Javelina Jundred 2014

I’ll be honest – the Javelina Jundred 100 mile race has never been on my radar.  It’s a loopy course in the Arizona desert with minimal elevation gain.  When I looked at the race from that description alone, it just didn’t look appealing.  After having to drop at the Hallucination 100 miler in September, I really just felt like I had some unfinished business for this season and as I scoured the list of remaining hundreds for the year, Javelina just seemed to be the only race that could possibly fit into my schedule.  Fortunately, the stars aligned and I signed up.  I’m very happy that I did.

I did have some concerns leading into this race.  I’ve had this odd issue in my back that has lasted for the last 4 months.  Last week, the symptoms changed enough that I couldn’t help but wonder if it would affect my ability to complete the race.  I also ran very little during the month of October after getting very sick.  I was able to get some miles in the week prior to the race, but my body just didn’t feel quite “right”.  However, after going back and reviewing my training logs, I found that this was almost exactly the same as my situation leading up to my fastest 100, Rocky Raccoon.  That eased my concerns a bit, and I just resolved to go in with one goal, and one goal only – finish.

I flew into Phoenix at 830pm Friday and got to my tent (transported from Boise and set up by Christie and Wayne Ebenroth – thanks guys!!!) a little after 10pm.  I was surprised that it was so quiet.  It was like a ghost town.  I toughed out a couple of hours of sleep and got up with plenty of time to get my mind right for the race.  I mingled a bit and chatted with the Boise Trail Runners contingent and lined up with Christie and April near the back of the pack. 

Loop 1 – 2:45:41 - Pace: 10:50/mile

Photo Courtesy of Jeff Black

The plan for this loop was to spend some time running with Christie and any other BTR as long as they weren’t going too fast.  With so many runners on the course - more than 500 – 100 milers, the starting pace was slow enough to ensure that we weren’t going to out too fast.  Christie, April and I chatted about some random things – the “butt smell” at Wilson Creek, April’s reactions to snakes on the trail, Christie’s birthday and some others.  The three of us were completely taken aback by the sunrise that morning.  Because I had flown in after dark, I had not seen that the race course was surrounded by mountains and foothills.  The colors that were peeking out from behind those peaks were stunning.  I’m still kicking myself for not bringing a camera.  The three of us picked up another BTR, Seth who had gotten a late start.  After about 3 miles, I looked back and did not see any of them.  It was pretty disappointing, since I was looking forward to conversations with my friends, but I certainly wasn’t going to run backwards to find them.  I was averaging 12 minutes/mile and that was conservative enough for me.  I got to run a few strides with Gordy Ainsleigh and found that he is all business during a race.  It was almost impossible to get a word out of him.  The rest of the loop was very uneventful.  I finished in approximately 2:45 and didn’t feel taxed in the slightest.  I ran through the checkpoint at Javalina Jeadquarters and got back to business.

Loop 2 – 2:59:20 - Pace: 11:43/mile - Overall Average: 11:16/mile 

Javelina has washing machine style loops, meaning that you reverse directions each loop.  Kind of cool, because you get the chance to see exactly where everyone is at.  I had seen the front runners of the race beginning at around mile 9 or so, and I was really curious where the rest of the BTR’s were.  If I recall correctly, April was closest, about 2 miles behind me.  Next came Lynette who was close to April and then the Trifecta of Sean, Drew and John about 4 miles back with Christie following shortly behind.  Everyone looked very solid.  I really enjoyed the first 7 miles of the loop leading from Javalina Jeadquarters to Jackass Junction.  The terrain is pretty packed down with minimal washouts and no real rocky sections that I can recall.  During this section, I was found myself running the same pace as another runner, and he said “just pass me – you know you want to.”  I really didn’t want to actually.  In fact, I was just about to take a walk break.  I looked down and saw that he was wearing a Boise State Broncos shirt.  It turns out that the runner was Raymond Mullenax, another fellow BTR.  Ray and I had actually battled each other back in March at the Pickled Feet 12 hour night race.  He didn’t realize, but he and I were less than a lap apart until he finished his day at (50 miles).  We chatted about this for a bit and then spent the next several miles talking about various 100’s that we had completed or attempted.  We passed the time talking about bucket list type races and I really enjoyed it.  It is very rare that I spend much time at all getting to talk to other runners mid race.  Either I’m stuck in no man’s land between the super-fast runners and the middle of the pack.  I spent the rest of this loop just cruising a long trying to keep close tabs on my water consumption.  Knowing that the 3^rd and 4^th loops would be the hottest of the day, I needed to know whether or not I was going to need to carry a 3^rd bottle for fluids.  I continued to drink to thirst, sticking with water and having one S-Cap per hour and a gel every 30 minutes.  With about 5 or so miles to go in the loop, I found myself surprised by the fact that the trail was so rocky.  I hadn’t been paying much attention during the first loop apparently.  I generally don’t mind rocky, techy terrain.  I was just glad that I hadn’t gone with the Minimus MT 10’s for my shoe choice.  With about 1.5 miles to go in the loop, I came around a corner and a coyote darted across the path, startling an oncoming runner and I. I was a little leery for the rest of the loop, thinking that there may be others around.  Fortunately, I didn’t see another for the rest of the race.  As I came into Jeadquarters, I stopped at my tent and grabbed my bag of supplies.  I chose to grab my sunglasses and collapsible water bottle.  I stocked up on gels and S-Caps and got back out on the trail. 

Loop 3 – 3:28:29 - Pace: 13:37/mile - Overall Average: 12:03/mile

This loop was kind of brutal.  Being out on the exposed trail with no shade to speak of really wore on me.  I wasn’t able to do any sort of heat training prior to the race, and even though the temperatures were a bit below average for the time of year, I still struggled.  I tried to stay ahead of any overheating issues by keeping ice in my hat, soaking my buff in water and keeping it around my neck and even keeping ice in my pack.  This certainly helped, but I still felt like I was being cooked.  The temperatures are part of the reason the Javalina has a ridiculously low finisher rate – somewhere below 60 percent over the entire history of the race.  So now, feeling like I was being cooked and going in the clockwise direction, I developed a really shitty attitude.  A shitty attitude isn’t uncommon for me, but this time it was a little different.  Normally, I will start questioning why I am doing the race in the first place, but this time it seemed to light a fire under my ass.  I grit my teeth and pushed on, thinking about my failures at Indiana and Hallucination and refused to let the temps beat me.  Sure, I might be forced to slow down, but I wouldn’t stop.  Just keep moving – until an aid station that is.  I did more sitting at aid stations in this race than I did in all of my races this year combined.  It was a necessary compromise between the Sun and I.  I needed the breaks from what was beginning to feel like relentless heat, so I sat in the shade of the aid station canopies and cooled myself with a white cotton t-shirt dipped in ice water.  Between aid stations, I would tuck the shirt under my hat and tie the sleeves beneath my chin to keep as cool as possible.  It worked very well if I do say so myself.  The final four or so miles of the loop were pretty miserable, but I just kept going slow and steady. 

Damn the sand and rocks... Photo Courtesy of Ryan Anderson

Loop 4 – 3:35:23 - Pace: 14:04 - Overall Average: 12:33/mile

The misery at the end of the 3^rd loop extended into the first 7 miles of loop 4.  This was pretty disappointing, because I really enjoyed this portion of the trail during loop 2.  I tried to drown out the misery with my Ipod but it could only help so much.  With about 1 mile to go until Jackass Junction, I saw that somehow I had caught up to Ray.  Before I could alert him, he turned a corner and fell pretty hard right in front of Kaci Lickteig who was running in 3^rd place overall.  We helped him up and checked to make sure he was ok.  Fortunately, he came out of the fall unscathed.  We guessed that where he had fallen was the same spot that another runner had fallen a few hours prior.  She wasn’t as lucky as Ray though – She would need several stitches to close the 3 cuts she got around her eye.  At Jackass Junction, I sat in a chair for a while cooling myself with ice while Ray pressed on.  I was getting more and more concerned about the time I was spending in the aid stations, but I kept telling myself that it had to be done unless I wanted to fail the race.  As I got moving again, everything changed.  The Sun hid behind the clouds, I caught a second (third?) wind and my “power song” for the race came on.  The song that pumped me up was Migra by Santana, and I must have listened to it more than 20 times in a row.  I was really moving and feeling good.  I came up behind Ray and told him that I was on a rush and had to go on.  He wished me well and I didn’t see him until the end of the race.  As the sun was setting, I was really racing the remaining amount of daylight.  I was thinking I would like to finish the loop without my headlamp, but I just couldn’t do it.  In fact, I’m glad I didn’t try and press my luck.  Less than a mile after putting on my headlamp, I came around a corner and came to a screeching halt before stepping on a 3 foot rattlesnake that was crossing the trail.  Pretty sketchy.

Loop 5 – 4:02:56 - Pace: 15:52 - Overall Average: 13:13/mile

I really started to hate the fact that there were so many damn loops in this race when I set out for this loop.  I tried to motivate myself by thinking that this was the last time I would have to run this loop in this direction.  By this point, I was feeling pretty well worn out.  Gels were starting to taste awful, and as I set out on this loop I was trying to down a slice of pizza and was really struggling with it.  I would take a small bite, and have to chew for minutes before I could swallow it.  When I reached the aid station, I filled one of my bottles with Gatorade and got my calories that way for most of the rest of the loop.  I managed to eat a cup of ramen at Jackass Junction which made me feel a lot better.  Somewhere between Jackass Junction and Rattlesnake Ranch, I met up with Jeff and Dondi and it was really nice to share a few words with them.  As I passed by them, I wished that I had a pacer.  I haven’t wanted a pacer since the Bear 100, but I was really feeling lonely after running this far and I really could have used some company.  Maybe I will consider a pacer again in the future after all. 

Loop 6 – 3:35:04 - Pace: 14:03/mile - Overall Average: 13:21/mile

How many laps to go?
Photo Courtesy of Wayne Ebenroth

I had completed this loop and came into the aid station feeling an unfamiliar twinge of pain in my right knee.  This pain had developed somewhere towards the end of the previous loop.  While the pain was irritating and uncomfortable, I had no thoughts of stopping.  I put on some compression tights to give a bit of additional support and also put a knee strap around the vastus medialis (had to look that up!) portion of my quad.  I tried to make this change rather quickly and get out on the trail, but I found myself lingering a bit, talking with Wayne about the other BTR’s that were still out on the trail.  Once I did get going, I started feeling better.  The compression and knee strap seemed to keep the pain at bay, so I just kept up my run/walk routine.  I had discovered that loop 5 had taken me just over 4 hours to complete and I was determined to finish this loop faster.  I was finished with sitting in aid stations.  It was cool enough now that I would have to keep moving if I wanted to keep my core temp up and with the knee issue I was having, sitting down would only mean having a hard time getting started again.  Shortly after passing Jackass Junction, I came across Michelle and Ryan and talked with them only a few minutes before pressing on.  Shortly before Coyote Camp, I tripped on a rock and rather than just falling down, I kicked my right leg out to break my fall and tweaked my hamstring and kind of “jarred” my back a bit.  I stood there for at least a full minute trying to catch my breath.  My mental state made this a much bigger deal that it really was.  I suppose I was pretty well stripped physically and emotionally at this point and I just wanted to stand there and scream.  Thinking back now, I find it rather funny how quickly I was reduced to a temper tantrum throwing child.  I think I managed to limit the outburst to only a few expletives.  After a quick stop for water at Coyote Camp, I ran as best as I could into Javelina Jeadquarters with a renewed interest in being out on the trail, knowing that I would only have a short loop left and could put this race to bed.  I crossed over the timing mat and saw that I ran loop 6 in 3 hours and 35 minutes, which was about the same pace that I ran loop 4. 

Loop 7(Short Loop) – 2:15:20 - Pace: 14:01/mile - Overall Average: 13:25/mile

#6  - Photo Courtesy of Wayne Ebenroth

I left for my final loop with a glow in the dark necklace on and an extra spring in my step that last all of about a mile.  My knee and hamstring felt like complete garbage now, and I ended up convincing myself that I should save my energy for the final stretch on the Tonto Tank Trail.  This was a terrible idea really.  I know that I could have pushed harder and finished stronger but I guess I lacked the motivation.  At that point, I knew that I would finish, and also finish in less than 24 hours and so I felt ok just moving along.  I did feel a bit more motivated once I reached the turn off to the Tonto Tank trail, but I quickly realized that I couldn’t open my stride up on the gentle downhill of the trail.  I did give it more effort than earlier in the loop, but eventually found myself walking a great deal of that section.  I did however, find an extra supply of guts and ran the final 2 miles into the finish somewhat strongly. 

Post Race

Here we are, 2 weeks after Javelina.  I’ve really taken it easy to make sure that my knee and hamstring heal up.  I’ve run about 12 miles since the race, and I am back to running with almost zero discomfort.  My knee is still a bit funky at times, but I think it is possible that it is aching mostly due to the 20 and 30 degree weather that we have been having.  I have a full range of motion now, so I am hopeful that I dodged anything serious.  Overall, I am still very happy with my performance at the race and thrilled to close out the season on a good note.