2006 MCNAUGHTON PARK TRAIL RUNS 100 MILE APRIL 15-16, 2006 By Mike Samuelson THE PLAN: I had glanced at the 2005 McNaughton 100 Mile splits occasionally before finally printing off the run results and splits at run100s.com several weeks before the race. It was clear that most of the 2005 runners slowed considerably over the last 30-40 miles, although that it fairly common for all 100 mile runs. Although the average finish time was slow compared to many 100s, I still estimated that I would finish the run between 26 and 28 hours even though my lone 100 mile finish to that point was the 2004 Arkansas Traveller in 28:17. I expected to run the first 50 miles right around 11 hours (same as the 2004 Traveller), and I then expected to slow and complete the second 50 miles in 15-17 hours. Knowing that I would have the chance to run the same loop 10 times, my plan was to run/walk each loop exactly the same way to the maximum extent possible. Kevin Dorsey volunteered to crew and pace me for this run and he also previewed the course for me by running the 10-mile loop Friday before the race. Kevin is a stronger runner than I am, so I have to admit to being a little concerned that Kevin took 1:39 to complete the loop even though he did not take it easy – but he did admit to being bothered by a headache during the run. A great spaghetti and pizza dinner at Pepperoni’s near the course fueled Paul Braun (entered in the 50 Mile), Kevin, and I and we were ready for our runs the next day. THE RACE: With 200 runners entered into the three events (30, 50, and 100 miles), I expected the first loop to go fairly slowly due to back-ups at the steep sections of the trail where many of us would be forced to walk on the uphills or create distance with runners in front on the difficult-to-stop-oneself downhills. I wasn’t concerned about being slow since I didn’t want to start out too fast anyway. I ran some of the first loop with Paul Braun and nearly all of it with Steve Durbin. Good conversation got the race off to a nice start, even though it was hotter than all of us would have liked already. Thankfully ice was present to provide much needed relief. The 10-mile loop turned out to be exactly as described by Paul (who paced his sister in 2005) and Kevin – lots of short steep ups and downs but plenty of flat trail also. It was not possible to keep the feet dry in the two creek crossings at mile 3.5 and 8.5 of each loop, so the added potential for blisters due to wet feet was simply part of the race. Steve, Paul, and I all finished the first loop in about 2:08 – of course about 50 runners completed the first loop in 2:06 – 2:08 due to taking a right instead of a left at the 9.6 mile mark. I laughed my tail off when I reached the 9.6 mile mark in the second loop and noted that someone had re-marked this area of open space with numerous ribbons and arrows (including a 4 feet by two feet arrow labeled as “the $4.00 arrow”) to avoid anyone losing their way again. I started the second loop at 2:09 after spending a minute refilling the water bottle and putting ice in the hat to keep my large body cool. I expected to run the second loop faster than the first due to the spreading out of the runners on the course, and I met that expectation by completing the second loop at 4:12 (for a 2:03 loop). Now the big question was, “How long can I hold this pace?” As it turns out, I held my pace fairly well, but not without some bumps in the road. I ran the third loop in 2:09 – only a couple minutes slower than the first two loops. I was feeling good as I pulled into the start/finish location at 30 miles, but I told Kevin and Victoria White, who had walked over to wish me well, that my left hip flexor was a potential problem. Victoria’s assistance at the Heaven’s Gate aid station for the first 30 miles of the race was greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, only two minutes out of the aid station at mile 30 my left hip flexor forced me to a walk on level ground. I was definitely concerned now. I did not want to walk for 70 miles. The hip flexor felt a little better after walking for 10 minutes, but the situation was definitely far from ideal. My right hip flexor completely gave way at mile 91 of the 2004 AT100 and I was forced to limp the last 9 miles of that race, and I did not want to go through that agony again. Great thanks to the volunteers at the Totem Pole aid station at mile 2.6 who probably ended up saving my run. I made an offhanded comment about my hip flexor when I pulled into Totem Pole on the fourth loop and I was told to try Bio Freeze. I had never used Bio Freeze, but at this point there was nothing to lose. I applied the Bio Freeze to my hip, and I was truly elated when in just minutes my hip flexor problems were forgotten. Due to the hip flexor problem in the beginning of the loop, I ended up completing the fourth loop in 2:24. As I was finishing my fourth lap, the first 100 mile runner, Paul Stofko, the eventual race winner, lapped me. My newest goal, avoid being lapped twice!!! I hit 50 miles at 11:15 after running the fifth loop in 2:20, pretty much accomplishing my intermediate goal of running the first half of the race in 11 hours. I was excited coming into to the 50 mile point knowing that Kevin was now going to run with me the next 50 miles. I remarked to Kevin before we started the sixth loop, “The 50 mile warm up is done, time for the real race to begin.” Now the kudos have to go to race management. Someone was cooking up super food on the grill, and Kevin brought me over part of a hamburger. WOW!!! It was fantastic. I ran loop 6 - which included another Bio Freeze application on the left hip flexor - only 5 minutes slower than loop 5 – the hamburger had to have helped my body with that loop. Time to turn on the headlamp for the start of loop 7. Another hamburger did not help me this loop as I tried to eat it while running and ended up gagging on chewed up food which went down the wrong pipe. Oh well. Loop 8 was chicken noodle soup – a welcome addition to my stomach. Where are all the other runners? How come I am not being passed or lapped? I was finally lapped by another runner, eventual second place finisher Scott Meyers, as I started loop 9. Kudos to the cook again who provided me with what turned out to be the best grilled cheese sandwich of my life. Maybe some company needs to come up with the ‘grilled cheese sandwich’ energy gel?! I was feeling great as Kevin and I pushed out on loop 9, the equivalent of starting the fifth loop at Rocky Raccoon, but happy feelings were definitely short lived as a good rain started falling which turned the steep ups and downs into treacherous traveling slowing me by 30 minutes over loop 8. Every runner had to be extremely careful walking/running(?!) the steep ups and downs on the muddy trail. Nearly everyone had at least one fall in the hours after the rain – which thankfully only lasted an hour or so. Paul Braun who 10 hours earlier completed the 50 mile in 12:57 joined Kevin and I for the last loop. The lactic acid had now really built up in the legs, partially due to the extra pounding and effort required to make forward progress on the slick trail. As we started the tenth loop, I was definitely disappointed that I could not even jog fast enough so that Kevin and Paul would also have to jog to keep pace, and when I slowed to walking it seemed like I was crawling. I was thinking that loop 10 could possibly take four hours, but at the Totem Pole aid station the day brightened and headlamps were turned off. We were now in the second day of the run. Would Sunday’s dawn, would Easter bring a second wind? I was still happy to be able to run most of the sections I had run all day, it was just that I was running very slowly. The slick trails had dried out somewhat so running was a little easier than the previous loop. Kevin and Paul were doing a great job encouraging me and I still kept running very slowly on most of the course that I had run on loops 1-9. At the Heaven’s Gate aid station at mile 95.8 I had to for the fourth time – even though I wear Race Ready gaiters - take my shoes off and poor the rocks out – rocks most likely accumulated in the creek crossings. The end was so close, but I still have issues with my left big toe from not clearing a rock out of my shoe from the 2001 High Desert 50K and it simply wasn’t worth the risk to future runs to not stop. As I was taking rocks out of my shoes a runner comes flying by at an absolutely unbelievable pace at this point in the run. Congratulations to Jerry Brandt who moved from ninth to sixth place in the run on that last loop. Kevin and Paul kept pushing me onwards, and when I reached mile 99 the body started to loosen up. I picked up the pace ever so slowly and by mile 99.5 I was absolutely ecstatic. I was able to pick up the pace even more, and the last tenth of the mile to the finish the body allowed me to actually run at probably 8:00 minute mile pace to finish strongly. WOW – how come I couldn’t run anywhere near that fast at the start of the tenth loop? Did the dawn finally bring about a second wind or did the mind know that the run was just about over and the ‘performance limiters’ installed by the mind to keep the body from overdoing it were removed? Great thanks to Race Director Andy Weinberg and all the outstanding volunteers who made the McNaughton Park Trail Runs a success. I look forward to future McNaughton Park runs since, as Tim Noakes writes in the Lore Of Running, “I realized that it is never possible to do one’s absolute best, to reach the pinnacle of absolute perfection,” but I will come back to McNaughton to continue in this pursuit of perfection. Is a sub 24 hour run possible for me at McNaughton? Only time will tell. My splits from the run are below which includes some stoppage time between loops not mentioned above: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 FINISH 2:08 4:12 6:24 8:52 11:15 13:44 16:28 19:24 22:52 26:09:00 McNaughton Park Aid Station locations: Start/Finish Totem Pole Heaven’s Gate Mile 0 Mile 2.6 Mile 5.8 and 6.9 Race website: www.mcnaughtonparktrailruns.com Race location: McNaughton Park in Pekin, IL