Heartland 100, Oct. 9, 2010

It’s been 2 years since I ran Heartland 100. The weather was rainy and cool then. It made for good running. This year, the weather was expected to be warm (mid-80s)…hot to be more exact when running all day.

Friday, we had the usual packet pickup, pre-race meeting, and dinner. The dinner was great. After dinner, I went back to my hotel, and prepared my drop bags. I put what I might need at certain aid station, based on a time schedule I had worked out. The most important was the night gear. I figured I would be needing my headlight, and change of clothes at mile 63.5 (Ridge Line aid station).

Saturday, I wake up around 3:15am, and started getting ready… the usual pre-race prep. I get to the start area in plenty of time. The temp was cool, but I could tell it was going to get warm as soon as the sun comes up. I decided then I would just take my 60 oz. hydration pack, and one hand held bottle. Normally, I just take one hand held bottle, and I’m fine on a 100 miler.

Promptly at 6:00am, the RD yells “Go!”…and we’re off into the darkness. My game plan was to start out really slow, no faster than 11 min./mile… and maybe go as slow as 12 min./mile for the first 25 miles. I wanted to keep this pace thru-out the day, then maybe negatives in the night when it got cooler. This time, I didn’t have a goal time to finish, other than just to finish. My focus was to maintain a slow, steady pace thru-out the day, and pick up some time into the cool night.

I reached the first aid station (Battle Creek, 8.2 miles) about 1 hr. 27 min. I was pretty much on pace. My estimated time was 1 hr. 30 min. I knew some hills were coming up…which means some walking. This is the time when the sun comes up, and the scenery is just awesome. I continued with my slow pace looking over the prairies where the buffalos roamed once, it felt great.





I reached the second aid station (Lapland, 16.8 miles) in 2 hrs. 59 min. I was still on pace… the faster side of my estimated pace (ETA 3 hrs. 6 min.). Time is 9 am, and getting warmer. I changed out my long sleeved shirt, and ate some watermelon and salty potatoes. 4 or 5 minutes, and I was on my way again. I’m drinking plenty of water, and taking in salt stick tabs.

Between Lapland and Teterville, there’s a mix of rolling hills and long flat sections, nothing major. I keep on with my steady pace… trying not to push it. I pull in to Teterville (mile 25) in 4 hrs. 40 min. My ETA was 4 hrs. 41 min. Time is now 10:40am… and very warm. I had ran out of water in my hydration pack. I ate a turkey sandwich, some chips, and mtn. dew. I got my hydration pack refilled, grabbed some orange slices, and off I went again. I had soaked my hat with water, but it didn’t take like half mile before it was dry as a bone. The south wind was kicking up now. I’m not crazy about tail wind, and I was getting hot.

Teterville to Texaco is 6.2 miles. Somewhere in the middle of this section, my stomach was beginning to have issues. I took in some ginger chews, thinking that would settle my stomach. I was walking the hills now. For some reason, I was getting a bad feeling. I was struggling abit. I reached Texaco Hill (mile 31.2) in 6 hrs. 17 min., almost 20 min. slower than what I planned. I thought… that’s no biggy. It’s still early, I can make that up in the night. I ate a turkey sandwich, chips, and drank some mtn. dew. It was really getting hot now…close to noon. I took about 10-12 minute break, and took out again.

Texaco to Ridge Line is 5.3 miles. This section has rolling hills and long flat sections, and absolutely no trees nearby. The bad thing about this section is you can see for miles, and seems like you’re not getting anywhere. After a fair amount of walking, I was able to run some parts. I got to Ridge Line (mile 36.5) in 7 hrs. 46 min. I dropped another 26 minutes, so now I was 46 minutes behind schedule. But I thought to myself, I need to not think about time, rather keep a slow, steady pace. So I blocked time out of my mind. At Ridge Line, I took my time in eating some more and refilling my hydration pack. A few runners had caught up with me and took out ahead of me. It’s good not to get caught up in the rush.

Ridge Line to Matfield Green was 6 miles. I estimated about 1 hr. 15 min for this stretch. About a mile coming out of Ridge Line, my stomach went haywire. It felt like bricks. I was walking more and more. I finally made it to Matfield Green (mile 42.5). It took me 2 hrs. Every part of my body was fine, except my stomach. I wanted to run, but my stomach was not liking it. I tried to eat something, but now, nothing was tasting good. Water was not tasting very well either. I took a short break, then headed out towards the turnaround. If only I can reach the midway, I think everything will look up… that was in my mind.

Matfield to Lone Tree (mile 50) was 7.5 miles. My estimate was 1 hr. 30 min. I walked about 7.4 miles of this section. Things were really going south now. I was not feeling good. And it was only my stomach. My legs were feeling fine. I reached Lone Tree (mile 50) in 2 hrs, 15 min. I was now 12 hrs into the race. I had never reached mile 50 in that timeframe before. It’s usually been 9 to 10 hrs. Just about everything negative set in. I took a 30 min. break, and try to eat a hamburger with some sprite.

What worried me more was my night gear was back at Ridge Line (14 miles back), and the sun was about to set. I had no headlight. Fortunately, Lone Tree aid station had a spare headlight that I could use. I was glad for that.

From Lone Tree, it’s a long climb back out for 2 miles. The temps were finally cooling off. I was thinking to myself…this is it…I’m ready to take off and make up time. From Lone Tree back to Matfield, I was able get into a rhythm…a slow jog now and then. But my stomach was still not getting better. I was having a rough time.

Back at Matfield again (mile 57.5), I tried to take in some broth. It was not going down. And water was not tasting good. I had to make myself get up and go to the next aid station (Ridge Line). After a slow start again, I was into a rhythm again… mostly power walking. But more than anything, I was losing strength now, since nothing was going down for the last 10 miles.

I finally reached Ridge Line (mile 63.5). I was now 16 hrs. 52 min. into the race. I have 36.5 miles left. Now the question was… do I continue to walk like I’ve been for the last 26 miles, or do I just hang it up??  It was a tough decision, but I was not about to torture myself again with a “death march”. If I’m not able to run the majority of the race, I’m not continuing. This is my second DNF at a 100 miler. It was a good decision.  But there will be another 100 miler.

Heartland

The last week of hard training. I feel ready, I am ready... 100 miles in the Flint Hills of Kansas. This will be my second time running this race. I had high expectation last time (sub 20), only to finish 23:38. This time, I just want to enjoy a good run, a finish without a complete burnout or meltdown. Bring on the Praire Chickens.

2010 Badwater Recap Video - The most popular videos are a click away

Lisa Smith-Batchen 50 miles in 50 states

Beginning April 19th, and ending June 19th, 2010, one of the world's premier ultra-runner Lisa Smith-Batchen will be running 50 miles in each of the 50 states. Though many have ran a marathon distance in each of the 50 states, no one has ever ran 50 miles in each state. And she'll be running just about every day.

Accompanying her will be a nun, sister Mary Beth Lloyd, age 61. Sister Mary Beth is not new to ultrarunning. She has accompanied Lisa on many occasions, including the picture below which I took when I was at Badwater 2008. They are on the climb out of Panamint Valley, the second of three major climbs at Badwater.

May 15th, Lisa and Sister Mary Beth will be in Tulsa, running her 50 miler in the state of oklahoma. I will be joining them. I'm looking forward to taking part of an great adventure. Their cause is to raise funds for orphans in the United States and abroad.

Today is my son's birthday. It is the most joyous occasion for the birthday kid. Welll... christmas is pretty high on the list too. But anyway... today we celebrated his 9th birthday. All the kids ate pizza, drank coke, mtn dew, & cake. Then sent them home. I bet the parents are hating us now for their kids being a bit hyper...haha. They had a great time though. That's what counts.

Then on the flip-side of the coin... some sad news from my family. My brother, Wally, had heart attack last week. They put him on a ventilator, but never regain consciousness. Friday, he left us for a better place. I will sure miss him. When my dad was still with us, he and I would always go and visit my brother Wally. We had some happy times.

My running is like a roller coaster. One week, I might put in some miles. Then the following week, it would be almost nothing. Working 60 hrs per week is really getting in the way of my training. Slowly, but surely, I'm starting to run more miles. Today was kinda short run... just 13 miles..at about 9:15 min./mile pace. Hopefully, I'll keep putting in more and more miles soon.

Warm weather is on it's way... (I rather run in cold weather..that's just me)... go out and enjoy the weather...maybe even run a few miles. Gets the blood to flow better.

Happy Trails!

Work is running my life now... well for now. Since the snake run, my running is practically non-existance. I'm finally getting back out again. By this time, I should've been doing 20 miles, and have relatively easy time with it. But it's the opposite... it's a struggle to hit 10 miles.

Hopefully in couple weeks, I'll be back to normal distance of 30 milers.

Have a great week!

Springtime!... enjoy the great outdoors.

2010 Snake Run

190 runners signed up.... 130 runners show up... 60 smart people stayed cozy indoors.

Conditions for 2010 Snake Run was cold (upper 20s), started with rain, then sleet, snow, wind gust up to 30mph (mainly from the north). Trails were small puddles, then deep mud, then cold, freezing muddy water that deepen throughout the day.

6 hours of trekking in miserable conditions. The course was a 2 mile out, 2 mile back, repeat for 6 hours to get in as many miles as possible. I started out great with 9:30 min/mile for first 4 miles. My plan was to do 10 min/mile for the day. I was going abit fast.

Beginning the 3rd loop, I slowed it down to conserve some energy. Believe it or not, I was getting hot so I dropped off my jacket and stocking cap. Around mile 9, I turned a corner, slipped, and went down hard on my right leg. And of course, I was now soaking wet. The wettness didn't bother me, but at about mile 11, my leg was beginning to feel some pain from the fall. From there on, the fun was diminishing fast. I was beginning to walk alot.

I finally made it to mile 16. I was seriously thinking about calling it quits. But I thought...I'll drink some hot soup and see if I can make one more loop, then call it quits. My 5th loop was very slow...doing about 14 min./mile (walking alot).

I made it thru the 5th loop (finished 20 miles now). I was thinking...I still have over 2 hours left...I'll make another loop. So, I went out again. Conditions were still miserable... but that didn't matter, as I was all soaked, toes freezing, face and fingers were pretty much all numb. Finished 6th loop (24 miles) and I still had an hour to go. So I grabbed a cup of soup, and off I went again. I pushed it abit this time. I knew I can make another 4 miles... and maybe some more. I made it to 28 miles in 5 hrs, 50 minutes. I still had 10 minutes left. But I left it at that.

28 miles in miserable conditions, and with right leg giving me fits.... I was OK with it... not too happy, but good outing. Hopefully next year, weather won't be soo crazy so I can hit my 35 miles in 6 hours.

Congratulation to everyone who went out and ran in this crazy weather. I just love trail running...weather is never (except for lightning) a cause for cancellation.

A big thanks to Brian Hoover, Ken & Dana Childress, and some great volunteers to put on this show.



My toes...only the middle toe didn't get punished. Not even close to Badwater damage.