“If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough”

Finishing 100 miles ultramarathon was my dream ever since I got into running marathons/ultras consistently in 2016. I thought I came close to running hundo couple times during my 3 years of running but it still seemed too far to me.

Fast Backward – After my very timid year in running in 2017, I started getting back to consistent mileage since the start of 2018. Following my year 2016 model, I started doing 2 races (mostly ultras) every month and that paid off to a pretty good start. I ran two 50 milers with good #EleVert but then around June, I started having Plantar Fasciitis pain in my left foot and it threw off my consistency in running again. I still carried on with my 2 races a month pursuit, but recovery became pathetically slow after races that affected my weekly running to be more sporadic. I had signed up for hard 100K (Castle Peak 100K) and Bay Ridge 100K and was hoping for my legs to continue at least until Rio Del Lago 100M. Unfortunately, I DNFed at Castle Peak 100K but I thought I should still give RDL a shot. I finished last in Bay Ridge 100K despite feeling strong but that boosted my confidence. I got decent ~200 miles in October.

RDL 100M – I have realized ultra running is mostly mental and if I set my mind to finish something no matter what comes, then I absolutely would finish it. I was dead nervous going in the unknown territory which was beyond 100K, but I could still visualize myself at the finish. One more twist came just before the start. I had one important meeting that came up on Monday which compelled me to take red eye flight on the same day of finish. I decided to take it easy and have more gas in the tank after finish so that I don’t put my office commitment at risk. But it’s 100 miles and anything could go wrong despite all the careful planning and whatsoever training. I wanted to get 100 miler buckle so bad and finally get this monkey off of my back. I thought I have a real shot at 28:30 as finish time depending on this terrain and wanted to go without crew (except to see my wife at couple aids) or pacers.

Course Overview – RDL course is great for first time 100 Milers, but it’s quite deceptive if you take it granted. It’s a long 8 figure course. First 18.5 miles are very easy with asphalt and trails, few rolling hills but lot of runners tend to go out fast and get burnt very quickly. From Beal’s point to Granite Beach, it’s super easy 4.5 miles. From Granite Beach to Horseshoe bar is a long distance from A.S to A.S and it does have meat grinder section with some rocks and big steps which become pain in the butt on your way back when legs are super tired.  From Horseshoe bar to Rattlesnake bar, it’s just 3 miles and very easy. Hills start from Cardiac where there is one long uphill from cardiac to overlook on asphalt/fire road, not that difficult though but it’s important to keep yourself hydrated in this section. Overlook to No Hands Bridge is mostly single track and downhill and some rolling hills. The key part of the course is NHB (No Hands Bridge) to NHB – loop (~20 miles) which is mostly run during the night and it has lots of single track, half track trails and most of the elevation of the course.

Race Strategy – It was simple – Take it super easy in the first 20 miles, hydrate and eat well and then go from aid to aid. Also, my first big milestone was to go till night and I was sure if I reach till night, I will get through night easily and run strong when sun comes up. Night running is my favorite part in running. I decided to take it easy and thought 28:30 would be a viable target and I may still have good legs with that pace.

“I Decided to go for a little run”

Race (day/night and day again) – I filled my mind with lots of positive thoughts, about all the training, my previous races, my strengths and that gave me lot of confidence. I decided to control my adrenalin rush and not get swept away in the start line frenzy. Also, luckily one of my other fellow runner (Eshwar) got in touch and he asked me if he could run with me as long as he could. We ended up running ~80 miles together. I started as slow as possible. I was trying to keep my HR in zone 3 but despite slow pace, it was still over 140 which was a bit concern to me.

I kept running easy and found out that I was about to reach Beal’s point 45 mins (3:45 hours) ahead of my estimated time. I called up my wife and found out that she will miss me at BP and I asked her to come at Granite beach AS (next AS) instead. I quickly changed my hat, refilled water and left beals point. I felt rejuvenated to see my wife and kids at Granite Beach and got some Hummus and Tacos which was very refreshing. I ended up spending quite some time at this Aid. I could consistently keep 30-50 mins of buffer with my estimated time at aids until Overlook and NHB. I reached overlook at 3:45, met with my wife and kids again. I ended up eating too much here and lot of soup too which helped but filled my stomach too much. I also started feeling a bit of chaffing at this point which I again ignored. This turned out to be my big mistake where I should have cleaned up myself and changed my clothes a bit. We continued to trudge on and reached NHB (48.5 miles). I started having stomach issues and lots of chaffing. From here on, I kept on taking many extended restroom breaks and chaffing was beyond Vaseline’s control by then. Legs were still fresh, and I had no other issues except chaffing and stomach upset. We had a good run on these rolling hills until we came across one big uphill and it was time to get our headlamps out. I could make it till night, I got my first big milestone. At this point, I thought Sub 27 hours may be possible if I push through this pain.

NHB to ALT is long 10.5 miles between aid stations and this section has hills and many steep drops which I could not even see at night. I never ran on these trails before, so everything was new for me. We reached ALT (59 miles) shivering with cold with my flimsy top. I drank lot of soup here, couple more times restroom break and I got my wind jacket on. Jacket gave me good warmth, but we needed to keep moving to keep ourselves warm. We left, and I started running with 8-10 group of people from here on. We pushed pace and stayed in the company. I noticed a steep hill in this section and didn’t even realize that it was that infamous Goat hill which I was asking everyone about. We reached Highway 49 AS (67.5) and then going back to NHB (70.5) wasn’t that tough. I was feeling quite strong coming back to NHB and still could deal with chaffing. My food intake was pretty much Coke and soup at this time as I couldn’t push anything solid down. Coke helped me stave off the sleep as I felt extremely sleepy during couple of sections but by putting some fartleks, I could still manage to keep myself up and not fall. I came back to Overlook (74.5 miles) and saw Bipul sitting in a chair, totally unexpected for me as I thought he must be couple of aid stations ahead of me. He said he didn’t eat anything from last 5 hours and had back pain. Looked like he had made up his mind to call off the day. I pushed on to Cardiac A.S. (78 miles). It was all downhill and we decided to push our pace a little. We reached there quicker than expected but by then my stomach and chaffing had gone even worse. Chaffing had changed my running gait. One more restroom stop, some more soup and we continued our push. Cardiac to Rattlesnake Bar (83.5 miles) was very tough for me while handling all the pain due to chaffing. This 5.5-mile section looked much longer, and I thought we must have missed RB. Eventually that turn came into sight and I hit restroom again there. I changed my shoes as I was feeling one hotspot near my middle toe on left foot. Again, I ended up spending too much of time at this aid too. Leaving RB, that 100 yards of uphill to get onto a trail was even more painful with my erratic movement 😊. I changed my running gait and kept on pushing till Horseshoe bar (HB – 86.5 miles) which was just 3 miles from RB. We were feeling very cold and my chaffing pain was at maximum height by now. I was running with Eshwar until HB. He started feeling some pain in the right knee but otherwise he was looking very strong. He got 2 ibuprofens and he was back up again. I decided to stay away from pain killers to know if I can still push through. We spent few more minutes at this aid and then left. From here on, I started making my calculations considering what can go wrong if I can’t keep up my pace and if at all I had to walk, can I still finish it under 30 hours?

“Don’t run with your legs, run with your heart”

When the wheels come off – My left leg was already swollen by now and each step was painful. Meat Grinder was a tough section (normally it’s very easy to run though) with those steps and rocks under your feet. I started feeling very cranky here and was getting extremely agitated when other runners started passing me from here to the finish. I pushed my pace a little where there was a relatively gentler trail. It was all slog and constant fight against the time to the finish. My left leg (foot, ankle) was swollen and I had lot of pain in my right foot with all the changes in gait. Until Granite Beach, I thought I could still get 9 min/s mile pace and finish strong but after this pain, I could barely get 18 min/mile pace as well and even walking would incur excruciating pain. I was frustratingly slow and was constantly cursing myself with my inability to push pace. I came back up quarter mile to go to finish and saw Bipul and Anil waiting near the bridge. We walked a little and then I started hobbling to the finish and got this over in 29:43 mins. It was great to see my wife, kids and my friends at the finish but I felt apologetic to have them waiting at the finish for long time. I was dead tired by then and already walking like a zombie. The most difficult part after race was to take a bath with all the chaffing 😊 I went off to sleep without eating much. It took 3 days for swelling to subside and me to walk comfortably. Overall mission accomplished and finally I got that beautiful 100 miles RDL buckle. This was my birthday gift to my wife for her birthday.

“Pain and suffering are often the catalysts for life’s most profound lessons”

What worked and what didn’t

1. I thought my planning was good and executed well too except couple mistakes. Mental conditioning before the race was very important where I set clear expectations with yourself, no surrender – no retreat.
2. I handled many issues that happened in the past through training and past races. I used to get all the back pain in longer races so I trained my “core” muscles and then never felt this pain in last few races. Blisters were big pain too, so I had taped my feet on most of the spots. I trained hard with good elevation gain so hills (though not much in RDL) were no issue at all. When I couldn’t get more miles every week, I got some quality runs though shorter runs, but they were aerobically very effective.
3. Chaffing has been my consistent nemesis and I thought had a plan for that. I just felt too lazy to apply Vaseline after 30 miles or so. Compression briefs helped a lot, but we need Vaseline to avoid body to body friction.
4. GI upset – I should have taken a restroom break much earlier when I first felt GI upset. I pushed it quite a bit and then there was no coming back. Fortunately, I could still drink coke and soup so that kept my energy level high.
5. Foot Swelling – I should have trained with loosely laced shoes and should have loosened laces when feet were swollen after 70 miles of running. Also, I should have done races with taped feet. Shoes felt very tight with taped feet even though I went for higher sized shoes.
6. Maximize time at aid stations – If I look at my moving time, I ended up spending almost 3 hours at various aid stations (and of course restrooms). I am usually in and out of aid stations in other races but this was unusual. Unless absolutely required, I think I should have planned better in mind whatever I need at the aids before going to the aid and should have moved out sooner.

“Despite what seems like an extraordinary nature of these events, in the end, it makes you even more human”.