#19 - Haliburton 100M

Even though I really never felt as good as I had before my first 100M attempt at BR, it turns out things went quite well. No stomach issues, hydration was fine, no major pains along the way, and more importantly mentally I was there the entire race. I finished in ~22:13 or so felling pretty good and tired but happy with the results. And I got my belt buckle!

I seem to remember portions of the race and then I have foggy patches of the rest. I mean what did I think about for 22hrs? I really can't remember. I tried for the most part to keep my toughts to next aid station on what I could eat/drink or if I needed a change of socks, etc... Earlier in the race, my plan was to run between 9-10hrs the first 50M and then hang on really since I had never run farther than that. Target was 24hrs.

The first 25M went fine with no real issues, all good and focusing on the pace and intake. As I usually do I left an "offering" at the altar (~20km mark) promising to pick it on my last way back. I ran about 30min or so with Pablo (a fellow from Montreal who was born/raised in Argentina) and we chatted in spanish for a bit from around 20-25km, however we split up soon after and then at around 55km mark he stayed at the AS and I continued on. After that I ran by myself, I caught up to several runners along the way but never really stayed together. My time at the first turn around was 4:35, right on track and felling good. Looking back the first 25M were the most stressful becuase you are testing your body and the terrain, trying to eat and people are passing you. I don't do really well when people go by me so I just had to concentrate on the end goal but it is not easy when you are 2-3hrs in!

As I turned around to start the second 25M I looked at the picture of my kids (I had put a pic of them on my cap) and said "if you bring me back here I promise I'll finish no matter what". There you go, I think that was the point that I first said, I'm finishing this. During the way back I continued eating and seeing tons of people which really helped. I decided to change socks and shoes on the way back aid station 4 about 65km because I was feeling a bit of a hot spot and it turned out that was the last time I touched my feet. I did change socks (or add a pair on top of the one I had) once before in between stations 7 and 6.

At the 50M turnaround I clocked 9:35, so 5 hrs for the 25M and basically right on tract. I felt pretty good, tired of course but not drained and I was mentally prepared to start the race all over again. I was just thinking just get the turnaorund and you will make it, that simple. The Normac trail is a pain, 3rd time around now and it was awefully long. Around this time I met with Johnny (we had dinner together the night before and had been talking several times through our blogs about our races and we both really wanted this race) and asked how he was, he looked good but he mentioned he had an issue with his knee so he was going to put some ice and see (I only found out he dropped once I didn't see him on the way back, I was hoping to see him). For me the worst part of the trail is from station 2 (km 11) to station 5 (km 25) with lost of ups and downs and technical trail so it was important to get as far a long as possible before I had to turn the lights on. During this lap I was getting a bit tired and I had to power walk quite a bit, I would say 25% of the loop (excluding hills which I always walk, however the definition of hills changed over the duration of the race, I mean what I considered a flat runnable stretch at the beginning was a pretty tough hill by the end). I also started to get tire of water so I filled my water bottles with ginger ale a couple of times and it worked. I picked up my lights at station 4 or 95km but did not put them on until just before aid station 6 or 110km. During that stretch I ran alone until I finally caught up to someone in the distance, I think her name was Lisa, she was looking great but she had bells on her and the sound for me was absolutely impossible to take, so I passed her as fast as I could. She did mention she did not like running at night alone but there was no way I could stay with her with that sound, sorry. Off I went with my lights on and a burrito on hand through the log trail after aid station 6, and yes I took my Ensure (they were going down easily and very quickly, great!). This part is somewhat simple until you start hitting the hills before aid station 7. I was dreaming about the chili they said they were going to have here at night. I saw all the leaders coming back, Jeff had about 2 hours on me when I saw him so he really didn't add too much time after that. I did see other runners but I couldn't make out the faces in the dark and not sure if some had pacers or not so I had no idea what place I was in. I really didn't care but I was just curious; my focus was to run in less than 24hrs. As soon as I got to the turnaround I ask for my chili and I ate it while walking to the turnaround cone. As I turned on the cone, I took my cap off looked at the pic of my kids again, and told them “you got me here again and I’m bringing you back”. Time was 15:45 or 6:10 for the 25M. Ok so I have 8:15 to make a 24hr 100M race. I can do this.

So off I went into my last 25M, thanking the guys at aid station 7 for the last time! At this point I started to get a bit cold, temperatures were about 5-6C so I just needed to keep moving as fast as I could, and as soon as I started on my way back I started shivering uncontrollably (WTF!), so I started my run and soon it was gone (not to self: can't spend time on any aid station way too cold). I saw a lot of people coming towards the turnaround, can't remember who was the closest to me but I think it was Kinga/Iris about 30min. Again I thought don't worry about the others, just keep moving and things will workout, focus on 24hrs. Things went pretty good and I could keep somewhat of a pace and the downhills were still runnable for me. My running had gone down to a max of continuous minutes and then I had to walk a bit. My feet were dragging a bit more than usual and I hit numerous rocks/stubs but I never fell once! I mean I almost went face first a couple of times but always recovered gracefully. Somehow the hills on my way back were less steep and I went faster than normal, not sure if it was because it was dark or I was just asleep as I went by them. I stopped at the altar gave thanks and took my toy rock back and gave thanks. I came up to aid station 4 with 15km to go and I knew I still the Normac to go. This 4km stretch went forever, but soon enough I hit aid station 2 and almost didn’t stop. The trail portion on Normac for me was almost unrunnable, every time I started to run I tripped, I tried but couldn’t go more than 1 or 2 minutes before I had to stop and walk, it was very dark with rocks/stumps everywhere. So as soon as I got the road I was very thankful, and ran most of it to aid station 3. Thank them one last time and I took off quickly, they did mention as I was leaving that there was a runner about 15 minutes ahead. I thought 15 minutes in 6km is going to be tough any day and today impossible, if he stops fine but I’m not going to kill myself. The moment I saw the flashing lights at the turn of aid station 2 tears were running down my face. I had a burst of energy and I just ran by aid station 2 yelled my number said thanks high-fived someone there and kept running…don’t think I ran all the way to the finish line. The last hill was hard but in matter of moments I could see the finish line lights, wow! I really did it. One last push and I ran it in 22:13, or 6:28 for the last 25M. Holy crap this race was long! Stayed for about 15min talking to a group of people around the fire and then off to call my wife at 4:30am with the good news and take a very cold shower (no hot water this year!).

Things I did well:
1) I focused on eating a lot early on and I think that set my stomach for the duration of the race. At first things didn't look to appetizing but I ate them no matter what. I had 8 ensures along the way which really made a difference. I was dreaming of the chili at aid station 7 (soooo good), and I had soup every time I could. It kept me warm at night and provided good salty replenishment. Bananas for some reason were going down easy, and I must have eaten 4-5. Ensure every 2-3 hours (8 total including breakfast before the race). 15-20 gels. 6 cups of soup. 4 pieces of burrito. 4 P&J quarters. 4 Turkey & Cheese quarters. Some 4 pieces of banana/nut bread.
2) Hydration was really good. I drank only water because I can't stand Heed or Eload so I took my salts tabs 1/hr during the day and then maybe 1 every 1.5 or 2hrs during the night. Its funny, I knew I was over doing it with the salt tabs if salty food didn't look good and when they looked good I knew I needed tabs.
3) Never "stopped" (meaning sit down and hang around the aid stations), I changed shoes once and socks twice, so I only sat down 3 times all race, and maybe once waiting for a soup. Apart from that I always took my food and filled my water bottles and walked away as fast as possible. Always thought ahead if I wanted something specific from the aid stations so I didn't have to wait.
4) Power walk was a good friend. Not sure if I ever had a really bad moment. In fact I think I've felt worse in 50k or 50M races. All I did, when I felt some fatigue was to power walk but not stop. Soon enough it faded away and then I could start to move again.
5) I forgot about other runners and just focused on the 24hr goal. Yes, at the end I felt I had more so I gave it all I had and I managed to basically run my last 25M more or less the same as miles 50-75

So that is it. I mean I really feel good about the effort I put in. Could I have done better? Maybe, but I think it would have been marginally better, braking the 22hr mark but not much more than that. The weather helped for sure during the day and kept things cool during the night (maybe a bit too cold at times). Aid stations were great, trails were awesome and I didn’t see any animals, perfect. So I hear the race will have more trail next year, Helene is trying to gain more trail on the Normac part instead of the road, that’s nice….doing it 4 times with more trail is going to be hard.

As of today I've been pain free except for a nagging muscle on my right shin. No clue what it is but it hurts when I walk. Haven't run yet but I've walked a couple of times. Still feel tired during the day but healing and thinking about which race to do next. What better way to feel alive than to run 100M, in can't get more real than that.