Ultra (r)Evolution: Pine to Palm 100 Mile Endurance Run Recap

Photo courtesy of P2P website.

In August I drove south for 8 hours to get to the Waldo 100 race in Oregon. For anyone who has not driven the main freeway along the western flank of the U.S., the Interstate 5 (I5) is a tedious drive. Not much scenery, straight, and quite frankly boring. Having to repeat the trip to get home after a draining endurance event is exponentially more painful.

Since the Pine to Palm 100miler is even further south than Waldo I decided to fly from Seattle to Medford saving me 20 or more hours of driving. The cost of a return flight plus a rental car was equivalent if not cheaper than the cost of driving gas.

My flight departed at 10:30am. Google told me it would take 2.5 hours from Burnaby to SeaTac Airport. My tired and wanting to sleep in brain believed Google. I left home at 6:30am in order to arrive 1.5 hours before my flight.

The roads were dead all the way to the border so I made record time. The border guard however, apparently was not concerned with my tight schedule. This is the ensuing dialogue:

Him: Where are you from?

Me: Burnaby.

Him: Where are you going?

Me: I'm driving to the Seattle airport where I am going to catch a plane to Medford, Oregon where I will pick up a rental car so I can drive to Ashland, Oregon where I am going to run an ultra marathon race on Saturday. I'm returning on Monday.

Him: How long will you be in the US?

Me: Um, I'm returning on Monday.

Him: What is the purpose of your trip?

Me: I'm running in a race.

Him: Why?

Me: I enjoy racing.

Him: You're not answering my question. Why do you race?

Me: I guess I don't understand the question, what specifically do you ...

Him: NO, LISTEN. YOU ARE NOT ANSWERING MY QUESTION. I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU ONE LAST CHANCE. WHY DO YOU RACE?

You have to understand that at this point I wasn't sure where he was coming from. I have often asked myself why I do the things I do. But usually from a philosophical existential approach. He didn't really seem like he wanted to talk about free will versus determinism and seeing as this was final answer time I was pretty sure I was off to the slammer for being a runner.

Him: Do you do it for fun? Do you do it for money?

Me: For fun?

Him: O.K., That's all I wanted to know.

He then continued to stare at me for an uncomfortable amount of time until he returned my passport. I swear I was ready to break down and confess things I've never done. Driving away, I just couldn't figure out his angle. I go through the same border numerous times every year. EVERY trip is running related. All this info is on file. What could I have been doing? Anyway this was the start of my trip.

I did travel math in my head and figured that if I drove just a little over the speed limit I would arrive in Seattle on time. I think it was outside of Mt. Vernon, about 100km north of Seattle that the traffic started to slow down. Then I remembered that it was Friday. Rush hour. Panic. The closer I got the slower the traffic got. Sometimes stopped. At this pace I would arrive at the airport just in time for dinner.

I hate rushing to get somewhere, especially if it's to catch a flight because you know that there's a good chance that once you get there, there is going to be a line-up at the check-in counter and at the security gate.

My only choice was to risk driving in the HOV lane which I did, passing all those unfortunate law abiding citizens, at a speed which generally exceeded what was expected of me. I did not park my truck at the parking shuttle as I had planned since I arrived at 9:30 on the nose. Straight to the exorbitant airport parking where I spent another 15 minutes finding a spot that was about a 10 minute walk from the airport.

I made my flight, but just barely. I blame Google for not being as smart as it pretends to be. Stupid Google.

Fortunately, the rest of my trip was enjoyable and relaxing. My neighbour on the flight was Susan Weber who owns Spirit River Yoga and Massage in Abiquiu, New Mexico. I have always wanted to run in that area so it was interesting to talk to a resident. Definitely a state I would live in.

When I arrived at the Medford, Oregon airport, a fellow standing behind me at the rental car check in asked me if I was running the next day. I hadn't been talking about it and wasn't wearing or displaying anything running related so I turned and asked him how he knew. He pointed down to my sandal clad feet. "I could tell by your toes" he said. Sure enough, I had three black toenails.

Earlier in the month I had made reservations for a motel in Ashland, Oregon, the race's finish point. I had mentioned to the lady on the phone that I was running in this race and wondered if I qualified for a discount. There was a discount rate but even better she said that I could get a ride with her and her son Shahid to the race start. Over the next few days I got a chance to hang out with Shahid quite a bit and through him met a number of the local runners from the "Rogue Valley Runners". Ashland is a beautiful and friendly community with a load of trails in the area. It reminds me a lot of Nelson, BC, another one of my favorite towns.

The night before the race was spent at the race briefing/dinner and then packing my drop-bags. I think I only got a couple of hours of sleep that night since we had to get up really early to get to the start in Williams on time. The night before that was unfortunately a late one with another early rise to get to the airport on time. Needless to say I think I was a little tired race morning.

My game plan on race day was to go out slow and easy and let the lead pack do their thing. I knew that if I ran solid I would overtake most (hopefully all) of them throughout the day. My main competition was the previous year's winner and Pearl Izumi sponsored Tim Olson. As well, Innov8 runner Yassine Diboun, who I had narrowly beat at Waldo five weeks previous, was sure to be in contention for a podium finish. Not to mention that at every race there is a dark horse or two to rub elbows with. Usually this is me.

I picked off all but five runners in the first 15 miles finding myself in 4th place. By 30 miles I had moved into third with Tim and Yassine ahead of me by about 20-30 minutes. I was feeling great and just totally caught up in the day but did not try to increase my pace to gain on the leaders. At the Squaw Lakes aid station at mile 40 I learned that Yassine was only 10 minutes ahead and I eventually overtook him at mile 45. He was struggling and suggested we run together to boost "our" morale. I offered a few words of encouragement but was in a really good groove so I had to keep running on without him. Eventually he dropped a few miles later.

So that left me with Tim Olson to catch. At the Squaw Creek Gap station at 56 miles I was surprised to hear that he was only 20 minutes ahead of me. With roughly half of the race left I still had to stick to my game plan. Racing at this point would break me and would result in a slower time.

Michael Lebowitz photo

I ran well and felt strong right up to mile 75 but Tim had picked up his pacer and was opening his lead. Once it got dark my energy levels dropped right off and my pace slowed considerably. I was very disappointed because I had wanted to prolong the inevitable suffer-fest for as long as possible. 25 miles is a long ways to go one step at a time. A pacer would have helped immensely. Next time.

So at a very slow pace I persevered until the end but finished well behind Tim for second place with a time of 19:15. He found his groove at the end and I lost mine. All in all another good learning experience.

The highlight of this race would have to be the course itself. I was not prepared for the spectacular scenery and diverse terrain. Throughout the race I wished that I had the time to take pictures of what I was running through. Honorable mention goes to the amazing volunteers at the race. Every aid station was super accommodating and well managed. And last but not least, Ashland itself which is such a cool town to hang out in. I will definitely be back. Stronger and faster with more time to visit next time.