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White River 50 – USATF 50 mile National Championships – July 28, 2007
Legs still feeling Western, so I took it easy on the first climb, running with Kami (from those crazy North Face ads) and in front of Brian Morrison (of 2006 Western States 100 fame) and Japanese ultra stud Hiroki I think and a few other hombres until K-Dizzle stopped at the Ranger Creek AS (mile 11.7) for a nature break (she ultimately dropped out). Then rolled through a tiring Dusty (Jurek’s pacer from all those Western States wins) and Seattle Running Co. Michael and Bill someone and then solo forever all the way down to Buck Creek (halfway) in about 8th or 9th. All was well until the beginning of the second climb (8.5 miles long) at ~29 mi when I saw someone up ahead and geez it was Nikki (multiple Western States winner and womens course record holder Kimball). Competitive pilot light was still lit and the burner came on full and lo and behold the stupid surge up that steep first part of the hill and into the blazing sun of the clearcut to roll her up tapped me. Just as I got within 10 seconds I cracked. Hard. Walked for about a minute in an absolute stupor and decided to turn around and walk back down. Then it hit me - I'd do that and end up at the far end of the fire crew airstrip and then have to walk the full length of the runway to get to my car. Somehow, in my feeble mind it made more sense to go up...to the Fawn Ridge aid station about 2 miles away...so I could just walk straight down the road from there to the S/F. Those two miles are an absolute blur. Walk. Stop. Pause at a nice flat tree stump for a break. Walk some more. Get passed by someone friendly. Walk some more. Finally, Fawn Ridge. And the sweet lead volunteer who told another volunteer to make sure I got some food and Dew down. While that one was feeding me, the first lady filled my bottle. And all the while all I was thinking about was getting out of this daze so I would have enough energy to walk down to the car without keeling over. Runners streamed past, taking me from the top 10 deep into the teens and then the 20s. No matter, when I'd inhaled a half a PB&J and a Payday and a handful of potato chips and a mystery bar and about a liter of Dew, I felt ready. So I walked towards her looking down at my number so I could tell her to write down #142 and let the race directors know I was scratched and off the course. And she sees me coming, looks me straight in the eye, hands me my bottle, and says in the most cheery voice I can ever remember hearing "You're all set. We'll see you at the barbecue!" I was so taken aback I didn't know what to say. In my mind 'does not compute...does not compute.' To her, all I could muster was "well, all righty then". And I trudged off wondering what had just happened to me. Thinking to myself maybe this was the right thing to do. I'd be fine, I reasoned. I could for sure get to the finish in 9 hours. Maybe even 8:30. And 50 meters later I was sitting on another flat tree stump completely humbled thinking about that part of the race info packet talking about the time the course would close and wishing I'd paid closer attention. Was it 4:30PM? That would be dicey. Or 7:30? I at least had a decent shot there. Then along came F2, this crazy mountain running lady from Vail I'd run with earlier. Who said something completely unintelligible as she went by. Looking like death warmed over, but still making her way up the hill. And something about that flipped a switch deep in my inner whatever and off I went. But I still couldn't run. So I walked. And walked and walked and walked and walked some more. And then the false summit at 35 miles came and the walk became a shuffle. And the shuffle became a run. And lo and behold a half mile later going across the Sun Top road for the last uphill section to the aid station, I rolled her up. And rolled the next guy up. And the next guy. And the next guy. And then Sun Top, the end of the final climb and the 37 mile mark. And I blazed through that AS so fast I didn't recognize myself. Just excited to be alive again, I guess. And with just under 6:20 on my watch I thought maybe, just maybe, there was a sub-8 to be had. It would be a stretch, but that's why you race, right? It's the freakin' national championships, so get up and off your sorry *ss and RUN. So I did. All the way down the hill in what turned out to be 6:12 pace, feeling progressively better and better and shaking my head from time to time at my pitiful self. Then the Skookum Flats trail, the final 10k, and some more roadkill. And in the end? 13th overall in 7:54. I think 10th in the Open Men's div, with Nikki and two Masters ahead of me. Not the PR I was hoping for, but at least I didn't get kicked off the course for missing a cutoff time. And while I was weak, I didn't quit. Thanks to all the inspiring training partners motivating me from a distance. And oh yeah, that lady at the aid station.
Next year I'll be strong enough to run that hill.
Matt |