I've spent a lot of time running in the past 7 years. I started with triathlons in college, left behind the biking and swimming for running on the road, and progressed to the marathon distance on-road before moving into trail and eventually ultramarathon running. Running, as an activity and lifestyle, has brought an incredible positive change to my life.
In Hermosa Beach, I learned to run long, flat road. Training for marathons helped me focus on healthy activities as part of my lifestyle. I started running trail and ran a couple of ultramarathons, which eventually drove my move to West LA to be near the mountains and other dedicated trail runners. There I met several folks who became my friends and adventure buddies, and who introduced me to the core of the Los Angeles ultramarathon community.
At the center of this community, in a lot of ways, is the Angeles Crest 100 (AC 100). This old, storied race chews up runners with its heat, exposure, and steep San Gabriel Mountain terrain. It's not a race to be taken lightly, and garners an immense amount of respect from the top to the bottom of the field every year. From the outside looking in, it's another 100-mile course. From the inside, it's a legendary benchmark hundred mile race with rich history and a dedicated community that thrives on love of the San Gabriel Mountains.
A few of my running buddies had been chasing big goals at the race for years. Guillaume has been chasing a win, Dom has been chasing the course record, and Katie has been chasing a silver buckle. Each of these runners exhibits their own brand of passion for the mountains and the race that became the brew in which my love for the mountains was steeped. I look up to each of these runners and am thankful for not only their friendship in training and life, but also their guidance in preparing for to tackle the run.
I almost signed up for the 2015 Angeles Crest 100, but I decided that I wanted another year of experience and fitness in my legs before attempting to break off and chew a chunk of a bad-ass race.
I'm glad I did. Another year of running, pacing, and training on the trails helped me to feel confident enough to go after the silver buckle that is awarded to finishers who complete the run in under 24 hours.
I planned my year around 3 races: Los Angeles Marathon, Zion 100-miler, and the AC 100. I'd get speed from LA Marathon, where I'd shoot to finally break 3 hours, then I'd transition to the trails to get a finish at Zion and some UTMB points, and finally build all that into big days in the mountains to tackle AC 100.
The year prior I hit 100 mile weeks, big vertical, and tons of quality workouts in preparation for the Wasatch Front 100. I was riding the knife edge of burnout, but I felt lean and fast. I spent a ton of time in those training blocks on the AC 100 course with Dom, Katie, Guillaume and Andy, learning about pitfalls of the race, strategies, and hearing stories of Tommy Nielsen, Jorge Pacheco, and Jim O'Brien.
This year, I wanted to step back from the edge a bit and focus on feeling good every week of training and finding more balance in my life.
In February, I ran 2:56 at LA Marathon and checked the 3-hour marathon box off. In March I ran 23:30 at a muddy Zion 100 for my first sub 24 hour finish. I recovered and re-entered the mountains with grand plans for a constant buildup/stepback periodization mileage build for AC. I started off well, but ended up inconsistent. Work was busy, I was traveling to Florida regularly, and the quality of my workouts was variable. Still, my mileage was acceptable, if not as high as I would like, and without as much quality as I would like. My legs didn't seem to want to handle what I gave them last summer, so I adjusted.
Then I got a job offer in Denver.
The offer came from a startup aerospace company with a big vision, an experienced leadership team, and a need for my technical expertise. I jumped at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of this kind of team...these things don't happen often in the aerospace industry. I tried to push my start date out to September...after AC...so I could focus on my training and worry about moving my life later, not to mention helping transition my work duties to other engineers in CA and FL, but the schedule at the startup did not accommodate this late of a start, so 3.5 weeks after I got the job offer, I was on the way to Colorado. It didn't help that there was a friend's wedding, packing, and moving thrown in there. My training suffered, but I still had a few solid workouts and long runs to keep the mileage and strength in my legs.
I spent a week in Silverton at the Hardrock 100, getting big vertical and slow miles, which I think anchored my training up to that point. By the time I arrived in Denver, all I needed was to get my leg speed back up a bit and I would feel prepared for AC. Living at altitude for a month also wouldn't hurt.
To throw a final curveball at my life, my relationship with my girlfriend of 1.5 years ended during my transition to CO. It wasn't the transition, per se, that ended it, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. So I worked 70 hours my first week on the job. At least I loved my job? Summary until now: Sub-par training with a few good weeks, and then 3 weeks of training and taper while feeling extremely alone in a new place with no friends. In a way, that experience is kind of like running 100 miles in the mountains: a lot of time alone with one's thoughts, punctuated by seeing close friends at occasional intervals. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in the final weeks on trail, thinking about my own role in the breakup, running's part in my life and its effect on the balance between my work, running, and personal life. There's probably an entire blog post worth of material to be covered on what I've thought about in the last 3 months since I moved to Denver, but in the context of this paragraph, AC ended up being this light at the end of a shitty 3-week tunnel.
I made it through taper, and made it to California to race. I was excited to see my friends and felt prepared to run. I picked up my buddies Tyler (racing) and Kevin (his pacer) and my pacer Clint at the airport and we headed for the mountains. There's almost nothing better for racing than to settle in with a good group of friends, feel comfortable, and get into a positive mental space to take on the challenge. The change from almost complete isolation to being amongst great people in our airBNB, and great people flooding into Wrightwood for the race was invigorating to say the least, and I soaked it in.
Friday before the race, I met up with tons of old running friends, dropped off drop bags, picked up my bib, and returned to the house to relax and go over race-day logistics with Clint. Clint's a badass and was totally on the ball, not only in terms of actually crewing, but asking the right questions and getting himself prepared to crew the next day.
The game plan in-race was as follows: hike the major climbs, run the flats and downs hard, hit splits and run sub 24 hours.
The night before the race, I had seen Dom and Guillaume and Katie, each one of them preparing for their own races and it hit me that for the first time, that I'd be toeing the line with my friends and mentors. It was a culmination of all of the running that I've done to date, the miles and conversations that I had, all these people that I know will be standing next to me, ready to reach for their own versions of greatness.
I finally fell asleep, ready for a 2:30am wakeup to eat, drink coffee, and get ready to toe the line at 5am.
I've had jitters before races. I've been nervous. I've been fearful. This morning, however, I felt calm and ready to run. Focused. I hugged all my friends, and stepped back from the front line to where I felt was a good place to be for my pacing strategy.
We took off and headed up the hill. I found a solid rhythm, ran with Katie for a bit, and then watched her and others pull away as I held my own leash tight and hiked hard up the first climb. I knew that I would hit 60 minutes to the PCT, and came in at 58 minutes, perfect pacing thus far. I felt a bit wonky/dizzy, but chalked it up to adrenaline, and started to go for it on the flats up top of Blue Ridge. I started passing folks who were on different race plans, and I came flying into Inspiration Point feeling good.
Clint was ready like I was going for the win, but I was OK with slowing things down a bit and taking a 20 or 30 second aid instead of blowing through. My aid plan was 'efficient, but not rushed'. I snagged a bottle, and headed for Vincent Gap, 4.5 miles later.
Vincent Gap was the same deal as Inspiration Point aid: efficient but not rushed. I got the food and water I needed, said 'Hi' to friends and headed out for the climb up Mt. Baden Powell. I knew that I could hike the climb in 70 minutes, so when I hit the top and stretched at 68 minutes, I felt good.
I was banking some time and still feeling conservative. The heat was picking up, but so was the wind...howling! The traverse along the ridge and into Islip Saddle Aid at mile 25ish flowed well and I kept up my race plan well, staying cool in the wind, hydrated, and well fed.
At this point, my heat management plan was in full effect: ice in sun sleeves, ice bandana, white shirt and hat. This is also where the course was modified this year, for permitting reasons. We would run the road instead of the Mt. Williamson climb. I changed into road shoes and took off up the road. My stomach was feeling a little queasy coming out of the aid station, but I was on my calorie plan so I pushed on. I tried some avocado at Eagle's Roost Aid, but it didn't sit so well, so I continued munching on bacon in the aid stations, and then started the next road section to Cloudburst Summit aid.
The course change eliminated Mt. Williamson and Cooper Canyon, both of which are considered crux portions of the course. Instead of taking on some tough trail and terrain, I had to run hard on the road, which sucks. Trying to run hard 30 miles into a 100 has never felt great for me, but I pushed through at an acceptable effort level to make sure that I could also run hard out of Cloudburst, which is another key to the race that I learned from Katie: don't get to the easy stuff feeling wasted, because you should be running all of the easy stuff. Easy money (Ha!) for getting sub 24, as long as I could hold the leash tight until Cloudburst.
Well, the road climb up to Cloudburst sucked, but I hiked/ran my way up and felt OK taking down some Coke and bacon. I was a bit worked, but could still run. So far, so good. I took off and started making good time down to 3-points.
The run to 3-points consisted of single-track and road sections, some from the original course, and some from the modified course. I headed down the single track and tried to keep pacing. Again, I felt a bit worked, but after managing it up the slight incline, I knew I could roll down through at least a couple miles of road and singletrack. I caught my buddy Tim who was recovered from some stomach issues...he would soon be smashing hard and pass me back, heading on to a massive PR finish in under 23 hours.
Coming into 3-points I felt...OK. It was hot, but I was doing alright. I ate a pickle and more bacon, refilled my bottles with pit-crew super-Clint, and mashed on out into sections of the course that were modified and I had never run. This section was sandy, winding, somewhat burned out singletrack. I linked up with SB Running Co's Joe Devreese and we talked a bit and tooled through the singletrack until my stomach rebelled and he dropped me. I pushed on, slowly, trying to deal with the nausea, and finally made it up the road and into Hillyer 1 Aid. The sun had toasted me and my body displayed the effects of the heat.
I quickly realized that none of the leaders had come through Hillyer yet. I would get to see my friends on their way back in! I stepped out of the aid station and the leader came in, flying. As I started down the road, I ran across Guillaume, Jorge, Jerry, Dom and others, all running hard at various distances back from the lead. Guillaume was relaxed, and said he felt good...waiting to go for it. Awesome. Dom was a little further back...I heard he was puking earlier, but he looked solid and gave me some course intel about the Mt. Pacifico climb.
I hit the Mt. Pacifico climb and the wheels fell off. It was a burn zone of dead foliage with no shade and wide open fire road of white dirt. Just flat enough to run, but just steep enough to hurt. My stomach turned. I was destroyed. How was I going to go another 60 miles?? But that's ultramarathon. It always turns around with proper body management. Hiking and running and miserable, I finally hit the top. I re-iced and asked for tums. No tums. Well what do you have, aid station medic? Pepto and some other stuff. What should I have? After some severe medical questioning about my health and history, I got some Pepto tabs, mashed one down, saved the other for emergency, and bailed to run back down the mountain. It was OK. Fresh ice felt cool on my back and arms. It got better. I saw friends. I ran faster. I hit the bottom and ran the road back into Hillyer 2. Things were going well. I left Hillyer Aid and hit the top of the Mt. Hillyer climb to run the descent through Horse Flat. This descent is fun. It winds through rock formations of boulders, lone trees, sandy granite and washes. I passed through the campground and into the final descent to Chilao. I was riding the high, moving well. I caught Joe towards the bottom of the climb and we smashed into Chilao together, just before 4pm.
Chilao. Mile 53. I was ahead of schedule. All I had to do was run a 13.5 hour 48 miles and I could make sub 24.
I also got to see my friends here. Clint. Amy, who crewed my first 100 miler 2 years ago. Katie. Monica. Ginger. Sean. Kevin. Familiar faces. I filled up water, grubbed down, picked up Clint and headed out for Shortcut. This pretty much consists of some single track, climbing and descending, some fire road, a lot of burnt out terrain, and a hellishly hot descent and climb out of (Tujunga?) canyon. Things were going pretty well. Joe caught me and passed me, and Clint and I headed into the canyon. I had only Fluid Drink left, so I had nothing to pour on myself to cool off. I was heating up. By the time I hit the bottom, the heat sat stagnantly oppressive in the air. I kept pushing through the oven, trying to keep taking down Fluid. We pushed through the bottom and started the climb up. I was slowly wrecking myself. Trying to keep calories and fluid going down.
I came into Shortcut pretty worked. I ate some watermelon and almost puked. Fuck that watermelon. Amy took care care of business in getting me what I needed, and Clint and I got the fuck out.
I felt great for like, 5 steps, at which point I hit low. Really low. I watched Joe and his pacer, my buddy Mark, pull away down the Edison fire road, eerily similar to how Jeff Kozak and Dom dropped me in a similar situation months before on a 105 deg. F training run. This time, the creek at the bottom would be dry...no respite from the sun and heat. At least it was starting to cool off? I tried to run, but everything hurt. I pushed through the hurt, but eventually would flounder and walk for a minute. Clint pushed me to get in a rhythm and I tried. I drank fluid, I poured water on myself, but my body fought back. Nausea, aches...like a flu. It sucked. I pushed through miles of that long, shitty fire road before I stopped and looked at Clint. I could feel 24 hours slipping away. I needed to fix this. I should be running 8 minute pace.
"You think caffeine would help?" I questioned Clint. I'm sure he had no idea but he nodded. Fuck yeah. How about Tylenol? How about a Gel? How about Salt Tabs? How about the 2nd pepto?
Fuck it, let's do it all!
I went all out and put it all in. Not very scientific, but fuck man, it worked. 20 minutes later I was running the climb up to Newcomb Saddle and joking with Clint.
We hit Newcomb, and I called into my crew on the TV link that they have set up. They would be ready. Clint mowed down a cup of broth and we took off for the descent into Chantry. Almost immediately, the broth came back up. Not my broth...my pacer's! Something was wrong and he stooped over the side of the trail, projectile ejecting noodles into the brush. But in between pukes, he yelled at me to "GO!!!" Dramatic, like a war movie.
So I went. New life, new legs, time to smash. Darkness fell and the headlamp went on. For a few minutes, I had a bit of light to see the techincal upper section of this trail, but not much. Dom says that the difference in finishing time between runners who hit this section in the dark, and the ones who hit it in the light is 30+ minutes, based solely on the runner's ability to see the trail. Luckily, I was still able to run hard and I knew the trail. I clicked through miles, passing Joe and other runners, finally making it into the flatish, shitty, creekside descent into Chantry. And that stupid asphalt climb up to the parking lot.
No matter, I was feeling solid. I ate, refilled, and picked up my 2nd pacer, Sawna. Amy once again was getting shit done, while I'm sure simultaneously questioning how, as a non-ultramarathoner, she is friends with me and my idiotic sport that would have her napping in the drivers seat of the car in another hour. Thanks Amy!
Sawna and I took off for the Lower Winter Creek climb. The trail meanders uphill at a fairly shallow grade, baiting runners to push too hard before tackling Upper Winter Creek: the crux of the AC100.
We moved well and chatted on the way up the lower section before hitting the campground and starting straight up the hill. I knew my legs were tired, but they hit a new low at this point. My stomach was doing OK, but the going slowed to a crawl. Step........Step........Step. OK, more caffeine, more gel. Sawna knows this climb well and was assuring me of our distance as we neared Dead Man's bench. I'm tired and Winter Creek beat on my quads relentlessly. Despite it all, however, I wasn't in the worst spirits of my life and we arrived at Larry Gassan's love-nest of a welcome station at Dead Man's Bench.
His pictures of runners on the bench are iconic, like most of his AC pictures. You can see the soul through the dead eyes of runners late in the game, pushing through all the fatigue but destroyed by Upper Winter Creek. I refused to sit down. I stood and drank Fluid while Sawna took pictures of the EZ-Up lighted setup and then we took off to seal the deal and make it to the Toll Road. My buddy Ian had passed me...running...on Upper Winter Creek. I questioned his decision, but figured he was making lemonade while the sun was shining, or whatever. Whatever.
We hit the toll road, and after a short break, took off. I was worried. The toll road is long and runnable and needs to be run to hit 24 hours. What if I was too broken to run it? Like the Edison fire road? 10 seconds later, I ran it, and it went. Legs cooperated, headlamps flowed through the darkness, and we talked about...I have no idea what. The road wound down to the saddle and I knew...5 switchbacks to aid. 4. 3. 2. 1. Aid. I sat down, ate some food, filled water and we took off. I have never been through this aid station, but it was filled with familiar faces of the So Cal Coyotes, my old running group. They kicked ass, and Sawna and I were out of there. The race had done work on me, but I was moving. We pushed.
I caught Ian on the descent into Idlehour Camp. We tried to get him to run with us but he was cashed...so we wished him well and took off. I had felt how he felt, mere hours before, but at least I had a pacer to help me through...he was running solo.
I've never lost a toenail in a race, but after I kicked the fuck out of a very unforgiving rock at the bottom of the Sam Merrill climb, I was pretty sure I would. A long string of expletives later and I kept on up the climb. Sam Merrill is minorly relentless in that it's a few miles long and keeps winding and switching back. I didn't know the section that well, but I knew exactly how long it was from the 2nd creek to the top, so I had quantitative basis to continue swearing at myself for taking way too fucking long.
I have yet to NOT be able to do math at the end of a 100-miler. I don't know if that's good or bad. In this case, I was mathing my way into realizing that we were cutting it really close to 24 hours, but could pull it off with pretty reasonable 15 minute miles. In and out of Sam Merrill aid as fast as possible. Quads dying. I needed water. I couldn't eat much. Stomach rebelled again and everything ached. Also, my legs were fucking chafed. Fuck. I knew I should have brought that Vaseline.
We started the descent to Echo Mountain. It sucked. It hurt. I knew I had to be consistent on the downhills (there aren't many uphills left, dude!). Sawna was kindly reminding me that I was doing OK. She gave the most gentle reminders, but each reminder pushed me slightly further. All the way into Echo Mountain and up the railroad grade. I couldn't run the uphill (though it's pretty much flat), but Sawna pushed and I got some good sections in chasing down Andy Glaze and his pacer through this section. They were also pushing hard for 24 hours as well. Once we hit Mt. Lowe Rd. and then the single track, I was flowing. I almost couldn't eat, but I didn't care. I only have 6 miles left. Right? Did the course change fuck up my mileage? I couldn't remember, because I didn't have exact mileage for the modified course. Nothing to do but push. Only 1, shitty, miniature climb left out of Millard. I run/hiked into Millard, actually gaining time on my required 15 minutes splits.
I did not want to eat in Millard. I felt destroyed, heavy, achey, empty. I had been pushing through the pain and fatigue all the way down the descent from Sam Merrill, beating myself further into the ground. I sat at the picnic table and Sawna just said, "Eat." So I grabbed maybe, 4 M&Ms. "Is that enough?" She looked at me incredulously, so I grabbed, maybe 4 more M&Ms and 2 pretzels. "OK?" She walked on, so I stood up.
I thought the lowest point of the race was going to be the Edison fire road descent, but the next 30 seconds were the lowest. I took 2 steps forward and almost couldn't move. I walked on trying to pull myself out of this massive implosion and blown legs. I gave up on 24 hours, I would walk it in. I had nothing left. I had done enough for the day. I could deal with the regrets later.
"Dude, I've got nothing left."
"OK. Let's go." she softly replied to me. Sawna took off up the shitty, miniscule hill out of Millard. Fuck. I had to follow. And double what the fuck?? My legs moved.
So we hiked, and then ran. She pulled me all the way down El Prieto with perfect pacing and small words of encouragement like, "You're doing fine." The rolling ups and downs and flowing turns of El Prieto pounded my legs, but I could feel the silver buckle. I focused on what it would feel like to cross the line under 24 hours. What I would do when I crossed. Then I'd snap back and count time and miles. It might be close...how long was the road section again?? I can't remember. Sawna was confident that we'd make it. She ran on and I followed, trying to push through the lows to keep consistent motion until the climb from the JPL road into Altadena. I hiked the climb and we ran through the neighborhood to Lincoln Ave. I knew as soon as we hit Lincoln that I had it. I had 15 or 17 minutes or something to go 2 blocks. We pushed on and turned the corner onto Palm, where the last thing Sawna said was, "Now you RUN to the finish." Yep. So I ran and crossed the finish line at 23:47...only a couple handfuls of minutes to spare. The relief of crossing the line and laying on the ground flooded over me. Finally. Fucking. Done.
Moments later, I rolled under the race tape marking the finish chute, drank like, 2 sips of broth, and started violently shivering. I put on jackets, pants, a 15 degree sleeping bag...I was now sweating...and shivering violently. Fucking 100 milers dude...I had no calories left and no way to regulate my body temperature. So I slept. Through families screaming for their runners finishing, more finishers, music. 2 hours later I woke up, just before 7am and could speak again. Amy, Clint and Sawna were there chilling, as well as my buddy Kevin who was crewing for Tyler. I fucking love my friends.
I've never leaned on my pacers and crew like I did in this race. I sunk further into the darkness than ever before. I didn't sleep. Clint flew down from Nor Cal to run the show for the first half of the race. He drove a rental all over the mountains, picked up Amy from the finish so she could crew the back half, and was everything that a runner could ask for at the aid stations. Our brains synced up throughout the race and everything was seamless. He pulled me out of a massive low spot, and epic-ly sent me off to the Chantry Aid with some projectile vomiting. He recovered, and Amy waited for him at the aid station...all's well that ends well!
Sawna was the most badass pacer I've had. I've never needed to lean on a pacer like I did at AC, and she held the weight (not literally...) and then some, single handedly motivating me to the finish with the right pace and the right words at the right time.
Amy, as she did 2 years ago at my first 100 (Kodiak 100...great race, beautiful single-loop course, highly recommend!), killed it in the aid stations. I know she worries that she doesn't know what she's doing because she's not a runner, but she is always flawless with the crew. I still can't believe that she volunteers for this shit though she's not a runner. But that's friendship, and I love my friends.
I could go on with talking about runners and others that I saw out there, but I think my feelings on that front boil down to that I really was just happy to be among friends, home again. Home again after a shitty, depressing 3 weeks in a new place, with no home and few friends, locked in my own brain and unable to run hard through a taper.
Would I have been better on more miles in training? Did I need better nutrition options? Would I have been better off without the life turmoil before the race? It didn't matter. It also helped that I got the buckle.
And what about my other friends who were racing?
After seeing Guillaume in 6th near Hillyer Aid, he ended up winning! Finally, after 3 years of trying, he got the win! Congratulations dude, you worked hard for that!
Dom ended up pulling himself out of a low spot and closing hard for 3rd. Beastly finish and a testament to his experience and tenacity.
Katie suffered stomach issues and had to drop after throwing up for 40 miles, as you may have guessed after I mentioned seeing her at Chilao. I'm sure she'll be back, maybe after a break for a year or two.
Joe finished, Ian finished, Tyler finished. Epic runs occurred from first to last, and I was stoked to be a part of the whole experience.
I don't really have a thesis for this report...but maybe the theme is the long journey that I've been on since I started running, both as a runner and in life. I've been pretty much a mental disaster since the summer. It took me 2.5 months to write this race report. It took me a month after the race just to start it. When I picked it back up 6 weeks ago I couldn't even remember what I had written, and I kind of liked the first half after I read it again. I sat on it on it for another 5 weeks before I edited and posted it. The last half of the report was pretty much stream of conscious writing, and it needed some coherency checks.
It's now been just under 5 months since I arrived in Denver. I've made new friends, my job is amazing and keeps me motivated, working amongst an incredibly intelligent and passionate group. In a small way, Colorado is starting to feel like home...there's a lot to like about it, from the slower pace and friendly people, to the low-key but extensive brewery scene. It hasn't been the easiest 5 months of my life, but now every time I see pictures of my friends on Facebook, living in California together, running together, training together, I miss them and I miss my first home and the place that I lived for 31 years. But there could not have been a better way to start my foray into a new, exciting place and to leave behind my home than by running my home race, with my home community, and seeing my friends chasing their dreams alongside mine.
In Hermosa Beach, I learned to run long, flat road. Training for marathons helped me focus on healthy activities as part of my lifestyle. I started running trail and ran a couple of ultramarathons, which eventually drove my move to West LA to be near the mountains and other dedicated trail runners. There I met several folks who became my friends and adventure buddies, and who introduced me to the core of the Los Angeles ultramarathon community.
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| The Angeles Crest. Photo: Sawna Guadaramma |
At the center of this community, in a lot of ways, is the Angeles Crest 100 (AC 100). This old, storied race chews up runners with its heat, exposure, and steep San Gabriel Mountain terrain. It's not a race to be taken lightly, and garners an immense amount of respect from the top to the bottom of the field every year. From the outside looking in, it's another 100-mile course. From the inside, it's a legendary benchmark hundred mile race with rich history and a dedicated community that thrives on love of the San Gabriel Mountains.
A few of my running buddies had been chasing big goals at the race for years. Guillaume has been chasing a win, Dom has been chasing the course record, and Katie has been chasing a silver buckle. Each of these runners exhibits their own brand of passion for the mountains and the race that became the brew in which my love for the mountains was steeped. I look up to each of these runners and am thankful for not only their friendship in training and life, but also their guidance in preparing for to tackle the run.
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| The PMR Crew, minus Andy. Photo: Dominic Grossman |
I almost signed up for the 2015 Angeles Crest 100, but I decided that I wanted another year of experience and fitness in my legs before attempting to break off and chew a chunk of a bad-ass race.
I'm glad I did. Another year of running, pacing, and training on the trails helped me to feel confident enough to go after the silver buckle that is awarded to finishers who complete the run in under 24 hours.
The Build
I planned my year around 3 races: Los Angeles Marathon, Zion 100-miler, and the AC 100. I'd get speed from LA Marathon, where I'd shoot to finally break 3 hours, then I'd transition to the trails to get a finish at Zion and some UTMB points, and finally build all that into big days in the mountains to tackle AC 100.
The year prior I hit 100 mile weeks, big vertical, and tons of quality workouts in preparation for the Wasatch Front 100. I was riding the knife edge of burnout, but I felt lean and fast. I spent a ton of time in those training blocks on the AC 100 course with Dom, Katie, Guillaume and Andy, learning about pitfalls of the race, strategies, and hearing stories of Tommy Nielsen, Jorge Pacheco, and Jim O'Brien.
This year, I wanted to step back from the edge a bit and focus on feeling good every week of training and finding more balance in my life.
In February, I ran 2:56 at LA Marathon and checked the 3-hour marathon box off. In March I ran 23:30 at a muddy Zion 100 for my first sub 24 hour finish. I recovered and re-entered the mountains with grand plans for a constant buildup/stepback periodization mileage build for AC. I started off well, but ended up inconsistent. Work was busy, I was traveling to Florida regularly, and the quality of my workouts was variable. Still, my mileage was acceptable, if not as high as I would like, and without as much quality as I would like. My legs didn't seem to want to handle what I gave them last summer, so I adjusted.
Then I got a job offer in Denver.
The offer came from a startup aerospace company with a big vision, an experienced leadership team, and a need for my technical expertise. I jumped at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of this kind of team...these things don't happen often in the aerospace industry. I tried to push my start date out to September...after AC...so I could focus on my training and worry about moving my life later, not to mention helping transition my work duties to other engineers in CA and FL, but the schedule at the startup did not accommodate this late of a start, so 3.5 weeks after I got the job offer, I was on the way to Colorado. It didn't help that there was a friend's wedding, packing, and moving thrown in there. My training suffered, but I still had a few solid workouts and long runs to keep the mileage and strength in my legs.
I spent a week in Silverton at the Hardrock 100, getting big vertical and slow miles, which I think anchored my training up to that point. By the time I arrived in Denver, all I needed was to get my leg speed back up a bit and I would feel prepared for AC. Living at altitude for a month also wouldn't hurt.
To throw a final curveball at my life, my relationship with my girlfriend of 1.5 years ended during my transition to CO. It wasn't the transition, per se, that ended it, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. So I worked 70 hours my first week on the job. At least I loved my job? Summary until now: Sub-par training with a few good weeks, and then 3 weeks of training and taper while feeling extremely alone in a new place with no friends. In a way, that experience is kind of like running 100 miles in the mountains: a lot of time alone with one's thoughts, punctuated by seeing close friends at occasional intervals. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in the final weeks on trail, thinking about my own role in the breakup, running's part in my life and its effect on the balance between my work, running, and personal life. There's probably an entire blog post worth of material to be covered on what I've thought about in the last 3 months since I moved to Denver, but in the context of this paragraph, AC ended up being this light at the end of a shitty 3-week tunnel.
The Race
I made it through taper, and made it to California to race. I was excited to see my friends and felt prepared to run. I picked up my buddies Tyler (racing) and Kevin (his pacer) and my pacer Clint at the airport and we headed for the mountains. There's almost nothing better for racing than to settle in with a good group of friends, feel comfortable, and get into a positive mental space to take on the challenge. The change from almost complete isolation to being amongst great people in our airBNB, and great people flooding into Wrightwood for the race was invigorating to say the least, and I soaked it in.
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| Runners in front. Crew in back. Photo: Tyler Clemens |
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| Clint! Photo w/ Permission: Paksit Photos |
The game plan in-race was as follows: hike the major climbs, run the flats and downs hard, hit splits and run sub 24 hours.
The night before the race, I had seen Dom and Guillaume and Katie, each one of them preparing for their own races and it hit me that for the first time, that I'd be toeing the line with my friends and mentors. It was a culmination of all of the running that I've done to date, the miles and conversations that I had, all these people that I know will be standing next to me, ready to reach for their own versions of greatness.
I finally fell asleep, ready for a 2:30am wakeup to eat, drink coffee, and get ready to toe the line at 5am.
I've had jitters before races. I've been nervous. I've been fearful. This morning, however, I felt calm and ready to run. Focused. I hugged all my friends, and stepped back from the front line to where I felt was a good place to be for my pacing strategy.
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| Seconds before the gun. Photo w/ Permission: Paksit Photos |
Clint was ready like I was going for the win, but I was OK with slowing things down a bit and taking a 20 or 30 second aid instead of blowing through. My aid plan was 'efficient, but not rushed'. I snagged a bottle, and headed for Vincent Gap, 4.5 miles later.
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| Inspiration Point Aid. Bottles Ready. Photo:One of my friends? Clint? |
Vincent Gap was the same deal as Inspiration Point aid: efficient but not rushed. I got the food and water I needed, said 'Hi' to friends and headed out for the climb up Mt. Baden Powell. I knew that I could hike the climb in 70 minutes, so when I hit the top and stretched at 68 minutes, I felt good.
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| The ridge on Mt. Baden-Powell. Photo: Sawna Guadaramma |
At this point, my heat management plan was in full effect: ice in sun sleeves, ice bandana, white shirt and hat. This is also where the course was modified this year, for permitting reasons. We would run the road instead of the Mt. Williamson climb. I changed into road shoes and took off up the road. My stomach was feeling a little queasy coming out of the aid station, but I was on my calorie plan so I pushed on. I tried some avocado at Eagle's Roost Aid, but it didn't sit so well, so I continued munching on bacon in the aid stations, and then started the next road section to Cloudburst Summit aid.
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| The road to Cloudburst. Running hard hurts now. Photo: Louis Kwan |
Well, the road climb up to Cloudburst sucked, but I hiked/ran my way up and felt OK taking down some Coke and bacon. I was a bit worked, but could still run. So far, so good. I took off and started making good time down to 3-points.
The run to 3-points consisted of single-track and road sections, some from the original course, and some from the modified course. I headed down the single track and tried to keep pacing. Again, I felt a bit worked, but after managing it up the slight incline, I knew I could roll down through at least a couple miles of road and singletrack. I caught my buddy Tim who was recovered from some stomach issues...he would soon be smashing hard and pass me back, heading on to a massive PR finish in under 23 hours.
Coming into 3-points I felt...OK. It was hot, but I was doing alright. I ate a pickle and more bacon, refilled my bottles with pit-crew super-Clint, and mashed on out into sections of the course that were modified and I had never run. This section was sandy, winding, somewhat burned out singletrack. I linked up with SB Running Co's Joe Devreese and we talked a bit and tooled through the singletrack until my stomach rebelled and he dropped me. I pushed on, slowly, trying to deal with the nausea, and finally made it up the road and into Hillyer 1 Aid. The sun had toasted me and my body displayed the effects of the heat.
I quickly realized that none of the leaders had come through Hillyer yet. I would get to see my friends on their way back in! I stepped out of the aid station and the leader came in, flying. As I started down the road, I ran across Guillaume, Jorge, Jerry, Dom and others, all running hard at various distances back from the lead. Guillaume was relaxed, and said he felt good...waiting to go for it. Awesome. Dom was a little further back...I heard he was puking earlier, but he looked solid and gave me some course intel about the Mt. Pacifico climb.
I hit the Mt. Pacifico climb and the wheels fell off. It was a burn zone of dead foliage with no shade and wide open fire road of white dirt. Just flat enough to run, but just steep enough to hurt. My stomach turned. I was destroyed. How was I going to go another 60 miles?? But that's ultramarathon. It always turns around with proper body management. Hiking and running and miserable, I finally hit the top. I re-iced and asked for tums. No tums. Well what do you have, aid station medic? Pepto and some other stuff. What should I have? After some severe medical questioning about my health and history, I got some Pepto tabs, mashed one down, saved the other for emergency, and bailed to run back down the mountain. It was OK. Fresh ice felt cool on my back and arms. It got better. I saw friends. I ran faster. I hit the bottom and ran the road back into Hillyer 2. Things were going well. I left Hillyer Aid and hit the top of the Mt. Hillyer climb to run the descent through Horse Flat. This descent is fun. It winds through rock formations of boulders, lone trees, sandy granite and washes. I passed through the campground and into the final descent to Chilao. I was riding the high, moving well. I caught Joe towards the bottom of the climb and we smashed into Chilao together, just before 4pm.
Chilao. Mile 53. I was ahead of schedule. All I had to do was run a 13.5 hour 48 miles and I could make sub 24.
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| My buddy Sean handing me bacon, Amy handing me sweet potato. Photo: Paksit Photos |
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| Some quick foot care. Lots of friends looking on. Hi Monica, Sean and Kevin! Clint's getting my pack ready in the back. Photo: Paksit Photos. |
I also got to see my friends here. Clint. Amy, who crewed my first 100 miler 2 years ago. Katie. Monica. Ginger. Sean. Kevin. Familiar faces. I filled up water, grubbed down, picked up Clint and headed out for Shortcut. This pretty much consists of some single track, climbing and descending, some fire road, a lot of burnt out terrain, and a hellishly hot descent and climb out of (Tujunga?) canyon. Things were going pretty well. Joe caught me and passed me, and Clint and I headed into the canyon. I had only Fluid Drink left, so I had nothing to pour on myself to cool off. I was heating up. By the time I hit the bottom, the heat sat stagnantly oppressive in the air. I kept pushing through the oven, trying to keep taking down Fluid. We pushed through the bottom and started the climb up. I was slowly wrecking myself. Trying to keep calories and fluid going down.
I came into Shortcut pretty worked. I ate some watermelon and almost puked. Fuck that watermelon. Amy took care care of business in getting me what I needed, and Clint and I got the fuck out.
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| Fuck that watermelon. Photo: Amy Maurer |
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| Stretching it out. Feeling worked. Photo: Amy Maurer |
"You think caffeine would help?" I questioned Clint. I'm sure he had no idea but he nodded. Fuck yeah. How about Tylenol? How about a Gel? How about Salt Tabs? How about the 2nd pepto?
Fuck it, let's do it all!
I went all out and put it all in. Not very scientific, but fuck man, it worked. 20 minutes later I was running the climb up to Newcomb Saddle and joking with Clint.
We hit Newcomb, and I called into my crew on the TV link that they have set up. They would be ready. Clint mowed down a cup of broth and we took off for the descent into Chantry. Almost immediately, the broth came back up. Not my broth...my pacer's! Something was wrong and he stooped over the side of the trail, projectile ejecting noodles into the brush. But in between pukes, he yelled at me to "GO!!!" Dramatic, like a war movie.
So I went. New life, new legs, time to smash. Darkness fell and the headlamp went on. For a few minutes, I had a bit of light to see the techincal upper section of this trail, but not much. Dom says that the difference in finishing time between runners who hit this section in the dark, and the ones who hit it in the light is 30+ minutes, based solely on the runner's ability to see the trail. Luckily, I was still able to run hard and I knew the trail. I clicked through miles, passing Joe and other runners, finally making it into the flatish, shitty, creekside descent into Chantry. And that stupid asphalt climb up to the parking lot.
No matter, I was feeling solid. I ate, refilled, and picked up my 2nd pacer, Sawna. Amy once again was getting shit done, while I'm sure simultaneously questioning how, as a non-ultramarathoner, she is friends with me and my idiotic sport that would have her napping in the drivers seat of the car in another hour. Thanks Amy!
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| It stings! Chantry Flats Aid. Photo: Amy Maurer |
Sawna and I took off for the Lower Winter Creek climb. The trail meanders uphill at a fairly shallow grade, baiting runners to push too hard before tackling Upper Winter Creek: the crux of the AC100.
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| Into the darkness. Photo: Sawna Guadarrama |
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| You can always count on Larry for encouragement. Photo: Sawna Guadarrama |
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| Nope. Not sitting down. Not laying down. Not touching the bench. Photo: Sawna Guadarrama |
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| View from the Toll Road. We can see the LA lights, which means we're closing in. Photo: Sawna Guadarrama |
We hit the toll road, and after a short break, took off. I was worried. The toll road is long and runnable and needs to be run to hit 24 hours. What if I was too broken to run it? Like the Edison fire road? 10 seconds later, I ran it, and it went. Legs cooperated, headlamps flowed through the darkness, and we talked about...I have no idea what. The road wound down to the saddle and I knew...5 switchbacks to aid. 4. 3. 2. 1. Aid. I sat down, ate some food, filled water and we took off. I have never been through this aid station, but it was filled with familiar faces of the So Cal Coyotes, my old running group. They kicked ass, and Sawna and I were out of there. The race had done work on me, but I was moving. We pushed.
I caught Ian on the descent into Idlehour Camp. We tried to get him to run with us but he was cashed...so we wished him well and took off. I had felt how he felt, mere hours before, but at least I had a pacer to help me through...he was running solo.
I've never lost a toenail in a race, but after I kicked the fuck out of a very unforgiving rock at the bottom of the Sam Merrill climb, I was pretty sure I would. A long string of expletives later and I kept on up the climb. Sam Merrill is minorly relentless in that it's a few miles long and keeps winding and switching back. I didn't know the section that well, but I knew exactly how long it was from the 2nd creek to the top, so I had quantitative basis to continue swearing at myself for taking way too fucking long.
I have yet to NOT be able to do math at the end of a 100-miler. I don't know if that's good or bad. In this case, I was mathing my way into realizing that we were cutting it really close to 24 hours, but could pull it off with pretty reasonable 15 minute miles. In and out of Sam Merrill aid as fast as possible. Quads dying. I needed water. I couldn't eat much. Stomach rebelled again and everything ached. Also, my legs were fucking chafed. Fuck. I knew I should have brought that Vaseline.
We started the descent to Echo Mountain. It sucked. It hurt. I knew I had to be consistent on the downhills (there aren't many uphills left, dude!). Sawna was kindly reminding me that I was doing OK. She gave the most gentle reminders, but each reminder pushed me slightly further. All the way into Echo Mountain and up the railroad grade. I couldn't run the uphill (though it's pretty much flat), but Sawna pushed and I got some good sections in chasing down Andy Glaze and his pacer through this section. They were also pushing hard for 24 hours as well. Once we hit Mt. Lowe Rd. and then the single track, I was flowing. I almost couldn't eat, but I didn't care. I only have 6 miles left. Right? Did the course change fuck up my mileage? I couldn't remember, because I didn't have exact mileage for the modified course. Nothing to do but push. Only 1, shitty, miniature climb left out of Millard. I run/hiked into Millard, actually gaining time on my required 15 minutes splits.
I did not want to eat in Millard. I felt destroyed, heavy, achey, empty. I had been pushing through the pain and fatigue all the way down the descent from Sam Merrill, beating myself further into the ground. I sat at the picnic table and Sawna just said, "Eat." So I grabbed maybe, 4 M&Ms. "Is that enough?" She looked at me incredulously, so I grabbed, maybe 4 more M&Ms and 2 pretzels. "OK?" She walked on, so I stood up.
I thought the lowest point of the race was going to be the Edison fire road descent, but the next 30 seconds were the lowest. I took 2 steps forward and almost couldn't move. I walked on trying to pull myself out of this massive implosion and blown legs. I gave up on 24 hours, I would walk it in. I had nothing left. I had done enough for the day. I could deal with the regrets later.
"Dude, I've got nothing left."
"OK. Let's go." she softly replied to me. Sawna took off up the shitty, miniscule hill out of Millard. Fuck. I had to follow. And double what the fuck?? My legs moved.
So we hiked, and then ran. She pulled me all the way down El Prieto with perfect pacing and small words of encouragement like, "You're doing fine." The rolling ups and downs and flowing turns of El Prieto pounded my legs, but I could feel the silver buckle. I focused on what it would feel like to cross the line under 24 hours. What I would do when I crossed. Then I'd snap back and count time and miles. It might be close...how long was the road section again?? I can't remember. Sawna was confident that we'd make it. She ran on and I followed, trying to push through the lows to keep consistent motion until the climb from the JPL road into Altadena. I hiked the climb and we ran through the neighborhood to Lincoln Ave. I knew as soon as we hit Lincoln that I had it. I had 15 or 17 minutes or something to go 2 blocks. We pushed on and turned the corner onto Palm, where the last thing Sawna said was, "Now you RUN to the finish." Yep. So I ran and crossed the finish line at 23:47...only a couple handfuls of minutes to spare. The relief of crossing the line and laying on the ground flooded over me. Finally. Fucking. Done.
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| What a run. So glad to be done. Photo: Amy Maurer |
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| Have a seat anywhere why don't you? It's not like Andy is like, 2 minutes back and coming through the finish soon! Photo: Amy Maurer |
Moments later, I rolled under the race tape marking the finish chute, drank like, 2 sips of broth, and started violently shivering. I put on jackets, pants, a 15 degree sleeping bag...I was now sweating...and shivering violently. Fucking 100 milers dude...I had no calories left and no way to regulate my body temperature. So I slept. Through families screaming for their runners finishing, more finishers, music. 2 hours later I woke up, just before 7am and could speak again. Amy, Clint and Sawna were there chilling, as well as my buddy Kevin who was crewing for Tyler. I fucking love my friends.
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| Lights out, dude. Photo: Amy Maurer |
Thanks
I've never leaned on my pacers and crew like I did in this race. I sunk further into the darkness than ever before. I didn't sleep. Clint flew down from Nor Cal to run the show for the first half of the race. He drove a rental all over the mountains, picked up Amy from the finish so she could crew the back half, and was everything that a runner could ask for at the aid stations. Our brains synced up throughout the race and everything was seamless. He pulled me out of a massive low spot, and epic-ly sent me off to the Chantry Aid with some projectile vomiting. He recovered, and Amy waited for him at the aid station...all's well that ends well!
Sawna was the most badass pacer I've had. I've never needed to lean on a pacer like I did at AC, and she held the weight (not literally...) and then some, single handedly motivating me to the finish with the right pace and the right words at the right time.
Amy, as she did 2 years ago at my first 100 (Kodiak 100...great race, beautiful single-loop course, highly recommend!), killed it in the aid stations. I know she worries that she doesn't know what she's doing because she's not a runner, but she is always flawless with the crew. I still can't believe that she volunteers for this shit though she's not a runner. But that's friendship, and I love my friends.
I could go on with talking about runners and others that I saw out there, but I think my feelings on that front boil down to that I really was just happy to be among friends, home again. Home again after a shitty, depressing 3 weeks in a new place, with no home and few friends, locked in my own brain and unable to run hard through a taper.
Would I have been better on more miles in training? Did I need better nutrition options? Would I have been better off without the life turmoil before the race? It didn't matter. It also helped that I got the buckle.
And what about my other friends who were racing?
After seeing Guillaume in 6th near Hillyer Aid, he ended up winning! Finally, after 3 years of trying, he got the win! Congratulations dude, you worked hard for that!
Dom ended up pulling himself out of a low spot and closing hard for 3rd. Beastly finish and a testament to his experience and tenacity.
Katie suffered stomach issues and had to drop after throwing up for 40 miles, as you may have guessed after I mentioned seeing her at Chilao. I'm sure she'll be back, maybe after a break for a year or two.
Joe finished, Ian finished, Tyler finished. Epic runs occurred from first to last, and I was stoked to be a part of the whole experience.
I don't really have a thesis for this report...but maybe the theme is the long journey that I've been on since I started running, both as a runner and in life. I've been pretty much a mental disaster since the summer. It took me 2.5 months to write this race report. It took me a month after the race just to start it. When I picked it back up 6 weeks ago I couldn't even remember what I had written, and I kind of liked the first half after I read it again. I sat on it on it for another 5 weeks before I edited and posted it. The last half of the report was pretty much stream of conscious writing, and it needed some coherency checks.
It's now been just under 5 months since I arrived in Denver. I've made new friends, my job is amazing and keeps me motivated, working amongst an incredibly intelligent and passionate group. In a small way, Colorado is starting to feel like home...there's a lot to like about it, from the slower pace and friendly people, to the low-key but extensive brewery scene. It hasn't been the easiest 5 months of my life, but now every time I see pictures of my friends on Facebook, living in California together, running together, training together, I miss them and I miss my first home and the place that I lived for 31 years. But there could not have been a better way to start my foray into a new, exciting place and to leave behind my home than by running my home race, with my home community, and seeing my friends chasing their dreams alongside mine.
