Pine to Palm 100 Miler

Pine to Palm 100

  This is the race report for my second hundred the Pine to Palm 100.  Warning I tend to write long reports regarding 100 milers because so much happens.

  My race actually started 2 weeks before the actual race starting time.  Why you ask?  Well I found out from my 1st 100 miler that it is good to get extra rest the weeks before the race so it will not be so hard to stay awake during the race.  My wife and I did a great job of getting in bed by 10:30 every night for 2 weeks which is about an hour earlier than I normally do, so think of that as 14 extra hours of sleep in the weeks before the race.

  On Monday the 9th, I got all my drop bags together and all my supplies set so that we could have them ready to go when I got there.  For those of you who have never done a 100 mile race this can be the most important thing you do.  My prep for a race of this magnitude entails figuring out two different pace charts, in this case it was a 25 hour finish and a 28 hour finish.  Based on those charts you have to figure out what clothes you are going to have at which drop bag and where you are going to pick up your light for nighttime running.  If you are off on your timing in the slightest you may be running without a light or in shorts and a t-shirt when it is like 40 or 50 degrees.  I am fortunate enough to have a super amazing crew that follows me around and that is major because I have a bag for them to carry that has extra clothes nutrition etc.  Even when you are done packing your drop bags and having them ready then you continue to think about them and question yourself as to "was that a good idea to put that shirt in that drop bag?" or "did I actually pack my light in the right drop bag?"  It can be quite an agonizing week.  You also have to look at the weather forecast because that will help you to understand what you need to pack.  The weather forecast for race day was 90 degrees with a low of 55 in the actual town of Ashland but I was going to be up at over 7,000 feet three different times so I was sure it was going to get colder than that at night. 

  We actually started the journey to Ashland, Oregon on Thursday, September 12th.  We drove to my in laws house in the Portland area and stayed with them on Thursday night.  Left Seattle at around 8 pm and arrived at their house around 10:30 PM, just in time to go to bed on time woohoo!  The next morning we got up pretty early and started to get everything together for the trip.  I really did not have much to get ready because I would be running most of the time and would not need as much camping stuff as the rest of my crew.  We had to get all the camping gear ready because we would be staying in a campground on Friday and Saturday nights.  We finally got everything together and got started toward Ashland a little later than a was hoping to but that is what happens when you have 5 people needing to get their stuff together.  I volunteered to do some of the driving because I knew there would be no way I was going to want to drive on the way back.  We made pretty good time with a lunch stop at Subway and a few bathroom breaks along the way.  We arrived in Grants Pass, OR which is near the start and went to get gas for the car because we knew that there was going to be a lot of driving up on dirt roads out in the middle of nowhere so you wanted to make sure you were not going to run out of gas.  We originally were going to camp at the starting line but I decided it would be better for my crew to be in one campground the whole time so our plan was to go to the campground first and then go to the pre-race briefing and medical check-in.  Since we arrived later than planned we went directly to the check-in. 

  The check-in was at Pacifica Gardens tree farm in Williams, OR.  It was a pretty nice place.  there was a pasta dinner at 5 pm and race briefing at 5:30pm, we arrived about 4:15pm.  I went into the building there and got checked-in, picked up my swag bag, and for my first race ever had a pre-race weigh in.  I registered on the scales at 163 pounds.

Arm band with number and weight (#133, 163 lbs)

This did not take long to do all this so we went back to a picnic bench near the car and sat in the shade.  The heat was stifling and I was very concerned this would make my race really difficult.  The forecast for that day was supposed to be 88 but the actual temperature was 95.

What was left of Brian's dinner

  We went over some race details before it was time to go get in line for the pasta dinner.  They had spaghetti and meat sauce, bread and a really nice salad.  I got my dinner included in the race entry so that was cool.  The food was not amazing but it was not bad either.  I was looking around for Seattle people that I had met before the race that were planning on doing this race, like John Maytum, who I met at a Seven Hills Running Shop event, Timothy Gates, who I volunteered at an aid station at Cascade Crest with.  I did not see John but I did see Timothy right before the pre race briefing started so I went over and said hi.

   The pre-race briefing actually helped a lot to be at because several things were different that I did not know.  One of the problems I had with this race is that the communication was not that great.  Their website looked like it had not even been updated from the year before so I was not sure if it was all accurate, turns out it was not.  One of the things that was not communicated about drop bags was that Friday night was the only time that you would be allowed to drop off your drop bags, on the website it said Friday night and Saturday morning.  Fortunately, I had all my stuff with me so I was able to get my drop bag to them in time but if I didn't hear that I would have been SOL.  The next thing was that they were changing the recommended crew stops, which threw me off my plan a little bit because I had to have my crew come to an early aid station than I was expecting to have them at so I had to adjust there.  This is the nature of 100 milers though is that they are unpredictable, you just have to roll with it and figure things out as you go so I was not upset by these things but maybe if someone associated with the race reads this they can communicate that better.

Hal Koerner at Pre-Race Briefing

The race director is Hal Koerner, who is a great ultra runner and just a super nice guy.  This is one thing I so appreciate about this sport is that the elite ultra runners are so approachable and are just like the rest of us except they can run super amazingly fast.  Other amazing elites spotted at this race were Jenn Shelton, of Born to Run fame, Yassine Diboun, a great ultra runner from Portland, Megan Arbogast from Corvallis, and I did not see this guy but heard he was there, Geoff Roes, who was in the Unbreakable film about the Western States 100 in 2010, Hal was also in this film.  So there were a lot of great people out there.

  After the briefing we had to drive 20 miles to our campground.  This may not seem wise but it was a great centrally located campground that was to serve as a base camp for my crew for the weekend.  We arrived at the Cantrall-Buckley County Park at about 7:00pm.  We started to get the camp setup and finished right as it was getting dark.  We sat around the picnic table and played cards till about 10:30 PM.  We went to bed because we had to get up at around 5AM to leave for the start.  During the night I made sure that I had food near my bed so that I could get something in my stomach a couple hours before the race.  I bought these great burritos from Globalspun Gourmet, which is a food company owned by another great runner, Adam Hewey.  I had a burrito at about 3 in the morning.  I ate a banana before I went to bed and drank lots of water.  I fell asleep at about 11 and woke up 2 hours later and hungry so I started my burrito drank some water ran over to the bathroom, came back went to sleep for about 2 more hours and work up around three in the morning when I heard something in our camp, I peeked out of the tent and could see the forms of animals running along the ground by the picnic table, I looked again but this time with my light and saw that the animal in question was a skunk!  That would not have been a good way to start the race.  So I got a total of about 4 hours of sleep.

This race starts at 6 AM in the morning which was a different thing than the last 100 I ran because that one started at 10 AM.  At 6 AM, it is still dark out, so you need to start out with a light.  We left the campground at about 5AM and thought we would have no problem getting to the starting line by 5:30 to pick up my number.  This turned out to be a little harder than expected.  We made a wrong turn and it was still dark so it was hard to see where we were, anyway we arrived at the starting line with about 10 minutes to spare but we had to park a little way away from the starting line.  I really was not feeling well because I was worried about missing the start and riding in the car I felt sick, and I really needed to use a port a pottie but it was the other direction from the start so I decided to skip that because there was no time.  Got my number which was 133.

 Me at the start

The race started right at 6AM and I am sure there were people who were back at the restroom waiting to get in when the race started, I felt bad for those people.  Once we got going all the bad stuff I was feeling melted away and all my nerves left and I felt comfortable.  My running kit to start the race was:  My Injinji trail socks, Salomon XR Mission shoes, Sure Sport compression sleeves, Mueller knee band, 180's cool arm compression sleeves, Nike Dri Fit shorts, Garmin 410 GPS watch, Gregory hydration pack with Platypus 70 oz water bladder, in my pack I was stocked with Tailwind nutrition ( more about that later), Jelly Belly Beans, Jerky, salt capsules, a stomach kit with items for a bad stomach, a basic first aid kit, some wet wipes, and several Gels (Salted Caramel was my favorite) and fruit snacks.  I was running with a Trail Runner Nation Patagonia shirt, a Petzl Tikka headlamp, and a Seven Hills Running shop Headsweats hat.  OK so that covers my kit to start the race it will change later.

Part of the crew at 6 am at the start

The first section of the course starts on a dirt road with a climb.  The climb was not really that severe and was runnable.  I was running along and at about the top of this road there was Hal Koerner, race director, to greet us and direct us to the trail.  Just before reaching this point I met the first of many people I was running with along the way.  The first person I met was Erin from Canada, who was running her first 100.  She was great to talk to and I saw her off and on for about the first 15 miles.  Unfortunately she did not finish the race.  This was the beginning of the huge climb up to over 7000 feet.  The beginning part did not seem to hard to me.  We were running a little hiking a little up to the first water stop at 5 miles.  Yassine Diboun, and another guy were here giving out water.  I went past the water stop because I felt like I had plenty of water.

  From mile 5 to 15 I thought was going to be very difficult but I realized that my training must have been pretty good because I was dropping people on the climb.  Just after the water stop I met Mike who was from Portland and also running his first 100.  I stayed with him for a couple of miles and then he started to drop me.  I was not sure if this was a good strategy for him because it was his first but each person has to run there own race.  I tried to give as much advice as I could to first timers about what was ahead, like make sure you get some food in you because you will need it later.  Mike actually did a really great job and finished his first 100 in 28 hours and 9 minutes.  After Mike lost me, Erin and another girl caught up to me and I started to run with them for a bit.  Erin was strong but started to fade near the top and the other girl Tamara from Ashland.  Tamara and I stayed together for awhile until she dropped me just before the top of the climb.  She had run the race before but last year had a DNF because of the weather which made her so bad that she almost had to have an IV and this years temps were supposed to be hotter.  When I got to the top of the climb I was relieved and a bit surprised because it did not seem that hard to me.  I will admit right now that I love running the downhill and I believe I am a pretty good down hiller.  On the downhill section down to the aid station at mile 15, I flew.  Caught back up to Tamara and passed her, and by this time it was just starting to get warm so there was a creek crossing which I dumped my hat in to cool me down.  I also caught up to Mike on the downhill as well and we ran into the aid station together.  At mile 15 we reached O'Brien Creek Aid Station, I got my hydration pack filled with water and then added the Tailwind Nutrition to it.  What is Tailwind?  This is supposed to be a nutrition powder that you add to water that gives you everything you need, electrolytes, calories, etc.  By taking Tailwind I actually did not even have to have any salt caps on a super hot day.  I used Tailwind as my main source of nutrition for the whole race and had no problems, I was totally surprised!  Before leaving the aid station I doused myself in cold creek water, the people at the aid station got water from the creek for us to use to cool down it felt great!

  I left the aid station with Mike again but just after the aid station he dropped me this was the last time I would see him.  I knew that the next 13 miles would basically be downhill so I had to watch myself.  I looked down at my watch and realized I was about 2 minutes per mile ahead of where I wanted to be at this time so I just told myself to slow down even though it was a down hill.  In this section I actually would walk for 5 minutes and then run for 5 minutes so that I could slow down my pace.  At the rate I was going I was going to miss my crew at the first crew stop.  I did this 7 mile section in about 90 minutes.  I was at the aid station at Steamboat Ranch at about 11:00 am.  My crew was supposed to meet me at the next aid station 6 miles away but not until about 1 pm on my projections.  As I was at this aid station there was a crew of about 5 runners who all came in together.  I recognized I few of these people.  Two of them were from Seattle that is why I knew them, this is where I met Ather Haleem, I had seen his name before and knew he was a fast runner so I was surprised I was ahead of him, I introduced myself.  He actually just barely beat my in the end by passing me with just under a mile to go.  Another person was Timothy Gates who I spoke about earlier, and Tamara who I also talked about earlier.  I ran with this group of 5 people for about 2 or 3 miles but was still way ahead of my time so as much as I would have liked to stay with them I wanted to save something for later in the race.  I kept watching the clock to see where I was, still way ahead.  At the end of this section you actually cross over into California so that was cool.  I came into the Seattle Bar aid station at 12:10 pm, which was at least 20 minutes before the early time my crew would be there.  As I was coming into the aid station, Yassine was there to give me a high 5 and to fill my hydration pack.  This was the first station that they had a medical check and I weighed in at 158 pounds, losing 5 pounds in the first 28 miles.  I kinda took my time at the aid station hoping that my crew would show up but alas I knew I had beat them and would just have to see them at the next aid station.  I could have used some fruit snacks because I was out but I took some energy chews from the aid station, not nearly as good in my opinion though.  I doused myself in cold water over my head and got going to the next climb.  I checked out at 12:21 pm and later found out my crew arrived at about 12:30 pm so I just missed them.  Another thing I find great for hot days is getting some ice to put in your hat and that helps to cool your core.

  I did not know anything about the next section but I suspected it was going to be hard because this would be the hottest part of the day coming up.  The course description says that there is an aid station coming up in 5 miles so I thought oh it won't be that bad but as it turns out in my mind this was the hardest part of the course.  I was feeling pretty good starting this climb and was passing people.  There was a guy sitting on a rock just taking a break and I asked him how he was doing and he said fine just needed to give his stomach a break.  Fortunately for me I did not have any stomach issues at all the whole race.  I got to the top of Stein Butte and my GPS watch gave up because I only get like 8 hours of battery life so I was about according to my watch really close to the aid station.  After the top of Stein Butte where the aid station was supposed to be the trail kept climbing on exposed ridge lines so the sun was beating down on us.  I was getting frustrated because I thought maybe I had missed the aid station because it was no where to be seen.  This was the first time I was really feeling the heat because the climbs were steep and the sun was super hot.  I passed a guy and said to him "man where is the aid station?" he replied that he did not know but he was out of water.  I wanted to give him some of my water but because I didn't know if there was going to be an aid station I had to conserve my water to get me down to the next aid station 6 miles away.  I looked at my water and saw I didn't have very much left to work with.  Fortunately the aid station finally came just after I had that conversation with the other guy.  The aid station was actually 6 and a half miles instead of 5, that can be up to 30 minutes more of running or hiking without water.  I was so happy to see the aid station, I was really needing it and I think a lot of runners were experiencing the same thing I had just went through of worrying about water and such.  I felt bad for the people at this aid station because I am sure they experienced a bunch of grumpy runners up there.  I got my water filled and added my Tailwind, got doused in cold water, got some more ice and got on my way.

  The people at the aid station said this was a downhill section but it started out as a road with about 2 or 3 miles of climbing.  I was so frustrated because I was hoping to make up sometime on the downhill but it just kept climbing.  Finally the road ended and we went off on a trail that was about three miles of downhill to Squaw lakes aid station.  I got really excited at this point because I knew I would be getting to see my crew for the first time all day.  This downhill section was kinda steep so it was hard to run it fast because you had to be careful.  That can always be frustrating because the downhill is fun to make time but if it is steep downhill you don't make much time.I passed a couple of people and could see the lake down below me so I knew about how far I had left to go.

Coming into Mile 39

Ethan asking me some questions

 I came into the aid station at about 4:10 pm.  It took about 4 hours for this 11 mile section!  That was really slow.  I was so happy to see the crew! At this aid station they had a chair ready for me to sit in so that was nice to take a rest.  At this point I had a 3 mile run around Squaw Lake and back to this aid station.  I knew I could take some time here since I had not seen my crew all day.  One thing I definitely learned from my first 100 was that it is OK to take a break at aid stations with your crew because you only see them 3 or 4 times the whole race.  Here they refilled my water and added some more Tailwind.  Replenished my fruit snacks and gels and gave me one of my first burritos which I had been looking forward to since Seattle Bar.  I was really wanting so good solid real food that tasted good and this really hit the spot for me.  I also changed my shirt here.  Having a new fresh shirt can really do a lot for you, it feels like you are running a new race.  It was really great to see my whole crew at this station.  At this point I would like to thank them all for making the trip.  Thanks to Brian and Kathy, Laura, Devin, Luke (my pacer) and little Ethan, and especially to the most amazing wife in the whole world, Kara.  It was really a nice break to stop and have a chance to talk to them and especially to Ethan and all his great questions he asked me.

Squaw Lake

The crew encouraged me to leave my pack with them and to just run the loop around the lake without my pack.  I thought "OK, that will be nice to not have to carry that thing."  I soon found out this probably was not the best idea ever because I was so thirsty, I should have taken a water bottle with me because it took me about 40 minutes to run around the lake.  I actually bummed a few sips from other people who passed by me.  That is one thing I love about ultra runners they are so cool, so thanks to those three people who let me have some of their water it got me around the lake.

Me and the crew!

When I came back around to the aid station, I sat down for a few more minutes and then got myself going because I had taken a lot of time the first time around but before leaving for the next aid station I got a great picture with me and the whole crew.  You can see that picture to the right.

   I left the Squaw Lakes aid station the second time at 4:59 pm.  The next aid station and crew spot was 10 miles away so I would see them again soon.  At this point I knew the race would get easier because the temperature would begin to get cooler and a little more runnable and my times reflected that.  The road out of Squaw was a nice little downhill for a bit and then it would basically climb the rest of the way.  There was a water only stop about three miles from the aid station about halfway up the climb.  My water was OK so I just kept going, at the water station we got off the road and back onto the trail which was a nice welcome change.  I really enjoy running on the trails.  The little Grayback Trail was not to difficult and it was actually really beautiful because the sun was starting to go down and the heat wasn't as bad.  I started to have a bad patch on the way up the hill and about 4 or 5 people passed me but then I just tried to get through it and then the trail started having a little downhill so that got me going.  I starting running the downhill and passed a few people back and then all of a sudden there was a road and a person there and this is always a good sign because you know you are getting close to the aid station.  I did this section faster than I expected, I was planning on about 20 minutes per mile and I guess I did it in just under 19 minutes per mile pace.  This was the 50 mile mark of the race, halfway done  I came in at about 7:15pm so about 13 hours and 15 minutes for 50 miles.  I think this was just about right for this section.

Some say "Beware of the chair but I say embrace it!"

I was really looking forward to this station because I would get to change to my lighter night kit.  I had just bought and Ultimate Direction racing vest and this was going to be the first race I had the chance to race with it.  The reason I didn't use it for the whole race was that I wanted to make sure I had plenty of water throughout the day.  The UD vest only has 2 20 oz bottles and a bunch of areas to store stuff.  The weight of it was about half of what it was with the pack shown here.  I also changed to the night running kit.  Which was to consist of a long sleeve shirt, running tights, a jacket, and a new hat.  Again it was amazing to have different clothes on and felt like I was starting a new race.  At this point I had to run up to the top of a peak and pick up a flag and then run back down which was a 1 mile out and back section.  Ather was at the bottom when I started going up to the top so I was 2 miles behind him.  I thought to myself  "hey that's not bad!".  As I was coming down the hill it started to get dark and I finished this section in the dark.

  This would be the last time I would see my crew until Long John Saddle at Mile 74.  The next section of the course was supposed to be 8 miles.  I started out this section walking because I was already getting tired.  I was really having trouble with the steep uphill sections and would have to stop and catch my breathe.  There was a lot of uphill here but then it changed to some downhill and that felt good and I felt like I was moving well.  I caught up to a guy named William from Los Angeles whose light was going out.  He and I decided to run it into the aid station because he light was totally gone and he would have been running this dirt road in the dark if not for my new light.  My wife bought me a great light for my birthday and it was so amazing, it lasted the whole night and never gave me any problems.  A running tip for lights with battery packs turn your hat around backward at night because you don't need the brim in the dark and that can support the weight of the battery pack.  When William and I connected we had about 2 and a half miles left to go to the aid station according to his watch.  I was really thinking it seemed like a really long section when I got to him but I asked him again later how far away we were and he said about 1.8 miles, then in about .3 more miles the aid station came and we were both pleasantly surprised because you never get an aid station early.  The people at the aid station said that they had labeled the mileage wrong and we were actually at 60 miles.  I was really pleased.  We got in at about 10 pm I think.  I was at the aid station for about 15 minutes.  I had some soup and some Pepsi.  To my surprise the Pepsi was super cold which was so refreshing for me, I gulped down one cup and then asked for another and gulped that down too.  My friend Timothy had caught up to me at this station and this was the last time I would see him the rest of the race.  I was thinking about cutoff times here and was just hoping to beat the cutoff.  I was so jazzed after the Pepsi that I left the aid station without my water bottles.  I had to go back and get them, I was about 10 minutes up the road.  This road was supposed to be a steep climb up to Dutchman Peak about 7 miles away.  I was thinking it was going to take me 20 minutes per mile pace.  I found that the road was not bad and part of it was runnable.  I passed a few people and a few people passed me on the road.  When we started to get closer to the aid station you could hear the music playing from it above you.  I was thinking  I was starting to get close but actually was not that close because the music was really loud and it was deceiving.  When we got to the aid station I thought I still had 2 miles to go but actually they changed it from last year and when you got to the top you were done.  This was really important because I reached the aid station at 12:31 AM about an hour an 30 minutes under the cutoff time.  So when I got to the top they got me some soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.  It was starting to get cold at the top because this station was at over 7000 feet.  I was worried I would have to wear my tights but it was actually warm enough all night that I wore my shorts the whole night which is not normal for me.

  Leaving this aid station they said we had about 8 miles to the next aid station, Long John Saddle and a good portion of it was on the PCT.  I really love the PCT in any stretch that you get to run on.  I was feeling good because the next aid station was where I would be meeting my pacer, Luke.  This section was really great to run and I would say it was my favorite part of the run.  There were lots of rocks and this scared me because I had just read an article about how mountain lions lie in wait on top of rocks for deer to run by and then they pounce on them.  I was just imagining some mountain lion or cougar just sitting up on one of those rocks just waiting for me to run by and then to be pounced on.  That would be a sucky way to end your race.  When I started to get closer to the aid station, I was thinking why is it taking so long to get to this station.  I think the section was longer than advertised.  When I arrived at the aid station this would be the last time to see my crew until the end of the race.  They were saying a lot of people were commenting on how long that section seemed so that made me feel a little more sane.  I arrived at around 3:15 AM.  I was thinking at this point I would just be happy to finish in 30 hours.  My legs were really seizing up here as I sat in the chair being attended to.  I got some soup and a few other things, and for the first time of the day reapplied some Sportslick to my sensitive areas.  Normally in a 100 miler I would have had problems earlier in the race but for the first time I decided to just run with the liner of my shorts and no underwear, which seems like an obvious solution to chaffing problems but the first time I had an ah ha moment.  I was not dealing with practically any chaffing and it was a super hot day, what a blessing.  I really didn't want to keep running at this point because of exhaustion and my legs seizing up but if I did that I would get a DNF and that was not going to happen to me.  Only a marathon left to go no problem!  Yeah right!

  Luke and I started to leave the aid station and I remembered that I needed to reapply my Sportslick so he ran back the short jaunt to get my stuff out of the bag so I could reapply to sensitive areas before moving on.  As much as I love people at aid stations for volunteering, I also hate them for providing miss information.  The people at Long John  Saddle said it was 6 miles of downhill to the Wagner Butte Trailhead.  It was about 2 or 3 miles of downhill, then some uphill, followed by some more downhill, it really messes with your psyche if you think it is all downhill and then you hit an uphill.  This section was probably my lowest point of the race I was super tired and could barely keep my eyes open.  So much so that I actually stopped a couple of times to just rest my eyes.  I stopped at a really nice rock and closed my eyes for a few minutes and then got going again.  The road was a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere so another time I just stopped and laid down in the middle of the road and closed my eyes for about 2 seconds and Luke was a good pacer he just laid down with me.  I immediately heard what I thought was a car off in the distance and I said "oh we better get up there is a car coming".  My pacer Luke said yeah that is a good idea and we got up and started running.  I was a little disappointed when no car ended up showing up, I had just imagined I had heard a car but way to go Luke just going with it.  Another time on this section I stopped to rest and looked over at some rocks and they looked like people to me but they were odd because they had balloon heads.  I asked Luke if he saw that and he said no at this point I figured it is probably a good idea for me to have a fruit snack because I was majorly bonking.  Fruit snacks are my power pellets, they are what gets me through those rough patches in races.  After having the fruit snack my energy returned and I started to run again and believe I ran most of the rest of the way to the aid station.  At the rate I was going I thought there was no way we were going to get there before 6 AM, but it turns out it was only 5:15 AM when we got in there so I was pleased.  At the aid station I shared some of the above stories with the people at the aid station and they found it entertaining.  I also ranted and raved about Tailwind Nutrition and how it had helped me throughout the day.  It was also here that I got some good news I thought we had about 7 more miles of uphill to do before the end of the race but it turns out it was only 5 more miles, and then 15 miles of downhill!!  We left the aid station at 5:24 AM.

  The information at this aid station was a lot more accurate.  They didn't sugarcoat it for me they said "2 miles of pretty steep trail and then another mile to the top and then two miles out to a rock outcropping and then 15 miles of downhill."  I got some burst of energy I don't know if it was from the information that I was almost done with the climbing or what.  I was doing good on the early part of the climb and then I would stop and take short rest breaks like on a log or a rock that looked comfortable.  Before you knew it we were at the three mile cutoff that they talked about.  On the climb I passed Ather and his friend Ali which I was super surprised by because I thought for sure that these guys were way ahead of me.  The two miles out was a really interesting section, it had some ups and some downs but at the end of it had a huge pile of rocks.  They made us scramble up this large pile of rocks to get a flag that we had to carry for the next 2 miles.  The view from the top of these rocks was amazing you could see every mountain around, I could definitely see why they made this part of the race but on the way up I was thinking man this is a safety issue for some of these people who are already tired to have to scramble up these rocks but the view was worth it.  I really was relieved at this time because I knew that the downhill was coming and I could totally do this.  I started to look at the watch and was very excited because I could totally see myself getting under 30 hours which earlier in the race I didn't think was possible.  On the downhill I was feeling uncomfortable and I didn't know why but I soon realized what it was, I really had to poop for the first time the whole race, it is difficult to find a place to go to the bathroom when you are out running on a trail with people going by all the time.  I finally found a great place did my business super quick and felt so much better.  After this happened I felt lighter and more like I could get going.  When we reached the cutoff down to the 90 mile aid station I was jazzed up because this was my kind of downhill and I was starting to "smell the barn" as they say.  I was killing the downhill but I looked back and my pacer was behind I slowed down so he could catch up.  I really wanted to just take off but I am not that kind of guy.  I pick my pacer specifically to experience this with me and what kind of person would I be if I just dropped them at the end.  My pacer Luke had only run 2 marathons before and he was pacing me for 26 miles in the mountains which is totally different.  He wasn't used to running the downhills like I am so I had to realize that.  We were still cooking down the hill and arrived at the 90 mile aid station at 8:45 AM.  The 30 hour time limit was 12 PM so I only had 10 miles to go and 3 hours and 15  minutes to do it, which is plenty of time.

My finish

  No one had caught me on the downhill, I was really feeling good.  Had a short stop at the aid station just long enough to get some food in me and get my bottles filled and then it was 10 miles of downhill to the finish.  We started getting down the hill and the road was nice and had some drops and some rises but not a steady drop so I would run a little, walk a little.  Passed a guy on the downhill who was cramping who passed me back a short time later when I was having a hard time and needed a sit break. Before I knew it we were at the last water drop which was about 5 or 6 miles from the finish.  I knew here that it was all downhill and I could make up sometime.  I was moving pretty good on the downhill and about 1 mile from the finish I got passed by 4 people including Ather and Ali, but I passed the guy who was cramping back.  We were coming down through Lithia Park and then hit the pavement, I estimated that we must be close because they don't normally make you run very far on pavement in town.  I could hear people cheering and that was when the emotion hit me.  I was so relieved that I made it and I did better than expected.  We came around the final corner and Luke and I ran it in together, it was great I could see the family on the side and Devin and Ethan and they all looked so happy it was such an amazing feeling because I was more into their emotions than I was my own which made it even more special for me.  The finishing time was 28 hours and 45 minutes!  This was great because when I last saw my wife she thought maybe I would be able to get a 29 hour time but I didn't believe it but somehow I made it happen.  The last 10 miles were done at a 11:29 pace which is pretty awesome considering I had already run 90 before that.  I finished in 52nd place out of 76 finishers and over 120 starters.  About 45 people had dropped from the race because of one thing or another.  I have now been fortunate enough to have finished 2 100 milers.

  The best feeling is just resting when you are done.  The picture to the right is me and Luke enjoying the chair at the finish.  Ather Haleem is the guy in the bright shirt behind me actually.  It was hot in the sun so I moved my chair over into a cooler shaded area in a courtyard.  One of the first things I do is take off my shoes and assess the damage.  My feet were actually in pretty good shape just a few blisters.  I was starting to pop my blisters but my wife scolded me because my feet were dirty and she was worried they would get infected so she went and got first aid to come and take care of me.  That was a first.  While I was getting my feet attended to the guy from the aid station heard me telling the story again to my family and he came over to me and asked me if he could interview me for the newspaper because among other things that he does is write an article about the race for the paper and he was always looking for a good story and he liked mine so he interviewed me.  You can view the article at http://m.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20130916%2FNEWS%2F309160336%2F-1%2FWAP&template=wapart.

  I was sitting in the courtyard thinking "hey wait a minute, I don't remember getting a buckle, that doesn't seem right."  Well, I found out they give out the buckles at the awards ceremony later in the day.  We were not able to stay so I saw the race director and asked if I could get my buckle.  Hal Koerner is such an amazing guy, I am sure he had tons of other things to do but he went out of his way to go get me everything that I deserved for finishing the race.  A few minutes later he came back with a North Face backpack with the race logo on it, a belt buckle, a great mug with the race logo on it, and a Pine to Palm 100 finisher bumper sticker.  After I sat for awhile we walked over to the downtown area of Ashland and had lunch.  I had a hamburger which I ate most of but my stomach was still not ready to take too much food yet.

  After the race we drove to Portland.  I passed out with in the first couple of hours but was wide awake the rest of the trip.  Laura drove which doesn't happen that much but she was the one with the most sleep so she was most awake.  We got to Portland and had pizza for dinner.  I watched the 49er game which they ended up losing.  I was in bed by 9:30 pm that night and slept till 7 the next morning.  Kara and I drove home on Monday and arrived at home around 4:30 or so.

  Final thoughts on the race,  I am one week removed of the race but it feels like it happened so long ago.  My body is amazing, I had almost completely healed and was ready to run but I am going to wait for about another week before I do that.  My wife, family, and friends are amazing people and I love them all very much.  This race has encouraged me that I can do more and now my goal for next year currently is 2 run 2 100 milers next year.  Thanks for reading, I know it is long>

It's hard work running this far!

Getting my feet fixed

Post race lunch

My pacer and his awesome family

Getting interviewed for the paper