Thursday around noon I took off for Albuquerque to pick up Will from the airport around 7pm. The drive went by super quick and before I knew it I was reunited with my former 10 mile teammate and a very good friend. Will and I took off for the Sandia Mountains to meet his friend Sean for dinner. The Sandia Mountains are 7200ft above elevation at the base and a quick tram ride puts you at 10,400 ft and provides a view of about 1/4 of New Mexico. After dinner we went back to their apartment and got in a good nights sleep. The following morning Will and I headed out for a 4 mile run to shakeout the drive. That afternoon Will and I headed to Los Alamos to get ready for Jemez.
In Los Alamos Will and I ate at the pre-race dinner and packet pickup went quickly. While checking into our hotel we discovered the Anton Krupicka and Joe Grant (1st and 2nd place) were staying at our hotel. Will and I had a small man crush moments then headed to packet pickup. We settled back into the hotel and went over the game plan for the race and then turned out the lights and I got a good 8 hours of sleep. And the big news of the evening while I was fumbling through my pre-race ritual I received an email from Skora with acceptance into their ambassador program! That right I'm a respectable official full blown Skora athlete! Pretty excited about my relationship with them.
3:45 am came soon and Will and I were off. I brought my pulse oximeter to see the effects of elevation and well needless to say I got down to 95% O2 sat.
The race start was pretty uneventful. The gun went off at 5am and we bolted off under the guidance of headlamps. I quickly moved into 6th place and stayed there through mile 12 or so. The first 10 miles were technical but relatively tame as far as elevation goes. Leaving the Camp May aid station at mile 10.4 you begin a 2800 ft ascent up Pajarito Mountain. During this climb I lost my ground and fell to 16th place. I just can't climb like the mountain folks can. I power hiked most of the climb the elevation really started to get to me after 9000ft with some headaches and difficulty recovery from steep ascents. I did better than anticipated but I could feel the elevation. It felt much like how I think a sinus headache feels. A bunch of pressure right behind your eyeballs. After the summit of Pajarito it was a 1000ft 2 mile descent into the 18.6 mile aid station. I ran this section pretty hard but it was very technical and at times straight down ski hill slopes. At 18.6 I met Will and refilled on Gu's and water and took off.
The next 20 mile look would take me back to the same aid station I was leaving but included another Pajarito Mountain summit. But Mile 18.6-30 were downhill. I ran hard averaging 8:00-8:30 and I managed to swallow up 8 runners before the 50k mark putting me in a solid 8th place. Leaving mile 31 aid station began a 7.2 mile stint up Pajarito Mountain again. This was again a problem for me. I powerhiked the entire section taking almost 2 hours to cover 7.2 miles.
I ran into the 38.4 mile aid station excited to pick up Will for the final 12 miles. It had started raining and Will was attempting to force me to change shirts as I was already soaked. I finally gave in a threw on a long sleeve shirt and we headed out. The rain picked up and the temperature dropped as we ran along. As we approached 9000 ft again the rain turned into a hard snow. Soon Will and I could not see 100 feet in front of us. The temperature dropped down below freezing very quickly and my hands were going numb. Will offered to run the mile back to the aid station and get my jacket and come back to catch me. With the haze of 40 miles on my mind and Will's enthusiasm to help his fellow runner we both decided this was a great idea. Neither of us did the math and I decided it was fun motivation to try to make it harder for him to catch me and run faster... Needless to say common sense came to both of us after a few miles and Will trusted that my Wisconsin upbringing would take me through the cold. At mile 41 I came up on a couple runners who were trying to warm their hands up on the propane stove at the aid station. I just refilled my water bottle at the Aid station. The last 10 miles I ran like a possessed man. I ran hard from mile 41 to 45 with the bad weather it was excellent motivation to get off the ridgeline and to lower ground. I was running 9 min miles despite 600 ft of climbing.
I flew right through the aid station just shouting my bib number determined to play my strengths and get to warmer elevations. The wind picked up but the weather lightened as I descended 1000ft before mile 49. I continued to run very hard into Last Chance aid station where Will was waiting for me with my jacket. He had to run almost 2 miles just to get into the aid station. Such a great friend! I blew threw the aid station with only 2 miles remaining. Will joined me and ran the last couple miles with me. I knew a sub 11 hour finish would require at least 11 min miles and didn't know how the terrain was so I pressed hard. The race ended with a final off trail climb back to the finish line. I finished in 13th place in 10 hours and 57 minutes and the first flatlander.
I was very happy with my time and race and drank a well deserved beer and enjoyed the awesome spread of tex-mex at the finish line. Unfortunately the race was shut down early. Shortly after I passed through mile 41 many runner were showing symptoms of hypothermia. The race director chose to shut the race down and begin closing the course down. I think the RD made the right decision and a very difficult one. The safety of the runners is the most important thing. Many of us ultrarunners are to darn stubborn to quit a race despite some nasty conditions to pulling the plug is necessary. It sucks not to finish but it would suck more not the be able to run tomorrow.
Overall Jemez is a great Mountain ultramarathon and a very challenging course. My Skora forms were excellant for the race really allowed me to feel the trail. They were super light and held up really well. I couldn't have finished up without Will. Defiantly nice to have a friendly face along the run. It has a very small town ultra feel but aid stations like a big town race. The people were super nice at every turn. After the race Will and I headed back to Albuquerque for a fun night of steaks and IPA's.
I'll finish up the rest of my weekend report tomorrow evening this ought to be enough to get everyone started.
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