Stage 3 Grand to Grand- A Grand Beat Down

This was the hardest stage I have ever done.

Fifteen of us had to start at 10:00, two hours after everyone else so the aid stations would be manned.  All went well until CP2 and then I was falling behind on nutrition and electrolytes.  I slowed down and plodded into CP4 eventually where I drank a recovery drink & that helped a lot.  The Italian that was gunning for me pushed hard by me when I was down.  I felt much better from CP4-CP6.   The cooler temperature eventually helped and I made the dunes at dark.  It was very soft sand and slow often I had to climb on all fours!  I eventually caught the Italian about seven miles from the end and four of us (him and three of us from tent 5) finished all together about 20 minutes after midnight.

There have been lots of people dropping or missing cut off times.  My ranking is going up and I am still holding on to 1^st old guy.  Three of us in our tent are in the top 10!  Thank you for the emails and thoughts.  I have one small blister on left heal but otherwise I'm doing OK. 

Rest day today, I hope I can catch up on some sleep.

UPDATE!

The results are up and I have moved up to sixth place overall and fifth male!  Places 5-8 are all within 20 minutes of each other.  In other news 24 people have dropped or been pulled. 

 

Stage 4 tomorrow has more sand and hills.  Not easy but the pack is getting much lighter.

 

My two hour power nap gave me some nice relief but I am still  hoping for some more sleep when it cools off.

Stage 2 of Grand to Grand

Things went much better today.  27 miles.  1200 ft of climb at mile three and downhill after that for the most part.  It got hot in the afternoon as the temperature was in the 90's.  I managed my calories, pace, water and electrolytes much better than yesterday.  I even got about 6.5 hours of sleep last night which helped.  I finished about 8^th or 9^th. 

One of the top runners (from Saudi Arabia) missed a turn and went 20 minutes down the road before he realized it.  We paced him in to CP4 where he eventually dropped.  I am leading my age group but an Italian that is in second place has figured out who I am.  No doubt I will have to look over my shoulder now.  I've got only 15 minutes on him so it is very close.  Tomorrow will be very hard 53 miles, 75% sand, dunes and heat.  I may have to start in the  fast pack an hour or so after everyone else leaves. 

 

Feet are great, back is ok but my quads are hurting with lactic acid build up.  Hope they will work themselves out.  About 1/3 of the way there.

 

Lisa is having a good time.  Scenery is great but humidity is up due to the recent rains. 

 

Thanks for the emails!

Stage 1 of Grand to Grand

There was a lot of thunder and lightning last night at the bivouac. It drizzled for a couple of hours and the tents required work at about 3:00 am.  It was a long night and I only got about four hours of sleep. 


The start was fast and weather heavy over cast.  Dodged showers all day.  First 20 miles were just over 10:00/mile.  Last eight was off road through cactus, rocks, uphill, etc.  Lots of walking then I got behind on food and a little behind on water. Finished in under 6:30 and in 12^th place I think.  No blisters.  All is good.  Will sleep ok tonight! 


Tomorrow is 25 miles with some hills and sand I'm sure I will go slower.

Checked in and good to go!

Today was check in.  Medical was reviewed, weights taken and required equipment inspected for.  Everyone had to also label all food packaging with their bib number to prevent littering (and associated penalties).

My pack is coming in at about 17.5 lbs without water.  I am carrying about 10 lbs of food (20,000 kcals) and about 7.5 lbs of gear. About a half pound more than I wanted but I should eat fairly well.

Weather looks like hot with chances of rain on a couple of days, thus the heavier rain jacket is coming instead of the tachyon jacket.   Route book is showing lots of "soft sand" through out the course.  Aid stations are fairly close together, usually less than 7 miles so cameling-up should not be required too often.

The pre-race dinner is tonight the we are off to the bivouac tomorrow around noon.

On Our Way

Today my wife Lisa and me have made it to Kanab, the gathering point for the race.  An easy flight into Las Vegas forum Albuquerque.  On the flight we just happened to sit down next to probably the only other person going to the race from New Mexico, volunteer Susan Oliver!

Upon getting or bags in Vegas we met up with the others and loaded up for a four hour bus ride across Nevada and Utah.  Fortunately the interstate has been repaired near Mesquite NV from being washed out in some torrential rains just days before.  Traffic had been diverted three hours around the damage, lucky us.  Hopefully we will have drier weather!

Over 40 competitors and volunteers were long for the ride, getting to know each other and sharing their anticipation.  The rest of the contingent comes in tomorrow.  I look forward to some relaxing time after a 70 hour plus work week and some very late nights.  Repacking and reviewing my kit along with a short run is on the schedule too.

Tahoe 200 and Foot Care

With just a couple of weeks to go before the Grand to Grand, I had an enjoyable time volunteering and supporting my friend Tim White at the inaugural Tahoe 200.  This is a 200 mile, multi-day race around beautiful lake Tahoe on the Tahoe Rim Trail.  Megan Hicks wrote of her experience fast packing much of this course back in the January edition of Trail Runner.

Unlike stage racing this event has no fixed distances to cover each day.  The gun goes off and you finish when you cross the line.  The time limit for this event was 100 hours (four days+) and of course there were cut off times along the way.  Like stage racing you need to manage yourself over several days including rest/sleep/eating/whining/etc.  While not "self supported" participants were required to carry a significant amount of emergency gear just in case.  Tim's pack came in at around 10 lbs (including water) which is nothing to scoff at in a race of this length.

My volunteering duties were mainly centered around the Armstrong Pass Aid Station at approximately mile 90.  At an altitude of about 8500 feet (2600 meters) it was the highest aid station on the entire course and in between the two highest summits at about 9600-9750 feet.  Temperatures at night there dropped down to 36 degrees F and the Western Mountaineering sleeping bag did great.

Pacing duties for Tim were split between his brother (Paul), daughter (Haley) and son (Forest) as well as work colleague Jesson Hutchinson and myself. Tim finished in a little over 82 hours! Quite an accomplishment.  Surprisingly there was only a 30% DNF rate.  Many thought it would be higher.

One of the biggest issues I saw during the race was the lack of foot care!  At Armstrong the EMT and myself wound up working on many blister issues.  Even the front runners were suffering in this regards before the half way point.  Few were washing their feet regularly and changing their socks.  Some competitors did not even have gaiters.  With a very dusty course this was compounding their problems.

At Tahoe City aid station while working on Tim's feet I had the pleasant surprise to being helped out by none other than John Vonhof author of "Fixing Your Feet".  After I got Tim on his way, John and I had some discussions on foot care during this race, techniques and what are the best tapes currently available.  Thanks for the pointers John!

All this has just reinforced my experience with foot care on these long, multi-day events.  I will for sure be taping up before leaving the starting line!