Cascade Crest 100

First of all I would have never been able to do this without the help of my crew/pacers Jason and Kane Nixon and Spike Rosling! Also my wife Jolene and my son Mason,deserve all the credit in the world for sacrificing to allow me to follow my dream of running a 100 miler.

Cascade Crest ended up being everything I had wanted in a run. Beautiful,rugged and 100 miles. I've wanted to run a 100 for a few years now,but felt like I needed to pay my dues first.I felt like the dues had been paid,so it was time to go for it!

The race started on a warm,beautiful morning. Right of the bat things didn't feel like they should. It seemed like I was laboring more than I should have been. This didn't really worry me though,as I've always been kind of a slow starter. As we got into the climb up Goat Peak my lower back was killing me.I felt this in a training run a few weeks prior at Dome Rock and I have to admit,it really got me down. Thoughts started to creep into my mind about not being able to finish if my back was going to feel like this. Five miles in and I was already thinking about dropping,awesome! As much as my back was getting me down the views from the course where picking me up!

I made it to the top of Goat Peak and the pain in my back let up some. I kept waiting to find a groove but it just wasn't coming.My fueling was alright,but for some reason I was feeling dizzy and had what felt like no energy.I made it to Tacoma Pass mile 23 and I was a wreck. I had to sit down just to get myself together. I felt particularly bad for my wife and son. This was the first ultra they had been to and I was falling apart. My crew did an awesome job of tending to my every need.

After I left Tacoma Pass about a half mile later I truthfully thought about turning around and going back. Then I thought about everyone who had put so much time into this and was there to support me and I felt ashamed.I plugged on and actually started feeling better. It was weird, I would feel better and then hit the lowest of lows. I was fueling every 30 minutes and my stomach felt fine, just a lack of energy.

On the next section I got a chance to run with Frank for a while which was nice.I always seem to have a good conversation with Frank,he's a good guy. I have to say going down the ropes section might be one of the craziest things I've ever done in a race! Going through the tunnel wasn't as spooky as I thought it would be.There where a few times when I swore some one was behind me,to turn around to find no one there. When I left the tunnel I missed a turn and kept running for quite a while before I realized it had been too long without seeing a marker. I would like to say I was off course for about 4 hours and 48 minutes, but it was really only maybe 10-15 minutes. It kind of let the wind out of my sails a bit.

I made it to Hyak aid station excited to pick up Jason to pace for 15 miles.It was great to have some company.I just wish Jason would have gotten to run in the daylight to get to enjoy some of the views.Jason did an awesome job of keeping me moving,but understanding that things weren't going my way and not trying to push to hard. The time with Jason passed pretty quickly.

At mile 68 I picked up Spike Rosling to pace me to the finish.I was scared of Mike,because I pushed him real hard at Western States and I knew I had some payback coming.We started off on the "trail from hell" and at first I felt like things were coming around.This might have been the best I felt all day.It had finally cooled off and it seemed I had a little energy.The Hell Trail was right up my alley,scrambling over logs and cool stuff like that. Well some where on this section things went bad,real bad.I've never puked in an ultra,even though I wish I could sometimes. All of the sudden I needed to puke,I got down on my hands and knees and tried to let it rip. Nothing would come out! This sucked,I knew it would feel good to start over. From here I realized it was going to take everything I had to finish.

One nice thing about being out there for so long was I got to spend a lot more time with my good buddy Mike.I got a feeling he wasn't as happy about that as you would think. I bitched and complained and moaned and even cried,on the inside. Being the guy Mike is he just listened and tried to make me feel better. It was really strange, parts of me hurt that I didn't even know could hurt.Because of me being completely coo-coo,when the sun came up I thought thank God this is almost over. Yeah if almost over means like 9 more hours.I was trippin balls! At least we had the views back.
From here I would like to tell you I manned up and heroically ran to the finish.Death March would be more like it.It was funny at one of the aid stations in the middle of the night I heard a guy tell his wife it was going to be a death march to the finish.At the time I felt really bad for this fellow.I didn't feel so bad for him when his death march blew right by my death march some where in the last 12 miles.I really need to work on my death march.

I finished in 28:47:55. I know for your first 100 you are supposed to say I just want to finish,well that's true,but I wanted to finish better than this. Am I allowed to say that? I don't want to sound like a jerk,but I know I can do better than this. I loved everything about this run,except how I felt out there.Thank you to Jolene,Mason,Jason, Kane and Mike. I would have never made it to the finish without you. Big thanks to Gaby for the pictures. Also thank you to the race director and all the fine volunteers,one of the best races ever.Thank you to the course for whipping me into submission,I have a feeling we'll meet again!

I think this picture sums up the day perfectly. Pleasure and Pain baby!