PART 1: Black Canyon City Trailhead (Start/Mile 0) to Crown King Saloon (Mile 37.4)
The start to the Crown King Saloon Aid Station was the part of the course that I feared the most. I had done this section of the course in February when I ventured to Arizona for training. I was grateful to have seen it prior so as to give it the amount of respect it deserves. Between the exposure, the terrain, the amount of climbing, and the distance to your crew you certainly could ruin the remainder of your race in just this first section.
I stood on the start line of the race with two liters in my pack, my mandatory gear, and all the calories I would need for the next 9 to 10 hours which was mostly comprised of UnTapped's. The pace after hearing "3,2,1 GO" seemed fast to me, what was the rush we had 250 miles to go! I remember getting caught up for a brief moment and then telling myself to do my own thing even if that meant letting packs of people run off into the distance. I did feel a little anxiety in doing this though.
It seemed like an eternity before my watch beeped to indicate my first mile and once it pinged, I looked at the mile time which read 22 minutes. My anxiety rose another notch as I was working much harder than that pace. I was running not walking, what was going on? I let those thoughts pass and focused on the trail and the sunrise that was coming. As I crossed the Agua Fria River I realized my watch hadn’t beeped for my 2nd mile yet then I started putting the pieces together. I had changed the setting in my watch to try to extend the battery life which was messing with the accuracy.
At the mile 8 aid station, I filled up to 4.5 liters and thankfully I had trained with 4-5 liters of water in my pack so the feeling of the extra weight didn’t startle me. I also sorted out during training the best way that I could carry 4 to 5 liters of water in my Salomon Advanced Skin 12 Hydration Pack as many hydration packs are not made to carry that much fluid or weight. I had decided on two hydration bladders and two soft flasks to give me a 5-liter capacity. After leaving the Cottonwood Creek Aid I ended up in between two groups of runners, I was in a bit of a no man’s land. I decided to just stay put and keep my pace rather than slowing down or speeding up. I held this position for several miles and then decided to speed up and latch on to the tail end of the group in front of me. Here I sat on the back just enjoying listening to their humorous conversation. Within a couple of miles, their pace increased and I decided to stay true to my effort so let them go.
Before I knew it I was at mile 11 where I topped off my water to give me 4.5 liters until the water drop at mile 25. I asked if they had ice for my ice bandana, but they didn’t although they had frozen grapes. I contemplated eating frozen grapes and the idea of putting them in my bandana but then determined that might be an experience for another time. In my indecision, I left the aid station and as the temperature rose, I continued to think about those frozen grapes.
I continued to get passed more than I was passing people but kept telling myself there were plenty of miles left to pass them back. At mile 25 there was a swollen stream that was swarmed with many of the people that had passed me. People soaking in the stream, people evaluating their feet, people filtering water there were just so many people. I filtered some water and then took the allowed one liter from the water drop. It was “just” 8 miles to the Lane Mountain aid station but I wasn’t comfortable skimping on hydration to save weight as the temperature still was much warmer and dryer than Vermont.
It was interesting to see this next section as I had only seen it covered in snow in training when I struggled for hours to find the trail. I fell in line between two males who were solid hikers. A few miles in they decided to take a break in a patch of shade and I continued on figuring they would catch up. Before I knew it, I was at Lane Mountain ducking into the shade of the tent to yet again fill my hydration pack with water and drink mix and asking for ice for my bandana. There were many runners under the tent looking pretty hot. It would have been easy to sit down, but I tried to make quick time getting what I needed and then getting out.
This next section was sunny and very dusty. I tried to stay on pace with taking in hydration and calories. I was aiming for about 200 calories per hour in addition to the hydration calories. Doing the math, I figured I would have downed over 8.5 liters of drink mix over 37 miles, which was just mind-boggling to me.
As I ran into Crown King I didn’t see or hear my mother who always greets me outside the aid station with her cowbell. I thought that was a bit odd and then noticed her huffing it down the road with my massive black duffle bag on her back. “I just got here, we got a flat tire and I had to hitch a ride.”
We went up to the aid station and I felt frustrated as I wanted this first stop to be calculated yet quick. I pulled off my hydration pack, shoes, and socks and started digging through the bag for a fresh pair of Drymax Socks, Salomon Ultra Max Trail shoes, and Squirrels Nut Butter. My mom worked to refill my hydration pack and Andy Jones Wilkins came over to see if he could help out in any way. I asked for additional calories for the next section but that box was left in the truck down the road so I had to improvise and grab some aid station options. On my way back onto the course I walked past my stepfather, Jeff, who was putting air in the truck tire, and my first pacer Jack Pilla who was getting antsy to run.
PART 2: Crown King (Mile 37.4) to Friendly Pines (Mile 71.2)
I hadn’t seen this section in training because of snow so now I was experiencing my first unknown miles. As I climbed the road out of Crown King a woman, was out raking in her front yard. She said hello and asked how far up the road I was going today, to which I smiled and replied “I’m going all the way up the road and trail to Flagstaff.” She stopped raking and looked at me and I said “I know, yup I know!”
As the course continued to climb and the sun continue to beat down, I debated if the two liters I had opted to carry was enough. I felt around in my pack for my water filter and realized I didn’t have it. I convinced myself not to overthink it until I needed to and until then I could help myself out by dipping my heat and arm sleeves in streams. The course was still fairly exposed and I was alone but could see a few runners a few minutes ahead of me. I caught and passed one and then worked to use the next to pull me along. I was surprised to see that the next person was a Salomon team and 200-mile specialist Mike McKnight. I was happy to see him, but also not happy to see him given that meant he wasn’t having a good start to his race. We chatted for a little bit and I encouraged him to stay positive and hang on given that there was a lot of time and distance remaining. I felt like such a rookie asking "What do you have for mileage?" and then explaining how I had changed the setting on my watch for extended battery life.
As the sun began to set, I arrived at Arrastra Creek (mile 53.1) which was much needed as I was out of fluid. Here an amazing aid station captain made me a gluten-free cheese quesadilla which sounded amazing, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to go down. I refilled fluid and was tempted to sit but tried to keep my focus on making it to my pacer at mile 71. Before leaving the aid station I pulled out my headlamp just so I was ready for darkness.
I was running with Chris St. Lean who I learned is originally from NH, a small world. We eventually caught Dawn Greenwalt who we ran on and off with. I was eager to get to know her better as I had studied her prior races on this course. We swapped stories and arrived at Kamp Kipa together and I was happy to have her company. We entered inside and it was ever so tempting to sit down and stay a while as the wind was pretty strong outside.
I left the aid station prior to Dawn and found it increasingly difficult to find course markers. As I paced around shining my headlamp in every direction I could not figure out where to go next. I pulled out my phone and the course map and still had a hard time sorting out directions. Dawn came along and also pulled out her phone as we worked to find the next marker. A few minutes later we had found a flag and were off and running, that was until I lead us down a hill that wasn’t the course. As we hiked back up, I apologized and realized my phone should stay out for a while until the course markings became more frequent. It felt like some easy downhill miles as I arrived at Friendly Pines before I knew. I was greeted outside of the aid station building by my coach/pacer Jason Koop and my long-time training partner and soon-to-be pacer Jack Pilla.
Completing the first 37 miles was my first stepping stone and getting to my pacer was my second so now I felt like the journey was truly underway.
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