Fun times at Rocky Raccoon 100 this weekend.  It was all set up by arriving home from a business trip to London late Friday afternoon.  Quick; get something to eat, pack up some clothes, food and running stuff and get to bed as soon as possible.

Saturday morning the alarm goes off at 4:15am for the hour-long drive to Huntsville State Park so I can get to one of the trailheads by about 5:45am.  Goal is to start the 2 mile walk down the trail to be at the DamNation aid station before the leaders get there.  The leaders start at 6:00 but take a different route to DamNation, for the runners it’s 6.2 miles to DamNation.  I got there in plenty of time, but unfortunately when the three leaders arrived they knew they had done something wrong, after a little explanation it was confirmed that they had taken a small short cut, we guessed the extra little bit could be added later, but to directly correct it they’d have to go back and take the correct turn (it would require them to go a total of about extra 2.5 to 3 miles out of their way round trip).  Without hesitation they all decided to go back and fix it right then and there.  By the way on my walk in, 20 to 30 minutes earlier which follows the short cut, I had seen that the turn they blew through was really well marked and the incorrect way also had “wrong way” signs, I guess they were just going too fast.

So I started working at the Aid Station at about 6:15am with the nice folks from the Dallas – Ft. Worth running club called the “North Texas Trail Runners”, who year after year run DamNation.  Great group of people.  They welcome me back each year, but then again I think they’d welcome back any warm body willing to lend a hand.  Spent the day doing all sorts of stuff, getting drop bags, filling bottles and packs, making sure runners were fueling and hydrating, etc.  Saw lots of familiar faces from the Texas ultra community as well as a nice girl who goes by EDRW and the brother of a guy known as Longbeard 2.  The DamNation gang prides ourselves on giving out the rock star treatment.

I especially liked seeing a runner who I had met from Colorado.  This Colorado runner has a friend there that I went to high school in NY with many years ago.  Our common friend made the crazy ultra running connection and introduced us.  After working at DamNation all day, I’d be pacing her for her fifth and last 20 mile loop (her miles 80 – 100).  All day at DamNation I was making sure that she was eating, drinking, feeling good, and also reminded her to take it slow when the afternoon temps went up.  But mainly I guess I was a familiar face to her in the middle of the woods.

At about 5:00 or 6:00pm I finished my “shift” at DamNation to a nice chorus of “thank yous” from those NTTR folks.  They also knew that they would be seeing me later as a pacer on the “other side of the tables”.  In fact there are a few people who do both aid station and pacing duties and the NTRR folks are all runners, so there is a degree of wishful envy when the pacers leave in the early evening.  Of course by then the 50 milers are mostly done and the 100 milers are well spread out so the demand is not so great and the number of workers can thin out.  So I walked the 2 miles back to the car parked at the trailhead and made my way to the S/F area.

At the S/F area I talked to LB2 for a while which was nice (I paced LB2 at Rocky the year before) and located my runner’s stash and put my junk there as well.  Turned out that I just made it back there to see her come in from her third loop and head out into the evening with her first pacer on her fourth loop.  I spread out my sleeping bag for a well-earned and jet lagged snooze.  She had picked a spot near the trail, but away from the buzz and craziness of the S/F area. Looking up at the clear starry night with the footfalls of the runners passing in/out, I conked out for about 3 or 4 hours, then my alarm went off, preset to give me plenty of time to change into my stuff before her ETA.

She arrived a little late, but we made quick work of turning her around, shirt change, battery change, refuel, etc. and soon we were down the trail.  It was about 12:20 or so.  Her goal was to try and get under 24 hours, so we had to be done by 6:00am.  She was tired and a little bonked, but still going.  Early on she said that she wasn’t sure that 24 hours was still in play, but I told her to forget the math and to stick with me.  I asked her to let me take care of the math and distance and that her job was to just keep her head in it.  We simply had some work to do.  We had some nice introductions to each other, what we do in life, our mutual friend, what runs we have done, funny trail stories, my daughter’s upcoming horse ride, etc., etc.  She was still able to do some pretty long spans of slow running, but needed to take some good walking breaks as well.  She was great getting though the aid stations, no delay or distractions at all, all business (which I had seen her doing all day at DamNation).

She was ebbing and flowing along the way, which also coincided with little hills and her fuel intake, so along with keeping our little train running and walking, I also tried to make sure she was eating and drinking. She was doing great, but I could also see her getting a little doubtful at times.  I just kept the gentle push going and said that we just need to sneak down the trail and see what happens.  She is a very experienced ultra runner and totally knows what she is doing.  Was able to keep the steady ultra pace and knew the whole hydration and fueling drill.  She really just needed me to remind her of stuff.

It was then during our second trip through DamNation (for each 20 mile loop you hit DamNation twice) she paid me the biggest complement a pacer could ever receive from their runner.  And to make it all the better, she did it right in front of my NTTR friends who watched it all happen.  While she was doing what I asked and downing a Gel and Coke, her face etched with a hint of a pleading look, she looked me right in the eyes and uttered those most prized words. . . a slight whisper, but strong enough for emphasis. . . “I hate you right now”.

We were off down the trail a few seconds later with a few other treats in hand orange slice, banana and a cup of mashed potatoes which she nibbled on the go (I got to hold the cup until the next aid station, a typical pacer task I guess.)  All the time gently pushing, but not too much, due to her obviously fatigued state.  As we went along she would ask “are we going to make it?” and I would simply say that we had work to do, but were going get it.  Trying to keep the sense of urgency but not panic.  By the way I am extremely familiar with the trail since I run there every month or so, I knew exactly how much we had to go, but was a little worried that the wheels could fall off.  I also didn’t want to push too hard.  It’s a fine line.

To me it felt all too soon, but to her I’m sure it was forever, I lead her around the last corner with the finish line lights off in the distance, I turned to her and said “you’re gonna love this”.  As she made the turn and saw the lights, we simply smiled at each other in the glow of LED headlamps, no words necessary.

We made our way down the long straight shot hooting and hollering to the finish line, crossing in 23:47.

The hug she gave me was fantastic.

Excellent!!!!  Thank you for the great report, Sandy.  Loved it.

None of my runners have ever uttered, "I hate you right now." to me yet.  I did make Scrapster swear at me though, so I figure that's pretty close

Thanks for the PR, Sandy.  I've only paced people I know, and can't imagine how different it would be to pace someone you really don't know how hard to push.  Great job!

I certainly didn't like you at the end of the Equalizer when you were pushing me to do 8:30's when I didn't have any energy left......also....don't let these people know that I was crying at the end........I mean.........um............MAN crying

Excellent!!!!  Thank you for the great report, Sandy.  Loved it.

 

None of my runners have ever uttered, "I hate you right now." to me yet.  I did make Scrapster swear at me though, so I figure that's pretty close

So there are two instances in life where a female can stare a man straight in the eyes and say "I hate you right now" - child birth and running a 100.  Cool!

Thanks for sharing.  It is nice to see different perspectives.

Great job bringing her in at target time, and thanks for the wonderful report!

BTW, which high school did you go to? I might send my youngest one there to turn him into an ultra runner (he's running with me occasionally, for half a mile or mile), seems to be the right place for this!

So great to see you out there Sandy!  A bunch of friends all ran the race, and yesterday we were talking about how we loved DamNation.  It was especially great to see it as we were running down the road -- it was like an oasis awaiting us!  (And in case you hadn't heard, I got my buckle )

I am sorry I didn't get to say hello. Congratulations on the buckle!!!!

Sandy: I never told you I hated you...(: I think I was laughing too hard to hate anything. Plus, I knew that my feet wouldn't hurt any worse, they would just hurt the same for longer.