Well, life is wonderful. I love life here in Alaska with my wife Shawn. ALASKA! Never in a million years would I have thought I would be willing to come to the land of snow. Back in early 2009, Shawn and I discussed what we would like to do in the future. We came up with races we may someday like to run, places that sounded fun to visit, probably some of the same things a lot of you other ultra runners (especially running couples) have talked about. At some point Shawn mentioned that she would like to live in Alaska. My reply was, "Well, let's make it happen." I’m not too sure what she thought about that back then. I mean, I'm pretty sure she thought I was just being flippant or being the smart-ass-ican that I am. Again, I'm not sure when she finally started to realize that I was serious - maybe as late as when I reserved the U-Haul for the trip up. It wasn’t a direct move. Shawn came up without a job and I went to Juneau while commuting weekly from Anchorage. Shawn found work here in Anchorage rather quickly and I was able to find a job after deciding the commute and Juneau weather were not for me.
On the running front, Shawn and I had discussed whether or not I would run Susitna. I really didn't want to even consider the 100M if my training consisted of running in the Juneau rain and slush all winter then trying to run in a snow race. I had no real winter running experience and am deathly afraid of the cold. The 50K was an option but still, only if I could train some in Anchorage.
By the time September rolled around, I was already looking in earnest for work in Anchorage. I had a few good interviews but was not selected. I was fortunate to land a job at a community bank and I would start in November. What perfect timing for my race preparation. That would give me time to train in the snow and decide by year end whether or not I thought I could do the 100M. The 50K filled up too fast and it didn't make sense for me to run it anyway.
I was surprised when it started to snow and get cold so soon. But hey, we were, after all, in Alaska. I went most of the month thinking the weather was normal for this time of year until I started hearing locals, people I worked with, complaining about "how cold it was this year," and "can you believe it snowed before Thanksgiving." Well this is one of those occasions when ignorance really is bliss. I just thought it was always like this and was mentally buckled down for the long haul.
At this writing, Shawn and I haven't been to the gym in a long time. We spent a good amount of time in the gym during the summer and early fall - getting our long runs and trail adventures on the weekend during that time. But once the snow was here to stay, we've been running in it every day. Shawn for her ITI race (http://www.alaskaultrasport.com/race_roster.html) and I to see if I could learn how to run in the snow and keep from getting cold. I learned much about layering and couldn't believe how wearing running pants kept my hands warm (go figure – Shawn keeps telling me so).
The Susitna race was having a "come talk about the race" presentation at the local REI which I felt was a must go to for me. I learned much about the course and normal conditions, etc. But what I found to be the most helpful was a tip from REI employee (and multiple Susitna 100M finisher) Mike Morganson. He suggested a training run from Deshka Landing (in Willow, AK) down the Susitna to the Yentna, and up to Luce's Lodge. Luce's is the 41M and 65M aid station for the race and was a 25 mile one way trip from Deshka Landing. I talked to Shawn about it and we decided to make that a Christmas adventure. We ended up pulling sleds from Deshka to Luce's on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve on the Yentna River (to Luce’s) We were treated with a special meal and had a warm cabin to stay in. To this point, this was the longest training run I'd done in the snow and only the second long run pulling a sled. We got up Christmas day, had a wonderful breakfast and made the trip back. It was a great trip! Not only was it very insightful but it gave me the confidence I needed to make a decision on the race. I was in! I signed up the following week and the race couldn't come soon enough.
Luce’s Lodge Christmas morning – heading back to Deshka Landing There was a 50M race the first week in January that we would "have" to run and we ran 30 miles (without sleds) on New Year's Eve. Those were by far the bulk of my long runs but I did run usually 8 miles every night after work. I threw in the occasionally 10-12 miler as well. All of these runs brought me to the start of the Susitna 100M in decent shape and with confidence to know that I could do it.
Frosty Bottom 50M (about mile 42)2 Weeks pre-Race:
The last 2 weeks before race day the weather warmed up quite a bit. From daily temps in January that averaged closer to 10F to daily temps in the mid- to upper 30F. I was worried about my sled weight now. To this point, I had committed to carrying 40 lbs. I didn’t have an issue with going slower from the extra weight. I just wanted to make sure that I had the warm clothes I needed. I could go slow and be warm and be ok with that. Now, the snow would be slushy and the extra weight would really cause a lot of drag. The times I had been out for 8 or 9 hours pulling the sled, my back would hurt towards the end so I was not feeling good about my chances at this point (pre-race doubts). But, what was I going to do. I would just have to hope the temps would drop (yes get colder) so that the snow would firm up, get packed down, and allow me to move much freer. I chose to wear my Katoola micro spikes to give me better “pull.” Without them, I would slide too much. I would also have to hope I could run more than I had in training pulling the sled as the momentum would help in the “glide” process.
Race Day:
With the 9am start we could sleep in to 5 or 5:30am in order to leave by 6am. This would give us plenty of contingency time and hopefully we would make it to the start before 8am. We were pretty much spot on timing wise. Jay (Shawn’s brother) was riding fat bike in the 50K and Shawn would be racing the 50K, both of which started at 11am. They were able to see me off then have some breakfast before they started.
Point McKenzie to Flathorn Lake Aid Station (22 miles): 5 hours 15 minutes
I was seriously worried about making this cutoff. I also wanted to make sure that I didn’t push it too hard trying to make the cutoff that I would burn myself out, or more likely, sweat too much and be wet and cold during the evening. The cutoff was 7 hours. The times that Shawn and I had trained on the river it took us 8-9 hours to go 25 miles. We did this 3 times. And while we weren’t racing, each time we did it the conditions were much better than on race day (colder and the river was more runnable). I did walk out of the start so that I wouldn’t get caught up in the throng and sucked into the anxiety ridden fast start. Still, I slowly started picking up the pace and soon found myself passing people effortlessly. By the time I turned off of Ayrshire road (about 3 miles) I had caught up to Jamshid. I continued to move passed other racers until I found what would be my main “pack,” those runners and skiers who I would see throughout the day. The first of these was Doug Ketterer who was running his first 100. Doug and I ended up moving along at basically the same pace all the way to Flathorn. As soon as we go to where the 50K race merged with the 100M race, we saw runners – who were not pulling sleds. I wondered if these were front of the pack or mid-pack. As Doug and I discussed it I remember saying to him, these guys are running the uphills. They must be lead pack. Mid- to back- packers usually walk them. As it turns out I was right but didn’t know this until after the race. On to Flathorn lake, several more runners and bike riders had passed us and 100M sled puller Kevin Vig caught up to us. Kevin had done the 100 several times before and said he was having his best year ever. That was ironic since before the race, I had picked Kevin out as someone I would like to keep pace with. My goal was to not spend a second night on the trail and to finish in 36 hours would get me in by 9PM on Sunday. Kevin consistently ran those kinds of times. This was the first indication that I had nothing to worry about concerning the cutoff. We came into the Flathorn aid station at 2:15 (5:15 running time) which was way faster than the 6 hour I was hoping to get under. I was super happy, feeling good, and got out of there within 4 minutes. After the race, Shawn told me she saw me on Flathorn Lake and was calling out to me. I guess I was just out of earshot. Their turn off was before we went up the hill to the aid station so I “missed her by that much!”
Flathorn to Luce’s Lodge (19 miles): - 6 hours 15 minutes
For whatever reason, this 19 mile stretch is long. I don’t know if it is in fact long or just feels that way. After leaving the aid station, I eased into a less urgent pace. Doug caught up to me and we moved on to Dismal Swamp. Many of those in “the group” passed by and Doug moved on ahead. I was happy to take it easy for a while considering my time to Flathorn. Soon I decided I’d better get going and started hanging on to the back of the group. Kevin had stayed in the aid station much longer and had not caught up to us yet. Sooner that I thought, we arrived at the Wall of Death which, fortunately for us, was not too bad a descent this year. I held on to my sled poles so it wouldn’t run me over and powered my way down. Doug and I were together here and soon Kevin caught up to us and moved by quickly. We weren’t able to run much on the Susitna at this point because it was so soft. Kevin had a small step/stride and seemed to be moving along quite nicely. Finally, after seeing him pull away at will, I decided I would suck it up and push on through – running awkwardly in the slushy stuff. I soon caught Kevin and moved on ahead of him. I tried but was unable to match the short strides. I have kind of a big, power stride normally and pulling my heavy rig required that I get more momentum anyway. What that meant was that I would have to do more walk-run-walk-runs rather than a steady long running stretch that I wanted. It was good to have others out there to gauge my progress – when I was running; I was putting some serious ground on them. Soon I was at Scary Tree and moving slowly (walking) up the Yentna (I knew it was 9 miles to Luce’s from here). Out of nowhere came Doug which was good timing indeed. I could use him to move quicker on this section. We travelled together for a couple miles until, out of nowhere; this girl riding a snow machine blows by waving at us. She stopped up ahead and tried to flag us down (or so I thought) as we approached. Doug walked up and kissed her. Hmmm, I guess he knows her. I moved on not wanting to be party to this insanity. I was running again and made the turn that would leave 2.5 or so miles to Luce’s. It was just getting dark and felt I should put my light on for on-coming snow machines. I could see a couple of red flashing lights ahead of me so I knew that there were either a couple of skiers and/or runners just ahead. I caught 2 runners who I hadn’t seen since the start. One of the guys commented, “Shouldn’t we be getting to the aid station about now.” I said, “We’ll see the light to Luce’s, then it’ll be a couple miles.” We hadn’t seen the lights yet. I traded places with these 2 all the way to Luce’s. I got to Luce’s at about 8:30 (11:30 into the race), which I was very pleased with. I had planned a short stop here; time enough to change my socks, put on warmer clothes if needed, put on my over-boots (not needed) and eat from my own supply. They had spaghetti here but that just seemed too heavy for me to eat and get moving right away. I got cold while here and it freaked me out a little. It was what I was telling Shawn I feared about stopping at these indoor aid stations. I warmed up easily spending a little time to put on my wind pants, some dry socks, and allowing my jacket and shoes to dry by the fire. Still, I managed to get hot water and out of the aid station in 31 minutes. Back on the trail by about 9pm – 12 hours into the race.
Luce’s to Alexander Lake (12 miles): 4 hours
To this point I had been wearing my micro spikes. I didn’t really see any reason to take them off. I did as a matter of course into Luce’s and left them off, but keep them handy just in case. I had trouble getting back on the trail – that is, it was deep where I was walking and couldn’t quite make out the right trail. I kept moving to where I thought it should be and soon was moving along as expected. The 2 guys who had come into Luce’s with me were right behind me. That was good as I could use them to pull me along. What I found out though was that I couldn’t get very good traction and seemed to be moving very slow. At first I thought it was my imagination but when those guys passed me, I could NOT hang with them. I had maybe gone ¾ of a mile then stopped to put my spikes on. “Never mind!” I ended up wearing them the entire 100 miles. Back on the move I no longer could see the pair in front of me. The river did turn some but they were gone. Maybe I would catch them at the aid station. Not too far away (3-4 miles) was a turn onto the trail to Alexander Lake. The first part of this trail had lots of ‘woops.’ My back was just starting to feel the tug and strain of carrying the 40lb sled so this was not a welcomed sight. It was also uphill, in snow, both ways … uh, never mind. It was a bit of a walker and I pushed through just find. I saw a headlamp coming the other way just out of that section and it was the first runner coming back. Thought it might be Dave Johnson so I hollered, “Who’s that?” He responded, “Johnston. Who’s that?” “Tony!” We shook hands and wished each other well. It was nice seeing Dave in the lead – not a surprise but I wasn’t sure if he would be racing as he is doing the ITI to McGrath the following week. I saw a steady flow of bikes and runners with not too much time in between. I did see a very bright light ahead and off the trail that confused me for a bit. As I got closer, I noted that a bike seemed to be abandoned (it didn’t occur to me that someone was bivvying so early – they were). And soon I saw Laura coming the other way. She checked up on me, “Are you eating? Drinking enough? Staying warm?” I appreciated that a lot – truly. It made me feel good that someone was asking questions like that. It may seem obvious but sometimes one needs those questions ask. I nodded in the affirmative and said “yeah. Uh huh, yep!, “ to her questions. She noted that I was carrying (not wearing) my mittens and could see my water bottle tucked inside my jacket. “Oh yeah, water. On your chest. Yeah,” I think I’m quoting her correctly. We wished each other luck and moved on. I saw a few more folks heading the other way and thought I soon would be hitting the aid station. I could see some lights on a house but didn’t know for sure if that was it. Rounded a corner and saw a skier coming the other way. “How far to the aid station?” “It’s right there,” he says pointing to the house. “Cool thanks!” I moved around the bend and took my sled up the slight incline to the house. I could have left my sled at the bottom but the climb didn’t look too bad. And good thing too cause I forgot that I needed to show my sleeping bag tag to the aid stations crew. I got there just before 1am. Perfect timing according to my estimate having had no idea what to expect. I went inside and there was no one there but the aid station crew. The lady offered me some soup to which I said, “Yes please!” As I was filling my water bottles with cold and hot water she said, “it’ll take a while to cool off,” and I said, “I’ll add some cold water to it.” “Oh yeah.” I went to sit on the couch and rest my back as she got my soup ready and a roll to go with. The soup was drinkable so I drank it right away and dipped the roll for the 3 bites there was. Then I got up and left. “Heading out.” “Already?” 4 minutes.
Alexander Lake to Luce’s (12 miles): 4 hours
Back on the trail, I was still warm. That was a good thing. I moved along and tried to run a bit – carrying my mittens. I passed the rest of the gang within a mile (6 runners and 1 skier). It was a pretty night, clear with lots of stars out. Soon I saw Jamshid who didn’t know it was me. He asked as he approached, “How far to the aid station?” I said, “Hi Jamshid. Um, a couple of miles I think.” Not wearing a watch or anything electronic I asked, “What time is it?” He replied, “1:38.” “I left the aid station just after 1am so yeah, a couple miles.” I was alone with my thoughts, then all of the sudden I saw a red flash out of my peripheral to my left. It freaked me out. I stopped and stared in awe. “Auroras,“ I said out loud.
Photo shamelessly stolen from, and taken by, Jill Homer I was marveling in God’s work when the light show started to grow. It turned green and then started stretching to the north, the direction I was heading. Again, it kind of freaked me out. The size and speed at which the lights grew was just unreal. I was trying to enjoy the lights when I noticed that my hands were getting cold. Put on my mittens but that didn’t help. This was about the time I passed Jill Homer heading the other way. I stopped and got some hand warmers and put them in my mittens. After a short time, I couldn’t stand the cold. I pulled out the big mitts (boxing gloves) and put hand warmers in those. I stopped 3 or 4 times which made me get even colder. After the fact, I heard that it got down to 5 below. I’m pretty sure it was 20 degrees warmer at the aid station. It got from warm to unbearably cold in no time flat. My feet were now frozen and started to hurt. I thought about taking out the over boots at one point but I felt like my feet were too far gone at this point for them to do their job quickly enough. If I had a long way to go I may have considered it. I moved through the “woops” section and finally made it back to the Yentna river. After some serious prayer asking God what I should do, it “mysteriously” occurred to me that I should start stomping my feet. I have poor circulation in my feet and have had been frost biten badly on the right foot. Anyway, I remembered (after a Godly nudge) that I was able to get my feet warm before after using this method. Sure enough, my feet snapped out of it. Unfortunately, the thawing process BURNS terribly. The good thing is that when I feel that burn I know that warm comfort will come soon after. And it did. Doug caught me right before Luce’s. That guy was having a great race. My back was in pain and I did what I could to get into the aid station. I told myself that I would lie on my back and not worry about the time. I was there 5 minutes after Doug and he left 20 minutes or so before I did. Still, I managed to do the same routine as before; eat, change to dry socks, dry out my jacket, warm up my shoes, and refill my water. Kevin came in at some point while I was on my back resting it. He bellies up to the bar and says, “What’s to eat?” “Spaghetti, grilled cheese (mmm that sounds good-I thought), grilled ham and cheese (mmm that sounds better).” Kevin ordered a grilled ham and cheese and I hollered, “Me too please!” I waited on my back and listened to Kevin order a few candy bars and some chips. This guy knows how to work an aid station. I got my grilled ham and cheese, wolfed it down, then got dressed and left. Time at Luce’s: 50 minutes (total of 1 hour 21 minutes for both stays there). I was out of there by 5:50am. Just as I headed down I saw Jill Homer coming into the lodge.
Luce’s to Flathorn (19 miles): 6 hours 30 minutes
I tried to run right away to make sure I stayed warm. That didn’t last long. The back was feeling better from the rest but still was sore. Even though I knew I had pulled my ibuprofen bottle out of my gear a week before the race, I searched frantically for it against all hope. After about 6 miles or so I remembered that I was carrying my daily running waist pack. In it I was pretty sure I had a few ibuprofens in a little baggy. I pulled it out and sure enough, I had about a DOZEN –Sweet! I took a few and plenty of water (make sure you take lots of water with these, kids). In no time I was feeling better and able to run again. Wow, my legs were fresh. Even so, I noted that someone was right behind me. Doug was ahead of me so that had to be Kevin. He caught me before we turned onto the Susitna. It was nice to have company again although I never felt lonely out there. We talked some and moved along nicely until we got to the Wall of Death. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to pull it up the short but steep hill with my back in bad shape. As we approached it, I hiked my belt up to my chest, took a running start, and scrambled up that bad boy – success! I moved quickly as I was feeling spry at this point. Kevin was behind but I was sure he would be on me soon. I had another good running stretch and eventually had Doug in my sights. I used him to pull me in. Unfortunately, he was having trouble with his butt muscle and was forced to walk. I told him it was the mileage (he’d gone twice as far as he ever had in his life to this point) and to just keep pushing through it. He was really positive and I knew he would be ok. Getting through Dismal swamp and then the very long trek through Flathorn Lake to the next aid station was rough. I was now back to my slow self and walking again. As I got closer to the aid station, I decided that I would NOT be stopping to eat jambalaya as I had planned. I knew that the rest of the trek would be made walking so it made no sense to stop for any amount of time. Given that, I stopped to pull out food. I was getting hungry and didn’t want to go into the aid station in need of more than water. As I was pulling out my food I could see that Doug was moving well and was not too far behind me. I could also see Kevin off in the distance. I reached the aid station, grabbed my bottles and went up. I spent 1 minute in the aid station getting my 2 water bottles filled. Doug and Kevin were down at the bottom of the hill getting things from their sleds as I grabbed my sled and headed out.
Flathorn Lake to the Finish (16 miles): 6 hours 42 minutes
I knew this whole thing was going to be a walker yet I still attempted to run on several occasions. Out of Flathorn I started walking in earnest and soon got to the turn off. Up and over some serious woops, that lasted much longer than I thought I could stand. Once the trees open up I could see straight ahead for what seemed like miles and miles (to the end of the earth I certain). I was glad that the woops had calmed down but they were still present. My back was going to be trouble the rest of the way and I knew there was nothing I could do but keep pushing forward. I did stop after a couple of miles to sit on my sled and eat. I chose to stop in the protection of some trees as the wind was kicking up a lot in the open area. That worked out well – I ate then moved on. I continued to watch for the SU100 lats and eventually saw an “X” on the left hand side. I then looked to the right and there were several lats there directing us down to the Little Su river. I heard after the race that this was 6 miles out. There were a couple of snow machiners talking at the bottom of the drop and I asked what time it was. I was still hoping beyond hope to make it back before dark having left Flathorn at 12:30pm. They told me it was 4:30 (in hindsight, 10 miles in 4 hours or 2.5 miles an hour). The rest of the way was definitely a slog. Once I came out to Ayrshire road, I had 3 miles to go. It was still light out but I was moving tragically slow. The ups and downs of the woops were relentless and my back was in serious pain now. I just wanted to lay down on the trail on my back, but I didn’t. I could see headlights from vehicles coming my way and they looked like they were parked. Eventually they would start to grow and finally would reach me. That showed me how far I still had to travel. I needed to get to the corner where they were turning and then I would be less than a quarter of a mile to the finish. Every once in a while I would turn around to look for a headlamp of someone coming up behind me – but surprisingly there was no one. I did see a few moose scampering on the other side of the road, running away from this scary scraping sound (my sled) that disturbed their feeding. The sun finally descended completely and I turned on my light. I had been wearing it since the night before and had totally forgotten about it – so very convenient. Anyway, I put on the large beam which was excellent. I had purchased a Spot by Black Diamond which had a 90 lumen high beam. I also go last year’s model that was rated at 75 lumen, as a backup. Finally, I reached the road crossing that would bring me into the finish. I moved along by some houses and could see a couple of people hanging out at the bottom of the hill. The cheered me on and I made my final approach. I could see a couple people at the finish line and recognized Shawn moving back and forth. I whistled to let her know it was me and she came running out to meet me. Ah, what a sight, Shawn and the finish line. This section was by far the slowest part of the course for me. That may seem obvious but it was especially slow because I was unable to run or even walk comfortably with the sled in toe. No matter, I made and was so excited by beating my goal of 36 hours by almost 2 hours.
Finish line: 34 hours 12 minutesI spent an hour 21 minutes at Luce’s and 10 minutes combined in the other 3 aid stations for a total of 1 hour, 31 minutes in the five aid stations. That left 32 hours, 41 minutes on the trail. A mite faster than 20 minute miles.
Now on to home, but first – food:
When Shawn and I had talked before the race, I told her that I might want to sleep for a while in one of the cabins they had for us to rest and warm up. About 10 miles out, I decided I was gonna beg Shawn to drive me home as soon as I crossed the finish line …. And that’s what I did. As I was warming up in the truck, Shawn was nice enough to put my sled into the back. As she was, Kevin Vig came in. We stayed to congratulate him and offered him a ride down to the lower parking lot where his truck was, and to get warm in the process. Just as we were heading down, Doug came in. What an amazing race this guy had. We spoke briefly then took Kevin to his truck. From there, we headed straight into town (Wasilla) to get a burger or 2. Carls Jr was the first thing we saw and where we went. I couldn’t decide what to get. Everything looked GOOD! And I don’t normally eat burgers. I ordered 2 teriyaki burgers with cheese and a buffalo wing sandwich. I over committed though as I was only able to finish 1 of the burgers and the chicken sandwich. What a wimp! I rambled on as Shawn drove us the 50 miles back to Anchorage. I fell asleep just as we got into town.
Thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far. My report sounded quite boring as I went back to read it – “Just the facts ma’am.” I’m now training for my next big race, the Pigtails 200M run that will be held the last week of May. While training here in snow filled Anchorage, I can’t help but ponder how to cut down the weight of my sled, possibly make a shoulder harness to hold the belt, and how I might approach next year’s race. Wait! I was only gonna do this once ….
