Reeses in Wonderland

View of the mother mountain from Indian Henry's Meadow

After a spring/summer of relatively intense training (several 100 mile weeks) and a compilation of a sub-par marathon and a few failed race attempts, I was ready to finally see the fruits of my labors. Sanctioned racing obviously wasn't going well for me, so my brother John and I went outside the norm of organized events and sought after an FKT (fastest known time).

The Wonderland trail circumnavigates Mt. Rainier, totals around 96 miles, and has a pretty good history of speed attempts. We left Spokane on Thursday, September 13th and drove about five hours to the White River Campground where we promptly pitched our tent and called it a night. In the morning we fine-tuned our packs as this was going to be an unsupported attempt (we would each carry our own food, water and extra gear and not lend any assistance to each other), started the GPS tracking (which didn't last long due to lack of battery life) and took off on a counter-clockwise loop around the mother mountain at 9:07 am. It was soon evident that all the buzz about this trail being, perhaps, the most scenic in the country was well founded.

One of the many waterfalls along the trail

The off-white specks (right side of glacier) are mountain goats

Rotate your screen 90 degrees clockwise for the full effect

 We traveled like a well-oiled machine (which was kind of surprising because we had actually never run together).  Our cadence and trekking pole strikes were like a metronome. We consumed our calories like clockwork and kept our hydration packs filled as we crossed the countless streams and rivers on the course. With the combination of good planning and our well-matched abilities, we were on pace to finish much quicker than we had planned and about six hours faster then the previous record.

Longmire: our only encounter with civilization along the route

As the daylight hours faded and night came we put on our headlamps and continued through the darkness. We both worked our way through minor rough patches (mostly hypoglycemia) but soon fell victim to more debilitating setbacks. John developed some pain in his shin and my left knee began to ache. When the sun finally came out we were thrilled to be able to strip our brain bruising headlamps (any good headlamp recommendations?) and see the actual size of the rocks and roots we were navigating as well as the enormity of the climbs we had been tackling. At about mile 70ish the unknown pain in my knee had intensified and was starting to slow my descents. By the time we reached Ipsut Campground and started our way up to Mystic Lake via Carbon Glacier, I had slowed to a pain-wrenching crawl up the steepest and most technical climb yet. I had come to terms with resetting my goal pace, but was feeling bad about slowing my brother down. Finally we just stopped and analyzed the true predicament. I was moving, at best, a whopping one mph and and had twelve or so miles left to go...that meant at least twelve more hours and 2400 more calories (which I didn't have). We realized that for me to continue was not wise or safe since there would have been no other opportunity for me to pull out from that point on. So I humbly bowed out. I urged my brother to continue, and he did with a determination in his eyes I have never before witnessed in any other human. As for myself, I hobbled about 3.5 miles in about 3.5 hours back down the grueling trail I had just ascended.

 In my Abnormal Psychology class I had written an abstract on an article discussing the correlation between hallucinations and ultra-marathon running. I had wondered why I hadn't experienced anything like that before having participated in similar events as the subjects who had hallucinated in the article. I realized in these 3.5 hours why I hadn't. Never in my life had I entered such a state of mind. I can honestly say that this was physically the most strenuous task of my life. Having been awake for over 30 hours, traveled 82 miles at an aggressive pace, and dealt with a severe pain in my knee was a perfect recipe for hallucinations. Rocks turned to people, fallen trees became giant human eating worms (watch the movie Tremors for an example), and then there were voices. My advice to anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to hallucinate sans drugs, forget it. 

I finally reached the campground where, after a couple hours, I was met by a park ranger... who had been summoned by a kind hiker... who reported my condition... and was subsequently escorted to the ranger station. Upon reaching the station I called John and he answered (which meant that he had made it). Not only did he make it but he still managed to shave well over an hour off of the previous record. We met up (which is another story) and miraculously returned to Spokane without succumbing to sleep deprivation.  

I feel a little bummed to not be attached to that record, but I don't regret any part of the trip. Pulling out pre-maturely was a hard choice to make considering its addition to my stack of unsuccessful running quests for the year, but it was the best choice. That realization was solidified when I returned home to my little family that I had been missing (and that I think missed me), tucked my girls into bed, exchanged "I love you's," kisses, and balance was restored. Overall I would consider the trip a huge success. Plus, 82 miles, a bear sighting, and probably around 16-17,000 ft of elevation gain isn't too shabby.

This guy was lounging in a huckleberry bush 15 ft off the trail
when he was rudely interrupted by an obnoxious duo of passer-bys.

Week Preview 9/9 - 9/15

So my consistency with this blog has been about par with my training. I had been doing well with my consistency goal and then my early rising goal but yet again I found that with a lack of goals comes a lack of ambition.  This last week I did get some good training in, but it was without direction. I was able to get some quality speed hiking done up steep grades and ended the week with a speedy hill interval workout on a treadmill at the local gym (thanks to the gym's free childcare!). All this week and a bit of last week I have been working on getting comfortable running with a pack on. A little late in the game considering this coming weekend my brother and I will be attempting an unsupported (carrying everything we need, no outside help) FKT (fastest known time) on the Wonderland Trail (96 miles with over 20,000 ft of elevation gain). My goal for this week is to due a proper taper (lighter mileage with a rest day on Thursday) to prepare me for a Friday morning start of what will be an incredible adventure. The way I see it it will be a win win situation. We either set a FKT (which would be sweet!) or we spend over 30 hours on what is esteemed to be the most beautiful trail in the continental US and cover an impressive 96 miles. Quitting is not an option, nor is sleeping :)

It's not everyday you literally run into a rubber boa. I will say it is not the most attractive reptile I have ever seen, but it was pretty friendly.

Week review: 8/26-9/1

So I was 6 for 7. My goal of consistency this last week was very helpful because I found myself trying a little bit harder to squeeze a run in where there was barely enough time. Some positive things that came from this week were finding a new trail in my normal stomping grounds that was beautiful and pretty steep (steep is good), seeing a coyote in the most unexpected place you could imagine. I was on a lunch hour run on a popular path that runs along the Spokane River and in a heavy traffic area of the trail I was jumping off the path to take a quick dip in the river and there it was acting like it was someone's pet. One thing I re-realized is that my goals need to be more specific so that I can't justify my way out of them due to a lack of definition.  So for this week I will be more consistent and how I will do that is by getting up like I had been at 4:40 everyday and spend at least an hour and a half on my feet. I will also get in at least 2 lunch hour runs.

On a jealous note, my oldest brother John just finished the Cascade Crest 100 mile race which I was able to finish last year and wanted to run this year. He ran almost 7 hours faster than his previous time finishing 16th overall and running sub 24 hrs. I nominate him for ultra running performance of the year.

Week preview 9/20-9/25

Photo by Glenn Tachiyama

Over the last few weeks I have been battling with a series of weird headaches, high stress as I was trying to close out summer quarter with acceptable grades, and a lack of worthy goals. So this week is going to be about CONSISTENCY. Soon I will be back to hundred mile weeks and "2 a days" (training twice in one day) but for now, it is back to the basics. I recently ran in the White River 50 mile endurance run. I started the race well trained and very ambitious. I took off with the front runners feeling very strong. Going through the first 3 aid stations I was running at course record pace (although still behind some very fast dudes). I reached the top of the first climb (around 15 miles) and saw a glorious view of Mt. Rainier. At that moment I felt terrible. All that I was running for was a time or a podium spot or whatever but I was missing the point: the reason I run. A long story short, I slowed significantly, worked my way down the hill to my wife and two girls at mile 27 (who I was already missing after only a few hours of running), and pulled out of the race. I decided there that it was back to the basics. What does that mean though? For now, for this week, it is consistency. I will go out every morning (at least) and love each step. I will not miss a day. Not for the next 7 days. I love ultra running and am excited at my new approach and believe that it will be much more fulfilling.