Javelina Jundred This race report has taken some time to write, I think that I lost too many brain cells during that "easy, just for the hell of it, fun run" last week in Arizona. Princess Anita,(of Badwater fame) pushed me to run it and when an important concert here in Mexico was cancelled I had no more excuses. Even our friend and PT, Troy Marsh was going to be there to hold the two Princessesī hands. And we did it, I finally have my 100 mile finish (actually 101.4 miles) in 29 hours and 16 minutes. But easy—I donīt think so-a 50% finish rate, even lower than Wasatch. The race started at 6am, with a substantial incline just covered with rocks. And not ordinary, well behaved rocks, but small, unstable, rocking stones that caused your feet to slip from side to side. By the end of the first 15.3 mile loop I was blistering on the sides of my feet. By the end of the second I had serious shin, ankle and hip pain. Later I found out that I was not only one, a huge number of runners blistered and Troy was kept busy being an angel to all. One of the high points of the race was meeting Don Meyer, a friend from the Ultra runners list, who also vegan, had been very helpful about food and even lacing patterns for my shoes. Each time we came into his aid station he had a little vegan treat stashed away for me. One of the nice things about the race was that every other loop you ran in a different direction so you got to see the front runners over and over again. You saw them suffer, you saw them smile and everyone had a kind word, though as the race wore on the "Looking good!" started to turn to just "Hello" and as the night rolled on, the most you could get out was "Hey" which quickly degenerated into a "hhhmmmmyy". It got very hot during the afternoon, at least for me coming from Sub- tropical rainy season Mexico and as I climbed that really annoying hill for the 2nd time I came upon a runner stretched out in the trail trying to find a bit of shade from a cactus. I got some water on him and ran ahead to the aid station to get help. They were dropping like flies out there. Finally night fell and the temperature dropped as the much talked about lunar eclipse started. It was pretty low on the horizon and with a few clouds it was hard to see until the moon rose more. Very pretty but there was work to be done and so onward through the night. The 5th loop was fun as I picked up my pacer, Troy and we went trotting through the night belting out Mormon hymns and solving all the worldīs problems. For a while we were watched by two UFOīs, they must have thought we were all crazy. But then onward, just the Princesses for the 6th loop and it was cold and dark and suddenly not much fun at all. As we came into the aid station at about 4am we heard shots in the distance. "Oh donīt worry about that", the Aid Station personal said. "Thatīs just RD Geri," "shooting the DNFers and then she feeds them to the coyotes." As we left the aid station, Princess Anita and I noticed and then heard, loudly, a pack of coyotes that seemed to be following us. I told Princess Anita that we probably smelled like carrion and if we didnīt hurry they might think that we were already dead. Anything that works to keep you moving at that hour. At one point in the race we stopped to watch a beautiful large tarantula cross the path. Slowly, elegantly, moving each leg independently she waltzed across our view. Princess Anita commented, "Even the spiders are moving faster than we are", time to run. I had very carefully kept myself from thinking about the last loop, which was supposedly a 8 mile out and back to make up the mileage. The night before at the pre-race briefing, Geri had mentioned that the race was over 100 miles in length because "Javelinaīs canīt count". When we came in for the last loop and they told us that we had to turn around and head for that "very annoying first climb" I wanted to cry. And when I realized that it wasnīt 8 miles but 9.6, I wanted to kill someone. But Relentless, Forward Motion and with Troy as a cheering section I headed out. By then my ankles and feet hurt so badly that I was whining with every step, a little puff of air and pain with each exhalation. But by golly, we did it, we finally, after time seemingly standing still, we FINALLY got to the end. Hands in the air, trying to run for the photos, we FINISHED IT! Instead of a belt buckle or medal, the race director handed us our stuffed Javelinas with our time written on the tag. 29 hours and 16 minutes. "I got PIG!" And as always thanks to the race director, Geri, evil but very funny, the spectacular aid station folks and Troy and Tim (Princess Anitaīs husband) as crew and pacers extraordinaire. Wendy Holdaway