Leading up to the race, I did about 3 weeks of 2 a day trail runs. Run an hour before work and then about another hour in the middle of the day. Then I would do a 3-5 hour run on Saturday to cap off the week on my tired legs. Training in upper 80s to low 90s and being swarmed by bugs prepped me well for a worst case scenario in Bend, not to mention the altitude training. For nutrition, I wanted to stick with Tailwind the entire time, which really is sugar and water. I was to become a hummingbird all day on a liquid diet - and not even the good kind of liquid. I packed ziplock bags with what I thought I would need and told Brad to fill them up and switch packs with me when I saw him. I used about 2.5 scoops for each bag, a bit more than I had trained with but I thought you could never get enough calories in these things.
The weather in Bend was a high of 62, unusually cold for the time of year with lows in the low 40s. Truly great running weather. There was also a little rain the day before so that put some moisture on the ground and made the trails far less dusty than they otherwise would have been. Basically I got pretty lucky with the cards dealt to me.
Going into the race, I saw the course record was just over 18 hours. As the course has about 10,500 feet of climbing with 11,000 descent, I knew it had potential to be a fast day. Although I verbalized to most I wanted to be around 20 hours, deep down I was hoping and thinking I could go faster if everything went right. There were about 250+ registered for the race, and despite wanting to finish (always the primary goal), I really wanted to see what my legs had in them from all of the training and the two weeks off leading up to it.
When the race started at 6, everyone ran on a road for the first 2-3 miles. As usual, there was a group of poeple who took off immediately. I was probably in 20th at this point in the race, but that didn't really matter to me. I just wanted to find my pace early and stick with a consistent rhythm. I happened to find this girl with bright orange shorts who was going at a perfect pace. I chose to run with her once we got off the first road section that took us to a flat area with lots of manzanitas. About two miles following her, one of her bladders exploded and she was like "oh fudge sickles" or, at least the PG version of what she actually said. As there wasn't much I could do I just said "oh no, I hope you can get that resolved" and kept going. At this point I was a bit alone.
The first 10 miles were pretty smooth, nothing to report. I ran through the first aid station and pressed on to mile 16, the first place I would finish my two bladders full of Tailwind and replace them with two new ones. The first place I would see Brad was 26 miles at Dutchman. I carried a 2 liter pack of water the first 26 miles with the goal of finishing that entire bladder and essentially 4 with Tailwind. This worked pretty well. At this point, this is when a runner from Portland (Colin), orange shorts girl, and "Unknown Unknown" started to run with me. Unknown Unkonwn ended up being Kimberly, the future 2nd place overall runner and first time 100 mile finisher. She said she goes by Uknown as she doesn't believe the website should get the rights to take her name and use it as they want. She is a Director of Analytics with a flair who lives in the Marin Headlands of San Francisco. I was skeptical if her name was even Kimberly after she told me this. It could've been Matilda, Dolores, or Francoise for all I knew. Or a really famous person trying to stay under the radar. Regardless, we all ran together.
I noticed that Kimbelry ran all of the small hills which was really just a hiking pace for me. Having followed her and orange shirts girl for a while, I decided to pass them. Kimberly then said behind me "I hope you don't mind me using you as my guide" as she realized I was hiking as quickly as she was running. This all changed on the downhill though. I pride myself in being a solid downhill runner but Kimberly completely rocked it. She passed me with ease and floated over the trail. I was blown away. She also carried a single water bottle and I have no clue how she sustained herself. This was also the last I saw of Kimberly.
As we pressed on, we eventually got to Dutchman (mile 26). Here, I saw Brad who had my pack ready and we made an exchange. I told Brad who is a very analytical person being a CFO in his day job that I wanted to really stay on top of my nutrition and drink all of the calories and water. He also made sure that everything was ready when I got into the aid station which saved me a ton of time. We exchanged quick pleasantries and I headed out. I did notice and communicated that the 2.5 scoops in all of the plastic bags was too much. I could tell it was a bit chalky tasking and I even burped (in a bad way) that it was a little too overpowering. I requested he remove half a cup for when we see each other moving forward. The next one would be Swampy Lakes at 33.
This section I was only following the orange shorts girl. She continued with the perfect pace. I was following her down this national forest road trail that went down for a while. We saw a couple of people walking, otherewise it was pretty sparse. About halfway on this she turned around and said "are we on the right trail?" Nothing like seeds of confusion and doubt to start clouding the brain. At no point did I think we were, but as soon as she mentioned it then I thought to wonder if in fact we were off trail as we didn't see any orange flags. I said with confidence that it is right and we both kept on, hopeful that it was the right direction. The trail continued to meander until we got into Swampy Lakes.
Brad again had my pack and we switched again. He lectured me a bit that I wasn't drinking all of my calories. I told him that that was OK as I was using the restroom often on the trail - a rarity for me. I headed out and this is when some of the climbing would occur. I wouldn't see him until Skyline at 48. I pressed on and passed orange shorts girl. I told her "I'm Nick" and she said "I'm Abby." After saying "hi Abby" she quickly corrected me that it was "ddy." I couldn't make out the name (though I thought I heard Addy" but wasn't about to correct myself into a second wrong answer). I pulled a Seinfeld and said "nice to meet you" having no clue what she actually said. I later learned it was Maddy.
That was the last I saw of her. I presssed on, alone at this point and just going in and out of music. I did about an hour and a half of music and then turned it off for 2 hours and listened to the silence. This was a nice mix up and kept me motivated throughout the day. I go to the midway aid station and changed both of my Tailwind bladders. I moved out and pressed on, just another 5 miles until I saw Brad again. This is when the trail went down, down, down. I eventually caught up to Taylor running downhill. I continued on for another couple of miles and started to run into mountain bikers. Facial expressions speak volumes, and I could tell that they were getting annoyed with all of these trail runners. Unfortunately for them, the signs in the woods clearly show bikes yield to hikers who yield to horses. Why horses who take huge dumps all over the trails and are easily spooked get top priority will always remain a Bermuda Triangle mystery to me. But, they pulled over and I eventually got to Skyline at 48. Brad was again waiting there and had the bags ready. About halfway into the race, I was out of Skyline at 2:02 and finished 48 miles in just over 8 hours. Generally I was feeling great and was super happy with how the body was feeling. I did pop a Tylenol at this point and pressed on.
This is when the highest climb comes at the race. I was looking forward to the 2,000 foot climb as the course was fairly runnable up to this point. This is when I noticed that Taylor and his pacer were tracking me down hard. I didn't think I was going slow but they sure were making me feel that way. They caught up and I learned that they are both locals to Bend. Taylor was really kind and said "you look strong" out here. One observation I had was that Taylor was breathing a lot heavier than I was. I was going on a climb with purpose but I do think his pacer was pushing the pace a little too much and wasn't as aware of where Taylor was at at this point.
We all pressed on together and it was at this point that they had slowed down quite a bit and I asked to pass them again. We also passed Jaclyn (the eventual 5th place overall and 2nd woman) and her pacer. I was again finding my groove as I continued drinking the Tailwind and marching on. We were at about 6800 feet high at this point and I could feel it was a tad cooler. The wind blew and gave me a slight chill. Nothing major at least. We all pressed on and got to the next aid station at 55.
I changed both bladders and pressed on. It was just another mile or two of slight uphill and then down from there. Taylor and I talked for a bit as his pacer was getting him supplies as he pressed on and he said that my tattoo reminded him of the Legend of Zelda. Of course I had to tell him that Ocarina of Time is still one of my favoritee games to date (not that I'm a gamer). I could tell that Taylor was fading a bit. This was his 3rd 100 but I had a bit more than he in the tank and left him and didn't see him for the rest of the day.
I pressed on to 63 which was an aid station off this national forest road. The landscape had also drastically changed. Now we were in a burnt down area that was totally exposed. I dumped out my remaining Tailwind to restock only to realize that I only had one extra bag of powder in my pack. I totally thought I had 6 but only 5 which means I basically trashed precious liquid and calories on the ground. I panicked slightly at my foolish mistake and the aid station volunteer offered to take some other form of calories, but I said that would trash my stomach and I'd take a risk - a costly mistake as the next aid station was 10 miles away at 73.
I refilled and headed out. This was on a horse trail that wasn't too technical. At this point the 50 mile runners were on the same course and I was passing a handful of them which was great motivation. I was being a bit more conservative with my liquids as 10 miles was a ways to go. The good news is it was not hot out and my pack was lighter, so I was able to move with purpose.
It was about halfway on this section that I ran into a lady who's name I regret not getting. It was one of 3 times I stopped to take a picture of the 3 Sisters. This lady pulled over on the side and had the most angelic smile I may have ever seen. She was totally out there loving life and taking in the entire scenery. There was an energy about her that seemed to go beyond normal life. I guess maybe it was being 60+ miles in at this point and being out here together with another person tackling a major physical and mental challenge that made the experience even better. I was glad to see her at the track later in the day, but that certainly picked up my spirits.
I continued on and on and on and on. This section just went forever. Although a lot of it was downhill, I was always getting my hopes up that I was getting close but it never actually came. Then on another descent I noticed that there were some photographers out there getting some really cool pics. One of the Sisters was directly behind me, and it was amazing.
I pressed on and got to the gravel road. I knew this would lead to 73 and the next aid station. I put the foot on the pedal hard at this point and flew into the aid station. I think Brad was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt. He had made friends with Colin's friends and everyone thought I looked pretty strong. I exchanged packs again and told him about my error 10 miles back but thankfully just scraped long enough to get to the aid station without bonking or running into any major issues.
I popped a second Tylenol and headed out. This next section was not my favorite. It was weaving horse trails between roads. The one cool part is there were some really huge and awesome volcanic rocks here that really caught my eye. I was passing some more 50 mile runners, too. As the sun was disappearing, I tripped and fell on a rock. I got pretty lucky in that I didn't land on anything hard. That was a relief! I pressed on, continued drinking my Tailwind and got to the aid station.
I restocked both bladders, turned on my headlamp, and headed out. This was all downhill and only 5 miles to the next one. I moved with haste here and passed a handful of people. This is also when I took my caffeine pill as it was dark out and I wanted to get a little awake so I didn't trip all of the time. I went down, down, down, connected to the national forest road, and ran on that
I could see that the aid station was just up ahead. Brad admitted at this point (mile 85) that he had no clue where I was at as the GPS was faultering and they had very strict rules here (Wychus). He had to park on the road which was confusing for runners because it was a huge stream of cars and lights, but I don't actually recall ever seeing the aid station. We exchanged packs again and he said he would see me at 94. This was the worst 10 miles.
Basically it was uphill the entire time on a very gradual national forest road. Up. Up. Up. Slow. Slower. Slowerer. I was getting annoyed it wasn't just straight up. "Why can't I just climb straight up and run flats? Why does it have to be this slow uphill torture? Why did they do this?" It never ended. I would try to run parts and just say forget it. This was probably my slowest section and lowest I had on the day. Once I FINALLY got to the top I was excited that it was going to be downhill. That excitement got crushed.
The next 4 miles was on a rocky horse trail. As a reward for the uphilll and slow slog, I got to run down a messed up horse trail littered with small rocks and boulders. I was beyond annoyed. "All of that slow climbing for this!?" was all I could think of. I walked more of this section than I should have. I was just not having it and the compromise of trying to run and eat it just didn't seem worth it. I kept going on what seemed like a long time. I was also eyeing my watch as I told Brad that I wanted to get sub 18 hours. I lost lots of time on these two segments and was wondering if that was now going to be feasible thanks to this stupid horse trail.
I slogged on and could see lights in the distance. Amazing! I knew this was Cow Camp and the last aid station until the finish. I got in and there were a handful of people there, Brad included. The first thing I said was "that section sucked" and people laughed, though I think some were a little offended at my salty attitude. I consulted with Brad and asked for a new headlamp and that I wanted to get out asap as I just had an hour to get through 4.5 miles. That was a stretch it felt. Brad gave me his headlamp and one bladder and I was out in under 2 minutes probably.
This section was not bad at all. A small uphilll and then it was mostly flat and a slight downhill. I just kept looking at my watch and telling myself that I slaved all day and I wasn't going to get lazy at this point to just miss my goal of sub 18. I kept on ahead and also kept gandering at my watch. I could see some bright lights up in the distance and knew that I was getting to a road section which is like pure gold, especially when you know the next stop is the end of this.
I followed the lights and lost the way. The finish is on a school track at a middle school. Unfortunately I was following the wrong orange flags. I was following a school construction project and not the actual trail. Of all places I got lost, it wasn't on the trails but in the city. It's like running on trails and rarely falling but eating it hard on concrete. Like, how does this happen? I was desperately looking around with my headlamp going in every direction. I could see where I had to end but didn't know how to get there. I said forget it and ran onto the track from where the 110 meter hurdles start w/ the finish being at the the start of the 300 hurdles.
I ran half a track and surprised everyone. Brad was disappointed as he was expecting me to come the same way as everyone else but I snuck up behind him and everyone else. He told me after that I was the only one who couldn't find the right ending. The race directors attempted to give me a 50 mile finish but I corrected them in that I did not finish 50 but a 100 and got the belt buckle. Although I could've been under 17:40, my little mishap cost me a couple of minutes, so I finished in 17:40 - certainly nothing to complian about.
I was totally delighted. I beat the old course record by more than 20 minutes and finished 4th overall - a testament to the talent that came out this year and the perfect conditions. This was my second fastest 100 ever and had I ran my fastest, I still would've ended 4th.
Thank you to those that watched along all day. I was so pleasantly surprised how many texts I got from family members and friends at 3 in the morning (their time) and other friends who followed me along all day. The support means the world to me, and I'm so grateful that my two feet allow me to see such wonderful and amazing places. Truly I am blessed.
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