Well, here’s my race report for the 2007 edition of the Where’s Waldo 100K trail run. This year, the race served as the USATF National Masters 100K Trail Championship. Warning, this is a very long report.
Here's the link to their website: http://www.wpsp.org/ww100k/
The short story is that I did worse than last year, taking over 1 ½ hours longer to run a course that had been shortened by four miles. Just goes to show that there are no guarantees when running an ultra. I had trained hard all year for this race and came up short. Oh well. I think my downfall was that I ran the Katcina Mosa 100K here in Utah just two weeks before, thinking that it would be a good last long run. I don’t think I was fully recovered from that run.
102 starters, 81 finishers.
Here’s the breakdown by section
Mile 0-7.4 Start to Gold Lake aid station 11:13/mile pace, 1:23 hours elapsed time.
Part of this section was new. We had to go up a haul road at the ski area for the first mile or two before getting on to the trail. Once on the trail it’s about 5 miles of downhill running into the Gold Lake aid station. My pace thru this section was about 30 seconds/mile slower than last year, but I attribute that to the steep road section at the start. I actually felt pretty good here. Time at aid station – 30 seconds
Mile 7.4 – 12.4 Gold Lake to Fuji Mtn. aid station 13:24 pace, 2:30 elapsed time
I felt pretty good on this section as well. I actually ran this section faster than last year. The trail is primarily uphill and my uphill training and weight work in the gym paid off I think. Time at aid station – 2 minutes
Mile 12.4 – 14.9 Fuji Mtn. to Fuji Mtn. 14:48 pace, 3:08 elapsed time
This is an out and back section that takes runners to the top of Fuji Mountain. If the conditions are clear, the view is spectacular. This year it was foggy and cloudy. My pace was about 15 seconds slower than last year but not too bad. The climb isn’t real difficult, but does involve a fair amount of walking. Time in aid station – 2 minutes
Mile 14.9 – 20.1 Fuji Mtn. to Mt. Ray 11:47 pace, 4:13 elapsed time
My pace here was bout 30 seconds slower than last year. When I ran this section, I knew that it would be a struggle to keep the same time as last year and the chance of bettering it would be slim. The legs just weren’t there even though this section is primarily downhill. I felt I was fueling and drinking adequately but that wasn’t helping. Time in aid station – 3 minutes
Mile 20.1 – 26.7 Mt. Ray to Twins 1 13:38 pace, 5:43 elapsed time
My pace on this section was about 15 seconds slower than last year. I ran the last few miles with a police officer from Eugene. We had some interesting conversation and I think running with someone helped to keep my pace up. Runners see the Twins aid station twice. Time in aid station – 2 minutes
Mile 26.7 – 31.6 Twins 1 to Charlton Lake 13:53 pace, 6:51 elapsed time
I enjoy this section of the course. Rolling ups and downs, although the trend is downhill, twisty runnable trail going thru some interesting rock formations, open forest. This section was definitely slower than last year, by about 53 seconds per mile. I felt reasonably good, but just couldn’t get any speed up. Last year when I came into Charlton Lake, I felt fantastic and on top of the world. This year I felt just so-so. Time in aid station – 7 minutes
Mile 31.6 – 36.8 Charlton Lake to Road 4290 14:14 pace, 8:05 elapsed time
This section was way slower than last year, by about 3 ½ minutes. Running? Forget that, I just wanted to get to the next aid station. I think I was a little under fueled thru this section. It seemed as though I was always hungry. I had several Shot Bloks along the way, but that didn’t take care of the issue. I did eat a fair amount at Rd. 4290 and that helped some. Time in aid station – 10 minutes
Mile 36.8 – 44.3 Rd 4290 – Twins 2 16:56 pace, 10:12 elapsed time
This is the section I really bonked on. It took me over two hours to navigate this section. It took the same amount of time as last year, but last year we had to summit the Twins, one of the peaks in the area. This year we didn’t. I just felt bad. My stomach wasn’t giving me problems, but I was hungry and getting chilled. I figured it was dehydration and low sodium, but I had been drinking regularly and taking electrolytes. When I look back, I think the lack of adequate recovery from the previous race was starting to take its toll at this point. The goal for me now was to finish ahead of the cutoffs and try to enjoy the day as best I could. When I arrived at the Twins aid station, I wrapped up in a blanket and started downing hot noodles. That really helped a lot. I made sure to leave the aid station with a full belly even if it slowed me down. Time in aid station – 15 minutes
Miles 44.3 – 49.5 Twins 2 – Maiden Peak 17:30 pace, 11:43 elapsed time
This section was slow as well. The climb to maiden Peak really begins o this section and the route is primarily uphill. I don’t remember having a hard time, in fact I remember feeling pretty good on this section, but I was just slow. I got to the maiden Peak aid station felling pretty good, ate some more food and began the climb up the peak. Time in aid station – 5 minutes
Mile 49.5 – 54.6 Maiden Peak – Maiden Lake 22:45 pace, 13:39 elapsed time
This section involves a climb of over 2000’ and a descent of 1500’ in 5.1 miles. This is by far the most difficult section of the course. For those coming from sea level, the climb to over 7800’ is a challenge in breathing. I wasn’t bothered by it. In fact, I did this section faster than last year and actually felt pretty good. Maybe it was because I knew the finish was only a few miles away and it was all downhill after summiting the peak. The temp was certainly cooler on top, probably in the 40’s and I certainly was prepared for it and was glad to get back down into the trees out of the wind and a lower elevation. I sat at the maiden lake aid station for awhile trying to get warm. They fed me nice hot broth then kicked me out towards the finish line. I took some of the broth in one of my water bottles and it was nice to have a warm hand finally, at least for a few miles. Time in aid station 15 minutes
Mile 54.6 – 62.1 Maiden Lake – Finish 17:04 pace, 15:47 elapsed time
At last, the last section of the course. The weather was starting to get cloudy and the sun was starting to go down. I ended up walking the last couple of miles because it was too dark to run and I didn’t have my light. I did manage to run the first several miles. I enjoy this section of the course as well, it’s primarily downhill and windy and very runnable. As you get closer to the finish, you can start to hear the cars going down the highway and know that you aren’t too far from the finish. Coming around that last turn and seeing the lights at the finish line a quarter mile away is wonderful. My wife and sister met me at the finish line. They had been there since 3pm watching other runners cross. They knew roughly where I was with the radio reports from each aid station.
Aftermath - It was nice to finally finish. I sat down by a nice warm fire, drank a beer and ate some wonderful soup and hamburgers. Most everyone was gone, the awards ceremony was over, but there were quite a number of volunteers and finishers still cheering on us stragglers as we crossed.
I’m convinced that the lack of adequate recovery was the key to my poor race. Had the Katcina Mosa 100K been three earlier instead of two weeks earlier, I think I would have done much better. A contributing factor was the weather. I don’t like running in cold weather, and it was cold (to me) the entire day. If I had been smart, I would have kept my long sleeve T tied around my waist to use later. I would have also taken some gloves. Keeping my hands warm would have gone a long ways towards making the race more enjoyable and possibly faster. I still enjoyed running the race, even though it was an exercise in perseverance and stubbornness. It goes to show that there are no guarantees when running an ultra, no matter how much you train or how well you’ve run the race in the past. I’ll go back and run it again next year and have a good time again. Recovery, it's now Wednesday after the race and I finally feel somewhat normal. My legs were really sore, more so than usual, for the first few days after the race.
I'm taking a couple of weeks off from running, I need the break before I start training for the next adventure. | 