A Grand Pacific Northwest Adventure - The 2018 Orcas Island 100 Mile
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| Isabel and I on top of Mt. Constituion |
Our Orca's Island 100 adventure started out at 5am on the Wednesday before the race. We were packed up and ready to call an Uber, only to find out that because of the Super Bowl in Mpls, rides to the airport were nearly $80.00! We jumped in my car and drove to a park and fly, which luckily was fast enough to get us on the plane in time to fly to Seattle. After flying in, we drove up the coast to the city of Anacortes, where we ate an amazing seafood dinner before boarding the ferry to Orca's Island. On Orca's we checked into our room in the city of Eastsound, WA. Our hotel turned out to be the oldest establishment on the Island. It was built to house 49ers during the gold rush of he mid 1800's. Since being built in the 1860's, it has been an inn, a jail, a bar, and since the 1980's, a hotel. Many of the fixtures in the rooms appear very old, mirrors, dressers, lamps. The hotel is also decorated with pictures of the building at various points in it's history. I couldn't of imagined a much cooler place to stay.
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| Pre Race Coffee |
The race events kicked off on Thursday night with a pre-race briefing led by James Varner, the race director. It was a nice little gathering that helped us get a solid understanding of what to expect on the course the next day as far as aid, course markings, hazards, etc. We finished up the night with a quick dinner from the supermarket; salad, cream cheese, blueberries, and guacamole, and were in bed by 7pm. Per normal before a big race, I maybe got a good 4 hours of sleep during the night.
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| Entering Moran State Park |
The race started at 8am from Camp Moran, in the center of the park. We began the first of four loops by climbing up the 3 miles of road from Camp Moran to "Little Summit" at 2200 ft on Mount Constitution (summit #1). This climb is a typical mountain road grade, 8-15%, with beautiful views on the way up. After reaching Little Summit, we dropped onto our first stretch of singletrack, leading down to Mountain Lake. This became one of my favorite sections of the course, as well as one of the most painful later in the race, due to the steep final technical descent leading down to the Mountain Lake aid station. Mountain Lake is nestled into the side of Mount Constitution, and was the site of the first aid station. I grabbed a couple gels to stuff into my pack, and was back on the trail within 30 seconds.
From Mountain Lake you head towards the second mountain on the course, Mt Pickett. This section leads you around Mountain Lake, and then towards Pickett. The climb up Pickett is moderate in comparison to those on Mt. Constitution, and provides a nice opportunity to hike and get some calories in and digested. After summiting Pickett at 1750', the course drops about halfway back down the mountain to the site of the Mt. Pickett aid station. At this aid station I had already decided I wasn't liking gels today, so I switched to a couple Gu "Stroopwafels" that I ended up consuming for the remainder of the loop for fuel. From the aid station, we dropped the rest of the way down Mt. Pickett towards Cascade Falls, which I had heard was especially beautiful this weekend due to the wet winter weather they had had on the island. Sure enough, the falls were so full that they'd actually had to divert the trail to avoid erosion. Nevertheless, this section was beautiful and fun,. We followed the falls down until we crossed the road down towards the Cascade Lake trail. The trail undulated on nice runnable grades for the next mile before leading us back onto a short road section leading to the Cascade Lake aid station. This aid station sits on Cascade Lake, which is the biggest lake in Moran State Park, and offers a clear view of both of the mountains in the park. I knew what was next, but had no real idea what I was in for, the powerline climb was coming up, and I had already heard the horror stories being shared from those who had run the Orca's races before. It was going to be a challenge; but that was what I came here for, right? Jess Mullen, a super talented runner and coach from Seattle, who I got the pleasure of running with for a while, put it nicely, "instead of thinking "this sucks" or "this is hard," just think "this is intense" we came for something "intense" right? We didn't come here for this to be easy." Those words stuck in my head all day long.
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| The Tower on the summit of Mt. Constitution. There was a perfectly ironic "Easy" button (from the Staples commercials) at the top of the tower for you to press after you punched your bib at the summit each time. You'd tap it and it would say "That was easy." It was a highlight of each loop. : ) |
From Cascade Lake, we ran about a half mile of singletrack before crossing the road and ending up on the powerline climb. The climb doesn't hit all at once, it teases you with a couple short mild sections before becoming downright ridiculous. Once you reach the top of this monster climb, you roll right back down the mountain on beautiful singletrack. This section was perfect for striding out and picking up the pace. I got a bit carried away, and actually took my only fall of the day on this section. I escaped the fall unscathed and finished running down the mountain to the base of the other side of Constitution, where you hit another 1.9 mile climb back up the mountain. On this time the grade is steep (average of 15-20% or so), but manageable for a good hiking pace. Once we reached the top we were greeted by the Mt. Constitution aid station, which became my favorite aid station on the course by the end. Following this aid station, those of us that choose to add a few extra meters of climbing, hiked up the tower at the top of the Mountain (pictured above) to become a member of the "Tower Club."
The route back down the mountain is one of those fantastic downhills that is a ton of fun when you're fresh, as it is steep, technical, fast, and nearly three miles long. The first lap I made a conscious effort to slow myself down during this section, so I could keep my quads fresh for later in the race. This turned out to be a very important choice. After rocking down the hill for about 1.5 miles, you follow a stream and some falls that take you back down to Cascade lake and around the lake back to camp to finish the loop. Loop one took me 5:19, right on pace for my hopeful 22-24 hour finish. I made the decision to slow things down a bit more for the second loop, as I felt like my legs would thank me during the night for keeping my pace at bay during the daylight hours. My wife also started joining me on course during the second loop, and she met me at Mountain Lake, Constitution, and Camp Moran aid stations for the remaining three loops. It was great to be able to see her so much during the run, and it really gave me something to look forward to.
When you're deep in the woods, the daylight hours don't last quite as long, so the headlamp got switched on at the top of the second time on the powerline climb. I was still feeling fantastic as the night fell, but had started noticing some issues with hotspots on my feet. I have had major issues with blisters and hotspots on my feet in my 100 mile ultras previously, and at Zion 100 last year they had slowed me down in a big way. Although I had extra socks and shoes available at two points on the course in aid station drop bags, I was very nervous about removing my shoes and socks, as I feared that the reality of seeing my feet deteriorating would be a huge drain on my race and might possibly make the situation worse. I was also nervous that, like at Zion the previous year, no improvement would be had from changing my shoes and socks. I powered through the aid stations having already made up my mind about not changing shoes or socks, and this may have been to my detriment later in the race. Nevertheless, I finished loop two feeling fantastic in about 5:45. The long descent from Constitution was likely my favorite part of the whole race. I was blasting some very embarrassing guilty pleasure music (including such classics as "Rollin" by Limp Bizkit, and "Enter Sandman" by Metallica) as I was cruising the roller coaster of the downhill back to Cascade Lake. Back at Camp Moran after loop two, I found myself in limbo; feeling that my 24 hour goal was still in reach, but very nervous about the condition of my feet, especially after the last long technical descent down the mountain; which was particularly hard on them.
Loop three was where things started to nosedive for me. After a solid climb back up the mountain on the road, the technical descent down to Mountain Lake aid station had caused a couple of blisters to pop and my hot spots to become even more apparent. Downhill running was becoming quite painful, and trying to be easy on my feet was beginning to affect my stride. I hit a bit of a low after the Mountain Lake aid station on loop three after getting turned around. I actually ended up going backwards about a half mile to look for course markers, assuming I'd gone the wrong way. I ended up running into a couple of runners who reassured me that we were going the right way, but in my fragile state, it was enough to push me into a major low point. I decided to walk for a few minutes to push through the mental low, and kept moving forward with purpose, although decidedly slower than I would need to in order to maintain 24 hour pace. In my mind, I was giving up on my 24 hour goal and starting to succumb to the pain of my battered feet. I only ran a few steps between Mountain Lake and Pickett aid stations, even walking a good chunk of the downhill on the way back down Mt. Pickett. It was dark, I was wet, and the temp on top of Pickett was quite a bit colder than the lower lying areas. The wind was whipping off the Puget Sound, which led to some seriously cold windchills up on the mountains. I became very cold, and was worried about hypothermia setting in. I told myself that I would just get to the next aid station and lay down by the campfire and take a short nap. This thought kept me moving through what felt like the longest section of the whole race, up and over Mt. Pickett. I couldn't wait to warm-up and lay down.
I made it to the Mt. Pickett aid station and checked in before asking for a cup of soup and some hot coffee. The friendly aid station staff got me set up with my requests quickly, and somehow, before I knew it, I was back out of the aid station and on the trail. Laying down for the nap never happened, and I was back running again down the remainder of Mt. Pickett and towards Cascade Falls. I kept up my coffee fueled momentum until I again reached the Powerline Climb after the Cascade aid station. The Powerline was beginning to feel more and more insane, with every step taking more energy and will than the previous. Nevertheless, I reminded myself of what Jess had said earlier in the race..."This is Intense, I came here for Intense." All said and done, loop three took me nearly eight hours to complete. I realized that a big reason for the slowdown was my inability to keep a good pace on the downhills due to my feet. My overall pace had also slowed with a bit of general fatigue and sleepiness in the night hours. I knew that leaving Camp Moran quickly and not getting comfortable was going to be key to finishing this race. I was now working with my C goal (to finish the race), and my focus shifted towards patience and persistence. I spent about 10 minutes inside the Camp Moran aid station drinking some soup and filling up my water bottles, and left with determination to make this my victory lap, even if it took me right until the cut off to finish.
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| One Loop to Go |
I hit the road back up the mountain for one final loop. Determined to finish no matter what. Somehow when you're running 100 miles, one 25 mile loop doesn't seem all that daunting, even when you can barely run a 10 minute mile and your feet are as raw as an uncooked prime rib. The key to getting my last loop done was patience. I decided I was going to be as patient as I needed to be in order to get to the finish line. My headphones had broken and my phone had died about 8 hours prior, so entertaining myself with music was no longer an option. I can only explain my mental state on loop four as meditation / zen like. Even though my feet were extremely painful, and the downhills were particularly excruciating, I just kept reminding myself how lucky I was to be running in such a beautiful place, and how lucky I was to have a body that could take me through 100 miles. Sure, I was in some pain, but that is part of what we sign up for when we click that box on Ultrasignup.com. This is 100 miles in the mountains..."this is intense," and that's what we signed up for.
The daylight started to show as I was making my final ascent up Mt. Pickett. I had been reduced to mostly hiking at this point, with a little running on the few flat and more forgiving downhills on this section. I hit the Pickett aid station right before 7am, with the sun starting to light up the sky enough to see without a headlamp. One of the guys at the aid stations asked me, "are you starting to feel energized!?" "The sun is almost up!" While I hadn't been feeling at all energized up until he said this, somehow this flipped a little switch that gave me a nice boost down the rest of the mountain and back towards Cascade Falls. I ran, albeit, very slowly, the majority of the section between the Mt. Pickett aid station and Cascade aid station.
The fourth and final powerline climb was slow, but somehow easier than the previous. I know it helped knowing that it was my last. Getting back up the mountain and to the final aid station at the summit felt amazing. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and from the top of the tower you could clearly see Mt. Baker, Bellingham and Chuckanut Mountain, Golden Ears to the northeast, and Vancouver Island and the Coast Mountains due north. I had the pleasure of climbing to the very top of Golden Ears (and Chuckanut Mountain, although it is a bump compared to Golden Ears) on a trip this past September with my best friend, Jeremy. That adventure was one of the most memorable experiences of my entire life, and being able to see it so clearly from where I know sat on top of Mt. Constitution, was just amazing. I knew that my trip back down Constitution was going to be painfully slow (and just straight painful, due to my feet), but I reminded myself to just be patient and get it done. I hit the bottom and hiked the last bit of trail around Cascade Lake before running back into camp and crossing the finish line in 28:30. It was a far cry from my A goal of 22 hours, or B goal of 24 hours, but I had certainly accomplished my C goal, which was to finish and have fun. Thank god for C goals.
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| Crossing the Finish Line at Camp Moran |
The next day we all celebrated the accomplishment at the awards ceremony put on by the Rainshadow Running crew. It was a great way to look back on the day, get recognized for the feat, and get our belt buckles, "Tower Club" shirts, and finishers hoodies.
This race and the entire trip were an unbelievable experience. Being able to have Isabel there with me for the trip and the race made it an extra special day. She was so amazing during the race, and was the perfect crew member to help me keep as comfortable as possible, yet keep me moving. I cannot wait to share more race experiences with her, and our son (due this May) in the future. I also want to give a huge shout out to everyone at Rainshadow Running and the volunteers that helped make this event so awesome. This was one of the best directed events I have ever been a part of (quite possibly the best), and the aid stations were nothing short of fantastic. Not just because of the food and amenities available, but more so because of the awesome staff and volunteers.
What Went Right:
1. My Fueling and Energy: This year has been a real turning point for me in terms of getting to know my body and supporting it appropriately for endurance efforts. After toying with the lower carb / higher fat diet through much of the year, I made a commitment to it in September, when I first registered for this race. It led to two of the best races of my life; Hixon 50k, and Quad Dipsea, where I experienced zero low points, and a remarkable level of energy throughout the day, all with very minimal fuel on course. This trend stayed true for Orca's 100, and I experienced zero energy crashes or "bonks," was able to get by on minimal sugary fuel supplements (Gu's, Chews, Etc), and relied mostly on a few cups of soup and fatty snacks (bacon, avocado etc.) throughout most of the race. Anyone who has run longer races before knows that gut rot (from needing too much sugary fuel) and bonking are major problems. My nutritional strategy has allowed me to become a better fat burner, so I can keep my energy quite even with minimal fuel during races. I am excited to see where this type of diet can take my performance in future races.
2. Having My Wife Crew: Having Isabel on course was something I was nervous about. She is a very comforting person, and nothing sounds better at mile 75 when you're freezing cold in the middle of the night than taking the DNF (did not finish) and going back to the warm bed at your nearby hotel with your loving wife. I made a promise to myself before the race that I would never complain to her or anyone else on the course about how I was feeling, or any issues I was having. When I was asked "how are you doing," I simply responded with "Amazing" or "I feel awesome." While this was at best a stretch for the majority of the day, It left me feeling better after each aid station, as the aid station crew and Isa treated me like I was feeling good. This led to me getting in and out of aid stations quickly, and always feeling better than I did before I got there.
My Rules on Course:
- Don't complain to anyone, especially not Isabel. If you don't verbalize it, you don't give it power to be real.
- Smile at everyone you pass.
- If someone asks how you're doing, think about it in the broad context...I'm on a beautiful island, in the mountains, and doing my favorite thing in the entire world. All that considered, I think I am pretty damn good overall...don't you think?
3. Being Patient and In the Moment: This became a real key to getting this race done. It can be hard to let your big goals go and focus on just finishing, but that is what has to be done when things don't go according to plan. Even though the final couple laps of the race were going to be slow and painful, I was going to need to be patient, and focus on all that there was to enjoy in the surroundings on the course. I also learned that you can be in the moment and have that state of flow be as effective as the best music in the world blasting through your headphones.
What I Need to Improve On for Next Time:
1. Managing My Feet: This has been a major issue for me at all of my 100+ mile events to date. I have no real system for managing hotspots and blisters as they arise, and honestly could use some guidance on what has worked well for others. This was the #1 thing that slowed me down on this race, and I am confident that If I could manage my feet better, I could go back to this race and pull off a much stronger finish. Anyone have any good recommendations? Message me!
2. Better Testing My Gear: I had two gear "failures" that I didn't really write about in the body of my blog. The first was my new Solomon Sense 5 race vest. This is an awesome vest, but I misunderstood how to tighten and lock the chest straps in place for the first half of the race. This led to some major frustration, a poor fit, and a few blocks of time lost to be fighting with the pack. The second major gear failure was my socks. I purchased several pairs of Smartwood socks, after getting the recommendation from a friend. I put wayyy to much faith in these socks to help keep my feet fresh, and they failed miserably. I'm not sure if a sock change would have helped or not, but these socks didn't do the trick for me. I had tested them on several 2-3 hour runs, but never anything long enough to simulate the race.
3. Knowing the Course, and Setting a Race Plan: I think the first time at any given race is a chance to get a feel for the course. It is nearly impossible to base your performance potential off of others splits, and doing so on your first time at a race can lead to an epic blowup. Now that I know the Orca's Island 100 course, I feel like I could put together a solid race plan that included goals for my splits between aid stations, and helped me know where to back off and where to hit the gas. I love goals, and having more goals to help break the race up will be a powerful tool for me when I get back to Orca's Island for future races.
My Gear and How It Fared:
1. Salomon Sense Ride Shoes: These shoes are FANTASTIC and have become my go-to trail shoes. I would highly recommend them for nearly every type of trail running, except for very muddy conditions that require an extra amount of traction.
2. Salomon Sense 5 Race Vest: This vest was damn near perfect for this race. With aid stations at intervals of 5-7 miles, It held plenty of water, fuel, extra layers to get me through the race. Although I used it as a very "Fast and Light" pack, it could easily hold enough gear for races that require many hours between aid stations. My only complaint about the pack is that the flasks that come with it have a cap that is a bear to put on.
3. North Face Women's Running Half-Tights: These are my Wife's workout tights that she claimed that she would never let me wear for running. They are now my favorite running tights, and they were perfect for this race's temps - 19-48 degrees.
4. Smartwood 1/4 Zip Baselayer: I have two of these shirts and they are my favorite shirts in the whole world. They are warm when they need to be, and breathable when they need to be. They stay warm when wet, and dry out super quickly. They also don't smell - even after 28.5 hours of running! This baselayer and a windbreaker were perfect for the majority of the race, although I did end up switching to a hardshell jacket for the later night when it got really cold.
5. Patagonia Houdini Windbreaker "Quad Dipsea" Edition: The only thing better than this great, super well fitted windbreaker, is one that reminds you of how awesome Quad Dipsea was a few months ago. : )
6. Brooks Shelter Hardshell Jacket: This jacket is pretty old and is the first running jacket I ever bought. It's a simple jacket that is great for just about all temps between -10 and 30.
7. Smartwood PhD Run Socks: I'm not sure what to think of these. Either they didn't work for me at all, or my feet are just impossible and I need to figure out a non sock related solution to blisters and hot spots.
8. Petzel Tikka RXP Headlamp: I've had this for a few years now, and It's taken me through all three of my 100 milers. It is a USB charged lamp, and I just keep an extra battery pack with me for when it dies. The battery life is about 6-7 hours, and it adjusts to how close/far you are from other objects and how light your surroundings are. It's a solid lamp.
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