South of the Border
Rocky Raccoon 2009
A Family Affair
People often ask me why I run 100 miles, generally with a look of bemusement or horror upon their faces. While there are many answers; I like a challenge, I like running in the mountains, I really like being able to eat anything I want, I like the way it forces me to stay in shape, the real reason is to be able to share with my family our favorite obsession- long distance running.
This February at the 100 mile Rocky Raccoon race the concept of family broadened to include my nephews Cameron, Christopher and Mattie, my brother Jeff's boys, Christopher and Cameron running the 50 mile Rocky with my Dad, super star 77 year old Grant Holdaway.
The day before the race Mattie handily won the mile event, the Holdaway running genes showing early for a 12 year old.
We were hoping for cooler weather but as the week progressed the temperatures kept rising in the forecast and it looked like high 70 or low 80. Both Dad and I started out with tights as I hate to be cold but shorts would have been better. I was so ready to strip down after the first loop.
It has been estimated that the changes in the course format added about 10-15 minutes per loop. I know that the first loop took me 4 hours and 24 minutes, 9 minutes more than I wanted surprising me as I was moving well. It was lovely to see crew chief Alex (my long suffering husband), Karen (Jeff's long suffering wife) and Ben, a grandson who was there to pace Dad on the 2nd and 3rd loops, at the start-finish and it made for a fast aid station split.
The second loop was hot and my hands were starting to look like baseball mitts. I continued to run where I could and I enjoyed seeing Cameron and Christopher on the out and backs. They were looking strong and barely dressed, so we started calling Cameron "naked boy" as we passed several times with the obligatory "looking good".
My split was 4:51, 6 minutes over my projected splits but with the heat and the changes I was still hanging on. Alex and Karen made the perfect pit stop crew, in and out, a shoe change for my poor swollen feet and out we go. Karen commented that I was looking good and "hardly whining" adding that she had seen me much worse. Only family gets away with remarks like that.
It was during the third loop that I ran into Dad and Ben on the Dam road. He was having bad problems with his feet. Barking orders at poor Ben, I found tape and blister pads in the bottom of my pack and we had him taped up and ready to go in no time. Off into the heat and just trying to run to finish the 3rd loop. A split of 5:29 which was dead on for my projected time and almost a half hour less than 2007 finished out the 60 miles.
For the fourth loop I picked up crew chief Alex and off we went into the night. I had eaten a long awaited veggie burger at the aid station and it was not sitting well with my stomach and the heat. The first hour was just about not puking which really slowed things down.
I also had taken the first of my caffeine pills for the night and the pit stops began to add up. My forays off trail into the bushes also put me in contact with some sort of poison oak which left me with huge blisters on both ankles after the race. I had seen several armadillos through-out the afternoon and now after dark the little critters were everywhere making an amazing racket in the bushes. Fortunately there were no alligator sightings and not even a raccoon to be seen. The moon had risen and if not for the 70 miles now on my feet it would have seemed serene but it was all about relentless forward motion. Because of the out and backs I had seen Jeff several times through-out the day and as we finished our fourth loop he passed us on his fifth -off to his finish.
While happy for him it was all about a quick turn-around for me and out on our last loop. My fourth loop was a blistering 6:36, 20 minutes slower than 2007, my feet were hammered and I was having serious cramping problems. In retrospect I think that the total lack of heat training coming from winter running in Mexico with temps of 40-50 had ill prepared me for 80 Texas weather. I also had underestimated my salt needs so was into severe electrolyte unbalance. While I had no idea how I was going to keep going there was no choice and so we left for the fifth and final loop.
The whole race my goal had been to finish before 10am to be able to shower at the end. I kept telling myself, pick it up, that shower is waiting. It became my whole focus on the last loop. I knew check-out was 11am at the hotel and I had to be there before then. It didn't matter that I had until noon to finish the race-it was all about that shower and it became both the carrot and the stick through that last loop. One of the aid stations was called aptly named the "Dam Road" and we went through it twice on every loop. The volunteers were amazing, helpful, cheerful and always lying through their teeth.
As we passed through for the final time one of the women said "looking good" and I laughed as I knew that I looked anything but. "No" she said, "really, you're amazing". I chuckled about that for the next 15 minutes. My cramping was now so severe that I couldn't use my Holdaway walk and so devised a little stutter run, throwing my hips forward with every step. Heavens but my feet hurt. Alex was invaluable here, as every time he saw a runner, he would tell me to picture them as prey, channel Jeff and "go, get them". We passed at least 8 runners on the last 4 miles, probably 12 on the last loop.
As we wended our way through those last 3 miles, making it the 10th time for me as they were repeated on the out and back Alex spotted the Start-finish just a bit ahead of us. As he excitedly pointed it out to me I pointed to the trail markings which would take us in the opposite direction. We still had over a mile to the finish. He also kept saying "you can break your time...you can have a PR" as I just groaned and kept stutter wogging. Finally with the finish line in sight we broke into a bad attempt at running and crossed in 28:13, a PR by 7 minutes. I immediately lay down on the finish mat, with the chip beeping away, I was done. The final loop in 6:48, six minutes better than 2007 and we were immediately off to hit the showers. Ben had gotten up early to be at the finish line for me, what a trooper and he ferried us back. Unfortunately we missed part of the award ceremony but Mattie accepted for me, 3rd in my age category.
Team Holdaway triumphed, all six runners from one family finishing, certainly a first for any ultra race.
As always these 6 runners could not have done it without our spectacular crew. Alex, Karen and Ben kept us going and moving forward through-out some rather hideous problems, we couldn't have done it without them. A big thank-you to Joe & Joyce Prusaitis, a superbly run race with the best volunteers and pampering that I have ever experienced. Definitely a race to repeat.