Javelina Jundred recap..part 1

The short version: 100k, I made it!! and the javelina didn't get me! Time: 17 hours 42 mins (17:05/mile or 29 hour pace.

The Long version and the rest of the story.. My plan for going to JJ100 was to run 100k, work on nutrition, some running gear, my pacing, timing, and overall race strategy for Hurt100. Anything above 100k at JJ was going to be bonus, but simply because my last 2 weeks of training and even the 2 before that were not the best or on schedule I had to be realistic when I got there. As Dez and I packed the car I realized there is a lot that is goes into this in the terms of crewing and taking things from home and realized I am going to have to decrease my supplies when I go to Hawaii. We left Friday morning after picking up Formulaic and got to Fountain Hills, Az. about 2pmish, checked into the hotel and then headed to packet pick up.

The temperature was nice and overcast but called for more sun and high's in the 70's on race day. After packet pick up we just hung around the race site for a few minutes, I made sure to get me a shirt from Ink n Burn that is super cool!! I saw Catra and Andy and talked with them for a few minutes. We then met up with S. Baboo and GeekGirl as they were showing us there crew/camping area they had set up and we were welcome to leave things at there area for crewing, which turned out to be great because when I came in I went straight there and was out of the way of all the people and just doing my own thing.

After we got all we needed headed to go eat, and get the last minute things ready for the race. The next morning, the alarm went off early at 3am and it was off to Denny's to get some pancakes, eggs, grits, and hash browns down. Then back to the room to get moving to the race site. By the time we got there, Dez, dropped us off, as they have a drop off only area and a basic park n ride to the site as the parking is very limited. Dez would miss the start but it being dark, and 5:30am she was okay with it and went back to the hotel for a little more sleep. She would be back for the end of the 1st loop around 10:15 am. As Form and I unloaded our stuff and headed to the camp/crew area we quickly got it set and then it was only about 15 mins to go time. It went by really quickly, every one lined up behind the start/finish banner, I finally got to meet Karen from Las Vegas, and then all of a sudden it was 10, 9, 8, .....2, 1 Bang.. We all took off.

This is actually a photo of the last guy finishing the 100m but also the start/finish banner. So we all start and run over the timing mat just like an other race, off we went to the left. This is a 15 ish loop course and laps, 1,3,5,7 are run clockwise and 2,4,6 are counter-clockwise. In the start of the dark as a group we all stayed bunched together for about the first 2 miles, then the Sun started to come up and it quickly spread out. This is the only race I have not taken pictures in but I was able to borrow quite a few from other runners from facebook, so thanks to all of them. This race is also a costume dress up race and many runners are wearing all kinds of costumes, I choose at the last minute to wear random Halloween stuff, a big fuzzy spider attached to the back of my camelbak, Halloween socks which I cut the toes off of and used them as arm warmers for a while, and of course Dez bought me some bunny ears! check out his action picture wearing my bunny ears and run or die - ink n burn shirt.

Yes, that's S.Baboo behind me! I beating him!! haha, it was mile 2-ish and I think this was the ONLY time I was in front of him. As we all thinned out it was nice to see the trail that we were going to be on all day/night. The trail would change from rocky crappy footing areas to nice hard packed groomed trails. I was at one point attacking the short down hill whoop-ti-do's and Baboo quickly pointed out to not blow out my quads, words later that would be ringing in my head and the faint sound of Baboo laughing at me telling me I told you so! As the first aid station come and went all was working very well. I was drinking my Succeed, even though the race had watered this stuff down so much, I some how expected this and brought my own packets that I would dump in after a fill up and make it much more enjoyable and worthy of drinking, but I would drink every bottle between Coyote aid station and Jackass aid station, both about 5 miles apart. One thing I kept my eye on was the pace, simply because I had heard so much from everyone not to go too fast and sure enough, I was. Both Form and I were way ahead of the planned arrival at Jeadquaters, mile 15.5ish. As we approached the end of the loop a lot of the runners were already heading back out for there 2nd loop and it seemed like we were so far behind and I had to keep telling myself this is your race so don't worry about what others are doing. I mean Catra, Andy, Joyce, Karen, hell everyone was already on the 2nd and we still hadn't reached the end but again, my race. Finally when we got there we were about an Hour ahead of planned time which as I said was way to fast! I had some foot issues already going on simply because I tried this stuff

- TriSlide. Now I didn't particularly like how it worked on my feet as it made them way too slippery but I do think this has it's place for anti-chaffing so being as my foot was sliding around way too much I had to clean off my feet and try and settle them down more in my Injini's. I grabbed a few things I needed, went to the bathroom, food and off I went. Dez was crewing so she had a great fast learning experience when I came in and quickly got the hang of it.

As we left the sun was already warming up and the next 6.5 miles was a slow walking grind. The trail is a slow uphill grade for most of this part and with the warmer temperature I just couldn't find my rhythm to start running. Every time I did I quickly over heated so I just settled in and walked as fast I as I could. The good thing about this was it was slowing down the overall pace and that I didn't mind. By the time we reached the top of this grind it was now time to run. Feet were doing better but I knew I would be changing my shoes, from trail to road shoes on the next crew stop and so I started texting a few things I would need to Dez. Form was ahead of me for a while and as we started to make our way down the rocky section my run mojo came alive as I was very much at home on this section as the similarity of Vegas trails. I reeled Form in and made the pass and even used this section to see if I could put some distance on him, Yes, this is a race! haha!! His feet were taking a beating and he was having some problems so I will say in his defense that is what gave me the edge, ya right.. ! I am into the Jeadquaters and quickly made the shoe change, a few more things to grab, bathroom again!! and out I went. Form was there and said he would be coming but needed some time to get things in order. I headed out as this was probably my fast transition but still slow in comparison. The next 15 miles I would walk and run as much as I could as my goal was to try and make the next Jeadquaters before Sun down but I just missed it and I was running for about 30 mins in the dark but I had my light so all was okay. I had also again texted several things I would need for this loop at night and again Dez had it all laid out and ready to go. As I came in I made the change out and this stop took me several minutes but I was okay with it because I needed everything and I was just getting ready for the night loop. By this time I was actually thinking in my head that I could go for the 100 mile. As I grabbed everything and moved out for the night loop I managed to experience some new and different things.

part 2 to follow...

rockon'