A Bit More On Tunnel Hill

Just a quick addendum to yesterday's post. One of the nice things about Tunnel Hill was that even though I didn't finish the 100 mile, I did get credit for the 50 mile. I just found out that my time of 9:47:15 for the 50 was good enough for 74th place out of 399 and 1st out of 12 in my age group (60-64).

Tunnel Hill 100

It’s been a couple of days, but I needed to step back and digest Saturday’s Tunnel Hill 100 Mile run. I had my second DNF in a 100 mile. I was in great shape. My training had gone well. I had a nice little taper. I even had a crew and pacer in Kibet Rono, a fantastic guy in his own right. My only worry was that the night was going to be a bit cold, at least for me. Predictions of possible high 20s. I am not really a good cold weather runner. Give me heat any day.

So what happened? I’m still not entirely sure. 

We arrived at our motel on Friday about 3:30 pm, checked in, and relaxed for a little while before heading to Vienna for packet pick-up. A nice little crowd was there when we arrived, but it didn’t take long to get everything, including jackets, for Kibet and me. Neither of us really felt like pasta, so we didn’t stay for the meal there. We decided to eat dinner back in Marion close to the motel. Had a nice meal at 17th Street Restaurant and then just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Wake up was at 5:00 am and left to arrive at the start by 6:30 at Vienna Park. The morning wasn’t bad, sun shining and about 38 degrees. By midafternoon, it was supposed to get to about the 55 and sunny. So things were looking pretty good for the day. By 7:15 most of the runners, both 100 and 50 milers, were gathered near the start line, getting ready for the 7:30 gun. Both races combined totaled around 500 runners, one of the bigger gatherings for an ultra that I’ve been in. The only one with more was last year’s JFK 50.

My strategy for the race was to try to duplicate my success at Hennepin last year with the 8 minute run/2 minute walk. At 7:30 am, the gun was fired and we were off. Within a couple of minutes we were on the Tunnel Hill State Trail, a bit crowded, but moving steadily. I was situated about mid pack with at least a couple hundred people in front of me. This was good, but I wondered if I would tend to get in the way when I switched to my walk. The first two walking sessions I did need to really stay to the side of the trail, but after that we started spreading out more quickly than I would have imagined. Things went very smooth through the first aid station and a bit beyond. But about mile 7, I started to get a sharp pain in my right shin which soon after drifted down to the top of the foot and angle area as well. It was totally unexpected, but didn’t slow me down too much. Definitely annoying and at times painful, though. This kept up for about the next nine miles, not getting too much worse, but staying steady. At the Karnak aid station it was time to hit the port-a-john, but with a line, I checked the right shoe. It turned out my shoelace had gotten under the tongue of my shoe and also the gaiter I was wearing seemed to be lined up exactly where the shin pain was. So I fixed the shoe and slid down the gaiter and low and behold, the pain was pretty much gone. It gave me a nice mental boost, but unfortunately, the no pain only lasted about five miles and then returned. I tried changing to a 7/3 strategy, but it didn’t really help much.

The course for the race is a double out and back on the Tunnel Hill State Trail. It is a limestone, gravel and well-groomed dirt trail that is really quite beautiful and non-technical. Not much chance of getting lost. The south out and back was very flat and very straight and at times seemed to go on forever. The north out and back is much more winding and although there is very little up and down, it does have a 2% up that goes on for miles. And, of course, the tunnel is at the north end.

Back at the Start/Finish aid station which is the end of the first out and back at 26.4 miles, the pain continued through and on into the northern out and back. I felt the north section was much more scenic with the trail heading through granite hills just like a road. The terrain was also a bit more varied. And running through the tunnel twice was cool. I continued to run pretty well going back to the 8/2 since it hurt more to walk than run. I was able to hold on to this all the way back to the halfway point and actually got there with some light left. I had been out there for 9 hours and 35 minutes for the first half and except for the right lower leg pain, I felt I was in pretty good shape for the last half. The temperature had started to fall over the last couple of hours, so I needed put on a lot more clothes, tried changing shoes, got some great chicken noodle soup and almost left without my headlamp even though it was dark by this time. Fortunately, I remembered before I left the aid station and I was off a little before 6:00 pm.

The south section seemed so much longer in the dark, but I still was moving well. The pain was getting worse, however, no matter what I did. What was really nice is that this night was the night before the full moon and with a very clear night, we could run a lot of the trail without a headlamp on. It was very peaceful and quite beautiful. By the time I got to about 3 miles to go to the Start/Finish area again at the 76.4 mile mark, I was down to mostly walking and getting colder by the minute. The temps were now down around 29 or 30 degrees. I made it, though, but needed to warm up somehow. My body had been shivering for the last 20 minutes and I couldn’t move fast enough to generate the heat needed to stay warm. I sat in a nice tent with more soup in front of heater and still couldn’t stop shaking. I knew if it was just a case of walking the last 23 plus miles even with the leg problems, I could probably finish in plenty of time under the cutoffs. But it was the cold and the threat of hypothermia that scared me. I actually knew someone who had to drop at the 97 mile mark because of similar problems and his core temperature had gotten very low. I decided to at least start, but within minutes, I knew it was not going to happen. I was shaking so hard and couldn’t run because of the leg, deep down I realized this just wasn’t going to be a finish. I did manage to get over to the guy at the computer and officially dropped and at least in this race, I got credit for a 50 mile finish. 

I felt bad that Kibet never got to pace the last 23 plus miles with me. I was really looking forward to it. But he was a rock with my decision. He was a godsend all day and night long. I could not have asked for a better person to crew. And he even got to pace me for about 5 and half miles on the far southern end and enjoyed it so much. And he not only made my experience fantastic, he helped many of the runners in the race. They just loved hearing his big clapper at every aid station.

So why did I have the problem with the right lower leg? I really don’t know. Was it the gaiters? Was it the shoelaces under the tongue of my shoe? Or was it just something that happened? I had no inclination that this might happen in any of my training runs. They were not new shoes. I had a 41 mile day in them and had no problems whatsoever. I definitely know I need to be more careful with my shoes and gaiters. And at least for anymore 100s, I think I need to be more conservative in my first half pace.

The Night Before

Here I am laying in bed about 8:00 pm in Marion, IL. Tomorrow is the Tunnel Hill 100. I feel ready. It is going to be a little on the cold side for me. Starting temp about 35. Up to about 52 midday and back to mid 30's overnight. Hopefully, I will stay warm enough. Otherwise, I'm ready to go.

Most Miles in a Month

Just a quick note. I had the most miles ever in a month (420.2) this October. This is after over 40 years of running.