Perspective

12-18-2016 - Blake Watts

Today, I tried running for the first time in more weeks than I care to count. I'm still due to get an MRI on my knee, and I pray that it's just a case of needing a cortisone shot. But for now, I think I can get away with short runs every couple days. This couldn't come a moment too soon, because I've essentially been out of running since June.

For someone who has been running nearly constantly since the early 1980's, this drought has been a real blow to the psyche. Decades of listening to others complain about this or that reason for their layoff without having my own issues has, I must now admit, left me feeling a bit bulletproof. After all, those were other people's problems. Genetics were on my side, for whatever reason. Sure, I had the normal ebb and flow of training and racing times. And I truly did sympathize with, and tried to encourage, those runners who had the bad luck to be injured. I thought I knew how lucky I was to be relatively immune to overuse injuries and bad luck. I did not.

Running is as much a part of my identity as the name on my birth certificate. That's what I thought, at least. It turns out, actually, that the fact that I was able to run was the main ingredient. It's not just that me and those who know me thought of me as 'a runner.' It was also contingent on the fact that I could, at the moment of consideration of my 'runnerness,' go out and run just about any distance with ease.

But the past few months have seen that 'ability' element disappear. At first, I would catch myself planning my daily run and then think, "Ah, not today. Gotta rest the knee." After several months of slow decline, I don't even think about running anymore. And when I am confronted with the idea of running (damn you, Strava!) I experience a little period of mourning, as if a part of myself died.

This is where perspective comes in. At long last, I've been given the gift of TRULY appreciating what we as runners are privileged to do with our time. Just the little taste I got today brought me full circle to the incredible gift it is to run/hobble/walk/trudge through the woods or even down the street.

For those of you who are in a prime phase of healthy running, enjoy the gift today for you know not when it goes away! For those, like me, who are walled off via injury or illness, persevere and savor the return to health, whatever that might look like.

Happy trails,
BW

2016 Thunder Rock 100 - Michael Wallace

So here goes my first attempt to recollect the details of what unfolded at the 2016 Thunder Rock 100 mile trail race.

Start at the beginning:

I had no intentions of running a 100 mile race this year. Truth be told, it was always a goal, more of a dream, but something I never thought I was ready for, so it remained something to do "next year". That all changed after meeting a bunch of awesome runners and joining them for a few miles on trails I never knew existed. I'll keep it brief, but somehow I began following Sean on Strava. He was and is doing some amazing things that really inspired me. I half jokingly told him in a comment that I hoped we could get in a run soon and to my surprise, I was invited to meet him and a group out for a Jake/Bull mountain run. The rest is a result of that catalyst moment. Hooking up with this group seemed to be the missing link and something I'd been craving. Those group runs spawned many friendships, one in particular with Kevin, which is where the Thunder Rock journey begins.

Kevin and I live pretty close together and began getting in runs here and there. I was introduced to my current favorite location, Sawnee Mountain pretty quickly. This place has it all. Technical, smooth, steep ups and downs and lots of varying options. All things I wasn't used to since most of my training miles were on the road.


Indian Seats Observatory:

In addition to many miles on Sawnee Mountain, we put in more at Jake/Bull, the AT and the good 'ol greenway when flats were desired. All the while, broaching the subject of future races, which inevitably led to plans for Thunder Rock. (I should say that in the interim, he convinced me to run Cloudland Canyon 50 miler (http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=37916), which was the farthest I'd ever gone at that point.

5am start at Cloudland...

     

 Family photo at the finish!

So there's a bit of history with a lot left out... In a few brief sentences, I posted on our facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/477629132416305/, that I was looking for a 50 miler, to which Kevin replied, "Thunder Rock is just a little farther..." and so it begins, for real this time.

Completely intimidated, I committed my mind to the training, but couldn't convince myself I was actually ready to sign up. We had plenty of runs in the few weeks prior to get him ready and convince me that I could actually do this. After tackling a 28 mile section of the AT known as the Meat Grinder and then a 40 miler at our beloved Sawnee, I had 2 or 3 Dogfish Head 90 mins and clicked the register button on ultrasignup. I think I almost threw up as I did it...

AT training run with Kevin April 16, 2016:

Sorry for the abbreviated history... here's my Thunder Rock recount.

     

My wife, Whitney, lovingly committed to crewing me for the race prior to me actually signing up. Without her belief in me and support, I would never have been able to attempt this. However, plans for child care soon fell through and there was no way I wanted her traveling the back roads of Tennessee in the middle of the night with my two sleeping or crying boys in tow. No worries, she called my little brother, Clint, who of course agreed to fly up from Orlando, seemingly excited about the challenge.

He agreed to take on the main crew duties and pull the 24 hour shift from start to finish, not only meeting me at every crew stop, but also taking care of Whitney and the boys, being sure they were at the crew stops during the day and again for the morning finish. I'm sure it was stressful, but he did an amazing job and seemed like a seasoned pro. As soon as I arrived at any point, he was grabbing my vest, stuffing it with nutrition while I shoved cantaloupe down the hatch. He had everything ready, every time. Perfect!

Unflattering, I know, but that's reality!

The Start:

We arrived at the start for packet pickup and details around 10:45 for a 12pm start time. Things seemed really relaxed and I felt surprisingly relaxed, while also being really anxious, if that's a possible combination. We parked beside Kevin and Dena and prepared for the adventure ahead. Rain jacket or no rain jacket seemed to be biggest decision made here and we both opted for no jacket, which, despite the constant rain from the start, seemed to be a good idea. Although wet, I never felt too uncomfortable and would have been too hot with any jacket.

The Crew:

Around 11:50, we heard some commotion around the start and realized the RD was giving his words of encouragement and race details. As I walked/jogged to the start to catch as much as I could, Caleb came up and said he wanted to run with me. I could tell he was going to miss me and the feeling was mutual. Even though it was only a day, it was difficult to know that I wouldn't tell my wife and boys goodnight and say our prayers together. 

Getting the details:

And we're off...

     

It seemed to happen so fast. I was able to say hello to Doug Hay of Rock Creek Runner, http://www.rockcreekrunner.com/, before we began. He has a great podcast about our sport with lots of good advice, so check him out.

     

I had no idea what to do at the start. I didn't know where I should line up, how fast, slow, to start out... should I walk, run... sorta freaking out here. And here, my plan to survive begins. The name of the game: Hanging with Kev. I figured, 100 miles is a long way. Long enough to recover if I start too fast. I know Kevin likes to get out of the conga line as soon as possible and that's exactly what we did. Opting for a front of the middle or back of the front start we began.

     

It didn't take long before Kevin was passing on the left of several runners. I stayed closely behind to keep up, but also not to disturb the pace of the runners we were passing too much. Using my new watch, the Garmin Fenix 3 HR, I was able to keep track of what my HR was doing and noticed that at times when I felt relatively relaxed, I was hitting into the 160s-170s. I equated this to nerves, which proved to be right. As the miles ticked on, my HR settled into the 130s-140s for the most part. This gave me confidence to know that I could sustain the effort and also the confidence to hang to the first Crew aid station at mile 17.1. Just prior to reaching this point, we crossed a river about mid thigh level, which was completely refreshing after close to 3000ft of vert and a long downhill bomb. I took advantage to splash around here and not only cool off, but get some of the salty sweat off as well. 

Gee Creek, 17.1 miles:

     

About a half mile after the river, we came to the second of 14 aid stations and the first of 5 crew stops. It was an amazing feeling to come through and see Whit, Clint, Caleb and Joshua cheering me on. At this point, dry shoes seemed important... I quickly shoved my face as Clint restocked me. After a minute of that, I dried off my feet, changed shoes and socks and was on my way. A chair was offered, but I committed then to not sitting down until crossing the finish line.

I ran past Kevin as he was donning his beloved injinis and kept going, as I had no doubt he'd be right behind and a few miles of long uphill later, we were knocking out the miles together again and I couldn't have been happier. I don't remember much about the aid stations in between, as my main motivation was to get to the next crew stop and see my wife, brother and boys. This became so important to my effort and was something I really underestimated leading up to the race. 

Firehouse, 41.1 miles:

      

This was a crew only aid station, but that was more than enough. Getting to it was a little sketchy, running down a back road with no shoulder and blind curves. Here, Whit had prepared bacon and cheese tortillas that really hit the spot. I ate 2 of these, shoved cantaloupe and watermelon down, cleaned off a few unmentionable areas and grabbed my Petzl Nao. Kevin did the same, or his routine and we were off again. This section was unrelenting uphill on the road. I may have had one of my first low spots here. Nothing too bad, though. I broke of a piece of Cliff Bar, washed it down with Tailwind and felt better within 10 minutes. One very valuable lesson this race taught me was, low spots are temporary if you take care of it quickly. Get in the calories, even if you don't want anything. 

We reached the next aid stations at Manning Cabin-44 miles around 9pm, Coker Falls-50.62 around 10pm and Powerhouse-57.35 around 11:30pm. I may be a little off on those times, but we were well ahead of our projected times for a sub 24. Powerhouse was a real treat and had a nice spread. Here, Nathan Holland gave us a rundown on what was ahead and we made our way to Reliance-64.31 miles in.

Sometime between Powerhouse and Reliance, the Petzl Nao, that was untested..., started going out. This was a shock to me since I wasn't running it on full bright and thought I'd get at least 5 or 6 hours out of it. The only thing I can figure is that, not plugging it into my computer and setting it up made a big difference, since Kevin's lasted for many more hours. Trying to change out the rechargeable lithium ion battery for AAAs was a huge pain and something I was ultimately unable to do. Thankfully, I'd thrown my old trusty Petzl Tikka Plus 2 in my UD vest. Not wanting to waste anymore time, I threw it on and packed up the Nao. The Tikka was not nearly as bright, but did the job.

Reliance, 64.31 miles:

By this time, Clint had taken Whit and the boys to the cabin and rushed to get here in time as we were running ahead of schedule at each stop. I was worried about him because of the sleep deprivation and attention to detail he needed to maintain, but that proved over and over to be wasted energy. At Reliance, he was like a pitstop crewman. Kevin and I rolled up to this point around 1:00am, after going through what appeared to be someone's backyard, but definitely part of the well marked course. The grass here was so long and wet. If I haven't already mentioned, it was raining constantly and wet feet just became part of the deal. I am fortunate in the feet department. I don't have many problems with wet feet and never have. Blisters aren't usually an issue and that held up for this race, thankfully. One thing I did do was change socks when I could. Wet socks aren't a concern for me, but I don't like the dirt and mud mixed in. Clint grabbed my pack, placed the spread on the tailgate and restocked me while I ate, dried off where I could and slipped on some Hokas. I knew we were in for a long night and wouldn't see crew again for 20 miles, around daybreak. The Hokas were a nice transition from the Altras and it was nice to have dry feet again... for about 5 minutes. Leaving the aid station, we quickly came to another stream crossing and the Hokas were soaked. Oh well.

Thunder Rock, 84.05 miles:

Getting to this point may have been the toughest section for me and I had some of my lowest points. Once again, CALORIES. Of course everything is going to hurt. It's supposed to. Leaving Reliance, we were immediately met with a steep climb up a paved road that dipped back onto the trails after a few miles. While climbing the road, we passed 2 strong runners and their pacers who they'd just picked up. A guy from Indiana, who shared a few miles with us much earlier before running ahead and the first place female. She seemed to be struggling on the climbs as did he and we moved upward and onward, leaving them behind. Leaving the road for more trail we met more steep climbs and lots of switchbacks that seemed to go on forever. The technique I used to power hike these sections worked well. In my hands, I carried two UD bottles. With each step up steep climbs, holding the bottles upright I pushed off the upper part of my quads. This felt similar to using poles, which I had with my crew, but opted not to use. We had about 10 miles of climbing before getting to Deep Gap-74.78. Although not a crew stop, getting here was a pivotal moment for me, as the climb was unrelenting. The guy manning this station was very encouraging and took great care of us to get us back on our way. When we arrived, there was a runner in the chair who looked broken and discouraged. I felt for him, but if I'm honest, I took satisfaction in knowing that I had more left in the tank and was feeling strong. No big surprise leaving here, we were met with more steep climbs. The water bottle technique was also acting as a quad massage and I began pushing off different parts of my legs. Maybe this was just a mental game I was playing, but it seemed to work, although I was going into what would be my lowest point of the race coming into Thunder Rock. 84.05 miles in and I was feeling it. My stomach was feeling queasy and I was worried about being able to take in calories. Clint later told me that, despite the encouragement given to us by him and Dena, they were a little worried here. I'm pretty sure my face was gray, but we were too close to the finish and I could feel it. I thought about seeing my wife and boys and hearing our names called out. One other bonus here. We were surprised by Sean and Deano. These guys are two of the strongest runners I know and an inspiration to be around. It really meant a lot to me, and I think Kevin too, that they took the time to see us here and they couldn't have shown up at a better point in the race. The next aid station came 5.6 miles later at the Whitewater Center and was honestly a blur. I think we came out of the trail and onto a big bridge where Dena and Clint were the only two crew members. I don't think we took anything from them here as we made our way to the aid station. I grabbed a few things. I think I drank some coke and coconut water and off we were to Upper Put-In, only 2.9 miles away. Once again, I don't remember much here either! I'm pretty sure it was crew only and I think we may have come to the most scenic part of the course, running beside what I assume to be "Rock Creek". Huge boulders are everywhere in the river on this section. It looks like something manmade, but these are natural formations and beautiful.

Boyd Gap, 93.3 miles:

Dena and Clint were parked here and cheered us on as we came through this LAST aid station before the 7ish miles to the finish. The miles to get here are pretty unmemorable to me. I don't say that to take anything away or to diminish a single step taken, but I was focused on the finish and nothing else. I may have talked about it too much. I'm not sure if there's a rule on that sort or thing. I just couldn't believe we were doing it! We were on pace for a sub 24 AND a top 10, 6th and 7th place finish! Unreal! Sorry, lots of yelling there... Around this time we dipped onto more dense, wet single track with a strong grade slanting to the right. This was killer on feet that were already wet and tender. I came out of it in pretty good shape. I think this is where Kevin developed a blister, or maybe this is where the blister became evident, but he didn't let it slow him down and we pushed and pushed. I think he also had a pretty noticeable toe nail issue. Somewhere around mile 97, I could hear chatter down below. I knew it was the first place female and good for her, but there was no way we were getting passed this close to the finish. Our pace picked up slightly, opting to run more of the rolling hills that we may have otherwise been content to walk.

To the FINISH!:

In typical trail race fashion, we had one more stream crossing and this was the nasty one. Full of deep, black mud that could have easily swallowed my shoes, it instead filled them with debris. The rope on the opposite side was a challenge for me, as I couldn't get traction to get out and slipped back down in the water at least 3 times. Leaving this behind, we came to what we each new would be the last climb to the finish. The question now became, do we want a sub 24 hour finish or a sub 23! Kevin is ridiculously accurate when it comes to judging time and pace and he said it would be close, probably within a minute. We both knew what we wanted and pushed hard to the top and easing into a steady jog we were content to carry us across the finish line. Out of nowhere, I hear the familiar sound of gravel underfoot and knew it wasn't ours. Looking back, I see Lee Conner coming after us like a super predator! We shared a few miles and stories with this extremely strong runner in the hours leading into the night, but left her as she changed shoes at a shoe drop only station. This was her 16th 100 miler and she has some of the big named ones in her resume. We've still got about a quarter mile to the finish and I said, we've got to go now! I don't know where it came from, but Kevin and I sprinted for our lives. Sprinted after 100 miles into this thing, and held our position, only to see Lee cross and collapse. She had charged up a monster hill to pass the female who had held the 1st place position the entire race!

I can't say enough about how grateful I am for everyone who took the time to invest in my efforts and support me on this journey. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would, not only go sub 23, 22 hours 57 minutes, but also finish in the top 10 of my first 100 miler to get a golden buckle! Kevin and I ran the entire race together, which couldn't have been more perfect, considering all of the training miles spent together to prepare and all of his guidance and advice. I would not have run this race without his peer pressure. Whitney and the boys were so supportive of this effort and I love them all so very much. I think I have the perfect family and I mean that 100%. My little brother could not have been a better crew for me and I will call on him again! Lastly, I appreciate all of the support and prayers from everyone else. I needed every bit.

Posted with permission by Blake Watts

Author: Michael Wallace