Objective: Go 100 miles in 32.5hrs or less.
Stats: 90 miles, 15,000ft gain in 30hrs.
Peaks: Badger Mountain. Candy Mountain.
I have three criterion for stopping when running an ultra. 1, finishing. 2, missing a cutoff. 3, injury. It's just a matter of waiting to find out which one says you're done first. I've attempted three 100 milers and have yet to finish one. This time, I came close but knee pain/ injury prevented me from getting that illusive belt buckle.
Let's back up for a bit. Running an ultra marathon usually requires a fair amount of training. The longer the ultra, the more training. In the summer of '22 I had trained for the IMTUF 100, which I have now DNF'ed in the same spot twice, but I digress as that is another story all its own. I had a nice break in the fall then got back into a regular running regime. I saw Badger was coming up in March and thought about it this way: I might be able to get away with a short training block because I felt my base level fitness was fairly high. I could train like I was going to run it not have to worry about signing up until the race got closer. In theory, one needs to simulate the demands of the event they are training for, but on a smaller scale. Basically, you usually need to run a shorter ultra as a long training run to get ready for a longer ultra. One thing that I've been doing, that has worked for me is to utilize back to back long runs in place of said "training ultra".
Example: 20-25 miles one day, 15 the next. Badger has a good mix of terrain, so for example I was able to do a good vert heavy run in the foothills one day, then follow that up with a long easy run on the Greenbelt. Doing long runs in the winter kind of, um... sucked, but it was going as well as could be expected.
Badger is an interesting course because its not really in the mountains, but it does tag a couple of small peaks. The weather and terrain is very similar to the Boise area. Richland is known to be quite windy, which would make the already not-warm temperatures seem much colder. In hindsight, my major tactical error was not dressing warm enough. I tend to run very warm and even on my longest, coldest runs I never really had a problem. I did add layers to my drop bag that I knew I would be accessing at the coldest times. Problem solved, or so I thought.
Terrain strategy: check. Clothing strategy: check. Training complete: check! Time to go run and see what happens. Another cool thing about the Badger Mountain Challenge is that if you are signed up for the 100 mile distance, you do have the option to drop down to 50 and get an official finish and award at the Start/ Finish area before you head out for the second 50. I figured if I was having a real bad day, that was a pretty good out.
We moseyed over to the Tri-Cities a couple days early with agenda in hand. Looking at the race course, I was pretty sure that it didn't actually go to the top of Badger Mountain. Well we can't have that now can we! First item was to walk up and tag the summit. It was a fun hike. Warm but very windy. It was also nice to be able to go slow and take in the region. Lots of neat geology here.
Item number two was packet pickup. Easy enough! Item number three was watch the weather. There was a low pressure system coming in off of the Pacific. I watched the forecast temps drop and the wind increase. Chance for precip was there, but not high. I had planned for the weather and potential changes the best I could. I had one drop bag on the course that had all of my warm clothing in it. This meant that I wasn't carrying it so I was saving weight, but it also meant that I didn't it with me if I wanted. So I guess the trick there was to NOT get caught out in the cold.
Race morning was brisk as expected. The cloud cover had kept the rising sun from providing any warmth. I started in my trusty ol' lightweight hooded jacket expecting to warm up as we did the first climb up Badger. No disrespect to anyone, but the pack was moving quite slow which is how a long distance event should probably start. However the pace was slow enough that I never really warmed up on that first climb and I definitely wasn't going to be passing anyone in this phase of the game. I ended up putting on my wind shell just past the Candy Mountain Aid Station and my life was significantly better after that.
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| Waiting to start. |
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| Start. |
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| Candy Mountain. |
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| Near the top of Candy. |
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| Top of Candy. |
Cruising up Candy Mountain was a lot of fun and the summit was a great vantage point because you could see most of the course. The descent down the other side was pretty steep and a little loose. Mental note made that this was going to suck climbing up on tired legs.
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| Badger Mountain from Candy. |
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| Culvert. |
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| Culvert. |
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| Endless Vineyards and Chandler Butte. |
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| Badger Mountain in the distance. |
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| Vineyards. |
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| Moody skies. |
Trotting thought the culvert and on to Jacob's Road to the endless vineyards was pretty chill. I was only trying to move at a light jogging pace because I really felt that I could easily end up over pacing this section at this relatively early stage and waste precious energy that would be needed later on.
Then came the Jeep Trails. These are steep, rolling hills with lots of rocks, ruts, etc. There was no need to push anything here. I was only trying to get though it in one piece. At this point it had warmed up a tad and I was able to stash the wind shell for a bit. It the sun was out, this section could get pretty hot. It's worth noting that there is basically no shade here, or really anywhere on the course.
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| Jeep Trails. |
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| Jeep Trails. |
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| Jeep Trails. |
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| Jeep Trails. |
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| Chandler Butte. |
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| Pointless Hill. |
The first climb up to McBee Ridge and Chandler Butte was next. This was something like 1,400ft in a little over a mile. The climb up the ridge was pretty warm because the wind was coming from the other side. I anticipated that ridge to be crazy windy and it was. I had some sunshine and it actually wasn't too cold.
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| Climbing up McBee Ridge to Chandler Butte. |
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| McBee Ridge. |
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| Chandler Butte. |
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| Chandler Butte. |
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| Descent trail from McBee. |
Chandler Butte Aid Station is half way to the half way point if you're doing the 100. 25 miles down, 75 more to go. The slope angle up on Chandler wasn't too steep, but it was pretty rocky. Even if I wanted to, I would be moving too fast. Coming down the single track off of Chandler was pretty fun. The trail was kind of a deep single track rut but never too steep like the climb up. It was very reminiscent of the Boise Front.
Getting back to McBee aid station was the 50k/ 32 mile point and the first time I saw my crew. Props to them for helping me out and trying to anticipate my needs. At this point I was really making an effort to eat some solid food but nothing sounded good and I really wasn't hungry. I could nibble and that was good enough for now.
The way back was pretty uneventful other than really starting to feel the mileage. I was feeling pretty slow going back up Candy Mountain but I was expecting that at some point. If I really think about it honestly, coming down Candy on the smooth trails was were I started to feel sharp pains in my left knee. "No biggie" I told myself. Just keep moving. The scenery was amazing in the low angle, late day light.
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| View from Candy. |
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| View from Candy. |
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| Sunset. |
Trying to jog those runnable sections, especially the pavement between Candy and Badger was rough.
I made it into the Start/ Finish Aid Station and was met by the crew. I wasn't in a super big hurry, but I was not about to linger here. To be honest, I had briefly thought about calling it quits here and come away with an official 50 mile finish. I could have been taking a hot shower in 30 minutes or less but I knew that was not what I came to do. I came to try to run 100 miles and I could still move, so I was going to keep moving.
As I hiked up Candy Mountain and headed back out, I wasn't feeling awful. When I got to the Candy Mountain Aid Station there was nice fire going which provided some much welcome although brief warmth. When I left and started the climb up Candy Mountain, I was really noticing the cold. The city lights were beautiful and I was alone on the summit. It was a magical moment and I was just so grateful to be out there.
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| Tri Cities at night. |
I had only walked up to this point and I was trying to conserve energy as much as I could. Going down the steep and loose side of Candy was a gut check. My knee was really hurting and I really had to take it slow. I almost biffed it a few times. Going though the Culvert at night was was trip. There were colored glow sticks up and it was pretty cool.
Heading toward Jacobs Road Aid Station was where things got tough for me. Both knees were hurting and there was a stiff and cold wind blowing straight across, right to left. I would run until it hurt, then walk until it didn't. It was downright friggin' cold. I literally stumbled into the tent at the aid station. The one heater in the tent had a guy sitting directly in front of it and it appeared there was no sharing of the lone heat source. Oh well, at least I was out of the wind. I was actually shivering and having trouble with basic motor skills such and zippers, hoods, gloves, etc. I was also slurring my words just a tad. The tell tail signs of hypothermia were present. I tried to keep it together because I thought the guy who appeared to be the aid station caption was evaluating me and I didn't want to get pulled from the course. I got my act together and put some hand warmers in my gloves and tried to seal everything up the best I could. In the process of doing that I was actually offered a beer! Um, no thanks. I'd take some coffee though...
People were trickling into the aid station and also dropping from the race just as fast. Picture this; people sitting around with their head in their hands with the look of despair on their faces. I could hear the wind blowing outside and could also feel the occasional gust make its way thought the canvas tent. All I knew was I needed to get the heck out of there I was going to have any chance at finishing. Obligatory thanks and well wishes were given and I headed back out.
60ish miles in and running was no longer an option for me at this point. I was okay with that. I was perfectly fine with power walking my way through the remaining 40ish miles. The route thought the Endless Vineyards was straight into the wind and that wind had teeth. Fortunately the Jeep Trails were mostly out of the wind. When I got to Orchard Aid Station I was treated to being the only one there and sat as close to the heater as I could.
On the way to McBee Aid Station, I started doing math and realized that I was way off my projected pace. It didn't really matter, but I was worried about being on the coldest part of the course at the coldest time. Now it was looking like that was going to happen. I knew I had some time before the cutoffs came into play, I just kept on the move.
McBee was pretty empty when I rolled in, so I was able to get a good spot in a chair, next to some heat and out of the wind. I took care of my feet and got some coffee and a doughnut. I layered up with all of my warm clothing and headed up to Chandler Butte. I knew this was committing move. I could be wrong, but I believe that there were a few people behind me that started the climb, then turned around.
Being up there was beautiful but it was really cold. I knew that I either needed to get to the aid station or head back down. It was cold enough that the bite valves on my water bottles froze. At some point I must have forgotten to blow air back in to clear it and now I was without water for the time being. Any exposed flesh was quickly dealt with. The aid station seemed like it was an eternity away. I was actually feeling really tired and having trouble keeping my eyes open. But at least I still felt cold. Hopefully I would have noticed if I was tired and warm because that could mean real trouble.
I made it to Chandler Butte Aid Station and dove in the canvas tent. I had a few problems to solve here and dropping was definitely not an option because there was no way for anyone to pick me up. As I sat there drinking coffee I tired to address my problems one by one. I checked the batteries in my headlamp and they looked to be about dead. I pulled out my second set and as I undid the rubber band that held the three of them together, one of them magically jumped into the air and landed in my coffee cup. I watched it unfold in silent slow motion.
I knew the sun would be coming soon and I did a backup flashlight anyway. As I was still mentally processing what had just happened, I looked toward the tent door and saw the first rays of sunlight. Well, at least I don't need my headlamp. I finished my coffee, minus the battery, tipped my proverbial hat to those hardy soles still there and headed down. It was approx 6am and I had 1.5hrs to get down to and out of the next aid station before the cutoff.
Sunrise was beautiful but way too cold to take pictures. With all the cold and wind, there was now a significant covering of frost. The scene was magical but not what I wanted to see. At this point my right knee was smashed, I was moving really slow and had my doubts I would make the cutoff. I phoned Deez and put here on standby to pick my carcass up.
I made it in and dropped off all unneeded clothing and gear to shed as much weight as possible. I did bring my fleece hoodie which didn't weight a lot, but it wasn't needed. I was out of there with a few minutes to spare.
Walking was painful. As I got to the beginning of the Jeep Trails, the leaders of the 55k race were coming though. I was moving very slow and they were not, so I tried to get out of their way.
80 miles in and my knees were smashed but I still had to get thought the Jeep Trails as there was no option to drop in that remote section of the course. I was still moving but not moving well. I just tired to move deliberate but careful to avoid falling. I was thinking that when I got though the Jeep Trails and back up to the flat roads though the Endless Vineyards that I would be able to walk at a reasonable pace. This proved not to be the case.
I went from walking at around a 17min/ mile pace to limping at approx 29min/ per mile. My right knee was swollen, tight and painful. I stopped and taped it up just to say that I "tired everything" but reality set in. I called the crew to meet me at Jacob's Road Aid Station.
I limped in right at the 12:00 cutoff and had 2.5hrs to the finish. They were going to let me go but I knew I was done. I still had to go up and down Candy Mountain and up and down Badger. In my current condition it just didn't make sense. I bowed out. While I am disappointed that I couldn't finish, I'm happy that at least I didn't take an easy out or drop sooner than before I knew that I was actually done. I'm not sure what caused the knee problems, but perhaps it was a manifestation of injury/ overuse training brought on by all of the downhill running I did to train for the runnable downhills of this course and it finally caught up to me.
It was a few days before I could really walk again and I was pretty worried that I had a real injury like a torn ligament, torn meniscus or something. With basic yet diligent self care I was slowly able to make my way back to baseline. It was a lot of recovery but I was expecting that. I honestly don't know if I would try another 100 miler, but I also don't know if I wouldn't. I suppose it depends on how quickly I deplete my few remaining brain cells.
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