Crewing & Pacing Burning River 100 For the Hubby

I've always admired people who take on the Burning River 100 Endurance Run. This year my husband Steve happens to be one of them! We trained mostly together as I completed the Canal Corridor 100 a few weeks earlier. So as I was recovering he was starting to taper and get ready for his little journey of 100 miles through the forests of Northeast Ohio.

Prerace in front of the Castle!

The race starts at Squire's Castle in North Chagrin Reservation in Willoughby Hills, OH. This is a park we spent many miles running in when we lived in Lake County. The 100 mile start is at 4am...so we had to be up pretty early as in 1:30am to get ready and make the close to an hour drive. We were out the door by 2:30, arriving at the start at 3:30 with plenty of time to get Steve ready for the long day and night ahead. We ran into some friends Brandon and Mel that were parked next to us. Mel has done BR numerous times and is one of the fast ultra ladies out on the course.

Steve and I headed up to the start about 10-15 minutes before the event started. I could tell he was excited and anxious to get this thing started. It was fun watching these 250 or so runners take off in the dark with their headlamps and dreams of first time or maybe PR finishes. Once he started I spent a few minutes in the car mapping out the route to the Polo Fields aid station where he expected to come in around 5:45am. I chatted with some people and waited to see Steve and have some of his requested items like chocolate milk ready for him. Next i met up with him at Shadow Lake where he was able to change into his new trail shoes.

After that I had some time to kill since I wouldn't see him again for 2 or 3 hours so I headed to Panera to grab breakfast and a bagel for Steve and I also stopped at Heinens to get some lunch for us later in the day. I arrived at Meadows aid station where I was able to get in about a 30-minute nap before setting up to cheer and crew for Steve. When he came in he was hungry and had a blister we took care of. He was still in good spirits when he took off. Again I had some time before I would see him again at Boston Mills (mile 50) so I headed over to the aid station and took a second cat nap before setting up my crew stuff. I ran into some Cleveland Tri Club friends, which was a nice pick me up and I ate lunch and cheered on some of the 50 mile finishers. Finally Steve came in and was able to eat his lunch I made him and change his shirt before heading on.

Ledges before our run together!

Our next place to meet up was 16 miles away so I had a lot of time to kill. I ended up stopping at the grocery store and going home to make dinner and take care of the dogs before meeting up with Steve later at Ledges Shelter. I had heard from friends that he was having a hard time and I was growing worried about him since he was a good amount off his goal pace. Finally as I started to head out on the course I saw him coming in! He looked pretty tired and I knew he was hurting. I agreed to pace him in the rest of the race, which was 34 miles for the 100 plus the bonus 3 miles at the end since BR 100 is actually BR 103. He ate and I put all the crewing stuff away, locked up my car and off we went to the Ledges to start our long and memorable journey together.

We did pretty well running through the Ledges and Pine Hollow but Steve was fading at Covered Bridge with about 20 miles left to go - including some tough ones! Special thanks to our friend Trevor for lending Steve his running jacket because it had gotten chilly and he was cold. By the second time through the Covered Bridge aid station he was doing better and we were power walking and light jogging and in better spirits. From Covered Bridge II to Botzum seemed to take a long time as well. We ran into our friend Rich in O'Neal Woods and he had some words of wisdom to share with us 100-mile newbies. Finally we reached Botzum! And then it took forever to reach Memorial Parkway but this was our last aid station! We still had about 4-5 miles to the finish including the Gorge in Cuyahoga Falls where you have some serious stairs to climb after 100 miles. Oye! Even I did not like the stairs so I can only imagine how Steve felt!

Hardest earned medal ever!

Leaving the Gorge I was excited for Steve to finish and I was excited to be done because I had been out there with him for many hours through the night and was growing tired and cranky! He was able to run the finish and then immediately needed to sit down for a few minutes and just soak everything in. He was a 100 mile finisher! He finished Burning River 100 like a badass! The only issue is that his right calve was swollen and of course his ankles and feet were swollen too, which of course made walking not fun.

After the race we went home to eat a quick bowl of cereal, shower and sleep for about 5 hours. Then we got up and went to the Ledges to pick up my car and headed over to the Winking Lizard Peninsula for a proper post race dinner and hoppy beers! Of course Steve had to put his hard-earned BR100 sticker on his car too! He sure earned it! And I am proud of him because I know that he struggled for more than half of the race and especially the last 20 miles. It was not the time he had in mind but he finished and that is all that counts in my book. I don't know if he will run this one again but you never know and for me I would rather run the 50 or 4-person relay next year. I don't know that I will put this one on my bucket list but only time will tell.

Congrats to all the 100 mile finishers - you are all amazing! And to all the 50 milers and relayers - way to go! BR is a tough course. My 37 miles was tough after a day of crewing - also very hard work! Thanks to Western Reserve Racing for putting on an excellent, well-organized event. Most of all thank you to the volunteers. You guys make the race! Without you noone could do this race. Your generosity and support are appreciated!

Until next year BR!

Hardest earned sticker ever!

Green Jewel 50K Race Report & Training Update for Canal Corridor 100

Prerace selfie with the hubby!

Saturday I ran the Green Jewel 50K for the third time...although this time it was a much different race for me than the past two years. For starters, it moved to June instead of March as originally scheduled. As you can imagine this made for a much warmer race. Also, the course was reversed to start in Brecksville and end in Rocky River. This means most of the climbing is done before you hit the Emerald necklace. Finally, I have been training intently for the Canalway 100 next month and never really planned to race this so I ran my first ever 100 mile week last week and then only tapered for two days leading into this. A friend of mine suggested that I race the 50K and then run the next day early on tired legs to simulate how I will feel at the end of the 100. Okay, I thought that made sense so I listened. I decided to attempt to race this thing even thought I figured I would pay for this decision being as fatigued as I am.

Somewhere in my irrational mind I thought I might even be able to beat my time of 4:38 from last year. We started off in the park running straight up hill from Oak Grove at about an 8-8:15 mile pace. Ouch. This hurt. My legs were not happy and I was laboring from the start. Once you get off the trail you run some miles on Valley Parkway. There are some decent sized hills and I can recall my calves cramping up into painful little balls so I decided I would take a little walk break. I remember one of my splits being about 10 so I think I ran about 8 and then walked for 2 minutes. That helped. But this continued. It was the worst my calves have ever felt in a race and I debated dropping out and heading back to the car. Noway! I told myself you HAVE to run this race! What if this happens during your 100? You can't just give up! So onward I went. Fortunately I had a water bottle with Nuun with me as well because it was getting hot early on and without water and electrolytes the cramping in my calves probably would have been worse. Either way I knew this was going to be a long sufferfest!

By the first aid station at Ridge Road I was feeling a little better about my chances of surviving the race - mainly because we were heading downhill then. Although it is not the easiest thing to run fast down Ridge Road either. Ouch! Onward I went after a gel and some Tailwind. Around that time I was still trying for sub 9 for a bit but by 13 or 14 I really wasn't feeling great. I was sore, hot and just kindof apathetic about my chance at having a great race. Onward I went just trying to walk a little as needed to rest my tired body. I remember thinking it was taking forever to get to the check point at Wallace Lake. I was pretty excited to get my drop bag and get my Smuckers Uncrustable for a snack along with my GU Rocktane gel. But when I got there my bag was not there and I think we were at about 16.5-17 miles not 14 since the course was reversed. This was not good for my psyche and I was again cursing my decision to race this thing and I decided I would just survive it.

My friend Tony ran by and motioned for me to run with him and his group as I was walking and I said "I'm not racing it, just gonna finish it." Part of me wanted to quit, part of me wanted to walk it in and part of me just wanted to get it done as fast as possible. So I ran as fast as I could and then took walk breaks when I wanted to. I reminded myself that this race is the best training run I would have before Canalway. I couldn't just give in. I drudged on in the heat, took in some gels and tailwind and eventually found myself at the mile 27 aid station. I was pretty excited then to be close to the finish and my friend Jim was working the aid station and gave me some cheers and energy to move on.

I was able to run most of the end but did walk some of the uphill as I was pretty exhausted and hot. I was trying to break 5 hours at least but came up a little short at 5:08 and change. I finished 4th female, 1st in my AG. But really I was just happy that I pushed myself through a very, very tough day for me physically and mentally. I assume this is how it will feel during the 100. I am sure I will hurt like hell and I will want to quit a million times but will need to dig deep and find the strength to continue on towards the finish. I hope that this training I am doing now will make me strong enough physically and mentally to remain as focused and strong as possible.

Steph L, me and Steph I post race

After the race I went to the bathroom to change into dry clothes and then walked back over to the finish to watch for my friends (and fellow Cleveland Marathon Ambassadors) Stephanie L and Stephanie I. Both of them were standing there when I walked up. I was excited to see that they had both done well! Stephanie L had run her first 50K and rocked it and came in not too far behind me placing 2nd in our AG! Stephanie I and her teammate were the 2nd place womens' relay team! Steve also had a good race considering that he too is very fatigued he still placed in the top 10 and in his AG!

Post race Steve and I headed over to Fatheads for some hard earned burgers and hoppy beers! Then it was time to go home, shower, sleep and get up early to run on tired legs. Our plan was to get up in the wee hours of Sunday am and head to the Towpath for 8-10 in the dark. But at 3am I just couldn't drag myself out of bed so we snoozed and instead ran around 8am. It was already hot and muggy and we did 9 slow miles before having a snack and heading out on the cross bikes for an hour of fun biking. The week wrapped up with 60 miles of running, 30 miles of biking. Today I am resting but got in a nice lunch walk on the Towpath. I will try to get in one last big week of 90+ miles and start my taper about 2 weeks out on Sunday.

hard-earned hoppy beers at Fatheads post-race!