MR 340 Part II, The Race
And this next photo shows a little of the controlled chaos of a CP — note the bottle being thrown in the air. This is actually early in a CP before it got really chaotic. At only one check point did everyone get out — typically a quarter to as much as half of us would stay in. Others would jump out to use the restroom, or help with gear, or to just to stretch their legs. Yet our longest CP was only 12 minutes. Most of the credit has to go to the crew for this amazing feat.
Again, much of the race is a blur, and I don’t recall everything that happened in the order it happened, so in my next post, I’ll offer a few anecdotes and post some other photos…
MR 340 Part I, Pre-Race
June 15th, 2010
I was just ten days past my Half SCAR Plus run, recovering nicely, trying hard not to think about what might be next, though the thought of a Fall 50 miler (running) kept creeping into my mind, when I received an email from my old Florida teammate Will, from team “Are We There Yet,” that simply read:
“I am on a team that is paddling a dragon boat in the Missouri River 340 at the end of July. If we finish it will be the world record for longest race in a dragon boat. We lost a person. There are some folks in line to take the spot, but there is probably a chance for another opening. Are you interested?”
Do you know what my response back was? “I don’t even know what a Dragon Boat is!”
To which he responded:
“It is, for our purposes (even though not technically accurate), a big, ceremonial canoe that, in its most common form in the US, seats 20 paddlers in 10 rows of 2, with a drummer in the front who helps with timing, motivation and communication, and a steersperson in the back who steers with an oar through a lock on a steering arm. So it would be like canoeing with a lot of teammates, except that you only paddle on one side at a time. We will be switching sides periodically.”
My first response was “No!” I have enough experience in 2 – 3 day adventure races with 1 to 3 other teammates to understand how difficult team dynamics can be with that few of people – who could imagine what it would be like with 20? I also like the aspect of adventure racing that allows you to change sports, from running to biking, or paddling to running, etc. Doing one sport for 48 hours (plus or minus), did not sound fun at all. I also thought about the utter chaos we would have at check points — trying to re-supply 21 people in a short amount of time seemed to be an impossible task. And I hate wasting time at check points!
But, the two words “World Record” kept coming back to me. So a couple of days later, I let Will know, who in turn let the team captain, Christina (later named the Imperial Commandress), know, and a couple of days after that, a spot opened and I was on the team.
And best of all, we’d be raising money for the Shriners Hospital of St. Louis. Please consider donating here to this cause here.
Here is the logo from this year’s shirt, which shows the map of the course. We’d be paddling from Kaw Point in Kansas City, all the way to St. Charles. The other points on the map would be the check points where we’d have to check in with race staff, and where we could stop and refuel. We were also allowed to “fly by” these as long as our ground crew made visual contact with us to check in for us.
And another:
Training
Wow, here I am entering an extremely long paddling race, with what appeared to be a serious paddling crew, and I’m thinking, “I’ve only paddled once this year, and that was to take the kids out on the canoe for an hour!” Hmm, how to get in shape in less than 5 weeks! Well, I had a good aerobic base from the ultra run, and I had been keeping my strength training up so I felt like I had a decent strength base as well. What was left? Paddle, paddle, paddle! And paddle some more!
Looking back at my training log, it looks like I was able to get in 8 rowing specific workouts, with canoe paddling as long as 3 hours on Jordan Lake, though most were in the 90 – 120 minute range. I had to get up at 5 a.m. a few times to fit in these kind of time commitments around work and personal life schedules. That is not a whole lot of paddling!
Here is a photo of the dragon boat in action… Our team was able to get in a couple of training runs on it, though getting 16 – 20 paddlers together is tough schedule wise!
Postponement
About a week before the race, we got a clue from the race director that the race would likely be postponed. The Missouri River was at or above flood levels, and many of the check points would be inaccessible. And the river could be dangerous. And then it happened. The race was put off until 8/24.
There was a mad dash scrambling to put the pieces of a team back together. Many members had commitments in August such as school, work, etc., but a core group remained, and we eventually were able to secure a team with 20 people on it — leaving one seat empty. (We later found that one empty seat was essential to allow the 3 steers the ability to rotate on the fly in a safe fashion. If that back row and been completely full, it would have been much tougher to make changes!)
You would think that would be a good thing for someone like me, who had very little paddle specific training in place. But I had an extremely busy time right around then, with a couple of trips planned, and I was only able to get in three more paddling workouts in!
Travel
It came time to travel west to Kansas City. I took an early morning flight to DFW, where I hooked up with Will and Ryan. I had not seen Will in several years, and was introduced to Ryan. Our DFW to KC flight was delayed about 40 minutes, as a seat belt was broken. On a half empty flight, that should not have caused any problems since you can just move someone to a new seat — but the broken seat belt was the pilot’s! That delay was a bit concerning as we were supposed to meet the team at the race start and take the boat out for a quick practice, before the mandatory safety meeting, and now we were cutting in to that time. But we got picked up and went straight to the start, where we quickly changed clothes, where introduced to everyone, and jumped in the boat.
Practice
We paddled the boat as a full team for the 1st time for about 45 minutes. (Actually, I think we were missing one or two people…) At this time, I hate to admit it, but my realistic side was kicking in… Or, perhaps more accurately, it was pessimistic side! Our paddling was awful — we were not synchronized in any way, and there were several in the boat that had paddling strokes that left a lot to be desired. One of the team mates in front of me happened to be a very accomplished adventure racer, ultra-runner, and paddler, and we started talking about attrition rates. We both guessed as high as 20-25%, which would be 4-5 paddlers. A boat as big as that would be difficult to move quickly if we dropped that low. And while we never openly discussed the particular people that we individually thought would not make it, I’m sure we were both thinking about it. This turned out to be a great lesson in “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover,” because I was dead wrong. The entire crew made it to the finish, and some that I thought would be weak, turned out to be strong.
Dinner
Doug, one of the paddlers, who lived a couple of miles from the race start, had opened up his place to several of us, which was very generous considering he didn’t know most of us at all. I rode to his place with Christina, and then the three of us, as well as Doug’s wife, went to a casino buffet dinner, where we (well, me, at least) stuffed ourselves silly. 
Apparently, river boats were awarded the right to offer gambling a long time ago, and the law was written such that as long as there is a little water between the land and the casino, that’s legal. So the “boat” we were on was a building with a little bridge over a 5′ span of water.
Pre-race safety meeting
We headed to the safety meeting, checked in, and were briefed by the race director on what to expect, the rules, etc. We heard “high fast water” about 100 times during the safety video — while the water had certainly dropped since the postponement in July, it was still very high. And fast. “Drink!” (He had suggested making a drinking game out of the video… )
Final Preparations
After the meeting, I went to the grocery store with Eric and Michael for some last minute food grabs — for me that included famous amos cookies, some mixed nuts, etc. Then we headed over to Doug’s, where the 5 racers and 1 support crew member made our final preparations. There were a lot of zip lock bags and food flying around. We finally got to bed around 10:30 or 11. I used my buff to cover my eyes since not everyone was quite ready to turn out the lights when I was — is there no end to the uses of a classic buff? I love mine!
Wake-up call
I woke up about 5 a.m., before the alarm went off, and started to get ready. It had not been a great night of sleep, but certainly wasn’t terrible. Just like the night before most races, I’m always anxious and wake up a few times during the night, only to check the clock and realize there is plenty of time. Doug’s wife walked Michael and me to a nearby cafe, only to find it was closed. 
I really wanted needed my coffee. Then she drove us a bit further to a very nice grocery store that had a large breakfast buffet. And coffee. Now I was ready!
We had to make two trips to the start with all the paddlers, crew, and gear, but we were there in plenty of time to put everything together for the start…
(to be continued…)
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Donald Miller.
I’ll tell these things to God, and he’ll laugh, I think, and he’ll remind me of the parts I forgot, the parts that were his favorites. We’ll sit and remember my story together, and then he’ll stand and put his arms around me and say, “Well done,” and that he liked my story. And my soul won’t be thirsty anymore.
What if your life was a story? What if your life was a story and you were the author, or at least co-author (but main-author)? How would you change your current story? How would you make memorable scenes? How would you invite others into your story? In the book Miller discusses life as a story, and how the elements of story come together in each of our lives. We can have a captivating story, or a dull story — we choose, as we are the main author. Many of us are guilty of not changing our life story, because we have become content, or we are afraid of change. (Or both.) But should we be content with where we are today? Could greater things be in store?
He didn’t discuss it much, but of course other people are part authors of our story as well. I had this revelation a few weeks ago when Kelly threw a surprise party for me on my 40th birthday, and I got to see so many people from my life — family, of course, and friends from college, friends from nearby, and friends from far, some of whom I see often, and some of whom I see rarely (these days). And they are all a a part of my life story. I have many “memorable scenes” with all of the people I saw, and there will (hopefully!) be many more. But, as the main author of our life story, we have so much to do with those scenes… What more can we do to create more and more of those scenes that stand out from the dull monotony of every day life? Not that every day needs to be an adventure of some type — there are opportunities for memorable scenes more often than we typically think.
Another key point, for me, was how we choose to invite others into our stories — and how we help create memorable scenes for them. I want to be better about this.
I have to admit that this book unexpectedly made me be quite introspective, which is rare for me. I’m not an introspective person by nature. But when you think of your life as a story, you think about the quality of the story. Is it a good story? Is there character development? (“I wanna have friends I can trust… that love me for the man I’ve become not the man that I was…” — Avett Brothers) Is there conflict that is overcome, preferably for “the good (noble?)”. (“I have fought the good fight….” 2 Timothy 4:7)
The quote I opened this post with struck me… It is from the very end of the book, and is key. Don’t we all want to hear “well done” from God on that last day, and that “He liked my story?” I can’t wait to be reminded of those parts of my story that I’ve forgotten, but that were important not just to me, but to Him.
Food Rules. Michael Pollen.
- Today foods are processed in ways specifically designed to get us to buy and eat more by pushing our evolutionary buttons—our inborn preferences for sweetness and fat and salt. These tastes are difficult to find in nature but cheap and easy for the food scientist to deploy, with the result that food processing induces us to consume much more of these rarities than is good for us.
- Not surprisingly, the decline in home cooking closely parallels the rise in obesity, and research suggests that people who cook are more likely to eat a more healthful diet.
The Primal Blueprint. Mark Sisson.
And now for a few select quotes:
- The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but instead will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease. —Thomas Edison
- My goal with the Primal Blueprint is to expose much of the lucrative health and fitness industry as ethically and scientifically bankrupt.
- “Perfection is impossible. However, striving for perfection is not. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts.” —John Wooden
- Americans will always do the right thing—after they’ve exhausted all the alternatives. —Winston Churchill
- Experience teaches us how difficult it is, if not impossible, to be lean, fit, energetic, and healthy following Conventional Wisdom.
- However, too many lengthy workouts at elevated heart rates (between 75 percent and 95 percent of maximum) can put you at risk of exhaustion, burnout, injury, and illness.
- The high-carbohydrate diet required to perform these workouts day-in and day-out only adds to the problem. At the extreme—such as with the overtrained marathon runner or ironman triathlete—a commitment to fitness can actually accelerate the aging process.
- A man’s health can be judged by which he takes two at a time—pills or stairs. —Joan Welsh
- pursuing specialized athletic goals is inherently destructive to your health.
- When I take responsibility for my actions, my misfortune becomes a growth experience—an appealing alternative to feeling like a victim or placing any importance on the notion of bad luck.
-
Increase your daily activity level in every possible way—walking or cycling instead of driving for nearby errands, taking the stairs, parking at the edge of the lot, strolling the neighborhood after dinner, and enjoying leisurely hikes on the weekends.
Way behind on posting about the books I’ve read…
I’m way behind writing about the books I’ve read. At least six books behind. I’ll try to catch up, but that means I’ll probably write less than I normally do. With Kindle Highlights, I just put them in Evernote note’s, which is great, though the process is manual and leaves a lot to be desired! I hope someone comes up with an automated way to do it soon! :-) That also means I only grab a few quotes to put here, while the rest I have forever in Evernote.
The Runners Guide to the Meaning of Life. Amby Burfoot.
This book didn’t have a lot of meat, and I read it well over a month ago (meaning I have lost my 1st impressions, since it wasn’t that impressionable) so I won’t write much now. (I’m about 3 or 4 books behind in writing about the books I’ve read!) So how about just some quotes? I know that is boring and lazy, but there are some good quotes! I’ll even highlight some of my favorite.
- As runners, we all go through many transitions-transitions that closely mimic the larger changes we experience in a lifetime. First, we try to run faster. Then we try to run farther. Then we learn to accept ourselves and our limitations, and at last, we can appreciate the true joy and meaning of running.
- Every workout reveals new truths and releases new dreams.
- Running has long suffered, in my opinion, from an early attitude best described and captured by the classic novella and movie of the same name: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner.
- I wasn’t yet wise enough to see how traditions make us stronger.
- Now I began to see these transitions differently. In a world that perpetually moves faster, never slower, we need all the anchoring points we can find.
- I have heard a million people say that running is the most boring activity that they can possibly imagine. Since I’m sure I’m not any smarter or wittier than these people, I can only guess that they never learned to listen as they run. If they did, they would surely he entertained and informed by their own thoughts.
- I have learned that there’s no such thing as an easy decision. But I have also learned that it’s much better to make decisions and move on than to he trapped in the agony of the process.
- Indeed, only about 5 to io percent of the overall marathoning population is fast enough to qualify for Boston. [ Hmm, I'm still pondering going for a 3:20 which is my BQ time! ]
- The answers lie within, not outside. The best solutions are achieved from personal resolve, not from multiple credit cards.
- “Bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible.” -WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
- The simple approach is often the best. As we enter ever more technical times, with ever increasing levels of complexity and decision making, we need to remember that the simple path can harness great powers.
- During his much-read and discussed life at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau preached simplicity above all else. He felt that the unencumbered life was paradoxically the fullest.
- While running at first appears to depend on great physical strength and endurance, it is, in fact, based almost entirely on strength of mind. Those who have the will will succeed.
- “It is distance, not speed, that holds the answers. The reward comes with crossing and confronting the boundaries of fatigue. For these runners, satisfaction is measured in miles, not minutes.”
- many wise people have observed that you can’t accomplish something if you don’t believe you can. Or the converse: If you believe something is beyond you, it is.
- While you always have to stay focused on your goal, you also need to stay flexible enough to adapt to different conditions. When in the mountains, enjoy the mountain scenery. Nobody achieves his goal without having some fun along the way. Without fun, we’d give up long before the finish
- … parents can’t be cookie cutters. We can’t mold our children into ourselves or anyone else. We have to let them run free to discover themselves. It’s the greatest gift we can give them.
- if I were handed a couple of decades, I would cherish them so. I would give every moment the honor and respect it deserves
p.s. I was quite surprised when Burfoot mentions the following book as one of his favorite all time books! GODEL, ESCHER, BACH: AN ETERNAL GOLDEN BRAID, BY DOUGLAS R. HOFSTADTER
MR 340
After my “Half Scar Plus” 42 mile run on 6/5, my plan was to take it easy for a few weeks, and not plan any more runs or races immediately. Of course, it was difficult not to think about what might be next, and I already had ideas about a 50 miler in the Fall, such as the Vermont 50 on 9/26. But I was being good and not getting too serious about anything, when out of the blue I received an email from Will, a former team mate of mine from my Florida Adventure Racing days. The email said:
I am on a team that is paddling a dragon boat in the Missouri River 340 at the end of July. If we finish it will be the world record for longest race in a dragon boat. We lost a person. There are some folks in line to take the spot, but there is probably a chance for another opening. Are you interested?
My first response was: ”I don’t even know what a dragon boat is!” Will responded that while not exactly technically accurate, a dragon boat is a large ceremonial canoe that typically seats 20 paddlers, has a drummer in front to keep strokes in sync, and an oarsman in back to steer. At first I really had no interested in racing with 20 other people! While I had been trying to get Will to race the Texas Water Safari, a 260 mile paddling race, with me for years, the thought of racing with 20 other people, instead of just one, scared me. An adventure race of 2-3 days with just 3 other teammates can be tough enough in terms of team dynamics and chemistry, yet here was a race with 17 more people to throw into the mix. I couldn’t even imagine it!
But over a few days, my sense of adventure started to get the better me. Then there was definitely a spot for me. And the thought of having my name on a world record was intriguing, as well. :-) Finally, the race would start just a couple of days after my 40th birthday! Looking at the calendar, it was a bit tight logistically to fit into my work and personal life, but there was just enough window to make it happen. And when both my wife and my boss gave me the green light (Thanks K and D!), I decided to go for it!
So here is a picture of the boat that has been custom built for this adventure:
On top of the chance to paddle 340 miles in a couple of days with 20 other adventurers, and the chance to go for a world record, we are also doing this for the Shriners Hospital for Children in St. Louis. I encourage you to take a look at our team web page, Beauties and Barnacles, and consider making a donation to the Shriners Hospital for Children in St. Louis.
Orthodoxy. GK Chesterton.
GK Chesterton quotes show up all over classical Christian education, so one of my goals this year was to read some of his works. I have already read one fiction work (The Man Who Was Thursday), so this was my non-fiction work. Orthodoxy is sometimes mentioned in the same sentence as CS Lewis’s Mere Christianity, so it does seem to be held in high regards.
This was a difficult book to read. There were long stretches were it was extremely tough, and just when I thought I should give up, there were a few pages that became lucid and clear, and were well worth reading. Like finding Nirvana when you least expect it.
So, is it worth it? I’d have to say that I can’t recommend this book to everyone, but if you like reading difficult books, if you are a Christian looking for some interesting slants on theology that differ from the norm, and that sort of thing, than go for it! :-)
And with that, I’ll just include a few (select) quotes…
- This at least seems to me the main problem for philosophers, and is in a manner the main problem of this book. How can we contrive to be at once astonished at the world and yet at home in it?
- We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome. We need to be happy in this wonderland without once being merely comfortable.
- The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.
- Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity.
- He admired youth because it was young and age because it was not. It is exactly this balance of apparent contradictions that has been the whole buoyancy of the healthy man. The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand.
- A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.
- For the old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which will make him stop working altogether.
- The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom.
- An optimist could not mean a man who thought everything right and nothing wrong. For that is meaningless; it is like calling everything right and nothing left. Upon the whole, I came to the conclusion that the optimist thought everything good except the pessimist, and that the pessimist thought everything bad, except himself.
- Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. “He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,” is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers.
- A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.
- Now here comes in the whole collapse and huge blunder of our age. We have mixed up two different things, two opposite things. Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to suit the vision. Progress does mean (just now) that we are always changing the vision.
- We are not altering the real to suit the ideal. We are altering the ideal: it is easier.
- The modern young man will never change his environment; for he will always change his mind.
- Unfortunately, if you regard Nature as a mother, you discover that she is a step-mother. The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate.
- If I am asked, as a purely intellectual question, why I believe in Christianity, I can only answer, “For the same reason that an intelligent agnostic disbelieves in Christianity.” I believe in it quite rationally upon the evidence. But the evidence in my case, as in that of the intelligent agnostic, is not really in this or that alleged demonstration; it is in an enormous accumulation of small but unanimous facts. The secularist is not to be blamed because his objections to Christianity are miscellaneous and even scrappy; it is precisely such scrappy evidence that does convince the mind.
- The man who lives in contact with what he believes to be a living Church is a man always expecting to meet Plato and Shakespeare to-morrow at breakfast. He is always expecting to see some truth that he has never seen before.
- All other philosophies say the things that plainly seem to be true; only this philosophy has again and again said the thing that does not seem to be true, but is true. Alone of all creeds it is convincing where it is not attractive;
“Half SCAR Plus”
Introduction
The SCAR run has long been on my mind, when I first heard about it from my old adventure racing teammates Charlie and Ernie. At the time, I thought they were pretty crazy, and their first attempt was downright frightful — caught in crazy weather of snow, rain, wind, etc. You can read Charlie’s account of their second, successful attempt here. I didn’t really think I’d ever attempt it at the time, but then the idea began to grow on me. And as my knee has been doing better and better the past year or so, and I’ve been running stronger and stronger, including an 8 hour finish at Uhwarrie (38 miles this year on a slightly shortened course), I figured now was as good a time as ever. When my friends April and Mike said they were interested in helping out, I jumped at the chance.
I did not carry a camera as I didn’t want the added weight or the temptation to stop. There were many amazing sites that will only live in my head. So hopefully this post is not too boring! I do have some photo’s at the camp site where Mike and April were waiting for me and I did take a couple with my phone at clingman’s when I got it out to send a quick update to my wife that I was still alive and well…
The Plan
I had planned to run the full SCAR, all 72 miles, all along. But the weeks leading up to it led me to believe that was not a wise choice. First I got some pretty bad blisters on both feet on a barefoot run — I almost never blister! What gives? I had some callouses growing, which are no good for distance running, and normally a mile or two on pavement acts like a pumice stone and they are gone. For some reason, this time I blistered under the callouses and they eventually came off. So I lost about a week there. Then I got pretty sick, and lost a week trying to figure out what it was. The 1st day was really bad, but then I thought I was getting better, only to plateau and then get worse. A second week down the drain. When it got worse and I noticed a swollen lymph node, I went to the doctor. Turns out I had had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and subsequently a bacterial infection from the same bite! I started antibiotics right away, but recovery was slow and I never really got back to good training. I had lost about 6 – 8 lbs, which for me is significant since I only weigh about 145, and had trouble putting it back on. Finally, 6 days before my scheduled SCAR date, I got a two hour run in, but it was not strong. At that point I decided for sure that 1/2 SCAR would be plenty.
Because Clingman’s Dome road and Mt Collins shelter are closed, the former due to re-paving and the latter due to bear activity, doing a 1/2 SCAR was tough logistically. I didn’t want to meet April and Mike at US 441/Newfound Gap, as I was not sure when I would be there and did not want to leave them waiting too long. We settled on camp site 53, a five mile run down a side trail away from the AT. Fork Ridge trail hits the AT at just about the exact half way point for a full SCAR.
Here is an elevation profile and map… About 3 miles past Clingman’s dome, I would hit the Mt. Collins shelter trail head, and just past find the trail head for Fork Ridge down to the camp site. I had spoken to a runner who had done the full SCAR just a few days prior and he said there was a sign on the AT for Fork Ridge, but my map did not show that, so I was not sure that would be the case. But I was hopeful, and if not, Clingman’s Dome road was right next to the AT just past the Mt. Collins shelter split, so I knew I could find it from there.
And a part trail map… Start at the bottom left at Fontana Dam, run the AT, the green dotted trail all the way to Mt. Collins at the top right, then head down Fork Ridge, the purple trail, to site 53:
Getting There
I picked up April and Mike around 10:30 a.m. and we headed west. Any trip on I-40 near lunch time warrants a stop at My Father’s pizza in Black Mountain, one of the best pizza joints in the world, so we hit that where I ate a salad, an entire pizza, and had a last beer to wash it all down. April wondered if I was having a “last meal.” :-/ She also introduced me to an excellent little chocolate shop a well. We grabbed 50′ of 3mm cord for a bear rope as I wasn’t sure if the camp site we had agreed to meet at would have cables or not, and we were on our way to Fontana Dam. We arrived there around 5:30, walked down to the shelter which only had 2 hikers in it, and then walked around the dam, visitor center, across the dam and up the road that leads to the trail head. We turned back, cooked dinner, chatted with the hikers, went over the meeting place one final time, and I went to sleep as soon as it was dark (about 9:30).
Wake-up Call
I of course tossed and turned. I normally don’t sleep that well the 1st night out on a back packing trip, and the night before a big race or event is also always difficult. So I tossed and turned. And tossed. And turned. I looked at my watch many times and it seemed like time was moving in slow motion. Finally at 4 a.m. I decided I might as well just get up and go rather than wait any longer. I grabbed my pack, bag, and pad as quietly as I could and walked the 100 meters up to the Fontana Shelter bathroom. There were some tent campers on top of the hill with a HUGE blazing fire. At 4 a.m.! Weird. Anyway, there I put my sleeping bag and pad in their respective packs, filled my hydration bladder and two hand held bottles, and walked the 200 meters to the car. There I quickly got a cup of coffee brewing, got dressed, and put my final gear in order. I opted here to skip my oatmeal breakfast — there was no way I could eat anything right now, so I decided to stuff another bar in my pack and head out. I hit the restroom at the visitor center, climbed the stairs back to the dam, and started running at 4:38 a.m. Officially that means I ran an extra 1/2 mile or so since SCAR starts at the border of the GSMNP. I was cool with that. :-)
The Climb out of Fontana
After the nice flat run across the dam, the road up to the trail head was gradual and fairly easy. But as soon as I hit the trail, I knew I was in for quite a climb. I already knew that, at least in theory, from having looked at the elevation profile (see above!). But wow was this tough… Not much running here. Every once in a while I’d see the lights of the dam below, getting farther and farther a way. This was literally a 4 mile climb of 1500 feet before it plateaus just a little, and then continues climbing for 4 more miles before you finally get a down hill. I tried to run as much as I could, but again, it was tough.
Bear Encounter
About 2 and a half hours in, my first handheld bottle of perpetuem and chia mix was just about empty. (See below for my fueling strategy.) I squeezed it into my mouth, and the bottle of course made a squishing empty bottle sound. I heard a response off to my left — it sounded like a wild pig snorting in the woods maybe 20 meters a way. A few minutes later I heard what sounded like a very large pig digging for truffles off to my left, and then I thought to myself that it was moving awfully quick. The next thing I knew, the biggest pig I had ever seen ran across the trail maybe 15 – 20 meters in front of me. It took all of 3 seconds to realize it was not a pig but a bear — albeit a somewhat skinny bear! My 1st live/wild bear sighting! :-)
About 30 minutes later, I saw my 1st hikers of the day. They asked where I had come from and were surprised when I told them Fontana, which was a good 10 miles away since it was not even 8 a.m. yet! About 20 minutes later I came up on Mollies Ridge shelter, which kind of has its back to the trail the way I was headed. I could see a couple people on the far side doing normal morning things like gathering gear and brushing teeth. It turned out it was a father and daughter (about 13 yrs old I would guess). Apparently I had given her quite the fright as all she saw was me in my black shorts and shirt, and she thought it was a bear running at them! I just stopped to say good morning and then kept on running.
First Water stop: Russell Field Shelter
My 1st planned water stop was Russell Field Shelter, about 15 miles into the run. I got there and there were a lot of hikers eating breakfast and the like. I’m not sure if they all had slept in the shelter the night before, but that would have been packed like sardines if that was the case! I asked where the water was, and ran down about .2 miles to it. It was not a piped spring, which was a bummer. I poured the good water from my bladder into my hand held bottle, then filled the bladder and 2nd bottle. I was not happy to see all the floaties, but figured I’d not really notice them later! I put my water treatment pills in, filled the handhelds with my perpetuem chia mix, and headed back up to the shelter. There I stopped for a minute or two to fix my socks and re-tie my shoes, and chatted with a couple of the hikers. Then it was back to the trail for more running. I had my pace down to about 17:15 per mile at this point, but by the time I left after getting water and all, it was up to 17:45!
Thunderhead
From Russell field I passed Eagle Creek trail to Spence Field shelter, Rocky Top, and on up to Thunderhead, which is quite a steep little climb. Near Rocky top I passed a crew of trail volunteers maintaing the trail, and I thanked them all. This section of trail was getting quite over grown, and where they had cleared was great, but beyond that, it became difficult to run as the grass was covering all the dangers of the trail like the rocks and roots and washouts. After Thunderhead, I expected to see two SCAR runners that were supposed to have started at Davenport, the opposite end of where I had started, at midnight. Based on what I thought their expected time would be, I should have seen them, but I did not… So I kept looking and kept looking…. My pace had slowed into the high 18′s by this point, as this was difficult trail!
Derrick Knob Shelter
I reached Derrick Knob probably around 7.5 hours. I wanted to get more water here — hopefully for the last time. This looked to be a really nice shelter, so I’m storing that away in case I ever backpack this section! The water was just down the hill and was a nice piped spring — the kind I am tempted to not filter or treat. But I had tablets so I used them. Once I was back up the hill at the shelter I spent a quick minute re-organizing the gear before I was back at it.
26.2
I hit the marathon point just after 8 hours. Wow! I finished Uhwarrie this year, which was 38 miles, in just under 8 hours. Here I was 12 miles behind that pace. I had not felt that my sickness leading up to this race was slowing me down that much, and while it may have a little, it just proved to me how tough this trail really is.
It was here that I finally put on the ipod — one ear only as always on the trail so I can hear what is going on around me! I had originally figured maybe a few hours of no ipod, but I never really needed or wanted it until this point. And then right at 26.2 I just felt like it was time for a little music. :-)
About 15 minutes later, I finally saw someone that appeared to be a runner not a back packer — he had just a waist belt on with two bottles in it and one hand held. Since this is such a remote location — we were probably a good 15 miles from the road at Newfound gap — it had to be a runner. I asked him if he was a SCAR runner and at first he didn’t understand and just said he was running from Davenport to Fontana. I said “yeah, that is SCAR,” and he said “oh yeah — it’s been a rough night.” They had left at midnight as planned, but the 1st 12 miles were pretty tough, and his co-runner had gotten sick. So he tended to him and got him to their support crew, and then continued solo. His final words stayed with me for a while — “I’m just in survival mode now!” At this point he had done about 45 miles to my 27 or 28…
Clingman’s Dome
From Derrick’s Knob to Clingman’s is about 10 miles and 2000 feet of climbing. Would the ascent never end? It was gradual, but there was so little flat ground to gain some speed! One thing about the AT is that there are often long sections with very little mountain vistas and views, especially in the summer when the trees are full.
At Double Spring Gap I decided to stop and do some quick foot work. I felt the blister from 5 weeks earlier on my left BOF start to come back — at this point my feet had been wet most of the day and they turn that white pruney cadaver look, and the old blister lines were splitting a touch. So I took the time to duct tape that area and put on dry injinji socks for the rest of the run.
Once I passed Double Spring Gap shelter around mile 31, the trail opened up and there were mountains all around! It was sad to see so many dying hemlocks, but it was nice to finally see something. When I finally reached Clingman’s Dome, I had to run up the ramp to the watch tower, even though it was a little off trail. With the road closed, it was deserted up there — much different than last time when it was crawling with tourists! I had carried my phone on the off-chance there was service here, but had yet to take it out of my bag. I pulled it out and there was AT&T E! I sent a couple quick text messages to Kelly updating here on where I was and decided to snap a couple quick pictures. For some reason, April and Mike’s phone number was missing, so I could not send them anything. I doubt they would have received any messages from me as they would have been hiking down into the valley by now.
The ramp:
Mountain vista:
Me, not looking too bad after 34 miles! :-)
Mt Collins
From Clingman’s I had to descend down the AT to the trail towards Mt. Collins, about 3.5 miles away. This section of trail was very tough — it was steep and muddy and rocky, and it started to sprinkle. And then it started to pour. I finally had to break out the black trashbag I had brought… I brought it instead of a rain jacket to save space and weight, and the trash bags can be useful in many ways. I quickly poked a hole in it for my head, put it on, put my buff around my neck to keep water from dripping down, and put my hat on. Now it was raining so hard the trail was literally a stream bed… After a while I thought for sure I should have come to the Mt Collins split, but it was nowhere to be found. I really had hoped I had not passed it.
And then I met Gandalf. Well, he reminded me of Gandalf. All of a sudden, there he was. A man in a yellow 3/4 length poncho with the hood on, and a large staff in his left hand. At first I thought it was Mike, and I was impressed that he had hiked nearly 8 miles to find me! Then I realized it wasn’t Mike. I asked Gandalf if he had passed the trail to Mt Collins. ”I don’t know,” was his response. :-/ I said either I passed it or you did. And he said “Maybe it is 20 minutes beyond for you.” Ok, thanks for the info, and I head out. He was thoughtful enough to yell “Stay Dry!” Right, this was like the Biblical Flood happening and I have a black trash bag as a rain jacket. Stay dry! I thought of lots of responses but in the end just ran off. I was more worried about staying warm at this point! Cold rain at 6000+ can be chilly!
Two minutes later, I hit the trail split! I guess he must have been out of it to have not noticed. The beautiful thing here was a sign for Fork Ridge trail 0.2 miles further along the AT! Here I was at the 1/2 way point of SCAR, just about at 20:00 pace which is a 24 hour run if you do all 72 miles. I had really slowed on the climb up and down Clingman’s! From here, though, the rest of SCAR is mostly downhill. Should have been easy to maintain that pace or even speed up a little, right?! Except night would hit in about 4 hours, so I’d have a good 7 or 8 hours in the dark. Anyway, the plan today was for Half SCAR, so maybe next time!
Fork Ridge Trail
I reached the sign for Fork Ridge Trail 0.2 miles later just as the sign at Mt Collins had said. Only here was a problem. There was now another sign that said Fork Ridge was closed due to the road construction on Clingman’s. Now I had a dilemma. If it was closed where Mike and April were to park and hike down on Deer Creek Trail, would they be at the bottom? My choice was to run 4.6 miles on the AT to US 441 and head down that road to the trailhead they should have been parked at which would have been maybe 3 or 4 miles more on the road. If the car was there, I’d run down the trail and meet them. That would be about 12 more miles of running. Or I run down the closed trail 5 miles, and if they are there, I am done, and if not, I have 4 miles to run up to the road and hopefully find some clue to where they might be.
I decided to stick to the original plan and run down Fork Ridge. If they were not there, it was less running for me. If they were there, it was a lot less running for me. I went from the AT another 20 meters to Clingman’s Dome Road, crossed, and went to the trail head for Fork Ridge. Here another sign slightly caught my attention — it said the bridge at Deer Creak was out and not usable. Hmm… It’s a creek, right? I can cross a creek without a bridge… That thought stuck with me much of the way down this trail.
So, the bad thing about a trail being closed is that it is not maintained. Well, this trail turned out to be bushwhacking adventure in some places, there were so many down trees. And there were a couple of washouts where there was not a whole lot of trail left. But when the trail was open, it was good. 5 miles down with nearly 3000 feet of descent. It was here that my knees finally let me know that they were getting a little tired of all the pounding! Overall they had held up really well, though, so not much to complain about….
As I got closer and closer to end, I kept wondering what would happen if April and Mike were not there… Or if the bridge was out and the creek was more than I bargained for. And the sound of water kept getting louder and louder. And LOUDER. So now I had some serious concerns about creek crossing with no bridge.
When I finally got to the bottom and came to the creek — there April and Mike were!! Woohoo! 13.5 hours and 42 miles later, it was so good to see them, and it was awesome to see they had set up my tent! :-)
Me at the finish, still smiling!
After taking off my shoes, I had to eat before anything else! :-)
Here is the stream we camped beside… it was crossable! and Very very cold. After I ate, I used my buff to rinse off the days sweat and grime. April even had soap which was a nice surprise and treat. I had packed a camp towel in the backpack April had carried down, so I dried off with that and got dressed in clean clothes. I have to give a big thanks here to April and Mike. They carried all my back packing gear — more food, fresh clean clothes, my tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, etc., as well as the gear they needed, all the way down for me. Awesome!
Garmin Data
Here is the map from Garmin… Too bad wordpress.com won’t let me embed it here. Oh well, a picture works too I suppose!
And the elevation profile:
Garmin says I did nearly 14,000 feet of elevation, which I think is about right for this run. That much climbing and descending made running tough.
Hiking out
After a decent nights sleep, we had breakfast, packed everything up, and hiked out the 4 miles to the car. Yes, I wore the huaraches out! :-) I also carried my backpacking pack and all my gear, as well as my running pack and running shoes. I just strapped them on to my pack and hiked out. Overall, my legs felt good, other than my right hip.
Wildlife
Besides the bear encounter described above, I saw the following:
Turkeys — one sitting on a log about eye level just 10-12 feet away. We stared at each other until I finally said something to him like “Good Morning,” when he proceeded to jump off the log and fly away. Yes, turkey’s can fly, at least a limited distance! Then a few hours later I came across two more… One jumped off the trail fairly quickly, the other ran the trail in front of me for a good 30 seconds before it realized it should just get out of the way. Or maybe he was pacing me.
Fox or coyote — I caught a glimpse of a sandy small dog shaped animal running the trail in front of me, though I could not tell exactly what it was.
Whippoorwill – I didn’t see it, but it kept me company as I climbed out of Fontana in the dark… Reminded me of home, though our Whippoorwill is about 50 db louder than this one!
Toads – many toads on the trail, especially in the morning — one the size of a softball! I swear!
Gear selection and thoughts
I always like to re-cap my gear and nutrition to help me on future events.
Nutrition
I again used a strong/thick mix of perpetuem — about 500 calories per bottle. This time I mixed in a couple tablespoons of chia seeds. I dilute this with water from my hydration bladder as I run, and this allows me to get in a lot of calories with relatively little weight. This was my main fuel. Beyond that I had two or three bars, two or three packs of cliff shots, 4 hammer gels, and combos. If I went longer I would have liked to have something like a PB&J or almond butter and honey.
Gear
- Ultimate Direction Wasp – great little pack, rides nice and high, love the vest in front with 4 pockets to give quick access to food and other items… a touch small if I wanted to do the full SCAR unsupported, but for half SCAR it was fine… And if I do a full SCAR with support at US 441, it would work fine. I kept one hand held bottle in reserve in the pack. The pack did give me a small rash on my back where the bottom of the pack must have been rubbing… I was pretty much wet all day so I am sure that had something to do with it!
- 64 oz hydration bladder — just for water
- 2 x 22 oz sport bottles — to carry my perpetuem/chia mix… one in the pack and one in the hand held…
- Nathan Hand Held — used this to hold one hand held bottle… it also has a small pocket to keep something like a pack of cliff shots and bar or gel. I would clip this on to a loop on the pack’s shoulder strap now and then when I needed two hands to work with gear, or to use on my legs as I climbed the steep stuff. Clipping the bottle like this to the pack does not work well when the bottle is full and you are running — there is too much bounce. But when you are hiking up or down the steep inclines, it works fine. And if the bottle is empty or close to empty, it is also not too bad.
- Icebreaker shirt – never leave home without Icebreaker!
- running shorts & under armor 7″ compression shorts — the compression shorts really helped eliminate chafing. I was worried about the seams but they rarely bothered me
- ekko tekko socks – used these for about 30 miles
- injinji socks – after I taped my left foot, I switched to these for the remainder of the run. I often use these as a “liner” when the feet start feeling hot spots, but this time I used them alone.
- NB 790′s – I was worried this might not be quite enough shoe, as it is a trail racing flat, but overall I was pretty happy with them. There were a few times I would feel the jolt of a rock or root through the bottom, and early on my left ball of foot felt slightly bruised so I switched to a mid foot strike instead of forefoot when the terrain allowed it
- Pettzl Tikka and Fenix P3D – nice and light yet bright head lamp… the P3D is 120 lumens and helps me find my way quickly if things get tough with the tikka.
- black plastic trash bag — these have many uses, but on this run, when it started to pour, it became my rain poncho
- emergency blanket — just in case… I have carried this same blanket on many events and have yet to use it, but some day I know it will come in handy
- Leatherman skeletool CX — I always carry a leatherman, even though they are heavy. This one is only 5 oz. so not too bad. 9 times out of 10 I only use the knife, which I did this run for cutting the water treatment tablets. But having a couple of the other tools, especially the pliers, is a nice safety in my opinion
- Buff — another item I rarely do long events without. I mostly used it to wipe the sweat off my face, but it can also be used as a pre-filter for water, as a head covering if you get cold, and around the neck to keep water from dripping down through the trash bag poncho I made.
Final Thoughts
I’m now about 2 days post run, and my muscular soreness is just about gone. My right hip is still a bit sore, but much better than yesterday. I have some kind of weird feeling in my left ball of foot — like a metatarsal is popping when I walk barefoot, but it also seems to be getting better. Overall I am happy with how I felt post-run. While my knees had started to get sore the last 5 miles or so from all the pounding, they were fine the next day for the hike out and have given me no troubles since then.
I had planned to take at least a week off from running, and I am definitely going to do that, and maybe run just once a week for 2 or 3 miles for a week or two after that. I still plan to lift more for the next month or so, to try to regain some of the lost muscle from rocky mountain spotted fever.
I am finding it hard not to think of the next big event, and a 50 mile race in the fall sounds tempting. At the same time, I had said I would take some time off before deciding what to do next, so I need to stick to it. I could not help but ask Sultan to compare SCAR with some of the ultra’s he has done, and he responded that a full SCAR is more difficult than most 100 mile races. So that makes me feel better, because Half SCAR was one of the toughest things I have done.
I loved every minute of it, and can’t wait to attempt the full course in the not too distant future!
Thanks for reading!
