The Sulphur Springs 100 miler takes place in Ancaster ON just north of Hamilton. The race starts in an area beside an outdoor pool building. The race course is 8 laps of a 20km loop through gently rolling and somewhat-hilly single track, double track and fire road trail. There are 6 aid stations (plus the start finish line) that you pass on the route which roughly translates into one every 3 km or so. It is not a huge race in terms of numbers of participants, but with the addition of the 10km, 25km, 50km and 50 mile races there was a lot of company for the first 12 hours of the race. This race also allows pacers after 8pm for the 100miler’s or for the final loop for the 50 miler’s.
This was my first 100 miler. Training started back at the end of November. It wasn’t until January that I really decided to go for the full distance. My goal for the training and for the race was to get my body ready and able to complete the 100 miles in under 24 hours.
This was more than a one day race, it was a whole weekend deal. Pre-race dinner was mandatory and was Friday evening at 6pm. The Race Director gave final instructions, course description, final warnings. He also went around the room to see how many of us were first timers. He then went on to give the statistics in terms of finishing percentage (65%) and when you related that to the number of first timers (7), that meant that going by the percentage, 2 or 3 out of the 7 of us would probably not finish. This was not a happy thought to put in my head as I was going to sleep that night.
Camping the night before a 100 miler is quite a thing. It is part of the whole experience and it really set the weekend off on the right foot. While I didn’t get a lot of sound sleep in (as if I would have anyways), I did have the reassurance that I would be waking up, getting dressed and stumbling 20 steps to the start-finish line. What I didn’t expect was how cold it was that night and how I would be sleeping in all the warm clothes that I had brought with me. Other things that I didn’t plan for were going to the bathroom in the middle of the night (over hydration) and eating cold food in the morning. Oh well, the night went well.
The morning of the race was the perfect weather to run 100 miles in. It started off cool yet sunny. 50 milers and 100 milers were piling in from all over as everyone got ready for the start. I made myself busy by mixing up and dividing out my Eload. I then made the final sprint up to the bathroom before the race. As I was finishing up in the Lou, I could have sworn I heard the Race Director say “3, 2, 1, GO!” The race had started and I wasn’t there. So I rushed down the stairs and off after them. A quick turn around and sprint back up the hill to my kit box to grab my water belt and I was off for real this time. Time to chase the pack? I don’t think so. I would have all day for that.
Lap 1. This lap went by quickly, there were plenty of people to talk to (mainly because people were still willing to talk at this point.) It was also great to hear people’s advice on pacing, eating, rest-stop strategy, etc. I ran the whole loop with another first timer, Allan Snowdy. Allan was a young college student from Michigan University. His story was that he had come down the year before and paced for someone and this year he and a bunch of friends from school were going to all do the 50 miler together. Well his buddies first bailed on that saying that their training sucked and that they wouldn’t be ready. Allan replied by saying that he would run the 100 Mile race and his friends could pace him. Well, they bailed on that idea too and Allan ended up bringing his sister to pace him even though neither of them had ran any further than a marathon in their lifetime. Allan and I chatted a lot about what he should eat and drink throughout the race since he said that he had brought a “couple of gels with him, but he wasn’t sure if he was gonna need em.” Wow, to be young and brave.
Lap 2. I lost Allan partway through this lap. I was starting to talk to myself so I decided to make my goal for the end of this lap: To pick up my phone so that I can call people and pick up my Ipod so that I can listen to my music for a little while. I ran for a little while with Jerry from the Buffalo area. He had done this race before but was still unsure if he would be finishing. We chatted about our kids and the difference between him raising boys and me raising girls. The loop flew by and we were soon talking about other people that we saw and how we thought we would be finishing up the night portion of the race. Wow, we had a long way to go yet.
Lap 3. OK, I picked up my phone but I forgot to grab my ipod. I made a few calls to let people know where I was and how well I was doing. Funny thing is that I phoned my wife and told her that I felt great and the race was going fine. Then I phoned my friend Craig and told him that I was suffering from the heat and that I was getting tired and hungry. It’s funny that I could feel both ways in such a short period. I guess I also didn’t want her to worry about me.
I ran mainly with Jerry. We were already starting to curse some of the hills that we were becoming too familiar with. I was starting to go into some rants about how the race director could have taken a few extra turns to avoid some of the bigger hills and not had to put us through all this anguish. I started to do some timing of sections in order to gauge how I would be doing towards the end of the race. I even vowed to myself that on the next lap, I would walk the whole out and back section to the aid station. Well, that never happened.
Lap 4. I finally got my Ipod and I started listening to some music. Kid Rock and John Mayer make great running partners, so I was soon cruising to some good tunes and thoughts. This was the lap that I started to get hungry and started to try things like PB&J sandwiches and Potatoes. What I also learned was that my stomach doesn’t digest solid food on the run yet. By the end of this lap, I was feeling dehydrated, bloated and sluggish. I had to get back on the gels and reestablish the water supply. So I concentrated on more fluid, I slowed down a bit and I stopped and forced myself to urinate. This all helped me get through my hardest lap of the race.
Lap 5. This was my best lap by far. I was back on the fluid train with my hydration back on even keel. I was past the half way point and I was feeling great and even celebrating a bit in my own mind. I spent more time talking to odd runners and dawdling at aid stations. I tried the chicken broth for the first time this lap and felt this was going to be a something that works for me. It was warm, salty and felt very comforting in comparison to gels and Ediscs. This lap ended with a crowd of my supporters yelling for me from the top of the gulch hill. I could hear the cowbell from the last aid station and was very happy for the cheering me up that cursed hill.
Lap 6. One of my fastest laps, I had gotten the routine down right and spent most of the lap talking or singing along to my tunes. Transitions were short but I tried to coax as much conversation and laughter that I could out of the aid station volunteers. It had been a long day for most of them. I was starting to curse the downhills more than the uphills as both the bottoms of my feet and my quads were starting to punish me for the abuse I had put them through. Towards the end of this lap I was also getting anxious since I would have company on the next two laps, so I planned for a clothing change, more food and of course putting on my headlamp.
Lap 7. After my wardrobe change into a long sleeve and headlamp, restocking of gels and eload, I was off with my pacer Rob. I think that I surprised him because I was in and out of the aid tent so quickly that he was chasing me down the hill to catch up with me. We fell into conversation quickly about how I was feeling and how the race had been up until that point. He was concerned about what kind of pace I wanted to keep and if there was anything in particular that he could do to help pace me. It was really great to have someone along to chat with who wasn’t struggling and who could do most of the talking and more importantly, keep up the conversation. The hills and aid stations passed by very quickly as time really took on a different meaning at this point in the race. 2.5 hours seems like a long time to run with someone, but when you compare it to the whole day of running, it really felt more like we spent about an hour together. I think that Rob was also a little surprised at how different the route seemed at night and at the intensity that we were going at. The bonus to pacing one of these races is that you get to go home or to work on Monday and say “I ran in a 100 mile race on the Weekend”…who says you have to point out that you didn’t run the whole 100? Semantics.
Lap 8. The Glory lap. After killing off my first pacer (heehee), I picked up my 2ND pacer for my final lap of the night. Craig and I have run together a lot and we joke around pretty well, so this made for a very entertaining 20km. We quickly got into the same chitchat that I had on the last lap. We also covered how nerve wracking it was waiting so long to go out for the final lap of the night. When we hit the road section on the way out, we passed my training partner and her pacer (who was also my pacer’s wife) coming in from the first loop section of the course. They both looked determined and in great shape to finish out the 7Th lap of her race. I also found out later that she was determined NOT to let me lap her in my final lap. There wasn’t much chance of that since I was at least a good 7 km behind her.
I really enjoyed this lap, especially stopping at all the aid stations to say thanks and goodnight for the last time through. There were huge congratulations and support throughout and it really capped off the night portion of the race with emotion. I was hammering for home now.
After starting my turn down the last hill from the far aid station, I said two things to my pacer: 1) I am going to try to run the rest of this one in and not walk on the uphills (except for the gulch, screw that) and 2) If he (my pacer) fell and hurt himself, I would be leaving him behind and sending someone from the aid station back for him.
The final downhill and climb up the road to the finish line was a blur. I just remember trying to coax as much out of my tired legs as I could since I knew that I wouldn’t be heading out again. It turned out to be the ugliest sprint that anyone could have imagined. My feet were tender and my quads were screaming bloody murder, but I did it and finished with a huge smile on my face. It was really great to have my wife and friends all there to congratulate me. One of the first questions that I was asked was “would you do another one?” I thought that it was crazy to even consider it. I needed some time apart from Sulphur Springs and her hills of torture. I was happy to be done and I was ready to lie down for a long while.
I finished the course in under 21 hours which was far ahead of my goal of 24 hours. I placed in my age category and even medaled. As it turned out, 5 out of the 7 of us first time 100 milers finished, the last 2 people to officially finish the course were first timers, the last official finisher, Alan Snowdy, in 29:58…wow.
I will definitely be back for another walk in the woods at the Sulphur Springs 100 miler.
