Subject: Rocky Raccoon (a pacers perspective) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 11:01:34 -0500 From: Blade Norman Rocky Raccoon (a pacers perspective) So I'm standing in line at a Subway shop, just off I-45 between Dallas and Huntsville. Scott Eppelman and Tom Crull already have their sandwiches and are sitting down and eating. I patiently wait as an old lady and some sorry excuse of a fat-ass wetback tries to order about 6 different sandwiches in Espanol. The old lady looks at me kind of funny. It's understandable, I guess. Considering that I'm in full "Blade-attire". ( Messy hair/terminator sunglasses/gloves/windpants/ "Waste Kaddafi" Tshirt and smelly) I guess she's never seen any ultra runners before. I finally get my lunch and we head back out on the road with Scott taking over the driving duties from Tom. Poor little Tom is all sleepy from staying up all night! Yes, crewing and pacing is a tough job but somebody has to do it. It's also a rewarding job. Let's regress. Ok, it's about 1:30 pm on Saturday. We pull into Huntsville SP with our duties all lined up…or so I thought. It was simple. Scotty was going to work the 2-3 aid station. Tom was there to pace Kim Sergeant on her last two loops and I was there to jog some and drink beer. I also wanted to meet with a friend that possibly needed a pacer, but these services ended up not being required. Tom had been whining about a sore hamstring all week and had taken a few days off, prior to the weekend. When Kim came through the Start/finish, at the end of her 2nd loop, He told her that he was ready to go for #4 and 5. Kim headed out for number 3 looking good. It was a nice afternoon and most of the runners seemed to be enjoying the kind weather. We had our area set up and I kicked back in a chair, trying to decide when to go out and run a loop or two. Anje was there with a Rottie and Lab (both sweet dogs) and soon Tom decided to warm up a little by taking the lab for a jog. Ten or twelve minutes later he's back crying like the sniveling bitch that he is…"Oh, Oh, my hamstring! My hamstring!" Apparently, he had gotten a little to frisky running with the dog and had re-injured his leg while trying to give the poor beast a "reach-around" "Blade, I'm not going to be able to pace Kim…" He fumed. "She's going to kill me. I promised!" "Chill out, Dillweed…" I tried to calm him down. "I can run with Kim. Just stay off the dog, for gods sake!" So things change, don't they? When Kim comes through at the end of #3 we inform her of Tom's "accident". It's dark now, and after 100K she seems happy to at least have a "stand-in" pacer, even if it's someone she doesn't know. Nancy (Kim's mom) consults with me while Kimmy is getting changed for the nighttime. She say's to watch out for Kim falling asleep and getting cold. It's definitely going to be cold through the night, with clear skies and no wind. I try to assure Nancy that everything will go ok and that I've run out here before. I tell her I know the course, have a couple of good lights, blah blah blah. At about 7:20 pm Kim is all changed and ready so we head off. I chat with Kim a little at first, to try and break the ice. She seems very nice and we jog the downs and flats with walk breaks on the climbs. I tell her that for the most part I will try and stay in a good position for her to "tow" from and to let me know whether things are too fast or too slow. I know that when people are tired it helps to have someone in front of you, but I try to limit the small talk for the most part because talking too much requires energy. As we come out of the woods onto the sand road, and head up to the first aid station everything seems to be going well. At the #1 turnaround there is a nice bonfire going. We take care of necessary duties and head back down the sand fireroad. It's still, quiet and cold and the moon is directly overhead now. After about a mile we turn right and back into the woods. This section starts getting a little rougher, with more roots and twists. After a few minutes I hear a "clump" and then "thud". I stop and turn around to help Kim up. She's already getting to her feet and brushing off. "That's the fourth time I've tripped" she indicates matter-of-factly. "Well, that's not too bad…" I conclude, "You're averaging one fall a loop" (can you say smartass!) We continue on and after some more twists and turns come upon the 2/3 aid station. I immediately see Scott and tell him about Tom. We both laugh our asses off and then "pause for a moment of silence" I get some coffee…Kim opts for hot chocolate. They have some good soup with noodles here also, so we sit down for about 5 minutes to eat and drink. Kim is getting really sleepy by this time, but she's tough. She had told me that this is her 6th 'Coon and 14th hundred. Up out of the chairs now and onto the 5 mile out/back from 2/3. This section seems to head gradually up, up, up and in the dark it seems to go on for quite some time. There are two different stretches of mud and a couple of places where you have to duck under trees. Finally we get to a flashing red light that designates the turnaround and head back toward 2/3. About halfway back Kim says "Hey Blade…I need to stop and change my batteries." We stop and take care of this duty and continue. I have my Petzel headlamp and one of the 4 LED lights that belongs to Tom. ( He certainly wasn't going to need it!) Kim comments that she likes the hand light that she has, but it needs fresh batteries about every 3 hours. As we move back toward 2/3, I tell her about an idea I have for a headlight which will work in conjunction with a 6-volt rechargeable battery belt. It will have three 10W lights on the headpiece and should have a burn time of about 30 hours. This bit of conversation helps to wake both of us up a little and soon we are back to 2/3. Now it's on to the Spillway and across the bridges in the swamp. This section between 2/3 and aid station 174 is another 5 miles and can be dangerous in the dark. As you come near the spillway you can hear rushing water in the dark and then you go up a steep, short hill and can see Lake Raven now to your right. In this section the "trail" isn't as easy to pick out in the dark, so the prudent thing to do is pay attention. There are also a lot of roots and some small footbridges that have to be traversed in this section. (Be careful!!) Luckily we will make it through unscathed. About midway through this part to 174, I see a guy up ahead leaning by a tree. It's Richard Smith. A guy from St. Pete Florida that I know. "Is that Richard Smith!" I call out as we approach. "Yea, is that Blade?" He returns. I hadn't seen Richard since Arkansas Traveller last October. For some reason, Richard thinks he's off course. "Do you guys know this course well?" he asks. "I think I missed the spillway." "No, no you're ok. The spillway was back there. It's just about a mile to 174 now." The three of us walk on into 174 and the Christmas lights are a welcome sight. We don't fool around long and head out for the last 2.7 miles back to the Start/Finish. When we get back in, Kim does her weigh-in and then heads over to the warmth of the car that Nancy has running. Kim gets in the car to start changing and I brief Nancy on how things are going. I tell her that it's walk-mode now but we should be able to make it. I tell her that we should be in by about 26 hours, if Kim can walk steady on the last loop. Kim gets out of the car now and is dressed for the final battle! Off we go… The last loop was predictable. Cold. Dark. 'Coons chattering in the distance at times. No falls for Kim on this loop amazingly, although I stubbed my foot hard at one point (before 2/3) and banged into a tree. As we came up to 2/3 the first time we moved in on Richard again. He had taken less time at the end of loop #4 and was hanging tough! We got more coffee and cocoa at 2/3 but the soup and noodles were gone now. Once more up the out and back and this time it REALLY seemed to take forever to get to the turnaround. Shortly after the TA Richard began to struggle and dropped back. We made 2/3 and headed on toward the Spillway. By now, dawn would be coming soon. I speculated that we should finish around 26 hours even if we had to walk the rest of the way. I was indeed getting light now and Kim seemed to be getting a little more go-juice due to the sunrise. At 174, Wayne Webb gave us a welcome greeting and we headed off for "the barn". We came up to Interpreters center and Kim was bravely picking it up. I looked at my watch and said to Kim "let's push now girl, and you'll get in under 26 hours. We came down the last stretch, jogging to the cheers of Nancy, Tom and others and I peeled of to the side as Kim ran through the finish in 25 hrs and 52 something. Congratulations to all the runners at RR this year. Being the last time, I'm sure it will be a special race for a lot of people. Remember to "shut up and run". Blade Norman