Pandora’s Box Of Rox Double Marathon
Trail Karma Vs. The Ego
(profanity included)
One of the wonderful things about the sport of ultra running is that it keeps me humble - every time I start to feel any overconfidence, I get my ass handed to me in a very natural manner. This past weekend I ran/hiked Pandora’s Double Marathon and was able to finish, but with a proper dose of humility. I have been training for the past 20 months using the Maffetone method, but I made my own adaptations because I’m special (insert sarcasm font). Never mind how many athletes Phil Maffetone has helped or what diet he recommends. If I feel like I am fat-burning, that’s good enough for me, but that’s not really how it works. It also helped when other runner friends would email me and ask me questions about Maffetone training - as long as others had the perception that I was onto something profound, that helped me think I really knew what I was doing. This was the second year I was attempting the Tejas 250 - this includes five fifty-mile races in a six month period. I also threw in two one-hundred kilometer races in the same time frame and a mountain 50 miler. (Ego calculator: 2 years/ 11x 50-mile races + 2x 100K= 750 ego points)
On Friday afternoon, I headed out to Reveille Peak Ranch, got there in time for packet pickup, and found my favorite camping spot open. I set up my truck tent, grabbed a couple of beers and cold pizza, and sat down in the pavilion to chat with race director, Chris McWatters. It was nine o’clock before I knew it and I headed to get some sleep. The wind was picking up, but it was still warm and did not cool off until midnight.
I met all of the Rockhoppers doing the double at 4:30 AM and was feeling ready to run. I tried to start out easy and had a couple of folks behind me about a mile or so up the trail when the red caution tape blocked our progress - damn it - I hate when my “wrong way” nickname affects others. We all turned around and saw that we had missed the turn off by 25 yards, so it wasn’t that big a deal. We then got to the bottom of the first descent where the first aid station was set up and saw a bunch of other runners who had gone left vs. straight. Somehow I was back in front of a pack of runners and that made it difficult to keep my pace as easy as I wanted. I was sure to watch all of the markers from that point on, but the course was well marked. I am amazed how the course winds up and around the granite dome and doesn’t cross itself. I often think I am going to switchback onto the same trail, but end up in a new place. I ran the first 6 miles or so with Steve McGrew and a girl named Kelsey. She was telling us that her goal was to do a sub-twelve hour race. We were running at a 13:00 pace in the dark, so I thought that sounded like a reasonable goal. Kelsey and I came in from the first loop at 2:52, which was about 7 minutes slower than my first loop time from last year. I was already soaked with sweat and made a quick shirt change, then headed out. (Trail Karma calculator: one brief wrong turn + humidity, which Tom hates= 50 T.K. points)
I made it about a half-mile up the road when I heard the marathon and half-marathon start. I didn’t even make it another half mile before I was having to run in the weeds to stay out of the way. It was fun to see so many friends running by and this kept me distracted for most of the dome section of the loop. I could see that my pace was a little slower and I kept thinking about conserving energy for later in the race. However, I was overheating and started using water to dose my head and stay cool. I was 22 miles into the run, but had 32 to go. I immediately planned to carry 4 x 20 oz. bottles on the next two loops, so I would not run out. As I came back towards the start, I could feel hot spots on both feet and could see that my heart rate was up in the 150’s, despite going easy. I decided to jump in the wading pool when I got back to the start area. I sat in there until my heart rate dropped below 100, which only took about 5-6 minutes. As I sat in the pool, I was surrounded by happy half-marathoners drinking beer. Joanna Brand asked me how my race was and I said “I finished one marathon, I have one to go”. I heard some gasps from others and statements like “you’re incredible”, but I could read the bubble cloud with their thoughts over their heads which said “what an idiot”. I got out of the pool and needed to change all of my gear. I had left my second pair of shoes in my truck, so I walked an extra quarter mile there, changed shorts, walked back, put on trail toes, dry socks, dry shoes, and headed out. It was my slowest transition time ever (about 30 minutes), but I felt pretty good. (Ego calculator: comment about being incredible - 20 points, seeing look on their faces - negative 10 points. Trail Karma calculator: hot spots on feet - 100 T.K. points)
At this point, I decided that the goal was to finish this race and take care of myself. I started to hike and didn’t have any desire to even shuffle the downhills. I made it to the first aid station, sat down to get a rock out of my shoe, and here comes Matt Smith on his last lap. I was happy to see Matt in first place. I would have liked to run with him a little, but we were heading into the dome section, it was getting super hot, my feet were heating up still, so I just walked, and walked, and walked. The rocks were starting to feel sharper under foot and I just couldn’t take advantage of any flat or downhill sections. I left the second aid station and took a big draw on my water bottle of what I thought was cold water, but it was warm Tailwind. I started having dry heaves, but felt a little better after yaking a couple of times. I decided that I was done with Tailwind for the day. I was about to put my headphones in when I heard a rattle and saw a snake disappear into a bush close by. It was relatively small, but this made me pause on the music for a while. I came to a creek crossing and decided to get into the water to cool my feet and calves. As I waded in, I slipped and did a full horizontal plunge. I was laying in the water up to my neck and had to get out carefully to assess the damage: there was a small cut on my hand, but I felt really good and cooled off. I finished the third loop and decided to get in the wading pool again. This time, I kept my wet shoes and socks on, changed shirts, and headed out one more time. This transition was only about 10 minutes. I finally got some brief inspiration to shuffle and decided to try to take advantage of any downhills. I could no longer stomach any bearded brother bars, stinger blocks, or animal crackers, but managed a few dried up oranges at the aid stations. I put my headphones in and no longer cared to listen for rattles from the snickers. Denial would be my best resource now. One of the signs that you are at the back of a race is when you get to an aid station and see all of the leftovers shoveled onto one last plate: 4 pringles, 5 gummy bears, 2 animal crackers, one orange, 3 pickles - that’s the pits. I get it - those poor volunteers are bored to death and want to shut it down, but there are disasters and head cases just around the bend. God bless the volunteers - I plan to do some of that work this next month to get my trail karma right. (No ego points in this round. Trail Karma calculator: dry heaves - 200 points, slipping in water and killing your iPhone 6s in your hydration pack - 4000 points, warm tailwind taste in your mouth - 90 points)
As I shuffled one downhill in the woods, a tree limb picked my sunglasses clean from my visor. I slowly stopped, bent down, put them back on my head, and started on. No less than ten feet later, another tree limb picked them off my head in the exact same manner. I started to laugh out loud as I looked up at the trees and smiled at them playing games with me. Even the trees were going to fuck with me on this day and that was just how it went. I finally made it to the last aid station - 2 miles to go. I knew I was going to finish. A volunteer tried to offer some PB&J with oreos. I told him that I could not take in any calories and just needed to get some ice water to get me home. He said, “maybe some gels?” and I said “OH, HELL NO”. I think I caught him off guard and he said “point taken”. I didn’t mean to react in this manner, but he obviously had no clue what he was suggesting. To him, it looked like sweet packages of maple bacon peach cobbler apple tart goodness. To me, it looked like pullups on the toilet bowl. I got out of there quick and pulled out my phone to call my wife and tell her I was on the last mile. Here was when I discovered my phone in a plastic baggy with a lot of water inside = dead phone. I hobbled in and was able to finish under 14 hours - not my “A” goal, but still a finish. It was wonderful to see Rockhopper Central still up with Rich and Jeanie patiently waiting and supporting the last runners to come in. The very last runner to finish was Kelsey - she had her coach or boyfriend or somebody out on the course urging her on all afternoon. I was really impressed to see her running and working so hard when our paths would cross coming in and out of the transition area. The race results show her to be 20 years old - for some reason, her finish seemed more impressive to me than my finish. I think it is great that we have others to get inspired by - I know I dig it. (Ego calculator - finishing the Tejas 250 - 150 points, 3rd place Masters - 5 points since there was only 3 of us. Trail Karma calculator - trees fucking with me - 3000 points - they really worked together in a clever way. Being offered gels at mile 50 - 150 points)
It seemed like the temperature started to drop almost as soon as I finished. I had been trying my best to cool myself all day, but started to chill within 15 minutes of finishing and couldn’t wait to get a hot shower - freakin trail karma. Chris Russell texted me Sunday morning after the cool front came in. He said “too bad the race wasn’t today”. Yup - that’s how it goes - some days it all goes your way, some days it doesn’t seem it could get any worse. (Trail Karma calculator - cool front immediately after race is over - 8000 points)
I ended up with one mega blister on the pad of my left foot. I guess I am lucky that it protected me as long as it did. At the same time, I miraculously escaped without any chafing issues at all. If you hang around ultra runners, you will hear countless stories about managing your calories, watching for hot spots on your feet, wearing the right gear and watching for chafing. These are real things and nobody is immune. Just when you think you have it all figured out, trail karma will set you straight. Believe me.
Trail Karma - 15,590
Ego - 915
Trail Karma Vs. The Ego
(profanity included)
One of the wonderful things about the sport of ultra running is that it keeps me humble - every time I start to feel any overconfidence, I get my ass handed to me in a very natural manner. This past weekend I ran/hiked Pandora’s Double Marathon and was able to finish, but with a proper dose of humility. I have been training for the past 20 months using the Maffetone method, but I made my own adaptations because I’m special (insert sarcasm font). Never mind how many athletes Phil Maffetone has helped or what diet he recommends. If I feel like I am fat-burning, that’s good enough for me, but that’s not really how it works. It also helped when other runner friends would email me and ask me questions about Maffetone training - as long as others had the perception that I was onto something profound, that helped me think I really knew what I was doing. This was the second year I was attempting the Tejas 250 - this includes five fifty-mile races in a six month period. I also threw in two one-hundred kilometer races in the same time frame and a mountain 50 miler. (Ego calculator: 2 years/ 11x 50-mile races + 2x 100K= 750 ego points)
On Friday afternoon, I headed out to Reveille Peak Ranch, got there in time for packet pickup, and found my favorite camping spot open. I set up my truck tent, grabbed a couple of beers and cold pizza, and sat down in the pavilion to chat with race director, Chris McWatters. It was nine o’clock before I knew it and I headed to get some sleep. The wind was picking up, but it was still warm and did not cool off until midnight.
I met all of the Rockhoppers doing the double at 4:30 AM and was feeling ready to run. I tried to start out easy and had a couple of folks behind me about a mile or so up the trail when the red caution tape blocked our progress - damn it - I hate when my “wrong way” nickname affects others. We all turned around and saw that we had missed the turn off by 25 yards, so it wasn’t that big a deal. We then got to the bottom of the first descent where the first aid station was set up and saw a bunch of other runners who had gone left vs. straight. Somehow I was back in front of a pack of runners and that made it difficult to keep my pace as easy as I wanted. I was sure to watch all of the markers from that point on, but the course was well marked. I am amazed how the course winds up and around the granite dome and doesn’t cross itself. I often think I am going to switchback onto the same trail, but end up in a new place. I ran the first 6 miles or so with Steve McGrew and a girl named Kelsey. She was telling us that her goal was to do a sub-twelve hour race. We were running at a 13:00 pace in the dark, so I thought that sounded like a reasonable goal. Kelsey and I came in from the first loop at 2:52, which was about 7 minutes slower than my first loop time from last year. I was already soaked with sweat and made a quick shirt change, then headed out. (Trail Karma calculator: one brief wrong turn + humidity, which Tom hates= 50 T.K. points)
I made it about a half-mile up the road when I heard the marathon and half-marathon start. I didn’t even make it another half mile before I was having to run in the weeds to stay out of the way. It was fun to see so many friends running by and this kept me distracted for most of the dome section of the loop. I could see that my pace was a little slower and I kept thinking about conserving energy for later in the race. However, I was overheating and started using water to dose my head and stay cool. I was 22 miles into the run, but had 32 to go. I immediately planned to carry 4 x 20 oz. bottles on the next two loops, so I would not run out. As I came back towards the start, I could feel hot spots on both feet and could see that my heart rate was up in the 150’s, despite going easy. I decided to jump in the wading pool when I got back to the start area. I sat in there until my heart rate dropped below 100, which only took about 5-6 minutes. As I sat in the pool, I was surrounded by happy half-marathoners drinking beer. Joanna Brand asked me how my race was and I said “I finished one marathon, I have one to go”. I heard some gasps from others and statements like “you’re incredible”, but I could read the bubble cloud with their thoughts over their heads which said “what an idiot”. I got out of the pool and needed to change all of my gear. I had left my second pair of shoes in my truck, so I walked an extra quarter mile there, changed shorts, walked back, put on trail toes, dry socks, dry shoes, and headed out. It was my slowest transition time ever (about 30 minutes), but I felt pretty good. (Ego calculator: comment about being incredible - 20 points, seeing look on their faces - negative 10 points. Trail Karma calculator: hot spots on feet - 100 T.K. points)
At this point, I decided that the goal was to finish this race and take care of myself. I started to hike and didn’t have any desire to even shuffle the downhills. I made it to the first aid station, sat down to get a rock out of my shoe, and here comes Matt Smith on his last lap. I was happy to see Matt in first place. I would have liked to run with him a little, but we were heading into the dome section, it was getting super hot, my feet were heating up still, so I just walked, and walked, and walked. The rocks were starting to feel sharper under foot and I just couldn’t take advantage of any flat or downhill sections. I left the second aid station and took a big draw on my water bottle of what I thought was cold water, but it was warm Tailwind. I started having dry heaves, but felt a little better after yaking a couple of times. I decided that I was done with Tailwind for the day. I was about to put my headphones in when I heard a rattle and saw a snake disappear into a bush close by. It was relatively small, but this made me pause on the music for a while. I came to a creek crossing and decided to get into the water to cool my feet and calves. As I waded in, I slipped and did a full horizontal plunge. I was laying in the water up to my neck and had to get out carefully to assess the damage: there was a small cut on my hand, but I felt really good and cooled off. I finished the third loop and decided to get in the wading pool again. This time, I kept my wet shoes and socks on, changed shirts, and headed out one more time. This transition was only about 10 minutes. I finally got some brief inspiration to shuffle and decided to try to take advantage of any downhills. I could no longer stomach any bearded brother bars, stinger blocks, or animal crackers, but managed a few dried up oranges at the aid stations. I put my headphones in and no longer cared to listen for rattles from the snickers. Denial would be my best resource now. One of the signs that you are at the back of a race is when you get to an aid station and see all of the leftovers shoveled onto one last plate: 4 pringles, 5 gummy bears, 2 animal crackers, one orange, 3 pickles - that’s the pits. I get it - those poor volunteers are bored to death and want to shut it down, but there are disasters and head cases just around the bend. God bless the volunteers - I plan to do some of that work this next month to get my trail karma right. (No ego points in this round. Trail Karma calculator: dry heaves - 200 points, slipping in water and killing your iPhone 6s in your hydration pack - 4000 points, warm tailwind taste in your mouth - 90 points)
As I shuffled one downhill in the woods, a tree limb picked my sunglasses clean from my visor. I slowly stopped, bent down, put them back on my head, and started on. No less than ten feet later, another tree limb picked them off my head in the exact same manner. I started to laugh out loud as I looked up at the trees and smiled at them playing games with me. Even the trees were going to fuck with me on this day and that was just how it went. I finally made it to the last aid station - 2 miles to go. I knew I was going to finish. A volunteer tried to offer some PB&J with oreos. I told him that I could not take in any calories and just needed to get some ice water to get me home. He said, “maybe some gels?” and I said “OH, HELL NO”. I think I caught him off guard and he said “point taken”. I didn’t mean to react in this manner, but he obviously had no clue what he was suggesting. To him, it looked like sweet packages of maple bacon peach cobbler apple tart goodness. To me, it looked like pullups on the toilet bowl. I got out of there quick and pulled out my phone to call my wife and tell her I was on the last mile. Here was when I discovered my phone in a plastic baggy with a lot of water inside = dead phone. I hobbled in and was able to finish under 14 hours - not my “A” goal, but still a finish. It was wonderful to see Rockhopper Central still up with Rich and Jeanie patiently waiting and supporting the last runners to come in. The very last runner to finish was Kelsey - she had her coach or boyfriend or somebody out on the course urging her on all afternoon. I was really impressed to see her running and working so hard when our paths would cross coming in and out of the transition area. The race results show her to be 20 years old - for some reason, her finish seemed more impressive to me than my finish. I think it is great that we have others to get inspired by - I know I dig it. (Ego calculator - finishing the Tejas 250 - 150 points, 3rd place Masters - 5 points since there was only 3 of us. Trail Karma calculator - trees fucking with me - 3000 points - they really worked together in a clever way. Being offered gels at mile 50 - 150 points)
It seemed like the temperature started to drop almost as soon as I finished. I had been trying my best to cool myself all day, but started to chill within 15 minutes of finishing and couldn’t wait to get a hot shower - freakin trail karma. Chris Russell texted me Sunday morning after the cool front came in. He said “too bad the race wasn’t today”. Yup - that’s how it goes - some days it all goes your way, some days it doesn’t seem it could get any worse. (Trail Karma calculator - cool front immediately after race is over - 8000 points)
I ended up with one mega blister on the pad of my left foot. I guess I am lucky that it protected me as long as it did. At the same time, I miraculously escaped without any chafing issues at all. If you hang around ultra runners, you will hear countless stories about managing your calories, watching for hot spots on your feet, wearing the right gear and watching for chafing. These are real things and nobody is immune. Just when you think you have it all figured out, trail karma will set you straight. Believe me.
Trail Karma - 15,590
Ego - 915