Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 10:31:18 -0500 (CDT) From: TriSloth Subject: Arkansas Traveller 100 Report (long. X-POST) Dear UltraFolks, ARKANSAS TRAVELER TRAIL 100 RACE REPORT 1997 THE DIGEST VERSION HOT, that's the only way to describe the race this year. A daytime high of 89-91 F devastated the field. At 25 hours there were 26 finishers and 53 racers who had withdrawn or were pulled by medical personnel. Joe Hildebrand was first male followed by Scott Eppelman. Chrissy Duryea- Ferguson was first woman followed by Pam Reed and Marg Hickman. THE LOOONG VERSION THE COURSE The AT100 is regarded as an easy100, but that's not entirely correct. It's one of the more "finishable" 100's with good marking and plentiful aid stations. It's not an easy course, it is rocky and there are a lot of hills, about 12,000 feet of vertical climb with the same drop. The AT100 is a 17 mile loop followed by a 83 mile out and back. It's really nice at the turnaround to know you don't have 50 miles left, just 42. The course has few miles of pavement (the beginning), some honest-to-goodness hiking trail, a lot of what were called forest service roads but appeared to be abandoned 4WD trails, some smooth gravel roads and plenty of rocks for everybody. There were no stream crossings to wet your feet this year. Most of the race is quite runnable, especially during the daylight. The race ends in a 1.5 mile downhill so you can push right to the end. AID STATIONS There's lots of them and the volunteers are fantastic. In the daylight the Club Flamingo Aid station is my favorite. Lot's of sweet young things in bikini tops and grass skirts. Tale a look at the picture in the October Ultrarunning, Runner Profile. That's the Flamingo aid station and yes I got leied there too. At night I like the Barton Mountain, Pigtrail, Smith Mountain stations for their fine food. I had a big cup of beef, pork and venison stew this year. Normally I'd have stopped at the Pumpkin aid station (mile 92ish) for some pie but we were so close to the 24 hours we ran right on. Of the twenty or so ultras I've done this race has always had the best food at the aid stations. MY RACE We all knew it was going to be hot on Saturday, and my race plan was based on that. I was hoping to be under 24 hours, if my recent knee pain (ITB from swimming) didn't act up. I run very poorly in heat so I decided not to hold back for the first 17 mile loop when it was still cool. I figured I better get few miles in while it is nice, then just survive the daylight and hope to run strongly when it cools down again. I had my straw hat to protect me from the sun and hold ice. The trusty 30X sunscreen went on as well. I was wearing sturdier shoes than the year before, Brooks Beasts versus Nike Air Pegasus and a little can of salt would accompany me everywhere. I also only had 1 camera to take pictures on the course, not 3 like last year. The first loop includes a long downhill on pavement and also has the Ouchita Trail section of the race and I can run the downhills fast on pavement and trails. I ran with Chrissy Duryea and her husband Stan for the first 35 minutes, I knew I had no business staying with them so when they ran up the first big hill I started walking. A number of other runners moved up ahead of me. I make it a rule to walk the uphills in the first half of the race (usually). It was nice to be running in the woods, cool air, the scent of the pines. Much of the climb on this section is on the road and we make it up on the downhill trail section. It still amazes me how people can run so fast on the road and crawl on trails. I passed 9 people on the first short 3.4 mile section of trail. The Ouchita Trail is just beautiful, we were in the shade, running on the side of the mountain for the most part. As soon as we started the climb after Brown's Creek 5 of those people promptly passed me again, running up the long steep trail. I hope they're elite runners, the people that have passed me on this section last year all ended way behind me at the end. I actually will end up running 25 miles with one of these guys, Gerry, he had a hip flexor problem and dropped at the turnaround. All too soon the trail is over and I'm back at Lake Sylvia, the Start/Finish 28 minutes ahead of last year and without any of the foot problems. Time to put on the straw hat, pick up my next map and start walking up the long hill. I'm feeling great but it's getting warmer. Near the top I'm passed by Chrissy Duryea, how'd she get behind me? Before the next section of trail 2 more women (who will finish second and third) pass me, Pam and Marg. It is now hot and I"m feeling crappy. I'm carrying salt, and adding it to my sportdrink as well but I deal very poorly with heat. The stretch along Saline Creek before the 132C (Pumpkin) aid station drags along. Gerry catches up with me and we run/walk together. It's only 4 hours into the race and I'm into the heat survival mode. I don't know it but this is the worst my legs will feel in the entire race (until I try and get out of the car after driving 5 hours to get home). The next 20 miles are a death march through lovely hilly forest that are hotter than hell. There are many well staffed and plentifully stocked aid stations along this stretch. I was desperately trying to keep fluids and salt going in, filling my hat with ice, drinking the Ensure I had put in drop bags, aside from bananas and an occasional pretzel solid food was not an option. At the first weigh-in point I was up 4 lbs. Yeah, right! Gerry's hip flexor was bothering him more and more and I had to leave him on Smith Mountain. It was still pretty hot but the section from Barton Mountain to the Turnaround is very runnable so I tried to keep a steady pace, nothing spectacular. During the whole day I'd been checking my time against a pace sheet with 22, 24 and 26 hour finish splits on it plus all my own splits from last year. Throughout the day I had been losing the time I had made up in the early morning. The heat was slowing me down. Gerry and I had been told we were running 19th and 20th, a little beyond my abilities. My goal for 50 miles was 10:20. Last year I had run 10:35 at that point and Tom Sprouse who I was running with when I sprained my ankle at mile 90 finished in 24:04. I figured if I could save 15 minutes on the first half then try not to sprain my ankle I'd have a good chance at sub-24. I hit 50 at 10:19:56, right on schedule despite the heat. The turnaround is a real psychological lift in this race coming at 58.7 miles, and you get to see the front-runners. Joe and Steve passed before I made the next to last aid station and Chrissy went by as I was in the station. Despite the temps they were moving pretty well. I made a very short stop at the turnaround, picking up my flashlight and entrusting my new hat to a volunteer. I tied my running jacket around my waist just in case a storm or something came through and ran out of the station in the shorts and singlet I had started in. It's nice to see the other runners as you head back. Unfortunately a number of my friends were really suffering, Gerry would drop at the turnaround, Long Vu (from OK City) in his first 100 would drop at Buffalo Gap, the 53 mile point. A lot of people were conspicuously absent. After the Powerline aid station at 68.3 miles it was onto the dark and rocky climb up the shoulder of Barton Mountain. I slowed to a crawl. I was soaked in sweat and waves of nausea started rolling over me. Ken Ashby, Linda Musil (his pacer) and another runner Paul, all walking, caught and passed me at this point. Ken always finishes ahead of me in races, and he was trying for his seventh consecutive sub-24 hour finish at the AT100. I didn't expect to keep up with them (or even try) but they didn't seem to get more than 15 yards ahead of me. Once we headed down to the Barton Mountain aid station the cooler air revived me. The four of us walked the treacherous Smith Mountain section, downhills and all. If I'd been alone I'd have run it like last year and smashed my feet up. The fact my feet weren't like raw hamburger would be a big factor later in the run. Anyway, whenever we went up hill it got warm again and I'd get sick. Somewhere along the line both Ken and Paul were doing some serious puking, neither being able to keep even water down for the rest of the race. It's must be an unpleasant job being a pacer, poor Linda. It was a long night and we were 1-2 minutes over the 24 hour pace at each aid station. Somewhere along the line we lost Paul, he eventually finished after a couple of naps at aid stations. In the woods after the Lake Winona aid station we ran into another runner, both of his flashlights had gone out. It was another year without a moon and very dark. He couldn't keep up with us so I gave him my handlight. We ran some of the bitter section between 112 and Electric Tower then held a strong pace to 132C, The Pumpkin Aid station where we skipped the pie and kept going quickly. Ken was saying we had to hustle and when the 95 mile marker came up. I looked at my watch, 1 hour 17 minutes left and calculated that meant (67 minutes /5 miles) = 13+ minutes per mile and took off. OK I can't add or divide too well when I'm tired. By this time of morning, 4:43 A.M. it had cooled nicely and the next two miles were fairly smooth. I flew, then immediately came to an unmarked junction. My headlamp was running low and I was desperately wishing I'd kept my handlight (a halogen) when Ken and Linda caught up and pointed the right way. I took off again but the footing was difficult. I fell more times in the last 5 miles than all the race put together but I didn't want to be 24:02 when I was so close to being under the limit. Things looked real good at mile 98, with 38 minutes to finish in. About 10 minutes later the volunteer where the trail comes out of the woods put the fear of God in me when she said there were 2 miles left to go. Fortunately the last stretch is downhill on smooth road (and she was wrong) and as the organ music started up the announcer said "another sub-24 hour finisher.." and I ran across the line in 23:51:34, 17th overall. I felt much better than last year where I had literally run my feet into hamburger. I was sitting in the medical tent telling the doctor I was fine when the music went up and Ken Ashby finished, under 24 hours for the seventh time. This year I was prepared for the post-race, I had a bag of clean clothes, towels and stuff all ready to go. I cleaned up and headed to my station wagon where I had ready a sleeping bag and air mattress. Once inside the covers I was cold for the first time that weekend, but I had put a wool blanket there just in case. After a 90 minute nap the sun woke me and I got up for the ham, eggs and pancakes. It was very strange, last year the organ was blasting away constantly as people came in to finish. It was sure quiet. There were so many familiar names on the DNF list, many having been pulled for medical reasons. I sure could've been there myself. I got to meet a few of the list people present, Ivy Franklin, Pat and Andrea Stewart, and Andy M. I wish I had gotten around more. Some things I learned this year: 1) Walking the entire Barton Mountain, Smith Mountain section in the night this year. It doesn't slow you much and you don't trash your feet. I was able to run strong periods this year when I wasn't sick. 2) The little bottle of salt helped a lot. Whenever I started cramping I'd lick a finger and stick it in and the cramps wouldn't get worse. I also add it to my water bottles to take gradually as a large amount of salt upset my stomach. 3) I think the face cloth filled of ice in the hatcrown and putting ice in the water bottles was worthwhile. It felt good to rub my face with the cold face cloth during uphill walks and the colder drinks helped keep the body core temp down a little. I still can't believe I was putting ice in the hat at midnight though. 4) Letting myself run a little faster in the cool morning didn't seem to hurt the second half of the race. Sickness aside I was able to run some sections strongly. 5) It always helps to team up with a veteran. Ken always knew where he was and which sections were worth walking. 6) I had the race pace chart (that Ken made up last year) modified with my 96 splits. This helped a lot through the day as I could see although I was slowing I was still within a reasonable pace of finishing under 24 hours. I also had topo maps of the course which is really a comfort blanket as I hate getting lost. You can also look up where you are, how far to the aid stations, where is the next hill, etc. 7) The gaiters were great, no rocks in the shoes this year. BTW the straps are almost worn through and I only ran 16 miles in them before this race. 8) As per last year, never sit down at an aid station and always follow the 20 second rule, "the time you spend in an aid station should not exceed 20 seconds per mile times the number of miles from the last (or to the next) aid station" With 24 aid stations it's real easy to waste a half hour or more in stations. I did stop to have my picture taken at Dropoff (Club Flamingo) though. 9) Running on trails every couple of weeks this winter really helped. I could run through rocky sections and somehow my feet would land on the soft and level areas. Gerry and I were talking about it as we ran and it's kind of strange how you can run, looking 10-15 ahead of you for good places to step and somehow your feet end up in those spots while you're already looking at another bit of ground farther down the trail. It's a learned skill that I didn't know I had. As I write this on Thursday, 5 days after the race my legs are almost back to normal. I was at work at 8:00 A.M. Monday morning, although moving pretty slowly. I wish I had wrapped my legs after the race but the left was already swollen. I encourage everyone out there to give the Arkansas Traveler a try, it's a well organized, fun but challenging race. Best wishes, Earl ________________________________________________________________ Earl L. Blewett Ph.D.| Biochemistry + Microbiology | Slow Swimmer + College of Osteopathic Medicine, Oklahoma State U. | Slow Cyclist + Tulsa, OK 74107 Phone (918) 561-8405 | Slow Runner E-mail blewett@osuunx.ucc.okstate.edu | = TriSloth