Disclaimer - (Spoiler alert)
Well before I get started, I am finding that this post is a bit different from
most posts in that it is more therapeutic than informational. Also, I am going to try my hardest to keep
this post positive. Due to the amount of
time and effort that I dedicated to training for this event, the money I
invested to get to the race, and the effort I put forth during the race.. it
won’t be easy as I am VERY frustrated with the circumstances and the outcome.
But here it goes…
The story starts on the days
leading up to the race. According to the
weather predictions, the “most competitive 50mile race on US
At the packet pick up, I saw
quite a few familiar faces… Rickey Gates, Adam Campbell, Adam Chase.. etc. This crew gave me the heads-up that the
course had been changed due to flooding in some areas of the trail and some
sort of “jurisdiction” issues. By the
looks of the new map, much of the most technical climbing and single track had
been removed. The course now consisted
of a myriad of turns and loops. To be
honest, just looking at it gave me a headache… but now I felt like it might
actually set up even better for me.. lots of rollers.. forest service roads..
and mud.. perfect for how I felt coming in to the race.. fast, strong, and
ready to climb.
Fast forward to Saturday
morning.. it’s 5am.. and time to get it on.
It’s raining.. windy.. but not too cold.
The Elite Wave is packed with a lot of big name guys from all over the
world. I always crack up when I compare
my attire to the rest of this group.
They are decked-out in their sponsor’s newest, coolest gear, while I am wearing
a menagerie of brands.. Adidas, New Balance, Nike, Swiftwick, Amphipod, etc. -
My Flagstaff buds that are sponsored crack up when we race and love counting
how many different brands I have on.. what can ya do.
As the gun goes off, we jet
across the start line and quickly form a thick pack. I wasn’t too scared about starting out hard,
so within a half mile I took the lead running about 5:50/mile pace. I kept this going for the first couple miles
and as we started the first small accent, we had already established a small
lead pack consisting of myself, Adam Campbell, Sage Canaday, and Cameron
Clayton. A large chase pack was about
30sec back. For the next 4 or 5miles,
the 4 of us traded lead position multiple times. Looking at my Garmin, I was doing
7:15min/mile pace on the climbs and 5:30 to 5:50 pace on the downs &
flats. This pace was perfect for now. I felt that eventually I would bring the pace
up, but for now it felt relaxed.
As we winded our way up and
over hills, the weather fluctuated between crazy and brutal. There were several times that it was raining
so hard that my headlamp beam wasn’t able to illuminate the ground in front of
me. The fog would get so thick in spots
that a 10 sec gap made someone invisible… and the wind whipped the rain hard
enough on the highest ridges to make trying to see painful.
Regardless of all this.. we
were racing. Around mile 7, it was down
to 3 of us. Myself, Sage, and Adam. We were still throwing down pretty hard… the
pace stuck in that 5:45/mile on the downs & flats.. and 7:30/mile on the
ups. Sizing up Adam & Sage, I
noticed that Sage was killing the uphills, opening a gap on every climb, but he
was wearing road shoes and having trouble with traction - - would that hurt him
later in the day?.. Adam was dominating the downhills.. flying down each
descent - - would the downhill pounding take its toll?.. only time would
tell. - - I was right in the middle… closing distance
on Sage on the downs.. and Adam on the ups.
Around mile 15, things
opened up a bit. Sage surged on an
ascent.. and Adam responded on the ensuing descent. At this point, I made a conscious decision to
run my race and not get caught up in these early race surges. I kept both Adam & Sage in sight and
simply let them pull me along the trail.
Mile 17-ish - - I guess this
is where everything went wrong for me, Sage, & Adam. At this point, I am not 100% sure how big our
lead was. I know that I could see
several minutes back in spots and I didn’t see a single headlamp, so my guess
was around 5min-ish.
Following the course, the
trail splits and you are suppose to head downhill to an aid station, do a short
loop, and head back up the hill where the trail splits from the route of origin. The 3 of us did not go down the hill, but
instead followed the markers taking us the other direction. Honestly, I didn’t see a single marker, sign,
etc pointing us down the hill.. and there DEFINITELY wasn’t a race official
there to help figure out this junction (I later learned that a course official
/ volunteer was there for the chase pack – so I guess we out ran the officials??) - - I would love to feel comfortable saying..
“yeah, this is part of trail racing”.. or “should have reviewed the map more
closely”.. but I paid an entry fee.. I incurred a good amount of travel
expenses to get to the race.. I put a lot of time into my training.. I was
running hard.. oh yeah, and there was $10,000 at stake.. so for me, it’s hard
to just write it off as if some kind of “trail culture” thing that I should
just accept .. - - but… enough of that.
As I had no idea, we had
“gone off course” I was still running hard.
Coming through mile 20 through 24, there were several sections where you
could see up to 12min in front & behind due to the “out and back” nature of
the course.. and I saw Sage (~7min) & Adam (~3min) in front of me and no
one behind me.
As I came through 26miles in
around 2hrs 50min, my strategy was to keep the downs & flats around
6min/pace.. and the ups no slower than 8min pace. Since the modified course was suppose to be ~46miles,
I figured that would put my finish time close to 5hrs 10min which would keep
anyone from catching me.. and I would have a decent shot of closing the gap on
Adam and Sage if they fell off pace at all.
The next 6 or 7 miles , I fueled a lot and
still had some good bounce in my legs.
My spirits were high.. but that changed as soon as I hit the aid station
that I missed earlier. For several
minutes, I was explained the situation.. Sage, Adam, & I missed a turn on
the first lap and if we wanted to have a chance to not be DQ’d, we would have
to run a loop twice and go up and down the muddiest, sloppiest hill of the
entire course twice. This would make up
the distance we missed.. but it definitely changed the nature of the race.
So confused.. and a bit
angry, I blazed out of the aid station.
I thought “well, maybe I won’t lose much distance..?”.. Then I passed
Timmy Parr. I hadn’t seen him all day
long and all of a sudden he is in front of me.
What the hell!.. I asked him how he got ahead of me.. and he didn’t say
much. At this point, I kinda lost it and
even considered dropping out.. I was thinking, “Did anyone run the course
right?”.. “Due to the numerous amount of criss-crossing and multitudes of
various runners, how would they know who cut what parts of the course?”. I decided not quit, but instead ran the 2
loops. I was DEFLATED, so I walked the muddy hill the 1st time and jogged
it the 2nd time. … I
literally went from cloud-9 thinking at best I had a shot to win and at worst
earn a 3rd place finish… to crap “what place am I in”.. “who
actually ran the course”.. “this hill sure is harder in the mud after 32 miles of running than
it would have been when it was dryer and at mile 17” .. “what can ya do.. at
least I wouldn’t be DQ’d. Right?”
For the next 7 or 8 miles , I really shut it
down running anywhere from 8min pace to 13min pace. I was pretty much heart broken and was having
a hard time dealing with the shocking realization that I was no longer going to
meet my goal of making the podium as a top 3 finisher.. and that I could
potentially be DQ’d.
After being passed a few
times, I finally woke-up and re-grouped.
I had Dylan Bowman reeling me in and this encouraged me to start pushing
again. The last 8miles went by pretty
fast as I fought to keep Dylan at bay.
As I crossed the finish
line, I learned that I finished 6th place in a time of 6hrs
1min. This was not the result I wanted,
but I tried to hold my head high. No
disrespect to the guys in the top the 3 spots, but I am confident that I had a
superb shot at the podium. I guess it wasn’t
meant to be.. I do know that regardless of my disappointment, I stuck with it
and pulled out a solid day. I’ll take
pride in that, move on, and get ready for the next one.
