Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Sweltering, Scared, Soaked, but Spared--Surviving the Kettle Moraine 100 Mile Run from Hell (and My First Title Loss Ever)


unofficial bib Chihping Fu nicely made for me before this year's race, celebrating my win last year

Unlike last year, there was no planned weekend family getaway to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, so I was on my own for the Kettle Moraine 100 Mile Race this year. I put out a message to the Kettle race email list about trying to get and share a nearby room, and Kirk Hilbelink, running his first 100 km race, invited me to stay at his parents' house in Elkhorn, even closer to the race than Lake Geneva. I was a little hesitant at first, but then accepted his offer. I would be running most of the 100 miles alone, so I welcomed a chance to be social, make friends, and avoid a hotel.

My wife's siblings did me the favor of lending me their cars. On Friday at 3 p.m., I was to drive in my brother-in-law's BMW from the west Chicago suburb of Elmhurst to a Harley Davidson dealership in north of Chicago, where my sister-in-law would drive her Jetta from work. I would take her older Jetta up to the race and she would drive the new fancy Beemer back to Elmhurst to hang out with her family, featuring of course her out of town sister, my wife whom I whisked away to California five years ago, and her nephews (our sons). My mother-in-law volunteered to drive up with me to the Harley lot so she could accompany her daughter on the drive back through rush hour traffic. (In retrospect I should've left earlier and just gone to my sister-in-law's workplace, but she had thought this plan was more convenient for me, and initially it made sense.)

Inevitably, my mother-in-law asks me about what I'm about to do, and I try my best to remember that running 100 miles is not considered normal activity, and that her initial impression about my ultrarunning was hearing that I was in an emergency room overnight after my first failed 50 mile race 5 years ago. The cultural gap is huge; conversation includes my trying to explain to her why no medical support crew will be driving back and forth in a van along the course to help fallen runners.

After waiting a half hour at the Harley (did you know the simpler new models start under $7,000?), my sister-in-law arrives and she and her mother wish me luck. I proceed north.

Having followed the weather forecast for the race all week, I am aware it would be hot and muggy (the race day temperature forecast kept going up a few degrees every day). I had been too busy playing with my older son and nephews to do as much heat acclimitazation as I'd like. So I decide to roll up all the windows, and I was wearing a thin black Merino wool Sugoi shirt. Although not terribly hot outside, the greenhouse effect leaves me sweating profusely for the 90 minute drive to the Kirk's parents' house in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. I quickly empty a half-filled half-size water bottle left in the car. After more than an hour in this moveable sauna, I can't stand it and use a gas station as an excuse to stop, figuring I should fill up her the tank now just in case I don't have time tomorrow. I decide that the heat acclimatization is stupid-- I probable won't have time tonight to replace the fluids and electrolytes I'm losing, and that the benefit does not match the cost this late.

I think I arrive at the Hilbelinks in Elkhorn after 5 pm. They instantly make me feel at home, and I sit a bit on their enclosed porch with his wife and son, his parents and 1 or 2 of his sisters, downing several glasses of water and helping myself to chips and salsa for the sodium, trying to remember everyone's name and hoping I'm not smelling too nasty.


Kirk's wife Aspen and recent birthday boy Nick

Dinner is this great bratwurst from Sheboygan, which I convince Kirk is safe prerace food.


Sheboygan bratwurst, bisected to fit hamburger bun. I shamefully photographed the food, but not Kirk's family, including his very cute and vivaciously entertaining 4 year old niece Emma.

I drive up Kirk and his father to the packet pickup at the store in LaGrange. Last year I was so rushed at the start, I'm not sure if I remember meeting Jason.

elite female ultrarunner and triathlete Ann Heaslett, husband and co-RD Tim ("Timo") Yanacheck, co-RD Jason Dorgan

Kirk wants to check out the start finish area, so we drive up there and there are other people hanging out, including a relay team finishing a short warm-up run.














Three-fourths of the winning relay team Psychic Mary, which would finish in 15:48:44 (they already knew this since they are psychic), getting eaten by mosquitoes as they pose near the start after a warm-up run Friday evening. left to right, Matt Betz, Jon Whiting, and James Roche. not pictured 4th runner because he wasn't there, Travis Wood.





Because of all the catch-up hydration to replace my drive of sweat, along with my messed up Circadian and the general pre-race nervousness, it takes a while to get to sleep, despite the comfy bed in a charmingly effeminate sewing room. (I wish our house had enough extra rooms to have a sewing room!) I have the sense to warn Kirk I might not sleep well and would get up and pee often and asked if I should flush every time or save water and make less noise. If I hadn't I would have guest angst all night. My last potty trip is at 3:45 which is too late for me to get back to sleep. I left my tape in my drop bags in my car, so I go outside and do some taping of feet and nipples on the street, during which I get a preview of the mosquito biting to come. Maybe luckily for my host, I make enough noise to wake him up since I think he says his alarm didn't go off.


ready to leave Elkhorn

We drive and make it to the start at about 5:30 (Kirk's dad and family come later), and I score a rock'n'roll parking space almost as close as you can get to the start area action. Kirk takes one of me as we prepare.


I barely have enough time to greet all the other people I should know, or who know me either from my blog or because there are only so many skinny Asian guys returning from last year. Since I'm not going to run with my camera, I try to take a few photos to stick in my blog, although I know that it'll be a while before I will be able to publish my report. Click here to link to my blog! No, take that back! You are in my blog, keep reading.

with David Wakefield, photo by Kirk Hilbelink

With Bob Gentile and Meghan Hicks, photo by Rick Gaston

Before long co-RD Tim Yanacheck gives his pre-race speech, which for the 2nd year in a row, I hear much of in a port-a-let doing important last minute prep.
We start. I try to call a truce early with my friendly archrival Joe Kulak, telling him we started last year running under 7:30 minute per mile and that I think this was stupid and can only hurt us (right?) He agrees. We pass the first mile marker in... 7:30. We chat about stuff, along with a small pack of others, undoubtedly with relay and 100k runners too, including fellow Bay Area Adam Blum. His hometown is Philadelphia, where Joe lives, so they hit it off talking Phily stuff, and Adam tells me he'll have to switch his allegiance and root for Joe. Fortunately I am able to overcome this setback within a couple of strides.
Not to leave anyone out, I ask the name of a young guy running without a water bottle keeping up with us quite easily. He tells me Zach. Having done my homework, I reply, "Gingerich." "Yes." "3:20 50k (Chicago Lakefront in April), right? You're fast." Joe agrees, since he also has never run a 50k that fast either. We have a brief conversation in which I keep asserting he is fast and he keeps denying this "not at this distance"....."I only won Mohican (100 mile, 2007) by default, because everyone else dropped out."


Nordic area trail map. Nordic start, 100 km and 100 mile finish are the rectangle at the bottom center. The course goes to the right (the squiggly trail that goes back and forth 4 times--of note it also goes up and down for a trademark series of small but substantial hills. Tamarack aid station (5.1 miles from Nordic) is along the trail farthest up on the map. Bluff aid station (2.3 miles from Tamarack) is at the bottom left corner. The 7.4 mile stretch from the start through Tamarack to Bluff, near the connection to the Ice Age Trail, is done 4 times (twice in each direction) during the 100 mile race.

We get to the 2nd aid station, Bluff (mile 7.4), where Joe notes that we are 2 minutes ahead of last year. Despite consciously knowing that we went out too fast last year. Don't you love it? I feel like we're a bunch of lemmings...

Leaving Bluff there is a mildly technical stretch. Without deliberately trying to pull away, I find myself dropping everyone except maybe 1 or 2 relay runners ahead of me, and a 100k runner with a Euro accent who comes from behind and we run together for while until Emma Carlin (mile 15.5). I try extra hard to be careful, since here is where last year I inverted both of my ankles at least twice each, due to wearing road Mizunos, a light rain making the trail slippery and clouding up my glasses, and the misimpression that the course wasn't at all technical. This year I still manage to invert my left ankle once, but it's very minor.

mirage-hallucination of trail in more comfortably cool conditions

After leaving Emma Carlin, there are 2 unmanned aid stations with just water, sunscreen, bugspray and sponges before the next manned station at Highway 67 (mile 23.9). This is always a tough stretch-- besides the frugal amenities, most of it is without cover. I look back several times and never catch sight of any runners, unlike last year. The temperature rises (the official forecast high was 88 with humidity percentage of 100%, and a "feels like" of upper 90's, and I heard it was hotter) and the humidity starts to wear on me. Nausea sets in, and luckily I have a cube of candied ginger that keeps me from hurling. I decelerate, but still feel lousy all the way in. I feel so crappy that my confidence in being able to maintain my first place position is shaky. I'm almost feeling too sick to care.

From County ZZ (mile 26.5), the 5 mile stretch to the Scuppernong turnaround (mile 31.5) is first single track, then wider trails, in which you seem to keep turning, as if you were going to the center of a huge spiral maze, and then turning the other way back out.

I grab my first drop bag here. It has an energy bar that I've never tried, but supposedly is good for long endurance activities since it has protein and other nutrients. I grab it, run into Kirk's wife Aspen, who is crewing for him, but asks me if I need anything. I give her the yellow plastic bag, asking her to bring it back. Even if I am trying to green, this is sort of crazy, and probably reveals my mild delirium.

Returning from the 50k turnaround finally allows me to see how much time I have on my pursuers. I see Zach a few minutes later, so a gap of 7-8 minutes. Joe calculates to about 15 minutes back. This is all guesswork, since my Garmin which I turned back on hasn't picked up a signal yet. (The official splits at Scuppernong I would see post-race are me at 4:40, Zach Gingerich at 4:47, Joe Kulak and 4:54 and Clark McLemore and Joel Eckberg at 4:56.)

The bar is a pain to unwrap. I bite into it and it's basically another version of those inedible original Power Bars. I swallow a bite and my stomach scolds me. I try to let the delayed next bite hang out in my mouth but it doesn't help my low grade nausea. I would end up carrying it in for the next rough 10+ miles before forgetting it at an unmanned aid station.

Entering the more technical part of the stretch, but really not that technical, I trip and fall forward, landing on my right knee and face. Luckily, not hard enough to hurt anything, but had a rock been sticking up right where my knee landed, it would've been the end. Or at least my small lead. At the time, I think this fall is something significant. Soon enough I would realize it actually wasn't-- just a early appetizer.

I almost wipe out again. Enough. I have to take is easy, and work on recovery. Obviously my body is missing enough of something that I'm losing balance in good visibility at midday, barely a third done. What was going to happen at mile 80 when I was running in the dark? I take it down a further notch, work on digesting the Heed sports drink and gels, and remembering to put ice under my cap at the aid stations.

By the time I reach Emma Carlin (mile 47.3), the worst of the heat is over, and the nausea is gone. Still, I'm tired. Much more than normal halfway through a 100 miler. It doesn't help that apparently everyone else is just as tired, since no one has caught up with me...yet.

Shortly before the water-only Horseriders aid station (mile 50.5, so about halfway through the race), I hear footsteps from behind. Zach? Joe? I turn around and don't recognize him. I initiate a brief conversation, during which I compliment his speed, find out his name ("Joel--you've probably never heard of me before....I'm relatively new to ultras.....this is my first 100 miler"), age (32), hometown (Chicago (actually a suburb)). Since he's looking good and has caught up with me as opposed to vice-versa, I suspected he really is FAST. "So, what's your marathon PR?" "2:33" "Dang, you're FAST" meaning it even more than when I gave Zach Gingerich the same line. He says, "Well, that was Chicago a few years ago...." (actually less than 3) "...I've lost a lot of speed since then."

Whatever, I'm thinking, your marathon PR is faster than that of Jon Olsen and even Scott Jurek, among other elite runners. "Well, no shame being passed, go for it." It would be nice to stay with him and chat, but it's clear our paces are too far apart. He cruises on ahead. I decide even had I been better rested than described in my last sandbagging blog post, it was unlikely I could run faster than he was on a day like today. Obviously he was talented, well-trained, and running a smart race. I feel little urge to kill myself trying to keep up with him. I contemplate that a plaque for placing in the master's age group will not present the space problem that another large copper kettle first-place overall award would. This is really, lucky, a true blessing, I think.
Although if he does tank, I might have to go for it. Ugh.

It has grown cooler. By the time I reach Bluff (mile 55.5), it's obvious that the talk of a thunderstorm maybe brewing wasn't so maybe. I start hearing thunder, and thunder means lightning. Don't like that. I had followed the weather forecast daily the past week. It was always 3-4 days of scattered thunderstorms before and after, but never on race day.

After leaving Tamarack (mile 57.8), five miles to the start and finish area, the rain, lightning and thunder continues to grow more frequent and intense. I start counting the seconds between each flash and rumble to figure how many thousand feet away the lightning is. I start trying to sprint the open fields to minimize my time out in the open. Less than 2 miles from Nordic (mile 62.9, and end of 100 km race), I see Joel heading back out with a pacer. Distance-wise I'm not that far behind him, but I'm not even thinking about catching up, just staying alive. I mutter something like "This is f*&%$g crazy" as we cross in opposite directions. The light and sound gaps continue to shorten, as does my confidence.

A bit after I think I pass the 1-mile marker (I'm very unsure, as it's hard to see anything in the rain with my glasses), the sky lights up right ahead and a very loud crack of thunder almost immediately blows my ears out. I'm too soaked to know if I peed in my shorts, but I decide that nothing, even another win had I still been in first, is worth dying for. I retreat from another open clearing I was about to sprint and plant myself face down on the ground to the side of the trail. I have no idea how many people die or getting permanently disabled by lightning strikes each year, but I imagine that your risk of getting struck goes up considerably when you are outside in the middle of one. Then figuring I want to minimize my chances of being hit due to the metal in my eyeglasses and my handheld GPS device (which I had turned off since the battery only runs 10 hours), I take them and throw them away from me, as I wait through several more rounds of paired lightning and thunder.

(By the way, this week, June 22-28, 2008, is Lightning Safety Awareness Week.)


Not in Calistoga for a spa treatment, but least these guys are still moving and can keep each other company...

After quite a time on my stomach, contemplating death, permanent disability, my failure to finish our estate planning, my family and how much I love them, how my wife would kill me if I died out here, hypothermia, how much I love running but not as much as my family, are there parasitic bugs crawling into my pants as I lie here, the thunder begins to sound relatively farther and I convince myself that I should get going again. As I push myself up to doggie position with my toes pointed, one of my calves goes into spasm, instinctively I roll onto my back, doing the breathing thing for a couple of minutes and evening out my mud basting.

After more carefully getting up I crouch for another while, stretching out my calves. Then I look around for my Garmin, which I find fairly quickly, but of course, I can't find my glasses. In case you haven't noticed, I'm very nearsighted, and the mud, clouds and trees don't make for the best visibility. I start to crawl around on all fours, like Velma Dinkley from Scooby Doo, trying to find them, worried that I might crush them or push them into the mud. Well this is a new one. The absurdity and novelty of the situation is not lost on me as the search goes on for several minutes.
I finally find them, then I notice I've also lost my Julbo sunglasses I got as part of my Sportiva sponsorship package. I had strapped onto hat when it had become overcast. I really hope I can find them, since I can comfortably wear them over my regular glasses and not look like a geek. (If you haven't noticed, looking really cool when I run is really important to me. More than winning awards for placing, or communion with nature.) I spend half a minute looking around for them, until I realize they could be anywhere between here and Bluff. I figure I can look for them later, even if I drop at 100 km (yes, I'm contemplating dropping). I start jogging in and and am surprised at how close I had been to the 100 km point-- maybe just a quarter mile.

After getting into the aid station (officially at 11:08, 42 minutes after leader Joel Eckberg did), everyone's very encouraging and helpful as always. I'm freezing, and take off my yellow Sportiva jersey. I get the car key out of my drop bag, dump my shirt and put on a dry long-sleeved wool Sugoi jersey, the same one I was trying to wear the last 3 days in order to try to last-minute heat train. After dithering around, I confirm with Ann Heaslett that I don't get any trinkets if I drop at 100 km, just an official time, and she incredulous that I am considering dropping.

A volunteer manning a laptop computer tells me that the storm has passed. I'm unconvinced, so he brings up the weather radar website. In another time-killing Ultrailnakaman race first, I stand mesmerized watching the colored radar clouds repeatedly pass over Whitewater on the computer screen in fast motion several times, and it looks like he's right. In the back of my mind, I know that the passing of this storm does not preclude the future passage of more storms later, but, luckily, if "luckily" is the correct word, I suppress (zap?) this very logical thought and convince myself that it's time to finish this baby.

Nonetheless, my preoccupation with placing well or running real fast have long been washed away. If I'm going out for another 38 miles, all I want to do is finish. And if it might rain more, I don't want to freeze to death. I spend more time at the aid station, and literally go back and forth to my car at least 2 more times, including going there to put on a light jacket and then putting in back when everyone tells me I'm going to be WAY too hot.

I am unaware that during all this very inefficient use of aid station time, that Zach Gingerich, has arrived 5 minutes after me and gets out much more quickly. I'm not sure I would've cared had I seen him.

Having done almost no running for about up to an hour, I'm able to jog a decent pace going out. I scan the trail hoping to find my Julbo sunglasses, and luckily see it right at the 1 mile marker, and strap it onto my cap, which is already holding a spare headlamp-- it feels a little funny, but now I am prepared for any lighting conditions! My gap on who I think is the next runner is maybe 15 minutes. Closer I see it's Joe Kulak and he tells me I'm looking good and I'm only 15 minutes behind Zach. Interesetingly the realization that Zach had passed me at the Nordic aid station produces little emotional reaction. Joe's tone almost hints that he might be done for the day, but I don't ask.

I see Ian Stevens and and the other volunteers at Tamarack (mile 67.9) and they tell me I'm less than 5 minutes behind Zach. Again, I still really give a hoot, but it's obvious since I just ran 4 miles about 10 minutes faster than he did, that I would probably catch up with him. This I do shortly before coming into Bluff (mile 70.3), "I told you you were fast," I say as I come up from behind.

Before Bluff, I cross paths with my new but long-lost friend Kirk, who gives me this surprised look, "You're just now coming out?" I tell him as we pass each other I was down on the ground for a while since I didn't want to die, mentioning my kids, since I figured he could relate with his 1-year old. I only find out later he's had to deal with a LOT more than I on the way to his first 100 km finish. (click for his very well written race report)


photo by Larry Hilbelink, the evening before

I also see Adam Blum around Bluff, who would summon a nice kick on the way to his first 100k finish.

Zach and I pace off each other for almost through the 8 miles through the next 2 aid stations. The first part is largely flat and not too technical. I remember I was cruising through this section last year, for a while deluded that I might be able to beat the course record. This year, though, I find the long flat sections painful, since I would rather use hills as a good excuse to walk. The 5 miles after the unaided Duffin (mile 72.8) is a bit more technical with lots of overgrowth. I find that being able to run through this section actually feels good since it was gotten warmer and the wet leaves feel refreshing. I comment to Zach that in California maybe 1/3 of green foliage jutting into a trail is poison oak.

Zach is feeling bad that his much slower than predicted time means his father, who has been crewing him, has to stay up that much longer. Plus he has teach Sunday School at 9am the next morning. Not as tight as Joe Kulak's 7 a.m. flight out of Chicago, but much earlier than my kids' 1 p.m. Baptism (which is why I couldn't greenly carpool with anyone coming from the Chicago area).



Are we too late with this? Is that lightning off in the distance?


It's nice pacing each other, but we're both too drained to keep up too much conversation, and Zach seems bummed. Eventually I leave him behind, and despite a fairly long stop at the Highway 12 aid station (mile 77.1), he doesn't catch up with me there.

Chicken soup from encouraging volunteers and my 1st real drop bag await me at the Highway 12. I pull out my iPod Nano and stick it in a side pocket, dump the sunglasses and the spare Tikka Plus headlamp, but keep the cap on. I get a different spare headlamp, a Black Diamond, and wrap it around my waist, being careful to loosen the strap all the way first, since I wasted a few minutes last year trying unsuccesfully to get it on and took a handheld flight instead, at the same aid station but 8 miles later. Since my left iliotibial band (ITB) has increasingly started bothering me, I pull out my ITB strap and wrap it right below my left knee. I restock on Hammer gels. After all these maneuvers, I'm ready, and start the path crossing the road and the climb up.

About a half mile up, I reach up to check my headlamp and notice there is none. I forgot my main headlamp! The Petzl MyoXP is as excellent as it is discontinued as it is useless sitting back in my dropbox. I guess my cap made me oblivious to the lack of lighting on my head. At this point, going back down was not an option. My primary worry was that I hadn't replaced the batteries on the Black Diamond spare. I run as far as I can without using the lamp. After a couple miles, I have to turn it on. Since it's attached to my waist, the beam keeps bouncing too much, so I move it to my head. The two settings give me a beam that is either too narrow or too weak. But what can I do? The 4 mile stretch between Highway 12 and the turnaround aid station at Rice Lake is probably the most technical of the whole course. I stub my big toe, for some reason mostly my right, against rocks, roots, and railroad ties about 15 times. Imagine a Homer Simpson "D'oh!" each toenail-blackening stubbing. I apologize to my big toenail and curse my lamp. The stretch between Highway 12 and the Rice Lake (mile 81.5) turnaround took me 51 minutes each way last year. This year, I only measure it going back and it takes 75 minutes, and I guess it took probably longer going out.

On the return from Rice Lake I see Joe Kulak putting up light sticks with co-RD Jason Dorgan, and then know for the first time that he dropped at 100k. The turnaround lets me calculate a gap of more than an hour over 3rd place, and each runner after him isn't too far behind. I see fellow Bay Area runner Rick Gaston and tell him I think he's in 6th.


Rick Gaston, pre-ordeal


It's clear that Zach Gingerich has also dropped, probably at the first visit to Highway 12.

I would be looking forward to improving trail conditions, except that I'm told that another storm is coming. My mouth utters nastiness. But I remain optimistic. I figure since there was a lot of tree cover during the next 8 miles that I should just go for it. Besides, what else am I going to do?

Lightning in the distance initially seems to be to the right, but as I try to run the open fields to get to the forest, it seems I'm heading right to where the meteorlogical action is. At least a constant stream of runners crosses my path, unlike my pathetically interrupted approach to the storm over by the start/finish at Nordic.

Lightning never seems to strike too close, but perhaps it's because it's soon pouring down so hard that I can't see anything, much less the trail, which quickly becomes an almost continuous stream of water and mud.

I slip several times trying to run, and eventually give up. I can barely see, my feet are partially numb from the constant soak, I'm getting cold, I wish I had a jacket, I probably want my mommy, but she and my dad didn't come this year (fortunately for them).

By the late time the rain lets up a bit, and I leave behind the more technical parts of the stretch, my ITB is sore enough that the only way I can run is to gallop, with my right leg slightly ahead of my left. The best I can do with this is a 13 minute mile per my Garmin. I find that power walking is more sparing of my IT band, and only 2-3 minutes per mile slower. Although I don't really care, I try to calculate the chances that any of the closely spread runners following me have to catching up before the finish, assuming they aren't walking as much.

After the rain stops, I take out my iPod Nano to listen to some tunes again, but it won't work, presumably because water got into it. Oh well, I have to listen to birds and the wind rustling through the trees, and the distant rumbling of thunder.

I say my 4th and final thanks to the volunteers at Bluff (mile 92.8), and also at Tamarack (mile 95.1), where I say bye to Ian Stevens, and wish Mary Gorski luck Badwater. (Good luck again!)

Although the IT band pain is not as bad as on the single track, I know if pushing it risks having it flare enough that I can't run at all, so I'm still going slow, taking my time. Near the mile 2 marker (marked from Nordic), a headlight suddenly appears from behind. I assume not without good reason, that it's another 100 miler. I could wait around to ask, but why give up my 100 yard lead. I break out into a sprint, which ends up being 9 minute miles. I'm even running up the hills. I'm feeling a little guilty having so much kick. Obviously I was "sacrificing the gift," but then I wonder if Steve Prefontaine ever got bad IT band pain that kept him from running for weeks? Plus, I know the Pre never ran one of these stupid 100 mile races...

The headlight can't keep up. I finish feeling pleased with my strong finish, even though it only lasted 15 minutes. 100.2 miles in 20:37:39, almost 250 minutes slower than last year. Joel Eckberg was understandably no longer around, having finished 150 minutes before.

Headlight guy comes and it's....some guy doing the relay (I can't find the relay runners' names in the results since they're listed by team name). I tell him and everyone about my scared sprint and we all laugh.

Last year, I didn't want to make my parents wait around and stay up any later, so I had to split. This year I could more relaxedly hang out.

I hobble around the finish, grazing, soaked my legs in a basin filled with cold water (which someone comments is a little ironic) after hosing off the mud from myself, my clothes and my Sportiva Lynx, which held up quite well, then change, and get my finisher's award.

Jason hands me my Peruvian finisher's kettle, my first, since I only got the big one last year.

About an hour after I finish, as I'm at my car, I hear the 3rd place finisher come in. When I come back, I'm delighted to see it's fellow Bay Area runner Rick Gaston, who I thought was in 6th or 7th when I saw him near coming back from Rice Lake.

Not far after him is come a pair from Oregon. And they both look really fresh.


Darla Brader with her big English copper kettle for being the 1st female overall finisher, and Chris Askew, who finished together in 22:04:50.

With a 2 hour drive back in the morning, I decide to get a couple of hours sleep, which despite the tight accomodations, isn't hard.


backseat bed for power nap before the drive home

I actually wake up to the sound of pelting rain on the car roof.

What an adventure! I am already looking forward to the late lunch at a seafood restaurant to celebrate after the ceremony.

Thanks once again to Eugene and Carmina for lending me their cars, many more for Kirk and his family for generously hosting me, Timo and Jason (not only for directing, but for comping my entry since I won last year) and especially all the many volunteers (can't thank you all enough). This race pushed a lot of runners to their limits and so I congratulate everyone who gave it their all, whether they accomplished their pre-race goals or not. Apparently only 30% of those intending to finish 100 miles were able to do so. What a tough race.


Blogged Race Reports, all races

Adam Blum
Steve Grabowski (paced his brother Kevin last 38 miles) part 1 , part 2
Gary Robbins (paced his friend Luke Laga last 38 miles), slide show
David Wakefield


Please let me know of others to add.
first published Wednesday June 25, 2008 at 9 a.m., (delay mostly due to the yucky work schedule thing, and holding to the principle of running before blogging or least until yesterday...but I still published this faster than last year's report, my first blog posting ever.)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Blog or Run? Why I Still Haven't Finished My Kettle Moraine Race Report

A few readers of this blog have kindly commented that they were awaiting my Kettle Moraine race report, and I apologize for being so late with it.   Although I was on vacation the rest of the week after the race, I couldn't blog much (or even read blogs--I'm so behind) due to competition for a very slow computer at my in-laws, in the few moments I wasn't out running around (actually hobbling is more accurate), usually entertaining my older son and his cousins.



When I got back, I had to work 3 overnight shifts over the weekend, which was more painful due to mismanagement of my daytime sleeping.  I did get a little bit of Father's Day, with a trip to the Oakland Zoo in the late afternoon, before my last graveyard shift.



Today (Tuesday the 17th), would've been good to finish blogging, since my older son was back in daycare/school, and I had the day off.  Yesterday I ran home 100 minutes on trails from the Toyota dealership after dropping off our Prius for routine 45k mile maintenance after power sleeping 3 hours.  So you'd think that, only 9 days after a 100-mile race and no urgent need to get in any long training runs, and having already done a decent run yesterday, I'd be content to stay home, play with the baby, and blog, right?  Hello?

REI in Berkeley has been calling us, asking when we were going to pick up these backordered Black Diamond trekking poles that we bought a few months ago using our 20% discounts.  They finally came in last month, but with all the races, work, and our vacation, we had no chance to drive out there, much less do the greener option of picking them up on the way to my brother's in Marin.  If we didn't retrieve them today, they were sending them back.  They are such hardasses up there-- I guess they're tight on the storage space.

So this morning I am thinking, since we have to drive up there anyways, maybe I can do a point-to-point trail run... it's such a nice day.

I'm still recovering, and probably shouldn't be running so much this soon, so this was totally gratuitous.  Run long, run far, for no good reason except that today I can.

Right after noon, I set out towards Chabot with my Ultimate Direction bottle, a squeeze bottle fuel of powdered Gu2O, two gels, my cell phone and trail maps of Redwood Park, Tilden Park, and a road map of  Oakland/Berkeley, most of the above stuffed in a trophy Fuel Belt Del Fuego hydration pack without the bladder.

So Yahoo weather said it was going to be in the 70's.  "YAH! I screwed yOO" is what Yahoo must stand for, since it feels like it's 85, and I didn't bring any electrolyte tablets.  In Redwood, a connector trail to the West Ridge Trail that is supposed to be there isn't, and I have to backtrack half a mile as my fluids run out.  Near Skyline Gate at the northern tip of Redwood Park, I resume the Firetrails 50 course along the Bay Area Ridge Trail past Sibley to Steam Trains at the southern end of Tilden. Luckily it is mostly shaded after Skyline and little less hot.  Unfortunately my wife left her cell phone in Chicago so I am worried that she'll pick up the hiking poles and show up at the restaurant at which we decided to meet long before I can make it, but have no way of calling her.

In Tilden, after Steam Trains, I take Grizzly Peak Trail for the first time down, before zigzagging on my knees, still sore from Kettle, down paved switchbacks into Berkeley proper.


Over 30 miles in 5 1/2 hours including bottle fill-up stops and map checks.

I get to the restaurant, this Nepalese restaurant in Berkeley we had never tried before. I showed up 3 minutes before my wife and kids.


Lucas kept screaming for the lentil soup, which totally hit the spot after more than 120 increasingly sickening ounces of Gu2O.


Peter couldn't wait for the tandoori shrimp and the other things we ordered.  So yummy! Gotta love the food in Berkeley.

first posted Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 10:35 pm




Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Overtapering Can Leave You Exhausted-- My Pre-Kettle Moraine 100 Mile Work Schedule From Hell

Tomorrow (Saturday, June 7th) I return southern Wisconsin to do the Kettle Moraine 100 Mile Endurance Run and defend my title from last year. I am not feeling optimally rested.

The COST to an ultrarunning ER doc of getting to run 3 ultras (Miwok, Quicksilver, Ohlone) on 3 successive weekends in 1 month (May), during which one of the hospitals where I work transitioned to a new computerized inpatient tracking and charting system and thus my colleagues and I had to work lots of extra hours, was the following annotated work schedule. Note that more often than not, I get out later than the scheduled ending time:

(you may scroll down to see photos of my kids if you don't really want to read this...)

May

W 21st: 7am to midnight, call center work from home. sounds cush, but 17 hours of phone advice is a different kind of torture

Th 22nd: 2pm to midnight

F 23rd: 11pm to 6:30am the next morning

Sa 24th: 7pm to 7am the next morning-- note: starting a shift this early prevents me from getting the 2nd of the 2 naps I normally take on night shifts, guaranteeing inadequate sleep

Su 25th: 8pm to 6am the next morning-- note: 8pm ain't any better.

M 26th: 8pm to 6am the next morning-- note: Normally I only do 3 overnights in a row, not 4, and then get the next day completely off. I think the majority of the doctors with whom I work won't even do 3.

Tu 27th: "off" but not really because I just worked until 6am-- note: now I have to reverse my Circadian, but without any downtime

W 28th: meetings from 9am to 5pm, then another nonwork related meeting from 6:15pm to 8:30pm note: as an aside, I rode my bike to the morning meeting, but popped a flat trying to make the 6:15 and my wife had to pack both kids and pick me up, and I walked almost 2 miles half carrying the bike (the tire came off the wheel) so she wouldn't have to drive as far.

Th 29th: 8am to 8pm

F 30th: 7am to 3pm, call center work, from home. It's sad that an 8 hour work day felt like a day off.

Sa 31st: noon to midnight-- note: to go to a birthday party with my family ending at 1:30pm, I switched to the 3pm to 2am shift, which made for a quick transition to the next shift, since it's not like I get to bed at 2:15--

June

Su 1st: noon to midnight

M 2nd: on call. My boss felt I needed to work in the clinic when I woke up at 8:30pm, less than 6 hours after going to bed. I came in at 10am and when it seemed I really didn't have to be there, I left at 3:30pm

In summary, 13 straight days of work totalling more than 110 hours.


Barely any time to run. Maybe 2 hours on trails. Some short runs to and from BART. I probably overtapered. Not by choice.

We flew out to Chicago early, but due to various events beyond my control, including someone working on the gutters with power tools the day after we arrived, preventing me or my baby from effectively napping, rambunctious kids staying up late, my older son's inability to sleep if we go to bed in the same bed at the same time, and my younger son's being upset by some of the above, I have been unable to fully recover my sleep deficit, much less reset my late night Pacific Time zone clock to early morning Central Time Zone. Race morning I will be getting up at an hour later than at which I went to bed less than a week earlier. If you think this isn't a big deal, try it.

To be optimistic, this will make things interesting. Especially with the interesting development of the USATF 2003 Male Ultrarunner of the Year Joe Kulak registering for the race last week, which I thought he would (he commented that he might). I was getting all these comments and emails telling me I had no serious competition, but I knew better. I still think I'm the underdog, but I guess since I won last year, it's a hard sell.

It sucks barely seeing my family during these bad stretches. The party at one of those places fill with bouncy things last Saturday was a blast though, worth the 2am to noon turnaround.


Someday we will enjoy scrambling or climbing up rocks together...


First time trying air hockey, my older son trounced this kid a year older.



in action with enrapt audience


my younger at the playground on an earlier rare afternooon I wasn't working. Since his first unpleasant introduction to swings in April, he has come to love them...

First published Friday, June 6, 2008 at 10am Central Time.