Robinson to Swinging Bridge

Robinson Flat (30 miles) 12:36 pm

Do I really lie to this guy? A stupid thought since my weight was written on the band around my wrist, but one I considered for a second. You can not imagine the ridiculous thoughts you have when running all day. I hung my head low, like my dog when he gets caught doing something naughty. "189.4" I said, hoping he would think I said 199.4. "A little heavy, but everyone is, we think it's the rain. You are good to go, just watch yourself" he said.

Instantly a rush of relief flowed through my veins, but at the same time, I really needed to figure out if it was the rain or if I’d been taking in more salt than needed. Perhaps it was the cocktail weenies from Red Star Ridge mixed with three S! Caps (electrolyte pills) I'd taken already. Perhaps all my gear was just waterlogged, either way I had about 12 miles to figure it out.

My crew from left to right: Queen Doom, Scotch Man, Half Iron Woman and the Doc.

I left the weigh station and practically sprinted the couple hundred yards to where my crew was. Talk about a boost of adrenaline! I looked at my crew and said, "I'm having a great time! I just ran through rain, snow, hail, huge winds and I feel great! I'm doing awesome!" My crew along with all the other crews and spectators within earshot just stood there silently looking at me. I later found out, most people that were coming in were having a tough day with the conditions on the course. I was doing great, although I did start to have a bit of a hot spot on my left foot. Hot spots are the precursor to a blister; you may or may not be able to stop it at that point. I get blisters when I run more than about 45 miles. At the TRT100 in 2011 I ended up with 7 rather large blisters that I had to run on from mile 62 to the finish. I hoped today I could curtail any blisters with preventative measures.

I sat down took my left shoe and sock off and found the foot of a 90 year old. Lovely pale white shriveled up skin, all wrinkly and waterlogged. I grabbed a gob of Bag Balm and coated my foot, threw the sock back on and then the shoe. I drank about 12oz of juice that I’d had my crew bring then got up out of the chair.  I put my jacket back on then my pack. Something felt wrong, and then I realized I made the same mistake again with the order of things. Today the pack needed to be under the jacket! I quickly regrouped and grabbed the 6 inch turkey, bacon and avocado Subway sandwich that I had my crew buy for me.

It was somewhere around this time that I saw Scotch Man! He along with Half Iron Woman, the Doc and my fiance Queen Doom were my crew. Up until 3 pm the day before the race I thought Scotch man was going to be AWOL. 48 hours before the race he was at work and a piece of wood exploded and a sliver went into his eye! He spent 9 hours in the emergency room then boarded a train from LA to meet the rest of my crew in Reno. That is some serious dedication and it really fired me up. I would use his pain as a motivator each time I started to feel sorry for myself.....if Scotch Man could hang with wood in his eye, I can certainly keep moving forward.

Unfortunately this news came with a drawback; I was so excited I forgot to do some things. I left with sandwich in hand and made my way out of the aid station. I waived to my crew turned around and took off. I got about a half mile up the road and totally freaked out. Quite a few swear words came flying out of my mouth as I realized what I'd forgotten to do. Go to the bathroom and....wait for it......get more toilet paper from my crew. Dunce move of the day right there folks. I would not see them for 25 more miles and the toughest, gnarliest part of the course was ahead of me. I also forgot lube! Once again I had to do some damage control, I did not need to go at that moment but if I did, I was plumb out of luck. We had descended to a point where only pine trees lived, no more perfect little plants like I had found before. I decided to be on the lookout and just make my way as best I could. Fortunately like I was able to do all day, I put it out of my mind.

I had roughly 12 miles of solid downhill in front of me and I made the decision to keep on with the laxed pace. I tried to run 10-12 minute miles and made sure to drink and eat as much as possible. After a mile or so I started catching people, I paid no attention to it until we reached the fire roads. At that point I saw tons of runners and I was passing them in bunches. I looked at my watch; nope I'm not going any faster, so they must be going slower.

Millers Defeat (34.4 miles) 1:51 pm

I hit the M.D. aid station up 56 minutes on my pace sheet, I only stopped long enough for two cups of electrolyte drink and a cup of soup. I passed 5 people in this aid station. It was at this time I started to realize I'd never felt this good after 35 miles before. Could I really be in that much better shape than last year? No, I thought, I must be pacing better. I decided if it was working and I was gaining on my splits don't try to fix what is not broken. I left the aid station ready to roll; I took the left hand turn to the single track and started really getting into a groove. I turned my iPod on for the first time and put one ear bud in.

I had a secret weapon, I had roughly 6 hours of music that I have a deep connection with. I have two friends who go to Burning Man with me that are DJ's (DJ Izak Engel and Liquid Neon). Listening to their music takes the pain away. I can not explain it, it just makes me happy and hours go by like it’s only a split second. I'm instantly transported to the Playa and thoughts of dancing, art, and dust fill my head.

Dusty Corners (38 miles) 2:39 pm

With the constant beat of electronic dance music in my ear I flew into the next aid station at Dusty Corners 50 minutes up. I stayed an extra minute or two there because they all were asking me if I was hot. I was so far out of it (thanks iPod), I had not realized it was now sunny and warm. I'd probably run for half an hour all bundled up. I thought it would be good to really hit the hydration given the circumstances.

I left the aid station going towards pucker point. This was ironic since the second I passed that vista, puckering would be all I was doing for the next 4 miles. Yep that costly TP mistake was now back to haunt me. I was not sure if the next aid station would have any supplies but hoped they might have a porta-potty. It's out in the middle of nowhere and I thought maybe the volunteers would need something to go in. I had to slow down on this section and I passed at least 2 other guys who were taking care of their business. It seemed odd and inappropriate to pull over and ask them for supplies during their private moment, so I just meandered on to the next aid station.

Last Chance (43.3 miles) 3:49 pm

The toughest section of the run, while you are not going to make your race here, you can end it in a hurry!

I entered Last Chance 43 minutes up on my splits. I had to really slow down given my issues and when I looked to the left of the aid station I saw a potty. YES! I exclaimed loudly as I ran past all the food. "WAIT!", I heard behind me, "you have to be weighed". Give me a second; this is an emergency I shouted. I threw my pack, jacket and long sleeve on the ground outside and jumped into the blue box of awesomeness. Never in my life have I been so excited to see a stinky hot mobile john. You would think from the way I reacted I just won the lottery. A couple minutes later all things were once again right with my world. I suspected the worst was now behind me (excuse the pun). I went over to the weigh station and like that 190.2. Back on track! It really was the rain.

One of the best things about Western States are the aid stations, the only thing better than the food they serve are the people serving you. I've been on that side of the race before and for a volunteer, hearing a runner thank you is something special. I tried at each aid station to bring a little joy into the day of whoever was helping me by thanking them. I grabbed what amounted to 2 full grilled cheese sandwiches for the road, expressed my deepest gratitude and got the hell out of there. I was now only about 30 minutes up on my splits due to my stop and I still had to deal with the toughest 12 miles of the entire race. I'd have to descend a couple thousand feet in 4 miles then make the huge climb up to Devils Thumb.

I knew this part of the course well; I'd spent many hours this year learning every turn, rock and stream crossing to cool down at. I knew my downhill legs were good, but my slow pace while descending was working so well for me, I once again chose not to push it. I figured there might be a chance that my climbing would still be above par and maybe I could make up some time on the hills. Even if I did not, I had a half hour in the bag. Any energy saved now would pay huge dividends around mile 80 when it gets flat and running is a must.

I set off to Devils Thumb feeling great, 45 miles into the race and I still felt like I'd only run 20. I finally hit the bottom of the canyon which is the start of the Devils Thumb climb. I started getting nervous; I've done this climb many times but never with 46 miles in my legs. As is customary with these races one mile you feel like a champ and the next like a chump. I hoped it would be a good climb, but from the start, my quads felt tight and my breathing was forced. I started to think the "easy times" were over and my fears of the long 9 hour slog from TRT started to penetrate my head. I was mentally sabotaging myself and I had no idea of how to stop it.

6 days to go

Jan-Nov 2011

I now had almost 3 months of solid pain free running under my belt. I had a coach to get me through the training, and a local running group to lean on when running times were tough. I formulated my racing schedule with the help of my coach and January 1^st I set it all into action.

The schedule was simple on paper.

Hilo HawaiiMarathon in March

American River 50 mile in April

Rock N River Marathon (Reno) in May

Silver State 50 mile in May

Tahoe Rim Trail 100 in July

Simple to write but considering, as of that date, the farthest I had ever run was 32 miles and that was nearly a year earlier in March of 2010. This was going to be a big task. My first trail race (13 miles) was just a year and a half earlier.

I also had the weight issue, though I was not as concerned with that. I’m not much of a foodie, if given the option, I would take a pill for all of my nutrition needs. There are very few things I crave food wise. Although as I would learn, with the uptick in miles per week, I would start to enjoy food a bit more. I put myself on a somewhat strict diet of about 2200 calories a day. I figured, that, coupled with attempting to run 7 days a week I should be down around 200lbs by the time I hit my 100 mile race. I was starting at 221 and was shooting for about 3-4 pounds a month or 1 pound a week. Again, sometimes naivety is a blissful thing. Lets put it this way, 2200 calories and 50-70 miles a week running just does not jive. I lost weight in a hurry and with it, my long runs started to suffer greatly. By the time March hit, I was already down to 190 and eventually I would hit 182 before I had to go get even more help.

I went to visit Joe Dibble at Sierra Strength and Endurance. My training was going great but I could not run for more than 3 hours before I just died. Any run no matter the intensity just turned into a walk fest. He quickly diagnosed that I was just not eating enough. He put me on a 3300 calorie a day diet during the week and 4500-5500 a day diet on the weekends. Just a week before the Hilo Marathon I completely changed how I eat. It was a huge epiphany, and I actually started to look forward to food. I ended up leveling out about 195lbs which is where he thought I should be given the still substantial (for a runner) bit of muscle I had. To put it into context, as an 18 year old senior in high school I was 5’9” 202 pounds, and now at that point I was 33 and 195, kinda crazy.

The Hilo Marathon resulted in a PR time of 3:58. I ran an extra 6 miles (3 before and 3 after) because I was scheduled for 32 that day. I was heading into the meat of my season with no foot pain, no weight issues, things were going swell.

I had made a switch in shoe companies which I credit for the lack of foot pain. I switched from the traditional shoe types to oversized cushy clown shoes. Hoka One One, shoes are amazing and I can not imagine ever running in anything else. They will get an in depth review on this blog someday, but they are like taking a bit of heaven and wrapping it around your foot.

I arrived back on the mainland with tons of excitement. I was now almost 6 months into running with no setbacks or injuries. I was starting to think I was ready for my first 50 mile race. I got the schedule for the week prior to the race from my coach and once again he shocked me. No time off? What, I’m going to run my first 50 mile race and you want me doing a hard tempo run 3 days before…..this dude was NUTS. What about tapering? Do I not need to be rested for this huge output of effort?

The explanation I was given, taught me that everything I thought I knew about training from my other sports, was wrong in regard to this one. He asked me what my goal race was…obviously the 100 miles. He then told me why would you want to peak now in April for a race in July? I would not, but why race when I am so tired?

His reply is so obvious now but was so foreign then. “How do you think you are going to feel that second 50 of the 100?” Probably pretty tired, I said. Bingo! Lights went on, of course! I needed to feel what it would be like to go 50 miles on tired exhausted legs. No wonder this guy was such a badass, he was an animal.

I ran what is still to this date, the best race of my life at American River. I was in control all day, I moved steadily up the field and when I got to the point where coach told me to let it all lose I passed a gazillion people. I finished in 10 hours and 25ish minutes and ran from Sacramento to Auburn.

Only some 4 hours an change after coach finished, so close!

The best part about the day was getting to see a couple of friends from Reno Running and Fitness finish their first 50 mile race as well. We all triumphed that day. The running joke (excuse the pun) of the day was them telling me “congrats Brandon you ran just fast enough to run 100 more miles in July”.

A little tidbit I have so far left out, though I was signed up for the race in July of 100 miles I still had not qualified.  Not only did I qualify for the upcoming race, but, I was officially qualified to enter the lottery for Western States in 2011! I had to run this race under 11 hours to do that, and I beat it by nearly 40 minutes.

I ran the Reno Marathon (Rock n River) as a training run. I ran about 38 miles that day and ran as many people from Reno Running and Fitness into the finish as I could. I felt awesome and I was ready. However Silver State would turn out to be the toughest race of the year.

I started the Silver State 50 only minutes from my house, I knew this course like the back of my hand. The race is on Peavine Mountain. Silver State is considered a mountain 50, American River was not. I did not realize the true impact of all the extra climbing.

Lots O climbin!

Boy did I not know what I was getting into. Unlike American River I went out faster than I should have, blew up at mile 33 and basically had to walk it on in from there. It was a tough pill to swallow; maybe I was not ready to run 100 miles in the mountains after all.

A couple of great things happened at the race though, when I finished I saw the president of the Western States board. This was the same guy I saw give a lecture at the motivational clinic I went to. It turns out he was part of the Silver State Striders the same group who mans the Foresthill aid station at Western States. The Striders put on the 50 mile race I just got my ass kicked by. I quickly befriended him on Facebook. Now I also had an “in” with an influential and clearly experienced board member of Western States. Times were getting good.

I also got a pacer for my run in Tahoe a month or two later. My friend agreed to pace me. He had just run his first 50 mile race at Silver State and finished top 5. He is still to this day, not only one of the most kind and generous individuals I have ever been fortunate enough to meet, but he is also one beast of a runner…..all 12 pounds of him!

My running was doing great and I was just days from running my first 100 mile race. I intend to do a report on that as well. Lets just say the day had it’s challenges and from mile 67 to 93 I pretty much had to walk the entire time. I finished 44^th out of 110 people in a time of 31 hours and 50 minutes.

Photo Courtesy of Scott Cozad one of my exceptional crew members.

Not once did I sleep, and I only sat down for about an hour or so. I finished a run in the mountains….I ran 100 miles and now I was ready to put my name into the lottery for Western States. 

Getting my first buckle from George and Dave! I can barely stand upright.

I had roughly 5 months to recover, then I’d need to be ready to hit the ground running!