I opened my 2017 racing season this past weekend in Arizona at the Black Canyon 100k, and true to form, I came into this race overly optimistic and under trained. I had taken more time off between races and had more of an 'off' season than I have since I began running and I feel that it will pay off as the year goes on. My 2016 season ended with three races in a four-week span beginning with another tour at IMTUF in the middle of September, followed by a fun day at the Foothills Frenzy 50k, and ending the second week in October at the Gnarly Bear 50k. Since these races, my longest run was a 17 miler in November, and haven't done anything over two and a half hours since then. A particularly harsh winter in Southern Idaho has enticed me to spend somewhere around 90% of my winter miles on the treadmill.
I was looking forward to a springtime race in Arizona and watching the weather leading up to race weekend I was sure that we would have a warm day out there, I couldn't have been more wrong. I spent the week leading up to the race on a work trip in New Mexico and had packed warm weather running gear when I left home. On Tuesday, we received an email from the race director informing us that the course would be altered from the typical point-to-point, net downhill course to an out and back with considerably more climbing due to potential flooding caused by a large storm that was supposed to roll through on race day. A tough call for the RD's, but ultimately the correct one. This would serve as my Western States qualifier for the year, so it didn't matter much to me that we would be running a modified version.
I flew into Phoenix on Friday afternoon and headed up to Black Canyon City where I would meet my parents who are wintering in the southwest this year. They would be crewing for me and meeting me at a few of the aid stations along the way.
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| Ready to head out into the rain. |
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| Race Start |
As we headed up to the race start the rain had already begun and I knew it was going to be a soggy day, the dirt track of the high school where the race started was already saturated when we took our first lap before heading out of town towards the first aid station and the stickiest mud of the day. The first three miles were on pavement and dirt road before we peeled off onto a jeep road that was just wet enough to create very heavy stick-to-your-shoes mud. Despite the rain and mud, I settled into a comfortable pace and moved as efficiently as possible up to the high point of the course at the first aid station around mile 7.5, I hadn't even thought to drink anything yet so I cruised through the aid station and worked my way down the slippery, flowy, singletrack.
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| Sweet singletrack - down, down, down |
At some point between the first and second aid station, the trail conditions began to improve and I was able to shift my focus to race execution and concentrate on getting fluid and calories in. I felt really good through the second aid station and chose to keep moving as I had plenty of calories on board to make it to Bumble Bee aid station where my parents would be waiting for me. The rain continued as I made my way down the canyon, the other runners near me seemed to be feeling similarly, as I spent most of the first half of the race with the same group.
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| Mud Caked Calves at Bumble Bee |
I came into Bumble Bee aid station (Mile 19.5) a few minutes over three hours, just off of my target pace, but feeling good and running strong for the conditions. It was another 11 miles out to the turnaround and I told my parents not to expect me to get any faster as the day went on - they planned on hanging out at the same aid station rather than fighting the mud and traffic out to the next aid station. The leaders began to pass me on their way back a few minutes after 4 hours of race time, moving uphill with impressive ease, the eventual winner was in third place at the time, and he would close a 10-minute gap and end up within three minutes of the course record. Impressive for a course that had an extra few thousand feet of climbing compared to prior years.
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| Cheesin' at Bumble Bee |
As I got closer to the mid-point of the race the rain eventually gave us a reprieve and I was able to take my shell off and dry out a bit, but it wouldn't last. I chatted with a couple of people on the way to the turnaround while we collectively complained about the course and the weather knowing full well that we did this to ourselves. I saw fellow/former BTR Frank Morris on my way into the turnaround, he was looking very strong and was about 20 minutes ahead of me. I made it to the 50k mark just under 5 hours and 20 minutes, which would have been a solid performance in a race that distance, but I knew I had my work cut out for myself for the second half. All of the descent, save for a few hundred feet of climbing here and there was complete for the day and I had a long way to climb back up out of the canyon.
I ran a bit on the road until I got back to a steeper section and settled in for arguably the only justifiable climb of the day, about 600 feet in 2 miles. This was the first chance I was able to hike and my legs thanked me for the lower cadence, they reminded me that I was definitely not trained for this much sustained running. After the climb the race began to get difficult, there was still a few thousand feet of gain to be had by the end of the day, but it came gradually and/or in short bursts, coaxing me to run more than I really wanted to.
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| Munchin' |
Mom and dad met me again back at Bumble Bee, around mile 42, the rain had started coming down again before I arrived, and I was thoroughly saturated upon arrival. I had 19 miles to go and I was closing in on 8 hours of race time. The 12 hour goal was ambitious at this point, but I was barely able to consistently keep down a 13 minute pace by now. I managed to eat a few slices of peanut butter sandwich after realizing that I had eaten and drank drastically less than I should have by this point in the day.
The second to last aid station came and went, stopping for a bite of solid food but no water, I hadn't drank any of what I had with me from the last stop and wasn't feeling any ambition to bring any more fluid on board, I was cold enough. I chased a strong female runner from South Carolina named Ashley down and we chatted for quite some time on the way to the last aid station, the rain continued to fall and the trails dissolved to soup again.
By the time we topped out at the high point of the course again at the last aid station it was just before 6:00PM and 11 hours into the race. The rain was pounding and the fog had rolled in both above and below us. I was so cold at this point I could hardly function. I had a cup of broth and decided to keep moving, Ashley left the aid station with me but quickly fell behind and I was on my own again. The conditions now were the worst they had been all day and the temperature was falling fast as the sun set somewhere in the distance. The mud on the jeep roads was several inches deep with flowing water on top. It had been traveled by around 300 100k racers and twice by all of the 60k racers since we had been through in the morning there was no solid ground. With about 5 miles left I had to turn my headlamp on, a small sign of failure as I had hoped to finish without needing it, but was very glad to have it. Shortly after, I tripped and fell - my hands had been balled up in my coat and I wasn't prepared to catch myself so into the mess I went. After checking to make sure I hadn't dropped anything and cursing the weather and course again, I picked myself up and continued onward. I passed a few people as I made my way down the gradual descent to the final stretch of road that I hoped had been unaltered by the weather.
I crossed a cattle guard and turned onto the road, about 3 miles remained, I saw a headlamp flickering up ahead and pushed a bit to catch up. As I made my pass, I hear "Drew is that you?" It was Frank. It felt great to see a friendly face this late into race, we were both ready to be done and as we chatted and ran, our pace picked up and the lights from town came into view. Dirt turned into pavement and we knew we were close. Another half mile and we were entering the high school track and the finish line, a finish time of 12:11. We quickly collected our loot - a pint glass and a buckle, snapped a picture and hurried into the warmth of the gymnasium.
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| Finally warming up with some broth |
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| Quick finish photo |
The rain continued to hammer outside and I was immediately glad to not be one of the poor souls still out on the trail, it was only just after 7:00PM, and racers would continue to trickle in until 2:00AM. I took a shower at the gym and slowly began to warm up. We hung out for a while and I had a couple slices of pizza before getting my things loaded up and heading back down to phoenix to my hotel and flight home.
Ultimately this was a very fun, well ran race, I'm pleased with my performance in tough weather conditions this weekend. I'm feeling very good about heading into the 2017 season and look forward to the schedule in front of me.
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| Looking down the course towards Black Canyon City |
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| Lower portion of the course the day after the race (hence the reroute) |
