Just Plain Tough - Duly Noted Fun! (DNF)

I truly had a great weekend attempting the Plain 100 for my first time. Shawn and I agreed on a plan for us to stay together as long as we were both in the race. Only if one of us had to drop would we change that plan. As it turned out, it was a mute point as we both were hammered by the first half of the Plain course. By the way, there is nothing "Plain" about this course. It's a wonderfully difficult, scenic course that has everything I would want in an ultra challenge - awesome climbs, nice descents, technical (rocky) descents, some FS road, a bit of asphalt, river & stream crossings, you name it. On top of all that the weather was wonderful! No snow, no rain.






We both had blister issues coming down the rocky descent to Cougar Creek (somewhere between 40-45 miles). Up to that point, we were fine, great actually, just enjoying the day, leap frogging with 6-8 other runners throughout most of the day. We varied between 10th and 18th place quite often and didn't really consider this a competition as much as a fun training run. This weekend was about beating the Plain course - or being beat by it. The latter held true to form as it has for many others who have attempted Plain. We contemplated dropping on the way down from Maverick saddle to Deep Creek (the mid point) and close to an additional hour sitting down and talking about it in the aid station. That is to say, we spent about 3 hours deciding what to do - it wasn't a rash decision. The fact that it took us 2 hours to travel 5 miles (Maverick - Deep Creek) and 18 hours to get to Deep Creek in total played into the decision. We would have about 25 miles to the next possible drop point with a S&R ride. That's a long way to travel to drop moving at such a slow pace (8 hours or so).

We were lucky to have Steve Stoyles, Michelle Barnes, and Karen Wiggens at Deep Creek. In the morning we had left with Steve some soup to have ready for us. He left after the start of the race to run Cle Elum Ridge 50K and came back to crew us. The soup was great along with the grilled cheese sandwiches they were preparing. Jim Kerby (who also ran Cle Elum) was there to give us some sage advice about our decision.

I wouldn't change anything in my race strategy, plans, etc. I implemented just as I wanted to and was ready with warm gear for the second loop - minus the blisters of course. What I will do differently is the pre-race preparation; that is, I would train on the course a bit differently. In training, we did not come down the normal trail from Signal Peak which is where we hit the steep, rocky downhill - which ended up being our demise. Also, I think most of us skip the road section of both loops and do the 38-40+ miles of each loop on separate weekends. While that's a practical strategy (it took us 13 hours to run the 40+ miles of loop 1 back in early August using our alternate route), I'll probably adjust that next time out. There was definitely a need for me to do the entire loop in training to get the full effect. The reason was not navigational (that part was rather easy), but just the shear time on my feet over some tough terrain coming into Maverick Saddle and then down to Deep Creek. Right now my thought is to run the entire first loop on one day (5:00 am start like the race); taking 24 hours to rest up; then run the entire second loop from Deep Creek starting at night. But that's for next year or beyond.

Race directors Chris and Tom did their usual wonderful job at selecting the right team to "support" us. The S&R, run by capable and humorous Tim Dehnhoff, were all over the course on the look out for those who may go off course. They weren't to tell us if we were off course but would track us nonetheless. They were great fun to hang out with before and after the race. Also, both Jim and Jane Upgrove, as well as Linda Ripley provided a wonderful pre-race dinner and a nice pre-race breakfast. This is a rediculously cheap 100 miler and I would recommend it to anyone who believes they are ready for the "graduate" course on 100 mile running.


The most fun during the day was our time spent and the river before the climb to Signal Peak. We had a picnic and enjoyed the cool water and sunshine. This was a great prelude to the climb as we moved much more quickly than we did on our training run. Because of the very good weather, the climb provided our first feel of beaded sweat. Even so, the exposed spots where we would have expected heat provided nice breezes.

After we finished the climb we sat down again to refuel. Those we had passed on the climb passed by again and we wished them well on their journey. The next section was not bad, a slight down hill and flat section. We hit some more climbs for a while and then the tough section began. This downhill was fairly steep (switch backs), very rocky, not quite a single track trail (it was very narrow), a lot of over grown bushes on the trail - basically not runable for a non-technical runner such as myself. This is where the side-to-side movement of my feet in my shoes and the dust became virtual sandpaper on flesh torture. Add to that the impending night fall, the running and even the walking became a lot of "not fun" work.

I'll let Shawn give you her persepective on this on her blog. Although - she does have Baker Lake planning this week for the race on Saturday and wouldn't expect to see anything from her this week.

Here are some pictures: http://www.pbase.com/tcovarrubias/running/plain2008

See you on the trails and road. *tc