Pre Race: It's been three weeks since Western and my legs seemed to have recovered pretty well, or at least I hope so... I suppose I'll find out come 20-30 miles into Vermont. Vermont was going to be the only race where we weren't going to take the entire family. Because Vermont was relatively close to Tennessee we decided to make this a long weekend trip and drive to and from Vermont at about 17-hours each way. Thursday evening Katy, my Dad, Daniel and I got finished packing and hit the road to make the overnight drive to Vermont. If our timing was right we should get to the race check in on Friday afternoon with a few hours to spare before the 4PM race meeting.
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| Traveling in Style |
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| 3-Hours in and Someone's Already Tired of Traveling... |
We met a gentleman, Paul, and his horse, Adam, who spent about 30-minutes explaining how the horse race would transpire and how many similarities Adam and the runner shared. I'm not going to lie, there were more similarities than I would have ever imagined. Also, after talking with Paul and Adam I'm convinced that it is more difficult to ride a horse for 100-miles than to run 100-miles. With a new-found knowledge on equestrian endurance racing we made our way up to the 4PM race meeting and settled in for a quick run down on Saturday's logistics.
We had decided to get a hotel room for Friday night so that we could hopefully get an early bedtime and make good use of some hotel room nightshades. With driving through the night and rotating sleeping positions in the car we were all pretty worn out and looking forward to an early bed time. Now we just needed to eat some dinner, finish some last minute race prep and get to bed for some rest.
Race Day: With about 7-hours of sleep 2AM didn't feel as early as I had thought it would. I was kind of excited about the 4AM start. I've grown to love early morning runs and being treated to some beautiful sunrises. It was in the low 60's and a little rainy when we got to the race. Joining my regular crew today was my Mom, Step-Dad, Sister, and Niece... I suppose I can never use "lack of support" as an excuse for a bad race... and I'm very thankful for that!
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| Pre-Race Smiles with my Wife of Choice! |
With just a couple of minutes left I gave my love to my crew and found my way over to the starting line. Amongst the 300+ runners I found my friend, and fellow Slammer Joshua Holmes. We chatted for a minute and took off through the starting line together for the first little bit. It had stopped raining but there was a small nip in the air. It felt great to get moving and get some blood flowing to warm our limbs. After a few miles the road turned onto a small dirt path through the woods and I found myself running along by myself for a little bit. I took the silence and alone time to thank God for just getting me to this race. I was remembering the rough times I had experienced at Western just a few weeks earlier and was so thankful for Him getting me to the starting line of Vermont.
The Vermont course was not one that I was particularly looking forward too. It was touted as having ~70% gravel roads, ~28% trail and ~2% road... Gravel roads and roads are not my cup of tea so I wasn't sure what the day would hold. After an hour or so I quickly realized that I better get used to these "gravel" roads or I was in for a long day. They weren't "gravel" in the sense that I usually think of gravel roads. Around Tennessee gravel roads consist of thousands of marble-to-golfball sized rocks making each step a little dicey with risk of turning an ankle on quick descents, dealing with foot slippage on uphill climbs and of course dealing with the stone bruising that goes along with pounding out mile after mile on these little buggers. Apparently people in Vermont do not define gravel roads the same as Tennesseans. The only gravel I found was a few 10-20 small rocks off to the side of the road every few miles. The "gravel" roads were so smooth I had a hard time telling if it was gravel or just a dirty asphalt road. I settled into a nice easy pace with a couple of guys who were holding about the same pace and who seemed to have some pretty interesting stories. I was that creeper about 20 yards back laughing at their stories for about 2-3 miles before I finally just pushed the pace a little to run with them and join in the conversation. Bob and ... Joel... maybe... sorry I forgot your name. Anyhow, these guys were seasoned veterans to Vermont 100. Joel had attempted and completed the 100 five times and completed four. Bob had completed something like six or seven and both had a vast amount of information about the race. They knew every single person that came running by us or each of the few that we passed. I thoroughly enjoyed their company. They rattled off tales of previous Vermont 100 races, other ultra experiences, made funny remarks when someone came roaring by on the uphills like we were standing still... noting that those people would pay for that foolish effort late in the race when the relentless hills took their tole. For those that have not seen the
Vermont 100 elevation profile, I encourage you to find one and try to find some "flat" areas. The entire course is either up or down. It appears that there are no flat areas on the entire course.
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| A Pretty Awesome Covered Bridge |
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| Really Awesome Truss Work |
Anyhow, after spending the majority of the first ~20-miles with these two guys I found my way coming into the first crew aid station at Pretty House (21.3 miles). The day was flying by. The company was great, my stomach was doing well and my legs still felt great. I knew my digestion system was still up and running because I knew a Porto-potty was in store or I was going to be looking for an inconspicuous area to make a Cary Long Pit Stop. Funny enough, at the pre-race meeting the race director was pretty adamant about people being careful not to make any #2-deposits in anyones front lawn. The majority of this race is held on private land and apparently those land owners aren't too fond of anyone making poo-castles in their front yards... I can't imagine why. Pit Stop completed I got some pickles, chips, and a banana from my crew and took back off.
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| Typical "Trails" for VT100 |
I lost my running buddies and was on to running by myself for most of the next few sections. The rolling hills continued on as they had been for the first 20+ miles. The elevation map proved to be pretty spot on. There was plenty of ups and downs and it was pretty rare to find any true flat areas on the course. I mean, there were plenty of "flat-ish" sections that were close enough that it broke up the climbing and descending. As I descended down off a nice open meadow section of the course I found the Stage Road aid station and second crew aid station (30.3 miles). Grabbing another restroom break and bid farewell to my crew and knew that it would be a few hours before I saw them again.
The next few sections were filled with a good mixture of steep short climbs, runnable downhill and a mixture of double-wide dirt trails and gravel roads. I ended up running most of the next 17-ish miles with another seasoned Vermont 100 veteran, John. I swear, it seemed like everyone I met during the race so far had run Vermont at least three times or more. But, it was great news for me because all of these vets were giving me loads of advise for upcoming sections. John and I had been running pretty well together through this last section between crew aid stations. He let me know that a few miles past the next crew aid at Camp Ten Bear we would have one of the biggest and steepest climbs of the day. So, we decided to try and stick together again after Camp Ten Bear.
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| Horse Spotting |
As we rolled into Camp 10 Bear (47.0 miles) I found my crew and some fresh socks and shoes. In my haste to get out of the aid station quickly I didn't realize that I left my bottle of mixed drink laying on the ground as I ran out of the aid. I found John and got about a mile or so down the road before realizing what I had forgotten. I wasn't too worried because I knew I would see my crew again in about 10 miles. Just as John had said we hit a pretty steep climb right around mile 50. Settling into a strong hike I quickly found myself alone as I trudged up this climb. Continuing on by myself for most of the next few miles I could feel my first low coming on. I slowed my pace and tried to get in some calories to see if I could minimize the low. As I made the final climb up to Margaritaville (58.5 miles) I decided to scarf down a whole banana. I found Katy and the rest of my family and realized that banana was not going to set well in my stomach. It was just a couple of minutes before I started throwing up again... Well, trying to stay on the positive side of things I figured at least this time I made it roughly 3 miles further than Western before I got sick... not that it was much consolation.
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| "Gravel" Roads |
So, with great thinking on my crew's part they let me finish getting everything out, made sure I had all of my supplies and got me out on my way. They knew that once I had gotten sick the best thing for me was to keep moving. I gave my love to my crew and thanked them for everything. I really wanted to apologize for getting sick. I knew they were worried about me but I was pissed at myself for getting sick. It's hard to explain, but I almost worry more about them worrying about me. Every ultra run has so many highs and lows for a runner and equally as many for those people who crew; but, I hate adding any additional stress to my crew's already stressful job.
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| It's all Smiles at the Top of the Climbs |
From here I had another roughly 10 miles back to Camp 10 Bear. Luckily for me this section ended up being a lot of downhill and I was able to maintain a pretty good pace despite not feeling 100%. About a mile out from Camp 10 Bear for the second time the sun finally made an appearance. It was nice to see the sun for a bit but it soon out grew it's welcome as the temperatures immediately started raising. Coming into Camp 10 Bear (69.4 miles) my crew knew exactly what I needed before I even got there. They had my new ice bandanas and arm warmers ready to be stuffed with ice. I was excited to pick up Kristin (big sister) here and was happy to have her run with me for the next roughly 7 miles. It ended up being a lot of hiking as we had a big climb from about 70-73 miles. I didn't mind though because that gave us more time to talk, well more time for me to listen to Kristin talk. I still hadn't eaten much since my mile-58 puking rally and I still hadn't been able to get much down. For Kristin's first pacing job she did a fantastic job. She kept my mind going on all of the conversation and I didn't even realize how fast we were getting through this section. Before I knew it we were already making our way into the Spirit of 76 aid station at 76.2 miles. The last 7 miles were roughly 3-miles of trail climbing, then 2-3 miles of gravel road followed by another mile or so of trail into the aid station.
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| Big Sister Pacing Duties (Thanks Kristin!!) |
I grabbed a few things from crew and tried to see if I could eat something to get some calories in and within a minute or two I found myself puking out everything for the second time today. Well, nothing to do now but keep on moving. I was glad to have Daniel for the next 20+ miles. Daniel is a great pacer and does a great job of pushing when you need to be pushed and good job of giving you mental boost when your mind gets into those real negative places. Back on the move again my stomach soon settled back down again. I was still having trouble with anything except broth and other liquids but I knew from Western that with prayer, Coke and Water it was possible to keep moving.
Daniel filled me in on the day's events to help keep my mind off the run and I filled him on the previous 70+ miles. I told him of the beautiful stacked stone walls that were lining all of the gravel roads. They looked to be 100+ years old and looked to me like they would have taken more than a 100 years to build. Another cool thing about Vermont was the number of aid stations. Early on in the race there were a couple of unmanned aid stations, and then there were manned aid stations no more than 5 miles apart from then on out. The crew aid stations ended up being about 10 miles apart after the first one at roughly 20 miles. It was great for getting those little boosts from the volunteers and crews so often throughout the race. Right around dark Daniel and I found the one thunderstorm that had been looming all day. This storm did not disappoint. It rained so hard that I could barely see 2-feet in front of me. It was one of the hardest rain storms I had ever been in and lasted for a good 15-20 minutes. Despite now being soaking wet as the sun dropped and the dark set in we realized that we were almost to the Bill's crew aid station (88.3 miles). I was a little leary about this aid station because it was the last weigh point and by this time I had been almost 30 miles without eating anything and I knew I wasn't drinking as much as I should. I want to thank God for the thunderstorm and the extra weight as I was completely soaked to the bone as I jumped on the scales... down only 3-4 pounds... good enough to continue!
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| Beautiful Stone Walls Along the Majority of the Gravel Road Sections |
Apparently the thunderstorm found my crew as well. God love them, despite being soaked to the bone they looked so thrilled to see us and even had a couple of popsicles! I am so lucky to have such an awesome crew! We grabbed a few items and I scarfed down a popsicle as we headed back out. Daniel and made it about 1/2 mile down the trail before my stomach quickly reminded me that it wanted nothing but Coke and water. I left my popsicle on the side of the trail as quickly I had scarfed it down. I tell you what, I seemed to be getting this puking thing down to a science... I felt like I hardly missed a beat as I got rid of my popsicle and continued on with our run... Not sure if that's something to be proud of or not... oh well!
The next few miles were kind of cool as we seemed to be running through a huge open field spotting markers through the fog and darkness. Daniel and I would randomly pass people as we were catching some of the 100k runners as well as a 100-miler every now and then. Daniel fell right back into his Western pacing routine. As we closed in on aid stations he would bark orders to the volunteers for nothing but some broth, Coke and water. Our mantra was to get in and out of aid stations as quickly as possible. We both knew that wasting time at the aid stations trying to eat was futile and my best bet was to minimize stoppage and keep moving. Somewhere around mile 90-ish we turned onto some gravel roads and I noticed where we were. We had just taken a hard right hand turn and I pointed back to the left and told Daniel that down that road less than 1/2 mile was the start finish line... we would be running the last few mile of the race within earshot of the finish line. Luckily for us the finish line festivities were kept to a minimum and didn't toy with our minds for the remaining few hours.
I had told Katy that at the last crew aid station, Polly's (94.9 miles) that I wanted her to run in the last 5 miles with me... she had said she would just have to see and wasn't going to commit. So, as we made our way into Polly's I had hopes that I would get to join Katy for the last few miles but as soon as I saw her I realized she was not going to run in with me... She is such a selfless person that she did not want to risk "slowing" me up. I had reassured her plenty of times that she would not slow me up, especially in the later stages of a 100-miler, and not to mention, that finishing time was nowhere near the top of my priority list. However, I knew that I had put her through enough stress today and it would mean just as much to her for me to finish as quickly as possible. So, with a quick hug and kiss I told her we would see her at the finish shortly. Daniel really did an awesome job of pushing me the last 5 miles. He didn't have to say a word, he just ran hard when I needed to run and hiked when I had to hike. It was no time at all when we saw a little sign saying that we had 1 mile to go. We pushed and pushed this last mile... which ended up being all up hill and what felt more like 50 miles!
As we pushed the pace for this last mile I realized that my right Achilles was hurting a lot more than I had let myself believe for the last 10-15 miles. Coming over the last climb we rounded the corner and found the finish area. I was so thankful for another run completed. Just like Western, God had provided me the strength and support I needed to get from start to finish. Katy and the rest of my crew were there to cheer us across the finish line. Crossing the finish line of any race is always the ultimate goal but many times I find that crossing that finish line after battling all day is a little bit of let down. Don't get me wrong, 95% of the time finish is all I want to do in the later part of a race but at the same time I know that once I've crossed that finish line the adventure is over, the challenge of the race is complete and inevitably my body will know that my journey is done and will shut down completely with that first step over the line.
19:38:26, 21st Overall
Post Race: The greatest lessons to be learned from Vermont were learned after the race. I made the most rookie mistakes... My stomach was still not there but I tried to force down a thick chocolate protein drink because I knew I needed the calories for recovery. I should have taken it slower because I was only 1/4 of the way through the drink before I couldn't keep it down any longer. Next I cleaned off in the race shower, which happened to be a small pond around the camping area. I didn't really have a good choice since we were getting back in the car to make the 18 hour drive back home. After an hour of trying to roll out my muscles unsuccessfully and still not having eaten anything I made my way to the pond. With my headlamp shining I noticed an infestation of crawdads in the pond. Oh well, I figured they would pay no attention to me as I waded thigh deep into the water. Not the case! It took all of about 45 seconds for those little buggers to find my feet and calves to start pinching me all over. So here I am trying to not fall over into this freezing cold water, trying to be as quiet as possible to keep from waking fellow campers and trying to bathe enough so I didn't kill everyone in the car from the stench. With a few new pinch marks and a 1/2 a bath I finally got warm as I crawled onto the blow up air mattress in the back of the car to start our drive back home. It had now been close to 2 hours and I still hadn't eaten. I knew this was a HUGE mistake but could not persuade myself to do otherwise. All I could think about now was passing out for a few hours on that mattress. So, that's exactly what I did and when I woke 4-5 hours later I found myself in a world of pain. Every muscle in my body hurt, my Achilles had only worsened and my head was pounding. My body had feasted on my muscles and anything else it could post race. I had not provided any nutrition to help with recovery so it went to the only thing available...
The last and most dangerous mistake that I made was not planning to stay the night/morning at another hotel or at least bringing a tent to sleep in post race. Not just for me but for my crew, who had been up just as long as I had during the race. By the grace of God, Katy and my Dad where able to drive us from the time we left the race around 1AM through to the morning when I awoke and we found some breakfast. I know that they both battled to stay awake and keep us between the paint. In hindsight our desire to get back home quickly put us and others in an unnecessary danger. However, we managed to get all the way home without any real issues. This was only possible by rotating drivers every 1-2 hours throughout the entire trip home and lots and lots of caffeine.
Gratitude: I want to give all the glory to God and thank Him so much for another successful run. The crew/family support He provided was more than I could have ever wished for. Thank you so, so much to Katy, Dad, Mom, Kristin, Deming, Annabelle, and Daniel for making the trip with me and for supporting me all day. Thank you to Mary (Gramma) for watching Heidi and Harlow for the weekend and for all of the encouragement and support from Chattanooga. A huge thank you to everyone who sent prayers and good vibes to get me to the finish. Thank you to Rock/Creek for race team support on this journey.
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| Supporting Daddy During the Race all the way from Tennessee! (N8's Crew) |
Nutrition Plan:
After 40+ miles – Added Chicken Noodle Puree, Beef Jerky, Pickles, and Coke as Needed
Until the next race,
Nathan Holland
2015
Rock/Creek Race Team
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