Amy and had arrived a couple of days
ahead of time to do some touristy stuff and let our time at Pearl
Harbor get away from us and we arrived at the pre-race briefing just
in time for everybody to be getting up and leaving. Kind of a
downer, since I was looking forward to talking with a some people and
doing that typical pre-race bonding. We did pick up Jordan, my pacer
and fellow Minnesotan. Jordan is a U of MN student and I think, if
possible, was more excited about this race than I was. The guy is a
bona fide energizer bunny in a six foot frame. We headed back over to
our condo in Kailua, Honolulu was way too busy, and spent the rest of
the afternoon prepping gear and going out to dinner for some pupu and
pasta. I’d done a pretty good job of not being nervous most of the
week, but I couldn’t hide from it any longer, I was getting
jittery. Even though we went to bed at 8:30 so we could get up at
4:00 (race starts at 6AM), I had a really lousy nights sleep.
Lap 1 (4:11) – I’m Sexy and I Know It
Going through the morning routine of a
small breakfast and taping my big toes has become routine by now and
I just went through my motions with Jordan and Amy looking on. I was
pretty quiet since my nervous energy was sky high. This was to be my
sixth 100, but the excitement of race morning hasn’t waned. Soon
enough we were doing the 20 minute drive to the start an quiet
highways, getting busy only just at the Makiki Nature Center.
There were many people parking and walking up the hill. Amy drove me
to the top and let me out, then headed back down the hill to park. I
tooled around and met up with Carl and Bill, the other Minnesotans
and met a few others. Time flew by and we all lined up on the foot
bridge starting line. We all held hands in silence for a minute,
listening to the water in the river and the sounds of the jungle
waking up. Soon, with a short countdown, a conch shell was blown and
we started off.
Up a short hill and a couple hairpin
turns and we were on the the most technical climb, Hogsback. This
was a solid 800 feet of uphill to start the race, before even a lick
of downhill. Hal Koerner flew by me here, I’d only see him one
more time since he DNF’d on the first loop. That’s right, I beat
Hal at a race. I climbed hard and in due course was at the top of
Hogsback and doing a few short downs followed by bigger climbs, all
with horrendous footing. Before long I hit the legendary banyan roots
section, which we’d have to do twice each loop. It was a better
part of a mile with some of the worst footing for level ground that
you could possibly imagine. Mostly roots sticking up about 6 inches
or so from the dirt and never more than a foot of space between them.
It was either run them and suck it up or walk and pick your way
through slowly. I chose the former, and pretty much ran them every
loop.
After the roots began a long downhill
towards the Paradise Aid-station, winding down through some beautiful
bamboo forest and decent footing gradually approaching a river and a
magnificient waterfall. This would grow to be my least favorite
section since it was so long and every step down was a step back up
this same trail, a couple mile long out and back. Hitting the bottom
of the decent was a long relatively flat trail, but with lots of big
wet rocks and not much else to step on. This went on for a solid
mile or so, eventually popping out on some paved road for a short
section to the aid station. By now I’d seen the dozen or so people
ahead of me going back up the trail, something that would be repeated
throughout the day. The ‘Pirates of Paradise’ aid station was
awesome, they had a big pirate theme going on, and as you got close,
all day and night, there were people cheering you in and out…loudly.
As I came in, I saw Jordan take off then soon hear that new pop tune
‘Sexy and I Know It’ kick out of the sound system. Awesome, he
knew I was fond of that tune and it would juice me up. People I
didn’t know were shouting for me to dance. I strutted my stuff as
Amy and Jordan loaded my pack, then launched back up the trail.
Climbing back up through the bamboo
then halfway through the banyan roots I slightly overshot the turn to
Nuuanu Aid Station, but only by 50 yards (I caught a guy later who
was a good half mile past the turn). This was a sweet long steady
climb and about the only smooth trail on the entire route. Near the
top was an great view of Honolulu, which during the sunset and
following sunrise would prove to be awesome. This climb, too was
followed by a steep decent along cliff edges, sometimes running six
inches from the edge, gradually leveling out along another small
stream. The forest at the bottom was thin and airy and really nice
to run through, and would be a joy all night, with some good footing.
At the end of the this out and back was a river crossing, with a
rope strung across it and enough good rocks that I never got my feet
wet. Again, there were a lot of cheers everytime someone came in or
left Nuuanu and the care was top notch. All the aid stations were
well staffed with a lot of people that knew their ultrarunning.
Out back and up the long climb to the
beautiful Honolulu view and a cruiser downhill back to the lovable
banyan vines. Then a climb back up to some cliff tops, this is where
I caught a guy who overshot his turn, he was pretty thankful that I
let him know (he later got his 100k buckle). There was a short
section of some crazy clifftop running and then some long downhilling
nearly all the way to the Nature Center. One loop done, it was fun,
but it was clear it was going to be a long day.
Lap 2 (5:08) – The Heat is On
I started to get my comeuppance on this
loop. It was hot, and took nearly an hour longer than my last loop,
a trend that would continue with each additional loop. It sounds
worse than it is, since almost everyone, including the winner, Jason,
slowed down tons over the course of the day. I kept my aid stops
short, but longer than normal for me. Partly the time to fill the
pack is slower than my usual use of bottles, and partly because I was
just making sure I was OK before heading out. I wasn’t racing so
much as going for the finish. This loop was more of the same
up-up-down-down. Only hotter. It wasn’t brutal hot, but enough to
take the starch out of a guy. Pretty much every aid I was
complaining to Amy how slow I was going,but she and Jordan kept
pushing me fueled and hydrated and out on the trail. It was
frustrating, but I was still having a lot of fun running in such a
beautiful place.
Lap 3 (5:49) – Feeling the Love
Not a lot to say about this loop. On a
course like this loop three is probably the second hardest ‘mental’
loop. You’re tired, you have 40 miles on you, and you know every
section of trail and that you have to do them all three more times.
I didn’t have much problem heading out onto this loop, but it was
grind. Still hot, and I knew I had a lot of night running to come.
Up Hogsback again, then the roots, ohhh those roots, then down into
Paradise and the pirates. The crew had my headlamps out for me so I
saddled up, and headed back out. The field was getting thin and very
spread out. Plenty of folks had dropped and the rest of us were all
over 20 miles of trail. I’d only see a few people each way on the
out and backs and it was always the same folks. More and more I’d
see Ben and Jaime and I’d put on more than a few miles with both
these guys.
Lap 4 (6:30) – Running on Fumes
We headed out and back up Hogsback.
Jordan was super pumped to be out there, and that was great for me,
since I hit a wall and walked most of this section to Paradise. My
quads were beat, it was late, and dark out. Somewhere along here we
hooked up with Ben (who ended up putting about 45 minutes on me in
one and a half laps) and had a good time with the three of us
talking. Running in a pack helps take everyone's mind off the pain
and fatigue. Jordan was only running with one water bottle so he was
a bit spanked when we got to Paradise and had to pound a bunch. It
had taken us 2:24 to go 7 miles and I had drained about 50 ounces of
water to his 24. Fortunately we had extra bottles for him to start
running with two.
Ben left us at Nuuanu and we headed out
after him up the trail. He was looking good and strong, he just
didn’t have much of a headlamp and that was all that was slowing
him down. Jordan and I had great lights, but I didn’t have much
legs left. But climb we did, since that’s all there was to do,
back to the banyan roots and up and down the hill to Nuuanu. By this
time we had hooked up with Jaime and ran almost an entire loop with
him. It was his 6th time here and he knew all the staff
and many of the runners. We had a great time running with him, and
we were pretty much in the same place as far as how we were feeling.
It was super slippery heading down into
Nuuanu because of all the condensation and we had to pick our way
down and eventually across the rocks to the aid. After all to brief
a time, we headed back across the river and up the long climb and
decent to the Nature Center. One lap to go, and I felt like I had a
100 on me already.
Lap 5 (7:11) – Get ‘er Done
Jordan and I got out of Nature Center
as quickly as possible, since we’d seen Jason heading into Nuuanu
as we were heading out, and I wanted to avoid getting lapped. We
probably left a little soon, since I had an abysmal section to
Paradise, it was so slow and I felt like I couldn’t run anything,
certainly not with any speed. It’s been a long time since I’ve
had hammered quads, but now I had to live with a lack of hill
training. And the end was far too close to even consider quitting. I had
about 14 hours to do 20 miles, an easy walk in. When I got to
Paradise, though, I shed my pack, sat down and shed a couple tears.
Chalk that up to extreme fatigue and absolutely no emotional control.
The aid station guys pushed a couple of glasses of pop on me and
some potato soup and Amy got me on my feet.
Once Jordan and I were moving again I
started to feel better. His youthful enthusiasm and the sugar boost
got me over the hump. Leaving the aid station I was using a bamboo
pole that Jordan had scavenged for me, but Catya Corbet was dropping
and she gave me her trekking poles to use. That helped a lot and I
was able to push myself up the hills more and even run a bit with
them. The sun also camp up on our way out of Paradise and towards
Nuuanu and that really gave us a boost. On our climb above Nuuanu we
were sheathed in clouds except over Honolulu, where we could see the
glow of the rising sun on the taller buildings. Beautiful.
Now I was getting jazzed since I could
smell the finish, 7.5 miles from Nuuanu, but that was it. Across the
river, up the long hill, down the sweet single-track and the last bit
of roots. Sweet, one more climb and it would be over. After the
roots was a long climb up to the cliff edge and through a gate. Very
soon the bulk of climbing was done and all that was left was a couple
miles of downhill. I wish I had the legs for it, but I gave it my
all, my excitement rising with every corner. Second place woman,
Hanna, blew by my in this section, and there was no way I could keep
up, my quads were way too far gone. So Jordan and I kept going as
best we could, until the last turn through a gentle, but tricky
downhill to the finish. I remembered this section well, and I was
whooping and hollering as I went down it. Jaime caught up to us
here, near the end, but didn’t pass and held on a minute or two
back.
Finisher shirts and buckles where
handed out right there as soon as we were done. Plus lots of hugs.
Ben came up to congratulate me with a hug and we were both there for
Jamey when he finished just a minute later.
I can’t describe how it felt to
finish HURT, probably about as excited as I was since my first
100-mile finish. The race was a total class act, with really knowledgeable committed people putting it on, and doing all they can
to keep you going and take care of you. They had a patrol out on the
trail for the entire event, some of them logging over 40 miles.
During the last lap, there were motivational signs all over the
place. I will definitely be back for this one, if I make the lotto
again. The after party on Monday was great, with all the finishers
being recognized and a lot of roasting. That was followed by a week
on the beach for Amy and I.
Make no muss about it, this is one hard
race. Sawtooth used to be my standard for hard, but HURT is aptly
named and a clear new standard. This is a brutal race, and it’s
hard to imagine something more difficult. For you folks that like it
technical, this is one to throw yourself against.
