Leaving Heavenly: Rise and Shine
It was slow going getting up and running, then I figured out a plan. I grabbed my gear and headed downstairs to the bathroom where there was bench and lots of light to spread out all the contents from my drop bag. This made preparing for the day ahead much easier. I filled up my nutrition, cleaned my feet, donned clean socks, stretched and rolled my glutes and hamstrings with a tennis ball, and got myself into a ready mental state.
A few other runners were down there, and I found them to be loud and annoying. Just upstairs were the sleeping quarters and the people down here didn’t seem to care. That really bothered me. I tried to tune it out and just focused on getting ready. How much did it bother me? Enough that I’m taking the time to write about here…
Once I had myself together, I headed back outside to the food station for eggs and bacon. I made another Starbucks Via coffee and overall I was feeling optimistic about starting off for Day 3. It was creeping closer to 3:30am, so my “ready time” was longer than I wanted given that I got up at 2:06am. I made a few final adjustments to my my gear and myself and I headed out.
I asked the for directions from the volunteers checking runners in and out – “Just head back where you came from and go right.” I walked about a 1/5 mile back to the ski lift and couldn’t figure out where or how to go right. That made no sense – right was a road into town.
I thought a bit, and reluctantly headed back to the aid station to ask again – “Sorry guys, it’s probably me, but I don’t see where to go right.”
Another volunteer re-explained it to me – I needed to head to the ski lift and go up the hill a bit from where you came in, THEN hang a right.
Aha! Now I had it. It was closer to 3:45am by now when I restarted my Garmin for the next segment, but I was rested and happy to relieve the anxiety of knowing where to go.
Heavenly to Spooner Summit: The First Early Morning
This 20-mile stretch was the longest of the course without any reliable water – no streams or waterfalls to refill. The course on the west and north side of the lake was much different in this respect. I’d heard other runners talking about knocking out this stretch at night or in the early morning because much of the trail was exposed. The good news is that on the other side of the stretch, Sean, my pacer, would be waiting for me to take me to Tunnel Creek, then I’d “only” have the Powerline climb to tackle before hitting the Brockway Summit aid station tonight for more sleep. It was 4:00am and I was already thinking about the end of the day.
I don’t remember much from this stretch of the course, other than enjoying a couple of hours of night running and breaking the early hours into smaller segments – false dawn around 5:30, sunrise about an hour later, then I would be about three hours away from the next aid station at Spooner Summit. Funny how hours seem short and fast when you frame them that way…
But along the way, I got into a bad habit of checking my Garmin too often. I’d check and see something like 10.27 miles, then go on for a what I thought was a good distance – a half mile or more – then look back at my Garmin to see 10.35 miles. It was tough slogging.
I remember the final push up to the top of Spooner Summit and how the course was rocky and annoying. I stopped to snap a few pictures at the peak, ate a bit, then really just wanted to keep moving.
The final miles down to the aid station seemed to take forever. This was a theme all along the course – it seemed like the last couple of miles into every aid station was marred with a lot of turns, switchbacks or some other distinguish trait that made it seem difficult to reach the next oasis. Fortunately, my Garmin mileage was off so while I thought I had more than a mile to the aid station, I spotted it at the bottom of the hill. Woohoo!!
Spooner Summit AID STATION: STarting to figure out my aid station plans
I arrived to the aid station ahead of Lena and Sean, mostly because I was about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Despite my grousing and slogging, I was able to keep up with my 84-hour race plan schedule. This is partly because of some buffer time I built into the schedule, and partly because I feel like I had a natural pace that correlated well with the race plan.
I started to get smarter about how to approach aid stations. Knowing I had some time before Lena and Sean would arrive, I came up with plan:
First make sure I got my feet checked out and take care of any blisters. Then eat a good breakfast, then refuel my water and nutrition for the next segment. When I arrived to the aid station, I overheard here that the food tent volunteers had just run an overnight shift and were planning to be there until 9pm that night. Wow.
Rob, a Coast Guard veteran, was the medical volunteer. He was just wrapping up – Haha – “wrapping.” Get it? ???? with another runner so I ordered food and pulled off my socks for Rob to check me out. We found a blister on the underside of my foot that we taped up and I was good to go.
Lena and Sean arrived just as Rob finished the patchwork on my feet and they set up a station for me. Nina, Paul, Tbone and Benjamin were also there and it was really nice to see everyone together in one place. We snapped a few pictures and double-checked that I had plenty of water and fuel for the next stretch. There was a campground around midway with a water pump, but it was reported broken a few days ago, and while we were told at the pre-race briefing that it would be fixed, I didn’t want to take any chances.
Spooner Summit to Tunnel Creek (mile 123-140): “You said 10 minutes if you slept…”
Sean was awesome. We got going and into a rhythm pretty quickly – jogging the downhills and flat sections, even if they were only a few strides, just to get in to that habit. Most of the first six miles were a long slow climb from 7200’ to 8900’ feet, and at the top of the climb, I was staring to feel pretty tired.
Me: “I need about ten minutes.”
Sean: “Are you taking a nap?”
Me: “Maybe, but not more than ten minutes.”
I found a rock, laid down and watched the clouds go by. One of them looked like a crab that I watched crawl across the sky. I closed my eyes trying to sleep, but couldn’t get into a relaxed state. I felt like I might have dozed off, then when I opened my eyes again, the crab hadn’t moved far from it’s last position. Then I heard Sean say – “Okay, let’s go.”
I looked at my Garmin.
Me: “It’s only been five minutes. I said ten.”
Sean: “You said ten if you slept. You’re not sleeping, so let’s go.”
I just looked at him for a moment. He was serious, and he was right. Five minutes was enough.
Sean: “We have some downhill here, so let’s just get moving and see how it goes.”
Off we went, and about 1/4 mile into the downhill, I could feel my quads aching and the bottoms of my feet were sore. I’d really had enough of that and I remembered what I’d heard Eric Bynes share on the Trailrunner Nation Podcast – “When it starts to hurt, push harder.”
Me: “Let’s pick up the pace to see what happens.”
We did, and something spectacular happened – we ran faster! Over the next three miles in a few spots, we pushed down under 8:00/min miles, running miles at 12:37, 12:34 and 14:28. This might not seem fast, but when you’ve been slogging uphill at a 19:00-min miles, 12:37 was outright flying.
We passed a few runners that had gone by while I was resting then hit one stretch where we both screamed – “Yahooooo!” It was awesome. I didn’t care if I was unnecessarily spending energy. It was fun and freeing to let release the hounds for a change.
We slowed up when we saw a sign for the campground, finding it about 1/4 mile down the trail. We took another break and Sean found the well. Water! Yes! I think we would have been fine, but it was a treat to have fresh, COLD water to drink.
We regrouped and headed out again. Mile after mile, we tracked past Marlette Lake and started another climb along a ridge towards Herlan Peak. Along this stretch, we stopped to look back at the lake.
Sean said, “Take a look at where you started and where you are now.”
Looking across the lake, I could make out where Homewood was, and thought about the miles along the Rubicon Trail, pushing to Sierra-at-Tahoe, managing my way to Heavenly yesterday, then pushing farther and farther here on Day 3. It was overwhelming and I broke down and cried. I was so proud of myself and what I’d accomplished. Finishing the race seemed secondary at the moment to knowing that I’d already gone well beyond any reasonable expectation I could have made of myself.
We powered on and over Herlan Peak and then down to the Flume Trail.
Me: “I have a feeling I know why they call it ‘Flume Trail.’”
It was more than three miles of STEEP descent along a sandy road. Unpleasant. Very unpleasant. I got grouching again. We mostly walked, occasionally trying to run for spurts. It hurt my knees to run and my quads felt pretty shot.
We were making solid time on a tough stretch, and while I was still ahead on pace for 84 hours, I became resigned that I would need a long rest tonight, not to mention the next stretch with the Powerline Climb standing between me and Brockway Summit to rest for the night. I told Sean that I didn’t care about the 84 hours, that instead, I’d rather get some well-needed rest tonight, have a good day tomorrow and come in past 84 hours than try to slog through the miles and be miserable all day on short sleep.
To make conversation, I started making plans for the aid station – food, feet, sunscreen and rest. I decided I’d stay an hour or longer if needed to recoup and recharge before plodding forward up Powerline.
Day 3 had easily become the toughest day. While Day 1 was the longest in distance and time, I had fresh legs and mind. Now I was working on five hours of sleep over three days and had covered 140+ miles so far. The notion of tackling Powerline was intimidating. It’s in a perfect spot to mess with your psyche.
We finally worked down to Tunnel Creek where Lena was waiting with chairs and supplies. So, so, so good to see her!
Knocking out a pedicure at mile 140, courtesy of Eric, while Marinka helped me figure out the next section of the course including the dreaded Powerline climb.
I plopped down then Marinka and Eric become my personal race concierges. Marinka checked me in and made sure Sean and I had everything we needed after a rough 17-mile stretch. Eric was doubling as medical and chef, cooking up the world’s best grilled ham and cheese for me then tending to the blisters on each of the toes on my right oot. Turns out they’re both from Davis! Marinka remembered me from The Ridge 60k from back in August. We talked a while and hung out with them. just sat to rest and I felt myself stiffening up a bit. After a while, I got motivated, organized my nutrition, said goodbyes, and off I went to tackle Powerline.
Tunnel Creek (mile 140) to Brockway Summit (mile 155): The Powerline Climb & starting the celebration
The first three miles ran along the bike path in Incline Village. I did a walk-run strategy here to pick up time on the flat miles. I’d like to say the flat miles were easy miles, but the asphalt was a killer on my feet and knees. I’d pick a tree or sign up ahead, run to it, then walk to the next tree or market, then pick another spot and run to it, which enabled me to cover the first four miles of this stretch in just under an hour. Then the course turned into a neighborhood and it meandered about until hitting the bottom of Powerline.
From the bottom of Powerline.
I hooked up with two other runners and we started off as a group up the hill. About a third of the way up, I decided to take break and they went on ahead. I looked up and counted seven poles protruding from the ground up the hill and started to pick off them off one at a time using a counting strategy – I’d count 100 steps at a time, then stop for a moment, then another 100. As I reached each pole, I stopped for a minute and about halfway up, I stopped to sit down and eat. I was in no rush to expend myself on this climb, and I budgeted extra time in this stretch, plus had the benefit of the previous flat miles.
Once I got going, I was sure I’d get to the top. I don’t know why I ever thought I wouldn’t, but the placement of this climb in the course was ideal to psyche myself out. At the top, I looked back down and snapped a picture.
At the top, I took a break, talked to the videographer up there with a drone and ate some Peanut M&Ms as a reward for polishing off Powerline. I was glad to have more than a third of the 15 miles in this segment done. The sun was now setting and the day was transitioning to evening.
This is where I started to feel a sense of celebration and victory – that I was going to get this race done. I felt a lift in my spirits now that Powerline was behind and I had fewer than ten miles to Brockway for rest before starting Day 4.
The course took a nice gentle downslope for the next two miles, then apparently there was a two mile climb of about 800’ from mile seven to mile nine that I don’t remember. I think I remember some switchbacks on the course, and as I crept closer to Brockway, I was getting tired. Even though the trail was clearly marked without any deviations, I had a paranoia that I was going in the wrong direction. I waited for a runner behind me to catch up, asking him if this was the right way to Brockway.
“Yeah. There’s only one way to go here.”
The Brockway Aid Station, a.k.a “BrockwayBnB” (mile 155)
At Brockway, I was greeted by several volunteers, all ready to help. This time, I had a plan:
- Grab my drop bag
- Get a good dinner ordered
- Check out and clean up my feet
- Fill up my backpack and nutrition right away so that I could just grab my gear and go in the “morning.”
- Sleep
Remembering how good it tasted at Tunnel Creek a few hours earlier, I ordered a grilled ham and cheese. Sean and another fellow helped me remove my gear and get settled. Liz came over and asked me if I was planning to sleep because she was “taking reservations for beds.” Not only was she reserving a sleeping spot, but asked me how long I planned to sleep so that she could wake me up.
I asked, “How long am I allowed to sleep?”
“How long are you planning to sleep?”
“Not sure, but I thought I read there was a five-hour limit on sleep stations.”
“We’ve never had to enforce that.”
Even after reaching Brockway way ahead of schedule – it was about 9:30 when I got there and I planned to be there at 11pm – I still was thinking that the 84-hour goal was well out of reach. I expected to sleep for at least 4-5 hours and my schedule had me getting to Tahoe City by 9am tomorrow. It just didn’t seem possible. I felt totally comfortable with this decision and mindset, focusing on getting rest and having a good day tomorrow.
I got my grilled ham and cheese, plus a bonus slice of pizza. I gobbled my food and found Liz to show me to the sleeping tent. I told Liz that I wanted to sleep until 3:30am, so she set my wake up call. I figured about four hours would be a solid amount of rest and still get me up and out of the aid station well before dawn.
After the indoor sleeping quarters at Sierra-at-Tahoe and Heavenly, I was a little worried about the outdoor tents here. They were tents, but more like coverings with flaps extending down to the ground. The camping beds were laid right on the ground – this was much more like outdoor camping. We set my backpack and poles outside of the tent and I found my spot. . It was drafty with the wind blowing into the shelter below the side flaps, but I was tired enough that I figured I’d find a way to sleep.
Once I settled down under the wool blanket, I managed to get reasonably comfortable and fell asleep. Day 3 was in the books.