Day 3,929 —Today and the Shippey 100 Part 1: So Much Ice—

 

Today

The temperature was in the single digits, and I had a meeting scheduled almost first thing, so sleeping in was not an option. I thought possibly they would call a virtual day considering how cold it was, but no new messages from the district, so I was up and dressed before 5:30 a.m.

I thought about whether today was easier than yesterday to run and concluded I felt about the same, which was encouraging with the 200-mile race coming up. I felt like on Sunday night after taking a nap I could have run 20 miles, which isn’t something I would even think about before, but now running 3 ultras in a row to get to the 200 miles is all I keep thinking about.

I got another race in March before that, and I am thinking about signing up for something in February to encourage me to train.

Before the Race

That morning I was up at 3:30 putting the final stuff together and heating the soup to bring. My daughter, son, and wife all got up too, and we were all standing around the kitchen together at 4:45 a.m. when my dad got there to take me in his FJ.

It is a quick 20-minute drive from my house to the Scout Ranch and there were not many people present a little before 5:30, so I went to the bathroom while I had a chance. I am not sure if I was getting sick, but I had been having to use the restroom frequently for the past couple of days. I didn’t want to think about too much because of what I could do, but the morning of the race I sat down in the bathroom at least 4 times. 

My dad and I got my drop bags and other supplies placed in the two aid station areas and joked about how crazy it is that these two aid stations are so close together, but that’s only if you take the road.

I saw the race director, his wife, and their young kids when I was in the Start/Finish area and the kids told me that they always get up around 5:30 to get ready for school, so today was no big deal for them.

I saw Eric, but nobody else I recognized yet. I knew Chris was going to be there. The guy who won it two years ago, but I hadn’t noticed him yet.

10 minutes before the start, they called us to the starting line to have the pre-race meeting. The race director, Jake Grossbauer, went over some changes from the previous race and chided us for choosing to run a winter ultra. I saw Jeremiah from previous races at the start and talked to him about the 200-mile race I signed up for. It is always good to see familiar faces on the starting line at races. 

The First Lap 0-20.3

Time of day 6 a.m.

I started fine, running with the leaders, talking to Chris a little, who told me he was carrying everything he needed in his 15-pound rucksack. Next, I talked to this guy who was wearing a Davy Crockett hat and jean shorts. He seemed soft-spoken when I talked to him, and even though I mentioned that I liked the hat, he didn’t seem to respond. He wasn’t doing the 100 mile but the 100k, but still that is many hours running in jean shorts.

When I made it to the first aid station, I already slowed down some and went to the bathroom and had some potato soup that my wife made. It was so icy, but I was still feeling that 100-mile energy and figured I needed to slow down and be careful.

By the second half of the first lap, I was slipping and sliding all over the trail. I quickly noticed how many other runners were using polls and/or Yaktraxs, but I didn’t bring either. When I made it to the next aid station, and they asked if I needed anything, I told them ice skates, or maybe cleats would be helpful, but I just got some disconcerted looks.

I dropped two of my gloves when I was trying to take a video of the sunrise. I figured I would find them the next time through, but I was gloveless for a while, and I kept falling and sliding, so I had to slow down more and waive other people ahead of me. There were a couple of sections where I just gave up and crawled on my hands and knees, and some others where I sled down the ice on my butt instead of attempting to run.

When I made it back to the Start/ Finish, my watch said I was at almost 17 miles, which I knew couldn’t be right, but that’s because I still had another leg to complete for the first lap. I found out later that this run was a little off with a 20.3 miles per lap, so my watch ended up being off by some, but not that much considering the 1.5-mile add and when I went the wrong way, so my watch might have been 2 miles off in total.

By the end of the first lap, all the guys going faster were ahead of me. I saw Eric at the aid station, and he was debating dropping because of the danger on the ice, and I concurred with him after falling several times, and now going slow enough to be careful.

Lap:                     1

Miles:                   20.3

Time of Day:         10:32

Course Time:        4:32:07

Pace:                   13:25 min/mi

To be continued . . .