Big Horn 100 - June 19th-20th 2015

This race started at 11:00 local time. The night before, I tried to stay up a little later than I normally would becuase I wasnt adjusted to the time change and if I went to bed when I wanted to (at 7:30) I would wake up super early (around 4:00) like I had the previous two days. I figured If i could stay up alittle later, I would sleep a little longer and that way I could sleep as long as possible before I woke up to get ready to race. I wound up waking up at 6:00 and got dressed and triple checked that I had everything I needed and that Abbie had everything that she may need also.

Me and Abbie stopped by McDonalds to get a quick breakfast, even though it had plenty of grease I knew I would have time for the food to digest before we started and it wouldnt bother my stomach. On a side note, If you ever travel out west, add chicken biscuits to the list of foods they dont serve out there. Abbie tried to order one and they looked at her like she was crazy. After McDonalds, I stopped by JavaMoon to get a Shot in the Dark and we headed to Dayton.

The race meeting was scheduled for 9:00, so ofcourse I got there at 8:15 (For those who dont know me, I hate being late and always try to get somewhere early when possible).  I killed time by walking down to the river by the finish and skipping rocks. It was suprising how calm I was about this race. I guess I knew I was just out there to have fun, well to have as much fun as running 100 miles would allow. I knew the course profile and knew about how long it should take me to get from one point to the next, but didn't have a time goal. Not knowing how the altitude would affect me, I was ok if it took me longer than expected. The race meeting started promply at 9:00. "Thank You"s were given and the course was desribed. After the meeting we were supposed to head to the starting line (about 4 miles up the road at Tounge River). Buses were available for shuttling, but we were asked to take other runners with us if we had a vehicle and room in our car. We went to our car and made a lap around the parking lot and found two runners to ride to the start with us. They were a nice couple from New Jersey, but I cant remember their names for the life of me (I'm terrible with names).

Me and Abbie at the Little Bighorn River before the Race Briefing

Arriving at the start, we had an hour until the race began. Me and Abbie congregated down along a small foot bridge along with many other people. We made small talk with people. I would later be surprised by some of the people who we spoke to recognized me along the course and called out my name and cheered me on. Its amazing how much something little like that can mean to you. I traveled all the way across the country and didn't know a soul other than my sister there. So to hear someone you call out your name and cheer you on hits a humble piece of the heart. This type of comradery is one thing that makes ultrarunning so amazing.

View from the footbridge at the Start

Soon we all gathered at the starting line, and after the national anthem was and a prayer was said for our safety we were off. I quickly wished that I had started farther up towards the start. To get past people who were moving to slow for me, I got all the way to the side of the dirt road. Running what I consider a slow pace, I passed a lot of people. The field spread out pretty quickly because there was about 1.5 miles of dirt road before we hit the trail. 

Iconic Landmark for this Race

I almost instany found someone I knew. It was Tom, the guy from California I met earlier in the week at WalMart. I was wondering if I would see him out here. The beginning of the race is in a canyon and the tempatures are naturally hotter. I also noticed that it was humid that day because within a couple miles my shirt was soaked through with sweat. Now when I say "hot" and "humid", Im refering to Wyoming standards. Compared to the Georgia weather that Im used to, it was a nice spring day!

After the beginnig road section, it was some single track with small runnable climbs that started taking you out of the canyon. During these couple of miles, I only passed a couple of people. The road section, had pretty much settled everyone into there place. After these couple of miles we reached Lower Sheep Ais Station.

 I refilled my bottles, and off I went. The trail soon opened up to a large meadow that climbed up the mountain as far as you could see. All I could think was "WOW! They dont have views like this in Georgia". I pulled out my phone to snap a picture, which doesnt do it justice. The climb wasnt to teribly steep, I remember thinking that it was a runnable climb if this were a 50k, however this wasnt a 50k so I threw it down in low and ran/hiked up it. I reached the top of what I could see from the bottom antcipating that that was the top of the climb. I was mistaken. At the crest of that portion, revealed another meadow climb in equal length to the previous one. I just laughed to myself becuase each crest revealed another climb identical to the previous one. These climbs throught he meadows went on for 5 miles. As I said earlier the heat and humidity wasnt that bad for me since I am a Georgia native, however what was soul sucking was the sun. We have heat in Gerogia, but we dont have the wide open spaces that the west has. We pretty much always run in the shaded trails, but one thing they dont believe in out west is shade trees. At the begining of the race, I thought that I would have to stay on top of my water intake to insure I didnt forget to drink but I didnt have to remind myself at all. I was going through 16.9oz of water every 45 minutes pretty much the whole first day. That sun made me thirsty! 

The Meadow climb that went on for 5 miles

Also exactly at an hour I took my first gel. My plan was to take a gel every 30 minutes starting at an hour. I also reverted back to some gels that I used to use when I was road running marathons. They are Accel Gels which were the standard 100 calories, but have a 1:4 ratio of protien to carbhydrates. I dont like that they have protien in them because the stomach digest it so much slower, but they were easy to get down.

After finally reaching the top of the climb through the meadows we reached Upper Sheep Aid Station. A quick look at my altimiter told me that we really didnt have to climb much more to reach the next aid station, which was Dry Fork. This several miles consisted of just some rolling hills on some gravel roads and through meadows. Finally you could see the Dry Fork Aid Station. Running into it, I was greeted by my sister Abbie. I told her to expect me at 3 hours in and it was exactly 3 hours so it was great timing. She filled my water bottles while I found my drop bag. I stuff gels in my pocket, took out the trash, ate an oatmeal cream pie, put on some more 2Toms lube, and put more sunscreen on. Reapplying suncreen was a must because the sun was more intense at these higher altitudes. I felt like I spent more time here than I wanted to, but looking back I only spent 5 minutes there. With everything taken care of, I set out again. I knew I wouldn’t see her until the turn around so I thanked her and told her I would see her in several hours.

Running into Dry Fork with Tom

Leaving this aid station, we ran a jeep road down hill for a couple miles. Again, this section wasn’t steep but it was steady. All I could think was “This is gonna bite on the way back up”. You should start to be noticing a pattern here. Nothing is very steep, but it justs go on and on and on. These climbs were completely different than what we have here in the southeast. When we have a good climb back home it would be very steep but don’t last very long. This section was overall pretty bland, with nothing exciting happening. I spent most of the time talking with other runners as we ran.

Descending out of Dry Fork

The next aid station we came into was Cow Camp. I honestly just had to look up the name of this aid station because I could only remember it as the one with all the bacon! Haha apparently the people who run this aid station pride themselves on cooking up huge mounds of bacon. I must say….. It was Delecious! A young guy refilled my bottles, I grabbed severl pieces of bacon and ate them and walked over to where a woman had cups of coke set out. I asked for a cup, and she talked with me for a few seconds asking about my accent and where I was from while I downing my coke. I thanked her and the rest of the volunteers and off I went again.

I left feeling good about my efficient time through the aid station. I settled back into a groove knowing it was going to be 7 miles until the next aid station at Bear Camp. I probably made it about a mile  and quarter when I reached for one of my bottles and noticed that I was missing one! I couldn’t believe it! I had just had it in my hand; I even remebering the young guy handing me both bottles before I walked over to the cokes. I couldn’t imagine it popping out of my vest without me realizing it, so I must have sat it down then I grabbed a cup of coke. This is NOT good. I was drinking more water than I antcipated because I needed it. It was about 4 and a half hours in and I hadnt peed yet. I looked back and could see the aid station wayyyyy off in the distance. I decided I would push forward instead of backtracking. This was a risky choice, looking back it could have turned out bad. I sunk my head and trudge forward. I couldn’t believe I made such a stupid mistake.

A few minutes after being zoned out, I heard the guy infront of me say “Phew! Will you look at that. Aint that beautiful?” I picked my head up and what a beautiful sight it was. My moment of kicking myself had allowed me to briefly forget what I was here to do, and that was to enjoy the experience. With the beauty of the scenery flushing my self pity away, I took out my phone and snapped a picture. From then on I started chatting with the guy infront of me. His name was Lance and was a 21 year olf from Vermont. He had rode his bicycle all the way out here in 30 somehting days (I cant remember the exact number). I thought that was pretty cool to be able to have the freedom to do something like that. I knew I would never be able to do that between my schoolwork and job. I probed more to find out more, and turns out he was doing it for school. He was getting school credit for an epic adventure. WHAT?! Where was this major when I was signing up for classes?

 

If you get down, Just look up and realize how lucky you are

The trail started weaving in and out of some area with shade and coverage, which was a nice change. Lance said his quads were pretty tight and I winded up moving on ahead of him. Sometime earlier my stomach started to feel weird, but by now it was starting to feel bad. I thought it may have been the altitude, but that didn’t make much sence because I had already gotten up to 7600’ without any problems and I was at a lower atlitude than that right now. Either way, with altitude being on my mind I cut it back a tad and was just playing it easy. I also started having some trouble getting gels down. I was having to force myself to eat them every 30 minutes. I continued to feel worse and I thought to myself  “Just get to the turn around and see if you feel better”. The turn around was about 23 more miles, so I knew if I convince myself to push on then I would more than likely feel better by then. I pushed on, and continued to feel worse. I had to renegotiate with myself, “Just get to the next aid station”. (2 more miles… baby bites… one step at a time… that’s how you finish) I pushed forward and continued to feel worse until I got to the point where I couldn’t push another step. I sat on a boulder right next to the trail. I felt like if I took another step I would lose control of certain bodily function.

“Why do I feel like this?! Im less than 30 miles in.” I thought. I never expected this so early on. Towards the end, yea that would be more acceptable and predictable, but now?! Sitting on the boulder, a few runners passed me and asked if I was ok. I told them I was fine and I was just trying to settle my stomach. My stomach started to feel better and I was deciding whether to get up and push forward yet or not when another guy came by. “You Ok?” “Yea, Just trying to settle my stomach” “You want some Tums?” “You got some?! YEA that would be GREAT” He gave me a couple of tums and I chewed one up and moved forward. I started feeling better instantly. I never got this guys name, but he saved my race. I also will never run a longer race without having Tums on me from now on. I was quickly able to start back running and before long I ran into Bear Camp.

After reflecting on what could have caused my stomach to act up, I believe it was all the sugar from the gels hitting my stomach at once combined with the heat. For the entire rest of the race I had absolutely no trouble eating, except I just didn’t want gels. I ate everything from bacon, sausage, beef jerky, a McMuffin, a quesadilla, but not another gel the whole race.

Running into Bear Camp, the first thing I needed to address what my water bottle issue. Now that my stomach issue was settled, it was time to move onto the next most important issue. I asked if they had a cheap water bottle like the nestle or kroger water bottles. They told me they didn’t because they packed all they stuff in on horseback but the next aidstation was only 3 miles away and it would have my drop bag. Just stop for a second. These people, along with several other aid station, packed everything for 600 runners (between the 100 milers and the 50 milers that would start the next morning) in on horseback. Now that’s dedication! Just saying. I thanked them for their help and said I could make it there without a problem. I chugged half my refilled bottle of water, refilled it once again, grabbed a couple pieces of beef jerky and headed on out.

The next section was only 3 miles, but is what is referred to as “The Wall” during the race. This section is very steep and mimics a little closer to what Im used to climbing in the North Georgia mountains. I was dropping down The Wall (apprx 2200’ in 3 miles) but going down can be just as bad sometimes. The way down was a slow but steady trot. I hadnt planned on using my trekking poles during this race, but I gave them to Abbie to have just incase I wanted them. Im glad I did because on the descent down The Wall, I decided I would pick them up at the turn around so I could use them when I headed back up. I knew they would help out a lot when I was 67 miles in.

After finally reaching the bottom, I ran into Foot Bridge which is the second major aid station. This place was VERY systematic and had everything down to a T. They had me a chair and handed me my drop bag just as soon as I got there. I sat down to empty my pockets of trash and one volunteer took my bottle to refill. I also asked her about a cheap water bottle I could take with me. She returned with my water bottle and a nestle water bottle. HALLEJUIAH! I grabbed another oatmeal pie out of my bag and started eating it while a volunteer started asking me questions at about 100 mph. OK maybe she wasn’t talking that fast, but when you’ve been in your own little world for hours and hours, all the activity going on seemed like it was a mad house. She asked how I felt, if I saw any spots, was dizzy, and when the last time I peed was. (Just normal medical questions) Ready to get out of the hustle and bustle I got my stuff together and headed on out. The next 18 miles was a climb to the turn around.

The weather was also starting to look bad at this point. The skies were turning dark and the storms that were in that mornings forecast began to look more and more promising. Leaving the Foot Bridge Aid Station, you climb out of a canyon. A canyon with a lot of fallen rock all around it. The winds were starting to blow pretty stiff and we were told we needed to get out of that section as quickly as we could if the weather was looking bad during our race briefing that morning. They didn’t have to tell me twice, I didn’t want one of those rocks to fall on my head! I reached the next aid station in about 3 miles and was out of the way of the rocks that could fall. I didn’t spend much time at Cathedral rock, I refilled my bottles and grabbed more jerky and was off once again.

The next stretch was about 6.5 miles to aid station and to be honest I don’t remember much that happened during this period. It was just getting dark by the time I reached the Spring Marsh aid station though. I ran in without a light, but put it on when I left. I sat down here to drink a cup of chicken broth as I slipped on my arm warmers. The tempature was starting to drop and I had another 2000’ feet to climb before I reached the turn around which means it was gonna get colddd. I didn’t finish my broth so I took it with me and decided to power hike while I drank it to keep my body temperature up. Once I finished it I started running when I could and before long I reached the Elk Camp Aid Station.

I refilled and grabbed more jerky here and headed back out. I was getting tired and colder, but I only had 5.5 miles to go before the turn around. These next couple miles were known to be extremely muddy. Some people have even been known to have there shoes pulled off in the mud. I did my best to avoid as much of it as I could, but it was nearly impossible. I my shoes were completely caked in mud and I would put them in the water when I came to somewhere that has a water crossing with a hard bottom to try to wash some of it off. I didn’t care about being wet but the mud made my shoes heavy!

Soon it opened up to an open meadow and I could see one or two car tailights in the distance. I knew this must be the road crossing that was about a mile from the turn around. This gave me a little spark because I knew I was close. The turn around was as big of a milemarker as the finish was. I was dead tired, sleepy, and cold, but I knew that once I left the turn around that I would finish. I got to the road and went into another meadow and very shortly saw a sign that said “Welcome to Jaws AS” This had to be the most decieving thing ever. I counted 10 signs that said “Welcome to Jaws” each being spread a sadistic spacing from the previous one, but never the less I finally got there.

I was greeted once again by my sister Abbie. We went in a heated tent and I sat down. I told her about my stomach problems earlier, how I lost my bottle, and how freaking cold I was! Although I didn’t have to tell her how cold it was, she was wearing sweetpants, a hoodie jackey and my down jacket on top of that. I had 4 or 5 pieces of bacon and half a quesadilla. I also grabbed a fresh pair of socks but didn’t put them on. I put them in my pack because I wanted to get back through all that mud before I changed them. I just sat there. I don’t know why, I knew I wasn’t quitting but I just did not want to go back out in the cold. I finally broke through mentally and put on my helium 2 rain jacket, buff headband, and gloves and went out to embrace the cold again. I fully expected to come out of some of that clothing within a mile or so but I didn’t care; I wanted to be warm when I started.

I also took out my trekking poles on the way back too. I noticed that once the darkness had fallen and my legs became so tired, I was having a hard time not stumbling. This was due mainly to the fact of the different characteristic of the trails out there. The trails are what reminded me of cattle paths through a pasture. Theyre were worn trails that were beaten down to make a 4-5 trench in the ground. Im glad I don’t over pronate, because if I did I would have had a terrible time running in that trench. I ran beside the actual trail at all times that were possible. But on the way back I used my poles to help me keep balance while I was tired. This helped out a lot more that I thought.

The way back during the night was kind of a blurr. One thing was certain, as soon as I left I instantly felt better. There was no doubt in my mind I was going to finish now. I remember keeping my head down and making sure to maintain relentless forward progress. I made it into Elk Camp and grabbed more broth. I downed it very quickly and changed my socks for the first time. It was heaven. There is absolutley nothing that feels better than a fresh pair of socks.

After a change of socks I struck out again and made it back to Spring Marsh. Pretty boring during this time period actually. It was dark and I just kept my head down and kept moving forward. It got light not long before I made it back to Cathedral Rock. One benefit about this place during the summer is the very short nights. The darkness can really slow you down because your world is shrunk down to the 5ft circle of light emited from your headlamp, so the daybreak was a welcomed beauty. Once the sun rose I found myself going from a trot/slow run to a relatively fast paced run down hill. My feet were starting to hurt, I could feel what I call “Trench Foot”. Im not exactly sure a real name for it but its where your feet stay wet for so long they become all pruny and a crease forms on the bottom of your foot. Eventually the crease becomes a fold in the since and everytime you step you feel it pinch together. It feels like a blister, but I knew it wasn’t since I had delt with it before. I just pushed through it.

Once I reached Cathedral Rock, I sate down while I ate jerky and drank some coke. Several other runner had gotten in the aid station right before I did. I left the aid station, caught back up with them, and passed them during one of my faster downhill descents. I had to take advantage of my legs feeling decent while I could. The next little stretch into Foot Bridge went by without any major concerns.

I reached Foot Bridge and was welcomed by the friendly group of people once again, this time I was able to handle the hustle and bustle activity going on. The volunteers filled my bottles for me and brought me a McMuffin and a piece of sausage. I inhaled that food! I also quickly cleaned my feet off in a footwash bucket they gave me and dried them off with a towel and slapped on another fresh pair of socks. Out of there in less than 6 minutes! They seem to be taken off guard by how fast I left, but I wasn’t making any progress sitting in an aid station. It was time to GO!

The next part was goin up The Wall. I knew exactly what was coming, so I went straight at it, digging my poles into the ground and using my upper body to help me climb that mountain. After a very grueling 3 mile climb, I made it to Bear Camp. I made quick work of going in and out of there and tried to get back on the trail as quickly as I could. This next section was going to be a 7 mile stretch. Yet somehow it didn’t seem as long as it did when I was going the other way. This was probably due to the fact that I wasn’t having stomach issue sthis time.

Reaching Cow Camp, I could see the 50k’ers merging in. It was nice to see more people. I got into the aid station and asked if they had happen to seen my bottle that I lost the day before, but they hadnt. Oh well it was worth a try. I grabbed a couple oatmeal rasin cookies on my way out and I don’t know it is was because I was 77 miles into the race or what but those cookies were amazing!

The stretch from here to Dry Fork was really good. The 50k’ers were so encouraging as I passed them. They really help me keep my pace up with their praises and “good job”s. The climb up to Dry Fork is some kind of torture. You can see the aid station from well over a mile away, but you have a climb that just eats you away. I wasn’t able to run it so I power hiked to the top. Coming into Dry Fork I saw Abbie and was greeted by another man who was standing just beside the aid station. He said “Do you have a pacer? Do you want one?” I looked at him and took a second to register what he just said. Once I did I said “No I don’t have one, but your more than welcome to run it in with me if you want!” 

Climb back up to Dry Fork

Finally making it back up to Dry Fork

After I got everything I needed from the aid station we set off. The friendly stranger’s name was Chris. As we took off down the road he said “your moving really good” I laughed and told him it was only on the downhills that I was fast right now and I was hoping to make some good time in that 5 miles of open meadow. We talked and it really helped the time pass. Once we got to the meadow, I realized that it was steeper than I remembered and wasn’t able to run as much as I hoped. My quads were really starting to go and felt more and more like jello. Once we got to the bottom we made our way down into the canyon following the river out to the road that we started on. Once we hit the road I thought we only had about 4 miles to go. I was wrong…

The road was wide open to the sun and the trench foot on my feet strarted hurting pretty bad. It felt like running on nails. I walk/ran the road (mostly walking). I couldn’t find the motivation to push myself. I was ready to be done, but I had nothing to prove. It didn’t matter what time I came in there, at this point I was just finishing. It felt like we went forever looking for the Homestretch aid station. I thought it was a the place where we started, but it wasn’t. It winded up being about another mile and half down the road. Once we reached Homestretch, they asked me if I needed anything. I said “No all I need is to get to the end of this road and cross that finish line”

This aid station marked 2 miles until the finish. I wasn’t moving very fast, just a solid power walk. This was until about ¾ mile left to go. I knew that there was two other 100 mile racers ahead of me within sight, but I didn’t care. We all had played leap frog throughout the past 100 miles, passing them wouldn’t mean anything. We all had the same goal, and that was just to cross the finish line. I noticed there was a car pulled over on the side of the dirt road with a woman and a man standing beside it. The woman started cheering franticly. Turns out she was cheering on, what I assume was her son, one of the 100 milers infront of me. “Go!! 100 miles you got this! Better run, Theres another 100 miler behind you!”. The guy obviously had the same thought process as me because I heard him say something to the effect of ‘That’s fine, Im tired and I just want to finish’.

Im not sure why, but hearing this made me want be competative, his mom motivated someone she hadnt intended to. So I yelled “Fair warning, Im coming up behind to pass you.” I thought that this would encourage him to run. He didn’t though, he simply just maintained his pace. I passed him and then the other 100 miler. I knew that I was moving pretty fast, or atleast fast for just having been on my feet as long as I had. Chris looked at me and said “Man!! You have been sand bagging something serious!” I laughed and told him “No, that you just had to pass people in a way to fool them into thinking that there is no way they could catch you”. Chris looked at me and then at his watch and said “Well getting passed at and 8:15 pace will definatly do that to them” At this point everything hurt excruciatingly. My feet, my quads, my hamstrings, it all felt as if I were running on nails and were being heated by the fires of hell. I just pushed through to get to the finish. We came up on the road leading into the park and I then navigated my way through the park. People were yelling great job and telling me I was looking strong. I heard a couple people call my name as they cheered. I didn’t see who it was but I assume it was someone I had met on the trail or sometime in the past couple days. I saw Abbie behind the finish line waiting for me. I crossed the finish line with a sense of sweet relief.

 

Running it in with Chris behind me

My support system for the whole trip

I thanked Chris again for being company and running the last little bit with me. Before we left, I got out into the Little Bighorn River and sat down to let the ice cold water bring relief to my legs. I didn’t stick around the park, I just wanted a shower and some sleep. I asked Abbie to take me to Wendys so I could get a big Baconator and asked if she would go get me one of the homemade moon pies from the coffee shop. These little deserts had been on my mind ever since I first saw them when we arrived in Wyoming. She got me my burger and dropped me off at the hotel and went off to collect my moonpie I had been so looking forward. She called within a few minutes to drop some bad news. She couldn’t get me the moonpie, they were closed. DISSAPPOINTMENT!! I was so sad. Luckily the sadness didn’t last long because after I got out the shower I fell asleep within seconds and didn’t wake up until 12 hours later.

This was extremely beautiful race that was excucuted phenomily by the race director and all the volunteers. I would gladly go back to race again. While being one of the most beauiful places Ive been, theres something about it. Its not home, I love my trails on the East Coast mountains. They both have their unique beauty, and offer their own set of challenges to overcome.