Iroquois Trail 100 Relay RR 9/19/09

I was preparing for my first sort of "Ultra" all week. The Iroquois Trail 100 Relay. Not one to get things done ahead of time I was rushing around all day Thursday, as usual, trying to get work tied up so I could relax a little on Thursday night before the big race. Yea, right! That didn't work out to well. But, I did get some sleep and headed out of TF with my main psycho training buddy ( and fellow Ironman....lol...I had to get that in somewhere right kids? ), Dave Matthew, around 10ish on Friday morning. We made a few stops and finally went down good old Maple St. in Kearny to pick up another psycho.....my Maple St. brother...... Mike Flynn. ( we grew up in the same 4 family house at 242 Maple St. ) It was great getting Mike in on this adventure. Back in April when I was thinking of some nut jobs who might do this race with me, his name popped right up as a candidate. I called him and he said yes right away, even though he had not been training much. I had originally thought 5 people but as we got into the summer I could tell it was only gonna be the 3 of us. No problem. Even though we had never raced any kind of trail run before we thought that through sheer determination and stupidity, we could get through it. ( "You are correct sir." )

The ride up was quick, with me and Mike telling war stories from Kearny, and Dave laughing at them and us. We made good time and arrived in Virgil, N.Y. around 3pm. We checked into the condo and went down to the race site but we were a little early so we decided to scout out Aid Station #6. AS#6 was the only aid station that could not be reached by car and it screwed up our plan of running 1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3, for the 20 legs of the race. We got lost a little and we had to transform Diana's Honda minivan into an off road 4 wheeler. Flying down the fire roads with not much of a reverse gear ( more on that later ) and not knowing if we would come to a dead end and not be able to turn around, certainly got our adrenalin flowing early.

We never did find the way to AS#6 until after dinner. In the dark. So we could now stick to our plan of running the whole race in order. Mike would start off, ( he got the steepest leg first because he wasn't there when me and Dave figured this stuff out ) Dave would go 2nd, and I would go 3rd. I'm the oldest so I pulled rank on the young guys. 7 legs each for Mike and Dave, 6 for me. I'm not that dumb.

Here my RR:

A beautiful clear cool morning in Virgil, N.Y. Mike, Dave and I got to the start around 5:45am to see the solo runners start. At 6am Ian, the race director, blew some kind of animal horn and everyone was off. We went back to our condo which was only a few minutes away and packed up some last minute stuff and put it all into the minivan, which would be our rolling recovery vehicle for the weekend.

Mike started at 7am and was soon wondering what he got himself into as he was walking up the ski slope to Greek Peak. ( It was too steep to run ) Dave started next and had the long climb up Carson Rd. right out of the box. I did leg #3, which started with a downhill but soon headed straight up the hill to the powerlines. All of the first four legs had tough hills. The 5th leg to the Rock pile was great and the 6th and 7th legs had a real hairy spot where you had to use ropes to pull yourself up or lower yourself down the slopes. It was bad enough during the day but at night it was a real challenge. Back through the Rock Pile and down the big hill from Greek Peak to the start and lap one was done. It was around 4pm and the next lap would be done mostly at night.

We had our trusty headlights and wondered how it would be running through the woods in the dark. It was really cool. And a little easier to follow the trail because the light reflected off the markers better at night than during the day. Dave started off, followed by me, then Mike did #3 and we were off and running our cycle again. During the first 4 legs if you were not the guy running the other 2 went back to the condo for a quick shower, bathroom break, and I even caught the beginning of the WVU game on ESPN during one of my rest legs. That all ended after #4 and it was back in the van for the rest of the night.

The feeling running alone in the woods at night was surreal and each of us shut off out lights at some point to take in the darkness and the stars. It was awesome. As each leg went by we got more and more tired but we never really slept much. We were too wound up I guess.

We were on target to break 22 hours and I had leg #8 for my last one. I started out thinking, no problem, it's only 6 miles, I'll just bang this out and I'll be done. Then Dave and Mike can finish it up and we can go to sleep. Well, I didn't bring all my nutrition with me, for some dumb reason, and after 2 miles I started to get dizzy. I stopped a couple of times and one of the 100 mile guys asked me of I was ok as he went by. I said I was dizzy and he stopped and gave me water and something to eat. And he left me a gel. He didn't have to do that and it took time off his race that but that's how most of the people were. Very cool.

I finally made it to the Rock Pile and Mike was wondering what happened to me. Dave had even started walking up the side trail from the road to see if I was OK or if I had stopped for a beer or something. Mike took off and Dave and I went back down to the car and I was done.

Mike finished his leg and Dave did the last one back to the Gatherings and we were the new Iroquois Trail 100 Relay 3 man world record holders. ( we were the only 3 man team but I'm not telling anybody that part ) 22 hours and 15 mins I think.

This race was one of the coolest things I have ever done and I think Mike an Dave feel the same. The boiled potatoes with salt and butter at AS#7, were the cats meow. The RD and all of the support people were great. Even Joe the "gong" guy at AS#7.

I will spread the word and hopefully be back next year.

We talked about doing the 50 mile version solo next year but I think we may have to defend out title and sign up for the relay again. Plus, if we do the relay we get to run at night again. I can't wait.