The question WHY has been asked so many times in the last year that
it has got me thinking. Why would anyone want to do a 100-mile run and
I have answered people as the occasion has demanded. In fact these two
100’s have become such a big part of my life that I have seriously
asked myself this question and finally I think I have come up with the
answer I was looking for. Running the WS100 I realized that besides
the fact that these runs are an extreme challenge, one goes through
almost every emotion & feeling possible. It is like going through
your entire life in that period of 24 to 30 hours. You feel mind numbing
pain, sadness, happiness, hopelessness, a major thrill when after not
having seen a single person for 3 hours you run into an aid station
with 300 people cheering for you, desperation, absolute fear, hunger,
thirst, brutal heat, bone chilling cold, fatigue, the highest of highs,
the lowest of lows, and yet at the end of it, if you hold on and you
are still standing on your feet your life will never be the same again.
It is a soul cleansing experience. A pure sense of satisfaction. You
come out of it feeling that nothing in life is impossible. When you
come across a tough situation in life you think, if I could do a 100
I can face whatever life throws at me and that is just about as best
as I can put it. So I hope people reading this will never again ask
me the eternal question –WHY. This is why!!
| The idea of running the WS100 started off more as a joke then
anything. But now that I think about it, I guess, it was always
going to happen, sooner or later. That it would be so soon was surprising.
Well visualize this … I had just finished the Vermont 100
in 23 H 18 M, it is 3.30 am and I am tired, very tired and cold.
I sit down. I don’t ever want to run again, don’t want
to walk or do anything. Every one is congratulating me and there
comes Alex gives me a hug and promptly says that I should start
thinking about doing the WS 100 in 2003! All this about a minute
later! If I had any energy left at that time I might have hurt her
but I guess that got the ball rolling. |
 |
Well one cannot just show up and run the WS 100 race. One needs to qualify
with a 100 mile run in under 24 hours or two 50-mile runs under 9 hours
each. I had that under my belt and then one can send in the application
for the lottery. If you get lucky you can go run the mother of all ultra-marathons.
Well I got lucky. So, panic time! How does one train for a race like
this, which is held in the High-Sierra Mountains of California, with
18,000 feet elevation gain and 22,000 feet elevation loss. It starts
in Squaw Valley approx. 6,700 feet altitude and finishes in Auburn,
which is just a little over a 1,000 feet altitude. The highest point
in the race is 8,700 feet with the most spectacular view you could hope
to see. However, more about that later.
Around mid Dec. 2002 I got the letter to run the race. I had already
been running since the 100 in July and so I was in reasonably good shape.
But the severe winter did not do much for my training. I had to find
places to do some down hill running as that is where I had failed in
Vermont. Also, I knew that the Vermont 100 would not even come close
to this one in terms of the intense ups and downs. So I did what I could,
continued my races and tried to do as many long runs as possible. Time
just flew past and it was time for the camp a month before the actual
race. The race organizers hold a camp every year on Memorial Day weekend
to help, mostly, first time runners to experience what they will be
doing a month later. Basically one runs the last 70 miles of the actual
course over three days. The weekend was an eye opener. For the first
time I realized what I had got myself into. The extreme up hills in
the canyons the extreme down hills presiding them. It was exciting,
fun and a lot of hard work! There was also another reason I was thrilled
to be there. I grew up reading books by Louis L’amour, the greatest
American Western writer of our time or maybe of all time. He wrote about
the early years when people came and settled in the United States. He
wrote about the Gold rush in the mining country of California. In fact
most of the trail on which this race is run today was actually traveled
by the people who came to settle this great land. So all in all it was
a great weekend. One down side was that on the second days run I over
extended my IT Band and that kind of continued to bother me. A week
after I got back I was registered to do a 12-hour run for the American
Diabetes Association and that only further aggravate the injury. From
there on I focused on resting my body and more importantly my legs.
Swimming and light weights became the order of the day. Between the
12 hour run and the actual race three weeks later I did not run more
than 5 miles! I was really worried. It is tough enough to try a 100
mile race like the one I was doing 100% healthy, it was absolute lunacy
to try it with an injury. However, I had come too far to back off and
I guess to a certain extent my mind and my heart would not allow me
to do it. So I decided to go for it. Of course worrying was not going
to help me so I just hoped and prayed and rested.
Well the race weekend came, I got to Lake Tahoe and Alex, who was spending
her vacation with her family, came and picked me up. We went the day
before the race for my medical checkup. I weighed in at 144 lbs., my
pressure and pulse was ok, they put a band on my wrist with all theses
details and they pronounced me healthy and sane enough to tow the starting
line. One week after my run I have still not been able to remove the
band. I guess it reminds me that I did actually finished, intact, in
one piece!
The next day we got to the start at the Olympic village in Squaw Valley
at 4.00am. The race was to start at exactly 5.00 am. The atmosphere
was electric. It was as if the whole valley had come alive. The clock
was counting down. Alex and her mom took some photos and I was ready
for the race. 5.00am sharp and we were off and that was the beginning
of my journey.
The race actually starts with a 4.5 mile uphill. In fact we ran about
10 yards and started climbing. By the time we got to Immigrant Pass
it was about 6.00 am and the sun was just coming up over the horizon
with Lake Tahoe in all its glory. Well you had to just stop for a moment
and take this sight in. For me it was like coming to a different place.
Nature in all its magnificence and glory. For a moment I forgot that
I was in a race against the clock and that I needed to move on. We had
gained about 2,200 feet in that 4.5 miles and we started to see snow.
Time and time again we ran through patches of snow. I finally started
feeling the run, the smoothness, at all times trying to protect my left
leg from getting worse. The first time I got to see my crew was at mile
24.6 and the day was becoming hotter. I changed my socks got a bit to
eat and got my water pack from Alex. This is where the race starts,
till now it was a warm-up ….. a 25 mile warm-up!
The next phase of the race (30 miles) was the toughest part. This is
where the run a month ago came into play. I was feeling good …..
relatively speaking. The day was hot, getting hotter. The daytime temperature
was 97 degrees. Normal for this time of year for this area. From 24
miles to about 40 miles the course is rugged, rocky, dusty and brutal
with the worse still to come. I even managed to see a bear. Running
on one of the dense trails I heard a rustling sound about 40-50 feet
away and I turned to see a bear running through the foliage. I guess
he or she did not think me worth chasing! The first tough canyon, ‘Devil’s
Thumb’, a 3.5-mile climb, slow and hot. Temperatures souring to
104 degrees. Average time to climb that canyon – 1 hour 20 minutes.
I remember feeling the heat & dust go through my nose & throat,
whenever I blinked I felt it in my eyes. But I was feeling strong and
I overtook about 12 runners in that canyon. Having come to the top you
get a refill and start to go downhill for another 3 miles followed by
another 4 mile uphill to ‘Michigan Bluff’. Here is where
I finally started to feel the fatigue. A combination of heat, dust and
the shaking of the legs were finally telling. Well ONLY 45 more miles
to go! At Michigan Bluff I took a longer rest time to get my feet looked
at. I was getting a few hot spots and was scared that they would turn
to blisters if I was not careful. So from Michigan Bluff we ran to Forest
Hill, where we finally came to a flat stretch of road which is one of
the only times we would get this luxury.
|
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The next stretch of the run, a 16-mile steep down hill was the worse
stretch of run for me personally. It had got dark, so very dark that
even with a torch it was difficult to run. There was no moon and so
it was very difficult to see the terrain. I fell once quite badly and
twisted my ankle. But it seemed to be fine. I had to slow down. Here
is where I missed a pacer. This 16 miles took me an agonizing 5 and
a quarter hours. This part finally killed any chance of me finishing
under 24 hours.
At mile 78 is where the race kind of gets a bit interesting. We had
to cross the American river, 0.2 miles from one side to the other. This
is also the lowest point in the race. While crossing, the runner gets
submerged up to the hips. The water is fast flowing and the river bed
is very rocky and there is only a rope between you and the prospect
of being floated away by the current. After a sweltering day you would
think the water would be a blessing. Think again. The water temperature
was below 40 degrees! Cold as cold can be. It is funny that for some
runners this is refreshing but for others it can get very uncomfortable.
But one thing is for sure it will wake you up in a hurry. Alex met me
here and she, her mom and Joachim made things as comfortable for me
as possible. I changed shoes, socks and with a bit to eat I started
off again. 20 miles to go. 20 long, long miles as I would find out.
As it had happened in Vermont so was the case here, the night and the
relative cold conditions just hit me hard. I started to walk and sleep
on my feet. Alex had to repeatedly warn me to stay awake and be focused.
I just could not keep my self alert as hard as I tried. I went through
like this for almost 9 miles when finally Alex snapped me out of the
slump. She almost forced me to get moving and not to take the going
so easy. Unfortunately as soon as I realized that I was not going to
make the 24-hour mark I started to slack a bit till it almost took me
over completely. Anyway as day dawned I started to feel my blood flowing
again and got my second wind or was it the third or fourth or fifth
wind I don’t quite remember. Whatever, I started to feel good.
Yes I was just beat up completely but I had to finish from here on.
So as soon as I started to run a bit I started to feel better. But as
things got better something happened that made the going a bit more
challenging. We were running down hill and my legs were dragging a bit
and so I kicked a big stone not being able to get the foot high enough.
For a moment the pain was blinding. I was surprised I did not fall.
At the next aid station I removed my shoe to check my toe and my nail
had already turned black. Alex, meanwhile was feeling tired. It was
amazing to see her as she labored with the run. Keep in mind, this was
her first 20-mile run, she was pacing me, which she had never done before
and as if that is not enough she was doing it on one of the most feared
courses one can run on. She had not slept for almost 24 hours and had
been driving from aid station to aid station to crew for me. What can
I say. It take guts and a resolve as hard as steel to do it. Most of
us would not even think of doing something like this.
 |
Finally we got to the school at about 9.20
am a whole 28 hours and change later. I did the last 350 meters
on the track as the crowd was cheering for all of us. So many
emotions went through me that it is difficult to explain. At heart
I am a romantic and I am quite soft so it took a lot for me not
to cry but that is how I felt. Lot of things had happened in the
months before the race that upset me and created an unnecessary
distraction and having put all that aside and finished in spite
of an injury, that was huge for me. |
The race actually breaks you emotionally and physically piece by piece
but if you perceiver you will come out of it for the better. You will
heal and be stronger. Like someone had said – Pain is weakness
leaving the body. So, 28 H 21 M 48 S and just like that it was over.
The doctors checked my weight, blood pressure and pulse and everything
was as normal as can be expected. I had an awesome massage, a hot shower
and then breakfast. At 2.00 pm we all got the famous belt buckle. It
is big and I am going to need it to keep my pants on my waist. I seem
to be getting lighter and lighter!
On our way back to San Francisco we stopped over in Calistoga and had
a great mud bath followed by a massage and a bath in the hot springs
there. It felt sooooooooooooooo good. A perfect ending, to an almost
perfect trip. A dream come true. Mission accomplished!!
Before I finish I have to say a BIG thank you to Alex, her mom and Joachim.
Without Alex I would have been extremely hard pressed to finish. Her
encouragement and determination pulled me through some tough times.
Also to everyone who helped me get to this point. As we runners know
that the race is the easy part.
In 1992 a runner had said – This is not a race it is a celebration
and that is precisely what it is. A celebration of life, endurance,
the human spirit and faith in ones ability to fall and get up again
to eventually do what one set out to do, in the WS 100 or any other
race and definitely in life.
So until next time. Happy Trails!
June, 2003
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