High Lonesome 100- Race Report

Pre High Lonesome

Let's rewind all the way back to December of 2016, about seven months prior to the race. I was still planning out my 2017 race calendar and knew I wanted to travel to Colorado in the hopes of falling in love with the State and potentially moving there in 2018 if I had not fallen in love with another state. Clicking the 100 mile check box and doing an extensive search of Colorado 100s on UltraSignup, I found the High Lonesome 100, Colorado's newest hundred mile race and the dates of the race worked perfectly with my schedule. After reading the website info, I was hooked and psyched and signed up as soon as registration opened seeing that the race was capped at 75 folks. 

The High Lonesome 100 takes place in the Sawatch Mountains Range. *Side note: The Sawatch Mountains is home to Nolans 14, which if you know Ultrarunning is one of the hardest, craziest running adventures in the world. Read more about Nolans 14 here.

The race takes place just outside of two really amazing Colorado towns, Buena Vista and Salida. 
Having never been to Colorado, I came out five days before the race to get somewhat acclimated and check out the state. 

I was already blown away by the big mountains as we passed Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs and other mountains I had no clue I was looking at. In my head, my list of places I travelled to this past year for races immediately were pushed down and Colorado had hit #1. 

I will spare you the details of the four days leading up to the race cause it was just me tapering, hanging out with my dad as we checked out the town of Salida/Buena Vista, and also meeting up Dave Schiebel and Krosby Keller, two other Washingtonians that were running the race and who I Strava stalked and messaged to see if they wanted to hang out. Thursday afternoon was packet pickup and a pre-race briefing. 

All the runners and their families getting a course briefing

High Lonesome 100

Going into the race I saw the start list and the majority were runners based in Colorado. I was one of the dozen runner coming from out of state and from sea level. Thankfully living in Washington and right next to Oregon, I have a lucky amount of places to train, like Forest Park, the Columbia River Gorge and I can get up to some high spots like Mt. Hood and St. Helens, but for the most part, my training was done on the treadmill and in the sauna. 

This race was to be my third 100-mile race and first real mountain 100 that starts at around 8,150 feet and tops out near 13,150 feet above sea level on a rugged mountainous course.

A few differences compared to my other two 100+ mile races: 

1) The altitude (Going up over 8,000 feet when I do most of my training at or near sea level in Vancouver) and the exposure to heat.

2) Monsoon season (I've run in heavy PNW rain, but Colorado rain is different to a slight degree), also possible chance of THUNDERSTORMS.

3) My parents were crewing me. They've never have seen a 100 mile race or crewed me by themselves. 

With that being said, I woke up around 4AM, took a quick cold shower to really wake up and then eat breakfast. Time flew by and suddenly it was like 4:50 and it got really chaotic as I was rushing to put on my clothes, and grab all my gear to head over to race check in... I was probably the last person to check in since it was a 30ish minute drive to get to the start line (Sorry, RD, Caleb!) Checked in and gear checked by 5:40, I had about 20 minutes to be antsy. I got to chit chat with Dave, Krosby while we waited and also got some morning photos with my parents. 

Start area with my folks

Then we were lining up on the start line and off at exactly 6AM with the shot of a starter pistol!

Off we go!

We had about a ~4 mile gravel/paved downhill until we turned up on the Colorado Trail and the singletrack would begin. Keeping it light and easy, there was a group of maybe 7 of us just talking and introducing each other to one another. By the time we started the first climb the group thinned. I didn't want to use too much energy, so I backed off to a power hike and let North Face athlete, Mike Wolfe and CTS coach, John Fitzgerald take the lead as I stayed comfortably in third.

The first aid station came quickly at ~7.4 miles. I had a rough estimate of the time I'd be there and I think I got there in about an hour and seven minutes which was what I told my parents... I rolled in right behind Mike and John, grabbed some gels, refilled my water and saw my folks before leaving quickly.

John and I rolling into Raspberry Gulch #1


After leaving Raspberry Gulch, I wouldn't see my crew until mile ~25.4 and I knew the next section was going to be tough as we got to the highest point of the race, Mt. Antero. Antero is a 14er but we were just below that at ~13,150 feet! I've never been so high in my life! One of my favorite sections of the race is this climb. I just soaked in all the beauty as I hiked up. It was UNREAL. Mike and John were a little bit ahead of me but I just stayed patient still not knowing how the altitude would effect me and not wanting to run too fast in the first 16 miles. I stayed on top of my hydration and eating which was great. No lows as I then came up on John just before cresting the high point and we cruised down to the Antero aid station behind Mike.

Up on the Antero climb with John. Photo by: Elizabeth Ashley Sasseman

The ladies at Antero aid station were amazing! They got us nicely refueled. I honestly didn't want to leave cause it was just so lively and the food was so good, but I did and I marched right on out with a big grin on my face.

Next stop was St. Elmo Ghost town, 9 miles away. It was a quad crushing descent on a semi-loose, rocky, gravel road.  We saw a couple ATVs on this section but nothing to wild besides a couple mild water crossings. By the time we got maybe 2 or so miles out from St. Elmo, we saw a interesting crew car with film crew... I was confused cause nobody said anything about filming the race. As we were running, they pulled up beside us and asked what was going on. John and I told them about the race and then they told us that Jared Campbell and Gary Robbins were doing Nolans 14. That got me fired up knowing those guys were out there and I stored that info in my head to use later in the race if I was hurting badly.

Arriving in at St. Elmo, Mike had already started to head out. John and I took our time but we were also out relatively quickly. This section of the course is super great as its a out-n-back about 12 miles. It's tough, but beautiful as you climb about 2,000 feet and then bomb down a technical ~2000 feet backside to the the next aid, Cottonwood. Again, Mike, John and I came in with a couple seconds of each other. We stayed a bit longer to get some warm soup, bacon and pierogis. We were 50K into the race and now had to make the our way back to St. Elmo. The climb back out was not so bad, I started to hike harder, but in a reasonable comfort level and caught up to Mike and we got to chatting more which made the climb go by way faster. Also, the three of us front guys started to see the rest of the field which was great and we gave kudos as we kept plugging on. It started to lightly rain but it was refreshing as we descended back into St. Elmo again, mile ~37.

Here, I took my time and did a sock change and got out all of the loose rocks in my shoes. It was a nice reset and glad I got the pesky rocks out before they caused any blisters. Mike headed out and John came in during that time but it was still early in the race, I got some more VFuel gels down some quesadillas and was perked up ready to roll.

Here's my mom helping me! SHE ROCKS!!

The next section of the race was very short up to a water only stop at Tin Cup and John and I had caught back up to Mike who was running up this nice mining road and we refilled our bottles quickly before getting to another beautiful section of the course, the Continental Divide Trail. The trail was so perfect and and it felt like running on my home trails in Washington. Mike and I kept each other going as we gapped John (Later I found out he was having problems with the altitude.) The views of two alpine basins kept my mind of the light pain I was starting to feel in my quads. There was some snow still on course and I thought I had the skills to navigate but being too eager on the downhill slid out and fell on my butt into some dirty alpine water. Luckily, I didn't do any damage to myself but I let Mike go ahead as I wanted to be careful going down the rest of this scree field. I just watched Mike dance down the trail and followed as best as I could. I looked at my watch at that point and knew I was close to the next aid at Hancock, mile ~49. I cruised in right behind Mike.

I thought I was going to see my parents here since it was a crew spot, but they hadn't shown up and I was worried something bad happened. That put me in a little mental funk but I just asked the awesome folks at the aid to let them know I am well and going to see them at Monarch Pass, mile ~66.6. Before leaving we got gear checked and I made a joke about having dealt with hypothermia in my previous 100 milers. It did not get laughs but I chuckled a bit. Then we headed out.

Mike still looked super strong and fresh and I also felt really good. After leaving the aid in good spirits, the weather started to change. We started climbing again and the rain started to come down. Once I saw Mike put his jacket on, I knew I should too. I followed his lead and it was a great decision cause temperature dropped a considerable amount.

I can go on all day about the scenery, but when we got to this section, around Boss Lake, I'm super thankful I got here with some daylight. It was wet, we were about shin deep in some water on parts of the trail, and it was a bit overgrown but this lake was just mesmerizing and super clear. After this I blanked out on the nice downhill and just kept putting one foot in front of the other as I was cruising past course markers as we made our way down to Middle Fork aid at mile 55. I arrived at the themed, "Outer Space" aid station, a little over 12 hours into the race at that point and ahead of Mike. I got warmed up with broth and was feeling a little tiredness creep into my head. I immediately gulped down some caffeine and was able to chat with the aid station folks before my legs started to get tight. I left before Mike came in but knew he would catch up to me in the next 11 miles stretch, which was the longest distance between aid.

This next section was pretty lonesome, that is how the race got its name. Being by myself, I thought about family and friends back home, why the heck I was out here as I was making my way up this amazing mountain pass and running along this stunning ridge. It was getting close to sunset and I finally got up to the crux of the race. I looked back down and across the sky to see where we had the race, some 14 hours earlier. Still no sign of Mike. Winds shifted, rain started to fall and fog rolled in as the last sunlight dipped below the horizon.

I forgot how difficult night running was. I literally didn't do any night running in my training cycle for this race, so I slowed down considerably. Fog was dense but the trail markers could be seen ever so slightly. I look back again to see if any lights were coming and I see some flickers. YES!! Mike was close. I continued slowly walking just to stay warm but not moving too fast so Mike could catch up.

He finally reached me as we were descending down the trail to the Monarch Pass aid. We were back together again! My spirits were lifted. We made our way down and we could see the highway, cars and lights, but the trail just seemed to push us further and further away from where we were supposed to go which was down. We were both silent for the most part, but we were getting a little impatient. Finally, we exit out from the trail and cross the road and climb just a short distance to the aid. Here, I was so relieved to see my parents. It gave me a calm feeling. My parents gave me my drop bag where I changed socks again and opted for a fresh pair of Salomon shoes. While this was happening, ROCKSTAR medic of the race, Daisy Clark is keeping me amped up and gave me some BioFreeze to help alleviate my sore legs and calves.

Excited only to have ~50K left to run.
Photo by Rockstar, Daisy Clark

Smiling is the best way to negate the pain

Mike was ready to go and so was I. We left the aid station around 9:48PM, 15 hours and 48 minutes into the race. I wasn't thinking too much besides sub 24 hours. It was doable with about 50K left. I just didn't know how much my legs could handle and also how the trail was going to be with the rain coming down much more.  I remember at the pre-race briefing RD, Caleb said it was pretty runnable at the rest of the way minus Satan's Slip 'N Slide. What a sick joke. Maybe it was going a little harder in the last few sections, but after 60 miles on the legs, the quads and feet were wrecked even though I was running happy and super patient all day. Mike and I navigated down the technical, rutted out 5 mile section and ran pretty much all of it.

We start seeing glow sticks and make it to Foose Creek. I forget the time at this point but its maybe just before midnight. We had to be fast if we were going to have a shot at sub 24. We got some food down and left before our legs could tighten up. Onto the second longest stretch, a bit over 10 miles. We had a marathon left to run. I started breaking the distance into chunks and just was thinking one aid station at a time. The aid told us it was about 2 miles to the road where we would have another highway crossing and then go 8 miles up and and then down to the second to last aid before the finish. It was such a grind but we kept moving. Uphills were still okay, but downs for both of us seemed to be a struggle, at least that's how I felt. When getting to a "runnable" downhill, I'd take multiple deep breathe after another like a mother that is in labor and getting ready to push the baby out (Sorry, for that mental image, but that's what kept me able to run/trot down the trail).

I don't know about Mike, but internally I was at my breaking point and I couldn't fight the dark thoughts from coming into my headspace. I definitely was thinking of dropping out Blank's Cabin, mile 82 and it was a real low. I had been running really happy all day, but I just felt beat up. Somehow after having a mini internal pity party, I said a little prayer for myself and Mike to be able to get to the end and then I went back the useful tool of faking a smile to try to get me in a better mood. It worked, I got my happy mojo back and we dug deep as we made it to aid.

Warming up and eating everything

It was approximately 2AM give or take. We more warm food and had 4ish hours to go sub-24 hours. We had ~18miles left. My leg were trashed, and I'll assume Mike's were too being 82 miles into this rugged mountain race. 4 hours to run 18 miles felt like an eternity. I was out of my comfort but that was where the magic started to happen. I accepted the pain and misery. I didn't fight it. I just internally told myself that I was going to suffer just a little bit longer. Just suffer for a little less than 4 hour.

I said something to Mike, it was along the lines of, "We can freaking do this. We gotta just dig deeper". It was at least worth going for. Why do these event or why have a goal if you are just going to give up so easily. We go 110% for sub 24 and if we blew up or failed at least we tried.

Walking out of Blank's

We walked out of the aid station with purpose and on a mission. We got some rolling trail and again just took major deep exhales and inhales. We'd go maybe 30 seconds to a two minutes on of running then power hike when we hit hills. It wasn't pretty but the 9 mile stretch back to Raspberry Gulch aid went by a bit faster. I look at my watch, seeing time slowly tick away but similarly the miles also going up which was good, but not good enough. It was 4:06AM and we hadn't hit the aid station. I started to panic.

Arriving at Raspberry Gulch #2
WHERE THE HECK IS IT? Just around the corner? No. AGH... I started to run hard. I just needed to get to the aid. I was running on an empty tank. It took all the willpower to move my body. I gapped Mike by maybe 30 seconds and then the aid station comes into view and I am in. My parents are here again cheering me on. I slam 4 gels down my throat even though I'm sick of sugary food at this point. I had to fuel for the final push. Mike rolls in but I've been there maybe a minute in before him. I had my bottles filled and ready to go, but I wanted to wait for him and finish together. We had worked so hard the whole entire day together. All the while, precious time was slipping away and I knew that. Mike told me to go on and it really killed me internally cause I wanted to share the victory with him.

In the end, I listened to him and charged out of the aid. It hurt like no other. My already shredded feet were screaming at me to stop and walk. Nope, I wouldn't hike. I knew the finish was near. I can suffer through this pain for about an hour more. And so I went to my ultrarunning bag of tricks and ultrashuffled up this slight hill before bombing down the backside of the mountain to get to the road we came from Friday morning. I kept looking at my watch, I wanted to hit the road section by 5AM to give myself a little buffer time. The final 4 miles on the road I ran as hard as I could, getting closer and closer to the turn up the final 300 foot climb we came down. As soon as I made the turn up the climb, the blisters on the bottom of both my feet ripped open. I almost collapse onto my face in anguish, but catch myself. Seeing that I can break 23:30, I charge up the climb  to the meadow where we began and sprint to into the finish line and collapsing into Caleb's arms.

23:29:05, 1st Place, Men's Champion of the inaugural High Lonesome 100.

Crossing the finish! Photo by Mile90 Photography 

Photo with my parents
Finishing 1st place overall with a time of 23:29 was satisfying beyond belief for me. It feels surreal and I'm extremely grateful. I ran smart, calculated and controlled race just about the entire day. More importantly I learned a great deal about myself that I'll hold on for the rest of my life.

Thank you to everyone that made the inaugural High Lonesome 100 such a memorable event. Thank you to the aid station volunteers and medics for helping all of us runners.

A big thank you to Mike Wolfe for giving me so much wisdom as we raced. It was an honor to run all day with you and work together. I will cherish and hold onto this race day forever.

Endless thank yous to my parents who crewed me for the first time.

Congratulations to all the amazing runners who took part in this first year event. Hope to see you all next year!

ALL THE RACERS

Receiving the Men's Champion award

Men's Podium: Mike Wolfe (2nd), Me, and Michael Robbert (3rd)


A special thank you to my coach, Michele Yates of Rugged Running for preparing me to race at the top of my potential. Huge thanks to VFuel Endurance for creating the best nutrition products. Thank you, Roll Recovery for creating the best recovery tools that kept me injury free. Lastly, thank you to Salomon Running and Drymax Socks for creating the best products that kept my feet very happy the whole entire day!



Stats from the race:

75 X VFuel Salted Caramel Apple and Peach Cobbler gels
40oz of Soda
7 X chicken noodle broth
10 X slices of bacon
8 X Pierogis

Shoes worn: Salomon S-Lab Ultra 6 SG and Salomon S-Lab Ultra 6
Shirt: Rugged Running T-Shirt
Shell: Arc'teryx Beta AR 
Shorts: Salomon S-Lab EXO Shorts
Hydration Vest: Salomon Ultra 12L Pack
Socks: Drymax 1/4 Crew Socks





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