STORMY 100 Race Report - The 10th Anniversary!

“What are you, a meteorologist????” It began with rain...

It’s amazing what I’ll let friends talk me in to. That’s how I think of STORMY 100 miler many months after I signed up earlier this year. My friend, Ean “Action” Jackson, exudes the type of persuasiveness that is just the sort to make me wonder: “should I REALLY do this???”, but then he makes it sound like it would be the best thing in the world and I’d feel like a fool to turn down such an awesome opportunity.

So, I put my name in for the race and decided I’d stack up a heavy duty Spring racing schedule so I’d have no excuses not to train. Not that I was taking those events early in the year lightly, but my “big” race for the year was UNDOUBTEDLY going to be STORMY. I really wanted to “show up” for this one!

Best of all, my wife Lauren was going to be able to make this race with me. Although Lauren was the lynch pin on my run across the state of Missouri in the Spring of 2009, she’s never been able to accompany me and crew on a 100-miler before. I knew this would make a huge difference.

“A STORMY is a brewin’: Off to Vancouver…”

Thursday I was off to Vancouver and Lauren would be flying in a day later on Friday. Since I was planning this so far in advance I was able to coordinate catching up with a few people on my way to Tinsel/Jackson Estates (Ean & Sibylle’s House) in North Vancouver, which would serve as race headquarters for Ean and I. Ean, who was putting in a whopping 30k (18 miles) a week in training, decided the Tuesday before the Saturday start of STORMY that he was bumping up from the 50-mile to the 100-mile race! Can you say “CRAZY”? Flights in to YVR were more or less on time, and I was able to meet up with good friends (and barbecue ninjas) Kristie & David Congram. We shared some sushi at YVR, then they gave me a ride to a Sky Train station close to Kristie’s office so I could spend  a few extra minutes with them and see their wonder-dog, Jake. Then I caught the Sea Bus to North Van. Great to see those Congrams!

The Sea Bus landed me at Lonsdale Quay after a nice 10 minute ride across the water from Vancouver, and I started the long walk up the hill along Lonsdale to hunt down Gary Robbins at North Shore Athletics near the intersection of 12^th & Lonsdale. With some heavy luggage in tow, I figured this would be my last good hill workout prior the race ;-) Gary was fresh off a wicked outing of aid station volunteering at Fat Dog 100 a week or two before, and just a couple of days off of a record setting run on the West Coast Trail. AWESOME! He was in good spirits & worked hard to convince me that a 24hr STORMY 100 was “in the bag” for me, and that I had a legit shot at breaking 20hrs. Yeah, right GR. But thanks for the vote of confidence, anyhow! Little did I know, Gary wasn’t far off. His intuition amazes me because we’ve never had the chance to share a run together.

After chatting with Gary for a bit & wishing him luck on his upcoming East Coast Trail record attempt I marched further up the hill to Ean & Sibylle’s to find their son, Eric, in a water hose fight with some friends on this gorgeous sunny day. Eric was certainly enjoying his summer break! Sibylle & the kids had just completed some peak bagging on the North Shore, so while they cleaned up, I settled in to my room, organized some gear, and got online to keep some contact with friends back home in the States.

Ean made it home from work at about 6:30pm and Sibylle (as usual) put together a phenomenal dinner. To settle my evening meal, I decided to take a short run (just 3 or 4 miles) up and down Mosquito Creek near the Tinsel/Jackson residence. It was a nice evening for running. Upon my last few hundred meters to the house I was passed by none other than David Crerar in his car on the way to Ean’s! He must have been headed there to give Ean a good-night kiss ;-) (long story). It was nice to catch up with David, and I turned in for a fairly early evening so I could get up early to go for a 10k run with Sibylle and her neighbor &  friend, Caroline.

The morning run on Friday was beautiful. Sibylle, Caroline & I ran a nice comfortable pace along the North Shore hills and climbed up past the Grandpa Capilano Tree to Cleveland Dam at Capilano Lake. It’s a BEAUTIFUL scene! Then, we made our way back down to Sibylle’s house. It was a good way to break up the cobwebs. Somehow, I managed to fix a vacuum for Sibylle in an effort to make myself useful while mooching off of T/J EstatesJ Lauren was on her way in, and although the traffic from the airport slowed her down a bit, we had a nice afternoon of shopping for a few last minute race gear needs and grabbing a sushi snack before heading back to T/J estates for dinner. In bed pretty early, and Ean and I were keen to get up to Squamish in the morning to give the 100 the good ‘ol college try!

“The road to Squamish…”

Lauren, Ean and I loaded up the car to make our way up for the 10am start. Sibylle and the kids would be meeting us later. We stopped by STORMY race founder and 100-mile participant Paul Cubbon’s house to give him a lift to the start. Paul, like me, keeps his hair “closely cropped”. Ok, so actually, he’s shaved his head to the skin, just like me. Perhaps we keep our hair a ‘little’ shorter than cropped. In any case, he’s a dashing young lad, if you ask my opinion! Paul, Ean, Lauren and I chatted the 50 minutes away as we drove HWY99 along Howe Sound in to Squamish and the race start area.

Although there were only about 25 100-mile solo participants, it was a surprisingly quiet scene near Brennan Park Recreation Center. We had learned in the morning that a massive land-slide near Whistler (about 1hr north) had transformed Brennan Park area in to the refugee overflow campground for those affected by floods & mud-slides. Fortunately for us, it didn’t affect the race and it was “GAME ON” at 10am as planned!

Ean had helped me strategize for the race, and since he was less focused in his training, we agreed to (somewhat) stick together for the 1^st 50k or so and see how things would unfold. Ean was shooting for 26hrs and I was clueless what I was capable of. Being perfectly honest here, I’ve done nothing but BLOW UP at my only other two extra-long distance (100 mile & 24hr race) attempts, so I didn’t have really high expectations. I figured I had an outside chance at cracking 24hrs, but finishing was the goal.

Race director, Wendy Montgomery, clearly had things in order. You could tell by the set up at the Start/Finish area (it’s a 50-mile loop the 100-mile participants run twice) that this was going to be a class act event. Quite literally like clock-work, Wendy had us gathered up and ready to go at 5 minutes to 10am. Weather was rainy and cool. Most people might complain about that, but coming from the constant 100+ degrees & 70%+ humidity in St. Louis Missouri, this weather was a complete DREAM for me. Besides – I had all the rain gear & cold weather gear I would need, just in case.

In the end, I decided that my two 20oz handheld bottles would be enough, and I would pick up my headlamp from Lauren later on. With the stash pockets in my bottles I can carry about 12 salt caps and a couple of gels. My shorts had Velcro pockets too, which allowed me to stash another 4 gels – perfect! The aid-stations would be well-stocked, so no need to travel “heavy”.

”GO TIME – the clock is ticking…”

At 10am sharp, Wendy had us off. It’s about 4.5 miles (from sea level) through some paved roads & neighborhoods (then a small climb on the trail) to aid-station #1, Perth Road. As planned, I tried to stick with Ean, Rick Arikado & Paul Cubbon. Mostly, we stayed together, but I wasn’t “feeling it” yet. It takes me a while, on any run, to get going. So I shuffled along just trying to find my legs & lungs. Perth came & went, then we made our way to Alice Lake – another 4 miles away. About 10 of us came in to this aid-station together, and they somehow missed recording me checking in, but we straightened that out later (I had a lot of witnesses!). Nothing super eventful happened from mile zero to mile 25, other than encountering AWESOME aid-station volunteers, Lauren & Sibylle along the way.  Ean and I made our way to the first “real” climb from Perth Road to the University aid-station and the loop/climb past it. Wisely, Ean suggested we power-hike the majority of it and it was a good call. On the technical & fast downhill back out of University, I mentioned to Ean to go ahead – that I would be taking it super easy on the way down to save my quads for later. He decided to stick with me and keep me company – what a guy! By the time we made it back to University on our way out, Lauren hand delivered a CHEESEBURGER each to Ean and me! YUMMY! I have to say, 5 minutes after I ate that I felt like a million-bucks!

Still just Ean and me, probably in 6^th or 8^th place – something like that, as we headed from University to Powerhouse aid-station at mile 28. I don’t know what got in to me (maybe a cheeseburger?) but I was really feeling like GOING as we approached it. I decided to go on ahead of Ean. The problem is, it’s the start of the largest hill on the course. Roughly, a 1,500ft climb in about 6 miles – dubbed “9-mile hill”. The hill is named as such because it really is 9 miles from the highway to the top, but the STORMY course picks up the hill about 2.5 miles in from the highway, so “only” a 6.5 mile climb for us. Thank goodness! I left Powerhouse aid-station before Ean and was starting to feel good, so I hammered the mile or so to the steep climbing and marched hard where I had to, then ran the smoother sections of 9-mile hill. It’s a GORGEOUS section of the course with stunning views and a roaring river as you near the top. When I arrived at the aid-station near the top of the hill I was relieved to have survived the hill, only to learn there was another (steeper) 10 minutes of hiking up until I would get to start back down. Darn!

The back side of 9-mile was a complete dream to run. It’s practically wheel chair accessible (almost groomed trail) on a grade that allowed for some great downhill running. I made really good time coming off the mountain back down to the Powerhouse Plunge section. Powerhouse Plunge was extremely technical, but a lot of fun! I was making good time and had passed a couple of runners on 9-mile & Powerhouse Plunge, so my spirits were on the rise. Upon arrival at the Powerhouse aid-station Lauren greeted me with a kiss & a headlamp. It was about 7.4 miles back to the start/finish area, but it was getting dim out and a little dark in the more heavily shaded sections of the course. Head lamp intact, I bolted down the hill to get myself through Smoke Bluffs, the last technical section on the loop before the very flat & runnable couple of miles back to the start/finish. I really wanted to get through loop 1 before dark – sort of a tall order considering the 10am start.

I came through the start/finish aid-station in 10hrs on the nose. Probably a bit fast, and figuring on the typical “rule”, I guessed I would be 13hrs or more on the second loop. Lauren walked along side me for the first 10 minutes so as I departed for my second loop and I wolfed down another CHEESEBURGER! These things were really doing the trick!

“Lap 2, THE RACE BEGINS…”

I managed to pass a few runners on the 1^st big climb (but second time around at it) from Perth Rd up to University aid-station. Upon entering the aid-statin, the volunteers at University informed me that (although substantially behind 1^st) I was in 2^nd place. HOLY SMOKES!!!!  I don’t necessarily consider myself competitive, but I kept meeting & passing runners as I made my way around the 2^nd loop in the dark & mist. Inevitably, I’d hang with someone a while, then end up going on ahead. I always expect to hit a low in an ultra. Most ultra-runners know the adage: “If you ever start feeling good in an ultra, DON’T WORRY, you’ll get over it!”. However, I was approaching mile SEVENTY FIVE and was feeling pretty spicy!  My adrenaline really got up when I saw another runner ahead of me that I had passed an hour before. WAIT. I passed him an hour before, but now he’s 5 minutes ahead of me??? I never saw him pass me back. WTF?!? I caught him at Powerhouse aid-station, said “hi”, and otherwise tried to mind my own business. He was out of there quickly and my blood started to boil. I couldn’t figure out what happened. This turned out to be “make it or break it” time. I started running sub-7’s out of Powerhouse aid-station to catch up. Neither of us could figure out what had happened, because we were both sure we hadn’t seen each other on University loop, which we’d had to have if he passed me because the check in is the same as the check out on that section. Well, adios Amigo, I was on a mission at this point. I knew I didn’t miss any turns or short-cut anything on the course – turns out the other runner had taken a wrong turn, which ultimately resulted in a DQ/DNF. A major bummer, because this guy was running well.

I worked through 9-mile and the subsequent downhill as fast as I could muster. I made the 14-mile loop back to Powerhouse in exactly 3 hours, which was pretty good considering I was now at 92 miles and this included the largest climb on the course. One last high-five from Lauren, and I was off to tackle the last 7 miles, or so, back to the finish!!!

I was sure glad to see speedster Andy Nicol working my very last aid-station (for a second time). I asked Andy if he had a radio, because I was curious if he had any idea how far behind 3^rd place was. Unfortunately, he didn’t & he (wisely) suggested I get my ass moving and NOT CHANCE it. Good call, Andy!

I worked hard to get myself to Smoke Bluffs for the last time – running where I could, marching the technical and short up-hills where I had to.

I knew it was a short time until I’d be able to open it back up and run all the way to the finish. I couldn’t believe I was 98 miles in to a run and KNEW I could run the rest of the way.

Run, I did. I think I caught the start/finish line workers a little by surprise. The 1^st place runner, Jason Loutitt, had blistered the course in 19hrs 14mins, so I can’t blame them for figuring the rest of us were somewhere still a long way off. I rolled through the finish a little past 6:30am on Sunday in 20hrs 34mins 10sec, far beyond my wildest dreams and was ALL SMILES! Loop 1: 10hrs even, and my second loop was a very consistent 10hrs 34min. Good enough for second place! 

Lauren was there to greet me with a congratulatory hug & kiss, and RD Wendy Montgomery awarded me my finisher belt buckle and STORMY technical shirt. Lauren and I spent the rest of the day under the now sunny skies on a blanket drinking a few beers & watching other finishers come in. Ean made it through in an amazing 25hrs & change. He’s a beast. I’m serious when I say this guy didn’t really train, but he really broke one off for the 10^th anniversary of STORMY – way to go, Ean – good on you bro! Ean is truly a hero to me for so many reasons, but this was another shining example of why.

It was SO fun to catch up with all of my Canadian friends post-race. The barbecue was amazing, and the camaraderie was even better. Jackson and I celebrated our accomplishments with several beers and that was that.

As I write this now, I still don’t think this has really set in. Many thanks to everyone who helped me through the race. STORMY is a class act event. I appreciate all of the volunteers & Wendy  - they all did an amazing job! Thanks especially to Lauren for crewing me through my best ultra yet. You’re the difference maker Lauren!

Many, MANY additional thanks…

I also had TONS of other support in preparing for the 100-miler. Namely, Sports Medicine & Training Center in Webster Groves, Missouri kept me healthy through a GRUELING Spring season of racing, including Howard L. Aslinger 24hr, Double Chubb 50k, Berryman 50-mile & The North Shore Enduro 6hr. Scott, Rachel & Becky – thank you – the three of you are miracle workers!

More support came by way of my Crazy Canuck friends in Vancouver. All of the Club Fat Ass crew were helpful in training suggestions, strategy and good ‘ol plain friendship. There are nearly too many to name, so at risk of leaving anyone out, I’ll just say that you Club Fat Ass’ers know who you are ;-). They are really a special bunch, but then again, I think you have to be “special” to want to run 100 miles!

Also, from north of the border, I got some training tips and suggestions on how to prepare for STORMY’s course from none other than Canadian SUPER STUD and (still) STORMY 100 course record holder Gary Robbins. His advice helped a LOT. Rounding out the Canadian contingent of advisors and support was Ferg Hawke, Canadian endurance legend. Among many things, I got this critical bit of advice from Ferg: “Maybe if you go out slower you’ll enjoy the back half a little more”. So true, Ferg!

Back home in Missouri, the St. Louis Ultra Runner’s Group had been putting together all kinds of awesome training weekends & fun runs. It’s a talented bunch of guys & gals and I can’t really express how thankful I am that they are always out on the weekends to share a run with. What a bunch of animals these folks are!

I especially want to thank Travis Liles, my good friend & training partner, who set HIGH standards for preparation and pushed me to train hard. Namely, the back-to-back 20 milers we put together a couple of weeks back within a couple of hours of each other (and overnight) when it was 100+ degrees!

Great to see everyone out there at STORMY, including: Ryne Melcher, Rick Arikado, Randy Duncan, Tim Wiens, Paul Cubbon, Enzo, Craig Moore, Jackie Muir, John Machray, David Papineau), and many others. Hope I didn’t miss any of you, but you know who you are!

Ean: Thanks for pushing me to sign up and prepare. I owe you one, brother! You really did one up for the 10^th anniversary of a great event!