And the countdown begins…….Runners got ready to run from
Granite Bay’s Beals Point to Cool Olmstead Loop, in Northern California.
We were ushered to collect our respective bib. I was the lucky
No. 46, along with the schwag goodies, I’m loving how this event is turning out.
I hope it stays the same until it wraps up to finish.
The volunteers told me to answer the board question “Why do
you run 100?” I had no creative answer other than I’m crazy and stupid J but seriously, I
thought running 100 is epic enough. I am a mountain climber and in this sport, the gear is not cheap. Over two years ago, I’ve been wanting to own a good pair of
ice axe. I so wish that someone with a good heart out there would give it to me
as a gift. One time my friend asked me how much is it and I beamingly replied “$800
bucks”… So there, that should tell you why running 100 miler distance make sense now.
FLASHBACK
So here I am, I found myself some support to pay for my 100
mile endurance run. The Collins family paid majority of the expenses. I registered a month before the race. One of the
requirement is to submit volunteer hours but with the Gov shutdown, I had
no way to do some volunteer hours.
I received a text message from a former companion willing to assist me where to get my volunteer hours and I flatly declined that offer. I considered him a member of the local running clique with the sole purpose is to harm me. It would have been alright if I see good intention but I’d rather be safe than sorry. My trust with this man has dwindled to zero! This man caused me, not to complete my supposed Evolution Valley run in Bishop. When I wanted to solo ascent Split Mountain, he took a bad route to summit, that lost a lot of time returning back to trailhead. This man wanted me to stop running my first 100K in Santa Barbara when I only had less than 10 miles to finish. On the SF100 self-support run, he wanted me to stop running after 80+ miles and argued with me and pretending that he had all the support when I could sensed, that all he wanted me to do is Not to finish. So as you can guess, there is enough evidence to support not to trust this man ever.
Euchre Bar Massacre (EBM 2013)
I received a text message from a former companion willing to assist me where to get my volunteer hours and I flatly declined that offer. I considered him a member of the local running clique with the sole purpose is to harm me. It would have been alright if I see good intention but I’d rather be safe than sorry. My trust with this man has dwindled to zero! This man caused me, not to complete my supposed Evolution Valley run in Bishop. When I wanted to solo ascent Split Mountain, he took a bad route to summit, that lost a lot of time returning back to trailhead. This man wanted me to stop running my first 100K in Santa Barbara when I only had less than 10 miles to finish. On the SF100 self-support run, he wanted me to stop running after 80+ miles and argued with me and pretending that he had all the support when I could sensed, that all he wanted me to do is Not to finish. So as you can guess, there is enough evidence to support not to trust this man ever.
Euchre Bar Massacre (EBM 2013)
Luckily I was able to convince awesome Sean Ranney, the local RD, to
give me some work to do. Sean signed my ‘volunteer paper’ after my sweeping
work and collected books used during the Euchre Bar Massacre race (EBM 2013). I
could say a lot of good things about EBM, it was truly an adventure to
remember. That was hard work though, sweeping after a failed race does not give
much enthusiasm. However, as I collected the books, I learned some new trails
in the Foresthill. I was then able to send the volunteer form just before the
due date.
Thanking Sean Ranney for granting my request and I tell you, Sean is not only one of the best RD but one of the most down-to-earth yet very impressive runner. I am describing about a runner that does not need to be pampered and can run on his own will. We need more of those runners as our role model nowadays.
Thanking Sean Ranney for granting my request and I tell you, Sean is not only one of the best RD but one of the most down-to-earth yet very impressive runner. I am describing about a runner that does not need to be pampered and can run on his own will. We need more of those runners as our role model nowadays.
Hilloween and SEKI
There was the Hilloween that I participated, I thought it
was good acclimation to do Pyramid Peak repeats, the mountain itself has 4100
vertical gain each way and to add that to the planned SEKI run, a big
possibility that I could get myself a SUUNTO…. But that plan failed, friends
bailed and wanted to climb nearby instead. I was treated with a surprise cake
and gifts though….Thanks Jeanne, Ray and James J
Maybe my friends bailing contributed to the success of my 100 mile. Had I
continued to run the SEKI on my own, it may put too much fatigue on my leg
muscles…
Mt. Whitney Winter Ascent
The traverse to Whitney was not easy. It was ice slugging all the way up. Taper time meant not to put a lot of work on the legs but this workout was not as intense as much as mountain running. However the thin air made it a lot lot strenuous.
After the success of Mt Whitney trip, I had not done any running at all, not even few miles of walking.
RACE DAY - Rio Del Lago 100
As a climber, I am used to hiking vertical climb. If one would think that RDL is easy, my opinion called it "halfway house". There are many aspect of the run that is generally easy but RDL is tougher than one would think.
Running up and down and repeating it many times can take a toll in your leg muscle. And this is the first part of RDL, running the fire road levee to Granite Bay Horse Assembly. The fire road become single track to Horseshoe Bar. This same 11 mile out-and-back will be the runners last 22 mile and also the toughest segment of the RDL run.
This 6.2 mile of trivial rocky, slicky, pointy terrain slows majority of the runners, especially at night. For this course, I had to do this 6.2 mile four times. Even though the RDL course is generally an easy 100 mile, the 24 mile technical trail could send a runner cursing.
The way to Cardiac and Auburn Overlook was not bad at all. Perhaps the easier loop of the course is the Olmstead.
I have had been coming to Auburn since 2010 and for that I call this my local trail. It also means getting lost and earning 3 unwanted bonus miles would be laughable yet condescending. I couldn't believe that I found myself lost in the foothills.
Pacers
After gotten lost and added miles, I hoped not to be lost in the dark.. I really dont want anymore unwanted miles that would dinged my performance. One would call me a serious runner. That may be true, as I dont like doing things with a bad result. First of all I gotta love what I do and enjoy it, but getting lost is freaking exhausting to a runner's mental toughness. I am thankful that I have pacers on this run and I can't thank them enough.... Ray Rios and Jeanne Kysar-Carey ( the Wolfpack Mountain Runners).
Simple Dinner for the Night
Im glad I reached ADO and look forward to my real meal. I asked Dad Collins to prepare me just a simple meal, steamed rice and steamed salmon, with just soya sauce. Dad Collins offered more to bring, but I knew I could not eat it, and will be sad to throw away food.
I made sure that no matter how behind I am with my pace schedule, I would eat a proper dinner and change clothes, to prepare for the cooling and much lower temperature by midnight.
Running with Ray
Ray and I took off, Dad Collins took care of the rest and to keep my sanity, Dad paid visit to my dog left home alone.. (thanks a lot Dad).
And oh this is going to be real fun. There was a runner and pacer behind us, but I could not guess who it was, as it still far to see any faces... As that runner got closer, well it turned out to be, that that runner was my biggest detractor of my entire running career.
I let her (my biggest detractor) passed me, after all, I've got nothing to lose.
Well, it seemed that I have more energy so I passed this runner. My biggest detractor since I passed her, never once passed me at all. Ray and I continued on....we kept passing a lot of runners. Actually no one passed us. Whenever we arrived at an aid station, I would tell Ray that I am not going to stop.
Though I may have the energy, I felt my right foot is bummed. I can now feel the blisters of both feet hurting and swelling near my right ankle.
I asked Ray if he has some pain reliever. I brought only aspirin and as I recall aspirin is a blood thinner and its not good for this type of injury.
Ray did not have it but what he gave is half of vicodin. It crossed my mind, how on earth were you able to get that pill ? Well I dont want pain to slow me down and at the same I worried about the effect of vicodin. So I took the half of vicodin.
Thankful so much to Ray's energy for pacing me. Ray brought me to Beal's Point where Jeanne is waiting to pace me for the last 22 miles.
Running with Jeanne
There is something running with Jeanne, not only that she is very energetic and awesome, but its her spirit. I dont know what it is, but its a viral energy and spirit that transform the running experience to something more profound. And for that Jeanne is very desirable pacer, but she wont pace you unless .... FYI, Jeanne volunteered to pace me.
My pacing was all planned, using my excel formula sheet but Jeanne had even better plans for that night.
I don't want to state how Jeanne paced me, but all I can say is, having a stud pacer, recovered all that lost time I had earlier in the race. On top of that, Jeanne would stop me from talking and just tell me to "just eat"... A pacer you would want at this crucial moment.
Well even if you the best pacer in town, the half pill vicodin took off all that energy I had and made me sleepy. I could crawl to the side of the trail and sleep. With this situation, Jeanne was the one waking me up, until we reached the second last aid station and got some help there. The volunteer Deno Dean and others, helped me with food and some blister patches.
Jeanne and I met from Miwok, we leapfrogged each other. After some runs with Jeanne, she showed me how to downhill run properly, without putting a lot of stress on the knee. I did lots of downhill run practice in Jackson with Jeanne. She runs ahead and I followed her moves.
What's special about the RDL pacing was, Jeanne not only fulfilled her volunteer duties, but she coached me while running, correcting my form, made me run the downhill and running uphill as well. On the last mile, I know I was exhausted but my "superwoman" pacer made me sprint :)
For that Jeanne earned the tag "superwoman". Yes she is, because when Jeanne paced me, she was having shoulder surgery the following week. With a painful shoulder and pacing a friend - that is a tough call. Only a true friend does that.
The Finish Line
My rookie self finally crossed the finish line a little delirious. I said that because running towards the finished line, I had no inkling where it was that Jeanne had to run with me all the way to the "finish line". And oppsss I crossed the finish line with flying colors! I didn't hear it when it was announced, but Jeanne mentioned to me that I came 3rd in my age group... Not bad at all and I gladly take that reward.
I felt relieved that I am done with this race. It was a funny feeling, thought that I could cry but I maintained my composure. And my detractors would finally shut-up (hopefully), would finally leave me alone, that their belittling and negative characterization of me, would finally be discredited.
I did this race to get the 4 points I needed for UTMB Chamonix, but I got more than just points. After adding miles and gotten lost, I couldn't be happier with the result, not to mention that I dont have any crew but I hired the best pacers in town: Ray and Jeanne.
Though I may not a big fan of the Foothills, overall the RD of Rio Del Lago did a fantastic organizing it. The volunteers, as usual are great and did more than what they are required to do. With a special note to the volunteers at Cool Aid Station, a volunteer there assisted me, as I hurried to fix myself but I forgot to ask her name. I wanna say 'thanks a lot'. A volunteer at Beal's Point who helped me with my blister. I mean, he even put my dirty socks on... If I was the volunteer, I dont even know if I can do such kind of helping. He was an awesome volunteer and I again forgot to ask his name, but I wanna thanked him too :)
To conclude, there are a lot of training runs I did to run 100 miler distance. I dont think anyone could do 100 mile race in such short period of training. My fastracking of running a hundo is not at all "fastrack", as other runner described it. If you consider peakbagging and climbing peaks, not part of the training run, then that is wrong. In fact, what helped me run the hundo successfully is time on my feet. I may not have a lot of training on running in particular, but for a hundo race, that doesn't matter at all. What really counts is the "time on the feet".
Race result here Rio Del Lag 2013
Pictures for this race to follow..................
Pacers
After gotten lost and added miles, I hoped not to be lost in the dark.. I really dont want anymore unwanted miles that would dinged my performance. One would call me a serious runner. That may be true, as I dont like doing things with a bad result. First of all I gotta love what I do and enjoy it, but getting lost is freaking exhausting to a runner's mental toughness. I am thankful that I have pacers on this run and I can't thank them enough.... Ray Rios and Jeanne Kysar-Carey ( the Wolfpack Mountain Runners).
Simple Dinner for the Night
Im glad I reached ADO and look forward to my real meal. I asked Dad Collins to prepare me just a simple meal, steamed rice and steamed salmon, with just soya sauce. Dad Collins offered more to bring, but I knew I could not eat it, and will be sad to throw away food.
I made sure that no matter how behind I am with my pace schedule, I would eat a proper dinner and change clothes, to prepare for the cooling and much lower temperature by midnight.
Running with Ray
Ray and I took off, Dad Collins took care of the rest and to keep my sanity, Dad paid visit to my dog left home alone.. (thanks a lot Dad).
And oh this is going to be real fun. There was a runner and pacer behind us, but I could not guess who it was, as it still far to see any faces... As that runner got closer, well it turned out to be, that that runner was my biggest detractor of my entire running career.
I let her (my biggest detractor) passed me, after all, I've got nothing to lose.
Well, it seemed that I have more energy so I passed this runner. My biggest detractor since I passed her, never once passed me at all. Ray and I continued on....we kept passing a lot of runners. Actually no one passed us. Whenever we arrived at an aid station, I would tell Ray that I am not going to stop.
Though I may have the energy, I felt my right foot is bummed. I can now feel the blisters of both feet hurting and swelling near my right ankle.
I asked Ray if he has some pain reliever. I brought only aspirin and as I recall aspirin is a blood thinner and its not good for this type of injury.
Ray did not have it but what he gave is half of vicodin. It crossed my mind, how on earth were you able to get that pill ? Well I dont want pain to slow me down and at the same I worried about the effect of vicodin. So I took the half of vicodin.
Thankful so much to Ray's energy for pacing me. Ray brought me to Beal's Point where Jeanne is waiting to pace me for the last 22 miles.
Running with Jeanne
There is something running with Jeanne, not only that she is very energetic and awesome, but its her spirit. I dont know what it is, but its a viral energy and spirit that transform the running experience to something more profound. And for that Jeanne is very desirable pacer, but she wont pace you unless .... FYI, Jeanne volunteered to pace me.
My pacing was all planned, using my excel formula sheet but Jeanne had even better plans for that night.
I don't want to state how Jeanne paced me, but all I can say is, having a stud pacer, recovered all that lost time I had earlier in the race. On top of that, Jeanne would stop me from talking and just tell me to "just eat"... A pacer you would want at this crucial moment.
Well even if you the best pacer in town, the half pill vicodin took off all that energy I had and made me sleepy. I could crawl to the side of the trail and sleep. With this situation, Jeanne was the one waking me up, until we reached the second last aid station and got some help there. The volunteer Deno Dean and others, helped me with food and some blister patches.
Jeanne and I met from Miwok, we leapfrogged each other. After some runs with Jeanne, she showed me how to downhill run properly, without putting a lot of stress on the knee. I did lots of downhill run practice in Jackson with Jeanne. She runs ahead and I followed her moves.
What's special about the RDL pacing was, Jeanne not only fulfilled her volunteer duties, but she coached me while running, correcting my form, made me run the downhill and running uphill as well. On the last mile, I know I was exhausted but my "superwoman" pacer made me sprint :)
For that Jeanne earned the tag "superwoman". Yes she is, because when Jeanne paced me, she was having shoulder surgery the following week. With a painful shoulder and pacing a friend - that is a tough call. Only a true friend does that.
The Finish Line
My rookie self finally crossed the finish line a little delirious. I said that because running towards the finished line, I had no inkling where it was that Jeanne had to run with me all the way to the "finish line". And oppsss I crossed the finish line with flying colors! I didn't hear it when it was announced, but Jeanne mentioned to me that I came 3rd in my age group... Not bad at all and I gladly take that reward.
I felt relieved that I am done with this race. It was a funny feeling, thought that I could cry but I maintained my composure. And my detractors would finally shut-up (hopefully), would finally leave me alone, that their belittling and negative characterization of me, would finally be discredited.
I did this race to get the 4 points I needed for UTMB Chamonix, but I got more than just points. After adding miles and gotten lost, I couldn't be happier with the result, not to mention that I dont have any crew but I hired the best pacers in town: Ray and Jeanne.
Though I may not a big fan of the Foothills, overall the RD of Rio Del Lago did a fantastic organizing it. The volunteers, as usual are great and did more than what they are required to do. With a special note to the volunteers at Cool Aid Station, a volunteer there assisted me, as I hurried to fix myself but I forgot to ask her name. I wanna say 'thanks a lot'. A volunteer at Beal's Point who helped me with my blister. I mean, he even put my dirty socks on... If I was the volunteer, I dont even know if I can do such kind of helping. He was an awesome volunteer and I again forgot to ask his name, but I wanna thanked him too :)
To conclude, there are a lot of training runs I did to run 100 miler distance. I dont think anyone could do 100 mile race in such short period of training. My fastracking of running a hundo is not at all "fastrack", as other runner described it. If you consider peakbagging and climbing peaks, not part of the training run, then that is wrong. In fact, what helped me run the hundo successfully is time on my feet. I may not have a lot of training on running in particular, but for a hundo race, that doesn't matter at all. What really counts is the "time on the feet".
Race result here Rio Del Lag 2013
Pictures for this race to follow..................
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