SD100 was not on my original list of scheduled ultras for 2003. During SNER 53.2Mi in mid-September, as I was battling the hot temperatures and some fatigue in my effort to reach the finish line, I decided that I was done with races for 2003 (I had been considering running Palo Duro 50k in Oct). My plan was to return to Texas, give another unit of blood and then take it easy in November and December with plans to run my next race at Bandera 100Km near San Antonio in January.
I had first met RD Paul Schmidt and his wife Kathleen in June at WS. I then ran into them again at Arkansas Traveler in early October, as I was at the AT100 event to crew and pace a friend. Paul spoke several times to me about his upcoming SD100 event. Returning to Houston, I looked up the SD100 webpage and read about the course.The race course, situated about 50miles east of San Diego, was to be a 50mile out-and-back utilizing a stretch of the PCT in the Laguna Mountains and a network of trails in the far east section of Cuyamaca then a short section south to Noble Canyon for the turn-around. I was intrigued, and it is difficult for me to pass up a trip to CA for a race once the idea has lodged in my mind. There is a part of me which will always be a Californian, and that part of me will always embrace an opportunity to spend time in mountains and hills. Of the 12 ultras I have run, 7 have been in California.
Later that week, Austin-based ultrarunner Joe Prusaitis sent out an email to Texas ultrarunners to generate interest in getting a group together for SD100. Back in July, I had lost my job in a lay-off and still was not working. I felt that if I did not have a job by Oct 31, then I would go ahead and plan to enter SD100. This required me to break my "One 100Mi race per year " rule, but I figured that once I would start working again I would not be able to have time off for out-of-state races for at least 6 months. A benefit of running SD100 is that I would have my qualifying run time for the 2005 WS100 Lottery. During the first week of November, after the Cedar fire was contained and I was still unemployed , I made the decision to send in my entry! We had a group of 6 Texans entered in SD100: Joe Prusaitis, Mike Riggs, Sammy Voltaggio, Rick Gastelum, Terry Sheldon, and myself. I was the only one not from Austin. I already new Joe, Mike, Sammy and Rick from being a member of HCTR (Hill Country Trail Runners Club in Austin); but this was the first time I had met Terry.
After sending in my entry, I contacted Doug Spencer who had paced me at RDL and WS, to see if he would like to pace me at SD100 since he lives in Southern California. Doug was already entered in Saddleback Mountain Trail Marathon for that weekend, and had to decline my request. With the post-fire changes to the course, I felt this might not be a bad 100mi to try running solo. In an exchange of email messages with Philip Stark, whom I had met through the ultralist in October after posting a question about hydration packs, I mentioned my plan to run SD100 and that this might be my first solo 100Mi. Given Philip's interest to gain more experience in the ultrarunning sport, when Doug could not make it, Philip generously offered to pace me for ~30-35miles as long as he felt okay after running Helen Klein 50Mi (his first 50Miler) two weeks earlier. More information was exchanged, and as the race approached Philip felt adequately recovered from HK50 and agreed to pace me.
RD Paul arranged primitive cabins near the start of the race at Lake Morena County Park for the Texas group. He provided mattresses, additional sleeping bags and a lantern for each of the cabins.
The First 25 Miles: Lake Morena to Todd's Cabin
Race Day: Morning arrived quickly. The alarm was set for 4:50AM.. Around 5:00 AM, Joe stopped by the cabin to make sure we were up and to see if Bill N from Missouri ever showed up (he did not).
Philip and I left the cabin around 5:30AM to drive the short distance to the race start, without accidentally finding the boat ramp as we had done the night before. At the race start , we found several boxes of doughnuts, some hot coffee (yeah!) , other runners, Paul and Kathleen and volunteers. It was a small field: 27 Starters for the 100Mi event, 3 regular starters for the 50Mile event. I had some coffee, and drank down two cans of High Protein Boost. About 5-10minutes before start of race, Paul told me I was going to be too warm with all of my layers. I then gave Philip two of my outer layers... I was down to wearing a singlet, two long sleeve coolmax shirts, a light fleece sleeveless vest, tights, shorts, mittens and a hat. I felt comfortable.
The race started at 6:02 AM. It was light enough that flashlights were not necessary. The skies were overcast with a low layer of clouds which would eventually burn-off before we reached the first aidstation. We took off and quickly became a train of runners. After about 20minutes into the race, I pulled out of train to take off the vest. I also felt I needed to back off on my pace, since this was a 100mi and not a 50mi or 50k race.
Within the next mile , the field began to spread out.
At Boulder Oaks Aidstation (BO), I arrived about 6 minutes ahead of the WBN Plan. My dutiful pacer Philip would crew for me the first 25miles of the race before returning to Lake Morena for an afternoon nap. Philip greeted me at BO with a can of Boost. A second can of Boost was dispensed into my water bottle and capped off with water. I removed my vest and one of the longsleeve Coolmax layers. Leaving BO, I fell into a comfortable pace. I would run the first couple miles of the next section with Linda McFadden and Catra Corbett-McNeeley. About a mile or so after crossing under I-8, Linda and Catra stopped alongside the trail to eat some food from their camelbaks, and I continued on.
Continuing on, there were nice views off to the left of the trail . The sun was reaching higher in the sky, and the ambient air temperature was warming up to a very comfortable level. I ran briefly with a runner named Gary in this section. We both agreed that we could not have asked for better raceday weather. Little did I know at that time the dramatic turn the weather would take after sunset. Around 9 or so miles into the race, the course crosses Kitchen Creek Road . I was surprised to find Philip waiting for me at the Kitchen Creek Rd crossing, to see if I needed any water or anything from the car . He is the Uberpacer and said he would see me again at Cibbetts!
Crossing the road, I went through a gate and entered a single track trail and began about a two mile stretch along an exposed rocky ridge which offered spectacular views, especially to the south beyond the Mexican Border. To the right of the trail was a steep drop-off, and there were many interesting outcrops of rocks along the way. The view to the horizon was full of layered sinc-squared functions as far as the eye could see .
It was about a 0.5Mi into this section that I heard my name being called. I stopped to look back, and it was Super Sammy Voltaggio---- one of my running buddies from Austin. Oh what fun to run with Sammy! I was telling him how this section seemed like a perfect place to film a western movie, and I was pretending to be an ultra-Bandito: a member of the Hole in The Wall Gang fleeing the law. I was running the short uphills in this section and having fun. Sammy called me a mountain goat and began curiously inquiring about my hillwork sessions at McKinney Roughs in Texas. I told him I'd been running with the escaped ultra cows (from Bill P.'s ranch) , and if he ever wanted to join me at McKinney Roughs that I'd be happy to share my counting rocks with him. We ran together for about the next 11-12miles.
This ridge was somewhat windy even in the daytime (an omen), and therefore I named it the Windy Bandito Ridge. Sammy would later name it Hurricane Ridge. I would not be surprised if other runners came up with much less kinder names for the ridge in the second-half of race.
Leaving the Ridge, it was about another mile to the departure from the PCT onto a dirt road which lead down to Cibbetts Flat Aid Station.
Arriving into Cibbetts, Philip was ready with my dropbag and had removed two cans of Boost. I drank one can , and poured the second can into a water bottle. Paul and Kathleen were there. Paul was yodeling up into the surrounding hills, and he told Sammy to yodel back when Sammy reached "Larry's Point" above. As I readied to leave the aidstation, I did not see Sammy and assumed he had left. So I started back up the dirt road which lead to the PCT running some then walking some in an effort to catch Sammy. About 75% of the way up, I see two more of my Austin friends heading down the the road : Joe Prusaitis and Mike Riggs. I took a photo of them and proceeded up the hill around a curve. Then I heard a ruckus behind me and something about Sammy. Sammy was now talking to Mike and Joe. So it turned out that I had not been chasing Sammy up the hill, but he had been chasing me ! After Sammy finished speaking to Mike and Joe, he caught the rest of the way up with me just before I reached the PCT. Reunited with the PCT we turned left to continue our journey. The next section is long , just shy of 8 miles, and is mostly up. As we reached a point from which one could look down and see Cibbetts Flat, I told Sammy this must be Larry's Point. Sammy then proceeded to yodel, and we waited to hear Paul yodel back. You know you are in for a fun time when you get to run with Super Sammy !
After the yodeling session, the trail took us behind a hill and then back facing the valley which housed Cibbetts Flat Aidstation below. Seeing Cibbetts AidStation, Sammy tried yodeling again but we were now outside of earshot. The next mile or so of the course reminded me of the Franklin Mountains Course in El Paso. We continued making progress. The hill on the other side of the valley/canyon had a horizontal marking along it (a dirt road possibly?).
It was around this point, that my mind starts asking the question: "How much longer until the next aidstation?" . If this section seemed long in the daytime, I could not fathom how long it would seem later on in the second-half of course. I was trying to make mental notes about the course along the way in the daylight, so that I could use these notes when traversing the section in the dark.
I had to start conserving photos at this point. But there were two interesting hills in this section. One of them had a solitary rock on the top as if the rock was saying "I'm Number Rock around these parts! " . A second hill was littered with rocks strewn in such a pattern that it reminded me of Stonehenge.
Shortly thereafter we rounded the backside of a hill and entered into a pine forest. About a mile later we happened upon Dale's Kitchen. There were no drop bags at Dale's. I had a cookie, some M&M's, some soda, and capped of the water bottles. Then Sammy and I departed. Only 3.7mi to Todd's Cabin, which was the 25Mi mark and the turnaround point. About a half mile or so, Sammy stopped to take a break in the bushes and that ended our run together.
It was not long after separating from Sammy, that the leader at the time (Curt Maples ) came running down the trail from the other direction. He was then followed by a string of other runners over the next 20 minutes , including the first woman named Diane from Colorado. Everytime I saw her on the course she was friendly. During this passing, she gleefully exclaimed that there was Starbuck's Coffee at Todd's.
Soon a white globe appeared up in the sky (it was some sort of apparatus on top of Mt Laguna). The view to the right was simply awesome: The Anza Borrega Desert.
The remaining distance to Todd's went by quickly.... we crossed two asphalt roads, some more single track, and then a meandering drop down to the cabin where I found Philip waiting for me with my dropbag and Boost. He reminded me that I was 30minutes ahead of my plan. I told him that I was okay with that. I had been running a relaxed comfortable pace. Prior to the race, I told him that I thought my WBN plan was erring on the conservative side for the first half of race, but that I felt uncomfortable changing the plan to reflect a faster pace. The WBN plan called for me to arrive to Todds at 25Mi mark, around 6:15. Instead I arrived at 5:45. I performed a quick sanity check, and this time was 15 minutes slower than my first 25miles at WS. I did not feel as if I had been running too fast or running too many uphills in the first 25 miles. And I was really looking forward to all of those of the downhill sections on the return to Cibbetts (that had just been uphill sections) !
This aidstation marked the end of his crewing activities. Philip told me he planned to stop for something to eat on his drive back to Lake Morena, where he then planned to take a nap for a few hours. He would be waiting for me at Lake Morena Aidstation when I arrived to start running the last 50miles with me. I thanked him and said goodbye.
Going into the event, my two main concerns were:
1) Being properly dressed for the cold nighttime temperatures. In January 2003, I had a miserable experience in the last 10miles of Bandera 100Km because I was not adequately prepared for the nighttime temperatures and wind from a clothing aspect. I became so cold that I was getting a headache and I wanted to lie down on side of trail and curl up in ball to stay warm...this misery led to an all out pity party . Ranting and raving to myself as I continued at a snail's pace down the trail, I swore off doing any other winter races that required me to run after dark. I did not want to repeat this experience at SD100. I spent time researching average temperatures for late November in the area where course was held (I estimated there would be 11-13 hours when temperature would be below 40 F, with the low being close to 30 F ). Everytime I have near the Crest further north in the Sierras, it has been rather windy. Based on that, I anticipated there might be some windy sections on the SD100 course. In the days between sending in my entry and packing my luggage, I fussed and fretted over which clothing layers to assign to each dropbag. I ended up purchasing a new Polartech Jacket by Columbia at REI about a week or so before the race. The REI salesperson swore up and down that I would be overdressed for the conditions and overheat with this choice of garment. I , on the other hand, kept my mind stubbornly focused on how miserably cold I was at Bandera and how slow I become at nighttime in 100s. Guess who is very happy with her purchase!
2) Overconfidence regarding finishing. From course descriptions I had read and topomaps and elevation profiles I had examined, the SD100 course did not seem worse than WS. In fact, it seemed it should be somewhat easier . SD100 was my third 100miler. I had completed 2002 RDl00 and 2003 WS100 with relatively few problems. I felt I had just enough experience with 100milers to be dangerous to myself, and continued to remind myself that there are no guarantees with the 100mi distance. Despite having much less vertical ascent and descent as WS, SD had much less daylight (~10.5 hours at SD100 vs. ~15.5hours at WS) which I felt should be factored into the equation. In addition, I had been doing some focused hill workouts since WS and I wanted to try running about 10%-20% of the ascents in the first 25miles of SD100. I have been trying to reclaim some of the hill fitness I once had with road bicycle racing in the 1980s, on the trails now. Being older now it is taking effort, but with patience I am making some progress.
I had put together a detailed plan for the race, similar to what I had done for RDL and WS. My BASIC goal was to finish under the 31 hour race cut-off, my WOULD BE NICE goal was to finish around 27 hours, and anything under 27 hours would be icing on the cake.
I flew out to San Diego on Thursday before the race. The purpose of the trip was twofold: to run the event, and to spend time visiting with a friend of mine that I had worked with in the 90's who now lives in San Diego. The plane landed a half hour early at 11am, and I caught the shuttle bus to the off-airport rental car facility. The bus was snagged in the airport traffic, and as I looked out the window the gray aircraft carriers caught my eye. Immediately my mind was transported back 23 years, flooded with memories from the summer of 1980 when I spent a summer stationed at San Diego Naval base as part of my Navy ROTC training on tender ships USS Prairie and USS Jason. It was a summer full of new and different experiences, some interesting and some too strange and scary. My favorite on-base refuge was the Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool. I swam many laps that summer. I never have regretted getting out of NROTC after the second year and not pursuing a naval career. I returned to college that fall happy to blend into the background, back into my world of books and numbers. As the bus pulled into the rental car facility, my mind quickly returned to the present task at hand.
Picking up a rental car, I drove north to Torrey Pines State Reserve along the coast. I spent about two hours packing drop bags from the trunk of my car. There was then still ample daylight to take a 3 mile roundtrip hike down to the beach to touch the ocean water and back-up to where car was parked. I then reached my friend's home around 6pm.
Friday morning I met Philip at the San Diego airport. Packing my dropbags the day before, I realized I was missing two gel flasks. To remedy this, we stopped by the San Diego REI store to get two flasks and then by RoadRunnerSports which was just down the road from REI. I finally had a chance to try on different sizes of Leona Divides. Philip bought his first pair of Montrails. From there we headed out to Poway, then to the quaint historic town of Julian (which firefighters worked hard to spare from the Cedar Fire), then south on 79 through the fire-burned Lake Cuyamaca region. There we saw many strange, haunting and sad sights, including melted plastic white fence . Philip expressed the similarity of this particular scene to that of the well-known abstract clock painting by Dali. Our uncanny timely arrival to Pine Valley Restaurant was just a few minutes before the scheduled start of the pre-race meeting and dinner . Inside the rustic restaurant, we found other runners ,RD Paul and some of the volunteers, as well as a welcoming warm fire burning in the fireplace. All members of the Texas group had made it to the meeting.
Paul briefed us on the race, then a dinner of salad, garlic bread, spaghetti with meatballs and pie was served. The Finishers' Awards were plaques which Paul had just received and he was puzzled to find a typo on the plaques. He apologized for the incorrect spelling of "November" , which appeared on the plaques as "Novermer". Many chuckled, and no one felt the typo was a major problem.
As a result of the post-fire changes made to the 100mi course (the 100Mi race was now a double 25Mile out-and-back), Paul had added a 50mi event. Over the course of the meeting and dinner, Philip transitioned from his original decision to pace me the last 37miles, to a final decision to pace me the last 50miles and getting Paul's permission to have the last 50miles of the 100mi event count as a delayed start for the 50mi event. Everyone would get something from the deal; which made me happy. I like win-win situations. And with that, Philip and I headed to the primitive cabin to complete a few final tasks, and then to get to sleep.
The Second 25Miles: Todd's Cabin back to Lake Morena I felt good leaving Todd’s. The next two sections were mostly downhill. The nice thing about out-and-backs is that you get to see other runners on the trail. Between Todd’s and the first asphalt road crossing, I encountered Sammy, Hans, and another runner. Between the first and second asphalt road I saw Catra, Ammon, Linda M, and other runners. Between the second asphalt road crossing and scenic vista point of the Anza Borrega Desert, I saw Joe, Mike , Rick and Terry. About 0.25mile before I reached Dale’s Kitchen, I readied my watch to take a split. The watch went berserk, reset itself to 12noon and wiping out all of my saved splits up to that point in the race. So, I arrived into Dale’s a bit miffed and exclaimed to one of the volunteers my dissatisfaction with the watch. Oh well. I asked the present time, and then set the watch accordingly. (This is my second Timex VO2 Rush watch. I got it in July of 2002 to replace my first Timex VO2 Rush watch which did the same thing to me about 15miles into the 2002 Big Horn 52Mi trail race…. Both my V02 watches seem to have had a 12-16month lifetime, with a preference for failing during a race. I need to shop around for a different watch now, as I’ve lost my confidence in the VO2 Rush design). I capped off my water bottles and had some soda and oatmeal cookies.. thanked the volunteers at Dale’s and told them I’d see them again in about 12 hours.
The 7.9Mi stretch between Dale’s and Cibbetts went by relatively quickly… I arrived to Cibbetts , capped off my water bottles, drank down some Boost from the dropbag and started back up the hill. I was about 35-40 minutes ahead of the WBN plan, but even with this lead I doubted I’d be able to make it to Lake Morena before darkness set in. One of the volunteers (Ken ?) was departing Cibbetts the same time as I was… he was going up to the PCT to set out glowsticks. So we walked up the dirt road together. When I told him that I was from Texas, he said “Oh your'e part of THAT gang”, and then continued to tell me that he had sat at the table with Joe, Mike and Margo during the dinner at Pine Valley Restaurant the night before. Joe and Mike filled him with stories from our Hill Country Trail Runner club’s Bandera Summer Camp weekend in August when 10-15 of us rent the old Ranch Group Lodge for a weekend of trail running, socializing and story telling. Closer to the top, the volunteer and I were passed by a station wagon containing two people. They stopped and asked us directions for the PCT…..apparently they were meeting some relatives at the junction of the PCT and this dirt road. Soon the volunteer and I were back to the PCT. He turned left to begin hanging glowsticks, and I turned right to head for the Windy Bandito Ridge and then to Boulder Oaks.
This stretch to Boulder Oaks seems uneventful in my mind. I tested my memory from the trip out to remember significant landmarks that would come up as I continued to Boulder Oaks.. crossing Kitchen Creek Road, running by the hill that reminded me of Bandera, running through the section littered with granite boulders that resembled Yosemite granite, the tall Cairn, dropping down to the trees which were changing color, then under I-8, then crossing the asphalt road, running alongside pinkish stone markers for the PCT (two of which had been run over by a vehicle). Finally Boulder Oaks Campground came in sight. I was about 35minutes ahead of schedule. I was in and out of this aidstation quickly, as I wanted to take advantage of the remaining daylight. I grabbed my headlamp from the dropbag, but left my Green LED flashlight as something to look forward to after the 50Mile turnaround at Lake Morena.
About a mile out of BO, a runner came zooming by me from behind… #30. I wondered if he had gotten off course, and was trying to make up some time now. Soon I reached the sandy section, which went through a dry creek/river bed under a bridge. The bridge columns contained a fair amount of graffiti for being that far away from a major city. From this point it is about 4miles to the Lake Morena Aid Station (LM) and the course climbs up a rocky chunk of terrain which from the top offers vistas of the partially dry lake bed below. During this climb, I begin to see the lead runners making their way on the second out-and-back. Curt was still in the lead. He warned me that he had seen a small mountain lion near the Lake Morena Campground in the “Boulder Section”. I told him “Lucky You!” and thanked him for the warning… but was puzzled as to how to identify the “Boulder Section” as this segment of the course seemed to contain multiple Boulder sections to me. I reached the top of this rocky chuck of terrain and started the descent to LM. Here I encounter Diane and another runner, she also warns me of the mountain lion that Curt spotted earlier. I note that she has added layers and seems prepared for the night section. Daylight is dissappearing quickly now. I turn on my headlamp and single white LED flashlight with about two miles to go to reach LM. I was looking forward to running with Philip after LM.
I entered LM aidstation about 32 minutes ahead of plan. I was really satisfied with my first 50miles; I had run a comfortable relaxed pace and had gotten to run 10%-20% of the uphills. Philip was ready and waiting to start his 50mi race night adventure. I drank some Boost from the drop bag, and had some coffee from the aidstation. I was down to one water bottle. I had it capped off then put in my waist pack.
The Third 25Miles: Lake Morena to Todd's Cabin
Philip and I left LM around 5:50pm. On the way back out, it was again a chance to see other runners on the trail as they made their way to LM: Sammy, Hans, Catra, Linda M, Ammon, Joe , Mike, Rick, Terry and others. Ammon was on his way to finishing the 50mile event. Then he would transition from running to crewing the rest of the 100mi event for Catra and Linda M.
The night sky was clear and littered with bright stars. Philip was enjoying the view, identifying various groupings of stars. I was torn between looking at the stars and preparing my mind for the long upcoming night section. I fell into a bit of a physical valley in this section, and slowed my pace by walking more until I could pull out of it. I told Philip I planned to walk all the uphill sections from here on out, especially at night. He commented about my 30minute lead over the WBN plan. And I remember replying that it was still early in the race, and 30 minutes could easily be lost due to unexpected things which could crop up at night. (Little did I realize the truth in that statement). But, so far, I was keeping to my plan fairly well.
I was concerned about the cold night temperatures from a respiratory perspective. I had taken a puff of my asthma inhaler around 5:30AM on Saturday morning and was hoping that would tide me over through Sunday morning. I’ve never had to use the inhaler midway through a race, and was apprehensive since it is a stimulant and causes a short-term increase in heart rate. But I could hear a wheezing start in my breathing and then a slight constriction. I decided that I should get the inhaler from my waist pack when I was stopped at BO, and take a dose. The night air would be cold the higher we climbed and the later it got.
I was looking forward to reaching Boulder Oaks so that I could have my Green LED Flashlight and put on more layers. Already the temperature had dropped some. Reaching Boulder Oaks I had a list of things in my mind which I had to take care of (relative to the contents of my dropbag) before worrying about food. I drank two cans of boost from my drop bag. I removed my sweaty long sleeve coolmax shirt and singlet. I put on a dry singlet, two dry longsleeve coolmax shirts, my fleece vest, then my long sleeve black jacket, mittens and my knit mugger hat. I grabbed my green LED Flashlight. I also accessed my asthma inhaler and took a dose. One of the volunteers said he would put all of my stuff back in my drop bag for me. I thanked him. There was no coffee at this aidstation, so I grabbed the little baggie of coffee beans I had in my drop bag and munched on a few. I put the remainder in a jacket pocket. Philip and I then departed and headed on down the PCT. We took it at an easy pace for a mile, to let my system “process” the asthma medicine.
This section I remembered well from mental note-taking earlier in the day and could anticipate the landmarks…. The left run out of the campground, along the fenceline, alongside the pink stone PCT markers, then across the asphalt road, another 0.5mi or so of fairly flat single track, under I-8, by the trees changing color (I aimed my flashlight beam on the leaves so Philip could see the fall color, which was distorted by the green LED light). Then we started the climb up. A while later I told Philip about the granite in this particular section, how it was different from the rest of the granite and resembled granite from further north in the Sierras. Soon, we were approaching the Kitchen Creek Rd Crossing. There we found Ammon with the back of his van open, offering us an assortment of bars, treats, fruit juices. We took a few items (one of which was a package of Sharkies!) and thanked him. He was waiting for Catra and Linda M to come through this point, then he would continue on to Cibbetts.
Immediately after we crossed the road and started down the single track trail , we were slapped in the face with a strong gust of wind. We decided to have a Sharky Party! One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish... In our efforts to open the bag of Sharkies with all of the wind, we mangled the bag. This difficulty to open packages of foodstuff would be a recurring theme for the next 10+ hours. The wind was coming at us sometimes as a headwind and sometimes as a crosswind. Some of the heavy gusts seemed to last a while… enough to stop us in our tracks a few times, or cause us to trip sideways over rocks. . Other times the duration of the gusts would be long enough that we would start compensating by leaning a bit, then the wind would stop and we would stumble to regain our balance. I was grateful that we were out in the middle of a national forest, and did not have to worry about dodging debris in the wind from structures and dislodged objects. ( Not that we would have much reaction time in the darkness to dodge any incoming debris! ) Philip thought we were moving along at about a 20mi/mile pace, but it seemed slower to me. The Windy Bandito Ridge seemed endless, and I knew my WBN plan of 27 hours was probably GONE WITH THE WIND literally and figuratively. Later weather reports would log the wind speed at 55 mph. What an adventure...
I thought we would receive some refuge from the wind once we reached the dirt road junction with the PCT which lead down to Cibbetts Flat. But that was not to be the case. We ran down the dirt road still battling the wind. My three rewards in my Cibbetts Flat Drop Bag were my new Columbia Polartech jacket , a spare brace for my left knee, and a flask full of Raspberry HammerGel. The Windy Bandito Ridge section and another section of the course seemed to aggravate my left knee. I had meant to grab my brace that last time through Cibbetts (around 37mi) but had forgotten.
Arriving into Cibbetts, Philip went to his dropbag and I went to mine. Most of the volunteers and food had been moved into the RV camper since it had become so windy and cold outside. RD Paul was there. Paul and several others tried to convince me to go into the camper, but I wanted no part of it. I just wanted to get the stuff out my dropbag and keep moving. I was afraid if I went in the camper, it would be Hell coming back out into the elements. I asked Paul for some coffee, which he got for me from inside the camper. Philip also went inside the camper. I got my Boost cans from the drop bag, along with my knee brace, I then removed my black jacket , then put on my red Columbia Polartech jacket. I was readying to place my black jacket into dropbag, when a medic volunteer suggested I tie it around my waist and take it with me in case I needed another layer later on. He told me the temperatures were dropping in the higher elevations and that he suspected there would be a few cases of hypothermia among the runners before the night was through. He asked me if I knew the signs of hypothermia. I told him feeling very cold and getting a headache. He added “uncontrollable shaking is a sign too”. I told him “OK. I will remember that”, and I asked him to let Philip know that I was going to start back up the hill . I had told Philip prior to the race, that if he wanted to stay in an aidstation longer than I wanted to that I would just start walking down the trail and he would be able to quickly and easily catch up, because I just don’t move that fast at night. In all of the activity, I would make a major mistake at this aidstation and forget to grab my gel flask which contained 500-600 calories .
After a few minutes, I heard a noise behind me and look back to see a white headlamp and green flashlight approaching. It was Philip. I told him I was definitely now on the BASIC plan: finish the race within the 31hour cutoff. Philip and I headed back up the dirt road to the PCT junction . The section from Cibbetts to Dale’s Kitchen (DK) in this direction is a very long 7.9miles of mostly uphill. With the darkness, the enjoyable scenery was not visible to entertain us. The wind was the worst in this section and was coupled with falling temperatures the higher we climbed. My Polartech jacket was working well… although some gusts of wind seemed to still go right through me. Fortunately I never reached the “miserably cold state” that I had reached at Bandera 100Km . I took great comfort in this fact. I quietly said a prayer for energy, strength and warmth. I knew that eventually we would enter a forest and the final 1-1.5miles to Dale’s should be somewhat sheltered from the wind. But until then , we were at the mercy of the elements. It was not until I read Philip’s race report, that I realized just how cold he was in this section.( He was fearing hypothermia). I think he learned the same lesson at SD100, that I had learned last January at Bandera 100Km regarding being properly dressed for the elements . Moving along and also having to generate body heat burns a lot more calories than just moving along. Within a few miles out of Cibbetts, I suddenly felt a wall of hunger and deeply regretted having forgotten the gel flask. We would stop and eat fun size snicker bars and other stuff… opening the packages was a major challenge. Looking at my watch, I told Philip we would be doing well to make it to Dale’s by 1:30AM. Eventually Philip and I ate all of the food we had between us, and when it was gone, we still had not reached the forest . The little shelter we received from the wind in this section was when the trail would occasionally turn a few degrees briefly changing the angle of the wind’s assault. There was silence while we slowly forged our way up the trail. I had a close call of tripping on a rock. The ensuing adrenaline rush felt like a heat wave flowing through my body. In contrast when I took a sip of water from my bottle , the water was so cold that it froze my insides as it traveled down to my stomach. I started noticing a few familiar markings on the trail… a downed century-type of plant across the trail, a rain gully that intersected the trail, and then a line of rocks across the trail to prevent erosion. It seemed out of nowhere, Philip piped up with “Have you heard the joke about the rabbi and goat?”. A man went to the rabbi to request advice for dealing with his perceived unbearable life. The rabbi told the man to get a goat. After a week, the goat had been a source of much frustration for the man, and when the goat was removed from the man’s life the man viewed his sans-goat life as blissful . Philip proclaimed that the wind was our goat. And when we finally reached the forest, there was shelter from the wind and we joked about leaving the goat farm and entering into a goat-free zone. The goat analogy brought us what seemed an endless source of humor.
I was secretly hoping that DK would have a warm camper. I would not be so stubborn and refuse a camper’s shelter and warmth as I had at Cibbetts. Soon the lights of DK became visible, and our matching headlamps and green LED flashlights became visible to the “LookOut” Volunteer and he welcomed us to the aidstation. It was 1:15am (which was 50minutes behind the WBN plan) and I rejoiced in seeing a RV camper! In no time Philip and I were inside of the camper trying to thaw out and eat food. Redemption! It was necessary to stay at this aidstation as long as it took to replenish our bodies with calories and to add more layers. DK’s Menu included Chicken Noodle Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches. We were there for 25 minutes I think. I consumed three cups of soup and many quarters of grilled cheese sandwiches. I think this is the most solid food I’ve ever eaten in an ultra. We stuffed our pockets full of fun-size Snicker bars and mini Cherry Almond Cliff Bars. It reminded me of a bizarre cold and windy halloween night; we were two little kids armed with green flashlights having to travel miles between houses for our Trick-Or-Treat Goodies.
25 minutes is the longest I have ever spent in an aidstation. My previous record was 10minutes at Devils Thumb because I drank down three cups of ginger ale too fast and then had to sit and let my stomach calm down from too much carbonation. Typically I only spend 1-3minutes in an aidstation.
The DK volunteers were veteran ultrarunners (two of the volunteers are the RDs for Leona Divide). I was still having a lot of fun despite the weather . And I could tell that they completely understood how it was possible to still be having fun ! Philip’s attitude seemed to be holding up well. So far he had been a trooper and considering this was his first pacing experience and only 2nd time to traverse 50miles he was doing a wonderful job in my opinion. I was so happy to have him along on this windy cold adventure: goat jokes and all. DK marks the 71-72mile mark… we were down to less than a 50km, and I told the “lookout” volunteer that I can always grind out a 50km.
Philip and I left the RV camper toasty warm, but a cold gust of wind soon reminded us of the goats . It took a few minutes to readjust to the elements. Just 3.7miles up to Todds. In this section, Philip found a full sized Snicker Candy Bar on the ground which brought him much joy. It was about a mile later that the leader (no longer Curt; Curt had dropped by this point) came down the trail in the opposite direction. Then we saw two runners in shorts (from Colorado). Eventually we saw Diane, she was still in 1st place among the women and about 4th or 5th overall. Looking very strong, she asked how far ahead another runner was … (she had been running with this person earlier in race) and she was trying to catch back up with him. We told her he was not too far ahead, and she should be able to catch back up soon.
We reached Todd’s and spent about ten minutes longer than we really needed to there. It seemed somewhat disorganized and chaotic to me. But it was nice to be able to use a real toilet for a change. Leaving Todd’s was a psychological boost, knowing that we had reached the last turnaround and had less than a marathon to go to reach the finish line.
The Final 25Miles: Todd's Cabin to Lake Morena
Leaving Todd’s we looked forward to seeing other runners on the trail coming up from other direction… soon we saw Hans, Sammy and Catra, other runners, then Joe and his pacer (sans Mike) , and two other runners. The numbers were lower than before, indicating that there must have been some runners drop since the 50mi turnaround. We reached DK again around 4:15 am. There was no need to go inside the camper. We stayed only a few minutes. Philip sat down briefly and the volunteer named Linda helped him investigate the cause of a discomfort he was feeling on top of one of his feet.. the discomfort was due to a minor problem with the lacing . I commented to the “Lookout” volunteer that it was less than 2 hours until sunrise, and we would not quite make it to Cibbetts before daylight occurred. I told him I was looking forward to the sunrise. As Philip and I departed, the volunteer said he hoped we would enjoy the sunrise.
Down the trail we went. Overall, we were making good time considering the rockiness of the trail and darkness. The winds had died down in this section, and temperature did not feel as cold. We were much more talkative and energetic, and found it easier to open packages of food. Somehow we ventured on to the topic of “Pacer DNFs”. Since this was Philip’s first time to pace, he had been overly concerned about making mistakes and “DNF”ing as a pacer. So, I told him about the Bonus Point system… that he had not realized it, but he had accumulated some bonus points that he could use to offset any negative points he might get for making mistakes. (I did not know what he was so concerned about, because so far he had performed marvelously as a pacer). I explained he had gotten a full point for liking Math & Science (we had plenty stuff to talk about during the long journey), he had gotten a half-point for wearing both gloves and headlamp by Black Diamond, and some fractions of points for other various things. In reply, he informed me that at an earlier aidstation he had swapped his Black Diamond Gloves for a different brand. So I told him he could not have the 0.5 bonus point anymore , he could only have 0.25 point for the headlamp. He thought this unfair, and wanted the full 0.5 point back . I thought about it, and told him that 0.35 point was my best offer. He then reminded me that he gave me the last mini Snickers to eat when we had run out of food, then he shared the full-size Snickers with me that he had found on the ground between DK and TC, and that ought to be worth some points. I was having difficulty keeping a straight face. The conversation was making me feel like I was the “Ogre of the Point Meisters” . I then replied “ you can’t just get points for anything and everything. It simply does not work that way” . I told him I would take his “Snicker Charity” into consideration when I finished the race and had a chance to tally up the points with a clear mind.
Fortunately about that time, Hans came zipping by from behind us which shifted our focus away from the “Bonus Point/Pacer Redemption” conversation.. Hans said that he dropped his pacer, and his pacer and a dog should be coming by shortly. Daylight was beginning to appear. The pacer and dog passed by. We were now in the section that reminded me of Franklin Mountains. Philip broke into singing the words from ‘Here Comes the Sun” . The headlamps and flashlights had finished their night watch jobs, and were turned off.
Soon we approached “Larry’s Point” from which Sammy had earlier yodeled. We could look down and see Cibbetts. But we still had to follow behind the backside of a hill, during which we were reminded there were still some goats in the area and to not let our guard down! After another 5 minutes or so, we were to the top of the dirt road that led down to Cibbetts. We ran-walked down the road.
Hans was just leaving Cibbetts as Philip and I approached. Hans likes to hug all the women on the trail. Every time I had seen Hans on the trail during SD100, I received a nice hug. When I saw Hans approaching, I jokingly told Philip maybe Hans would give him a hug too this time. So Philip, taking it as a joke, ran up to Hans with open arms asking for a hug. Hans got a very serious look on his face, and in his German accent he muttered “Hugs are only for the ladies”. Hans then gave me a hug. As Hans departed up the hill, I told Philip in a voice loud enough for Hans to hear “I’ll give you a hug Philip”... At which point, Hans turned around and said “No. No. No!”. All of three of us got a good laugh from it! Any mental diversion or humor this late in the race is welcomed.
Entering Cibbetts, I knew I was being whittled down to the lower set of notches. It was the 87mile mark, and I was entering Stubby Nub Land. The spring was going from my legs . The aidstation had been moved entirely inside the RV (apparently the tent canopy had self-destructed in the high winds during the night). . I never considering quitting during this race, but I hit my mental low point sitting in the camper at Cibbetts. With 13 miles to go, I could tell that some of the miles would be ugly miles. It was 7am, so I had 6 hours to complete the remaining 13 miles. Knowing I could walk it in from this point and still make the 31 hour cut-off, brought me comfort. But I still had some running in me.
I drank my remaining Boost from the drop bag, and placed my headlamps and flashlights in the dropbags. Knowing that the Windy Bandito Ridge was awaiting us, I refused to give up any of my layers. Philip was equally as stubborn. We feared the "Revenge of the Goats" on Windy Bandito Ridge.
As we departed Cibbetts, I made the mistake of letting my my mind drift into the details of the remaining sections and started dreading them and felt a cloud of negativity engulf my mind. I snapped out of it, and told Philip that I needed to keep focused on one section at a time, to remain positive.
We continued up the hill. Almost to the top, we encountered Catra on her way down, and shortly after Catra we ran into Sammy. Both were grinning ear-to ear! It was nice to finally be done with that dirt road to Cibbetts… the fourth and final time to go up and down it was now done. We made a right turn on to PCT . When we reached the Windy Bandito Ridge, the goats were gone to our surprise ! It was a wonderful trail again, and Philip had a chance to see the dramatic scenery (as well as the dramatic steep drop-off ) in the daylight. We ran-walked this trail and soon we reached Kitchen Creek Rd. The air temperature was warming up now. Crossing Kitchen Creek Rd, we stopped briefly to remove layers and tie them around our waists… there were several gallon jugs of water there, so I took the opportunity to cap off my bottle.
Given the miles on my legs, the section between Kitchen Creek Rd and BO aidstation was not as bad as I had anticipated it might be , but it still took effort. There were some brisk windy spots in this section, which were offset by the warmth of the sunlight. As we passed by the granite that resembled Yosemite granite, I pointed it out to Philip. BO was only 6.2miles from the Finish, I remarked to Philip that I was looking forward to being a “10K girl”!. Once we crossed the asphalt road and then could see the entrance to BO Campground, Philip ran ahead to the aidstation. Reaching BO a little later, I got rid of more layers and drank my Boost. I told the volunteer to let Philip know I was leaving (Philip was in the campground restroom) , and for Philip to catch up to me. As I left the aidstation, I saw the reporter who had been at the Friday night dinner. She asked me how the night was, and I replied “Windy”. . Walking down the trail, I looked at my watch , did some calculations, and I anticipated a finish around 29hours, or 11:00AM.
About a tenth of a mile or so down the trail, Philip caught up with me again. The next 2 miles were my ugly miles. I did not feel well. I told Philip I just wanted to walk until I felt better, and he obliged. I told him there would be some smooth downhill sections coming up in about 2 miles or so once we reached the top of rocky boulder terrain, and that I would run those. But at this particular time, I was fighting bouts of light-headedness. My only guess was that my blood pressure was low (This happened to me in the last 1-1.5mi at WS too). . So I tried drinking more water, I took an electrolyte, and ate a mini Cliff Bar then hoped for the best. Philip told me some jokes, including Robin William’s golfing story from his 2002 tour. A group of three Sunday morning runners went by us…. A reminder of what it was like to have fresh legs . Up ahead I thought I saw two people with a horse, but my mind was playing tricks on me. Under the bridge, by the graffiti and through the sand we went, and then started the final climbing section with about 4 miles to go. I thought I was hearing voices in the wind… Philip said that he heard nothing, but that his hearing was not very good… the blind was leading the blind at this point. By the time we reached the top of this rocky terrain, I was pulling out of my slump. I kept looking at my watch and still felt I would finish around 11am. My mind was in a one-track rut for the finish line. I ran the smooth downhill sections with frequent walking breaks .. keep shuffling down the trail. It seemed like forever to reach the point where the single track gives way to a jeep trail/dirt road… but finally we saw the houses and trailers in the remote campsites, and then the jeep trail. Philip told me he wanted to sprint in to the finish for his 50mile race. I only asked that he stay with me until we were within sight of the finish line….. then he could sprint the last 0.5mi or so . Soon the finish line was in sight, and Philip took off. I continued my shuffle. After Philip sprinted in, he turned around and ran back out to meet me, to run the remaining distance with me. I made the final turn, and suddenly I wanted the finish line immediately… so much that I started running at a good clip. The finish line was a sight for sore eyes. I crossed at 11:02AM. The BASIC plan had been met; I was satisfied.
RD Paul and his wife Kathleen were at the finish line to greet us. Mike and Margo were there also, along with some people that I did not know. I received many congratulatory hugs. Quickly I was ushered inside a nearby building, where there was food available. It felt good to be done . It felt good to sit down and know I did not have to get back up again if I did not want to. About 20 minutes after I finished, Sammy and Catra reached the finish line and then came into the building. Two other runners would finish after them. The race had taken its fair share of victims, only 11 runners of the 27 starters finished the SD100. Soon I would find out that Joe missed the cutoff at 75mile mark by a few minutes and was pulled from the race along with another runner. That was unfortunate, because Joe is a monster downhill runner and would have torn up the last 25miles of the course. Philip then ran back to the cabin where car was parked to get my finishline dropbag. I did not cripple up as bad after this 100miler , as I have after the other two. I think I am beginning to handle the stress of the 100mi distance better.
I want to first thank Philip for all of his help at SD100. He did a wonderful job crewing for me during the day on Saturday, and then pacing me the last 50miles on Saturday night and Sunday morning. I was happy not to have to deal with the windy cold trails by myself. We had fun despite the goats. I believe that Philip received the ultrarunning experience that he originally sought when he offered to crew and pace me.
I also want to thank RD Paul Schmidt , his wife , and the volunteers for a wonderful race. They went through much effort and frustration to hold this race, despite the great loss caused by the Cedar Fire in late October and early November. RD’s have no control over the weather…. For the record, we had wonderful weather during the day on Saturday. The bad weather conditions during the night made crossing the finish line on Sunday morning even sweeter !
I hope Paul will continue to hold this race in the future. Paul published a report and results for the race.
One of my favorite John Muir quotes reads: "But in every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks."
This was true of SD100.