A Burning Desire To See If The Wheels Still Work

August 4th, 2009 Posted in Story, Training

After Western I was beginning to wonder whether the wheels on the Diesel’s chassis still had enough in them for a 100 miler.  Sure, we can take day excursions up and down the hills on 50Ks and 50 milers.  But would this old hunk of Diesel sinew be able to pull the all-nighter after so many years in the roundhouse?  Was the Western derailment an unfortunate set of circumstances or an omen?  Was I destined for pulling kiddies around a narrow gauge track at Folsom Zoo?  These weighty questions tugged at my whistle……

So while I was in relatively good 100 mile shape, I decided to put all this to a test.  If I could figure out a new nutrition plan, recover from Western, pace Chris Shanley (”C2″) for his inaugural 100 run at Vermont and find another race, I’d give it a go.  I had three weeks to make it happen.

First I called Kevin Sullivan, a Trail Animals Running Club member, friend and top 10 finisher at this year’s Western (5th overall) and asked him about his nutrition plan that worked so well.  Long story short, I’ve been working with a registed nutritionist and ultrarunner over the past three weeks and we devised a whole new plan of attack for leading up to and during the run.  Check.

Second, my recovery, feet and all, has been was without incident.  I was able to climb up to the Escarpment (mile 4.5) at the top of Squaw Valley with Drew and Teresa the Wednesday following Western and then run all the way back down. Check.

Third, C2 had a great VT100 (finished in 24:33) and it gave me a chance to try out the new nutrition plan and practice night running.  Check.

Finally, I found a 100 miler that fit into the schedule and still had open registration.  I made the call to run it after feeling good at Vermont.   Check.

So off to the Burning River 100 Marcy and I went on Friday.  The race is located north of Akron and runs through a string of state and federal parks.    This is no Western States, but few races are.  But it is still 100 miles (actually this one was 101.2) and would be more than enough to put the engines to a test.  I had planned to run alone without a pacer but at the last minute Chris Haley (”C1″) threw sanity away and said, “Hey, I’ve been dying to go to Cleveland and I need a long run in the dark anyway so why don’t I pace you?”  

This race was littered with good karma.  First, the day we arrived in Ohio (MLB trade deadline) the Red Sox got Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians - a great trade.   Then it turns out that the aid station Chris will pick me up to start pacing was called Boston Station.  Finally, there was an aid station located at an old train depot where today the train operates as a tourist ride up and down the park.   Son of a gun if I didn’t pull into that aid station right when the diesel engine was pulling in!  And then again after running an hour loop I arrived back at the same aid station only to be greeted again by the train coming back in the other direction.  In fact we had to wait for the train to leave before proceeding on the run since the trail crossed the tracks!

Anyway, I finished in a time of 23:32.  It wasn’t pretty but it sure was satisfying.  Marcy was remarkable as crew chief and even got to experience the joy of “field dressing” my feet at mile 70 something after slogging through the mud and watching me smear handfuls of Vaseline to “sooth the boys” who were severely chaffed  (I’ve decided this race will forever be remembered as the Burning Balls 100 :-)    She also did the video and still camera.  She/we stayed up 43 straight hours without much sleep - what a partner!  And C1 was a delight to have on crew and dragged me a along those last 40 miles to cross the finish line….and get me in under 24.   He’s a rock.

Meanwhile, as word leaked out of my shenanigans, Marcy began receiving texts and voice mails from friends and family wondering what f*&$#@& was going on.  And since they had a web cast (this one actually worked), there were a bunch of people following my progress aid station to aid station - which was really uplifting.

So the Diesel still can do the distance.  The nutrition plan worked well, the training paid off and my resolve to conquer the Western beast has never been more enboldened.  Onward up the tracks and into the 2010 Western lottery in December!

See all the photos here