HS to meet me tomorrow morning and help me out when I finished, and that she would see me when she came in with Kristina. I said good bye to Wini and headed out. About two tenths of a mile out of LC, I realized I had forgotten to grab an extra water bottle from my drop bag for the canyons. All the worry about diarrhea had distracted my mind. Even though it was not as warm this year, as last, I still felt I needed 3 bottles for the canyons. So I turned around and headed back to LC. Immediately I started getting strange looks from the runners, because I was going in the opposite direction. I mentioned to several of them that I had forgotten my water bottle. As I came in sight of LC, Roger Dellor was accompanying another runner to the edge of the aidstation. When he saw me, he asked why I was returning to aidstation. I told him that I forgot my bottle in my bag. So Roger ran back to my dropbag to get the bottle and fill it with water. I told him about the diarrhea. He told me about a problem he had had last year at about this point in the event, and that he was able to recover and run strong again.. He told me he hoped I could recover. As I left LC for a second time, and chuckled with Wini about my forgetfulness. But I was deep down feeling concern about the diarrhea problem I still felt bad leaving LC, despite having made the two trips to the port-a-potty . The section to the turn-off onto the precipitous trail came quickly mostly because it was downhill. I seemed to lack my normal downhill zip dropping into Deadwood Canyon, but kept a good enough clip. Crossing the Swinging Bridge, I reminded myself how much I loved Devils Thumb ! The first 5minutes of the climb I felt light-headed, but then it passed. I thought about Dave’s request to have Devils Thumb moved to Texas and it made me laugh. I focused on my uphill technique and planting my full foot on the ground with each step. About a quarter of the way up the climb, my friend German passed me. It was good to see him again. With patience, I reached the top of Devils thumb at around 3:25pm. About 5 minutes ahead of schedule. |
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| I weighed in , and my weight was still around 144. I felt a little out of it, and the volunteer asked me if I was okay. I told her that I had been having some problems with diarrhea, but mostly I think I was just a little frayed from the climb… I had felt this way last year too for a short bit. Last year, I had quickly gulped down 2-3 cups of ginger ale at DT , and I thought I would throw up from the carbonation. This year I avoided the soda. I found my dropbag, and drank a can of Boost. At the aidstation table, I ate some potato. I told the volunteer that I wanted to drink the second can of Boost (or at least half of it) for some more calories. After drinking about 2/3's of the can, I gave it to her and then walked out of the aidstation. It took until about Deadwood Cemetery for me to get back into a rhythm. Once I reached the single track to start the descent to El Dorado Canyon I felt better. I took a fall in this section. I almost saved the fall completely, but when I could not then I did a sideways sommersault. The result was some abrasion of the skin on my left knee, and the brace on my right knee tore into the skin on my right lower thigh. A runner behind me helped me stand up. It was a minor fall. It was also in this section that I saw German again. The descent to El Dorado always seems to go on forever. So many switchbacks to traverse before reaching the little bridge which leads to the aidstation alongside the creek. The aidstation was much more crowded this year than when I reached it last year. The cup of Gu20 I tried to drink was too cold and gave me a brainfreeze. I did not finish it. Leaving the aidstation, I started the climb to Michigan Bluff. The climb was much more pleasant this year than last year. Someone during the training camp run this year (either Dave W. or David G?) had told me to break the climb into three parts… the road crossing marked the end of the first third, and the creek crossing marked approximately two-thirds the way to Michigan Bluff. In the second third of the climb there are some switchbacks… a runner several switchbacks ahead of me was audibly getting sick. As he came into view another runner had stopped to help him. This runner was from the East Coast (GAC?) and we spoke briefly . Just before the creek crossing, I recognized a runner approaching me from behind. It was Kelly Solverson. After the creek crossing I was able to run some of the trail. Then the climb became steep again, through the giant manzanita forest, for the final portion up to the outskirts of Michigan Bluff. Cresting the hill on the outskirts , I ran the last downhill section into MB past the houses, the welcome sign and flowers. The first person I saw was David Gordon, and I told him that Kelly was just behind me. I arrived to MB right on plan, at 5:50pm. At MB, I needed to swap waist packs. The waist pack in my dropbag had my flashlight, headlamps , a new supply of electrolytes, and flask full of raspberry hammergel. . I drank one can of Boost and poured the other in a water bottle. Even though the ambient temperature was not overly warm, I decided to hold on to the third bottle until Foresthill (FH). |
Leaving MB, it took about 0.5mile to get back into a rhythm. I sure was looking forward to seeing Alex at Bath Road aidstation. It was less than 5miles away now. About a mile or so out of MB, Jim from Connecticut passed by me. This was probably the 4th or 5th time we had leap-frogged since RSR. Going up the road to the turnoff for volcano canyon, I was passed by a runner and three crew people. The crew people accompanied the runner to the Volcano canyon turn-off. I was unaware that crew folks were allowed to do this. I remembered that a volunteer at Last Chance had warned me about a Bee Hive/Nest on the other side of Volcano Creek. In the final 0.5mi before the Volcano Creek crossing, I caught up with Jim again and told him that there might be a bee nest on the other side of the creek. When I crossed Volcano creek , I cautiously kept an eye out for hostile bees for the next twenty or so steps but saw none. That was a relief. Part way up the climb , Jim again passed me. It was later in this climb up to Bath Rd that I saw Howard, a runner from So Cal that I had met on one of the bus rides during training camp. Pretty soon, I saw the utility poles and lines and knew Bath Rd was very close. When the aidstation came in view, I spotted Alex waving to me. Joe Mitchell’s pacers were also at the aidstation awaiting Joe’s arrival. When I gave the volunteer my water bottles to cap off with water, she completely poured out my Boost mixture. Fortunately Alex had brought me a can of Boost to drink, and I had two more cans in my drop bag at FH a mile and a half away. As Alex and I departed the aidstation to start the uphill on the asphalt road, I gave him a status update for the first 60miles. I told him about the diarrhea problem and my concerns. We kept a good clip power walking up the road. A person in thedistance was calling my name. At first I could not idenitfy the person, but eventually I cold see it was Philip Stark. I received a hug from Philip. Philip had paced me last November at SD100. He was heading down to Bath Rd aidstation to meet up with his runner, Jeffery Rogers. I think it was near the top of Bath Rd where I saw Anne Watts . Once Alex and I reached Foresthill Road, we made the left turn and started running on the little dirt path, past the fire station, then onto the shoulder of the road, the school was getting closer. Just before the school ,Lee Jebian started running alongside with Alex and me. I remember Kelly Woodmansee said hello to me.. Wini was also there. It was around 7:35pm. I was about 10minutes behind plan. Not bad at all considering everything. Once inside the boundaries of the aidstation, I had my weight checked. I was still in the 143-145 range. At the aidstation table I said hello to Gillian. I don’t remember if I took any food from the table. I asked about coffee, but it was too early and the coffee had not yet been made. Alex told me that Joe was over on the sidelines. So we went over to Joe. It was good to see him. I took the long sleeve coolmax shirt from my dropbag and tied it around my waist. Like in the past, I drank one can of Boost and added the other can to my water bottle. Then had bottles capped off. I left one bottle in the drop bag, and departed FH with two bottles. It was 7:45pm. I left FH exactly one hour earlier than I had last year. I saw Dave W again as I left the commotion of FH. I told Alex that since it was beyond 7:30p and I was having the diarrhea problems, that 24 was out of the picture. I just wanted to try to hold to my plan and better last year’s time. |
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| Photo : Entering Devil's Thumb Aid Station (photo by Pete Zilinski) |
| Photo : Entering Michigan Bluff Aid Station (photo by David Gordon) |
| Photo : Passing by David, I told him that Kelly was just behind me. (photo by David Gordon) |
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