4 MPH Challenge 2015

I can't remember if I swore I would never run this race again after last years 19.5 hours of fun.  But then again I can remember never wanting to run a marathon again.  Same with 50k.  I think a short memory is pretty much essential to an ultra-runner.  What I do know is that at some point I felt compelled to return to this race, if for no other reason, to try to defend my title!  I mean common - I probably won't have too many shots at being number 1 in these races, so the chance to go for two in a row is an even rarer opportunity.  Anyways, they changed the course this year.  That means I didn't have to see the same trail that I traversed forwards and backwards, in darkness and in light, in clouds or rain, through puddles/creeks, thirteen times.  Yay, new terrain to get completely sick of.

This year's course was an out and back, involving 2.65 miles of flat, lakefront singletrack, 1 mile of rolling roads, a half mile of singletrack climbing, 1 mile flat contouring a ridge, another .25 mile steep downhill, and then a rolling run around a meadow.  You hit the aid station at 6.2 miles then finish the meadow loop, returning back the way you came, another 5.8 miles.  To remind everyone how this race works: you are given 1.5 hours to run every 6 mile stretch of trail.  You may not start the next 6 mile stretch until the 1.5 hours is up.  Everyone starts together and there really is no winner for speed.  Although, the faster your lap, the longer your break until you have to run again.  You keep this up for as long as there are competitors.  Yep, it's like Highlander: in the end, there can only be one!

From Camden House to home base at the Marina. (left to right)

elevation profile

The change in venue was primarily driven by capacity.  The race is getting more popular.  They didn't even advertise it this year and participation was still up by at least 50%.  We maxed out what the old course and parking lot could handle.  I don't think they will have problems with parking capacity at the new site.  The trail capacity is another question - but since there is not a big reason to pass anyone, you might as well get in line and just enjoy the ride.  

As I started to peruse the campground for a place to set up my tent I happened upon a man named Clyde.  Clyde helped me pick a spot and welcomed me to the group.  He was entered in the 36 mile division, day camping it as they call it.  This is because he has a 100 miler the next weekend, lol.  That is how ultra-runners roll.  I think he is a retired fire fighter, and is a totally old-school ultra-runner, hopping to the beat of his own drum and mocking seemingly all social media with equal enthusiasm.

Clyde.  Also, my taj-mahal in the background.  Opted for the family tent this year  for a little more room and comfort.

Clyde's setup.  Clyde, Kelly, Chuck, Mark and I had a nice pre-race evening around that fire.

As I crawled out of my tent this year I was completely shocked by the dry ground and sunshine.  I had to ask the nearest person whether I was in the right place or not.  Sure enough, ready to start a perfect day out on the trails.  I dropped off my stuff for the Camden house aid station, grabbed my bib number, and then proceeded to set up my chair/drop bag/cooler.  I would be spending a good 15 minutes at least, per loop, just sitting in those chairs, getting ready for the next run.  At 8 a.m. we were off, I settled in the middle of the pack and enjoyed some mellow morning miles meeting new friends on the trails.

Runners setting up at "home-base" in the morning.  Note my tent right off of the action.  Pretty good location as long as I didn't quit too early...

Mark (race director), Chuck (Camden House Aid captain), and ladies helping get us ready to go.

Since this was just another day at the office I have recorded the happenings in bullet form.

Miles 0-36, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The "day campers".  

- I carried my camera for the first couple of laps to get some pics.  Here they are:

Whiskeytown lake and Shasta Bally in the back.

One of the "tunnels" of the lakefront single-track.

View from the ridge.

View of the valley from the ridge.

Road along the creek.

The Camden meadow.

More meadow.

The Camden House party.  This is what the aid stations looked like while the "day campers" were still around.  Pretty fun!

- Met Christine Burch.  She used to live in Boise and knows the trail running crew up there.  Has completed IMTUF 100 in both directions.  Was the women's course record holder for a whole year!  Always had a smile and was a pleasure to run with.  We talked a lot about IMTUF.

- Ran about 11 minute pace on the flats.  Enjoyed the climb on "the hill" - broke up the monotony of all the flat running.

- Consumed about 90 calories of Heed and 20 oz of water during each run.  Cheetos, dried fruit, and coconut water at Camden House.  Bacon, cheese, fresh fruit and coconut water at the home base.  Made sure not to eat to much - success!.  Wanted to avoid the GI discomfort that I had last year.

- Joined various "conga" lines of day campers on the single track.  Was fun to see so many people going for distance PRs.

- Shared miles with Aaron Sorensen - a perennial contender at this event.

- Answered a lot of questions about last year's slogfest.  Got a lot of jest/trash talk for being last years champion.

- Used ice in a bandana around the neck and in the hat to stay cool.  Had nice 20 minute sit breaks in the shade.  Heat didn't end up getting me too bad.  It was only like 72, but still, was really worried because of what happened the week before.

Miles 36-48, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.  The light before dark.

- Carried my super-bright handheld flashlight just in case we ran out of light on the way back to home base.  Was unnecessary.

- Met Garret.  He is an economist at Berkeley.  He is a triple-crowner (thru-hiked the Appalachian trail (2164 miles), the Pacific Crest (2654), and the continental divide (3100)).  Has finished many tough mountain hundred milers.

- Shared miles with Kelly.  Got to talk with him a little around the campfire the night before.  He was definitely running strong early, and then tapered off as he is keeping his eye on the goal - preparation for Western States!

- Ran back to home base with Chuck (the same Chuck Walen that I duked it out for the win last year).  Chuck was running the Camden House aid station and decided to get some miles in.  Good convos.

- Continued the nutrition plan as described above.

- Was thankful that it was getting cooler.

Miles 48-72, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.  What am I getting myself into?

- Loved my bright flashlight.  Didn't even last 3 hours though.  Batteries were old.  Ended up using my dim backup light until I got back to Camden House.  Picked up a better headlamp from my drop-bag - stored the good light, hopping to return with fresh batteries that I thought were back at home base.  Batteries were NOT at home base, so was bummed out about using the headlamp until I returned to Camden House again - only to find out that the batteries were in that drop bag the whole time!  Was able to use the bright light for the last three hours of darkness.

- Starting to get tired.  Not yet the sleepy kind of tired, but more of the tired of running kind of tired.  Was trying to set mini-goals to keep myself going.  Couldn't quit before 70 - made it past that with tougher trails and tougher conditions the year before!

- Clyde took me under his wing.  He offered himself up as my crew, prepping my bottle for the next lap, getting me food, pep talking me.  He knew exactly the right kind of things to tell me to keep me motivated.  He was done running for the day, but got up every three hours to help me out.  I owe him!

- Switched to quesedillas and ramen soup at home base (freshly prepared as runners came in).  Ran out of Cheetos at Camden House, switched to skittles.

- Legs felt like lead for the first quarter mile out.  Seemed to warm up though.  Still running between 11 and 12s on the flats.

- Numbers starting to dwindle.  Every lap it seemed a smaller group of runner heading out.  There were six people heading out after 72 miles.

Miles 72-90, 2 a.m. to 6:30 a.m.  The hardest part.

- Rest stops at 2, 3:30 and 5 a.m. were rough for me.  I really wanted to go to sleep.  I remember burying my head in my hands while sitting down and passing out for several moments.  There was no caffeine offered.  Can you believe that the only two people on this planet that don't drink coffee just happened to be the aid station captains for the two aid stations at this race?

- I thought I would always be able to move better in cooler temps than hotter - but my sleepyness - combined with the darkness - made it hard for my brain to send signals to my legs to keep the cadence up.  It seemed everything was moving slower, basically because my brain was working slower.  Physically I was still good to go, but the brain was not cooperating.

- Still had at least 15 minute breaks.  The trail was that easy.

- At some point during this stretch, food started to loose all appeal.  I would look at it and realize that the last thing I wanted to do was to put in down my throat, but knew that I had to do it, or else things were going to get worse.  So I ate.

- The last woman, Marcy Beard, a veteran 4 mph runner(she had run the east coast version with 112 and 120 miles previously), timed out at mile 78.  So now it was down to 5 guys: Me, Scott Martin, Garret, Aaron, and Tim Maclean.  We all made it through this stretch.  Well, almost.

- Around mile 72 Tim Maclean latches on behind me and shows some obvious pep in his step.  I was surprised.  Where did this guy come from?  Apparently he had made it to mile 60 the year before - that is before he ran out of socks and called it a day.  This year he sandbagged the first part of the race, trying to stay as mellow as possible during the heat.  It totally worked, because he was obviously the one with the best legs at this point in the race.  He kept running strong through the night, until I was following him up the climb and I saw him bend over and dry-heave.  I passed him on the climb and we got to the ridge.  He tried to latch on behind me like he was doing all night long, but then he slowed down and as I headed around a corner I heard him loosing his dinner.   He made it to mile 90, but then bowed out because his stomach went south.  In a hundred mile race, this is a common ailment.  But you can have a rough patch - take it easy - and nurse yourself back to working order and finish the race.  The 4 mph challenge does not leave a lot of wiggle room for bad-patches...

- Again, mini-goals were what kept me going:  get at least as many miles as last year-check, get more miles than last year-check, get at least as many miles as Aaron did in 2013-check.  Make it to sun-up?

Miles 90-108, 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.  Re-life.

- Saw the sun rise.

- Instantly started feeling better.

- Appetite returned.

- Piece of cake.  Actually no - still eating skittles.

- Started with 4 of us.  Aaron had to call it a day at 96 because of foot issues - he said that if he had 20 minutes to prop the feet up, he would have been ok - but again - not a lot of room for error here.  Heard rumors that he and Scott were going to bag 100 and call it a day.  I thought that would be a good idea too, but I wasn't going to let Garret off the hook that easily.  At Camden house after mile 102, Scott did indeed announce his intentions to stop forward motion citing goals met and Jeremy and Garret looking too strong.  I must have been putting on quite the act.   Actually, before rolling into Camden House I had tweaked my knee somehow - the same knee that I injured back in 2012.  I felt relief though because it gave me a reason to quit.  When I came into Camden house five minutes after Garret though I thought that maybe Garret was bluffing:  He put on a strong lap and I figured he was just trying to intimidate the rest of us into quitting.  I called his bluff and went out for another lap.  I put in a nice effort coming into home base with like 18 minutes to spare - a nice long break awaiting me.  To my surprise though, Garret was right there, a minute after me.  My knee was still sending unhappy signals and I was worried that I might be doing damage that would derail my other goals for the racing season.  I had met a bunch of goals at this race and felt at peace with the decision to quit, hopping that my knee would heal back ok.

- Garret and I shook hands and he went off and ran an impressive final lap of 65 minutes to take the win with 116 miles.  Guess he wasn't bluffing.

Aftermath

- I cleaned up and then went to my tent and passed out for 3 hours straight.  In the middle of the afternoon.

- When I awoke, everything was gone - my tent was the last thing standing.

- I drove into town, agony every time I had to push the clutch with my bumm knee.  Had some greasy burger king and watched an angry cook bully the rest of the workers, glad I didn't work there.

- Went back to my tent and read one article in a magazine I had brought, then passed out and didn't awake until the sun rose the next day.  Circadian rhythms back to normal!

- Ate a gigantic breakfast at Lumberjacks the next morning and drove the four hours home.

- Knee seems to be getting better every day.  Haven't run on it yet, but is looking good.  The body sustained less damage than when I ran the road 50k back in January.  Everything looks promising.  I have felt weak climbing stairs and have had random shots of pain in my legs, but is getting better every day.

- Feet were unscathed.  No blisters, no swelling.

- All in all, it was a fantastic experience.

Questions that have been asked

Do I think the 6 mile loop or Laz's 4 mile loop (east coast version of race) is harder?

6 mile is harder.  When I was really tired I could still get up out of my chair, take about .5 miles to wobble down the trail before my inflammation induced legs would get the blood moving again, then I would have about 3 miles of decent running in them, then the rest (2.5 miles) would be whatever.  "Whatever" means run when I can, walk everything else, just wishing the aid station was around the next corner.  If this was a 4 mile loop, you only have .5 miles of "whatever".  It's a lot easier to wrap your brain around that...  Of course I have never ran in Laz's back yard, so I have no idea how hard his "trails" are.

Would I do it again?

Yes.  I may be sick of those trails at the moment.  And I know every nook and cranny, so there is no sense of adventure or exploration.  But this event is really about the people and the challenge.  I have made a bunch of new running friends up north and this is the perfect event to get quality time with them on the trail.  This really is a unique format that I just totally dig.