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Angeles Crest 100 Mile Endurance Run – Part 4

I’ve built all this up over three posts with a lot of words (read: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), but now I have to admit that I remember very little of the last 25 miles. I know that it lasted 6:32 and time definitely wasn’t “flying” but my memories come in brief little flashes.

Jimmy and I ran out of Chantry Flats and into the last 25 miles of the race. We left while I still had a mouthful of food and was carrying a cup of soup.

For months, I’d been hearing how tough the last 25 miles of this race are. I left Chantry totally focused on breaking 24 hours. It was 9:42pm, which meant I now had 7 hours and 17 minutes to accomplish that goal. Despite the fact that I’d never run this far before and never run this section of the course, I was confident that I could do it.

I knew that Brandon, Keira and Mark weren’t that far behind me, but breaking 24 hours was far more important to me than what place I finished in. On the other hand, finishing in the top ten at my first 100 would be pretty sweet.

The first five miles out of Chantry are a climb up to the Mt. Wilson Toll Road. I’d been fearing this climb for weeks. But when Jimmy and I started up the trail, my legs were strong under me. Jimmy was handling me with a great mix of motivation and fear. The motivation got me power hiking pretty quickly up the climb and the fear had me running any little section that I could. My foot felt fine going uphill but once we crested the Mt. Wilson Toll Road and started moving downhill, the tendon in my foot and ankle caught back on fire. Every so often Jimmy would look behind us to see if anyone was close. Because of the switchbacks and the windy trail, sometimes we would see lamps or hear voices but it was impossible to tell how far back anyone was. I don’t remember if this section of the trail was marked well or not. Having Jimmy guide me was enough. Putting on my new Petzl Myo headlamp was pretty huge too.  I could actually see where I was running.  That headlamp isn’t particularly cheap, but it kicks ass.

Close to the Idlehour aid station (mile 83.5) we ran through the party tree – a tree the aid station volunteers had decorated with a ton of glowsticks. It was a welcome sight in the middle of this night. We got to Idlehour at 11:52pm. It’s a major point of pride for me that my split for this nine mile section from Chantry to Idlehour was the third fastest of the race. We were in and out of Idlehour quickly and headed toward the second-to-last checkpoint of the race at Sam Merrill. When we left Idlehour I had 5 hours and 5 minutes to run 16.5 miles and finish sub-24.

My biggest memories of the 12 miles from Idlehour through Sam Merrill to the final aid station at Millard Campground are of Jimmy’s voice, “Hug right” (to avoid falling off a cliff to the left), “Step down”, “Crumbling trail”, “Poison oak”, “Tripping rock”. He was doing a great job not only keeping me safe, but also keeping me focused and awake. He broke the rest of the course down for me into short sections, which did sort of make it seem more manageable.

From the Sam Merrill checkpoint (mile 89.25), most of the rest of the race is downhill. In the weeks before the race, I was excited for this part of the course. I figured that no matter how I felt, I could just let gravity take me home. But the profile doesn’t show how technical and rocky most of this section is. And if easy descents were rough on my foot, this kind of terrain was absolutely killing me. I could run, but had to do it gingerly and I knew I was losing time when I otherwise felt great. I love running on trails, but at this point, I was begging for some nice, hard, smooth, unforgiving-on-the-joints pavement. Anything to give my ankles and feet a break!

We got to Millard Campground (mile 95.83) at 3:07am. That meant that, barring catastrophe, I’d get my sub-24. We heard that Dom was just a few minutes of ahead of us and didn’t see anyone behind us. That didn’t stop Jimmy from continuing to look back to make sure that we weren’t going to get passed. As we left this final checkpoint, Jimmy called Elizabeth to let her know that we were headed home. Thankfully no one expected me to do any talking because, despite the fact that I still felt OK, my brain wasn’t sending coherent signals to my mouth. We ran through the El Prieto Trail and finally, finally, were done with the technical parts of the course. And this brings us full circle back to the beginning of Part 1 of this race report: remember that?

Billy and Colin taking photos (like this one of Jimmy and I coming up the road):

Jimmy still looking back to make sure no one popped up behind us in the last mile:

The relatively unceremonious, but still breathtaking, finish line:

I was done. And I have the pictures to prove it.

I was so psyched to hear him read off my name and my time and to get that damn buckle.

And with that, we’re done!

But before I let you go, I need to send out one more round of thank yous. People (including me) say this all the time about every race, but I have never meant it as much as I do this time: I could not possibly have done this race without the incredible support I received from family and friends. It would have been impossible to have had anywhere close to the same fun experience and even just finishing would have been an incredible struggle. Elizabeth, my parents and Drew and Ashley (and Buhner), who all got up in the middle of the night to crew me from the very start. They put up with my nonsense (the same nonsense the Elizabeth’s been putting up with for months) and always met me with huge cheers and everything that I might possibly want or need. Jimmy who coached me through all the training and then was there all day, helping my crew learn how to handle me and then running with me – nearly carrying me – for the last 25 miles. Colin and Kristin for running with me from miles 52-75, which were probably where I struggled the most mentally. Cat and Jeff for coming out and spending many many more hours than I ever expected. Billy, for all the great photos and the support at the end. Loren and Charlie who brought the dogs to Chantry!  All the Coyotes who came out and supported Dom, Kate, Kelly and me throughout the day and night. And then, huge thank yous to everyone else, people I know and don’t know, other people’s family and friends and the volunteers all over the course. All of you rock!

Until next time…