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Thursday, November 12, 2020

Beach Day in November?

Jalapeno Hundred

Ultra #069 | My 19th 100mi Event (or more)


Here I am beginning of November. A couple week removed from a poor mental state in my last ultra where i jut literally quit. On the other side I was 3 weeks out from the Brazos Bend 100, which sadly has just been cancelled due to the surrounding pandemic safety concerns for participants especially those whom would 
be travelling here to run. So now I am starring at my only known opportunity for the remainder of 2020 to get myself another buckle. About an hour northwest of Houston area where the 7IL Ranch sits near Cat Spring, TX. This ranch has been used many times for TROT races including Jackalope Jam and the infamous Habanero Hundred (a hellish hot ultra held in the middle of TX heat in August). Jalapeno Hundred is the little cousin of Habanero since it had to be cancelled this year due to the pandemic. With that the course was the same 16 loop of the yellow course out on the ranch with a high noon starting time.

Waking up in my own bed for a race is always nice. I got to have homemade coffee for the drive and kiss all my girls goodbye before taking off for the ranch early Saturday morning. I arrived and with the new protocols getting my temperature check and performed my contactless check in. It was still nice and early around 10:00 which gave me a couple hours to relax and set up my own self-crew spot. Got myself all set up, gear ready and just put my feet up on my cooler and closed my eyes listening to a podcast as I tried to relax for a last few moments.

(image from Plants vs Zombies 2)
11:45 and Rob Goyen, TROT race director, starting do a short race briefing. At this point I got my shoes tightened the way I wanted. 2 minutes before start we were called up to the start area and remained spaced out. I lined up on the front side on the far right side of the road. High noon and we were off and running. I intentionally remained back from the very front and let the faster relay runners and 100 km runners go in front. I settled into a comfortable pace. i ended up running with my TROT teammate, Matt Zmolek, whom is a very good and consistent 100 mile runner. His pacing is something rarely matched, as he always seems to keep it even and steady from start to finish, so I know if I am running around him that is a good thing as long as I can hang on later on. We caught up a bit and did some small chat as it had been awhile since seeing each other. We ran together for the first 3 loops more or less, then Matt stopped and changed out his shoes and socks I would later find out. The heat of the day was here hanging in somewhere near 90f or so but we would only have to endure it for a little longer as the fall daylight fades near 18:00 or so. I managed to keep cool by utilizing my NATHAN ice bandana and keeping my intake of plenty of fluids on those first few loops.
High noon the start. Captured by JJustis Photography | Trail Racing Over Texas

After my 4th loop I still had not found my perfect pace time per loop I was trying to dial in and still thought to myself I was slightly faster than wanted. I slowed myself down a little and hoped to be able to stay on the new revised pace longer. Sometime in loop 6 (I think), Matt caught back up to me and we shared another half loop together before I left him go in front on me as I thought it was slightly fast for my current state. We were both near the lead of the 100 mile race at this point along with a young lady from California (Lindsay Phennix) who was not far behind us as we kept seeing her at the end/start of each loop. The 3 of us were all very close at the front of the race.

This is what it looks like to be hunted as prey. Matt Zmolek always paces 100 milers amazingly and makes it look easy. Congrats Matt on your victory out on the ranch.
Captured by JJustis Photography | Trail Racing Over Texas

On the 5th loop (I think) I did manage to kick one of the few well placed routes out there in the treed section of the course. I somehow didn't lift my foot high enough and it caused me to stumble and proceed into a tuck and roll situation on my left shoulder. since the Ground is mostly soft sand out there it was not painful but man was it dirty. Felt like a beach day with sand everywhere you didn't want it, even after only briefly being on the ground. I got up shook off my clothing and then had to clean my bottle nipples off of the sand sticking to them.

"The beach" at 7IL Ranch. Yes there is sand out there, not the entire loop but....lots of it.
Not sure what loop this is, but i don't look too pissed off.
Captured by JJustis Photography | Trail Racing Over Texas
Darkness started to creep in next loop but I managed to complete the 6th loop fully before actually requiring my headtorch. From here is was just a grind in the night hours to keep going. As we approached midnight there was less and less runners out there: partially because we were all spaced out, a few DNFs, and also a lot of the 100 km runners were starting to finish and clear off the course all together. Around this time I finally crossed over the 100 km mark myself, which meant 10 loops done, only 6 to go. My pace continued to slow just a little more each loop.

Early evening as the fog started to form. Captured by JJustis Photography | Trail Racing Over Texas

The strangest thing happened that night, a very dense fog rolled in and it was super humid. I can only describe it like running in a light misty shower, it was almost magical. My headtorch was nearly useless as the light was bouncing of the water droplets and fog in front of me only illuminating maybe 4 feet in front. True tunnel vision due to the weather. It never did cool off that much as much as I had hoped, but it was definitely nice compared to sun in the afternoon to run in. Somewhere in the night I was eventually caught by the 3rd place runner, Lindsay, whom overtook me and kept going. Her pace was stronger at the time, so I did not try to hang on.

Loop 12 I was stumbling my way back to the end of the loop and felt like a zombie sleep walking. This is my normal ultra early morning demons where i struggle through the natural circadian rhythms of your body trying to tell you to sleep as you resist and try to continue forward. For me this always happens around 4-6 am just before the sunrise. I have experienced many times and dread that feeling. I grinded out that loop and sitting in my chair at the start finish eating some mashed potatoes I saw Matt coming in to finish his loop. He had lapped me, and was now 10 km ahead, a full loop. I still had 40 km to grind out. I tried to run out behind Matt after finishing my potatoes hoping to ride some of his momentum but was too late and did not catch him, so I settled back into my own pace.

The last 4 loops were just a nice steady pace where I had gained some energy back with the last 2 loops when the light from the sun was trying to peer through the still somewhat dense fog. It made for a more spirited finish in terms of my frame of mind. I still thought I was in 3rd place as I had not seen or caught Lindsay again since she passed me in the night hours, I ticked off my final miles and came into the finish with a big smile on my face,  I had completed another ultra, another 100 mile race. I thought I had crossed the line in 3rd place as I never did see the lady (Lindsay) in front of me, however later I found out she had stopped between loops at some point where i passed her back again and never knew it. Honestly I did not know i had got 2nd instead of 3rd until I got home a couple hours later when I was checking on the live results to see if others I knew were finishing up.

Racing during a pandemic: finish line feels.
Captured by JJustis Photography | Trail Racing Over Texas


Statistics

STRAVA activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/4325194853

UltraSignup Results: https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=78726

Times from UltraSignup of the 12 finishers of Habanero's little cousin: Jalapeno Hundred.

98.23 mi | 21:26:01 | 4,495 ft+ | 13:06 mi/min average | 2nd overall

x16 loops - 1:15:27 average | 1:00:12 min (loop#1), 1:33:45 max (loop#14)

x15 interloop aid - 05:14 average | 00:30 min, 12:15 max | 45:04 total time

My own excel spreadsheet data of my loop-interloop times.

Awarded a finishers medal and got to pick a buckle from a large selection of random special buckles. I picked out an eagle. Pretty neat idea as each buckle was unique.

Gear Used

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