Never would I have thought that Texas has mountains. In fact, if you had asked me, I probably would have laughed and said, "no way!" This changed when I came across a local race in El Paso called Lone Star 100. Rob Gurney created a masterpiece of a course comprising of 3 loops in Franklin Mountain State Park, averaging about 34 miles per loop. In fact, the course starts at about 4,000 feet of elevation and you climb to just about 7,200 at the highest point on North Franklin Peak. The elevation is one thing but the scree fields you go on are a whole different playing field.
When I registered for Lone Star 100 3 weeks before the start, I knew going in that finishing was my number one priority. Truth is I haven't ran a 100 miler since June of 2018. No doubt going in the pain cave was a fleeting memory, but something I missed and so finishing was really all I cared about. My second goal was to control the stomach. Historically GU and other sugary foods never really did the trick for me. It is good for 20-40 miles, but then my body starts to puke incessantly. This ruined my last 100 attempt at Superior in Minnesota when I couldn't keep anything down. I was super dizzy and seeing doubles of everything. It all centralized around nutrition. So, going in, I was willing to experiment a bit and forego the GU. Although a bit risky, I don't believe in insanity in doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I'm a firm believer that growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown. That unknown for me in this race was baby food, and boy did that pay dividends, but more on that later.
I was also lucky in that my good friend, Mark, was willing to tag along. I met Mark in San Diego and he has been instrumental in figuring out nutrition and helping me look at it totally different than I had before. Although he doesn't prefer running, we did go on a few hikes with me and was really intrigued with the sport and wanted to tag along to which I had no qualms. It is also worth mentioning that he was fantastic at crewing and knew what I needed before I got there-a rare trait for someone who's never done the sport!
To the start. The "race" started at 5:00 AM MT. Surprisingly, I slept great the night before which isn't always the case. But now it was time to get situated and ready. When I got to the start, there were about 40 of us there. Rob sent us off and there we went!
Loop one was all about getting to know the course and taking it easy. Since I wasn't approaching this as a race but something to just finish, I certainly didn't push the pace at the start. I followed a core group of people up the initial incline, and boy was it an incline. Not only that, but it was loose rocks that were super slippery. Since I don't really study course descriptions before a race, it is always a little surprise of what I'm actually in for. This start was also how we would finish and I had to do this section six times. The 5.5 miles is just a quick loop, that aside from that first climb, was fairy simple (all relative to the course, of course). I met a girl named Rachel who didn't finish last year and that was what she was gunning for (and glad to say she eventually did!)-to make it to the finish.
After passing Rachel I continued making my way up to the group leaders of about 5. This included Alyson and the eventual 2nd place male. We were making good headway and we got to a flat section. This eventually led to a gradual incline and there we were-back to the beginning! It is also worth noting that the 100k runners were about to start. So 5.5 miles had taken about an hour.
This is where the fun really started. I got my things and started to head to the steepest part of the entire course. Below is a pic for reference:
The scree section reminds me of a lot of Ouray's technical down hill, but worse. It is like an old Disney movie where there is a beautiful paved road with flowers and butterflies that leads to the dark lord's fortress. However, with any good classic Disney movie, there was success getting up it. I was blessed to hike this section with Alyson. Alyson happened to win the women's division the past 2 years and would be the eventual champion again for her third straight win. She knew the course well and communicated that being sub 24 hours on this course was her goal. When I heard this, I knew she meant to win it outright.
Prior to coming here, I did see that there were only 3 sub 24 hour times on this course and 2/3 were the same guy, Karl Meltzer, the same guy who has won more 100s than anyone alive. He also has the 2nd fastest known time doing all 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Basically, sub 24 seemed other-worldly to me, but was very impressed with Alyson's fortitude. I think it brushed on me a little bit too.
We also started talking about other races that we did as we both were dodging the jagged rocks, walking straight up the highest point of the race, North Franklin Peak. However, before getting there we would have to stop at Mundy's Gap Aid Station which was about halfway up. Although this section to that aid station was only about 2.5 miles, you would think that would be no time. However, when you go straight up it can take a while.
After connecting with Alyson, I was surprisingly feeling pretty good and decided to march on. I honestly had no intention of taking the lead for the sole purpose of trying to win, but more because I felt good and I know that my bad spells would come later so needed to use the highs while I had them.
With that said, I continued climbing straight up and it eventually flattened out to a forest service road which then connected to the aid station about 400 meters out. After getting there, the sunrise was beginning to come out. I restocked my water and headed to the top. I was being very intentional with the foods that I ate. This section was baby food which consisted of bananas and blueberries. I was very pleased with this combo and was glad to report that it packed 90 calories-not bad!
Getting to the top of this aid station seemed to take forever. There were loads of false summits but I could tell it was getting beautiful out as the sky made a bright orange and red color. This is also where I noticed Jesse Ellis taking pics. Below is my view from about 7,000 feet:
Once I got to the top, I noticed the tower and the orange box that you had to open to retrieve the bracelet to prove you were at the top before heading back to Mundy's Gap Aid Station. It was white. I put it on my wrist and took off back down the mountain. Close to summit was Alyson and we fist bumped as I headed back down the steep peak. From here it was down, down, down for quite some time. I wasn't too disappointed in that since we had just climbed for what seemed like forever.
After getting near the bottom, I was passing quite a few other runners. We gave each other our condolences. It made me feel better that everyone was feeling the mountain a little bit. I'll admit that I didn't train vertically as much as I would have liked, but this was also just a massive experiment with training that consisted mostly of 2-3 hour runs once a week, several walks throughout the day, and a lot of rest peppered in throughout the week. It was amazing what some rest will accomplish.
After bombing down that section, I got back to Mundy's Gap and attempted to give them my white bracelet. They said to give it to the people at the start which meant I had to wear it for another 20ish miles. It was time to go to Bowen. This was probably my favorite part. You continued to bomb down the forest service road on a slight downhill, non-technical trail. This section was about 7.5 miles. I thrived here. After the sun was coming up, I decided to take off my gloves as I was running downhill and stuffed them in my bag. About 50 minutes into this section I was noticing that I didn't have my bracelet anymore- it had disappeared! Go figure! I go through all of this trouble and have no actual proof that I made it to the summit. All of the good that I was feeling that day disappeared within a moment's notice.
I figured that my story of bumping fists with Alyson at the top and trying to give the bracelet to the Mundy's Gap Aid Station people was compelling enough to at least make a case in case they wanted to disqualify me. However, to be in first and not show that I made it to the top made me feel like a legitimate cheater even though that was far from the case. Most people in this sport I like to think don't cut corners given the distance covered and the mentality of why we even enter these things. It just doesn't make sense. Thankfully this never became an issue. With that said, I was frantic in explaining to Mark when I got to Bowen that I did in fact go to the top of Franklin Peak and had lost it on the last section. He seemed as cool as cucumber hearing it and I felt like a frantic mess.
After restocking here it was time to head to West Aid Station. This section was probably my least favorite. It was gradual uphill for about 3 miles and then up and down for 3.5 miles and then mostly downhill the last mile. It just seemed to take forever. Although there wasn't a lot of climbing in this section, I did feel that I made good progress. I did however drink 2 liters of water on this section and was out with about a mile to the aid station. This section was also completely deserted. I passed no people all 3 loops on this section and was in complete solitude. I continued to eat the baby food that I picked up and learned that although I can get mango, apple, and carrot down, it wasn't my favorite but it certainly beat puking it up which likely would have been the case if it were GU.
On the final mile there were two women who seemed pretty happy to see someone. They were like "we were wondering if any people were going to come." Needless to say I felt like a king as they got everything I could possibly want. After thanking them, I took off on the last section back to the start/finish. This section was about 7.5 miles and this too seemed to take an eternity. At this point you could see North Franklin Peak way out in the distance and I knew that I had to go all the way back there since that is where the start/finish was. I pressed on and found this section to be fairly flat.
About 2/3 of the way there I ran into a mountain biker who was out with some friends, but he was by himself at the time. He made small talk and asked how much I was running. I told him and he about lost his mind. He couldn't believe it. He then started to follow me and talk. I had no qualms chatting, but I also can be a very focused runner and feel I can come across as very stern at times. He eventually saw his friends and stopped following me and hung out with them. I pressed on. Right towards the end of this loop there was a diversion in the trail. It was very confusing as to which way I should go. I was completely out of water at this point and it didn't seem to make sense. Although I didn't have a lot of lows in this race, this was undoubtedly the lowest the entire time. I contemplated going the way the sign seemed to be pointing but that just didn't make sense given where the other trail led.
After waiting a few minutes, the bikers had caught up. I stopped them and asked if they knew which way. Being locals, they advised how far each trail was and they suggested I go the way that the sign said not to go. Oddly enough this was my intuition from the get-go and took their advice (this was after already running to the top of the hill that this goes and thinking I had done this wrong and ran back to the bottom of the diversion). After taking their advice I went back up the hill and hoped that I had gone the right way.
I went up the stairs and passed a few hikers and asked if they knew, which they didn't. I trusted my instinct on this and pressed on. This was the section that had about 5-6 false summits and was extremely technical. However, I was still feeling pretty good and bombed down the technical downhill into the aid station. I vocalized that I got lost and spent about 10-15 minutes on that section trying to figure out which way to go. Rob and the team apologized and went to the course to make the change. For once I had selected the right way!
Time for lap 2. As I restocked my food supply, I headed back to the top of the hill for the 5.5 mile loop. I passed Alyson and she was looking pretty good. This section went by fairly quickly and I was back at the start.
Time to go back up to North Franklin Peak and the super gnarly climb. On the road section, there was a lady by the name of Sandy who asked if I was Nick. I told her that I was and she said "Connie from Hawaii says hello!" It was a major pick-me-up as I continued onward and really made me miss Connie. Connie was a friend that I stayed with in Hawaii as I ran HURT 100. She also helped me celebrate my birthday while I was there. Nothing but fond memories and something I was very appreciative of as I was about 35 miles into the race.
Up the steep incline I went and to Mundy's Gap Aid Station. I quickly refilled my water and headed to the actual summit. This section did seem to take forever. Although it isn't as steep as the other section to get here, this one just took forever and was very deceiving as you constantly wondered where the top was. However, just with any other race, one foot in front of the other develops the best results. At this point the sun too was high in the sky. I checked my watch for the second time the entire day and it was about 2:30 PM. Not bad to bag this peak by that time.
Down, down, down was the next part. I saw Alyson pretty close to Mundy's Gap Aid Station, but she was just starting her ascent and I was nearly completing mine. I could tell that I made solid progress on this section. I also made sure that the white bracelet that I had I held onto for dear life. Heaven forbid I show up to the start/finish twice without the bracelet (they never did ask the first time).
From here it was down, down, down. There were a few hikers out there and some mountain bikers who were very chatty. Not sure if it is a Texas thing or the fact that all of us runners looked a little worn down that made everyone want to stop and ask us questions. Nonetheless, I really appreciated the hello's and found it very uplifting. That and the fact I had to give little effort on this downhill. One thing I didn't consider is although it felt like a free pass to go down, down, down, I forgot the impact that this would have on my quads later down the road.
I continued to eat my baby food and orange shot blocks (which work incredible by the way), and got to Bowen Aid Station. I was now halfway through the course. I reconnected with Mark, restocked my food supply and water, and headed back out to West. I'll admit that I did walk a bit more on this section, but was happy to do so given that I had just bombed down the last section and felt I had made tremendous progress.
About halfway through this section my stomach demanded that I use the restroom. With very little notice I pulled over to use the bathroom. It is in situations like this that I'm always grateful that I carry some tp. You never know when mother nature will strike and you have to be prepared. Also, I was very happy it was an issue from that end and not the other. Traditionally I puke my guts out and this seemed like a happy alternative. I suspect that the baby food I ate all day caused this to happen.
After taking care of business, I pressed on. I climbed the final mountain and could then oversee the entire downhilll section that I had to go on to get to West Aid Station. I pressed on downhill and got to the aid station. There were two individuals. An older gentleman and a lady I'd guess in her 30s and they were very surprised to see me. The complimented me on the progress that I was making and quickly got me the supplies I thought I needed for the final push to the start/finish.
I took the gear and headed out. Thankfully at this point I knew exactly what was in front of me, including which way the route goes. It was just a matter of sustaining and not doing anything abnormally stupid. The good news with this course is that it does force you to slow down on sections and therefore you can conserve energy. I continued on and at this point it was a beautiful 70 degrees and all sun. There was no shade on this course, so, although it isn't super warm, it did bake you under the sun. My water supply again ran out, but at least I knew where I was and that I was close to the start/finish.
After getting there, Mark had my gear ready to go. This lap I decided that I was going to take my trekking poles. I would forego them the first 5.5 miles since it was relatively flat, but I would take them for the super technical section up to Mundy's Gap. At this point I had my headlamp so things were moving a little slower, but this also meant that everyone else was slowing down too.
I finished the 5.5 miles and grabbed my trekking poles. This also was a first for me too. I have never used trekking poles in a race before and now I feel cheated from everyone who has used them against me before. They are a complete game changer, especially on courses where it is straight vertical and your legs are toast. Uphill became my strong point and downhill was somewhat of a struggle. After slogging my way to the top of Mundy's Gap, I was passing quite a few other runners at this point. It was a combination of both 100 milers and 100kers. Most of them were on lap 2 and I was lucky enough to be on my last.
When I got to the aid station most thought that I was doing the 100k and when I told them it was the 100 miler, they too lost their minds. It made me feel pretty good given that it felt like I had taken an extremely long time getting to the top of this section and I still had to get to the top of the peak.
After restocking my water, I continued to eat more baby food and walk up the the final stretch to the peak. It felt great knowing that this was my last time having to climb this. To think that the 200 mile people had to do this 6 times instead of 3 was absolutely astounding to me. It certainly made my struggle less of a struggle when compared to what they were enduring.
After passing lots of people, I finally made it to the top. The view of El Paso at night was absolutely incredible. Below is a pic for reference:
We also were warned quite regularly that the peak was extremely windy and to proceed with caution. Personally, I thought the wind wasn't that bad thanks to my Patagonia Houdini jacket, but it certainly picked up at the very top. After opening the orange chest to retrieve my bracelet, I noticed that they were completely out. I did a double search but couldn't find any. Great! Hopefully this doesn't come back to haunt me.
As I headed back down the peak, I passed a couple of others and asked if they had a bracelet. They admitted that there weren't any and they asked for my number just in case I get scrutinized for not having it. I appreciated they were willing to do so. After getting to Mundy's Gap for the final time, I refilled my bottles and headed to Bowen.
From here I felt like I was flying. However, with my most races at night time it always feels like you're running a 5 minute mile but it probably closer to 13-14 minute. Regardless I felt great on this section and passed more people here than at any other part of the course. About halfway to Bowen, I passed a group of 4 which had two men and 2 women. The one guy yelled "and here is your 100 mile champion!" At this point I was jamming out to "Lonely Together" by Avicci but did manage to make out what he said. The wind also seemed to really pick up at this point as well.
One thing I noticed with the trekking poles is they engage your upper body more. Given that my legs were fairly well toast at this point, the trekking poles were incredible for running up the small inclines on this section. Usually I hate these sections late in a course when the uphill is short enough and not steep enough to run but you have nothing left, the trekking poles were a fantastic alternative. I was essentially running the uphills now and still somewhat cruising on the downhill.
I entered Bowen and saw Mark about .1 miles from the aid station. He was, I guess, trying to blind me with his headlamp as I was coming in, and I tried playing the game of losing him to the aid station. My effort must have been valiant because he admitted he was having a hard time keeping up and didn't think I should have looked this good, which is something I agreed with.
We got in the tent and could hear the entire thing just howling with the wind. I was wondering if the whole tent was going to blow away. I gave him my bottles and he refilled them as I munched on Oreos. I couldn't believe how easy Oreos went down. They were a God send. They have so many calories and they taste incredible, I was in awe of how much they helped (and in fact I carried a bag of them the past two aid stations as I was tired of baby food). Mark asked if I was done with my trekking poles and I quickly advised that I wasn't and took off to West. About .5 mile into this section, I went for a drink of my water only to learn that it was Heed!
Heed is an electrolyte mix that some runners take but that I personally don't believe in at all. Mark had accidentally filled both liters with heed instead of water. This was somewhat of a problem given this is one of the longer sections and I had been running out of water to begin with on the first two laps. Suddenly I became a little annoyed, but then realized it was an honest mistake and that I easily could have made the same error. Both the water and the heed are in the same container and not as well marked as it could have been. The only downfall here is I would have to trudge on with no water. I did take a few sips of the heed on this section, but I think my optimistic outlook overpowered the negative one that I was feeling.
I pressed on and took a few sips of the heed. The wind was ferocious up high and I was glad that I wasn't having to go back to the top of Franklin Peak and endure that a bit more. I still continued eating but cut that down given that I didn't want to get super thirsty on this section. I was lucky in that it was night time and the sun that was beating down on me earlier in the day had subsided and a full moon had taken over for the light. I really could have done the night section without a headlamp if I wanted. Obviously not the most intelligent decision to do so, but good to know that that was an option. Seeing the time, I knew that I had a fighting chance of getting under 24 hours and that is exactly what I wanted to strive for.
After going up and down throughout this entire section, I was getting pretty thirsty. I just had to get to West Aid Station and then the finish would be the final stop. I got to the final ascent of this section and started downhill. I could tell my quads were absolutely obliterated at this point and I wasn't moving too well. All of the downhill that I bombed down had definitely caught up. I'll admit that I didn't train as much for this race as I should have and that was a contributing factor, but I also know that mile 80 to the end presented all unique challenges of their own. I could see lights out in the distance and knew that was the aid station.
After moving slowly downhill, I could also tell that there were blisters forming on the inside of my toenails. This tends to happen when I bash against rocks all day. I'm blessed in that some ultrarunners really have terrible foot blisters throughout the day, and, aside from these blisters, there was nothing major happening to my body.
I finally got to West Aid Station and restocked my supplies. After standing for a couple of minutes, I noticed that by not moving you do get cold very quickly. I got enough Oreos for the finish and continued to press on. I left this aid station at about 2:30 AM. I had 2.5 hours to get to the start/finish to be the 4th person ever to be under 24 hours on this course. I started to walk the beginning of this section as I downed some Oreos. Getting the calories in that I ignored the past 2.5 hours was pivotal. I also chugged tons of water at that aid station as I didn't have any.
This section took forever. I felt I was running consistently and constantly on this section and was making no headway. North Franklin Peak in the distance was moonlit and inspiring, but extremely demoralizing as it was so far away and that was essentially when my day would end. However, I pressed on. I passed a couple of more runners on the way but for the most part I was solo on this section.
After getting to the final uphill segment, I thought that I was almost done but this is when the false summits really took their toll. Every uphill I went I thought "this has to be the end" and then it would lead to another downhill with a steep, rocky incline. I did this for seemingly forever. The clock was ticking away, but when I saw the start/finish at about 4:42 AM, I knew there was no way that I wasn't going to get sub 24. This was all mostly downhill but was very rocky. I was side stepping as my quads were absolutely shattered. They had nothing more to give on this section since I used them on the runnable downhills earlier.
The contrast of how I looked finishing here compared to lap 1 or lap 2 coming down must have been painful to see. I went from a galloping mountain goat to a lame camel that forgot how to walk. However, with a little umph, I made it to the end in 23:49. I was so ecstactic and relieved to have made it. To be sub 24 on this course felt like a miracle. Below is a pic of the finish:
I learned a lot from this course. First, taking it easy from the get-go is super important. Too many times I let the adrenaline of the start overpower smart decisions and I pay dearly down the road. I felt I controlled that a lot more on this course and forced myself to slow down in spots where I would normally pick it up. Second, baby food works! I probably owe my brother a lot for his recommendation of using this and testing out a few flavors. I now have something aside from GU that I can use. Third, Oreos remain a favorite food. I love these on and off the course and my love for them only increased.
Thank you to Rob and the volunteers who put this race on. It is a very exciting event and love what you have done in the Texas Trail racing community. Thanks Mark for crewing and helping me out! Lastly, thanks to everyone else who read this blog. Hopefully you found some amusement during the course of this.
Best,
