I sent this to the ultralist, and posted on facebook. Susan thought I
might have missed some of the mangum faithful, so I've sent it along.
Enjoy the summer!
Cheers,
Doom
From: fred dummar
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009
Subject: HOT TIME 100
Folks,
Here is my short report of an interesting 100 mile event...a first
time 100 put on by Doug Dawkins in the sand hills of North Carolina,
on the same weekend as Western States, named the Hot Time 100.
Doug knew it would be brutally hot so he created a figure eight course
that passed the one aid station every 3.6 miles. The north and south
segments combined for a 7.2 total loop. Doug was also running this
race "old school" so he let runners know that they would be
responsible for themselves and the low cost $25 entry fee did not
include pampering.
14 loops of 7.2 would make 100.8. Easy enough....come on how hard can that be?
Add North Carolina June Heat (98 in the shade, and the course had
little to no shade) + Sand that started loose and turned to ankle
deep powder in some locations + a few rolling little hills done
multiple times = the requisite ingredients for a death march
suffer-fest of epic proportions.
Doug had first started talking about this event several years ago
during a long run, and I foolishly encouraged him. I am an idiot.
Not just your average idiot, but now one responsible for encouraging
Doug to create this race. So when Doug finally announced this year
that he was going forward with the idea, I had to run it. Doug is my
friend. Isn't he?
When I considered the Hot Time, I knew that I had to be there.
The prep...I ran the Boogie 50 two weeks before the race so I had
plenty of conditioning and good acclimatization for night time summer
running in NC, but I immediately left for Korea after the run and the
temps in Korea really did not approximate the heat that was building
in NC. I did manage to find a sauna and worked in three separate
sessions over three days building from 1 hour at 175 to 2 hours by the
third day of heat training at about 4 days out from the race.
Probably not enough heat training, but it was what I could fit in
before the race. I also did a little 10K the weekend between the 50
and the 100 to keep blood volume from dropping during my hectic
schedule that imposed a pretty dramatic taper between the boogie 50
and the Hot time 100.
I arrived back in the states about two and a half days before the
race, so I was still a little jet lagged by the whole international
date line back and forth, but all in all I felt rested going into the
run.
Mrs. Doom really went the extra mile getting the kit ready and when
race day dawned we both felt prepared for the challenge. My sense of
mental calm aided greatly by the fact that she had packed all the kit.
Setting up our aid station adjacent to the main aid station was pretty
straight forward. A sun shade, couple of chairs, the ultra tool kit
(flashlights, footkit, etc..), and a couple of coolers (one with
drinks and one for extra articles of clothes) completed our set-up.
The cooler for the clothes was a last minute idea that I had to rotate
T-shirts, hats, and bandannas by exchanging them at the end of each
lap to add the cooling effect of a freshly soaked shirt, hat and
bandanna to my rest stop. This decision was critical to keeping me
going...That fresh, cold T-shirt change at the end of every lap became
a goal to work toward.
The race started at 6AM when 20 runners set out on the course. I went
along at the back of the lead pack of about 6 runners, which quickly
separated into two groups as the eventual winner Joe Ninke and Will
Taggart took off. I figured that it was as cool as it was going to be
all run so why not make the most of the cooler morning hours by
running a little quicker at the start. After 1.5 loops I was ready to
settle into my own more relaxed pace, and the rest of lead pack moved
on.
The day heated up quickly, but I seemed to be manging OK. As we
approached mid day several runners began to REALLY struggle, and I
just kept my head down and kept moving. I turned some really slow
laps, but it was my goal to keep moving and not red line. I was
alternating Succeed Ultra and Clip2 in my bottles and it seemed to
being working really well. About 3 PM a late afternoon thunderstorm
moved over us without dropping a single rain drop on the course, so
the sand on the course really started to get churned up. The clouds
cooled the temps about 10 degrees and I think lulled some runners into
a false sense of security. Some runners must have started thinking
the worse was over as I noted some folks really moving out... TOO SOON
TO MAKE A MOVE is what I kept telling myself to avoid getting caught
up in the surge. Sure enough the storm moved past us and dumped rain
about 20 miles away, then the sun came back... BAD NEWS! Now the
humidity began to surge and the sun returned making 430PM to 630PM
some of the worst hours of the run. The suffering intensified, and It
broke some spirits. Looking at the half way point in that condition
was too much, and some runners packed it in. A few of us continued,
but the field was getting thin.
The miles continued to add up until I decided to make an extended stop
around 9 PM to recover from the days heat. I committed a very serious
error at this stop (NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT DO THIS). I downed three
bottles of water to cool my core temperature and to ostensibly catch
up on fluids. I had done this same thing at mile 25 and 50 with no
ill effects, but this time as I left the aid station my stomach was
sloshing. I should have known that the cooling temperatures required
less fluid, but I was sticking with the earlier plan. I normally cure
a sloshing stomach with an S! cap, so I popped one and continued to
run... This was not a good idea. Apparently the sloshing stomach was
telling me "Too much fluid onboard" not "too little electrolyte
onboard", and I missed the signal. The addition of the S! cap turned
the sloshing stomach into a volatile solution that my body was not
about to tolerate and out it came....violently...between miles 69 and
70. I struggled back to the aid station at the end of the loop and
needed to consider my options. It was clear I was now over hydrated,
over salted, and over heated...Not a good combination. I had only
been taking S! caps during the day at about the rate of 1 every 2 or 3
hours so I never figured the too much salt angle. Too much heat can
slow your central processor, and I relearned this lesson.
I stopped at the aid station and sipped a little plain water to help
me choke down a piece of pizza, then I rolled over on a bench and took
a nap. Time for a hard reboot of the system. If I could cool off a
little and start to urinate maybe I could salvage the run. 15 minutes
is all it took, I was back up and had to use the bathroom. It was ON.
My stomach was still queasy, but would accept gel blocks and plain
water in small doses. Good enough to get back on the course.
I turned a couple more laps and continued to struggle but the race
winner was finishing about this time (Joe Ninke in 21:40) while about
7 or 8 runners of the original 20 remained in various states of
forward motion.
I kept chugging along, slowly, but moving nonetheless. It was a tough
slog. A deathmarch...to be exact. Tom Gabell rejoined the course when
I was about 80 miles in, after he taken a several hour layoff, and
running a lap with him got my legs moving again. Now it was time for
the home stretch, and Mrs. Doom jumped in to run the last 14 miles.
It was great to have her back on the course after she had jumped in
sporadically during the day between her duties as a race volunteer
(NOTE TO SELF: Mrs. Doom is a great crew, pacer, volunteer, ultra
spouse, running buddy. Must not screw that up.)
Nothing left to do now but finish. Cheryl, Jay and Anita were the
only other runners moving so it seemed liked a good idea to keep
pushing to be one of the 5 finishers.
And just like that it was over... I was a survivor of the Hot Time
100. I am still an idiot, and Doug is still my friend. Turns out
idiots have short memories.
Race Results Here: http://www.theboogieraces.com/HTRESULTS.html
Cheers,
Doom