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WSER - Cal Street with Nate

June 24, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 80s, but not terrible

Comments:
FUN but long (and tiring, and sick) day. Bullets:

- really fun to wake up in Rob Flat
- way nicer crew to work with there, but as before, so many of them "don't get it". They're veterans, so they think they know EVERYTHING. Like, I was trying to talk to this one woman about the possibility that POLLEN in the high country really fucks with people. Me: "...so yeah, they're huffing all this pollen up in the high country-" / "Oh, yeah, THE ALTITUDE." / "NO, the pollen!" Nope. Not in their narrative. Couldn't be ANYthing else that gets people short of breath, nauseous, and feeling terrible. Not that CLOUD of yellow on the windshields at Squaw...
- A bopped between med tent and going to the front of the AS, where they popped out of the canyon
- the most fun (and only real work) I did was work on Mark Lantz. REALLY fun to:
--- work on someone I know
--- work on someone who really appreciated it
--- do good work and get shit moving!
- he felt a ton better and was bounding down the trail
- Nate came in solid (like 2xth), but was "cramping". That worried me, as once that starts, the fuse is lit on the legs
- it was REALLY fun to try to get folks to push through the AS at cutoffs. Some were nice, some off their rocker ("What do you NEED?" / "Well, I need Tailwind in here...and a Kind bar..." / "No, you need to GO!", to the guy who shuffled out of the campground with 2 minutes to go.), and some where...kinnnnd of assholes, like the guy who pushed me out of the way when I offered him a soda can to take out of the aid station (nope, he needed banana chunks). Where's the fucking sense of urgency...7 fucking months ago when you got in the race, dude?

- Left the AS at 2:00 and headed down the hill
- FH was fun. SFRC had a tent up and I chatted with Brett Rivers ("What is that for you, like EIGHT kids?"), Caroline Bollar (quite a fox in the >40 AG!) and others. Had a good chat with Scott Warr (TRN): nice that he appreciates me and my perspective (remember when like they had no clue who we were when they set up and were interviewing the Torrences and Grossmans, back in '13?)
- after walking around a bit, I found Lewis and Nick Alden (River, Cal St, respective) and we hung in the van as we watched Ms 2-10+ roll through town. Fucking Mark Hammond (who?) looked the best by far
- When I got back into cell range, I saw Nate was going backwards, even before the Canyons. Not good. So I got antsy and drove with Lew and Nick down to MB, and barely got there ahead of him! CA was doing her thing, volunteering at her second AS of the day, before Nate came in. Quick hello to Carol at MB, then some crewing for Nate, then we were off.
- Nate stopped a bit in FH, after abouta 100-minute split (!) from MB, then we were finally off.

Pacing:

It was fun to get going, as it always is. And it was an understandable shuffle down the road. I just did my best to prime his best running stride, but as I've come to find out:

if you don't practice it PRE-race, you'll never do it MID-100-miler

So while he might've wanted to lift his feet and knees and stretch out his hips, I'm not sure he knew how. As we crossed over to the trail, he gave it a nice push - "I'm gonna actually try to run it", and he did, rolling pretty amazingly down the switches to the gravel roads...but it was short-lived. Before long, we were back to 10-12 minute miles...downhill.

Nonetheless, he still made decent time, and not much walking. We played with me in front, but that didn't go as well, so I hung in back. We yo-yo'd wit a few folks going into Cal 1.

Here's the wonderful highlight of WSER, that's only grown in the four non-running years: you ALWAYS randomly run into folks you know. This wasn't random, but Bruce LaBelle was captaining "Dardanelles". I joked with him and chatted while Nate got topped off, then we got going again.

We were going slowww and gosh darn it, I was ALREADY hurting. The downs felt SO bad to go that slow (again, the paradox: the slower you go, the WORSE for the muscles!). But I was buoyed by the idea that every AS we'd see some folks we knew and chat.

Who we saw that I wish we didn't was Yiou Wang, supine and seemingly unconscious (or at least eyes closed) on the trail, with pacer Topher and one other pacer beside her. Besides needing a coat (which I didn't have, as it was still >80 in the shade), help had been summoned, so I wished them well. A mile later, the help came running from Cal 2.

Nate did solid on the micro-ups, but by that time...any flat or up I started WALKING. I didn't mean to be a dick, but again, my legs felt SO BAD and- preparing for a long night- it was what I needed to do. He was going so slow I could powerhike a flat and keep up, no problem. Our 12-minute miles had turned to 14-15s.

But we made it to Cal 2. I didn't know anyone there, but funny thing was, I recognized the folks there from my *first* year pacing, back in '10. Same deal: quick chat and fun while we restocked, then down the trail.

Around that time, right after we left the AS, Nate started tanking: dizzy, short of breath...not uncommon in the bustle of stop-and-go (and eat-drink). We walked halfway down that first down before he got his shuffle on again, and, after a mile, we made decent time.

But not great time. I harken back to '12, when I remember telling BGD "we gotta run with a normal stride", to stretch things out. I'm certain we ran 8:xx that day. Today, still about 12-13 minute miles, downhill. Took forever, as a result.

But just as we were nearing Six-Minute-Hill, we came upon a guy in a dark singlet, gray hair, with someone smaller in front. Oh, fuck, I thought.

Sure enough, it was KacR. Damn. I felt really bad for her. I announced our presence, and they stepped off and let us pass. I felt super bad and touched her shoulder as we went by and wished her well. We told me, "Take him home", to which I replied, likewise (almost joking, as MigZ barely "made it home" last year, and I was certain he'd be dropped this year).

But damn it to hell if, a minute later, we hit the six minute hill. and Nate completely tanked: like staggering half-mile-an-hour up the hill. Wasn't long 'til KacR and MigZ passed us again/

And we had our moment. (Which I documented in the 6-30 post). It was a teeny bit embarassing, at first but she was soooo goddamned nice, that it wound up being enjoyable. As they pulled away, and we kept going, it was very thought provoking.

As I said in the 6-30 post:

- big time rest at the top of "15-minute hill"
- walk-jog down
- didn't stop in Cal 3, but walked it in the rest of the day
- arrythmia ended Nate's day at 78

Overall good day, and based on how *I* felt, I was lucky we were done then. I'd definitely gotten sicker today, and was happy to be in bed, In N Out in the belly, by midnight!