The next 2 weekends after I have the Canton Marathon and YUTC 50k scheduled and then 1 weekend free with 2 more marathons the following 2 weekends. With such a cool summer we've been having, I decided that I better jump on this soon before it's too late. As of Saturday, the high was suppose to be 84 and then by Sundayday, the high moved up to 88 F so this was my chance.
After some lawn mowing, I was getting hyped up about going home and getting ready for the Hot MHM. I had bought some grapes and strawberries earlier and had watermelon in the fridge, along with 3 ripe pineapples. I had also put about 10 bottles of water in the freezer and washed a couple small coolers for my aid. Before going home, I had one last stop to make, the monkey trail. A large tree had fallen down on the course earlier in the year and branches were all over the place and it was a mess. So, i brought out my saw and cut about 10 branches off the fallen tree so that only 2 logs were left to step over, without hitting your head.
Now, i was ready. I prepared my food which consisted of 2 large containers of sliced fruit, a bag of chips - that i never ended up opening, a box of Ritz crackers, and a bag of mixed energy gels. In the morning, I packed my coolers and headed out. It was just beginning to get light out around 6:45 when I began so no head lamp was needed.
eaten during the run. The bananas weren't even touched.
Right away, there were plenty of deer out there and I kept running close to them the first several laps. One of them, looked like he had a fresh rack as it appeared soft and fuzzy looking. I almost ran into him again later as I was going up towards the love log, coming from the aid station. He was only a couple feet away as he just walked towards the gorge when I came up quickly. I might've been able to reach out and touch the deer if I didn't hop over the log - I was that close, and I sure which I had my camera!
I was wondering if anyone would come out to keep me company besides the deer, which I didn't mind cause they were fun and kept walking in the trail and staring at me. I was also trying to remember how fast I ran them before and was thinking 18 minutes a lap was about right. I hit the first lap in 15:50 and the second in 14:10, then the next 2 in 14:55 and 14:10 and realized it took me about 59 minutes to run 4 laps, which was just under 15 minutes per lap. This was very easy to calculate since I started at 6:45 and every 15 minutes, I would know where I was at. I did the math and realized for 29 laps, that 15 minutes per lap was 7 hours and 15 minutes on the nose. My best time was an 8:15 from my first MHM. I had only run the MHM in December so the weather conditions were much cooler but also icy or muddy like 2013. I knew I had a chance to break my best time and by a lot if I kept it up, and from that point, I made 7:15 my goal.
After about 8-9 laps, Cory McCuster came out for a few laps. He was trying to talk me into running Hallucination with him in a couple weeks, but it is the same weekend as Canton, so I would have to find a replacement pacer if I decide to go. I thought that I would slow down quite a bit with Cory, but he ran the first 2 laps with me at about the same pace I was running before he arrived. He then said that he was planning to walk the next one since he was tapering. We then grew farther apart as I continued with my pace. I decided that I wanted to catch Cory and began running harder. I ran a 15:15, 14:15 and then an 11:30 to catch him. We ran his last loop together in 14:55 and then he went on to run a couple more miles on flat trails since his 100 miler was much flatter. I thanked him for coming out and continued on, knowing I was halfway done and still felt fresh,
At this point, lap 16, I had lots of watermelon and pineapple, 2 energy gels and then 1 bottle of water. I was carrying a bottle the whole time as I brought 6 cold bottles and 4-5 frozen bottles. As it began getting warmer, I consumed more and more water and began diggining into the strawberries and grapes. By mile 22, I had used the flush bathroom and had consumed about half of the other fruit container with grapes and strawberries.
I felt like I hit some sorta wall too around lap 20. I was writing down the time of day for each lap, so I knew about how long each one was taking but then my 5 minute cushion for breaking 17:15 dropped to 2 minutes, and then went over... I ran up 2 of the hills that I normally walk, and dropped my lap time to 14:10 and then ran one of them dropping to 14:55. It seemed so tough. On lap 25, I hit the bathroom again, this time splashing water on my face and soaking my hat with water. I had walked more and more finishing the lap in almost 19:00 and thinking to myself, "I have 4 loops left, if I hit them all in 20 minutes, then I will be close to running 7hrs 35min. Still a good time, but far from the original goal.
With 4 laps to go, I kept making myself run when I found myself walking... lap 26, I carried a bag sleeve of Ritz crackers, first time having something besides fruit or a gel, I ate them as I walked through the grass towards the trail, then ran the trail down to the road and ate them as I climed the first hill up. It was just over 17 minutes... I didn't think I was going to be able to pull that one off again though, with the way I was feeling. Lap 27 came and it sure seemed slow, but I hit it just under 16 minutes. Two laps to go, I told myself. I started off normal going to the road and decided to take one last energy gel in hopes that I would feel better, if not that lap then the last lap.
By the time I hit the aid station, I was 4.5 minutes into the run, about normal and then kept on going, kept thinking that after this one I would only have 1 more left. I began running normal again and realized that I was over halfway done and I could run under 7:25. Then realized I could be under 7:20 if i ran 15 the last 2 laps. That was and encouraging thought, my adrenaline kicked in and I began running faster finishing that lap in 14:25.
One to go! I decided to drink the rest of my water bottle and toss it in the aid station and run the entire last lap. I ran down to the road and began running up the hill... The first hill is the steepest of them all and I slowed down to a walk for a brief second then began running it easy. I kept hitting all the hills and even the love log hill on the way back... I knew that I was making good time and would be closer to 7:15 that I thought. I ran up the last hill hard and finished at 2:01:32. I didn't know exactly what time I started and when I looked back it was 6:45:40, so that gave me a finishing time of 7:15:52.
I smashed my personal record of 8:15 by an hour and was really happy that I somehow still hit my goal when the heat began getting to me. I knew that I was close to the course record. Heath Harris ran it last year somwhere about 7 hours but wasn't sure what. I now realize that even when it feels super hot and much, much tougher, that I might not be going as slow as I think. I thought for sure I would be hitting 20 minute laps as the night before, I looked at the splits for 2013 MHM and had 5 laps near the end averaging over 21 minutes per lap, and that was in the cold! Well, more like mud! Last year it took me 9:18:50 in all the mud we had.
walking around after the MHM.
Believe it or not, this is one of my favorite events to run all year even though it is self-timed and isn't legit. It's still super tough, metally makes me a stronger runner and is somehow fun before I feel like quitting lol. Also fun when I hit the last lap. I think all 3 years now my fastest lap was the very last one, which means that it's a mental game for me and I have more in the tank then I realize. If I can run 28 laps climbing over 12,500 feet and then run the last one faster than any of the others, I am strong, mentally and should be able to run a 100 miler well.
Below are the lap times:
1 - 15:50 11 - 14:55 21 - 16:20
2 - 14:10 12 - 15:10 22 - 16:15
3 - 14:55 13 - 15:15 23 - 14:10
4 - 14:10 14 - 14:15 24 - 14:55
5 - 13:50 15 - 11:30 25 - 18:50
6 - 14:50 16 - 14:55 26 - 17:15
7 - 14:20 17 - 15:50 27 - 15:55
8 - 14:35 18 - 14:15 28 - 14:25
9 - 15:05 19 - 15:30 29 - 10:42
10 - 15:45 20 - 16:00
I now have strong plans of running my first 100 miler next year, probably in San Diego. I know I have yet to run over 10 hours and need more experience in that area. I would like to experiment with shoes and nutrition in the next several months. Maybe a couple times this year but for sure next year after I register for one of them.
Banana-Peach Boom! Honey Stinger and a Vanilla Bean Gu. The Gu was still the best tasting.
Before I end this report, I have a couple more things to add: I drove down to the silver bridge and walked to the water hole to soak my legs in. I have never taken an ice bath but this was probably close enough as was sooo cold but felt so refreshing! I stayed in for about 15 minutes and then sat on a log calculating the lap times that I just ran. When I got back to the car, I walked up to the road and sat on the wooden guardrail in the sun. After about 10 minutes, I saw some runners in the corner of my eye running through the parking lot and into the grass field through the flats. I quickly realized that they were the Klims, so I ran down the hill with my cooler, tossed it in the car and began running after them.
Yes, after soaking the legs and walking back to the car the legs weren't sore and felt great... so why not run some more fun trails with some of my favorite runners :) I caught up to them on the wooden platforms and we ran trails past the wetlands and then to the lily pond. I ran about 6-6.25 more miles in about an 8:00 pace, i think. I didn't have my watch on, since I decided to run spontaneously. I was going to stop at the car when we ran past the silver bridge but they talked me into running to the Lily Pond with them for some gatorade. Then they drove me back to my car, but I saw Mike Pappas's SUV by the water hole so they dropped me off there. Sure enough, he was there wading in the water. I jumped in again and again it felt so good. I was covered in sweat after the run with the Klims as it was hot and sunny out and about 85 degrees at 4:00 when i saw them.
This is a groundwater run-off into the park. Its the only water that i've found to be clean in the park.
Soaking the legs felt so wonderful after a hot day of running
Mike drove me back to the car and we began eating the rest of the watermelon and pineapple slices. He went and layed on the picnic table in the sun and I found a frisbee. We tossed it for about 15 minutes then 2 other guys began tossing on also. I layed down on the table and Mike played frisbee with them for awhile. Then, I called it a day. Great way to end a fun day of running... 32-33 miles of running and I am barely sore. I'll see how that changes tomorrow.
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