At 19:51 00/07/10 -0700, Matt Mahoney wrote:
>On July 4 (3 days to go), I ran
> the Silverton 10K in 51:33 (10 minutes slower than sea
> level, but top 20%) then hiked the last 15 miles of
> the Hardrock course that afternoon in 8 hours with Aki
> Inoue. That would prove crucial for the race for both
> of us.
I appreciate Matt's guide of the last 15 miles of the course (CCW direction). My original goal time was around 40 hours, but this hiking proved that the high altitude means more to my body than I expected, and made me more cautious about the race. I adjusted my target time (pace) to 42-45 hours (this did not necessarily mean finishing time. I did not have confidence with completing the race, even if I could maintain the pace).
>The markers were
> hard to find in the fog and dark on the open tundra
> with no trail, but I remembered the route from last
> Tuesday.
It turned out to be that I had to "move"(somewhat forward) the last 13 miles in dark (it was wet, foggy and cold night, also trails are slippery). Having seen the course in daylight before the actual race really helped me to stay focused on reaching the School Gym (finish place) in time. Matt, it was really crucial, as we thought
> I was surprised to catch up with Aki Inoue climbing
> Engineer Pass on the first night.
> He won a 150 mile race in Japan
I have to correct this. That is not me. I am not as strong and fast. I only posted articles of the race.
> He was throwing up every 20 minutes, and had
> been since mile 3. I was sure that he would drop at
> the Engineer aid station (he stayed 2 hours), but went
> on and finished in 47 hours.
As almost everyone who saw me being in really bad shape from the beginning of the race, particularly after suffering from the tough climb (and the bad weather) to 14,000+ Handies thought, I was nearly dropping out of the race at Grouse Gulch AS.
Since safety is the priority, aid station people generally suggest the runners to quit, when they look like in seemingly dangerous conditions. I refused their suggestion of stopping my race, and left the aid station with positive attitude.
When I was slowly moving up to Engineer Pass, an interesting group of three men consisting of Matt Mahoney, Hans-Dieter Weishaar of Germany and Colin Kingsford from Quebec, Canada all of whom I had known of caught me up, and tried to drag and keep me in the circle. However, I had eaten and drunk little since the very early stage of the race, and kept throwing up for more than 10 hours. I dropped from the group eventually, just before the Engineer AS.
I still focused on completing the race. A volunteer at Engineer AS, Penny(?), living in Durango, CO, took care of me, and sat by me all the time, while I was hoping to recover from the miserable combined problems in my lung and stomach for two hours in the tent. Without her assistance, my race would have gone to a different consequence (i.e., DNF).
Only thing I could put into my stomach was a cup of chicken noodle soup. I found that I was kicked to the limit of 48-hour pace (leaving Engineer at 1:40am). I took off exactly at 1:40am there, and the challenge was reset. Unbelievably, I was flying into Ouray AS, passing about a dozen of people including pacers. Out of Ouray, I climbed with Bozena Maslanka (I knew her from 1999 Massanutten) and her pacer of Flagstaff, AZ up to Virginius Pass via Governor Basin. I still felt weak having hard time to keep up with them.
Hardrock is a "long" 100 miler, and bad and good times are coming by turns. After I strongly cleared the long climb to Oscar's Pass and down to Chapman AS, the severe T-storm with extreme winds was generated.
I left the aid station along with Margaret and Mark Heaphy from Montana (both are legendary Hardrockers, as I found afterwards; see their nice photo) encouraged me on the trail to Grant Swanp Pass. In the mid-way to the pass, Mark said, "your are almost done, its almost there!", but it took so long for me. I barely crawled up to the pass (where Joel Zucker's plaque is placed) before dark (7:30pm). I only had 10.5 hours left for the last 15 miles, which did NOT seem to be plenty for my energy-depleted, vigorously-shivering and hard-breathing body (seriously).
Going down toward KT aid station in the dark, cold and foggy weather in addition to thin air was one of the worst times I ever experienced in my 100 mile trail races (like when I got lost in 1998 Iditasport for a few hours in mid-night under the windy -30 degrees F conditions on the frozen river). I almost felt it could be fatal.
I thought that it would be VERY dangerous to continue being in the race without re-warming my body and drying up my clothes. Lisa Richardson, the aid station director, was at KT aid station, suggested me not to leave the station until I stop shivering. Lisa made a special full-size turkey sandwitch for me, but I only could eat half of it.
I stayed there for almost one hour, then I noticed that there was only 7.5 hours left for the last 12.2 miles. It seemed to have become quite a challenge for me to finish the race. Although I was still shivering, I figured out that I could not spend any more time there, in order to finish officially.
Stephanie Ehret of Boulder, CO who showed us an excellent performance at Western States two weeks back (3rd place woman) agreed to pace me to the end. We enjoyed talking non-stop, although I kept vomiting, shivering, and breathing hard even on mild uphills. Stephanie has never run/hiked on the HRH course, and bascially followed me, but occasionally helped me to find marker flags. She was very supportive. I definitely got energy from her, and determined to finish strongly (and I actually did).
> A few people besides me used Hardrock as a training
> run for Nolan's 14: Charlie Thorn, Gordon Hardman, and
> Ginny LaForme. Ginny dropped out at Grouse, and the
> others finished well ahead of me. Gordon was
> hospitalized with pulmonary edema for the second year
> in a row, but once again returned in time for the
> awards.
I talked a little with Gordon when we were together on the second climb. Congratulations to his finishing (time is also good) the ALL Hardrock races of its history! Totally awesome.
After a HRH, I imagine how difficult Nolan's 14 would be. (higher average altitude, no course marking and possibly more cross country sections)
I would like to thank Dale Garland, RD for giving me an opportunity to try such a significant adventure of ultrarunning(hiking). Also, thanks to all the supporters of the race, and friends who sent me cheering/congratulating mails off-list.
- Aki Inoue
Back to the Hardrock Hundred Homepage
