Canyons 100k - Redemption

Earlier this year, I entered a drawing on ultrarunnerpodcast.com for a free entry into the sold out Canyons 100k.  Much to my surprise, I actually won.

This was pretty fantastic.  However, I had already committed to running the Gorge 100k only a month earlier than Canyons.  I've not attempted to run distances of this length this close together, so I was pretty concerned.  I figured that I could muscle through a finish at both, but expected to have a really shitty race at Canyons.  However, Gorge wasn't my best race, and I didn't face a very difficult recovery from it.  I did end up sick the week leading up to Canyons, and it lingered all the way through the race.  In fact, I still feel a bit of it as I write this.  I tried my best to put this out of my mind, because I didn't want to have any excuses for my performance at Canyons.  I was either going to do well, or not.

Legit.

Christy and I flew out to Sacramento on Thursday before the race and got to our hotel in Roseville.  (Gotta take advantage of my Hilton travel benefits)  We got in late, but were hungry, so we took a walk down to Mel's Diner for some grub.  I opted for the breakfast burrito.  A fine decision indeed.

Hoping to feel like Mega Man the next morning.

The next day was spent walking around Auburn, checking out shops, and just generally enjoying "The Endurance Capital of the World".  We had a bit of time to kill, so we tried to watch Captain America:Civil War.  Unfortunately, a power outage with about 30 minutes to go in the movie killed that idea.  After that, we met with one of Christy's childhood friends for dinner before getting some rest for the battle ahead.

I had decided that I wasn't going to let this race play out the way that mine typically do. I hate the idea of failing a race so much, that I often run too conservatively.  I decided on my motto as I lined up on the starting line: "equal parts smart and stupid".  I was going to go out and lay it out there, ready to fail miserably.  The first part of the race was fairly uneventful, as I was caught in a bit of a conga line heading up the first climb on the way out the Michigan Bluff.  After the group broke up a bit, I began running more aggressive than normal.  So much so, that I found myself in something like 25th place and running with Caroline Boller (Nike Pro) right after descending Devil's Thumb on the return back to Foresthill.  We chatted for a bit about how sloppy and awful Bandera 100k was in January 2015, but eventually, she stepped off the side of the trail and waved me on.  My first instinct was to slow way down because this must be stupid, right?  I kept on, and even pushed harder right up until about a mile to go to the halfway point, when Tim Tollefson (Nike Pro) blazed by en route to winning the 50k in course record time.  I cruised into Foresthill feeling pretty good and ready to hammer the descent down to the river.  I walked for a bit with Christy while I ate some soup.

Halfway in.  Time to go to work.

After polishing off my soup, I said goodbye to Christy and started cruising down the road toward Cal1.  Reaching the trail, I steadily picked up speed to see just how much trouble I was going to be in.  Surprisingly, my legs felt fine and strong, so I pushed...  hard.  I had heard from an aid station attendant in Foresthill that the next aid station would be 8 miles away.  I cranked up my music and leaned foward and let gravity give me a helping hand on down the hill. I was surprised when the aid station came up about 3.5 miles down.  I topped off my water bottle and kept pushing, afraid to slow up enough for my legs to realize that I was being stupid.  Again, to my surprise, there was no resistance from my legs.  Could this finally be the race where I could put it all together?  At this point, I was eating a Honey Stinger gel every 25 minutes, and sipping on a bottle of Tailwind.  In hindsight, I believe my success in this race came from the increased calorie intake.  I will certainly be testing this theory in depth as I build for a 100 miler sometime in September.

Hurting, but happy.

Still rolling, I began to finally catch glimpses of the river below.  I kept thinking that it had to be close, but like a carrot being dangled in front of a horse, it always seem JUST out of reach.  Everytime I would think, "the end is just around the next switchback", there would be a climb that took me away from the river.  This frustration helped me run harder and harder, and to my surprise, I began passing runner after runner.  I was going to ride this wave until the bitter end.  I finally reached the turnaround at Rucky Chucky, after figuring that I was somewhere around 15th place.  I wasted very little time at the aid, and got back on the trail, for the last 16 miles.  For some reason, I had got it in my head that the next aid was around 5 miles away.  Because I had been having success with the extra calories, I drank my Tailwind very fast, and to my surprise, I still had around 3 miles to go.  I started to feel weak and I started stumbling around on the trail a bit.  I searched in my pack for the caffeinated gels that I had stowed away "for a rainy day".  I remember taking at least 2, but maybe three gels at once.  I quickly regained my energy and alertness, and I ran with everything I could muster up to the next aid station.  I spent a few moments here, eating soup and drinking some coke or sprite.  (I can't remember which)  Suddenly, someone came into the aid station behind me, and I took off like a bolt and began running scared back up to the final aid station before the finish.  At some point, I was passed by a few runners who were running uphill much better than I was.  I still kept running as much as I could, and at this point I knew that I was going to finish this race in a personal best time, and I was overjoyed.  After one last stop at the aid for a refill on Tailwind and a cup of Sprite, I thanked the volunteers and took off.  I made it about a mile, before I felt some twinges in my right hip/glute area.  I told myself to start suffering, since I had made it the whole day without much to speak of.  With maybe a mile and a half to go, I couldn't push anymore.  I backed off the throttle, and hiked as well as I could up the final incline.  Once the paved road was in sight, I ran as well as possible, anxious to cross the finish line, and sit down for the FIRST TIME all day.  That's right, finally, a race where I didn't sit at all.  As the finish line drew near, I saw that I was going to cross the line in under 12.5 hours, a record for me by over an hour.

Repping Ypsi Running Co.,
and doing my best Sam Collier impression.

My final time was 12:29, and I finished as 18th male, and 21st overall.  Pretty damned good I think.  Finally, I was able to put together a solid race of mountain caliber.  With 14,000 feet of climbing, this race had 2,000 more feet of gain than Gorge, and I finished an hour and 4 minutes faster.  Perhaps Gorge served to shake of the rust, so to speak.  I don't know, and I don't care.  I'm just happy with the outcome.  I will now rest for a few days, and then focus on shorter, faster running for the first part of the summer before ramping up volume for a 100 miler in September.

Game on.