WSU 100K - Short Version / Loooong Version

Short:

2nd OA, 1st AG (only one in my age group and I almost came in 2nd as my shadow kept passing me at every turn late in the race). Time 10:26

Van came in 4th OA, 1st woman. She had a tough time too from the wind and dust - but I'll go into that later. Time: 11:03?

Long: (see actual split milages & times at the bottom)

It was somewhat of a long day on Saturday, picking up Danielle from her church spring retreat to run the 3200 at an invite, then driving to Pullman afterwards. Danielle's race didn't go well at all. She was lethargic from the start and she told me she had a headache almost the entire way. I don't think she's anemic but I will be persuing that.

On to Ellensburg to get Van. I got there at 2:30, which was right on schedule. We continued east and made it to Pullman in 3 hours. I was speeding just a little. Van is a good navigator and makes sure first that I'm going fast enough ("I'm a really good driver," as Rainman would say). Then she made sure I up'd the speed on my cruise each time the speed increased, and visa-versa. There were cops galore out there. Even so, we made as good a time as expected, not having to stop the entire way for potty breaks. Shawn was supposed to be our tour guide since neither Van or I have been to Cougar country (which is absolutely beautiful by the way). However, since she had a bum knee, she found it prudent to stay home, and gave us great maps with hand written notes. They worked perfectly. The reason we were in a hurry was because there was a 6:00 pm pre-race brief that we didn't want to miss. Solo entrants are supposed to have a crew and we didn't so we wanted to make sure we got all the information we could. Since we got there early, we had time to check into our hotel before going to the race brief. The race briefing was more confusing that anything. The RD, a very nice gal, is one of those who talks 100 mph and gives you more information that one can digest. But we slowed her down enough to ask specific question afterwards. Multiple time finisher Leon Rothstein offered to drive while we followed him to the track so that we would know where to go in the morning. The best bit of information he gave us was that there were 4 over head walking bridges from the bottom of the hill to the finish. That was great 61.5 miles into the race. After that, we went to the 61 miles point where there was supposed to be a tricky section - we didn't want to get lost at that point in the race.

After that, Van and I went to an italian restaurant to have dinner. I had a Calzone and she some pasta with chicken. We then went to Rite Aid to get some surgical masks as we were told that there was "some" gravel sections that would kick up a bit of dust (boy was that an understatement). Back to the hotel for a little mindless TV before falling asleep at around 10:00 pm. We were treated to some partying kids at about 3:00 am and that went on until we got up just before 5:00 am. Even so, I got enough sleep and I think Van did as well. We didn't want to leave too early and hang around nervously (we were 5 minutes away from the start), so we left at about 5:30. Just about everyone was there when we got there but there was no sign of Dave Dutton. At this writing, I still don't know if he ever started the race. Anyway, the RD said we needed to wait for the police escort to guide us out of town. I whine enough, joined by agreeing grumbles from the rest, that she ended up leading us out with her own vehicle. It was 33 degrees out when we left the hotel, a bit chilly but it was fine once we started moving. It also looked to be a pretty day, not very many clouds and it was dry out. Van said afterwards that she would have been better off with rain because of the dust.

We started on the steep downhill that we would have to come back up and the end of the run. It was almost to steep for me to want to run down; definitely at the beginning of a race. Yukon Degenhart (a middle school cross country coach from Spokane) took the lead and never relinquished it all day. Van and I tried to take it easy for a while hoping to maintain 9 minute pace for as long as it was comfortable. The course wound a lot at the beginning and I was nervous about getting lost. No worries as it was almost impossible for most of the race. After about 3 miles, Van said that we were hitting about a 9 minute pace. She had on her fancy GPS watch that had exact mileage on it so could tell exactly where we were. Well, it didn't take long for that 9 minute pace to go away ... in the faster directly. By mile 15, we were running sub 8:30 pace (2:06). The course was marked every 5 miles so I took mental note of my 5 mile splts. I was wearing a watch (I know, weird right) and hit the splits button at the aid stations only. The first part of the course was tough but obviously runnable. There were a lot of significant climbs - Van noted that by 20 miles, we had 6 climbs that were equal or greater than the mile 14 climb at Yakima. We also had about a 5 mile down hill from 15-20 miles. Our quads took a beating. By the 2nd exchange, I'd already hit the porta-potty twice. I had hoped that I was done.

The course to this point was beautiful and I was really-really enjoying the sunshine. I still had on my hudini light weight jacket and gloves. Van hadn't started to shed her layers yet either. Once at exchange 3, 20 miles, we were running along the Snake River. I was looking forward to that section because I love water and running near it. The Snake wasn't too snakey - pretty straight and calm. I still enjoyed it though. Van was glad there was no wind in this section as we had already had our share. Well, no wind plus sun and we actually start to perspire - time to shed. People who have run this before told me these two legs were boring as you ran by the river for 16.5 miles. I loved it - in fact it was my favorite part of the course. We arived at exchange 4 where we had our drop bags. I decided not to drop my jacket but instead kept it tied around my waist. Got my bottle that already had gatorade in it, more GU (which I had been taking faithfully) and we were off - well, after I took my 3rd pit stop. This was mile 27.8. Van said we hit the marathon at about 3:38 (8:18 pace) - right on schedule NOT! But, I felt like we were running sooo slow. Van started to get nervous and I should have as well. She slowed in the next section and I kept the same comfortable pace - Hit 30 miles at 4:15 and 50K at about 4:25. Wow, so I could run a "slow" 5 hour 2nd 50K and run a 9:25 - cool!

At 36.5 miles I hit exchange 5 where the gravel uphill started. I had a grinding feeling in my foot and didn't know whether it was tiny pepples or a blister developing under my calous. After I got my water, I found a horse trailer where I could sit and see what was going on. I took off my shoe and sock but there were no pebbles. That made me a bit nervous but it ended up being a non-issue. This section was terrible. I started to feel sick to my stomach - not queasy but cramps. I tried to walk fast as it wasn't THAT runnable and run bits. This section SUCKED BIG TIME! It was a 6.3 mile leg and it took me about 1 1/2 hours. So much for my time in the bank. That was like at 14 minute mile average - yuck! I decided the cramps had to do with the uncut gatorade that I was drinking. I couldn't wait to get to the next exchange point to rinse out my bottle and put in straight water that I had been drinking. I was still eating GUs to keep up the energy and salt tabs, so I was trying my best to take care of myself. At this point and this rate, I thought I'd be lucky to break 11 hours. So to summarize, this leg sucked the worst, uphill, loose gravel, too much wind, cars going up and down the road - mostly incosiderate relay vehicles, but at least I had blisters, a cramping stomach, and sore hammys. My quads were sore but the short jogs I did weren't fast enough to make a difference. I remembered that this wasn't a "race" for me so I didn't make a huge effort to pick up the pace and make up any time. I had to keep reminding myself of that.

On to exchange 6, 42.8 miles complete. Wow, still gravel road ... thought we were finished with this. I ate a piece of banana and a hand full of pretzels to see if that would make my tummy feel better. I thought I was going to puke on the aid station table, but I didn't. I started out of the aid station trying to nibble on the pretzels while I walked - gave up and threw what I had left on the ground and started to run. Amazingly, well maybe not - I had been praying to God for relief for over an hour by this time, I felt better running. I still had to walk jog quite a bit. Eventually I was doing a 12 minute mile clip walking-jogging. This section was only 4.1 miles and had some nice downhill and I could actually run now. My stomach started to gurgle quite a bit in the last mile and I didn't think I was going to make it to the bathroom at the next exchange. I made it and spent a few minutes trying to get it all out - 4 times, sheesh!

The next section was 5.6 miles and I had already gone 47 miles. I looked for the 50 mile marker so I could see how much I had really fallen off the pace. Just before I got to mile 50, I found that I was in shade and the wind was really blowing ... HA! thank goodness I had been carrying my jacket for the past 20 miles around my waste. Put on my jacket and gloves and warmed up immediately. Got to 50 miles: 8:09. I quickly calculated that 12 minute pace for the last 12 miles would put me at 10:33. I decided I could do better than 12 minutes miles and make it under 10:30 (see, this is why I don't wear a watch). To my annoyed surprise, this section was still gravel - cars were multiplying as more and more relay teams caught up to me. Luckily, the 25-30 mph head winds blew the dust passed me rather quickly. I had a tough time running very fast and had to remind myself that "THIS IS ONLY A TRAINING RUN." I walked 'til I could run and ran 'til I started to loose my form (or struggle). If I was loosing my form, that meant I was pushing myself too hard.

58 miles and the last exchange point took forever to get to. The end of the 9th leg had turned to road FINALLY and I was happy. I ran most of the last section. I was running an uphill section into the wind and was thinking, "What hill? What wind?" and then, "What blisters? What sore hammies? What sore hip?" My stomach was doing relatively great and my quads were good. I ran this uphill until a wind gust stopped me cold in my tracks. Walked a bit until I crested the hill and started running again. I decided that I would run to the bottom of the bridge at mile 61, walk around the hairpin turn, then run the bridge to the stop lights where we made our final climb to the finish. I made it there and started to walk the short turn. It felt so good that I thought, "Maybe I'll walk some more," then looked at my watch. 17 minutes to make the last uphill 1.1 miles. Better try and run. It actually wasn't that bad ... running uphill on concrete beat the heck out of downhill on gravel. I made the turn at the stop lights and kept going for a block. This is where I would look for the 4 bridges that Leon had told us about. I walked until I got to the first bridge, which was the steepest part of the climb, then started running again. Ran past all the bridges and could see the track on my left. The clock read 8:53 (they started it 1 1/2 hours later with the relay teams), so I had 7 minutes to do about 400 meters. I ran all the way to the finish coming in at 10:26 and change.

1st 50K: 4:25
2nd 50K: 6:01 (yeah, that's even paced).

Van had a tough time with her asthma and had to walk quite a bit of the last part of the race. When I saw her after she came in, the fireman had her on oxygen and were check her, pulse (only 75), her bp (which was too low) and he blood sugar (which was down). They gave her some gatorade and that brought her blood sugar up quickly. Her bp went back to normal.

We ended up having to wait another hour for our drop bags to show up. We were getting anxious because we had a long drive ahead of us. Go our bags, stopped to get some food for the road, and we're out of Pullman at about 7:00 pm. The drive home was tough because of my sore hammies (sitting for so long) but other than that, not bad. Van and I share the drive. Right when we got to Easton, it started to snow. It was coming down pretty hard and there were snow plows on the road, which made us a bit nervous. We lost a bit of time but still made it home before midnight.

Now, on to recovery!

Splits:

Leg 1: 6.5 - 54:53 (8:27 pace - paved)
Leg 2: 5.6 - 47:48 (8:32 pace - paved)
Leg 3: 7.9 - 1:05:04 (8:14 pace - 5M paved downhill) - 20 miles, 2:47:45 (8:23 pace)
Leg 4: 7.8 - 1:11:02 (9:11 pace - flat paved) - 3:28 at mile 25 / 3:38 at the marathon
Leg 5: 8.7 - 1:17:54 (8:51 pace - flat paved) - 5 hours at mile 35
Leg 6: 6.3 - 1:29:22 (14:11 pace - hilly gravel) - 6:05 at mile 40
Leg 7: 4.1 - 51:59 (12:41 pace - hilly gravel) - missed mile 45
Leg 8: 5.6 - 1:03:41 (11:22 pace - gravel) - 8:09 at mile 50
Leg 9: 5.3 - 1:04:56 (12:15 pace - gravel/paved) - missed mile 55
Leg 10: 4.1 - 41:28 (10:07 pace - paved) - 10:26 at 100K

Overall: 100K - 10:26:25 (10:06 pace)