@tim cronk Another great race. Having come back from altitude sickness to finish under your goal time and for the Big Buckle is amazing. Congrats on the finish
@tim cronk Leadville is an outstanding achievement!! Congratulations!!
I really liked reading your detailed planning and to see how important that was during your race to know what you wanted along the way. Great job pushing through those climbs and keeping it moving.
Just an amazing effort @tim cronk and many congrats on the Big buckle. (I can't say that I'm the least bit surprised).
I do question one of your nutrition choices (vegemite, yuck!). But some of them really intrigued me!!! what exactly is a pancake cookie butter sandwich and where can I get one right now???
The other dumb question I had is which waist light do you use and do you like it?
OK so its not Impossible. While we were lucky with a perfect weather day, Leadville did not disappoint , delivering all the hype of a 100 miles at altitude, with 15k elevation change, the difficulty of the event showing up in the DNF race results as usual. Athlinks shows 831entries(starters?) and 386 finishers which would be a 54% DNF rate, CTS put out an article of 829 starters and 374 finishers providing a 55%DNF and 45%finisher ratio. Odd that the DNF rate would be higher than the normal 50% on a year with perfect weather.
Mon- 1hr run on a flattish bike path moderately hard
Tues- near 2hr walk and 30 min swim at 10k elevation:-)
Weds- 45min spin on bikepath with MTB, Picked up Heather at Denver AP, taper hike/run with @Clark Mitchell /Heather that afternoon, dinner in Breckenridge. Piante great vegan pizza:-)
Thurs- Taper hike/run and last minute practice with quiver/pole set up on hydration pack. Drove to Leaville with Clark/Heather and did some recon planning at the important Aid Stations intended to be used on race day, Twin Lakes and Treeline. Checked into house, met up with @Gabe Peterson and Baxter. Dinner at Treeline Kitchen.
Friday- Carbo Load day. Started with pancakes. Went to briefing at 10am. Met @Tim Sullivan. Back to condo, then walked over to packet pickup. @Clark Mitchell and Kathy went back over to Twin Lakes to secure a spot so that it would be easy for all to find the perspective crews in that busy AS, this was a key move, thanks Mitchell's. Lunch white rice. Preparing clothes, bags, food, and drop bags. Afternoon we walked over to deliver the drop bags. @Stephanie Stevens my crew, @Bill Manard planning pacer @Tim Sullivan , and @Mark Cardinale Gabe's pacer showed up to go over plans with their perspective racer's. Some of us ate in the condo and some went out. I stayed in and had a noodle bowl. Snack were pretzels, cookies, dried fruit. Steph and Bill went to her Vail condo only to come back a few hours later ! Went to bed around 8:30pm with alarm set for 2:50am , surprise did NOT sleep very well.
Saturday- got up at 2:45am before the alarm, phone had come unplugged from the old buildings outlet in the floor, the battery was dead and the alarm was NOT going to work, had coffee , 2 pancakes with PB and Dates, got dressed, patagonia shorts, longsleeve tech shirt, shortsleeve tech shirt, topped with a heavier weight Nike shirt, desitin on feet, calf compression socks, TOPO Ultraventure, gaiters, beanie hat with headlamp, gloves with handwarmers, orangemud single bottle hydration vest, and jacket to keep warm until the start. Left condo around 3:30am for the 10' walk to start, milled around with all for about 10', headed into the lineup with @Tim Sullivan with about 10' to go, not up front but pretty close, hopefully eliminating some passing.
4AM- Boom the Shotgun start. Still took us about 30" to get across the start line according to the chip/gun time differential.
Start to Mayqueen mile 12.6 - eta 6:12am actual 6:10am , 2' in the bank already woohoo, surprise everyone is running too fast , I heard one guy saying I run a 2:45 Marathon and I can’t believe everyone is running this fast, running by RPE I believe I kept myself in check at least relative to the average runner, which shows itself in the rankings, I went through Mayqueen in 214th position which would be my lowest ranking of all splits by far. I had decided to remove the crew from Mayqueen 1 due to necessity, simplicity , and time of day. This proved a good move, I did not need anything and gave the Crew a bit of time, saving them the first busy AS hassle as well. I simply refilled my bottle and kept going.
Mayqueen to Treeline mile 27- eta 9:17am actual 9:02am , 15' in the bank wahoo, since Treeline is an alternate AS there is no timing mat, however, having passed thru the previous uncrewed AS of Outward Bound 3 miles prior in 166th position I had moved up 48 spots since Mayqueen which was actually quite surprising to me in retrospect, In this section I had watched the legally blind runner pass me (going for a sub 25hr), I had watched Dave Mackey a one legged bad ass story is here and very good https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-itm-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=itm&p=dave+mackey+on+youtube#id=1&vid=69a944118c960a84c4810c75ee3715aa&action=click pass me, I had watched a Tucson Trail Runner acquaintance pass me with authority and one I have lost to before even though he is 63, and lastly a guy I had run with 3days at the run camp went by me. Stayed well inside my box doing my thing and let them go. BTW all of those guys would come back later in the day. I was feeling pretty good so far, needed a porto potty stop here, dropped my hat/light and a shirt , picked up my safari hat and pancake cookie butter sandwich. Kisses and fist bumps, posed for a quick pic, then went back to work.
Treeline to TwinLakes #1mile 38 - eta 11:40am actual 11:22am, 18' in the bank wow, 3 miles after Treeline is another AS called Half Pipe which is NO CREW I went thru here in 162nd position gaining a few more, this segment went well but there is no denying that I showed up in TwinLakes starting to feel the fatigue of 38 miles. Crew found me, swapped hydration vests, grabbed pancake PB/Date sandwich and a coke, kisses and fist bumps. Onward. I left TwinLakes #1 AS in 149th picking up another 13 spots since Half Pipe.
TwinLakes#1 to Hopeless Aid Station#1 43.5miles - No eta but went thru here in 119th picking up 30 spots since leaving Twinlakes. Hope Pass #1 definitely cracked me, the 4 mile climb splits were 24', 24', 22', and 27' vs. 19-21' splits on my practice a couple weeks prior, but pretty much were I thought they would be. Filled bladder and grabbed graham crackers at Hopeless. Shortly after leaving Twin Lakes and prior to climbing HOPE is the river crossing, there was about 10 water crossings prior to the river, so there is NO WAY to keep feet dry.
Hopeless Aid Station#1 to Winfield 50.1miles - eta 3:16pm actual 2:56pm, a full 20' in da bank ahead of schedule, arriving at the halfway point is a love/hate thing, the energy of spectators/pacers/crews and knowing you are halfway is amazing, but the pain and death stares are everywhere, I did not feel great but took the advice of many, DO NOT SIT at Winfield. I left Winfield in 111th another 8 positions. Several miles out from Winfield I saw David Goggins coming back the other way, I had just read his book "Cant Hurt Me" https://www.amazon.com/Cant-Hurt-Me-Master-Your/dp/1544512287
Winfield to Hopeless Aid Station#2 56.4miles, I walked thru the Aid at Winfield, filled bladder, started eating the remainder of my last pancake sandwich and walked most of the first mile on the return leg, picked it up to a pretty good shuffle until reaching the climb on the backside of Hope, here is where I logged my slowest miles of the day with a 35', 33', 21', vs. 29', 25', 21', of the practice HOPE but again what I expected. The first HOPE cracked me and this second HOPE completely broke me, definitely MY LOW of the RACE, I was hot, dizzy, lips numb, side stitch under the ribs, and an upset stomach. While getting little bits of energy from @Gabe Peterson , @Clark Mitchell , @Tim Sullivan , Tim Poydenis my UMFL nemesis/friend, and those I had repassed, I still felt like my world was ending, I never wanted to quit but my symptoms were enough to second guess being able to finish. I stopped many times to rest, mostly standing with face into the wind , using the poles to keep from falling over, caving to sitting on occasion, forced a caffeinated gel and fluids down. Eventually the top arrives and with that comes the Hopeless AS for rest, and descending with less effort into more oxygen. I did not have an eta for Hopeless #2 but left there in 97th picking up another 14 positions, as much as I was hurting it obvious that others were hurting even more through this section.
Hopeless#2 to TwinLakes#2 62miles - Twin Lakes eta 7:10pm actual 7:02 , only 8' minutes left in the bank, I had given back 12' since mile 50 at Winfield, I spent a bit of time at the Hopeless AS, switched bladder to water and kept it water till the finish (never done that before) ate ramen and saltines, this seemed to help my stomach, kept the effort reduced until cramp went away, as I descended from here the dizzyness, numbness and all other symptoms went away . I honestly did not think I was going to be able to work through that. Appears it was nothing more than good old fashioned altitude sickness. The number of people puking between miles 38-62 was staggering, altitude and effort can be the only explanation here. Position at TwinLakes #2 was 105th having given back 8 positions and 8' minutes. Coming down off Hope Pass and prior to Twin Lakes is the multitude of water crossings again, this time that water felt so good, and there is a shoe change coming up soon
TwinLakes #2 to Treeline#2 73miles- Treeline eta 10:28pm actual 10:15pm for 13' minutes in the bank regaining 5' on targets. Arriving at Twinlakes #2 pretty much on schedule at 7pm definitely made this the most critical and longest Aid Station, its still warm but the sun is setting at 8pm and I wasnt going to hit the next Crew AS until after 10pm. Heather met me on the outskirts of the AS which was good I was able to think and talk without the noise of the AS , I walked in with her and told her my thoughts and plans. They sat me down, took my watch and plugged it into charger, took off my shoes , gaitors off, I threw on a pair of tights, cleaned my feet with wetwipe, found a raw spot on my right heel, washed that with alcohol wipe and applied a piece of rock tape, re-lubed feet, new socks and shoes, changed out my shirt from light to heavy, added another longsleeve shirt to pack, added the waistbelt light, ate vegemite sandwich, grabbed mountain dew, recruited @Bill Manard to carry my pack up the climb out of Twinlakes for 30 minutes to give me a break. OMG relief that felt so good to move without weight on my back, Bill and I hiked hard for almost 2 miles in 30' , the first 3 miles out of Twinlakes #2 were 22', 21, and 18'. Watch was charged to about 65% , I took my pack back giving Bill the charger, and we parted ways. Mile 67 to mile 73 was a nice downhill runnable section and allowed to make good time with 3 miles even in the 11' range LOL! Prior to reaching Treeline I went thru Half Pipe in 95th position gaining 10 slots :-)
Treeline#2 to MayQueen 87.6 miles - Mayqeen eta 2:05am actual 2:26am , bammm back to 29' in the bank... @Treeline took off safari hat and glasses, added longsleeve shirt, added beanie hat with petzl light(kept waist belt would use 2 lights for remainder), ate vegemite sandwich and ramen. Leaving Treeline was amazing watching the almost full moon come up. Next section of 3 miles was mostly roads and the gopher hole field to Outward bound AS, went thru Outward bound in 94th place having gained 1 slot in 6 miles, shortly after Outward bound a guy who I have gone back and forth with all day/night , comes up next to me, asks are you going for 25hr buckle, that is the plan but will see how it goes, I had left Treeline at 10:15pm which gave me 6:45hrs to complete the last 27 miles, we chuckled that 7hrs for a Marathon is easy but we had already done 3 Marathons and this last one had a thing in the middle of it called Powerline. We officially introduced ourselves (his name is Rob) and we went to work together power hiking. We stuck together for the next 5 miles, 2 miles to Powerline, and the 3 miles up Powerline pace was 19', 19' and 18', elevation gain for those miles was 507, 518 , 264. That section together was key to more money in the bank, I have no doubt I would have been much slower alone. Reaching the top of powerline I gradually drifted away from Rob, there was a HUGE party at the top of powerline, the kids had a banner over the trail that said "Nice Fucking Work" :-) Downhill from here all the way to Mayqueen however the terrain was just technical enough to keep pace slow. BTW Rob would earn his Big Buckle.
Mayqueen to Finish 100.2 miles - Finish eta 4:55am actual 4:40am 15 minutes ahead of guesstimated goal and with 20 minutes to spare for the Big Buckle. At Mayqueen the Crew was freezing so they assumed I was , and was ready to warm me up in a blanket, I was fine, sat down , had more ramen grabbed another mountain dew, changed a battery in petzl headlamp, was carrying an extra battery for waist belt. Picked up Heather to pace me in for the last 12.6 miles, we had 3:34hrs to finish which meant that some of it still needed to be run or at least walked fast. We left Mayqueen in 73rd position having moved up 21 slots since Outward Bound. I ran when I could and power hiked , funny I walked faster than Heather but she ran faster than I, so she would let me go ahead when hiking and run to catch up, she matched me on the running sections which were few and far between. We hit the crew one more time around mile 94 and had some more ramen.... Before ya know it we are on 6th Street Finish, the remaining crew Baxter, @Stephanie Stevens , @Bill Manard , joined Heather and I crossing the finishline. I hugged Merrilee and all my crew, there were a few emotional breathes there at the finish:-) THE IMPOSSIBLE WAS DONE!
Post Race- went back to the condo for shower, bowl of granola, 30' nap, tracked Gabe/Clark and headed back to the finish to watch them come in and the Shotgun End at 10am, lil celebration then back to the condo for another 30' nap , over to Award Ceremony at 12noon to get our buckles/jackets, back to the condo for another 2hr nap, @Tim Sullivan , @Bill Manard , Baxter, @Stephanie Stevens and Scott(Steph's then fiancee / now husband and generally all around great guy who worked the Mayqueen AS all night and also helped us Crew for the MTB race the prior weekend) all took off . The remainder Gabe, Clark, Kathy, Heather and I went out for dinner where we consumed burritos the size of babies, and back to the condo for icecream and wine recovery treats. Slept 10.5hrs that night, Monday am packed up and headed to Tucson over 2 days . Spent 3 days RnR in Tucson before heading home to NH.
Nutrition before/during/immediately after - not necessarily in order - fluids of coffee, skratch, gu roctane, coke, mountain dew, and water.... food pancakes with PB and dates, pancakes with cookie butter, vegemite avocado sandwich on pretzel rolls, dates with chocolate, dried bananas, fig newmans, potatoes with salt, saltines, ramen, gu gels , gu blocks, graham crackers, gu waffle, skratch bar, pretzels, cinnamon/sugar pita chips
Crew- Heather(secret weapon), Baxter(nephew), Stephanie and Bill EN rockstars were the best crew ever, they saved me minutes everystop, kept me up beat and moving, I can never thank them enough. My only hope is that they are silly enough to sign up for something like this and recruit me to reciprocate the precious time the donated to me. Thank You so much!
Feet/Body/Recovery- I had taped the back of my heels and lower achilles due to a bony protrusion that sometimes gets raw over time, when I changed shoes at mile 62 I noticed a raw spot on my bottom right heel, I think the descending heel strikes squished the heel pad up to the edge of the tape which may have been too low, I cleaned this area and retaped and was fine, no other blisters or issues, My right big toenail has darkened up a little and felt bruised but I wont lose it. Body has felt amazingly good after this 100, however there is no doubt I have carried a physical and mental fatigue for over a week. Its been 10 days now and starting to come around .
What I would do differently- First off we did everything right , there really is nothing I would change, only a few things to improve.
Lights- I started with a good light and fresh batteries that I have tested many times and lasts 3hrs, I only needed 2hrs of light to start, however I think the fresh batteries I put in were bad, they started to die after 90 minutes, I need to have a small back up light to carry at all times, the one I had I gave away last year at the Ghost Train and failed to replace it. This also would have been key in traveling over Hope Pass ( I had plenty of daylight time) but when I was up on Hope feeling bad it was easy to imagine spending the remaining daylight up there so definitely need a light.
AS CREW location- the Treeline Alternate worked so well. TwinLakes is a giant loud party, fun and invigorating, but difficult to think and communicate with crew. We had selected a good spot thanks to Clark and Kathy which is very important so you can at least know where to meet in advance, but if we had to do it over I would select a location on the outskirts of the AS for a bit more quiet.
Pacers- recruit more pacers- Leadville allows pacers to mule(carry your stuff) this would have been key to have a pacer/mule :-) for each of the 3 major climbs on the return. Having Bill carry my gear for 30' was a major relief.
Vegemite- is strong but salty, its such a relief after hours and hours of sweet, most of the second half was saltines, potatoes, and ramen. I really liked the ramen cause I could choke it down without having to work to chew or swallow, key to continue getting those calories in when you no longer feel like eating and nothing sounds good.
Waist Light- UltraAspire 600w. Its sufficient all by itself but I like a headlamp too so I can see where I am looking not just where my waist is facing, the battery lasts a long time and carrying a second one is easy in the belt, however replacing the battery requires a bit of patience and light to do so ( another reason why you need a head lamp in addition to waistlight).
This is such an amazing endeavor and success story... I fight altitude sickness each time I try to do long aerobic efforts and can really sympathize. Huge comeback and turn-around from that!
IMAZ Marathon is going to feel like a sprint to you!
Tim, great race report. Very detailed yet to the point. I don't think this will ever be in my wheelhouse, but still great to learn from and follow along.
Goggins book is on my list. I just watched half of a YouTube video he was doing on Rich Roll Podcast. Hoping to finish watching tonight. I liked the way he describes "Taking Souls".
Get you much needed recovery and I hope to see you in November.
Wow Tim. Nice rally from you altitude sickness/lowpoint. Congratulations. My favorite line "we chuckled that 7hrs for a Marathon is easy but we had already done 3 Marathons and this last one had a thing in the middle of it called Powerline."
my mind was spinning just reading all of this.. heard you posted a goggins pic somewhere, can you repost here? I am listening to his book on audio. I'd highly recommend anyone wanting to read it to do the audio book as its read by his ghostwriter and interspersed with podcast like interviews.
I keep saying I will never do an ultra (my hamstrings are making sure of that for now) but reading how easy you always make it seem makes me want to reconsider that! for a minute 😀
I think its a testament how well you know your self that you can plan out a 25-hour race and be like 1% off in reality. Yeah, I know training and prep and good fortune and a great support team blah blah blah, but I think your self-knowledge is your true super double top secret superpower!!
not too smart smack talking you. but i am a little giddy with finally moving forwards with my fitness. Arizona will be fun and plenty of competition from within our own team.
@tim cronk I finally got around to reading this and as expected, am exhausted just from the words - hard to imagine the actual experience. Be proud and bask in your inner glow for a while...
Comments
@tim cronk Another great race. Having come back from altitude sickness to finish under your goal time and for the Big Buckle is amazing. Congrats on the finish
Sorry there was a lot more to the story. I have lost it twice now. NOT going to do it again.
@tim cronk Leadville is an outstanding achievement!! Congratulations!!
I really liked reading your detailed planning and to see how important that was during your race to know what you wanted along the way. Great job pushing through those climbs and keeping it moving.
Hope that your recovery is going well.
@tim cronk so great watching you put on a clinic on how to get the Big Buckle! I look forward to future adventures together!
Just an amazing effort @tim cronk and many congrats on the Big buckle. (I can't say that I'm the least bit surprised).
I do question one of your nutrition choices (vegemite, yuck!). But some of them really intrigued me!!! what exactly is a pancake cookie butter sandwich and where can I get one right now???
The other dumb question I had is which waist light do you use and do you like it?
What is next for you to conquer?
@tim cronk Huge congrats on the "Big Buckle" and what I great read you race report was.
Like @John Withrow I'd also like to know the secret of the pancake cookie butter sandwich. And yes Vegemite is beyond being gross.
Here is the link to the Race Plan.
Tim Cronk 2019 Leadville 100 Trail Run Plan
tim cronk
Aug 13, 2019
OK so its not Impossible. While we were lucky with a perfect weather day, Leadville did not disappoint , delivering all the hype of a 100 miles at altitude, with 15k elevation change, the difficulty of the event showing up in the DNF race results as usual. Athlinks shows 831entries(starters?) and 386 finishers which would be a 54% DNF rate, CTS put out an article of 829 starters and 374 finishers providing a 55%DNF and 45%finisher ratio. Odd that the DNF rate would be higher than the normal 50% on a year with perfect weather.
Mon- 1hr run on a flattish bike path moderately hard
Tues- near 2hr walk and 30 min swim at 10k elevation:-)
Weds- 45min spin on bikepath with MTB, Picked up Heather at Denver AP, taper hike/run with @Clark Mitchell /Heather that afternoon, dinner in Breckenridge. Piante great vegan pizza:-)
Thurs- Taper hike/run and last minute practice with quiver/pole set up on hydration pack. Drove to Leaville with Clark/Heather and did some recon planning at the important Aid Stations intended to be used on race day, Twin Lakes and Treeline. Checked into house, met up with @Gabe Peterson and Baxter. Dinner at Treeline Kitchen.
Friday- Carbo Load day. Started with pancakes. Went to briefing at 10am. Met @Tim Sullivan. Back to condo, then walked over to packet pickup. @Clark Mitchell and Kathy went back over to Twin Lakes to secure a spot so that it would be easy for all to find the perspective crews in that busy AS, this was a key move, thanks Mitchell's. Lunch white rice. Preparing clothes, bags, food, and drop bags. Afternoon we walked over to deliver the drop bags. @Stephanie Stevens my crew, @Bill Manard planning pacer @Tim Sullivan , and @Mark Cardinale Gabe's pacer showed up to go over plans with their perspective racer's. Some of us ate in the condo and some went out. I stayed in and had a noodle bowl. Snack were pretzels, cookies, dried fruit. Steph and Bill went to her Vail condo only to come back a few hours later ! Went to bed around 8:30pm with alarm set for 2:50am , surprise did NOT sleep very well.
Saturday- got up at 2:45am before the alarm, phone had come unplugged from the old buildings outlet in the floor, the battery was dead and the alarm was NOT going to work, had coffee , 2 pancakes with PB and Dates, got dressed, patagonia shorts, longsleeve tech shirt, shortsleeve tech shirt, topped with a heavier weight Nike shirt, desitin on feet, calf compression socks, TOPO Ultraventure, gaiters, beanie hat with headlamp, gloves with handwarmers, orangemud single bottle hydration vest, and jacket to keep warm until the start. Left condo around 3:30am for the 10' walk to start, milled around with all for about 10', headed into the lineup with @Tim Sullivan with about 10' to go, not up front but pretty close, hopefully eliminating some passing.
4AM- Boom the Shotgun start. Still took us about 30" to get across the start line according to the chip/gun time differential.
Start to Mayqueen mile 12.6 - eta 6:12am actual 6:10am , 2' in the bank already woohoo, surprise everyone is running too fast , I heard one guy saying I run a 2:45 Marathon and I can’t believe everyone is running this fast, running by RPE I believe I kept myself in check at least relative to the average runner, which shows itself in the rankings, I went through Mayqueen in 214th position which would be my lowest ranking of all splits by far. I had decided to remove the crew from Mayqueen 1 due to necessity, simplicity , and time of day. This proved a good move, I did not need anything and gave the Crew a bit of time, saving them the first busy AS hassle as well. I simply refilled my bottle and kept going.
Mayqueen to Treeline mile 27- eta 9:17am actual 9:02am , 15' in the bank wahoo, since Treeline is an alternate AS there is no timing mat, however, having passed thru the previous uncrewed AS of Outward Bound 3 miles prior in 166th position I had moved up 48 spots since Mayqueen which was actually quite surprising to me in retrospect, In this section I had watched the legally blind runner pass me (going for a sub 25hr), I had watched Dave Mackey a one legged bad ass story is here and very good https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-itm-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=itm&p=dave+mackey+on+youtube#id=1&vid=69a944118c960a84c4810c75ee3715aa&action=click pass me, I had watched a Tucson Trail Runner acquaintance pass me with authority and one I have lost to before even though he is 63, and lastly a guy I had run with 3days at the run camp went by me. Stayed well inside my box doing my thing and let them go. BTW all of those guys would come back later in the day. I was feeling pretty good so far, needed a porto potty stop here, dropped my hat/light and a shirt , picked up my safari hat and pancake cookie butter sandwich. Kisses and fist bumps, posed for a quick pic, then went back to work.
Treeline to TwinLakes #1mile 38 - eta 11:40am actual 11:22am, 18' in the bank wow, 3 miles after Treeline is another AS called Half Pipe which is NO CREW I went thru here in 162nd position gaining a few more, this segment went well but there is no denying that I showed up in TwinLakes starting to feel the fatigue of 38 miles. Crew found me, swapped hydration vests, grabbed pancake PB/Date sandwich and a coke, kisses and fist bumps. Onward. I left TwinLakes #1 AS in 149th picking up another 13 spots since Half Pipe.
TwinLakes#1 to Hopeless Aid Station#1 43.5miles - No eta but went thru here in 119th picking up 30 spots since leaving Twinlakes. Hope Pass #1 definitely cracked me, the 4 mile climb splits were 24', 24', 22', and 27' vs. 19-21' splits on my practice a couple weeks prior, but pretty much were I thought they would be. Filled bladder and grabbed graham crackers at Hopeless. Shortly after leaving Twin Lakes and prior to climbing HOPE is the river crossing, there was about 10 water crossings prior to the river, so there is NO WAY to keep feet dry.
Hopeless Aid Station#1 to Winfield 50.1miles - eta 3:16pm actual 2:56pm, a full 20' in da bank ahead of schedule, arriving at the halfway point is a love/hate thing, the energy of spectators/pacers/crews and knowing you are halfway is amazing, but the pain and death stares are everywhere, I did not feel great but took the advice of many, DO NOT SIT at Winfield. I left Winfield in 111th another 8 positions. Several miles out from Winfield I saw David Goggins coming back the other way, I had just read his book "Cant Hurt Me" https://www.amazon.com/Cant-Hurt-Me-Master-Your/dp/1544512287
Winfield to Hopeless Aid Station#2 56.4miles, I walked thru the Aid at Winfield, filled bladder, started eating the remainder of my last pancake sandwich and walked most of the first mile on the return leg, picked it up to a pretty good shuffle until reaching the climb on the backside of Hope, here is where I logged my slowest miles of the day with a 35', 33', 21', vs. 29', 25', 21', of the practice HOPE but again what I expected. The first HOPE cracked me and this second HOPE completely broke me, definitely MY LOW of the RACE, I was hot, dizzy, lips numb, side stitch under the ribs, and an upset stomach. While getting little bits of energy from @Gabe Peterson , @Clark Mitchell , @Tim Sullivan , Tim Poydenis my UMFL nemesis/friend, and those I had repassed, I still felt like my world was ending, I never wanted to quit but my symptoms were enough to second guess being able to finish. I stopped many times to rest, mostly standing with face into the wind , using the poles to keep from falling over, caving to sitting on occasion, forced a caffeinated gel and fluids down. Eventually the top arrives and with that comes the Hopeless AS for rest, and descending with less effort into more oxygen. I did not have an eta for Hopeless #2 but left there in 97th picking up another 14 positions, as much as I was hurting it obvious that others were hurting even more through this section.
Hopeless#2 to TwinLakes#2 62miles - Twin Lakes eta 7:10pm actual 7:02 , only 8' minutes left in the bank, I had given back 12' since mile 50 at Winfield, I spent a bit of time at the Hopeless AS, switched bladder to water and kept it water till the finish (never done that before) ate ramen and saltines, this seemed to help my stomach, kept the effort reduced until cramp went away, as I descended from here the dizzyness, numbness and all other symptoms went away . I honestly did not think I was going to be able to work through that. Appears it was nothing more than good old fashioned altitude sickness. The number of people puking between miles 38-62 was staggering, altitude and effort can be the only explanation here. Position at TwinLakes #2 was 105th having given back 8 positions and 8' minutes. Coming down off Hope Pass and prior to Twin Lakes is the multitude of water crossings again, this time that water felt so good, and there is a shoe change coming up soon
TwinLakes #2 to Treeline#2 73miles- Treeline eta 10:28pm actual 10:15pm for 13' minutes in the bank regaining 5' on targets. Arriving at Twinlakes #2 pretty much on schedule at 7pm definitely made this the most critical and longest Aid Station, its still warm but the sun is setting at 8pm and I wasnt going to hit the next Crew AS until after 10pm. Heather met me on the outskirts of the AS which was good I was able to think and talk without the noise of the AS , I walked in with her and told her my thoughts and plans. They sat me down, took my watch and plugged it into charger, took off my shoes , gaitors off, I threw on a pair of tights, cleaned my feet with wetwipe, found a raw spot on my right heel, washed that with alcohol wipe and applied a piece of rock tape, re-lubed feet, new socks and shoes, changed out my shirt from light to heavy, added another longsleeve shirt to pack, added the waistbelt light, ate vegemite sandwich, grabbed mountain dew, recruited @Bill Manard to carry my pack up the climb out of Twinlakes for 30 minutes to give me a break. OMG relief that felt so good to move without weight on my back, Bill and I hiked hard for almost 2 miles in 30' , the first 3 miles out of Twinlakes #2 were 22', 21, and 18'. Watch was charged to about 65% , I took my pack back giving Bill the charger, and we parted ways. Mile 67 to mile 73 was a nice downhill runnable section and allowed to make good time with 3 miles even in the 11' range LOL! Prior to reaching Treeline I went thru Half Pipe in 95th position gaining 10 slots :-)
Treeline#2 to MayQueen 87.6 miles - Mayqeen eta 2:05am actual 2:26am , bammm back to 29' in the bank... @Treeline took off safari hat and glasses, added longsleeve shirt, added beanie hat with petzl light(kept waist belt would use 2 lights for remainder), ate vegemite sandwich and ramen. Leaving Treeline was amazing watching the almost full moon come up. Next section of 3 miles was mostly roads and the gopher hole field to Outward bound AS, went thru Outward bound in 94th place having gained 1 slot in 6 miles, shortly after Outward bound a guy who I have gone back and forth with all day/night , comes up next to me, asks are you going for 25hr buckle, that is the plan but will see how it goes, I had left Treeline at 10:15pm which gave me 6:45hrs to complete the last 27 miles, we chuckled that 7hrs for a Marathon is easy but we had already done 3 Marathons and this last one had a thing in the middle of it called Powerline. We officially introduced ourselves (his name is Rob) and we went to work together power hiking. We stuck together for the next 5 miles, 2 miles to Powerline, and the 3 miles up Powerline pace was 19', 19' and 18', elevation gain for those miles was 507, 518 , 264. That section together was key to more money in the bank, I have no doubt I would have been much slower alone. Reaching the top of powerline I gradually drifted away from Rob, there was a HUGE party at the top of powerline, the kids had a banner over the trail that said "Nice Fucking Work" :-) Downhill from here all the way to Mayqueen however the terrain was just technical enough to keep pace slow. BTW Rob would earn his Big Buckle.
Mayqueen to Finish 100.2 miles - Finish eta 4:55am actual 4:40am 15 minutes ahead of guesstimated goal and with 20 minutes to spare for the Big Buckle. At Mayqueen the Crew was freezing so they assumed I was , and was ready to warm me up in a blanket, I was fine, sat down , had more ramen grabbed another mountain dew, changed a battery in petzl headlamp, was carrying an extra battery for waist belt. Picked up Heather to pace me in for the last 12.6 miles, we had 3:34hrs to finish which meant that some of it still needed to be run or at least walked fast. We left Mayqueen in 73rd position having moved up 21 slots since Outward Bound. I ran when I could and power hiked , funny I walked faster than Heather but she ran faster than I, so she would let me go ahead when hiking and run to catch up, she matched me on the running sections which were few and far between. We hit the crew one more time around mile 94 and had some more ramen.... Before ya know it we are on 6th Street Finish, the remaining crew Baxter, @Stephanie Stevens , @Bill Manard , joined Heather and I crossing the finishline. I hugged Merrilee and all my crew, there were a few emotional breathes there at the finish:-) THE IMPOSSIBLE WAS DONE!
Results and File.
Post Race- went back to the condo for shower, bowl of granola, 30' nap, tracked Gabe/Clark and headed back to the finish to watch them come in and the Shotgun End at 10am, lil celebration then back to the condo for another 30' nap , over to Award Ceremony at 12noon to get our buckles/jackets, back to the condo for another 2hr nap, @Tim Sullivan , @Bill Manard , Baxter, @Stephanie Stevens and Scott(Steph's then fiancee / now husband and generally all around great guy who worked the Mayqueen AS all night and also helped us Crew for the MTB race the prior weekend) all took off . The remainder Gabe, Clark, Kathy, Heather and I went out for dinner where we consumed burritos the size of babies, and back to the condo for icecream and wine recovery treats. Slept 10.5hrs that night, Monday am packed up and headed to Tucson over 2 days . Spent 3 days RnR in Tucson before heading home to NH.
Nutrition before/during/immediately after - not necessarily in order - fluids of coffee, skratch, gu roctane, coke, mountain dew, and water.... food pancakes with PB and dates, pancakes with cookie butter, vegemite avocado sandwich on pretzel rolls, dates with chocolate, dried bananas, fig newmans, potatoes with salt, saltines, ramen, gu gels , gu blocks, graham crackers, gu waffle, skratch bar, pretzels, cinnamon/sugar pita chips
Crew- Heather(secret weapon), Baxter(nephew), Stephanie and Bill EN rockstars were the best crew ever, they saved me minutes everystop, kept me up beat and moving, I can never thank them enough. My only hope is that they are silly enough to sign up for something like this and recruit me to reciprocate the precious time the donated to me. Thank You so much!
Feet/Body/Recovery- I had taped the back of my heels and lower achilles due to a bony protrusion that sometimes gets raw over time, when I changed shoes at mile 62 I noticed a raw spot on my bottom right heel, I think the descending heel strikes squished the heel pad up to the edge of the tape which may have been too low, I cleaned this area and retaped and was fine, no other blisters or issues, My right big toenail has darkened up a little and felt bruised but I wont lose it. Body has felt amazingly good after this 100, however there is no doubt I have carried a physical and mental fatigue for over a week. Its been 10 days now and starting to come around .
What I would do differently- First off we did everything right , there really is nothing I would change, only a few things to improve.
Questions comments anything at all welcome?
@Gordon Cherwoniak @John Bayone @Gabe Peterson thanks so much for the kind words
@John Withrow just spread this "crack" on pancakes of your choice. I like Birchbenders.
https://www.amazon.com/Birch-Benders-Protein-Pancake-Plant-Based/dp/B07PKR5PM1/ref=asc_df_B07PKR5PM1/?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=%7Bcreative%7D&hvpos=%7Badposition%7D&hvnetw=o&hvrand=%7Brandom%7D&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=%7Bdevicemodel%7D&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583451666171346&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Speculoos-Cookie-Butter-14-1-Basic/dp/B010RP7QWM/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_325_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=306CS1GEYJCYQQ31MWXK
Vegemite- is strong but salty, its such a relief after hours and hours of sweet, most of the second half was saltines, potatoes, and ramen. I really liked the ramen cause I could choke it down without having to work to chew or swallow, key to continue getting those calories in when you no longer feel like eating and nothing sounds good.
Waist Light- UltraAspire 600w. Its sufficient all by itself but I like a headlamp too so I can see where I am looking not just where my waist is facing, the battery lasts a long time and carrying a second one is easy in the belt, however replacing the battery requires a bit of patience and light to do so ( another reason why you need a head lamp in addition to waistlight).
This is such an amazing endeavor and success story... I fight altitude sickness each time I try to do long aerobic efforts and can really sympathize. Huge comeback and turn-around from that!
IMAZ Marathon is going to feel like a sprint to you!
Congratulations!
Tim, great race report. Very detailed yet to the point. I don't think this will ever be in my wheelhouse, but still great to learn from and follow along.
Goggins book is on my list. I just watched half of a YouTube video he was doing on Rich Roll Podcast. Hoping to finish watching tonight. I liked the way he describes "Taking Souls".
Get you much needed recovery and I hope to see you in November.
Wow Tim. Nice rally from you altitude sickness/lowpoint. Congratulations. My favorite line "we chuckled that 7hrs for a Marathon is easy but we had already done 3 Marathons and this last one had a thing in the middle of it called Powerline."
my mind was spinning just reading all of this.. heard you posted a goggins pic somewhere, can you repost here? I am listening to his book on audio. I'd highly recommend anyone wanting to read it to do the audio book as its read by his ghostwriter and interspersed with podcast like interviews.
I keep saying I will never do an ultra (my hamstrings are making sure of that for now) but reading how easy you always make it seem makes me want to reconsider that! for a minute 😀
as per your normal approach: great planning, great execution, great mind over matter.
happy that you got it done and got the big buckle.
still wanna be you if i grow up.
now bring your fitness to that Ironman Arizona thing. and see if you can finally beat me in an Ironman. :) :)
@Rich Stanbaugh @Gary Lewis @matt limbert thank you so much for the kind words.
@scott dinhofer I think that was @Tim Sullivan with the Goggin pic NOT ME. Once that Hammy is better, SKIMO is good for ULTRA just saying.
@robin sarner OH I DO LOVE ME SOME SMACK TALK !
I think its a testament how well you know your self that you can plan out a 25-hour race and be like 1% off in reality. Yeah, I know training and prep and good fortune and a great support team blah blah blah, but I think your self-knowledge is your true super double top secret superpower!!
Congratulations!
~ Coach P
@tim cronk
not too smart smack talking you. but i am a little giddy with finally moving forwards with my fitness. Arizona will be fun and plenty of competition from within our own team.
Great report! Congratulations on an awesome finish. Thanks for the note on muling being legal- I was wondering when you said you did it.
Looks like you had an awesome plan and executed perfectly. Well done!
@tim cronk I finally got around to reading this and as expected, am exhausted just from the words - hard to imagine the actual experience. Be proud and bask in your inner glow for a while...