White River 50-mile Race

July 30, 2004

I ran in my second ultra-marathon, the White River 50-miler at Crystal Mountain, Washington, near Mount Rainier National Park. My wife Linda, and sons Ryan, and Connor made the trip up with me. We stopped in Boise to buy some new trail running shoes, Vasque Velocity.   They felt great and I was excited to try them.  Linda got excited as we arrived into the forest and we were delighted with our cozy rooms at the ski resort in the Alpine Inn.    We went to the pre-race briefing where I ate a large pasta dinner.  It was fun to feel the excitement and see all the very fit runners.   I noticed that I probably was the heaviest person there, at 190 pounds.   This group looked a lot more experienced than the entrants of the Midnight Mountain 50K.

At 3:45 a.m. I was up making my preparations after a good five hours of sleep or so.   We arrived at the start/finish area around 5:10 a.m.   Six of us had decided to do the early start, one hour before the rest of the pack.  One of the guys was doing his 50^th ultra in all 50 states.   He was a nice guy from Florida. 

The race started, and I noticed right away that their pace was quite slow.   I pushed ahead for awhile but backed off with the 50 guy mentioned an early slow pace was good.  After a few minutes, I couldn’t stop the legs and pushed it to a pace I was used to in the beginning of runs.   I soon left the others far behind.   We went the length of an airstrip and then circled back through the woods along the river, passing the start/finish area.  It was cool to be in the lead, even if I was leading the back-of-the-pack guys.   I reached the road expecting to have someone there to help me to cross.  They weren’t.  I was confused where to go and stopped for a minute or so, waiting for the others, but they didn’t arrive.  I soon figured out the right way and was off.

I arrived at the first aid station near Camp Shepherd (4.1 miles) at the 48-minute mark.   The group cheered to see their first runner and asked what I wanted.   I ate a power bar and grabbed some gel.   The 50 guy (James Sullivan) arrived at the station too and mentioned that he thought the others had taken a wrong turn.   I wanted to keep my lead for awhile longer, so I took off.  James stayed up with me until we reached the Dalles climb.   I pushed a little harder and extended a good lead up the massive first climb.  At 2:25, I was shocked that a guy asked to pass me.   He blazed past me and he was obviously the true leader who started an hour after me.  I had hoped to not see the first fast runner in under 3 hours.   Several others soon came, all very nice, saying I was doing great.   Then there were any for awhile.  

I reached the Ranger Creek Shelter at 2:50 (the 11.7-mile mark).   I knew I was behind my pacing goal, but I was still going strong.   James Sullivan caught up to me but liked my pace and had no desire to pass me.   We kept together for the next five miles, letting about 20 or so people pass us.   The trail headed to Coral Pass and then doubled back, so we were soon able to see the front-runners heading back.   With a mile to go to Coral Pass, I was starting to feel tired and a bad blister was forming on my right heal.   I really didn’t want to stop to fix it, because I knew that the down-hill after the pass wouldn’t hurt it and that I could fix it when I returned to Buck Creek (half-way point at the Start/Finish area.)  That was probably a bad decision because it slowed me down.   I let James pass and he left me far behind as we hit flat areas and some down-hill sections.   My knee would not let me push it.

I reached Corral Pass (16.9 miles) at  4:16 hours.   The activity there was busy as many runners were arriving and leaving.  It was a little discouraging to realize that all of these were actually an hour ahead of me.   I chowed down on sandwiches, drinks, gel, chips, and fruit.   I left feeling pretty good and it was fun see so many runners who were still behind me, heading for the Pass.    My pace back to Ranger Creek shelter was pretty good.  Only a few runners passed me.   After that it was a pretty steep 5-mile stretch that slowed me to 3.5 m.p.h.   Plenty of people passed me who could really charge down the hill.   My knees and quads just would not let me push hard.

Finally, I reached Buck Creek at about the 6:40 mark.   Not good, I would have to do the second half almost as fast.   It took me too long to repair my feet and I didn’t eat or drink enough at the station because I was trying so hard to get my feet fixed fast.   Finally I was off again and then tripped over a root and fell in the dust.   I got up slowly and a camper offered me a beer, but I declined.  I reached the Sun Top Trail, and started up the next long uphill, but I didn’t feel very good.   The heat was getting to me and my energy level had dropped.   My mental push didn’t kick in and I was just content to hike up and survive.   My pace dropped well below 3 mph, and it took me almost two hours to cover five miles to reach the Fawn Ridge aid station.   I came in pretty discouraged, but the volunteers really perked me up.  They cheered and offered things to me including ice in my hat.   I asked them about cut-off times and they told me not to worry, that I was still an hour ahead.   Still, I knew I would be in trouble.   After about ten minutes with them, they pushed me on my way.

The next five miles to Sun Top was up and down with some hot spots through open cut areas, where logging had removed the trees.  A group of four runners passed me and I tried hard to keep up with their pace for awhile.  That helped perk me up.

At Sun Top the view of Mount Rainier was amazing!   It looked like the aid station was starting to close things down, another discouraging sight.   I asked them about the cutoff time and they told me not to worry, but I was only 15 minutes ahead.   This was going to get hard to finish by the 14 hour mark.   A few other runners arrived but I left quickly in an attempt to keep ahead.  

The next portion was a long road run down over 3,000 feet, over 6.4 miles.   A couple runners passed me.  I tried hard to run faster, but the knees would not let me.  I worried that the next aid station would not let me keep going, but they did.  They quickly gave me some things and off I went.   I had 1 hour 45 minutes left to cover almost 7 miles.   I would have to maintain a 4 mph pace.   The trail winded along the river, going up and down, through trees, roots, rocks, and streams.   It was a fun trail, but my stress to finish didn’t make it too enjoyable.  

As I neared the end, I started doubting the mileage, thinking it was wrong and I didn’t have a chance to finish in time.   But then suddenly I saw things through the trees, making me think that I was almost there.  I pushed harder, checked my watch and realized I had five minutes left.   When I reached the road, I dropped my poles and sprinted as fast as I could.   When the finish line was in sight, I saw that the clock already read 14 hours (for me).  Bummer.  I backed off a little and finished at 14:01:31.  What I failed to consider is that they started us a little late, after 5:30 a.m.   My official time ended up 14:00:02.  Two seconds over!    But, thankfully, they still recognized my finish as official.   I ended up 104^th, the last of the finishers.   About 21 other people dropped out along the way.

I saw Linda and the boys near the finish and someone asked me what I needed.  I asked for something to drink and then made my way toward the medical tent because I thought they checked out all the finishers.  I plopped down in a chair and then started to feel a little dizzy, wanting to lie down.   I was just pooped, but they offered to take me in the medical tent and I said OK.

I felt somewhat better after drinking 1.5 liters of water.  I was just beat.   I couldn’t drink any more, I think because I needed to burp.   They offered to give me an IV to speed things up.  Within a couple minutes I really perked up and felt very good, but they kept me down because my pulse was still 95.  They wanted it to fall into the 80s.   So I stayed there for about an hour.   The lady in the cot next to me was doing poorly.  She started to throw up and they sent for an ambulance.  Finally, I was getting hungry and asked if I could get up.   I did and felt fine, ate some meat and soon we left.  I felt stupid for having worried Linda so much.  I could have just drank something, cooled down, complained, but instead I took the easy way and enjoyed a cot and having people coddle me.

Oh well.  As I was lying there, Ryan asked if I was still going to do the Bear 100.  The first thought in my mind was “no way.”  I had only done 50 miles and felt dead.  How could I ever do 50 more?  Funny how within a few hours, I decided that I would still go for it.   I know Linda wanted me to forget about this running hobby and do something safer.

I learn more with each of these event.   My downfalls this time were:  1. Not fixing my blister when it was first noticed. (Probably cost me an hour).  2. Not eating/drinking enough at one of the aid stations.  3. Going into a DNF (did not finish) pace for ten miles (between mile 27 and mile 37.  Cost me another hour). 4. Getting too close to cut-of times, adding stress to the run, which broke down my rational thinking.  5. Because of #4, I didn’t drink enough the last seven miles.  6. Wearing two knee braces.  My left leg ended up torn up terribly.