Five weeks
before the Javelina, I ran my best race ever at the Bear Chase 100K. Unfortunately, only two weeks before the
Javelina, I had one of my worst performances ever at the Denver Rock n’ RollMarathon, where I went from a 1:30 first half to a 1:52 second half.
Prior to the
race, Ultra Signup showed 545 registrants - that’s getting close to the level
of Leadville, which had almost 700. Of
those 545, I was 71st overall by their target time, and 108th
by ranking, 66th of the 391 men, and 16th out of 141 in
my age group. The Javelina is known for
being a pretty fast Jundred, so my goal time was to break 20 hours, but UltraSignup had me targeted at 19:17:42 – pretty damn fast! I usually
beat Ultra Signup’s predictions, but who knows on this one.
This trip to
Arizona, I’m going solo. I would only
have the latter part of Friday to spend with family in Scottsdale, in addition
to shopping and pre-race prep. For each
of the previous three 100 milers, I had 2 very full, large shopping bags of
supplies for my drop bags. This time,
I’d be flying out on the ultra-low-fare Spirit Airlines, which charges for
everything except the air you breathe.
Being the cheap SOB that I am, I refused to pay for any carry-on bags,
so everything I need for the weekend and the race will be worn on my body, or
fit in a tiny backpack that can squeeze underneath the seat.
I’ve been
watching the forecast since it came out, 10 days prior to race day. Initially, highs were projected in the low
90’s, then it dropped into the upper 70’s, then went up to the upper 80’s,
before dropping yet again into the mid 70’s.
Unfortunately, they’re also calling for winds of 12 mph, and a 40%
chance of showers.
Race day - After
4.5 hours of sleep, the alarm went off, I got ready, and headed off towards
McDowell Mountain Park. I got there
early, as usual, parked, and lugged my big cooler over to the shuttle. In my haste, I forgot my sweatshirt in the
car, but luckily, the temperature was so mild, that I was fine standing around
in just a shirt. The 0.3 mile walk from
the shuttle to the start wasn’t a whole lot of fun with the heavy cooler, and
this was probably the effort that led to some sore shoulders during the race
and the following week.
Javelina
Jeadquarters was the giant party that I was expecting after reading all the
race reports. Everything was extremely
well organized, from the masses of tents, down to the striped lanes for our
drop bags/coolers. After checking in, I
went through the rest of my pre-race prep, including slathering on lots of
sunscreen, organizing supplies, etc.
Closer to start time, there developed a rather long line at the
port-o-potties, but while walking around the encampment, it was obvious that there
were numerous groupings of potties, with no waits at all.
I got into
the start corral with just a few minutes to go.
With 500+ runners, I didn’t want to get caught up too far in the back,
but no one seemed to want to get near the start line, so I was much further up
than I would have liked. At 6:00 AM
sharp, we were off. Right from the
start, runners were streaming by me in droves.
After so many races, it still amazes me how quickly the majority of
runners start for such long distances.
I’m guessing that I had gotten down to 150th place or lower
before the passing stopped.
Based on a
number of race reports, I made the last-minute decision to start without a
light, even though it would be dark for the first 20 to 30 minutes. This was the right choice as there were
enough headlamps around me and the trail was easy enough. This way, I wouldn’t have to carry the light with
me for the entire lap. The sunrise was
absolutely magnificent. There were
enough clouds in the sky to be light up in bright shades of pink. It was unfortunate that we were mainly
running with our backs to the rising sun.
Everyone turned around for brief glimpses, but only a few pulled off to
the side to truly appreciate the splendor.
Once the
field spread out a bit, I got to chat with a few other runners. One guy remembered me from Coldwater, where I
had DNF’d on the 52 miler and he dropped from the 100 to the 52. Another guy was a triathlete who had gone out
with a 2:10 opening lap last year and quickly regretted it. I also hung a bit with “Golden girl” (Alaina)
who was from Golden, CO. We wound up
running with each other on and off for much of the first two laps.
I experimented
again with different temporary tattoos.
I airbrushed my forearms with ARAVAIPA, which stayed on for the entire
race. I had also done the print and peel
Javelina Jangover tattoos on the shoulders.
They looked great at first, but within the first few miles they started
to look like Salvador Dali paintings and shortly thereafter were completely
flowing down my arms. Later on, aid
station volunteers thought I had bruised my shoulders in a fall.
I had gotten
a replacement 301XT from Garmin just a few days prior and apparently didn’t set
up the display correctly. It was showing
me the current mile pace, as opposed to average pace. This threw me off a bit, but I still knew I
was going plenty fast early on, despite my relaxed effort.
I took only
one bottle with me on the first two laps, and it turned out to be just
right. I came into Jackass soon after
emptying the bottle. I wasn’t overly
efficient at this aid station, but I wasn’t worried as I knew I was ahead of
schedule. The only minor glitch was that
the first time through this aid, the volunteers hadn’t quite gotten into a
rhythm yet. With a constant flow of
runners, and the food, drinks and drop bags in three different directions, it
was not flowing very smoothly. It wasn’t
a big deal, and the rest of the day (and night), they did an amazing job.
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| Photo by Alina Donath |
I headed out
and tried to relax into the downhill section heading back towards Jeadquarters. It didn’t feel like I was going very fast,
but the mile splits showed otherwise. I
got back to the start in about 2:30 – a good 15 to 30 minutes (1 to 2 minutes per
mile) faster than I should have. I know
this sounds like an excuse, but I think the low altitude tricked me into
running this first loop too fast. I’ve
gotten very good at pacing myself and those first 15 miles felt
effortless. I was breathing quite calmly
and even having many conversations. This
would have been just right in Colorado, but 4,000’ lower, my lungs were taking
it easy, while my legs were actually working just a tad too hard. Heading out for the second loop, I was
working too hard on the uphills, yet it didn’t seem like I was moving very
fast. This would have been a good time
to use the Garmin to check my pace and slow down, though it was already too
late. By the time I got back to Jackass,
I really had to slow down. My breathing
was fine, but my legs just felt dead. It
would take until the start of the 4th loop for me to fully
recuperate. It was frustrating, but I’ve
learned that in 100 miles, there’s plenty of time to recover from a low
point. I just need to be patient.
 |
| Photo by Chris Furman |
I went with
2 hand-held bottles for loops 3 and 4, which were just barely enough at times. Though the temps never got above the upper
70’s and there were some intermittent clouds, and a nice breeze, it still felt
plenty warm during the middle of the day.
On a truly hot day, like they had last year, 2 bottles would not have
been enough. I also employed my
home-made ice bandana – a bandana folded in half and partially sewn to hold
ice, then tied around my neck. I had
used this method at the Bear Chase and it made a world of difference in the
heat.
At around
mile 55, on the far end of the loop, I was churning up a small rise when I
looked up at one of the scantily clad runners ahead (a female one), and BAM! I
went down in an instant. Luckily my
kneecap took the brunt of the fall, saving my precious water bottles. I popped up almost as quickly as I went down
and the blood instantly started to ooze out.
My knee hit so hard that I was genuinely concerned about real damage and
the possibility of not being able to finish.
It hurt a bit, but not too bad and I knew that if I stopped to baby it,
stiffness and pain would settle in, so I just kept running. Luckily, it never got any worse, but every
time a runner came the opposite way, their smile would quickly turn to shock
and concern as my knee came into view.
The aid station volunteers kept asking to clean and bandage it up, but I
wasn’t about to waste that kind of time - I still had a race to finish.
 |
| Photo by Alina Donath |
Towards the
tail end of loop 3, between Jackass and Jeadquarters, a couple of guys had
lugged in a big cooler full of popsicles.
It was still hot out, my stomach was OK, though not great, and those
popsicles really hit the spot. I had one
on loop 3 and then another coming back on loop 4. After the second visit, I was telling
oncoming runners about the treat that awaited them. They all had looks of awe and
excitement. When Gordy came up, his
response was a growling “yeah right”. It
might not have been the best part of the race for him, and tales of popsicles
in the desert would have sounded like a teasing mirage. I’m sure he was pleasantly surprised within a
couple of hundred yards. Yes, I got to
run with the world famous Gordy Ainsleigh (age 67!).
The guy who first ran the Western States. The guy who started this crazy ultra running
thing. And I even got growled at by him.
I finished
loop 4 just as the sun was starting to set, dropped off a bottle and took up my
flashlight. The darkness and cooling
temps gave me a good mental and physical boost, and seeing all the lights winding
along the desert trail in the darkness was pretty cool. On loop 5, I pulled into Jackass and made a
quick stop in the medical tent to lube up my left foot, fearing the return of a
blister that I had at the Denver Marathon only two weeks prior. Still running shirtless, I was feeling good,
but the medical guy insisted that I take a shirt with me, just in case – “it’s
complimentary”, he repeated. I took the
shirt and kept it wrapped around my waist as a precaution, but feeling
comfortable the rest of the time, I dropped it off after loop 6.
 |
| Photo by Alina Donath |
The 40%
chance of rain never materialized, but during loop 6, up to the north, there
was an awesome display of lightning in the clouds that had gathered up against
the mountains. Darkness also brought on
increased festivities at all the aid stations, along with some light-up
costumes. One guy, who had been running
all day with a skeleton costume, was finally able to turn on his glowing
skeleton - I bet more than a few exhausted runners were spooked.
A few times
early on, I ran with a guy named Norm, from California, exchanging the usual
pleasantries. By the latter half of loop
4 we were running on and off together quite a bit more. We wound up running mostly together from loop
5 on, periodically exchanging leads. He
pushed more on the uphills, and I made up the distance on the downhills. We finished loop 6 together, but got
separated again as we headed out for the last partial loop.
For the
final, partial loop, they give runners a cheap, glowie necklace - the kind that
you get at the dollar store and kids love to wear. It sounds silly and gimmicky, but heading
back out on the trail wearing that thing is absolutely amazing. Everyone cheers you on even more, knowing
it’s your final loop. The extra energy is
awesome. I bet if you did a test, giving
necklaces to only half of the runners, you would see a marked difference in the
time for their final loops. The
necklaces give that much of a psychological boost.
Part way up
the climb of the final partial loop, I caught up to Norm again, and shortly
thereafter, we got passed by another finisher.
Norm was really pushing himself, grunting and cursing with the effort,
but I managed to stay close on his tail.
As we turned off the main course, Norm made a quick stop at the mini-aid
station for a shot of tequila – seriously!
I kept going, but Norm quickly caught up.
We had
previously discussed the fact that we were both in the same age group and I
warned him that if it came down to it, I might have to nudge him off into the
cacti on the side of the trail. We had a
friendly competition going - one which I was hoping to win. The final mile of the race, when you get back
onto the main course, is pretty flat, but from the tequila to this intersection
was just a nice, mild downhill. I knew
this would be my chance, so I hit the gas.
My Garmin was dead, but Norm was trailing close behind, shocked to see
that we were running 8:30’s after 97 miles.
Then we got down to 8 minute miles and then even faster. Norm started to slowly fall behind by just a
bit and I was pleasantly surprised to pass two runners on the way down. I was hoping to catch the guy who had
previously passed us, but he was just flying up ahead and kept increasing his
lead. Turns out he was another Coloradoan,
Duncan Callahan from Gunnison, and wound up beating me by almost 2 minutes.
This is the
3rd hundred in a row where I had to sprint to the finish. With 1/2 of a mile to go, I glanced back to
see a headlamp right on my tail. I
didn’t know who it was, but I wasn’t going to give up a spot this close to the
finish. I gave it everything I had in
the last half mile, sprinting through the cheering crowds at Jeadquarters,
right to the finish line, beating my pursuer by a mere 5 seconds! Norm came in less than 2 minutes later.
19:36:25 – a
100 mile PR and more than 3 hours faster than Leadville! For the first time though, I didn’t beat
UltraSignup’s predicted time of 19:17, but I placed way better than their
standings had me at – 16th overall vs. 71st, 13th
male vs. 66th, and 2nd age group vs. 16th.
Lap
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
Time
|
2:33:49
|
2:46:11
|
3:15:48
|
3:11:05
|
3:08:50
|
3:04:18
|
1:36:24
|
Place
|
107th
|
82nd
|
70th
|
57th
|
39th
|
21st
|
16th
|
I’m not
overly happy with the time on my laps, but I’m thrilled with the way my
placement kept steadily creeping up. It’s
a nice confirmation that my pacing strategy works, even when I don’t have the
best of days.
Adrenaline
is a great masker of pain. As soon as I
crossed the finish line I felt the pain of a large blister on my right big toe
and could hardly walk. I eventually made
it over to the medical folks and they took care of my blister and finally
cleaned up my knee. I then took some
time to rehydrate and chow down on a couple of burgers before gathering up my
stuff and heading for the shuttle back to my car.
6 ½ loops
can be a bit repetitive, but the advantage is that you’re never more than a
couple of hundred yards from another runner.
This is an incredibly social race and there’s no chance of getting lost
or feeling lonely. More than any other
race, Javelina is one to crew at or just hang out at the Start/Finish. Jeadquarters was an incredibly fun, energetic
place. Aravaipa put on yet another
awesome race. Little details like the
popsicles, glow necklaces, and tequila really contributed to the already
festive atmosphere.
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