Subject: San Diego 100 long version from RD From: "Schmidt, Paul" Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 16:27:06 -0800 My wife, Kathleen, decided that we should put on a 100-mile race in San Diego. She also thought that it would be a great way to celebrate my 50th birthday. So what the heck, it couldn't be that hard? Da! On Friday, I drove up to the top end of the racecourse with Stan Jensen and Monica Scholz. The wind was blowing furiously, it was snowing, and visibility was almost zero. The gates for access to the two upper aid stations were locked. I got stuck in the snow at the Todd's cabin. Todd's was to supposed serve as our easy access/Oasis station for the top of the course. Monica was enjoying the weather, while I was convinced that we must change the course for the safety of both the runners and aid station volunteers. My original plan for an alternate course was to run the lower section of the course twice, a double Smugglers 50. Unfortunately, due to aid station access difficulties and having the Border Patrol on high alert this was not possible. You have all heard it many times before that volunteers are the core of every race, but the SD 100 volunteers were much more. They became the heart and soul of this race. When they realized my dilemma, they jumped to my rescue. Larry Pustinger called me with a fantastic solution; we would run the center section of the original course twice. This would give the runners aid stations every 6-7 miles at sites that were easily accessible for crew. This also meant that Larry and his pal Drew Pallette would have to set up camp in a windy, cold, miserable area named Cibetts Flat Campground. The runners would have to down and up a steep .8 mile dirt road from the PCT to the aid station. We then marked part of the course that winds under the supports a concrete bridge. When we got back up on the bridge, we ran into Larry. He had just finished marking the Hauser Canyon aid section of the course with flour. This is probably the most confusing part of the course because the runners must go off of the Pacific Crest Trail for about a mile to get aid. It was cold, windy, and raining. Larry graciously took this task on despite the nasty weather. He was focused on doing what needed to be done, a little bad weather would not deter him. We then went to the Lake Morena Campground to check in at the ranger station for our campsites. The sites would serve as the start/finish area and race headquarters. After marking a one-mile out and back, needed to make the race 100 miles due to the course change, we headed to the race meeting and birthday party dinner. It was my best plan yet! I put on a 100-mile race to entice some 15 old friends into coming to my 50th birthday party! The dinner party was more fun than the normal gathering of nervous runners before a 100 miler. It was more like a holiday gathering, as the restaurant was decorated with twinkling lights, garland, and a Christmas tree. Our runners were very experienced one hundred miler runners and old friends. I spent a few minutes explaining the course changes and everyone accepted the new course without reservation. Next, I got to hear some of my pals give their best version of the happy birthday song. Additionally, Ken McIntyre provided me with a cane and humorous poem to help me enter in to a new decade. I wanted to be at the race site early in the morning to check in runners and answer any questions about the course changes, so after dinner, I returned to the campground. I was planning on spending a night in my tent. It was raining and cold. Maureen Moran, the aid station captain for Lake Morena came by with a trailer and I was able to avoid getting soaked by the rain. We setup some of basic structures for the aid station and called it a day. At 5:15 a.m., Steve Harris, a runner from the LA area, knocked on the trailer door to check in for the race. Maureen made us a breakfast of Irish Oatmeal and strong coffee. The runners began filtering in and by 6:15 fourteen runners had check in. Jay Grobenson, who had attended the evening meeting, was mysteriously missing. I learned later that Jay had a bad encounter with some icy roads on the way to the start. The weather had cleared and it had even warmed up a little from the cold night. At 6:30 sharp we set off on our 100-mile adventure. Pam Reed, from Tucson, Steve Harris, and three of our local San Diego Bad Rats took the early lead. They soon went off course at a cross trail where some local yokel had moved our trail marker. Bah Humbug!! I was in the second pack and corrected the course markings. A few minutes later, we saw the race leaders floundering around at the bottom of a canyon below the course. We got their attention and got them back on course. In a few minutes, Pam passed us with the Bad Rats just minutes behind her. At every aid station, I was told that Pam was increasing her lead and looking great. Tom Knutson and Jim Benike from Minnesota ran together in a second pack with Akabill, from Hawaii, who was accompanied for the first 46 miles by his pal Greg Pirkil. I ran with my pal, Monica Scholz, on her quest to complete her personal goal of completing 23 one-hundred mile races in a calendar year. We had a lovely morning. The sun came out and it was a pleasant temperature for running. At around noon, the entire sky clouded over and I began thinking that we were going to get real wet. I was worried about runners getting hypothermic, but my sage cloud reader, Trent Smail, at the Hauser Mountain aid station, predicted all would be well. He was correct! The clouds rolled away as fast as they rolled in and not a drop of rain fell! When we reached the Lake Morena aid station, at 46 miles, we learned that despite Pam's large lead she had retired from the race due worsening of a cold that she had contracted before the race. Tracy Moore, who had suffered a badly sprained ankle only a few weeks before the race, had retired at 58 miles. Mike Rouse, whose difficult travel schedule had restricted his training, retired at 50 miles. Now it was Jeff Hines and Steve Harris running in tandem at the front. Next came the boys from Minnesota; they were running a very strong and consistent race. Akabill, now paced by Mary Lou Lackey, came next and Monica and I followed close behind. Richard Hayes, who has run with Monica in several 100 milers, joined us at Boulder Oaks and kept us company for the next 50 miles. Stan Jensen provided us with TLC all day and night all along the course. Paul Cates went out on the course to get in a 56-mile run and serve as safety patrol. This was our initial race, so we didn't setup any cutoff times. We had something better; we had Todd Leigh. Todd, a very experienced local runner, agreed to be our Grim Sweeper! He would run a consistent race and pull down markings as he passed. I wanted to get him a shirt that said, "if you can read this you are out of the race", but time didn't permit. The sun went down at about 5 p.m. and it got real cold, real fast. Now it was the aid station volunteers who became the stars of this show. We would spend the rest of the night running up and down the lower portion of the Laguna Mountains between the Lake Morena and Cibetts Flat Campgrounds passing through the Boulder Oaks campground located in the middle. At Cibetts, Larry, Willie, and Drew, had constructed an enclosure and warmed it up with a propane heater. Drew stood in the cold with his light serving as beacon runners could follow to the aid station. Larry cooked up some egg and potato burritos that warmed and nourished the runners. Willie did everything from filling bottles, dressing runners, to providing muscle and back massages. Back at Boulder Oaks Jim Hamilton, Ruben Cantu, and Mary Barry did a great job taking over aid station duties on the night shift. At Lake Morena, Jennifer Janis took over for Maureen Moran who went out to pace Todd. Jen brought some great homemade soup and cooked up some tasty egg and cheese burritos. We were treated like royalty throughout the night. It got cold. Then it got colder. The core group of eight runners continued running through the cold star studded night. I again enjoyed the pleasure of running with my pal Monica Scholz. She was, as usual, very cheerful and grateful to the aid station volunteers. Richard and Monica engaged in light conversation, while I listened to music and belted out a few off key songs. The night passed quickly. As we left the Cibetts Flat aid station for the final time the sun came up. We were headed home on our last 13.5- mile section toward the finish. For Monica, it was more than another race finish; it was the close of a record-breaking year and incredible experience. With a surge of adrenalin, Monica flew down over a very rocky section of the course! Richard stayed close behind as I kept my steady pace, fearing further damage of an old patellar tendon injury. We passed Akabill, who ran a strong and steady race all day and night. With about one-mile left, I pushed ahead hoping to alert the finish line folks to prepare for Monica and Richard's arrival. We crossed the finish line together with big smiles and a lot of cheers. Next came Akabill finishing with a strong effort. Our attentions then turned to Todd, the last runner on the course. The first reports of Todd were that he had some difficulties in the night and that he would not finish before his goal of 30 hours. Then Bridget Barnett, the Boulder Oaks aid station captain, came by and told us in that Todd had made a fantastic recovery and had a good chance of reaching his goal. We nervously began breaking down camp as Larry and Mary Lou went out on the trail looking for Todd. The time was ticking down! Then all of the sudden, there he was! He did it, finishing in 29:43. Man, what a birthday party! SD 100 Jeff Hines 23:09 Steve Harris 23:09 Jim Benike 25:40 Tom Knutson 25:40 Monica Scholz 25:51 Paul Schmidt 25:51 akabill 26:55 Todd Leigh 29:43 12 starters 8 finishers Paul Schmidt Exercise Physiologist, MS San Diego Regional Public Safety Training Institute