It has been a little over five days since I crossed the finished line in Cuyahoga Falls for the eighth running of the Burning River 100 Mile Endurance Run, and I am feeling phenomenal. The race was my first attempt at the 100 mile distance. I had previously only gone as far as 51.5 miles and was not sure how I would fair at the longer distance. I was hoping some extra cross training as well as a little bit of weight loss would help me go further than I had ever gone before.
In May I was toying with the idea of running this 100 miler, but hadn’t yet fully committed. I was signed up to run the Buckeye Buster 50M (actually around 51.5 miles) on June 7th in Salt Fork State Park and was really concentrating on that race. I had just got married in February and my wife, Leigh, and I had been discussing having kids sometime in the near future and we both figured this might be the best time to attempt 100 miles before there are other responsibilities in our lives. The price increase for the race was May 31st and as a man who likes to save money wherever he can, I knew that was my absolute decision deadline.
I registered for the race on May 31st and was anxious to see how the 50 miler would turn out a week later. June 7th rolled around and I found myself standing at the starting line in front of Salt Fork Lodge with the rest of the “early start” option runners. The early start allowed for an extra hour on the course and I knew I would need it. The race was originally slated to have an 11 hour cutoff, but at the start they told us we would have 12, and as an early starter that meant 13 for me. If you are not familiar with the 10.3 mile loop in Salt Fork State park let me tell you that it gets tough after a few laps. It has somewhere around 1300 feet of elevation loss and gain over the 10.3 miles. There are some very steep climbs including my least favorite about halfway through the loop and not too far from the aid station.
I ended up toughing it out and was the second to last runner out of only a few left on the course after my fourth of five loops. In March I had dropped out of a 100K at 75K and had told Leigh to not let me quit this race, “no matter what”. She held me to it and bid me farewell for my final loop. By that point I had been running for 10 hours and 39 minutes and my fourth loop had taken me 3 hours and 28 minutes. I knew this last lap would probably take me a while and most likely put me past the cut off time for the finish. Luckily they are pretty lenient on these smaller races when it comes to cut off times and it looked like they would allow me to finish.
I was about four miles into my fifth loop when I was caught by, Kimberly Durst and Vince Rucci. If you are from the Cleveland area and run ultras you probably know both Kimberly and Vince, if not I will tell you who they are. Kimberly runs pretty much any race in the area and is a great source of information for any trail race around Cleveland and beyond. Vince is an owner in the Vertical Runner franchise. The franchise currently consists of four great running stores, three in Ohio and one in Colorado. Vertical Runner is a sponsor on a good majority trail races in the Cleveland area.
Kimberly was on her fifth loop and over an hour ahead of me as she did not opt for an early start and Vince was picking up the trail markers off of the course. I normally do not run with headphones in but had put them on for my last loop. The two of them came up from behind me and I did not hear them because of the headphones and I yelled out “Oh man”. I shouted that because I knew Vince was picking up the trail markers and I was running out of time fast. Kimberly and Vince both ran on ahead of me and I was left shuffling along on my own. I knew that one of the worst hills was coming up and I was running out of energy. No one knows this but I actually sat down for about 5 minutes back in those woods to try and rest up for the climb. Luckily I managed to get myself back up and continued on. As I approached the bottom of the big hill Vince was standing there waiting for me. He said that he had them move the aid station to the top of the hill we were about to ascend. The aid station is typically about a mile past the hill so I was pretty happy that I would be able to grab some food and refill earlier. Vince began climbing the monster hill and I slowly followed behind him. I had to stop and rest my legs a few times on the way up the hill. We finally reached the top and one of the volunteers from the aid station was sitting there with food and a water cooler.
Vince let me know that there was another runner about a half mile or so behind me and they would be keeping the finish open for him. Vince said he would run with me the rest of the way, about 5 miles, if I wanted him to, but I had to agree to follow his coaching. I agreed and his first order was to down a pack of GU gummies. I ate the gummies and refilled my bottles. He also had me stash a couple of extra gels in my vest. We started moving and we got to talking. He asked me if I had ever had a pacer before. I told him I had not as I had never done any race beyond 50 miles. He gave me a brief explanation of what a pacer is there for and how they can really help in a race.
We moved on and he would coach me through uphills and downhills. He kept me moving and kept my mind off the race as we exchanged stories of how we got into running and our various running feats leading up to that point. With a little over a mile to go Vince stopped to take down a few signs and a bunch of ribbon that indicated where to go on the out and back section of the course. He said to keep moving and that he would catch me in a little bit. He caught me right at the bottom of a giant hill that you have to climb at the end of each loop. He was loaded down with signs and streamers and told me that I wasn’t allowed to walk the hill. He told me that he didn’t care how slow I was going as long as I made it look like I was running. I began shuffling up the hill. It was slow and painful but I made it. As I reached flat ground I thanked Vince and sprinted in to finish the race. I had made it, in a not so short 13 hours 46 minutes and 45 seconds.
The moral of the story here is that pacers are an invaluable asset. I learned that from five miles of running with Vince. I ended up running my fifth 10.3 mile lap 21 minutes faster than my fourth lap. The race had given me a much better idea of what I needed to do to get ready for the Burning River 100. This was my list:
1. Find Pacers
2. Lose some weight
3. Cross train and up my weekly mileage
I weighed somewhere around 230 pounds (maybe a little more) when I ran the Buckeye Buster. I have completed marathons weighing around 260 pounds, but learned that the lighter I am the longer I can go without slowing down, no real surprise there. I could feel the extra weight slowing me down at Salt Fork and decided to set a target weight of 205 pounds for Burning River. I do not intend to ever drop below 200 since I am proud of my Clydesdale status so I had to keep my goal somewhere above the 200 pound mark.
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| Finishing Up the Buckeye Buster 50 Miler |
I decided in order to lose the weight I would need to up my calorie burn and lower my calorie intake. I only run four days a week and have found that running more than that usually leads to injury. So to keep with that four day a week rule I knew cross training was where I would burn those extra calories. I decided to do P90X3 before work every day. P90X3 is great because it is only 30 minute workouts as opposed to the original P90X where workouts fall anywhere between 60 and 95 minutes. I would get up at 5:15 in the morning, bust out a workout, shower, and head to work. I followed my normal running schedule of Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays after work and Saturday mornings. Leigh and I also bought bikes a few months prior to all of this and we would usually bike Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays. All of these things along with calorie counting helped to start shaving off the pounds.
I quit this whole regimen about a week and a half before Burning River and kind of let myself go a little. I had made it as low as 211 pounds so it looked like I was not going to hit my target weight of 205 for race day. After a very relaxing two week taper, and pretty much eating what I wanted, I was ready for race day and weighed around 217 pounds. Not exactly my goal weight but still more than 13 pounds lighter than two months prior at Salt Fork. I was happy with this and felt fresh after the taper. My highest mileage training week was only 65 miles, but I knew combined with the cross training and great mental endurance that I could finish the 100.99* miles at Burning River.
I gathered pacers in the weeks leading up to the race and was lucky enough to have five in total. Two of the guys that would have definitely paced me and that I knew could cover some decently long distance were unfortunately out of town during race weekend, but I ended up with five great volunteers willing to cover various distances with me along the way.
Saturday morning finally rolled around and it was time to race. I had no real knowledge or strategy regarding sleep before the race so I decided to strategize on my own. Thursday night I stayed up until about 2 AM and then got up for work at 5:55 AM. I knew this would leave me tired and able to fall asleep early Friday night. I had also done all of my packing for the race Wednesday and Thursday night. As far as eating goes the day before the race, my schedule could not have worked out more perfectly. I like to eat Asian cuisine the day before a race. I get my carbs from noodles and rice and a hefty intake of salt which helps me retain a lot of water for race day. It just so happened that my team at work was going to a Japanese Hibachi for lunch to say goodbye to a contractor that had worked with us for nearly a year. I am an avid “packer” for lunch at work and had never left the office in over three years for a meal. I broke that streak and decided to go to the Hibachi and pack in some food. Sushi with vegetables and rice off the hibachi was a perfect pre-race meal. After work I picked up my race packet and zoomed home with a goal of being in bed by 7PM. I ended up laying down at 7:30 and slept straight through until 3AM when my alarm went off.
Leigh and I left the house at about 3:35AM and headed toward Squire’s castle. Leigh was all set to be my crew for the race and I couldn’t be more thankful to have her there. Seeing her at all of the crew accesible aid stations gave me something to look forward to the entire race. We ended up passing the convoy of buses that was hauling runners from the finish in Cuyahoga Falls where they parked to the starting line and arrived at Squire’s castle around 4:25AM. We sat in the car for a few minutes as I got my headlamp ready and topped off the charge on my GPS watch. I sent a text to two of my friends from high school that were also running the race and let them know I would be standing in front of the Vertical Runner truck next to the castle. The two high school friends were Jon Stoffer and Nick Pfaff. Jon is a close friend of mine who lives in Virginia now and had previously completed a 100 miler, the 2011 Burning River 100 race. Nick graduated high school when I was a freshman and I had actually not seen him since his graduation in 1999. We managed to reacquaint through Facebook as he got into ultra running. He actually asked me to pace him for this race, but I had to inform him I would also be running it. I told him “If you run the same pace as I do, I will pace you for the full 100.99 miles”. He got back to me and it looked like we were shooting for a similar pace for the first 50 miles so we decided to try and stick together for at least the first half of the race.
I met both Jon and Nick and their wives and we snapped some pictures and geared up for the start of the race. It was kind of hard to hear the announcements so we just lined up when everyone else did and kept an eye on the time to make sure we were good for the start. The PA system is one thing I hope they improve in future years. I also think it would be nice if they started the race with the National Anthem. Just about every other athletic event in the country starts off with the Star Spangled Banner so why not the 100 mile run? Again they may have played it and I might have missed it due to the poor sound system, but if they didn’t I say let’s add it in next year. (Sorry that is just the Marine in me ranting)
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| Nick Pfaff, Myself, and Jon Stoffer Before the Start |
At about 4:59AM we could hear them counting down to the start. 5:00AM hit, they said “Go” and we were off. We were a sea of headlamps rolling through the grass toward the road. I always wondered what would someone, who just happened to be walking or driving by, would think when they saw a hoard of bobbing headlamps coming toward them. If it is dark enough it just looks like floating lights moving along 5 to 6 feet above the ground. It has to be a strange sight.
We hit the road shortly after the start and were on our way. Nick and I chatted and made sure each of us was okay with the other running along side them and talking. Some runners like to be alone or silent and we wanted to make sure we were each okay with the company. We both were fine with the company and started talking away. The conversation just went on and on as we had not seen each other in 15 years. Nick and I were both wrestlers throughout our youth and had a strong bond when it came to the sport. We discussed all kinds of collegiate wrestling news and information both past and present. We talked and talked some more.
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| Headlamps and Reflectors Galore at the Start |
The conversation passed the time quickly as we moved along the road. The first 13.61 miles of the race was all asphalt road. I did not realize we would be on road for that entire stretch. The course previously had somewhere around 8 or 9 miles of road and 6 miles of trail to start, so this was a change I probably she have realized when I read the race information packet. Nick turned out to be a great asset to me as he kept me from running too fast on the road. It is extremely easy to increase the pace when on a nice flat surface and I had been warned not to go out fast on this race. Had it not been for Nick there to slow me I would have gone out way too fast. We made it to the first aid station around 6:35AM and filled our water bottles and munched on a few pieces of food. The aid station was 8.72 miles into the run. I had some pretzels and heed and was ready to move on.
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| Starting Line to Old Mill - 8.72 Miles |
We covered almost another 5 miles before arriving at the first crew accessible aid station at mile 13.61, the Polo Fields. I found the large segment of road running rather boring although I was thankful it lacked in big climbs. It is nice running through little towns when no one is really awake yet and the sun is on the rise, but there is just something about being on a trail in the woods that I love so much more. As we ran into the Polo Fields we were greeted by volunteers dressed in superhero outfits, they were awesome. Our wives were waiting for us there and we were happy to see them. I had to use the bathroom and told Nick I would be back in a few. He decided to change from road shoes into trail shoes for the coming segments. I am not a big complainer when it comes to races and most other things, but I do have a complaint about the bathroom situation at the Polo Fields aid station. There were two single stall bathrooms in total, one for men, and one for women. There was a line of at least six runners when I walked up to the bathroom. I waited for about 10 minutes before I was able to use the facilities. There definitely should have been at least two or three port-a-johns on top of the single stall bathrooms that were there already. End complaining there.
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| Old Mill to Polo Fields - 4.89 Miles |
I managed to use the bathroom, fill my water bottles, and eat a few things at the stop then Nick and I were off again. We had spent longer than intended at that aid station, but decided not to concern ourselves much with it. I was happy to finally get off the road and onto some trails in the coming miles. I was especially excited because the next 25 miles or so of trail I knew extremely well. I work within a few miles of that stretch of trail and do most of my weekday running there. I vary my starting points and do out and backs during the week. I always enjoy trails I have never been on before but I had never had the chance to run a race on trails that I trained on so I was looking forward to it. I was also happy to be able to give Nick the blow by blow on what was up ahead. I hope he didn’t find it annoying, I was just thinking it would help him adjust his pace or mentality and allow him to perform better by knowing what to expect here and there.
We departed the Polo Fields feeling good. The stretch from the Polo Fields to the next aid station, Harper Ridge, was 7.54 miles. Unfortunately at the time Nick and I both were not sure how far it it was. For the first few miles I talked Nick’s ear off with details of the book “Unbroken”, the Louis Zamperini story. If you haven’t read the book, read it. I may have spoiled it for Nick, but I won’t spoil it here for the rest of you. The movie comes out soon too, but I recommend the book. Post book conversation, this segment of running seemed to drag on. Luckily it was on pretty wide bridle trail with great scenery around us. This segment also boasted at least 5 stream crossings. Nothing too daunting though and if you were careful enough you could keep from soaking your shoes. Nick and I managed to stay pretty dry and pushed on. With about 3 miles to go to Harper Ridge the terrain started to become very familiar to me. We were now on trail that I often run for work. I knew once we hit the Bedford Chagrin Parkway we would have a long uphill section that lasted about a mile and had three stream crossings, but after that it was pretty much all downhill until Shadow Lake.
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| Polo Fields to Harper Ridge - 7.54 Miles |
We finally hit the parkway and started our ascent. Most of the climb was low enough grade for running but there are a few steep climbs that we had to slow for and hike up. Eventually we hit Som Center Road and I knew the downhill grade was about to start. The section from Som Center road to Harper Ridge runs on bridle trail that alternates between dirt, gravel, and some grassy areas. The grassy areas can actually be a little dangerous because horses leave holes from their hooves and the grass hides the holes from plain view. If you are not careful it is easy to roll an ankle in one of the holes. The bridle trail also butts up to the backyards of several gated communities tucked in the woods off of the parkway. At one point we encountered a table with several water jugs sitting on it. This was a little disheartening as we knew an unmanned water station probably meant we had a ways to go until the next manned aid station. Our spirits were also a little crushed when we realized all of the water jugs were empty. So we shrugged our shoulders and moved on.
I had a pretty good feeling that I knew where the Harper Ridge aid station would be located and it actually was not that far from the unmanned water table. I reassured Nick that we would be hitting Harper Ridge soon and we pushed on. We finally saw some arrows and ribbon that led us off of the trail and across the parkway, and into a picnic area with a pavilion and parking lot. We had made it to Harper Ridge. We did our usual routine of filling bottles, eating food, and drinking various liquids off of the table. I popped two Hammer electrolyte pills as I could feel the air temperature rising and knew my body would need the pills in the coming miles. We were in and out of Harper Ridge fairly quick, mostly because we knew Shadow Lake was a mere 3.23 miles away and our wives would be waiting there for us. This turned out to be a fast section as it is mostly downhill with the exception of a few rolling hills near Shadow Lake.
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| Harper Ridge to Shadow Lake - 3.23 Miles |
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We shuffled into Shadow Lake still feeling pretty strong and were happy to see our crew standing there. Nick’s IT band was giving him a little trouble so he decided to use the foam roller on it. I figured I would change shirts while he was rolling because I was soaked. The humidity was very high so the sweat was having trouble evaporating. Most of the runners around me seemed to be soaked. Leigh grabbed me a shirt of my container of gear and I swapped it out with my wet one. After I changed shirts I hit the food table and chowed down. We had been at it for about five hours at this point and I needed the calories. Nick’s wife, Alissa, was gracious enough to give me some ginger chews, which as of race this past March, have become one of my new favorite running foods.
Nick and I bid a quick farewell to our wives and were back on the trail circling Shadow Lake shortly after 10AM. I was looking forward to the next segment which would take us 4.79 miles to Egbert Shelter where we would again see our crew. This segment is probably the trail I run the most during the week after work. It is a good mix of flat stretches, rolling hills, and a few big climbs. It also runs along Tinker’s Creek and is one of the first sections of the race where the trail actually takes you into the woods and away from the road and paved multi purpose trail. When I run this stretch after work it is typically loaded with wildlife which I love. I typically see deer, wild turkeys, various birds (including a Bald Eagle once), and even beaver. Unfortunately we did not see much during the race, probably because the large amount of runners coming through scared pretty much everything off.
Nick and I circled Shadow Lake and headed down a grassy section of bridle trail toward Tinker’s creek. This section was a fast downhill mile that led us to about a half mile of paved road and multipurpose trail before we hopped on the Buckeye Trail. For those of you unfamiliar with the trails in Ohio, the Buckeye Trails is a series of trails that are connected and form about a 1444 mile continuous loop around the entire state. The trail is marked every few trees with a blue hash mark. The hashes make it easy to stay on the trail especially when you are longer training runs. Once on the Buckeye Trail we hit hit a small switchback leading down toward Tinker’s creek and were moving pretty quick. We ran along the creek and past some rapids which are always soothing to my ear. There is something about the sound of rushing water that I just love. Eventually we found ourselves back out on the paved multi purpose trail and were only about a mile and half from Egbert.
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| Shadow Lake to Egbert Shelter - 4.79 Miles |
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I was happy to see that the race course kept us on the pavement and avoided one particularly muddy section of the Buckeye Trail that I never look forward to on my training runs. The course did however take us down a short section that is very overgrown with bushes and thorns. Thankfully most of the thorns had been stripped from the stems of the plants by the many runners in front of us. My shins and calves were very pleased to not get torn up through the segment. After that small section it was almost all pavement to Egbert, pavement that included a rather long uphill climb. We decided to walk most of the climb and conserve energy for later miles. After the hill it was another short jaunt on the Buckeye Trail which runs along the edge of some cliffs overlooking waterfalls. The views are amazing but I often picture myself stepping on a tree root and tumbling off the side. We traversed the path safely and wound up at the Egbert aid station where Leigh and Alissa and several of Nick’s family members were waiting for us.
My shoes and socks were drenched by this point and I decided to change them. I am pretty fortunate to never have had any real foot problems since I started running long distance. I often attribute this to my time in the Marine Corps where I toughened my feet on various force marches with heavy packs and weapons in combat boots. I made the mistake one time of wearing a pair of boots on a 12 mile force march with about 60 pounds of gear that I had never worn before and my feet were completed shredded. I don’t know 100% for sure if the Marines are what toughened my feet but I really am blessed when it comes to races and not having any foot problems. However, since I had never run more than 51.5 miles I decided I should play it safe and keep my feet in dry socks and shoes when possible.
After the shoe change I headed to the food table. Nick was pleasantly surprised to see one of his favorite race foods sitting on the table, boiled potatoes with a bowl of salt next to them. Nick had explained that he had very salty sweat and always needed to make sure he took in a lot of salt during races. This was one of his favorite methods of salt ingestion, a potato dipped in pure iodized salt. He told me I should try it and that if I thought it tasted good then I probably needed the salt, and if I thought it tasted bad my body was probably okay on salt. It tasted somewhere in between good and bad when I tried it. I love potatoes but I never put salt on anything so I just wasn’t accustomed to it. After downing a good amount of food we were ready to get on our way again.
I also decided to change out my watch at Egbert. I was using two watches to track my pace, a Garmin Forerunner 405, and a Garmin Fenix. I used the Garmin Forerunner up until this point. I had been running for about six hours and twelve minutes and knew the watch would only last seven and a half hours max. Since I wouldn’t see Leigh for another ten miles I decided to grab the Fenix. Leigh charged the Forerunner in her car so I could swap out watches again in another 30 miles.
A few miles before Egbert, Nick and I had start talking to another runner named Nate. Nate was only 20 years old and was attempting his first 100 mile race. He had just completed his first 50 miler in June at Mohican. Nate decided he was going to try and stick with us from Egbert on. The three of us left Egbert and started down the bridle trail. The next aid station was 4.34 miles away at Alexander road. This was another section I was excited to run. I had run it many times and it is a very scenic section of the Bedford Reservation. Almost the entire stretch is part of the Buckeye Trail. Shortly after leaving Egbert we passed Shawnee Hills golf course and had some tiny stream crossings and a few climbs. Eventually we came up on bridal Veil falls. It was a steep downhill, then over a small wooden bridge, past the observation deck, and back up another hill. The trail moved on with some rolling hills and eventually we crossed the parkway near the Tinker Creek Scenic Gorge overlook.
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| Egbert Shelter to Alexander Road - 4.34 Miles |
On the trail leading up to the the road crossing, Nick had mentioned he could really use a bathroom. Fortunately I knew there was a small one toilet bathroom right near the overlook. After you cross the road and continue on the bridle trail there is a little path that gives you access to the bathroom that sits near the paved trail. I told Nick where to go and he peeled off and said he would catch up in a bit. He caught Nate and me about a half mile or so down the trail. He said, and I quote, “If I finish this race I owe it all to you for telling me about that bathroom.” Well you are welcome Nick Pfaff for the finish I allowed you to have (pretty sure you would have managed without me). We made our way down the Buckeye Trail through a few muddy spots and across Egbert road and Dunham road and finally hit the Alexander Road aid station at mile 33.51.
The Alexander Road aid station sits next to a small parking lot at the entrance of the Summit County Metroparks Bike and Hike trail. The trail follows the old ABC (Akron, Bedford, and Cleveland) railroad. According the the metroparks website the ABC interurban would carry riders from Akron to Cleveland’s Public Square in about 2.5 hours for the price of 50 cents. Service was discontinued in 1932. I would not mind biking this trail at some point, but I am not sure if I would want to run it. Trails that follow old rail paths tend to be super long and super straight which can get boring fast.
We filled our bottles, ate, and moved on down the bike and hike path. After a short stint on the pavement the Buckeye trail continues by making a sharp right turn and climbing down some steep uneven rocks onto single track trail. This section of trail was nice. It was mostly an easy downhill grade with soft footing. The only bad part of the section was the roots. We were still moving a decent pace as we wound our way down through the trees along a ridge that overlooks a small valley with some flowing water. We were moving toward Sagamore Road, one of the poorest conditioned roads I have seen in a while. There are too many potholes to count and it is cracked everywhere. There is also an inordinate amount of trash along the sides of the road and in the woods that trace it. Needless to say it was one of my least favorite parts of the course, but it only lasted for maybe a half mile and we came out onto Canal road where a few volunteers helped us cross safely onto the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail.
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| Alexander Road to Oak Grove I - 6.22 Miles |
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The towpath section is rumored to be either loved or hated by runners. It is an at least a three mile stretch of pavement /crushed stone that is super flat and out in the open. If the sun is shining you can easily get burned. It can also prove to be boring. Some runners like that it is flat and fast and will knock it out very quickly. I think I fell somewhere in between those two. I liked that it was flat and I could move fast, but I definitely got bored and could not wait to get back onto some real trail. During the towpath stretch we started to gain on a runner that looked very familiar to me. I felt like I seen the braids in her hair before. When we caught up to here I knew it was a runner from the 100K I had dropped out of at 75K in March. Her name is Tami Rhoades and she was the only female finisher at that 100K out of only 11 total finishers. She was right in front of me when I dropped after three loops. She trucked on for a fourth loop and made it to the finish. I chatted with her for a while as the four us moved down the towpath toward the Oak Grove aid station.
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| Nick, Tami, Nate, and Me on the Towpath |
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We eventually finished the towpath section and crossed the Station Road bridge, a through truss bridge that was built in 1881 and rehabilitated in 1992. At first sight it looks like the surface of the bridge is brick, but it is actually wooden blocks that are fit together in the same fashion as a brick road. The bridge is only 126 feet long and crosses over the Cuyahoga river. Once over the bridge we crossed a set of train tracks and the Brecksville Train station, a stop on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic railroad. The railroad still runs passenger trains and even has dining cars. I have not ridden the train yet, but would definitely like to check it out.
We left the train station behind us and headed down the paved trail toward Riverview Road. We once again came across a table full of empty water jugs just like we had before the Harper Ridge aid station. This did not make any of us happy as we thought we were pretty close to Oak Grove. In actuality I think we were less than two miles from it. We pushed on and hit Riverview Road where we turned left and eventually had to hop a guardrail on the right side of the road to get back on the Buckeye Trail. After running a little over a mile on the trail we came out of the woods and crossed the road that led to the Oak Grove Parking area.
We ran across a large open grassy area and could see the large pavillion that housed the aid station. There were people all over the place. It was definitely one of the busiest aid stations as far as spectators go. This is probably due to the fact that runners pass through Oak Grove twice. We followed some multi-colored flags that were staked into the ground and drew closer to the busy aid station. Leigh was waiting there smiling, clapping, and cheering as usual, always a favorite sight of mine. A volunteer grabbed my water bottle from me to fill and I ate some food from the tables. I said hi to another volunteer who I had gone on a night run with two weeks prior. His name was Joe, a very nice guy. I was especially happy to see that this aid station had baby sweet pickles. I prefer dill over sweet but for some reason during races I love the baby sweets. I downed a few of them and a cup of ramen and returned to the area where Leigh was. My friend, Jon Stoffer’s wife Kristina was also there waiting on Jon to finish a 4.32 mile loop that returned back to Oak Grove. She snapped and few pictures of us and eventually Jon came shuffling in from the loop. I asked him how it was and told me not to worry about it, but I really wanted to know what the loop was like as I had never ran it before. So I pried and said “C’mon man I am running this thing no matter what, give me an honest opinion of the loop.” He told me that I might find it a little rough because there was a good amount of climbing on it. I told him I would be alright and said goodbye as he moved on toward the next aid station at Snowville.
I was ready to run the loop and get back to Oak Grove one more time. Tami had split off I am sure to meet her own crew, and Nate told us to go on without him as he was having issues with his stomach. So it was just Nick and me again. Our wives asked us one last time if we needed anything else and then we got on our way to the loop. We crossed back over the grassy area with the flags that we had come in on and veered left onto a trail in the woods.
The loop kicked off with a long and pretty steep downhill that Nick and I took at a decent pace. We continued along and encountered some nice flat sections along with a good amount of climbing. We eventually came up on another runner who we had seen in front of us miles before. His name was Rich Henderson and he asked if we minded if he ran with us for a while. We got to talking and he mentioned that he was running the Burning River as part of the Midwest Grand Slam of Ultrarunning. The Midwest Grand Slam is comprised of four 100 mile races (a fifth is an option to become a “Super Slammer”). The first four races are within a block of 98 days and the fifth would make the block 132 days.
Rich told us he had not finished the previous 100 he had ran at Mohican so unfortunately he would not be a grand slammer this year, but he was still out there having fun. He entertained us with some stories and we discussed other races we had run. I really enjoyed running with him, it was a great pick me up. After seeking out some of Rich's race results online I quickly figured out he was a very seasoned ultrarunner. I even found this great video clip from the local news of Rich a few years ago. Rich eventually had to stop for a bathroom break and he wished us good luck if he did not see us again in the race. Nick and I moved forward on the loop and started another big climb, obviously the consequence of the initial steep descent into the loop. Not too long after the climb we found ourselves out on a road near Oak Grove where a volunteer was standing directing runners where to go. It happened to be Joe. I said “Man you are everywhere.” He smiled and told me good luck and pointed me back toward the pavillion.
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| Oak Grove I to Oak Grove II - 4.32 Miles |
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Nick and I came running up through a set of multi-colored flags and our wives and my in-laws were there cheering us on. My Father-in-law and Mother-in-law, Russ and Jan, were my first spectators of the day. It was nice to have fans cheering me on. I was grateful to have them there. I ate some food and then we talked for a little while. Even got a chance to snap a picture with them. We geared up and were ready to go. We were at mile 44.05 and the next aid station was 5.57 miles away at Snowville. The next time I would see Leigh and pick up my first pacer would be 10.54 miles from Oak Grove at the Boston Store.
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| Me with Russ and Jan at Mile 44 |
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| Leigh Tending to Me at Oak Grove |
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Nick and I said bye to our families and headed back out down the road. The next section would lead us to Snowville and through the infamous “Bog of Despair”. I was pretty familiar with this section as I had run it quite a few times in training and was looking forward to running it. Two weeks before the race I ran a 22.5 mile night run with a group of guys and we had run this section. The bog was barely even muddy that night and I hoped it would the same during the race. We weaved through the woods on the Buckeye Trail and ran by the Brecksville stables. We came out of the woods and hung a left onto Parkview drive, a dead end street with some spread out houses on it. The street is in worse condition the further you travel down it and eventually turns to gravel and hits the woods.
As we were running down parkview Nick noticed a pungent odor and said “Man smells like someone is taking a crap out…..” and before he could finish his sentence we noticed a runner in the woods on the side of the road finishing up his business. I always thought it was funny how accepted going to the bathroom along the trail on races was. There are constantly runners exiting and entering the trail from a bathroom break. It always seems to bring up interesting conversation as well. Nick and I went on to talk about how often we had gone number two while on a run. I told him I had only done it once but that I had immense experience going in the woods in the Marine Corps. I then ran him through the various techniques taught in the Marines for going number two. Some of these methods include the “Buddy Method” and the “One Cheek Lean”. I won’t go into detail but I am sure Google will fill you in on the techniques, or if you are really interested feel free to ask me at a race.
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| Oak Grove II to Snowville Road - 5.57 Miles |
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Eventually Rich caught us again and made a comment about how he was glad he wasn’t running behind that guy, in reference to the runner in the woods. The road soon ran out and we were on single track again, though it was still old cracked asphalt and gravel for a ways before it turned into dirt. We had finally made it to the bog. There were mud patches here and there but with some careful stepping it was not that hard to avoid getting your shoes completely covered. Rich decided to take it slow through the muddy areas and wished us luck as we moved on ahead.
We survived the bog and continued on the Buckeye Trail through the woods. This section had at least three big climbs in it. I was explaining to Nick how at one point in this section there is an old bathtub and a frame and axle from an old pickup truck. Someone had mentioned there being a house foundation out there somewhere as well. Unfortunately the vegetation was so green and overgrown we were not able to see any of it. We kept running and approached another decent sized hill. I could definitely feel it in my legs after that climb. I shook it off and we moved on. We come across a section of trail that is wooded on one side and has some big open fields on the other side with bird/bat boxes spread out all over. I have been on this section when it is extremely muddy and did not enjoy it. However it seemed pretty dry during the race and we were able to move pretty fast on it. Once out of that section we crossed over a large firebreak and made our way toward a steep descent. This downhill ended in a set of wooden stairs that are pretty ragged. Most of the steps had rebar sticking out of them and the only way to traverse them without injury was to move slowly. The bottom stair indicated the steps were put there by a boy scout troop out of Berea, OH. I am not sure how long ago the steps were laid but the troops could use to make a trip back out and replace or repair them. I would gladly help them do it. The stairs indicated we were very close to the Snowville aid station. We made a small climb up a very slick muddy edge along a creek that I had trouble with, crossed a rickety bridge and then over another creek that was thankfully pretty dry and very crossable. Once over the creek we could hear music playing from the aid station. Within a minute we were at the aid station being welcomed by volunteers. We had made it to mile 49.62, not too far from halfway.
I was anxious to get to Boston Store and see Leigh, my family, and pick up my first pacer, but I was not looking forward to some of the hills and stairs we would face on the Snowville to Boston section. We crossed Snowville road and headed back onto the trail where a set of giant stairs awaited us (funny enough the picture I found and linked to is of Ladd Clifford, who I talked about later in this writing, climbing the stairs). The stairs have to be made out of 8” x 8” or maybe even 10” x 10” railroad ties. Not sure how many stairs there were but by the time I got to the top of them my quads were burning. The top of the stairs greeted us with another pretty long climb up a hill. Once at the top it was rolling hills until we came across a small guard shack and radio tower and a large break in the woods where high tension electrical lines run. This spot offered a fantastic view of the valley. You could see Boston Mills Ski Resort, rolling hills, and trees that went on forever.
After crossing the break we headed down a fairly straight stretch of trail I was familiar with. It runs probably around a mile and half or so and it looks like it would be a great section to get some speed on, but it has a slight incline and is riddled with old rocks that probably used to pave the way. The rocks make for an uneven surface and I had to keep a slow pace to avoid rolling an ankle. We moved through the rocky section, crossed a small wooden bridge and eventually hit a big downhill. This led us to a stream crossing and a long climb. There, another fast drop that led to a small creek crossing and up a large set of wooden stairs. We made it to the top and after a little jog down the trail came across Columbia road. There was a sign at the entrance to the trail across the street that read “Boston Store 3⅓ miles.”
I was excited to be nearing Boston and we picked up the pace a little. When we started our descent toward Blue Hen Falls I knew we were getting close. We descended a hill toward a wooden and steel bridge at the bottom. In Front of the bridge there was a sign that said “Blue Hen Falls” with an arrow pointing to the left. The Burning River course continued straight across the bridge and I joked out loud that was going to take a break and walk left to see the waterfalls. No one around laughed and the guy behind me gave me a look as if he thought I was serious. I am sure the falls would have been a nice view but I was not trying to go out of my way on a 100 mile race. We ran across the bridge and then climbed a very long paved hill toward the Blue Hen Falls parking area.
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| Snowville Road To Boston Store - 4.97 Miles |
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After passing through the parking area we ran around a large county or city maintenance building and dropped down toward a creek. We crossed a bridge over the creek and were faced with a set of stairs I had climbed many times in training. I think there are 88 stairs and they are spaced just right so that taking them two at a time is just a little too much work, but taking them one at a time seems like it takes forever and you are getting nowhere. I tried to use the wooden handrailing on the right side of the stairs to put some of the load on my arms and finally made it to the top of the set. This led me to one of my favorite parts of the course, a long, winding, slightly downhill segment of single track that comes out onto Boston Mills road.
After winding quickly through the sloping trail we emerged from the woods onto Boston Mills road and could see Boston Store a little ahead of us. There were people everywhere. I picked up the pace on the road and could feel my right calf cramping up. I slowed for a second and then tried again to pick up the pace, but again it cramped. I decided to walk it in and as I did I could see my first and second pacers, Dean and Chris Dvorak, standing ahead waiting for me. We walked by many spectators and the old gas station near the towpath and into the Boston Store overflow lot where the aid station was set up and a ton of spectators were camped out at. As I walked into the field my wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, mother, sister-in-law, and two nieces were there cheering loudly. I have to admit I felt a wave of emotion wash over me at that moment. I had been running for a little over 13 hours, was pretty tired, and knew I still had a long way to go. The cheering and love I felt from my family was just what I needed and I almost shed a tear. I later admitted this to Leigh and she said that she could tell I got a little choked up there.
I took a nice break in a folding chair as Leigh helped me changed my shoes. I think I might have changed my shirt too. My first pacer, Dean Dvorak, and his son Chris, my second pacer, were talking with me. It was actually the first time I had met Chris and he seemed very excited to be there. Dean was my first manager at my first job after college. He is a Navy Veteran who served 8 years active duty and 6 years reserve. He really helped me out at my job and we definitely bonded between being veterans, runners, and working in the software development field. He has since left the company I work for but we keep in touch through email/web. I was pumped when he said he would pace me and got his son to pace me as well.
I readied myself for the coming miles and then Dean, Nick, and I took off down the towpath. I knew we would have good time on this section as Dean is quite the cynic and joker. We chatted as we moved down the towpath and took a left up a hill on the bridle trail. We moved along the bridle trail through fields of tall grass that surrounded us. As we made our way back to the Buckeye Trail we passed under some giant bridges that span the valley. It really was an amazing view out there with the river, old canal, towpath, open fields, and the bridges. Once on the Buckeye Trail we were faced with a long climb. I was anxious to see how Dean was going to handle it. He is a runner and has done many half marathons, but has never been a big trail runner. He handled the climb like a champ and we kept moving forward.
During our run toward the Pine Line aid station we talked about different things and got in a good conversation on veganism. Dean has been a vegan for about four years now and Nick had gone vegan for months in preparation for the race. I am not a vegan or vegetarian for that matter but I respect the lifestyle and find a lot of aspects of it interesting. Especially because there are some great ultra athletes that are vegans such as Scott Jurek and Rich Roll. Both of whom have great books I have read. Nick and Dean talked for a little while longer and after what seemed like quite some time we reached the Pine Lane aid station at mile 59.55. Pine Lane is a small aid station that sits in a tiny parking lot and feels like the middle of nowhere. It is nice and quiet and I enjoyed being there. As we were eating and drinking a group of runners came running in that everyone at the aid station seemed to know. I heard one of them call another by name and recognized the name, Ladd. Ladd Clifford is a local ultra runner who I had met 3 years ago. He was helping to pace my friend Jon during the 2011 Burning River 100. I am not sure if he remembered me but I said hi and talked with him for a minute. After eating a good amount and feeling somewhat replenished I was ready to go.
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| Boston Store to Pine Lane - 4.96 Miles |
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Dean, Nick, and I started down the trail ready to cover the 6.77 miles to Ledges shelter. After running a little ways on the trail Nick finally decided he was going to try and move a little faster and told us he was going to go on ahead. I was happy he was feeling strong and we said our goodbyes and wished each other luck. We had covered somewhere around 62 miles together in about 15 hours of and had a great time. Nick took off pretty quickly as Dean and I walked and I didn’t see him for the rest of the race.
Dean and I kept moving forward as the sun started to set and found ourselves on Akron-Peninsula road next to “The Spicy Lamb Farm”. There were sheep everywhere and we laughed as we were not expecting to come out of the trail and end up next to anything like that. There was also a banner hanging on a fence advertising the upcoming Cuyahoga Valley Sheep Dog Trials. Dean had lived in England while in the Navy and explained that sheep herding was a big sport over there. Oh the things you learn 63 miles into a race.
I needed to take a walking break so Dean and I walked most of the Akron-Peninsula road section. It was a very straight section, save one turn, and we could see other runners way down the road in front of and behind us. We got to Boston Mills road and turned almost 180 degrees to head down the Summit County Hike and Bike path in the opposite direction. This part of the race was very scenic with large rock walls and trees surrounding us. The sun was setting and it was growing darker as we headed down the paved trail. Eventually I told Dean I wanted to try running a half mile and then walking a half mile at a time. This was a good choice as I had started walking too much and since I know I had a goal of half mile intervals it helped push me to keep going.
After a little over three miles on pavement we dropped back in on the trail and covered another mile before emerging at the old Happy Days aid station parking lot. The course took us around the entire parking area and down some stairs to a tunnel that ran underneath W. Streetsboro Street. As we entered the tunnel we surprised a slightly inebriated, kissy faced couple that had been attending a wedding reception at the Happy Days Lodge. Dean joked with them and asked in a mischievous tone “What were you two doing?”. They laughed and gave us some space to run by them. We climbed a few more stairs and ran right by the Lodge where we could hear music and see people having a great time at the wedding. I happened to noticed that all of the smokers were out back smoking but there was a couple on the side of the building where no one but Dean and I could see them smoking. The girl smoking appeared to be pregnant. I hope that it was just an impressive beer gut and she wasn’t doing something stupid like that.
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| Pine Lane to Ledges Shelter - 6.77 Miles |
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It was pretty dark by the time we passed the lodge and I had my headlamp on and Dean had his Knuckle Lights in his hands. The trail leading from the lodge to Ledges shelter got rocky fast. It is too bad we were running this section in the dark because there were giant walls of rock around us and I am sure they looked stunning in the light. The rocks made it hard to run but we ran when we could and eventually could hear people in the distance at the aid station. We finally came out of the woods and into a long stretch of grass where Dean’s son Chris was waiting for us.
Chris walked with us to the spot where Leigh was standing and she asked if I needed anything. I decided to put a dry shirt on so she grabbed one for me. I ate some food and had a tough time turning down the quesadillas and grilled cheese they had on the table as I knew the dairy would cause me stomach issues. I am a tiny bit lactose intolerant so I avoid dairy during races. I also popped a few electrolyte pills to help prevent cramping. Once I was ready Chris and I started our 5.73 mile trek to Pine Hollow. It was about 9:45 at night, I had been running for almost 17 hours, and had covered 66.32 miles.
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| Dean, Chris, and Me at Ledges Shelter |
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Chris and I left Ledges and circled the large grass field on a gravel path. We turned right onto the trail and soon realized that this segment might be a little technical. We moved along underneath rock walls and climbed over rocks of various sizes. I had told Chris about how his dad and me had alternated running a half mile on and off and he thought it was a good idea. When the terrain allowed us to run we did, but only for short periods of time. It is hard to explain how I felt. My legs didn’t necessarily hurt but they were definitely fatigued. We may have went a little too fast in the short segments of running we did because I would feel my heart rate easily raise and I would soon be a little short of breath and we would have to walk again.
Chris and I talked as we moved. Since I had never met him before the race it was a good chance to find out some things about one another. Chris is married with two kids and moved back to Ohio from Las Vegas a few years ago. I actually remember Dean telling me at work one day that he was flying to Vegas. I figured it was a pleasure trip and then he told me he would be immediately driving back with his son. He was helping them move back. Chris explained that he worked in food industry for a large restaurant supplier (sorry Chris if this is inaccurate my memory started to get hazy in those later miles) which wasn’t something he ever planned on doing but he said it was working out nice.
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| Ledges Shelter to Pine Hollow I - 5.73 Miles |
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Chris was also a runner having completed some half marathons, and I think at least one full marathon if not more. He was excited to be at the race and was really interested in the whole trail running and ultra distance experience. I think he really enjoyed it. I felt bad that he got stuck running with me at night because I think trail running is way better in the daylight when you can really enjoy the scenery. Hopefully this race inspired him to try out some trail running and maybe even consider some distances beyond the marathon.
Once Chris and I made it through the rockiness of the ledges area we were back on some runnable trail. We did some off and on running for the rest of the way to Pine Hollow. At one point we were in a giant open field and both of us were thinking the same thing “Where the heck are we?”. We both talked about how it was amazing that we were in the middle of this large field at night somewhere in a giant national park and weren’t familiar with the area at all. There was a great sense of adventure in those kind of thoughts. I was probably pretty quiet by this point and Chris probably didn’t realize it, but I was having a great time out there.
As we got close to Pine Hollow we ended up on some grass trails cut into fields by large lawn mowers. I had recognized where we were at. Three years prior to this I had paced my buddy Jon through this section of of the race. I knew from my previous experience that we had two large climbs through the fields before we would make it to Pine Hollow. I was not looking forward to the climbing but I was looking forward to seeing Leigh and getting something to eat at Pine Hollow. As we were climbing we could look up and see headlamps far above us toward the tops of the hills. That was a little discouraging for me as I realized how much more we had to climb before reaching the top.
We eventually made it up the second hill and came across some signs that said “Welcome to Pine Hollow” (at least I think one of them said that, like I said hazy memory at this point, but I at least know there were signs of some sort). We walked up to the food tent and Leigh and Dean greeted us. She let me know that Elizabeth, my next pacer was on her way. Leigh was on the top of her game when it came to texting all of my pacers and giving them time estimates. Elizabeth would meet me at Pine Hollow after Chris and I covered a 3.72 mile loop that would lead us back there. Dean and Chris had driven together and Chris dropped Dean off at Boston store and drove to Ledges to meet us. Then Dean drove from Ledges to Pine Hollow to wait on Chris to finish up his segment so they could drive home together.
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| Pine Hollow I to Pine Hollow II - 3.73 Miles |
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Chris and I headed out for the loop a little after 11:30 PM. I had run this loop as part of another race and knew it would be tough. It looks so good on paper when you see 3.72 miles. It sounds short compared to every other part of the course, but I knew not to be fooled. From my experience the loop was muddy and had lots of climbing. I will admit I was a little out of it on this loop. I was beginning to get pretty tired. As Chris and I moved through the up and downs of the loop we tried our best to avoid patches of mud that were spread sporadically. He tried to keep conversation going but I was pretty quiet. It was still nice just having someone there to listen too. We ended up walking most of the loop. It was slow and tough. It took us around and hour and a half but we finally made it back to Pine Hollow.
We emerged from the trail in the parking lot of Pine Hollow and I was pretty out of it at this point. I recall telling someone that was walking around the aid station to never attempt to run a hundred miles, that it was a bad idea. I was joking of course and hoped they realized it but I was really fatigued. Dean, Leigh, and Elizabeth were all standing there as Chris and I walked up. I thanked Chris and Dean and they wished me good luck as they got ready to leave. I sat in the pink folding chair that Leigh had brought and told her I wanted to change socks and shoes. Leigh and Elizabeth helped me take the shoes I was wearing off. I can’t express how thankful I am to have had people willing to touch my disgusting shoes during the race just to help me out. I put on a fresh pair of socks and my other pair of shoes that Leigh had dried for me and downed a cup of ramen noodles. We made sure Elizabeth had my extra headlamp and the handheld flashlight and put fresh batteries in the headlamp I was wearing. We were ready to go and said goodbye to Leigh. Elizabeth and I both knew this would be a trying stretch of the race. We had to cover 15.26 miles before we would see Leigh again at Botzum Trailhead and expected to see the sunrise before then.
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| Pine Hollow II to Covered Bridge I - 6.19 Miles |
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It was a little after one in the morning when Elizabeth and I left Pine Hollow. I had been running for 20 hours and had covered 75.77 miles. In my head I was happy to be at a point where I was less than a marathon’s distance from the finish (although general consensus says this part of the race was especially long so it may have been more than a marathon to go). I can’t begin to explain how grateful I was to have Elizabeth there pacing me. Elizabeth is my cousin and has run quite a few marathons. I had no one to pace me for this long section and I asked her two weeks before the race if she would do it. She said yes having never run on a trail and knowing it would all be in the dark of night. So her first trail run ever was with me at one in the morning, in the in the dark, in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The first five miles of our run is kind of a blur. I was very tired by this point. I was actually falling asleep while running and found myself swaying back and forth on trail as I dozed in and out. At one point Elizabeth grabbed my arm to make sure I wouldn’t fall over. I really wanted to lay down and sleep by that point. I used to be able to stay awake for very long periods of time easily. In the Marine Corps we often went long hours with no sleep and I got used to it. I guess I lost it after being out of the Corps for almost eight years now. Eventually we came out at a road crossing and a runner was laying as his back resting as his pacer sat next to him. I told Elizabeth that I wanted to lay down just for a few minutes, but she would not let me and told me to keep moving. This was probably a good call on her part as I might not have gotten back up.
We kept running and encountered quite a bit of mud. Elizabeth stayed ahead of me with the handheld flashlight and would point out every big root, rock, and section of mud. I was going to tell her that wasn’t necessary after a while of her doing it but I realized it was really helping me. It gave me one less thing to think about as I ran. She said “Mud” and I adjusted to get around it. She said “Rock” and I kept my eyes on the trail to make sure I didn’t trip over it. I didn’t need to scout the trail myself anymore, just adjust for whatever she said was coming.
There were several other runners in our vicinity as we ran. We could see their headlamps floating up ahead of us and behind us. We played the back and forth game with a runner and her pacer for quite some time and relay runners would pass us sporadically. At about mile 80 we came across a port-a-potty and I told Elizabeth I needed to use the bathroom. Truth be told it was the first time I had peed since mile 13.61 at the Polo Fields. I know most people will say that is bad, but I rarely pee during runs. As long as I keep my electrolyte intake up and a steady intake of fluids my body retains water and I really don’t dehydrate all that much nor do I really need to pee often. I made sure to check the color of my urine and it seemed fairly clear. I was happy to see that after not going for 67 miles it seemed alright. Right near the port-a-potty there was a table with water jugs sitting on it, indicating we still had a few miles to go before we reached the Covered Bridge aid station. Not too long after the water table we were running along the edge of a corn field. I was starting to catch a second wind and my sleepiness was going away. I became a little more talkative and Elizabeth and I chatted as we moved toward the bridge. I thought we were closer than we were when I heard the generator whirring at the aid station, but it turned out we had to do quite a bit of winding through the trails and circling around to the other side before we got there.
A little while later we came upon the Covered Bridge parking lot which sits a short ways from the bridge itself. We could see the bridge in the distance and decided to jog until we got there. Once at the bridge the volunteers wrote down my race number and I sat on one of the chairs that lined the right hand side of the bridge. Elizabeth got me some Ramen noodles and had my bottles filled with water. I sat for quite some time before we both decided we needed to get moving. We moved toward the other end of the bridge where the Covered Bridge Loop awaited us. We were somewhere around 82 miles and faced a tough 4.5 mile loop that would bring us back to the bridge. We exited the bridge and a volunteer explained where to go to do the loop.
I had talked to a runner who had already finished the loop and asked how it was. He told me it was manageable but had a really big climb at the beginning of it and a few big climbs throughout. Manageable was good enough for me. My second wind was really kicking in by this point and I was ready to run. Unfortunately the big climb at the beginning of the loop needed to be conquered before any running could be done. Elizabeth And I started up the hill and when we looked up we could see other headlamps way high above us. We realized that this really was going to be a long climb. It went on and on and up we hiked. We finally made it to the top and it flattened out a little. From there on out whenever we were not climbing we were running, I was feeling really good.
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| Covered Bridge I to Covered Bridge II - 4.45 Miles |
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We passed quite a few runners on the loop and one runner even commented “Someone’s feeling strong” as we passed him. We kept this up for the whole loop. There was quite a bit of mud to avoid and around three or four stream crossings but we didn’t let those things slow us down. We were on a mission to finish that loop quickly. When I checked my watch data the day after the race it said the loop had only taken us and hour and twenty minutes. Considering 3.72 miles with Chris, 10 miles earlier, had taken me an hour and a half I was pretty pumped to know we knocked out 4.5 miles a full 10 minutes faster.
We came back into the Covered Bridge aid station feeling strong. I sat down and ate some more ramen noodles. Just then another runner asked Elizabeth if she was friends with someone he knew. It turned out Elizabeth’s good friend had paced him earlier in the race. He was running with his sister and someone else. His name is escaping me but he had mentioned he had run Burning River multiple times and his sister was running her first 100 miler. He asked me if it was my first 100 and I told him it was. He was really positive and encouraging and told me I was doing great and we were just a short way from the finish. He mentioned that it was easy running from there on out.
A group of us left the Covered Bridge together and found ourselves on asphalt road for the next few miles. About two miles from the Covered Bridge we passed Hale Farm and Village. I recalled taking a school field trip there when I was younger. They had a glass blower and I was so amazed by it. It still amazes me really how glass things are made like that. After running pretty flat road for a while I was feeling pretty good especially since the other runner I talked to had mentioned that the course was easy from there on out. We hopped back onto the trail and faced a long climb, this is where I decided to it might not be as easy as that guy had mentioned from here on out. I think it was meant to be encouraging but I was figuring out that any trail at 87 miles into a race is not easy. The climbing was tough but we finally made it to the top, some 200 feet higher than where we started. We were treated with some downhill trail until we came out onto Bath road.
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| Covered Bridge II to Botzum - 4.62 Miles |
Elizabeth asked “I wonder if we are anywhere near Lebron’s house?” referring to Lebron James’ gigantic mansion in Bath Township. I really had no idea where we were at that point and where exactly the mansion was so I couldn’t answer. I just wondered right along with her. Post race I checked out the maps and it turned out we were about five miles West of the mansion, so not too far off. This is where the segment started to seem longer than expected. We thought we would hit the Botzum aid station not too long after getting on Bath road. We continued on and ended up running another mile and half before we finally could hear the people at the aid station. I think that put us at five and half miles or more since we left the Covered Bridge. It was only supposed to be 4.62 miles.
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Elizabeth and I jogged into Botzum aid station to the cheers of Leigh, my brother Tom, my brother Adam, and Nick’s wife Alissa. Nick had apparently passed through Botzum about 14 minutes before me and Alissa was about to head to the next aid station to meet him. Crazy to think that he was probably only about a mile in front of me for the last 30 miles. I sat in the pink chair as Leigh got me some ibuprofen. I had been taken low doses intermittently since Boston Store and it seemed to be keeping some hip pain I was feeling early in the race at bay. Pretty sure it was my IT bands giving me trouble. I snapped a picture with Elizabeth and thanked her for running such a long segment with me. It was now around 6:30 in the morning and she had ran over five hours with me through the dark. Adam was going to give her a ride back to her car at Pine Hollow while Tom paced me to the Memorial Parkway aid station. Adam would then meet us there and pace me to the finish.
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| Elizabeth and Me at Botzum After Our "15.26" Miles Together |
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I asked Leigh if she got any sleep and she said she had gotten a few hours. I hoped it was true as I am sure she needed it. I thanked her and gave her a kiss. I said goodbye to Adam and Elizabeth and took off down the towpath with Tommy. I was looking forward to the running with Tom as we probably hadn’t run together since high school, 12 years ago. Tom and I are only 19 months apart and are very close. We hang out together, play leisure sports like frisbee golf together, do side painting jobs together, and were each best man to the other at our weddings.
Tom is in pretty good shape. He has a gym at work that he uses daily and works out at home with P90X3 videos on top of that. He often does three miles on the treadmill at work and I have tried to convince him to do some running outside or even sign up for a short race. He says he is not interested in running other than some short running at the gym to stay healthy. I can understand that but I was happy to be able to get him out for the 5.37 mile stretch from Botzum to Memorial Parkway. This stretch was all towpath and paved path and was super flat so I was hoping to move through it pretty quickly, or at least as quickly as one could hope after covering 91 miles. We decided to go with the half mile run, half mile walk technique. We managed to keep that up for three miles before I walked a half mile and told Tom I needed to walk a little more before running again. When we were running I think we were hitting a 10 minute pace.
We kept on down the path which wound us into town and around some buildings. We wound up next the Cuyahoga River at one point, or at least I thought it was the Cuyahoga, the map has it labeled as “Little Cuyahoga River”. I am sure it is part of it somehow. Tommy has always been good at getting pumped up during competitions and this was no different. After each of our half mile runs he would give me a high five and say “Good job”. Tommy had to pee at one point and I told him it was pretty accepted to pull off the trail and get a little cover and go to the bathroom during a race. He waited until no one was really around and ducked behind the end of a wooden bridge we ran over and caught back up to me, all part of the race experience. We walked for a good ways before he convinced me to run again. We ran for a short time and I started walking again, just in time to be able to hear the people at the Memorial parkway aid station. Since we knew we were close we decided we better look good for the crowd and jog it all the way in.
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| Tom and Me Finishing Up at Memorial Pkwy |
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| Feeling Good After the Towpath |
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We approached the Memorial Parkway aid station and Leigh, my brother Adam, my mom, and my sister-in-law Kelsey, Tommy’s wife, were cheering us in. I sat down in the pink chair and was feeling pretty good mentally, but my legs were beat. Someone grabbed me some ramen and we took a few pictures. It was nice having everyone around me. Everyone seemed happy to be there. It was a team effort and we all knew by that point that I could walk pretty slow and still make it to the finish before the cut-off at 11:00 AM. Adam would join me for the final 4.59 miles to the finish line. I was ready to be done. Adam and I told everyone that we would see them at the finish and started walking toward the road.
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| Leigh Still Smiling After 96 Miles |
I was happy to have Adam with me for the last part of the race for a lot of the same reasons I was happy to have Tom there. Adam is 10 years older than me and is married to his wife Susan and has three kids, Josh, Lauren, and Emma. Adam, Tom, and I are close and enjoy any of the time we get to spend together. Our get togethers usually include some kind of leisure activity and more often than not foosball, where Adam likes to take Tom and me on in one on two handicap matches. Adam and Susan have been supportive of everything I have done and have come to wrestling matches, graduations, and even made a 14 hour road trip down to Camp Lejeune, NC to welcome me back from Iraq. It was no surprise Adam was next me ready to run four and a half miles because he is someone you can always count on to help you out.
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| Kelsey, My Mom, and Me at Memorial Parkway |
We took a left onto Memorial Parkway and almost immediately took another left onto Uhler Ave. You could see on Uhler that a long hill was coming up so Adam and I decided to jog until we got to the bottom of the hill and then walk up it. We hiked up the hill and veered left onto Cuyahoga street and started jogging again before turning onto Peck road where we eventually turned right and got onto the trail. We were almost immediately greeted with a steep climb once we got onto the dirt trail. Once we climbed the hill we were in the woods on some decently flat ground. I told Adam we might as well run while it was flat so we did.
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| Memorial Parkway to Finish - 4.59 Miles |
We jogged until we hit a nice big wooden staircase. I thought it was cruel to put a staircase that far into the race and complained to Adam about it. As we climbed the stairs we could see a large, well built man at the top of the stairs pretending to jump rope. In fact I thought he was actually jumping rope until we got close enough to see he was just pretending to have a rope. He looked to be on a morning run and in pretty good shape. We made it to the top and the man stopped his jumping and started running down the stairs. It was very nice of him to yield to us as we most likely took some time to reach the top.
By the time we reached the top and the stairs were behind us the rain was starting to come down pretty hard. The stairs took most of what energy I had left out of my legs and I told Adam we would probably be walking for the majority of the rest of the race. He said that was fine and we walked. We were nearing Highbridge Trail in Cascade Valley Park. We merged onto the trail and walked underneath the giant Main Street bridge that crossed the Cuyahoga River. This section of the Cuyahoga River was just East of the Cuyahoga River Reservoir and we could hear the water roaring near the dam as the rain came down.
The trail ran right along the South side of the reservoir and there was a fence to our left pretty much the whole time guarding against a steep drop. We were nearing Front Street and another runner passed us, a short Asian woman who was walking as well. Even though she was walking she had to be doing almost double the pace as Adam and me. I said “Good job!” to her and asked how she was doing. She replied “They changed the course this year and it is long.” with a foreign accent. She went on to tell us she was at home in bed by that time the previous year, so she obviously was no rookie at the 100 mile distance. She moved on ahead of us.
This final section of the race was really starting to seem to drag on, but I got excited when we came out of the trail and hit Front Street. Somebody who was waiting for another runner was standing at the end of the trail and cheered us on as we emerged. We asked her how far she thought the finish was and she said it was about a mile away. I unfortunately was not excited enough to start running again and Adam and I walked across the Front Street bridge that spanned the Cuyahoga River. Since we were on the reservoir it was an amazing site seeing all of the water from the river around us as we crossed.
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| Leigh Waiting at the Finish Line |
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| Susan and Josh Waiting to Cheer Me In |
After crossing the bridge we faced some uphill walking for about a half a mile until Front street finally leveled off. We thought we only had a quarter mile to go based on the information given to us before the bridge, but it turned out we still had about three quarters of a mile left to go down Front Street before the finish. We still could not see the finish line but there were spectators scattered here and there along the road cheering runners on. Every now and then a few runners would pass us as they were running to the finish and we were walking. I told Adam I would run as soon as I could physically see the finish. With about a third of a mile to go the finish line came into view. I could see Broad intersecting Front Street and a crowd of people gathered around. It finally sunk in that I was going to finish the race and I felt a small surge of energy. I told Adam we were good to run through to the finish. As we got closer I picked up the pace. I always sprint to the finish in races and this would be no different from any other. As I started to cross Broad, the crowd was cheering wildly. I could see Leigh, my mom, my mother and father-in-law, Tommy, his wife Kelsey, Adam’s wife Susan, and my nieces and nephew, Lauren, Emma, and Josh cheering and clapping as I came running in.
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| Adam and Me Sprinting to the Finish |
Adam must have peeled off right before we hit the finish and I crossed the line. The announcer announced my name over the loudspeaker along with my finishing time of 28 hours 39 minutes and 59 seconds. A volunteer placed the Burning River Buckle around my neck and my family gathered around. Leigh was standing there with tears streaming down her face. I kissed and told her I loved her. It felt so good to finish the race.
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| Adam with Me at the Finish |
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| Lauren, Emma, and Josh at the Finish |
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The race was such an adventure and I can’t wait to attempt another one if I can get my wife on board. I can’t express enough how much of a team effort a race like that is. Leigh was moving from aid station to aid station as I ran, making sure I had access to all of my gear and helping me with whatever I needed. She was also keeping all five of my pacers up to date on my progress so that they could show up at the right place and right time to run with me. Did I mention that her birthday is August 3rd? Not only did she do all of those things for me, she gave up her time on her own birthday to do them. Each of my pacers was there to run segments of the race with me and keep me positive and moving forward. They waited for one another to finish to make sure everyone had a ride to where they needed to go. My family was there to cheer me on at various points throughout the race which kept my morale high and me moving forward.
Even if I had none of the people in the previous paragraph there with me it was still a team effort. There were volunteers cheering me into every aid station. Volunteers were asking me how I was doing and making sure my water bottles were full and that I was eating and drinking enough. Volunteers directed me where to go on the course. Then of course there was the other runners. I mentioned some of them in this writing but there tons more I talked to along the way. Every runner out there complimented me in one way or another when they came near me and I did the same for them. A simple “Great job, keep it up” from another runner on the course can keep you going longer than you think. I had some short conversations and long conversations with runners on the course. I talked with Nick pretty much non-stop for the first 40 miles or so before I got a little fatigued and quieted down, but we still talked on and off until we split up at 62 miles. The relay participants were amazing as well and always gave me great compliments as they passed by.
I think you get the point, but in case you don’t, I need to say that a little piece of that buckle belongs to everyone who helped in one way or another. People gave up their weekends and more to help me and many other runners accomplish a goal that would have been almost impossible without them. God’s strength and love showed through each individual he put there those two days. I thank Him for a great race and giving the strength to move on as well as providing a beautiful landscape for me to enjoy while doing it.
Just to get all of their names in one spot, here is everyone I would like to thank for helping me with this accomplishment and just some of what I am thankful of them for:
God for strengthening me and guiding me.
My wife Leigh for being so kind and loving and for supporting me throughout the race and our life together in my goals. Thank you for writing in your wedding vows that you would support me even if it meant waiting for me to finish 100 miles. I thought about those vows quite a few times throughout the course of the race. Thank you for giving up your birthday weekend to touch gross shoes and dry out smelly socks and charge gps watches and lug around a big plastic box of junk and lose sleep and a million other things. I love you so much, you are the best.
My friend Dean Dvorak for being a great first manager at my first job out of college. You had a big influence on me in and out of the workplace and always made everything fun. Thanks for giving up your Saturday to run with me through the woods.
My new friend Chris Dvorak for deciding to pace me without ever having met me. Thanks for running through rocks in the dark with me and for getting me through that tough muddy and hilly loop.
My cousin and friend Elizabeth LiBassi for volunteering to pace me for the longest portion of any pacer. It was a long 15.26 miles through mud and dark but you were on point every step of the way. You let me know what was coming ahead and kept me from trying to lay down for a bit, which was a good call by the way.
My brother Tom for always being there for me and for coming out very early on a Sunday morning to cover over five miles with me. You got me moving pretty quick, we actually clocked some of the faster miles of my last 30 miles or so on our segment together.
My brother Adam for always being willing to lend a hand and so encouraging. I think you were more pumped about my finish than I was. I couldn’t recall a time outside of a wrestling practice where we ran together so that really made those last four and half miles a great experience.
My Mom for never failing to cheer me on in anything in my life. Thank you for all of the cards, the calls of support, and for all of the love you have given me my entire life. Thank you for cheering me on at the race. You are the most amazing mom a guy could ask for.
My father-in-law and mother-in-law, Russ and Jan, for loving me and supporting me in everything I have done since I met your daughter. I was pumped to see you guys at Oak Grove and all of the other spots you were at during the race.
My sister-in-law Susan for always encouraging me whether it be through a text, email, card, or spoken word. Thank you for being there at the race to keep my spirits high.
My nieces and nephew, Lauren, Emma, and Josh for coming out to cheer me on during the race. You guys were such an encouragement to me out there it was awesome.
My sister-in-law Kelsey for always congratulating me on my accomplishments and for being such a good friend since the first time I met you eight years ago. Thanks for coming out early Sunday morning to cheer me on in the late miles when I really needed it.
All of the volunteers at the race for being so encouraging and helpful throughout the entire time I was on the course. A race like that cannot happen without you and I was so blessed to have you guys there at every aid station to make sure I was alright.
My fellow runners on the course for all of the compliments, encouraging words, and stories to keep me entertained. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to run my first 100 miles with it. It was a pleasure.
Nick Pfaff for putting up with me for 62 miles. It was great to see you for the first time in 15 years and be able to cover so much of the course with you. I think all friends should reunite after a long gap of time with a 100 mile race. I had a great time out there on the trails with you and am so pumped you got your buckle as well. Congratulations.
Jon Stoffer for always being so positive when I talked to him about races. I wish we could have ran together for some of the race but it felt good knowing you were out there in front of me for almost the whole race. Sorry this year’s race didn’t work out for you but there will be plenty others where you will be able to add to that buckle you already have. I was glad to hear you so positive when I talked to you the day after the race.
Had to add one more name that I am sorry I did not list on here earlier.
Mike LiBassi for always checking up on my training progress, race progress, and sending me positive notes and texts. It was a pleasure training for and running our first marathon together six years ago and running several more together since then. Thanks for all of the encouragement.
Everyone else who has ever helped, guided, encouraged me in anyway. All of those positive culminated into a great accomplishment and I so thankful them.
Finally to my father. I miss you so much. You were such an inspiration and great example to me. I was so happy you were there to see my first marathon and could feel you there with me during this race. I don’t think I will ever be able to do 100 perfect push-ups in a minute like you (especially not at 55 years old), but now I at least have my own 100 record. Thanks for everything you have done for me and have left me with. I love you.
If you managed to read this far I must commend you on putting up with my banter. I wrote this to give myself and others a somewhat detailed account of my first 100 mile experience and to try and give thanks where it was due to everyone who helped me. Hopefully it wasn't too painful of a read and you enjoyed some or all of it.
I hope to see many of you out there on the trails. God bless you all!
*The race was rumored to be longer than 100.99 miles. Most runners I have talked to feel it was in the 104 to 105 mile range.
