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Charelton to the finish with Timbo - Waldo 100K

August 19, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 70s, not hot, but smokey

Comments:
Good day. Slept pretty good, but it got SUPER-smokey in the middle of the night, even inside the van.

We slept in 'til 7, made coffee, then went down the hill a bit to watch the runners at Mt Ray AS-mile 20, then headed up to Charelton. Alexis was doing solid, as was Timbo. Both CA and I were pacing: her with Alexis to Twins 2, me all the way.

Timbo was doing pretty solid, maybe 13th place or so, at halfway. Turns out he not only missed the start [barely] but also fried his headlamp like halfway up and had to shuffle a bunch in the dark (and with a slower dude). But that might've been a disguised blessing.

He moved real well out of Charelton, but maybe too well. I tried to tamp down any "pacer mania", but I enjoyed how damn quick he was bombing downs! That said...his ups were a lot of walking, even at that point. I encouraged the granny gear, calling it "4 wheel drive", to keep him running, but it didn't do a ton of good.

Split to 4920 was like 50 min - solid - and we got filled up by Joe ChEHHHCK from Ashland and were on our way, leap-frogging with an older dude who eventually got ahead out the AS. This was good, I told him, given the challenging nature of this chunk.

He ran a fair amount of the intial "Shitburgers" - those short grunt climbs, as I called them - but in the second half, as it began to climb relentlessly, it was a LOT of walking.

I felt...OK. Had some tension and stiffness in my left leg and overall felt heavy: half illness (and meds) and half yesterday (track and weights!). But the hiking obviously kept things mellow.

He began to struggle, and the hiking slowed, but we kept moving and his head was "in the gaaaame". Then, when we finally shouldered Twins, he had a good - albeit painful - descent into Twins 2. But once refueled, he HAMMERED to Maiden: at times, I looked down and saw sub-6 on the watch! Shit, I could barely keep up!

But again, once the uphills came, it was slow. And it would get slower. After Maiden Peak AS...we caught another dude, but Tim was hiking slow enough that he blew past us.

Maiden was tough for Tim. I felt bad. He has nothing like this in Kentucky. When he was incredulous ("Oh my God! This is unbelievable!") in the FIRST MILE, I could only bite my tongue. By midway it was slow. By that steep-ass part, there was some standing breaks. But dad-gum it, he eventually made it.

Maiden Peak was a buzzkill, simply because you couldn't see SHIT! Not total "fog", but enough smoke to limit visibility to maybe a mile. Bummer.

The only time I led was down Leap of Faith. Once past the rock cairn, he was having a tough time route finding, so I hopped out in front, til a bit past "BGD Cramp Pointe" and into the smooth single track. From there, Tim descended *pretty well*...but that would be the last of the real fast running.

Maiden Lake AS had a new crew: LB, MB, Tommy and one other guy. It was fun to see them. This was, like me in '14, Timbo's low point -- just a bit fried from the up-down -- so it was annoying and I felt bad for him when dickweed Monkey Boy actually gave him crap for not being cheery ("Smile! You're running an ultra!", in his unfortunate, snarky sort of way). Tim actually took it hard, looking back, half-smiling, but wanting to almost argue, before turning back. Indeed, he'd been SO f-ing positive and fun at each AS, making everyone laugh. So for the one moment was was NOT super-chipper, to be "called out" by MB, was crappy. Oh well.

We pushed on. He walked out of the AS, then I pushed him to run. But the Shitburgers were run-killers. We walked 'em all, even when I tried to call some of them "Shit Sliders". Didn't work. :-p

He did good, but the fast running was done. He did decent on the downs to the Rosary Lakes - like mid-8s - but when he got on that burner grade, that's where it stayed. Fine, but certainly no sub-7 (or 6!) like before. But he got it done. He put in a good push on the "longest home straight in ultrarunning" and finished 11th or so.

We ran just a shade under 6 for the final 30. Great training run for me, simply because we were able to "run normally" downhill! Solid.

Rest of the day:
- hung out at the finish. It wasn't hot at all, and it didn't take too long to cool off
- food...SUCKED. That was the big change from the old admin to Rainshadow. They had mediocre pizzas that they would grind out, one at a time. There'd be a line, even at 4:30, when barely anyone had finished, and the shitty pizza would be gone within 8 seconds of the guy bringing it out. No other good food, just crappy AS fare (like shitty chips); no salad, other than store-bought veggie platters. Weak.
- Guys race was also weak (10:01 and two dudes tied); women's was a solid run by fresh-face Camelia Mayfield, who's like CA's age. They talked for a while, but she seemed like she's cut from the "Bend Ultrarunner" mold, already
- cheered Alexis in for her first 100K finish. She didn't run as fast as she hoped, but the Finish was her #1 goal, and she had a positive day out there.
- Drove home...down the hill, to a gigantic feast at "Hot Mama's Wings". I ate ZERO calories during the run, so I was starving!

Another solid installment of Waldo. Great race, glad it's living on.