2009 Burning River 100 Crew/Pacer Race Report

Our family had decided to help Maria crew and I would help pace JP for this year's Burning River 100 race. JP had paced me the last 30 miles of last years race and this was my turn to reciprocate. His training went well and he was optimistic for an expected 27 hour finish time. The weather was a bit warmer than what we had been used to with temperatures in the mid-80s and a chance of rain overnight.

I went to the Shadow Lake aid station to see how he was doing. He was right on pace for 26-27 hours and feeling good. His shoes got wet in the earlier stream crossings and he already had some blisters forming. A quick lube of the feet along with a shoe/sock change and he was off. So far so good.

Denise, Gina, Abby, and I then went to the Station Road aid station where the runners would come through twice, giving us a good perspective on their condition. Again, JP was on track for 27 hours and was starting to feel the heat a bit. His feet were not getting worse, but not getting better either. But, he was moving well and still on track.

We went home for a nap and would see him at Boston Store. As we were leaving home, Maria texted to say that JP just left Boston Store the first time. We arrived and setup camp to await his return. Still on pace, still looking good, and still confident. I was getting anxious to run with him and asked if he wanted me to start pacing now instead of waiting until Happy Days. He said he felt fine and would wait until Happy Days, per the original plan.

We drove off to Happy Days and I was able to see Nick depart, Brian storm in and out, and help Lori get her headlamp set before she started to pace Kirk. Kirk was tearing up the course for his first 100 mile run and said he was not very happy with me for getting him involved in this race! He and Lori ran into me last year randomly during the day and the ultra bug bit Kirk pretty hard!

JP arrived at the aid station just before midnight, a bit later than we expected, but still on 27-28 hour pace. He downed some food and off we went towards the ledges trail. JP's stomach had started to go south and he was feeling pretty nauseous. After the climb to the ledges trail, he finally was able to purge his stomach and felt much better. But now of course, his nutrition was gone. Still feeling queasy, we continued towards Pine Hollow. JP's legs were now feeling the effects of 70+ miles and his feet were becoming numb from the blisters.

Maria and Denise met us at the aid station and off we went towards the Covered Bridge. We had a great pace going through the woods and the rain started to gently fall. We could hear the rain hitting the leaves but we were not getting wet. The perfect kind of rain! JP was not able to eat anything due to his nausea and the inevitable "bonk" began. The only food we had with us was some gels/gu, clif bars, and gatorade. None of these would stay down for JP. Even water was causing the dry heaves and it was getting ugly real fast.

I knew that if we could get to the aid station, he would be much much better. The problem was that the aid station was 1.5 miles away! We would walk a bit, pause and regroup, walk a few more steps, regroup, repeat. It was real slow going, but at least we were going! I became more concerned when JP would start to throw in some weaving, shivering, and feeling light-headed. This was a deep bonk... I started to discuss options with JP: Quit now! (Not an option but I had to say it.) Keep doing whatever we had to to get to the aid station and get the nausea under control. Then eat some calories, let his body absorb them, and get outta there. We now had another enemy approaching: The cut-off times...

We finally arrived at the covered bridge and Tanya got some ginger ale and saltines for JP. These were just the ticket. As JP was regrouping, two more people arrived and I overheard a volunteer say that they just made the arrival cutoff by 6 minutes! Oh boy... I knew the next 4.5 miles were some of the toughest of the day even without having the rain falling! We had 1.5 hours to do this loop. I knew that a miracle would be needed in order to pull this off, but we had to at least try. We would not let JP quit, they would have to pull us from the course.

We left the aid station and started the climb up the Perkins Trail. It was raining. It was muddy. It was not very pretty... Without the mud, without the blisters, we had a small chance, but this was not our day. We exited the woods to cross Everett road and decided to just walk down the road to the aid station. We missed the cut-off, so what if we cut the course now... As we were walking, a park ranger pulled up and asked if we needed help. (we must have looked bad...) We told him what happened and he offered a ride back. Of course we took him up on it! He dropped us off and we reported in with Tanya and our day was over.

The good news: JP completed 82 miles and set a PR for the first 50 miles. He is still able to walk and will be able to run again. They say that DNF means, Did Nothing Fatal...

The bad news: JP will probably lose most of his toenails, and he has some unfinished business with this race.

What did I learn from this? No matter how much we prepare and plan, something can always go wrong, and probably will. Keep moving, keep trying to recover, and do what you can. If it turns out that you are not successful, well, at least you did not give up. We now know what to do, or not to do, the next time it happens.