Jason and I packed up and drove down Thursday night the 16th. We arrived a little after 12am so we quickly picked out our camping spot and crawled into our sleeping bags. The next morning we were greeted with coffee by Floyd and his wife Janette the owners of the camp site (great people who were fantastic all weekend)! For Breakfast we headed down the main Lake city drag and ended up at Mean Jeans Coffee House, where we indulged on a couple of burritos and topped out our caffeine levels. Post breakfast we spent the rest of the morning strolling around town doing the tourist thing while we waited on my brother and his lady to show up.
Following my brother and Annie’s (my brother’s lady) arrival we went to the check-in. It is fairly interesting when you are at an event that you are the only participant that has not qualified. However, I felt more than prepared to suffer alongside everyone else. I dropped my Special needs bags off and decided it was time for some dinner and relaxation. Following our delicious feast we went back to the campsite for an early bedtime. While getting ready for slumber I realized that a competitor camped next to me was someone I knew through a mutual friend, and had actually been feeding me advice via email. His name is Ray Churgovich (Hawaiian Shirt Ray http://www.hawaiianshirtray.com/), a more than accomplished ultra runner who has too many 50, 100, and 24 hour runs than I could fit in this article. Ray also just won the 24 hour run in Laramie, WY! We quickly chat, and I picked his brain for some last minute details.
I Slept pretty well the night before the race, and awoke ready to run. Jason and my brother had everything ready to go for the grueling time to ensue, so all I had to do was focus on the task at hand. Following some coffee, the racers all lined up and waited for the gun to go off.
The start of an Ultra was interesting to me being that you start so easily. No punching, sky rocketing heart rates, gasping for air, drooling, just a simple jog. We headed out of town for about .5 of a mile which we ran super easy, and then the road went up, up, and up. The 50 miles of “riking” had begun. By “riking”, I mean run hiking. The course was so steep that it forced walking, also weird for me to be forced to walking this early in a race. By the time we reached the top of the fist climb the true leaders were gone, but there was no way I was going to go out too hard. I was of the mindset to go an hour slower if that is what it was going to take to enjoy this experience. At about mile 12 I was passed by a female, the leading female, Tina Lewis. Super friendly lady who had done this race the year before as well as Leadville 100, and being that I will be attempting that as well this year we struck up a conversation. The course was not only physically challenging, it took a lot of mental fortitude as well. You were constantly monitoring your footing or trying to navigate the course. We went of course numerous times, but somehow never veered far enough to self destruct. Tina told me after about or third detour not to follow her lead because her directional sense was horrible, I didn’t have the guts to tell her this was a skill I was not to gifted with either.
Once we got to mile 22 we hit an aid station that both my brother and Jason were waiting at. Jason took my bag filled it with water while my bro distracted me for a bit with a conversation. It is a great thing to have such support at a race such as this it frequently becomes the one thing that gets you through certain periods. After the aid station began about 8 miles of road, which was probably the hardest part, as you felt the need to run the whole time. The openness of the road also left you smoldering in the bright sun, and subject the passing cars stirring of dust. After being alone for the entire road section Tina finally caught me as we turned to climb up to the divide. Though there is minimal conversation during this type of event it is nice to know you are not the only one suffering. We were also joined by a chemistry teacher from NC that was very friendly and talkative This was by far the most trying part of the course. The climb was heinous and it led too many miles at 13,000 ft. The air was thin I was tired and we still had around 15 miles to go. However, I knew once we dropped of the divide there would be about 6 miles of downhill (descending was the most intimidating part of the race to me, it destroyed my legs), and then I would meet up with Jason who would lead me the last 10 miles. As we hit the decent Tina turned on the Turbo boosters and decided to drop me like a sack of potatoes. She ended up beating my by 20 minutes, all gained in only ten miles!
Getting to the mile 40 aid station and seeing my brother, Annie, and a ready to run Jason was sight for sore eyes. I had ten miles left and it would be over. However, the last ten miles included some major climbing and one last muscle ripping, teeth grinding, tear provoking decent. Jason let me take the lead as we started our last ten miles, but I soon forced him to lead so I could just stare at his feet until I could look up and see the finish line. With much poking, prodding, and emotional support Jason got me up the final accent and down the final decent into town. We hit the last mile of road into town at a blistering pace (probably 11 minute miles ) I had to walk a bit before the finish line, but I made sure to do it out of site, and just long enough to give me the energy to run down the finishing chute.
The San Juan Solstice 50 was a fantastic event! Being that they were not sure of the final course until 3 days out, the support, marking, and volunteers were great. The scenery was some of the most spectacular I have ever seen, and the participants were friendly and helpful. Truly a great experience that will most likely lead me to Lake City once again in the near future! Thank you to my wife, brother, Annie, and Jason. I could not do these things without the support. Special thanks to Jason who helped plan, pack, and organize me and all the technical aspects of this undertaking.
Thanks to NEWTON for providing me with great shoes that I feel I can honestly say I pushed to the limit, and am still running in!
Great report Josh!
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