Race Report

Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Trail Run

February 2-3, 2008

Rocky Raccoon, which is held in Hunstville, Texas, was my third 100 mile

race. I had conquered the distance twice already, but it had been 5 months since

my last 100 miler and I had a couple of mediocre races in the fall which did not

help my self confidence going into the race. I felt like my training was solid,

I have been working with my coach for over a year and a half, but with a crappy

winter, most of my training had been done on a treadmill, with only a handful of

good, quality long runs outside. Part of me felt confident about the race, part

of me did not. I decided that it was just going to be another adventure.  My

biggest goal going into the race was to not let myself fall into the trap of

walking through the night. It is very easy to do, and a large number of runners

find themselves mostly walking when it is dark out. My second goal was a PR,

which i thought was doable, but i did not want to set a specific time goal,

because there are so many factors that can go wrong

over the course of 100 miles.

The weather forecast for the race weekend was changing daily in the 10

days leading up to the race. The preliminary forecasts were calling for rain,

which i was not looking forward to because the race course is historically very

muddy in wet weather. However, as the days went by, the forecast improved with

rain the Thursday before the race, clear on Friday, mid to upper 70's on

Saturday and a chance of rain showers Saturday night into Sunday. That is

acceptable for me.

Friday afternoon, my husband, Eddie, and my running group friend Keith,

Anthony and Ira, headed over to the Lodge to pick up our packets and attend the

race briefing. While there, we met up with Coach Lisa and her husband Jay,

Jackie, George, and others that we knew from many of the ultras we had been to.

The race briefing was not too long and i was surprised to find out that we were

going to be chip timed. That was a first for me in an ultra!  Also, we were told

that there were alligators living at the park, which was backed up by signs around

the park as well.  After the race briefing, Eddie, Keith, Ira, Anthony and

myself headed over to Chilis for some dinner before calling it an early night.

I slept fairly well for a prerace night and felt good when we woke up at

4:30am. Around 5:15 we met up with Keith and headed over to the start of the

race.  Once there, we dropped off our drop bags, checked in, stretched and

waited for the start. Usually, I do not even try to think about 100 miles and

how i plan on running the race. The distance is too daunting to really wrap my

head around sometimes. So, i had loosely had a plan that i was going to follow

Coach Lisa's guidance of starting slow to finish strong. She also told me to run

my own race and don't worry about people passing you in the beginning, because

most likely, you will pass them later on. (she is so smart!)

The race started promptly at 6am, and we were off down the trail. I had

my handheld light and did my best to navigate the crowded and rooty trail. It took several miles before the

runners thinned out. After a couple miles i ran into Kira and Mike. I ran with

them for a short while, but knowing that they are faster runners than me, i made

the wise choice to let them continue on as i maintained my pace. I hit the first

aid station in about 45 minutes, very even 12 minute miles, i was happy. After

the second aid station at 7 miles, Dam Road Aid Station,  the trail does a 6

mile out and back, which was nice, because it was easy to see other runners on

the trail, which is always fun. I hit the aid station there (10 miles) in 2

hours, still maintaining a good pace. On my way back down the trail i saw Eddie,

who was running his first 50 miler, he looked strong and happy.

From the Dam Road aid station to the next was about 4.5 miles. This

section was rooty and felt very looooong. At one point you run over a dam and

you can see the Lodge (Start/Finish) across the lake. It is a big tease because

it is not that far away, you can hear all the people there, but you are a good 7 miles from it! From

this section to the end of the first loop (13-20 miles) i just did not feel

good. I felt sluggish and worried that if this was how i felt this early in, the

prognosis was not going to be good for the rest of the race. I also had my new

trail shoes which i was not in love with and started imagining foot issues early

in. With only a few miles into the race i could swear i had blisters. It was

definitely all in my head!

Once hitting the end of the first loop, i felt good knowing what to

expect from there on. I saw the course, sort of knew the course, and felt a

little more confident. My first loop took about 4:10, with about an additional

5-8 minutes at the turn around to refuel and take a potty break,  which was

pretty good. Not too fast, not too slow. I had let a TON of people pass me early

on in the race, which is hard on the ego, but necessary. It is too easy to get

sucked up into racing others when that is not my goal. A few miles into the second loop, i started running with a friendly man, Jeff, who

had run Hardrock in 2007. It was really interesting to hear his take on the race

and the difficulty of it. It also helped pass the time for a few miles.

Once i hit the Dam Road aid station on the second loop, the out and back

was full of 50 & 100 mile runners in both directions. I saw Keith early on, then

i saw Anthony and Ira running strong. On my way back i saw Coach Lisa who yelled

at me that i was running too fast, which is her job to keep us on a good pace. 

I had actually miscalculated my time and did not realize that i had started off

a wee bit fast. I also saw Eddie still looking good, running a really good pace

and looking like he was enjoying himself. He looked a bit overdressed, but he

swore he was fine. It was getting hot, as it was just past noon time, but he

said he was comfortable. The rest of the loop was uneventful and i finished in

around 4:30. I did feel better on the second loop than i did during the first. I spent about 5-7 minutes at the turn around refueling and hitting the porta

potties again.

Back out on the trail i felt really good. It was hot, but not too hot.

It was a bit humid, but not overwhelmingly so. I had slowed a slight bit, but

nothing that was not expected in a long race. My feet and shoes felt fine and

overall i was feeling good. I was eating, drinking, peeing, and my tummy was

behaving. When i hit the 50 mile point (11 hours on the dot!) I felt awesome.

Something about hitting that mark just really energized me and i took off.

Before I finished the 3rd loop the sun had started to set and it was time to

break out the lights. I was using the combination of a handheld with a head

lamp. At the Grand Teton 100 miler in September, i had only used a headlamp and

had issues with the dust and seeing the trail at night. Wise people suggested

adding a handheld, which makes a HUGE difference in visibility of the trail at

night.  As the sun set, the wild life started to come alive. Even with my iPod

(that i picked up at 60 miles) i could hear the frogs, insects, birds

and other wild life partying out in the forrest.

As the sun went down, the temperatures cooled slightly which also put a

spring in my step. I continued to eat and drink and feel pretty good. I did,

however, start to slow. My mind was telling my legs to run, but they did not

want to run as fast as i wanted them to. I just kept hammering forward, not

letting myself walk when i could run. The course itself was very runnable,

almost no significant elevation changes or climbs. I was carrying a bag of

granola and when i walked up the small hills, i would munch on it, so at least i

felt productive about my walk breaks. At one point i tripped and fell, but i

fell into a really soft pile of pine needles. It was actually quite soft. I got

lucky. I did trip a lot otherwise on the trail with all the roots and rocks, and

my toenails are pretty angry at me.

I hit Dam Road and gobbled up some oranges, they were delicious and felt

like super human fuel. I felt really energized from them. On the out and back, on the way back, I saw

Keith. He was on his fifth loop and not that far behind me on the course. I

expected him to lap me soon after, but he did not catch me until almost 14 or 15

miles into that loop. It was nice though, we ran together for at least a mile or

two. He was already dreaming about what he was going to do when he finished in a

few miles, where i still had over 20 miles to go!  With a few miles left, he

picked it up and we parted ways. I turned back on my iPod and got into a groove

heading back into the start finish line.

Once back at the start/finish line, i saw Eddie, who had rocked out his

first 50 miler in 13:32, looking surprisingly fresh and happy. I also saw Lisa

as well. Anthony had planned on pacing me for my last loop, but he rechecked his

flight information and my pace and was unable to pace me. I was fine with that

and knew ahead of time that there was a good chance that for one reason or

another he would be unable to pace me. I picked up my other iPod, filled my pockets with some food, and told Eddie and

Lisa that i was going to do my 5th loop in 6 hours or less. My 4th loop was

long, over 6 hours, even with all my running. I knew i could do better than that

on my last loop. Or at least i hoped my legs could.

Heading back out for my last loop was a good feeling. Five 20 mile loops

is hard for a race, but it was good to know i was going through the course for

the last time. For the rest of the race, there were small rain showers that

would come in and out. They were so minor, that sometimes, i only knew it was

raining because i could see the raindrops in my headlamp's light.

At this point it was well into the middle of the night, and for some

obscure reason, i thought i could get through the race without any caffeine. I

felt super energized until about 2am when i started to fall asleep while

running. I had only heard stories about that happening to people, though i had

never experienced it. It was very scary, because i felt like i had little control over my body. I just kept trying to revive myself to

keep moving, knowing that i could get something to drink at the aid station.

At Dam Road, i had a half cup of black coffee and i think they slipped

some rocket fuel in there. I took off down the trail and felt stellar. On this

stretch, I heard some commotion in the woods and shined my light to find an

armadillo-- i had never see one in real life before! I really was in Texas. I

would rather see an armadillo than an alligator any day. Back at the Dam Road

aid station, i felt soooo good. I came flying in yelling out "Number 92, at 93

miles, wheeeeeeeee." It was late and there were runners passed out in chairs all

over the place. The volunteers thought i was a trip and told me that i looked

like i was running a 50K. I thanked them and told them that even though i looked

like it, my legs would beg to differ.

From this point on (mile 87-100) i started passing a lot of runners. I

felt really good with all the running i did through the night and felt super pleased every time i picked off a runner in front of

me. I am not sure how many people I passed in those last 13 miles, but i would

say at least 2 dozen!!! In that whole time only one runner passed me. He flew by

me around mile 96.5. (I later found out he had taken a short nap a little while

before) I caught him at the aid station and passed him. He caught back up to me

and told me he wanted to break 25 hours, but it was 24:45 on the race clock and

there was no way he could run 5 minutes miles. I told him that i wanted to

finish in 25:30, but that my legs were not going as fast as i would like. For

some arbitrary reason i thought 25:30 sounded like a good finsh time. He told me

i could do it and we took off. The first mile or so, we pounded the trail, I

tried to keep up with him, but I felt like my legs were going to give out from

unde

r me, so i slowed it down a bit. As I lost him in my sight, I could still hear

him yelling to me, encouraging me, through the woods. 

The neatest part about the last three miles was that the sun came up. With about 1 mile to

go, i could turn off my headlamp. The last 1/5 mile of the race, we cross a road

and it is a nice gradual down hill to the pavement leading to the start/finish

line. I kicked it into high gear and pounded as hard as i could. I ran so hard

and the closer i got to the finish, the harder i ran. I felt that there was a

good chance that i was either going to collapse or puke from the effort, but

there was only one way to find out how hard we can push ourselves. I cruised

through the finish line in a super PR of 25:22!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was

an almost 2 hour PR off my previous best 100 mile time of 27:13. Eddie was

there, as well as Anthony and Ira. They stopped by to watch me finish on their

way to the airport, which really meant a lot. 

I felt great!!!!! I had really given this race all i could and ran hard

from start to finish. I never got lazy during the night and i passed a ton of

runners who had all passed me early on the first day of the race. The other weird thing about this race is that with each

loop, i felt better- emotionally and physically. As the race progressed i just

felt stronger and happier and more motivated to do well. I had never ran so hard

for so long in my whole life. It really boosted my confidence in my 100 mile

abilities.

After i received my medal and finished the round of congratulations, I

checked my time on the computer and also saw that i was first in my age group--

whoohooooo. Eddie finished his first 50 miler in 13:32, Keith had a "bad" day

according to him, finishing in 19:14, Anthony and Ira were hoping for a sub 10

hour 50 mile finish, but just missed it, finishing in 10:02. It was a great race

for everyone and just a great race altogether. I would definitely go back and i

would definitely recommend the race to others, especially first time 100 or 50

mile runners. The aid stations were great, all the volunteers were outstanding

and the organization was top notch.