Angeles Crest 100 Mile 2011; Eight Years in the Making of a Comeback

Let me quickly clarify the title of this race report. In 2003, I attempted my first 100 mile finish at the Angeles Crest 100 Mile race. Due to a number of problems, mostly mistakes and inexperience, I DNF’d the race. I shied away from the 100-mile distance for a couple of years and finally got my first finish in 2006. Since then I have completed four 100-mile events. After another DNF last year I was anxious to get back on track but still daunted by the difficulty of the event. I chose to go back to AC this year for a number of reasons; it is a qualifier for Hardrock 100; I can use it as a qualifier for Western States 100 next year if I am not deployed; it is within driving distance; and most of all, it was time for redemption.

Amazingly, 100-mile race popularity seems to be skyrocketing. 1400 people are entering a lottery for 300+ slots in Western States. Over 700 attempted to nab around 100 slots at arguably the World’s toughest 100, Hardrock. Due to my schedule and availability of funds, I found Angeles Crest (AC) to be suited to my needs. For some reason AC does not usually reach their entry limit of 160 runners. This is also the first year that the race has been run in July. In the past it had always been held around the third or fourth week in September but due to fire season the race had been cancelled twice and was always fighting permit issues. A late July race in Southern California had me a bit concerned in regard to the heat. Another difficult factor of this race is the elevation profile.

There is an elevation ascent of 21,610 feet and descent of 26,700 feet. Some people might think that this is nice because of the majority of downhill. It doesn’t always play out that way. AC basically consists of 5 Mt Wrightson ascents and descents with a couple partial trips to Josephine Saddle thrown in for good measure in the last 25 miles of the course. Altitude is not overwhelming although the high point is the top of Mt Baden-Powell at 9,407 feet.

The race has an average finisher rate of 63%.

I need to give a little background leading up to this race. Eight hours of trail work are required as part of the entry process. I performed that in early May with Wayne Coates and gang on the Arizona Trail. This is also where I recruited my pacer, Chris Avery. There is also a requirement to have run at least a 50-mile race in the last year. I had not done this so I entered and finished Zane Gray 50-mile in mid-April. I was set to go. Then in early June the Forest Service closed the entire Coronado National Forest as well as many other trails just to be sure no one was going to drop a cigarette in the wrong place. The closure affected my training in a way I couldn’t have predicted. I took advantage of the low elevation (hot) trails of the Tucson Mountains as well as the open parts of the Arizona Trail near my back door in Vail. Rather than doing a lot of hill climbing and descending I was running a lot more than I normally would have. I ended up with an overuse / repetitive use injury to my right sacro-iliac joint in my hip. This flared up about five weeks before the race so I figured if I threw in some cross-training on the bike and worked on strengthening my core things would clear up. With two weeks to go before race day my right rear hip was still aching and I needed Ibuprofen just to be able to walk without pain.

I had already entered a couple of races later in the fall as part of the National Guard Marathon Team and had come to the conclusion that rather than jeopardize the remainder of the year I would cancel plans for AC. I wrote an e-mail to the race director letting him know that I would be unable to attend and that someone else could use my entry. I saved the e-mail as a draft and then sent an e-mail to my pacer, Chris Avery, outlining my problem and letting him know that I was probably going to cancel. He responded and said to just let him know as soon as I knew what I was going to do. Apparently I hadn’t made myself clear enough as to my intent to cancel. So I thought…ok…give it another week and then send the race director the e-mail and give Chris the definite news.

About the same time a friend at work that is also runner, albeit of the 10K variety, mentioned to me that I should take a month off from running in order to clear up my issues. I couldn’t disagree with him so I decided to take a week off to begin with. I developed a week long plan of three bike rides every other day on my single speed with 30 minute stairmaster workouts at the gym on the in-between days. I planned to end the seven day stretch with a 45 minute plyometric workout. The plyometrics felt ok so the next day I ran four easy miles on the road and felt no discomfort. I took off Saturday and went to Mt Wrightson on Sunday (6 days before the race) to do an ascent and descent of 10.4 miles. Everything felt good. I jogged up much of the trail and ascended in 1:30 and strided down as normally as I could in less than an hour. My quads were strangely sore for 3 days after that run. All of a sudden I was back in the game.

This is about the time that my wife Trish got involved. From the beginning she was not planning to attend this race due to lack of vacation time. I had made hotel arrangements anyway as if she was going, to include places that allowed pets (we have two dogs).

Chris and I had not discussed a coherent logistical plan yet at this point. All I knew was that Chris was getting to mile 59 to go the last 41 miles with me and I would find someone at the finish going back to the start that would be willing to give an unconscious stinking runner a two hour ride back to his car. Trish sensed some disorganization and jumped in with four days to go. She was able to arrange work plans and only incurred a single day of vacation by working online from the hotel.

Off we go to Wrightwood, California, a little mountain town in the San Gabriels northwest of San Bernardino and northeast of Pasadena. We arrived Thursday evening and I did my medical check-in on Friday. The race day check-in was at 4am on Saturday prior to the 5am start.

The race starts on the streets of Wrightwood and is a point-to-point route that ends at a little park near Pasadena closely following Highway 2, the Angeles Crest Highway. After a mile of street running the course began its first ascent of 2.8 miles and 2000 feet of climb to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Shortly up the climb I got a view of the orange sunrise from the east and remembered why I came back to this challenging mountain course. Just over the first crest is Inspiration Point.

I mentioned earlier that I was better prepared this time than the last. I bought a Nathan Endurance Hydration pack which holds 70 ounces. In the past I had been using a 100 ounce Camelbak but didn’t care for the way I always had to take it off of my back to retrieve gels and energy bars. I took Jane Larkindale’s advice and got a Nathan pack which has pouches on the front for quick access to these items. Trish left me from the start and went back to the hotel and then picked Chris up at the finish line then backtracked the course to meet me eventually at mile 38 Cloudburst Summit. It was nice to finally see them and the dogs. I had already weighed in once at mile 25 Islip Saddle and reported good news to them that I had not lost a pound.

I came into the mile 52 Chilao checkpoint and weighed in again without losing a pound.

This was the first time that I sat down. I had to drain a couple of toenail blisters and change my socks.

Up to this point I had been using E-caps every hour and had used a few gels as well as ate plentifully at the aid stations. I also drained my pack and handheld bottle of Gatorade four times over. I was feeling pretty good except for a couple of bothersome toenails. Just to let you know, I trimmed my nails the day before and the toe-box in my Montrail Badrock trail shoes had plenty of room, although not oversized.

I left 52 at 12 and half hours into the race so it was only 5:30pm with plenty of daylight left. At 59 Chris would begin his duty as pacer. Mile 59 Shortcut Saddle was where I dropped eight years ago. I had thought of that fact most of the day and closely paid attention to my condition in hopes that I would not be reminded of any of the repeated unpleasantness of leg cramps. I never experienced leg cramps at any time of the race. I did notice that my calves were a little tight on some of the uphills. The other thing that had taken its toll was the downhills, not only on my toenails but my quadriceps. Both legs were fairly hammered by 59. As soon as we left 59 we descended down a dirt track for almost 5 miles and then climbed 1070 feet in 2.56 miles to mile 68 Newcomb’s Saddle.

It was dark now but not cold. It felt pretty warm throughout the night even where there was running water. The trail then descended for several miles and a short climb into the last medical checkpoint and crew accessible aid station of mile 75 Chantry Flats. It was good to see Trish here and also nice to know that now she could go to bed and get some rest after this checkpoint. I also knew at this point I would be losing some toenails; the question was – how many? My weight was dead on from my starting weight. I can’t remember a time that my weight never changed throughout a hundred miles.

The next nine miles would prove to be the most difficult part of the course. We ascended 3,100 feet in 10 kilometers to the top of Mt Wilson and then descended three more miles into mile 83 Idlehour. I must make mention here of Chris Avery’s abilities as a pacer. He was an excellent pacer. He kept talking even though when in pain I usually don’t have much to say except f-words. He constantly tracked my calorie and electrolyte intake, drowsiness and pain levels, and overall amount of fatigue. Chris has an extensive background with the grueling 100-mile trail with 7 finishes at Wasatch 100. Pacing me for 41 miles was giving him a boost in his training for his revisiting Wasatch again this year in September.

One thing I forgot to mention. During the pre-race trail briefing the day before the race it was effusively mentioned that there is a nasty bush on trail called Poodle Dog Bush and it is worse than Poison Oak.

It takes a couple of days after contact to show up. They showed us a picture of it and warned everyone to do the best they can to stay clear of it. I noticed the bushes after mile 30 and had no problems avoiding it. Apparently the seeds of this plant become activated after wildfires such as the Station Fire of 2009 which greatly affected the Angeles National Forest.

Yep, that is the trail in between those Poodle Dogs.

I brought a bar of tecnu soap with me on the trip so I figured I had that as a back-up. Later in the day I could see this bush covering entire hillsides and it stunk as well. Later in the evening with a headlamp I could swear I could see this bush overhanging the trail and I could no longer stay away from it. Eventually I gave up trying to avoid it and decided to rely on a cold bath with tecnu.  

We finally arrived at 83 and I was sleepy. I had already consumed half of a Monster energy drink at mile 75, taken two caffeine tabs and eaten two Power Bar Gels with caffeine. I took a seat next to another guy wrapped in a blanket looking worse than me. I held my head in my hands in between taking bites of a grilled cheese sandwich and chicken noodle soup. I sipped some weak coffee as well. There was an empty cot set up several feet behind me and I began to think that maybe I should just take a 20 minute nap. Up to this point in the race I was still on pace to break 27 hours and a nap would kill that idea but on the other hand if I couldn’t stay awake on trail I would just slow down anyway. I mentioned the idea to another runner sitting on the other side of me and he just said, “You won’t wake up.” Chris then got me out of the chair along with the guy that was wearing the blanket and we stumbled off into the night.

Just when you think 83 miles and 22 hours was tough enough there has to be one more little challenge. It was in the form of a 1,960 foot climb in 3.75 miles up to mile 90 Sam Merrill. There were many stream crossings along this section. Now it was me, Chris and our new friend Don Freeman walking as fast as our sore feet and hammered quads could take us. Don had reached 52 Chilao an hour and a half before I did and crashed hard by mile 75. He was a likable guy and conversation between the three of us kept us all awake. By the time we ascended to mile 90 it was civil twilight. From here we had 6.5 miles of serious descent to mile 96 Millard Campground. I don’t think we broke a 16 minute mile the whole way. 60 year-old Dan Brenden passed us in this section. I can’t complain too much. This guy is an ultra-running guru to my mere childhood. One funny incident of mention took place along the way. A hiker was climbing up the trail taking photos and prepared to snap one of us coming down toward him. I think he thought it was interesting there were other hikers out this far, this early in the morning. He asked us how far we had hiked. I said, “92 miles.” He didn’t say anything but had a look on his face like…ok, be a smart ass then.

The last aid station was 4.5 miles from the finish. It was daylight now but no direct sun on us yet. The three of us remained together, Don and I sharing tales of woe. It was all downhill from that point. Once the sun hit us it felt pretty hot. Yesterday’s high was 85 degrees and never felt overbearing. Today’s high would be 92 and anyone finishing after 10am was going to get their money’s worth. When we reached the pavement and knew we had less than a mile and a half we started checking our watches to see what minor extra points we could pick up. It did appear that with a couple 100 meters of jogging we would crack the sub-28 mark and that was worth the effort. Every time I hit the slightest uphill slope I had difficulty breathing due to dust in my lungs. We eventually caught sight of the finish line across a grass field and ran in under the banner together.

Trish took pictures of us with Chris. What a relief! The push was over and time to relax; 27 hours and 55 minutes.

I didn’t want to take my shoes off until I got back to the motel because I knew there would be some maintenance involved. I weighed in at the finish and ended up gaining one pound…unbelievable!

We drove back to the hotel with the plan of returning later that afternoon for the buckle ceremony.

I got into the bathtub and scrubbed my legs, arms, torso and face with cold water and tecnu soap. I then grabbed all of my dirty clothes and shoes and put them in a plastic bag. This is also when I discovered that I broke my old record of 7 lost toenails. I was going to lose 9.

The 4th and 5th digits on the right foot weren't ready to come off.

Only seven for now, nothing like starting over.

I knew I was ready for another 100-miler when all of my toenails were fully grown back. It should take about a year for all of these to make it back.  

Post race notes are that my leg soreness was gone by Tuesday. I did not lose the typical 5-6 pounds post race week. My toenails that had blisters under the nail have finally stopped weeping and will be removed by Friday. All in all it was a very good experience. AC is on everyone's top six or seven toughest 100s list but the tough ones tend to be the most rewarding in scenery, wildlife, and most of all, the mental and physical challenge.

Lessons learned:

-      First; an overnight quadruple Mt Wrightson training run is mandatory. I was able to do this in mid-May two weeks before the forest closure. It was over two months from the race but still produced lasting benefits. Take advantage of the mountains in Southeast Arizona. They are similar to the San Gabriel Range where Angeles National Forest is located.

-        Second; have a pacer lined up. I like to think that minimalist thinking can go as far as doing it all by myself. Having someone that talks to you and asks basic questions about how you feel is normally underappreciated. At 2am on a 30% uphill grade I’m probably not thinking about taking my next gel to keep my calories in check. My record for 100-mile run completions is at five finishes and two DNFs. The one common thing with both DNFs? – No pacer.

-       Third; have an extra gear plan. Take advantage of drop bags if you choose. But if you have a crew you might just do like I did and pack all of my extra clothing, shoes, energy bars, blister kit, Vaseline, etc…all in one small duffel bag. I did it like this to make it easier for Trish to carry from the car to the aid station. The problem is that if I can’t see stuff, I don’t remember I brought it. I didn’t use 90% of what was in there and after I left the station I realized I could have used 30% of what was there. Either separate items into smaller labeled bags that can be dumped out of the larger bag or use a shallow rectangular Tupperware container subdivided into areas to organize items. When the top is removed you can see everything at a glance and is easy to grab.

-        Fourth and lastly; drink early and often. I have practiced this better for about two years now. I run a little slower but feel tons better. That’s not too impressive for someone who has been running trail ultras for 14 years. Besides, I know it’s not the drinking that’s slowing me down anymore.

I’m not sure what next year has in store yet but for now, I plan to savor being back on the right track.