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| Zane Grey Highline 50Mi Trail Run Tonto National Forest near Payson, Arizona April 24, 2004 by Linda HurdPhotos from McKey Roughs Natuh 50re Park |
| A landscape view from the Zane Grey Highline Trail. (Photo #3 run through an "impressionism" filter) |
| Photo 1: A view at sunrise |
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| RACE DAY: The alarm went off at 3am . Immediately after waking I noticed the sore throat was still with me and I felt tired. Not a good sign. It was going to be a long day. I had set out everything the night before so I was ready to head down to the bus at 3:45. I remembered to take a dose of my asthma inhaler. Leaving the room I kept feeling as if I was forgetting something. The temperature was not as cool as I thought it would be outside. Only a few people had already boarded the bus before me. I took a seat in the second row and drank a Boost. As I watched more people board the bus, I realized what I had forgotten—my bib number. So I made a quick trot up to my room to get the number (#79) and returned to the bus. In the time I had been away, someone had boarded and taken the seat beside mine. The person’s name was Laura and she was from Phoenix . This was her second run at ZG (she had run in 2003). After more conversation, I learned that she was training for WF100 and she knew one of my ultra-running friends in Houston: Juan Galvan…. Small world. ZG is a 50mile point-to-point course , 99% single track, which traverses through a series of canyons along a "high line" on the Mogollon Rim in the Tanto National Forest. There is an estimated 11000 ft of vertical ascent and slightly less descent. There were five aid stations distributed across the ~50mile distance : Aid Station #1 Camp Geronimo 8miles Aid Station #4: Fish Hatchery 33miles Aid Station #2 Washington Park 17miles. Aid Station #5: Christopher Creek 44miles Aid Station #3 Hells Gate 25miles Finish Line : 50+ miles. Elevation profile from race website (www.zanegrey50.com): |
| PRE_RACE: Originally I had planned to run Leona Divide 50Miler in April. However, after having enjoyed the scenery and charm of Old Pueblo 50Miler in early March, I decided to sign-up instead for Zane Grey Highline (ZG) as my April ultra to see another part of Arizona. ZG is held in the Tonto National Forest. The small town of Payson served as the host-town, and it was located about 15miles from the race start and about 90miles ENE of Phoenix. Wednesday before the race, my throat started feeling scratchy in the late afternoon and by evening I could feel a soreness in my throat. I have not been sick for several years, and felt the timing of this sore throat was odd just before ZG. The sore throat prevented me from sleeping well, and the soreness became worse on Thursday. Thinking this might be one of the 48hour bugs that just needed to run its course, I decided to wait and see how I felt Friday morning before making a final decision on canceling the trip to Arizona. Friday morning the soreness in my throat was not nearly as bad. I took this as a good sign, and decided to go forward with the trip. My flight departed Houston at 2pm CST, and arrived in Phoenix at 2:30 local time. I managed to sleep for about an hour on the flight. Earlier in the week, NTTR/Dallas-area runner Robert Tavernini had contacted me regarding a ride from the Phoenix airport up to Payson, AZ. Robert’s flight arrived before mine and he met me at my arrival gate, and we proceeded to get the rental car. The drive “UP” to Payson was an interesting climb through rocky terrain and the landscape reminded me of an area east of San Diego. The 6pm pre-race dinner, a buffet-style italian cuisine which was catered by a local restaurant, was held at a gymnasium owned by the Tonto Apache Indian Tribe’s casino. A pre-race briefing was given around 7pm, then it was time to return to the hotel. I wanted to get a good night of sleep because of the sore throat and also I needed to take the early shuttle bus from the host hotel to the starting line. The bus was scheduled to leave 4am. |
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| When I had signed up for ZG back in early March, I felt a time goal of 13-13.5 hours would be reasonable for me But with the sore throat and general fatigue , I was not sure what to expect. I decided to forget about any time goal, and just run at a relaxed easy pace and take it mile by mile. Even if I only reached the 25mi or 33mi aid station and then dropped, it would still be a good training run on the rocky hilly terrain. When I packed my dropbags the night before, I decided to keep with my original hydration plan. My plan was to start off with two water bottles. If possible I wanted to run the entire event with bottles to get my left hand adapted again to carrying a bottle (in preparation for WS). I had a spare bottle in the 25mi drop bag, both a spare bottle and my Rogue Camelbak in the 33mi drop bag, and a spare bottle in the 44mi dropbag. This assortment gave me some options as the temperatures warmed up: to carry a third bottle or to convert to wearing the camelbak with a 70oz bladder. I had also decided to wear my Leona Divide(LD) trail shoes instead of the Hurricane Ridge (HR) shoes due to the number of water crossings, and the problem with the gortex material ripping on the HRs. I had just started running in the Leona Divides in mid-March and was curious how they would feel for the 50mile distance. I wear a half-size larger in the LDs than the HRs. The bus arrived to the start (a parking lot for a trailhead) around 4:30am. I left the bus long enough to get some coffee, to check-in, and to turn in my drop bags. The temperature felt significantly cooler and I returned to the warmth of the bus and ate two oatmeal bars with the cup of coffee. I saw Joe Constantino, another Houston runner, a few rows back. I sat beside Bryan Trammel, also from the Houston-area, and we chatted until it was about 10minutes before the race start. The race started promptly at 5am. I was wearing two longsleeve coolmax shirts over my singlet. I felt comfortable enough. I estimate the temperature was in the low 40’s. Runners were either sporting headlamps or carrying handheld flashlights or both. I elected to use a small single white LED flashlight . The first 20-30minutes would be in the dark according to the pre-race briefing. The course started with an uphill. In the darkness effort was put into carefully placing feet around rocks , sawed-off tree trunks , and roots. The single LED flashlight was adequate. Once there was enough daylight, I stowed the flashlight in a side pocket. The field was beginning to thin . The first 8-10 miles reminded me of Bull Creek Park in Austin. It was fun. With the exception of an extra amount of snot to deal with , I was feeling okay. Maybe the sore throat/bug would not be a factor after all if I kept a relaxed pace. It didn’t hurt to hope. |
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| For a few miles before the first aid station (Camp Geronimo at Mile 8), I found myself in a train of about 5 runners. I was in fthe front part of the the train, so I did not see who the people were behind me, I knew them only by their voices. The person immediately behind me was from Oklahoma or Kansas . He told the story of how last year, while running Pikes Peaks Marathon, he reached the summit and turned around to start the descent. Coming into the first aid station from the top, his footing became messed up and he went plowing into the aid station and took out two of the volunteers with him. We all got a laugh out of that story. The runner behind him was from Foresthill, CA and had spent one summer working in Houston. Another one of the runners was from Wisconsin. . The common concern among them was what affect the altitude would have over the longhaul, since everyone lived fairly closed to sea-level. The runner from OK/KS said that we seemed on pace to reach the first aid station in 1:40 He called that split on the nose. Arriving into Camp Geronimo at 6:40am we dispersed. I made a beeline to my dropbag for my Boost. I drank a can and poured another can into one of my water bottles. After having both bottles capped off with water, and grabbing a quarter PB& J , I was on the trail again. |