Arkansas Traveller 100 - 2015 Race Report

I was fortunate to be able to take a vacation wrapped around the AT100 again this year. We rented a Lake House on Lake DeSoto in Hot Springs Village and also set up camp at Lake Sylvia for the event. My training this year had less mileage due to fighting off injuries – an on-going heel tendon issue and plantar fasciitis. I got the plantar issue resolved, but could not get past 85% recovered on the heel.

 

 

6AM October 3, 2015 marked the beginning of my sophomore outing at the Arkansas Traveller 100, which would prove fun, interesting, challenging and epic. Race start to Flatside and Brown’s Creek went well, I got to visit with some old friends and meet some new folks.

 

 

 

 

I stayed with my race plan, running on effort level, without regard to pace, enjoying the rough and rocky single track. My legs never loosened up through the first 16 miles and I was not feeling good about how things were unfolding so far. Agitated and frustrated, I didn’t interact well with my crew chief (wife Cathey) at Lake Sylvia. About a mile after, upon realizing what a Butt-Head I’d been (no excuse this early in the race) I sent a text apology when cell service came back.

 

 

Somehow, I was running with a group including Isaac Espy, I’d run with Isaac and Randy through the late night and early morning last year, they provided entertainment and experiential knowledge. I picked my pace up a notch for a few miles and then decided to hold that pace since it was comfortable and I was still running in my aerobic range. It was a few miles before I realized I had dropped the group, but now my legs were feeling loose and everything seemed to be operating well. I continued monitoring my HR, not worrying about pace or split times. Club Flamingo (mi 39) & Bahama Mama (mi 43) passed without a hitch. I remember passing the families camped right on the road which brought the movie “Deliverance” to mind…don’t know why that fired through my brain, but I had to fight hearing “Dueling Banjos” in my head for the next hour or so.

 

 

Unknowingly, I was close to a 24 hr pace, which would soon be meaningless. My race plan was to run at maximum aerobic effort until I got to Power Line, then let my pacers worry with the splits if I was in striking range of a sub 24. I’m a firm believer of taking what the mountain and the day gives…so far the plan was working and I was enjoying the ride.

 

I made the Smith Mountain climb in good shape and then I started feeling that something wasn’t right. I couldn’t figure it out…my legs were fine, I’d had gas along the way- not uncharacteristic for me- I’d taken some TUMS but my stomach was OK, I kept running to Power Line where I’d pick up my first pacer Jessica.

 

Jessica was in a marathon training group I led a few years back, then she started running trails and we trained and ran the Fossil Valley 9 Hr night race in July. We headed toward Copperhead Rd, I asked Jessica just to make sure we stopped for a walk break anytime we hit 10 minutes downhill running. I was still feeling good, aside from the unknown whatever and we ran. I got a sharp pain in my 2^nd to right pinky toe. Alarming pain, I had to stop and check it out. I wear thick drymax trail socks over Injinji’s, I took off the Drymax sock, didn’t feel anything on the toe sock, so I put my Hoka back on. Luckily it gave enough room so that the injured area was in relief and I could focus on running again. That toe would not be an issue the rest of the race.

 

 

 

We got to Copperhead Road and I had a hot grilled cheese half sandwich and it was wonderful.

I found my chair and a pair of trail shoes, but no socks or crew, after waiting a minute or two, I decided to change on the return, rather than wait for Cathey. We ran on to the turn around, grabbed a little to eat and headed back. 2-3 times or more while running w/ Jessica, I just had to stop down. As I told her, “I don’t know why, I just have to stop” my body was sending a message. The dude abides. My legs were still fine, my stomach was only slightly jacked up, I didn’t feel nauseous. Something just said STOP. I would put my hands on my knees, stand for what seemed like 1-2 minutes and then continue to run. I thought it must be some weird fatigue I hadn’t experienced before. When we ran, we were holding pace just fine. Ultra’s are always about figuring out how fix what goes wrong, toe blister, check… weird stop down’s – I don’t have a clue.

 

I made a bathroom stop at Copperhead Road, Cathey had everything laid out for a complete change of clothes. As I was getting dressed, I had to get up, turn around behind the chair and vomit uncontrolled about 3 times until I was heaving. I tasted dinner and the turnaround snacks as they left my body.

 

I finished changing and Jess & I heading up toward Power Line. I felt fine, was able to run well. I think I only stopped down once in the climb back to Power Line.

I was so happy that Jess got to experience some of the mountains in daylight and I was grateful to have a running buddy for 20 miles of my day.

 

 

Now Paul Agruso would take over pacing duties. Paul and I trained for our first marathon in 2009. We’ve stayed in touch through the years, but haven’t trained much together. Paul ran his first 100 last year in Dallas a month after the Traveller. I paced him for 20 hours, 18+ in the rain through a mudfest. He had blister issues early, we power hiked to the rest after 5 miles in with me.

This would be his first mountain trail experience. We ran without incident to the Smith Mountain summit, I had to stop down a couple of times, and then I puked again. Uncontrollable, we decided that I should quit running until we figured this out, since I was loosing cognition during the stop downs. Post puking I felt fine, as before. It pained me NOT to run (or at least shuffle) down Smith Mountain, when I still had good legs, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I had ¾ cup of noodles and broth at Bahama Mama (mi 73) and we took off.

The cycle repeated, 2 stop downs of nothing and then a violent puke. We were power hiking at this point. Club Flamingo (mi 76) we tried broth only. Same result. Pig Trail (mi 80) Sweet Tea only – repeat. By this time I was deep into Zombie Land from sleep deprivation, I’d sit and stare at the aid stations for a minute or so and then get up and take off. I knew Paul was around and there were aid station folks, but they were peripheral apparitions to my tunnel vision of 8-12 feet directly in front of me. I felt ok, my legs were fine, I had no earthly idea how my body was going to make it the distance without taking on any fuel and 3 little sips of water at a time about every 30-40 minutes. I learned a valuable lesson after the fact… listen to your body and don’t try to out think things. As long as you’re not in a dangerous place, metabolism & bodily functions wise- run the damn race, fix the problems as they present. I didn’t want to approach the subject with Paul, but I felt a DNF discussion was necessary. After kicking around all that we knew, we decided it best to let RN Cathey & the weigh in at Lake Winona be the deciding factor. I knew Cathey could properly assess my condition and would shut me down if needed, if I was dehydrated to the point of not making the weigh in, that would do it as well. We reached Cathey first, calmly and succinctly brought her up to speed on what happened since she last saw me blowing chow at Copperhead Rd. She looked at 3 or 4 things, asked me a few questions and said she thought I was fine to continue. I was surprised & relieved, I’m sure Paul was too, we went up the aid station, I weighed in at 1 lb Over my weigh in weight. My early race consumption must have stored up, as well as my hydration. No more fuel, no more anything but 3 little sips of water when my mouth got dry, that’s all I had to worry about for the next 16 miles. I now had 2 trekking poles, my feet were ok, legs ok, still in Zombie Land, but otherwise good to go. I left Paul fueling up at the aid station and we continued. Paul mirrored my silence for long stretches and it wasn’t until day break that I came out of the twilight zone. It was nice having Paul through the night, even at a power hike all the way, it didn’t seem as long as last year running mostly solo. I puked for the last time and it scared me a little- it tasted like extremely acidic lemonade and literally burned my throat raw. I hadn’t eaten anything since I threw up sweet tea. I think that was the GI tract safety flushing the last bits of whatever caused that mess. Like before, after I lost cognitive ability just a few minutes before I had to stop down, then after I puked, I was back to normal and felt fine. In hindsight, I think I could have run again after that point. But we didn’t, I kept power hiking the hell out the inclines, flats and descents.

 

I was a low maintenance runner again at Pumpkin Patch, Paul stopped down for snacks & fluid refill. Paul had been asking me since Club Flamingo if I felt weak after stop downs or pukes, I never did feel weak. That was weird to me. The cycle had repeated so many times, it was almost time predictable.

Eat… stop down…stop down…puke – I hadn’t had anything stay in my GI tract since the turnaround, and I hadn’t taken in more than 16-20 oz of fluid over about 30 miles mostly power hiking. I’ve run the Pumpkin Patch to the road so many times, it’s almost automatic, I was glad Paul got to experience the boulder field in the road for the first time. His introduction to Arkansas Mountain running made me happy. The road downhill to Lake Sylvia always seems never ending to me, but I knew the race was in the bag, Cathey met us on the crest of the hill before the finish. I was 20 minutes slower than last year, but I still won. 2^nd 100 attempt, 2^nd time to be at one with the mountains and mother nature among friends and I got to run with 2 fantastic running buddies. Huge Thanks to my biggest supporter and crew chief Cathey, props to pacers extraordinaire Jessica and Paul, and crewmate Justin plus Chrissy & Stan for orchestrating this storied event and ALL the aid station volunteers, retrieving drop bags, refueling and refreshing us as well as entertaining at times. Hope to see you on the trail.

 

Steve Griffin – Dallas Running Club Trail Ultra coach/director