Bighorn 100 Miler - Sheridan Wyoming

This would be my 2nd time to the Bighorn 100 and 4th 100 miler.  See, "we" are returning for Gina to conquer the event where she broke her fibula in 2017.  That was a muddy year too.  It started raining, sleeting and snowing at around mile 44.  Most of the time we couldn't use the trail and were in the tall grass on either side and the conditions didn't improve until around mile 82.  What would this year bring?

See in Wyoming, if the ground is dry it is hard packed and runnable.  If by chance it begins to rain or snow, the ground quickly begins to turn to mud and it is mud with no bottom to it.  It's hard to describe if you've never experienced it.

As the event drew closer, in the last week, they race committee sent out an note stating that the high country near the turnaround was still snowed in, that many of the race supplies/aid stations would have to be packed in on foot or by horse, that minimal aid would be available at these locations, that mandatory gear would be needed, that there was a lot of snow and mud, and that an extra hour would be added to the 100 miler and 30 minutes to the 52 miler.

With that said it was really hard to prepare as some people familiar with the course said that the last 3 miles to the turnaround were bad and others, around town, kept saying how bad it was "up there."  Almost every shop we went into had someone saying that they had heard it was bad.  No-one seemed to have good news.

I wasn't 100% going into the race but felt pretty good and adequately trained and thought I should be able to improve on my 26:45 of 2017 and was actually shooting for a sub 24.  I've been dealing with a glute issue since Holiday Lake 50k in February, right Achilles tightness and a right big toe that was recently re-aggravated and has been an issue since last year's Vermont 100 where in the span of 5 minutes I kicked two rocks so hard that it made me sick to my stomach.

The Bighorn 100 started at 9am on Friday morning (1 hour early).  The beginning of the course climbs for the first 12 miles and then descends into Dry Fork aid station the first drop bag and crew point.  I didn't feel good, I knew something was off but things weren't going bad either.  I was just running along.  It was a nice day.

Part of the first long climb

Keep climbing suckers

The road section before Dry Fork.

The view before dropping into Dry Fork.  You can see the aid station tents in the distance.

G catching me having so much fun at mile 13.

At around mile 20 it started raining and getting pretty muddy, sloppy, slippery.  This began my worry as once it begins to rain the trail conditions go to crap in a hurry and this was 24 miles earlier than in 2017.

To give you an idea of the Wyoming mud, in the pre-race briefing one of the course markers mentioned that a trail care crew went up from the Sally's footbridge aid station to cut out a tree.  When they went into the shoe sucking mud section, one of the horses sunk down to it's chest and had to be pulled out by the other two horses.  That tops all of the course condition stories that I've ever heard.

This part of the course runs along the ridge and then quickly drops down to the 30 mile Sally's Footbridge aid station and second drop bag location. 

Entering Aspen country

Running through the wild flowers

Just before we came across a moose running full out.  

About a mile from Sally's the sun came back out.

At Sally's we were instructed to carry a jacket with hood or a buff/beanie, long pants and gloves from this spot and were to keep this gear until the next day or daylight hours.  This is also, where I decided to put on my brand new Altra King Mts.  I had purchased them for muddy races but the catch was I hadn't worn them yet.  So it was a gamble.  I figured with mud and snow being a definite it would be worth it and, if I needed to, I could change out of them at mile 68.  Note - I would normally encourage people to avoid wearing new shoes in a race, especially an ultra.  In addition, this would be the first time I was picking up hiking poles to use in a race.  I figured these would be a big help in the muddy conditions and help keep me on my feet.

For some reason, the rain didn't affect the other side of the gorge and the climb up from Sally's was great.  I actually started to feel good and could run quite a bit of this section.  Somewhere after the Spring Marsh mile 40 aid station the course started to fall apart.  The weather was changing, the wind had picked up and it was beginning to rain.  I saw a guy sitting on a downed tree unpacking his jacket and within a couple steps saw the guy in front of me get wowed by a double rainbow.  We both took out our phones and took some pictures.  I yelled at the guy putting on his jacket that he was missing a great moment.  We each took a moment watching the storm and rainbow continue down the canyon we had just climbed up from.

Dude!  You are missing out!

Back to business, up to Elk Camp aid station.  I talked with a few of the aid station workers about 2017 and Gina being taken out by horse.  I check to see if Mouse, the horse they packed her out on, was there and they said he brought in supplies but was taken out afterwards.  Those aid station workers deserve some kudos for packing things in and putting up with us racers over 24 hours.  In the pre-race briefing there was mention of 1500 elk up here.  I didn't see a one.

They said we could go through the creek or....

Take this log bridge.  I chose the bridge.

Headed up!  Starting to see the snow.

One of the first muddier sections.  Just a little taste of what was coming.

It was 5 more miles to the turnaround and very slow going.  We began to enter the high country that we were warned about.  Tons of shoe sucking mud, snow drifts, and a handful of sections where we post-holed through the snow into knee high freezing water (from the melting snow).  I was entertained by the occasional F-bomb and other profanity as racers broke through the snow, to their surprise, into the freezing water (hey, sometimes other peoples misery motivates me).

We crossed Devil's Canyon Road and now it was 1.25 to the turnaround at Jaws Trailhead.  You could already hear cheering, cow bell and vuvuzelas.  Follow the fence row and onto the road into the aid station.  Surprise!  There was one more melting thigh deep snow drift next to the road.  Thanks Bighorns!

Jaws aid station is a biggie.  Lots of volunteers, gas heaters, drop bags, plenty of food, medical check, on the verge of nightfall and a prime place for people to melt under the pressure of the race and being almost halfway done.  I knew from 2017 this was where most of the 50+% turned in their bib number and dropped.

On my right was another racer talking with his girlfriend.  We were having/making fun of the mess we just went through and the day we still had left.  On my left was a guy that looked defeated.  He mentioned a couple times, to his girlfriend that, "I don't think I have another 50 miles left in me."  He made no effort to eat, drink, change clothes.  He was done.  Here comes one of the funniest moments.  Not one second after he started unpinning his bib number, the guy next to him quickly asks, "can I get a ride back to Dayton?"  The DNFs were in full swing.

Ok, now it was time to change some clothes, grab my lights, extra batteries, food, mandatory cold weather gear, top off the water and make the long return trip to the finish. 

I needed my light pretty quickly after leaving Jaws aid station as the clouds wind and rain came in.  The 5 miles back to Elk Camp were pretty slow and slippery as the mud didn't allow for any running.  Once there I added a extra shirt layer and buff as I was getting pretty cold.  Short stop at the fire to warm my hands up and I continued on to Elk Camp, where my watch finally died, and then on to Sally's Foot Bridge. 

For me, night-time trail hours tend to go pretty fast.  Just shine your light ahead of you and keep moving forward.  The single minded focus of following that light seems to make time go by pretty fast.

Before I knew it I was back to Sally's.  Marianna helped me restock my supplies and brought over an egg McMuffin.  I changed watches and saw 5:30am, that was a surprise, but then I realized that was Virginia time, that I hadn't acquired GPS yet and that it was 3:30am mountain time.  I was about an hour behind 2017 and that felt about right.   A couple deep breaths and sighs and it was time to climb the wall.  This year, the climb seemed sooo much steeper and longer.

The next part is a blur.  Cow Camp aid station was at the top of the climb, then 7 miles of up and down along a ridge to Bear Camp aid station.  This is where I started to realize I could no longer run.  I was having issues with my right ankle.  When I'd attempt to run the muscles in the front of my shin felt like they were severely strained, like I had kicked a 1000 rocks during the night (I hadn't).  This strained feeling built up to feeling like the muscles were ripping off the bone.  Mentally I was good and my energy was good.  Hiking wasn't too bad, so I hiked.  I did some quick math and knew I was going at about 3 miles an hour and that meant I had about 8 hours left.  Plenty of slow time on the trail.  I could deal with that. 

On a bright note, the Bear Camp folks bring up 100+ pounds of bacon to cook up during the race.  I grabbed a few crispy pieces and was off again to hike the next 6 miles to the last large aid station Dry Fork.  This section was much better than 2017 and was drying out with every minute.  In 2017 you couldn't use the road it was so muddy.  You had to make your own path in the tall grass and sage next to the road. 

At Dry Fork I changed shoes, socks, and shirt, dropped off my mandatory clothing and was off again.  For a few moments I thought the new shoes and socks were the key as I could run a bit.  That lasted for about a mile and it was back to hiking.  This section was busy as all the other races started to mix in with us 100 runners (52, 32 and 18 milers).  It was nice to have company but I had to get off trail a lot to let people get by.  Lots of runners cheered us 100s on as they passed us like we were standing still. 

Check out the mud up line all the way up to the short.

The next stop was Upper Sheep Creek aid station.  From here there was just one more steep climb and then the long 7.5 mile descent to the 5 mile dirt road to the finish.  This climb hurt everyone and I actually passed a couple of the other race participants on the climb (that was fun), but man that climb was steep. 

Down, down, down we went to Lower Sheep Creek aid station and then finally the road.  Ugh, the road, but yay only 5 more miles to go.  This road was pretty much in the sun. 

No worry that this pic would be blurry at my rate of speed.

I thought I might combust along these miles.  I had perfect hiking splits of 15:50s to 16:10 for the 5 miles.  Cross the bridge, one block to the park, turn left onto the grass and gravel path, and enjoy the last few tenths to the finish.  The path was lined with tons of people cheering and ringing cow bell.  It's a pretty cool end to the race. 

Done!

There was a tent at the finish with some chairs.  It was fun to finally sit and talk over the race with some fellow runners.  We talked about how nice it would be to get in the creek to cool off and clean up but none of us felt like we were nimble enough to fight the current. 

Now the mission was to get some food, get cleaned up and come back to cheer Gina and Emily in to the finish.  Marianna said Gina was expecting a 7pm finish and sure enough, they were right on schedule. 

We did it.  Mission accomplished.  Marianna was a big help babysitting the both of us out there.

We both finished without injury and that spells success and most importantly, means we have no reason to come back to the shoe sucking mud of Wyoming. 

Bull Run Run 50 Miler

4/13/19 Bull Run Run 50 - https://www.vhtrc.org/brr19/info

I've had my eye on this race for a long long time and it just never fit the schedule.  This year it fit the schedule and my training plan for the Bighorn 100 miler in mid June.

This would be my 55th ultra and I went into it with a conservative plan and a pretty good idea how the day would go.  My fitness is a bit behind the last few years and I've been dealing with a couple injuries but nothing that should have been a big problem.  So I thought.  The early mud did aggravate things and quickly had me reassessing the days goals. 

During the race, the focus quickly changed to the frustration and disappointment of a race that fell apart at mile 20 and having to suffer through the remaining 30 miles.  Today all that is left of the event are the memories of getting to spend a day in the woods on "new to me" trails with friends, early miles of slip sliding in muddy conditions, miles of blue bells and the sounds of 1000s of gunshots as we ran parallel to the shooting range across the river.

I knew this as the last 30 miles slowly passed by.  That the disappointment would quickly fade and I would be left with the good.  Yeah, it wasn't so bad.  And now maybe the mental sword will be a little sharper for the next race or the next challenge that surfaces.

The Virginia Happy Trails Running Club (VHTRC) are a great bunch of people and are seen at most races around Virginia.  It was a well run event along the Bull Run River.  It is almost all trail (98%) with a couple short sections of gravel and asphalt road.  Nothing about it is really difficult but the course has a few short technical sections and is rarely flat.  The out and back portions give you a chance to see other runners and the aid stations are numerous enough that you don't need to carry much with you.  I decided to carry a 20oz handheld and took some food that I had prepared and was able to keep that in my pack pocket. 

2018 Year Summary

2018 was an interesting year with a focus on the Boston Marathon.  The goal was to go to Boston and run a sub 3 marathon on the oldest marathon course in the world and be done with road marathons (except for the occasional hometown Blue Ridge Marathon).

     The year started out with an oldie but goodie, the 2/13/18 - Holiday Lake 50k.  This was my 9th running of this race and it has been a great, early in the year event to get in roughly four and a half hours of constant running.  If you can do that in the middle of February it sets
a good foundation for any ultra distance race.  I placed the best I have over the years with a 14th and 1st Master in 4:35.29.

     Following Holiday Lake, the goal was to fine tune the endurance fitness into some speed and turnover work needed to hit the 6:52/mile average needed for the 4/16/18 - Boston Marathon.  Anyone who followed this race knows how bad the conditions were.  I remember standing around with James Decker in the athletes village under a giant tent.  As we stood, shivering, watching the rain,we were seeing the rain freeze on the tent and fall off as ice.  An ice pile was forming on the ground around the border of the tent.  Even with that, I still thought I had a sub 3 chance until mile 8.  That's when I saw the pace falter and knew it was time to roll with it and enjoy what I could.  The final number was a 3:06.20

     Now that, that was over it was on to training for the Vermont 100.  This seemed like the right year to do Vermont.  It is one of the original four, grand slam 100s, and it is 68ish miles of gravel road.  So it seemed like rolling marathon fitness into a "runable" 100 was a logical plan.  The next stop on the 100 training train was Gina's pick and my 3rd San Juan Solstice 50m on 6/23/18.  This high elevation race has put a hurting on me in the past but this year I was going for a sub 12:30.  This would provide some much needed time on feet to prepare for the 100 that was a month away.
     I ran on perceived exertion on this one and saw myself running in places I haven't in the past and knew I had a chance at a big PR.  I hit the 42 mile aid station and knew it was going to happen.  I came close to a sub 12 hour finish but ended in 12:03.14. 

     We continued to put in some serious miles after the San Juan Solstice while on vacation and this put me in a good position to taper into the 7/21/18 - Vermont 100.  I had been focusing on a goal of finishing in less than 20 hours.  That would also be midnight and the thought of finishing that early was great motivation.  I also Strava stalked another ultra runner that I tend to run near, in other races, and saw they had run in the 18:30s.  So best case scenario was an 18:30 and a goal of no more than 20 hours.  This race was a real test.  There was plenty of climbing with 17,000ft of gain over the course but much of it was runable.  Keeping the legs running after 50+ miles is tougher than in races where you have to hike due to large sudden inclines.  I hit the 50 mile mark right on schedule at 9 hours.  The 2nd 50 miles were a little longer.  I pittled away some time at water stops that I shouldn't have.  But I was very happy with my 19:16, 22nd place and big sub 24 hour buckle. 

     I went into a post Vermont funk.  Running didn't feel good and it wasn't any fun for about 2 months.  Not sure what it was.  Could have been overtraining or a need for a break.  I tried to keep my running schedule consistent and get extra rest in hopes that things would "snap" back in to gear as quickly as possible.

     I kept toying with the idea of training for the Hellgate 100k but I knew a couple nagging injuries should be tended to before I committed to anything like that.  What helped get me out of the funk was Alice Stump asking if I would pace her to a MMTR finish.  This kept the wheels turning and kept me distracted on a task.  On 11/4/18 we had a great day to be in the woods.  A wet and muddy time for the first half and then as the course climbed up into the mountain we had a perfect cool breezy Fall day.  Alice kept moving and that constant forward progress got us to the finish in 11:49ish with an 11 minute cushion.  Whew, that was quite a physical and mental day in the woods.  Glad we were able to reach our goal.

With the end of the year winding down and us having a trip to New Zealand planned I decided to keep things conservative for the remainder of the year, trying to get my right foot, Achilles and left quad healed up so that we could put in some serious time on the trails of New Zealand.

2019 Leave it Better

What message do we go into the new year with?

We started this in 2017 with a suggestion to "do more" or find a new limit.

Last year was "be a buddy, find a buddy" in an effort to get more people on the trails.

This year the message is, leave it better (with a focus on trail maintenance).

     How can you leave it better;
          pick up trash from the trail and pack it out.
          sign up for a volunteer work day
          kick sticks or rocks of the trail
          stop to move big sticks and logs off the trail
          even go so far as to carry a handsaw with you to remove medium size trees off the trail    

Whatever it is, make a difference with your time, use your trail time to leave things in better shape.  

Vermont 100

Short Story Option
Race Summary
53rd Ultra and 3rd 100 miler - 22nd in 19:16.01
Pack - Ultraspire Alpha 2.0
Shoes - Saucony Peregrines for 59 and Altra Lone Peaks for 41
Drink - All water except two collapsible cups of Coke
Food - Epic Bars, Nut butters, home made energy balls and an avocado (and a tortilla with avocado at an aid station)
Lesson - I actually learned this at the San Juan Solstice this year when running at high elevations.  When you are really tired and want to walk more than run, pick a running speed that is slower than you think you should run.  This will keep you running for a longer period of time.  I've found that my brain tells me to run faster, which gets me winded and more tired, causing me to stop sooner and more frequently than had I run at a slower pace. 

The Long Story Option
The Backstory
I never intended to do a 100 miler.  I was content with doing all distances below 100 from the start, back in 2002.  But due to another long story made short, we changed the 2015 RNUTS schedule so that it didn't conflict with the Beast Series.  For more 2015 craziness look here.

Since 2015 and the completion of the Grindstone 100 and Beast Series I've been in the lottery game for the Western States and Hardrock 100s.  I've decided that as long as the desire is there, I'll try to qualify and keep accumulating tickets until I get in.  Each year since, I've needed a WS100 qualifying race and then every other year I need to complete a Hardrock qualifier.  Once I got past the lotteries for these races in early December the mission became which WS100 qualifier to do.

I'm not sure when he first mentioned it but, James Decker has wanted to go up and do the Vermont 100 for quite some time.  Vermont is one of the oldest 100s in the US (I think the 4th oldest and one of the five 100s of the Grand Slam) and this was the 30th year.  The downside is that it has 70 miles of dirt/gravel road.  As a Mountain Junkie, that doesn't have a lot of appeal but there were some details to sway me;

• WS100 qualifier
• it occurrs during the summer
• it has 17,000ft of climbing
• it was 3 months after our block of training for the Boston Marathon
• it should be a "fast" 100
• bigger buckles for under 24 hour finishers  
• Gina and I have never been to Vermont

So, sometime around January 21st at 7pm I sat at the computer and signed up for the race and fortunately got right in.  James has a little different story about getting in the race but that is a whole blog post in itself.  Anyway, we got in and had something to focus on.  

The Training

The first quarter of 2018 was been filled with lots of road miles and a small bit of speed work in preparation for the Boston Marathon (I should have done a post about that race but the desire to forget it was too strong).  I've been averaging 50 miles a week this year, which is more than usual.  After Boston I had 6 weeks cram session of putting in some mountain climbing in preparation for the San Juan Solstice 50 miler.  That race would be my last big week before tapering for Vermont.  In hindsight, I probably could have put more emphasis on recovery vs. training in the weeks between the SJS50 and Vermont.  In the weeks preceding Vermont my legs never felt good, but that has been my experience over the years so I didn't worry too much.

  

The Vermont 100 miler (4am), 100k (8am) and 100 mile horse endurance ride (5am)

West Windsor Vermont - we flew in on Thursday to PVD and then drove 3 hours north through RI, MA, NH, and finally Vermont, staying in White River Junction.  Friday we had a relaxed morning, got some race supplies and were on our way to the race headquarters.  James had already arrived and set up some tents in what would become a giant tent city for the 100miler and 100k racers.  At 4pm we got the race briefing, course details and the etiquette when encountering the horses along the course.  Following the race dinner we hung out, got our race gear in order and then it was off to bed with a 2:30am alarm setting.  

In preparation for the race I had looked over some splits for 20, 22 and 24 hour finishes and added them to a spreadsheet.  Then somewhere along the way I saw that RD, Amy Rusiecki, had run an 18:47.  We've run some of the same races and finished close together, so I set her time as my "best case scenario" and had a sub 20 hour time as my main goal.  Obviously over the course of 100 miles anything can happen, but I feel like setting a reasonable goal will help, and gives your mind and legs something to focus on, over all the miles.  

The Crew

Gina came along to crew me at the 8 different locations crews could be at.  She was armed with the spreadsheet, directions and a few food options.  

Side note; since going low carb high fat I've needed less food during ultras and have stuck with water as my only hydration.

• Energy balls - quick oats, coconut flakes, dried cranberries, maple syrup, dark chocolate chips , salt and almond butter.
• Nut butters - all types of Trail Butter branded options
• Epic Bars
• Avocado
• food from the course I took; sweet potato, avocado tortilla and a few sips of coke.
• I had S! caps and a gel on hand, just in case, but didn't use them.

Spreadsheet

The Game Plan

I used my HR monitor as a guide and set the alarm at 145.  When the alarm would go off or I felt like I was pushing I would walk or back down the intensity.  This would dictate my pace.  I figured I would run the first 50 in a 10 minute (8:20) to 11 min average (9:10) and clocked in right at 9 hours.  

James was going unsupported, so he had his drop bags set ready to go and we had a plan to run our own races but to stay together for as long as we could.  

The Course

The first 20 rolled right along, I think we had less than an hour in which we needed our headlamps.  We talked throughout and met a few people that provided some comic relief and one that provided some intel on the Run Rabbit Run 100 miler that I'm considering for next year.  Coming in to the 20 mile aid station and seeing Gina was a welcome sight, I restocked some food, got water, changed my lenses, relubed and off we went.  

We had 11 miles to the next crew spot, at the 50k mark.  It was this section that I started to have a few issues that concerned me; chafing, right piriformis tightness (long term issue) and a right quadratus lumborum spasm (new issue in the last week).  Having something negative distract you in the early stages of a long race isn't good, but I tried to acknowledge what was going on but not to let it preoccupy me.  I came in to mile 31 a little frustrated but seeing Gina helped reset things, more water, food, lube, sunscreen and we were off again.  

I was picking up a few hints from James that he wanted to slow down a bit coming into mile 31.  He actually left the aid station before me.  Soon we had a few really good steep climbs, that made my day, I caught up with him, we wished each other well, fist bumped and separated to run our own races.   

I'd say the rest of the first 50 miles when really smooth.  I was running the flat, mild uphills and the downhills.  I looked at my watch when it said 50 miles and it was just past 9hrs, so things were going as planned.  That meant I needed to run the second half in 11 hours to be under 20 hours.  See how I did that.  Or go from a 10:50 pace to a 13:10 pace for the second half. 

Miles 47 to 69 were a loop.  You come to "camp 10 bear" at mile 47, do 22 miles and then your right back to "camp 10 bear".  This is where they were doing medical check on those that didn't look so good.  I fooled them and was on my way.  The next spot I could meet Gina was mile 59.  I'd say this loop and the next 12 miles were one of the longer sections.  Fortunately this was also where I was catching the slower 100k runners which helped break up the monotony and allowed me to see other people in the race.  This section was the hottest part of the day and the only thing making it easier was nice cold ice water.  I think the ice kept me going. 

I do remember an odd sight.  The road ran through a farm with barns on each side and as I was approaching there was a cow standing approaching the side of the road, it stopped to let me by and then kept on walking.  I was close enough to pet it, but opted not too (I did talk to it though). 

At 59 I decided to change my shoes.  I was hoping to hold off longer but I had been cooking up a hotspot on the ball of my right foot since the beginning.  The sock and shoe changed helped a bunch.  It was here that AJW gave me a rundown of what happened at the Hardrock 100 and described the last 2.5 miles of the Vermont course as a little "Blair Witch".  I think I could have sat here a lot longer but a little verbal prodding had me on my way again. 

I think for the rest of this loop I kept looking for anything that looked familiar to indicate that I was almost back to Camp 10.  This was a big aid station with tons of people and pacers anxiously awaiting their runners.  There was a lot going on.  Fill water, food, get rid of trash, and on my way.  Only a 50k to go.

I don't remember much of this next section except for the end.  I remember being able to hear the next aid station for quite some time and towards the end there was a photographer and another guy that called me by name.  I didn't see any papers with them but they knew who I was.  At the end we popped out onto a road and I could hear the guy ahead of me puking up loads of fluid, not one but 4 times.  Yuck!  Sucks to be that guy.  Then a short steep .15 and I was at Spirit of 76. 

Next aid station for crew was 88.  I'd take my light here.  These next 12 miles were loaded with old rock walls, huge country estates, cows, sheep and nice breezes.  I was looking forward to the cooler evening temps. 

BargainingThis is one of the major aspects of ultras and will come up over and over depending on how you feel, how long the race is and how much experience you have with the challenge.  You brain starts to justify going slower, stopping to rest, walking instead of jogging, jogging instead of running.  Something like this, "go ahead and walk, you deserve it, you've been out here all day."    

The flat and downhill road sections were starting to get harder and harder to run.  Not from a physical standpoint but from a mental one.  I kept having to think about there being an uphill soon, a justifiable reason to slow down.  Over and over again I kept having to ^ bargain ^ with myself to run one section to be able to walk/hike another.  The key, can you justify letting yourself go slower or can you figure out a way to keep going when you don't want to. 

Bills aid station was in somebody's yard and barn.  It was quite the setup.  This is where I had some avocado.  That was good.  I made sure to take my light and have Gina's watch ready once mine died.  I think I made it about half a mile before my watch said low battery.  So at the next mile split I turned it off and started using hers.  I like to run at night.  Dusk/dawn hours and darkness tend to play tricks on me when I've been running all day/night so I had to keep my mind occupied until it was totally dark.  No hallucinations this time. 

At 5 miles to go I was at Polly's.  Gina was able to get me some coffee here.  Unfortunately I burped it up for the next 5 miles.  Just 5 more miles.  2.5 miles of road and then 2.5 miles of trail to the finish.  So close.  At this point you know you are going to make it, you just don't know how long it will take. 

At the entrance to the last trail there was a screech owl.  I saw it fly from one tree to the next along the trail.  It must have screeched 10 times.  It was a creepy sound but cool to experience.  There was a pacer and another runner with me and they were a little freaked out.  They wouldn't take my word that it was an owl and were dreaming up some other racer eating creature was upon us. 

There was a lot of climbing in this section.  I went back and forth with a couple horses and at one point as soon as the horses crossed a road they started grazing in the middle of the path.  The riders said the horses were super hungry from their 100 miles and quickly got them to the side of the trail for me to pass.  We went back and forth again until the course came to the last tight twisty single track to the finish.  They pulled aside and let me through.  I could hear the finish and was so looking forward to being able to stop and sit down...... 19:16 was on the clock.  Whew!  The long day was done.  I could finally sit down and rest.