Short Version-
An amazing race through Japanese mountains and forests with forays into the
pain cave, extreme heat and humidity, vomiting, intense fatigue, cramps, and
other masochistic fun. Finished 54th out of 600 starters in a time of 15
hrs 47 min.
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| Plenty of Japanese Altramaniacs. Seriously, Altra's were everywhere! |
Really Long Version-
One of the perks of my job is traveling around the world promoting
Altra. I have a Japanese distributor who has done very well with the
product as the Japanese love low profile foot shaped shoes. Altra has
been a smash hit in Japan! Takashi, my distributor, has been inviting me
to Japan for 8 months. Finally he begged saying that he really wanted me
to come run a race in Japan and spend a week traveling around the country
promoting Altra. I looked at my schedule (his number), thought about it, and said YES! Check out
Altra Japan
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| Going over race plans and course with the locals. |
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The race happened to be the
Shinetsu 110k,
one of the most popular and difficult ultra's in the country. Even though
it was 3 weeks after Cascade Crest 100 I thought I would be fine and looked forward
to the challenge. The weekend came quickly and after pacing at Wasatch
100, I had an ankle that was still not recovered after running Corner Canyon
50k, Cascade Crest 100, and pacing Wasatch 100 in 4 weeks. Shinetsu would
practically be my 4th ultra in 5 weeks. I was a little worried and went
to my PT/Chiro/masseuse/magician Dr Eric Brady 2 days before flying out and 4
days before the race. Dr Brady is amazing. If you live in Utah
County and need something fixed, he is the man!
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| Standing Banquet and Pre-Race Meal |
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| Enthusiastic Taiko Drummers |
I'd never been to an Asian country and was excited to experience Japan on several levels. I arrived
with my ankle and spirits feeling good. I was immediately treated royally
by Takashi and Manabu my hosts. The night before the race was a carnival
of people, drums, food, and race preparation excitement. I loved it. Only
1 other non-Japanese runner was in the race that I was aware of, Justin
Angle. Patagonia athlete and super-stud, we chatted about how different
the culture was but the same ultra-vibe. As a business and marketing professor we had a great conversation about how Altra got started by 3 guys in our 20's from a basement in Utah.
Many Japanese runners approached me testing their English, which typically
was very poor, but the smiles and bows made me feel like I knew every word they
were speaking. The Japanese ultra community has been very receptive to
our concepts and there were people wearing Altra's all over! It was so
much fun seeing people from halfway around the world wearing my shoes!
When the excitement died down, I headed to bed. Prep'd and ready to go I
toe'd the start line.
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| Game face |
|
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| 600 runners and over a 1000 volunteers |
The first few miles of an ultra seem to always fly
by. This one was no different. We hiked up a ski slope and started
a circumnavigation of the first of 5 mountains. It was a beautiful trail
that went through rice fields, 10 foot high grass, and old growth
forests. After 5-6 miles my stomach wasn't feeling so good. Very
unusual so early in a race at such an easy pace. I took a gel at mile 7
and within 30 seconds found myself on the side of the trail pucking my guts
out. Not the best start...but I immediately felt better and continued on.
Eating extremely different food the two days before an ultra is not a great
idea...
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| This picture was taken at 5:50am...the sun was up and 75 degrees |
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| Beautiful early section of trail |
I loved the next section as we turned straight up the mountain. This would
be the steepest section of the course and I felt at home. The forest had
a high altitude tropical feel. One minute I felt I was in Park City and
the next I felt I was in Hawaii. Very cool. Up and down I was
feeling good and moving well. I was in-and-out of the first major aid
station at mile 14 and running through incredible single-track. It was
8am in the morning and I was sweating profusely. I couldn't believe how
hot it was already. I decided that I would back off a bit as it was early
and I had already lost some liquid at mile 7.
Up and over mountain #2 I found myself on a long dirt road that I didn't
like. The footing was horrible and I longed for the beautiful singletrack
we had left a few miles back. There would be 3-4 long dirt road sections
on this course that were just brutal. They don't use gravel but instead
used rocks ranging from the size of a marble to that of a baseball and
everything in-between. My ankle started to hurt. We came out of the
forest through a little town. The low point of
the course, hotter than Hades, and spectacularly beautiful with small Japansese
cottages, farms, and mountains in every direction.
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| Cooling off! |
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| Still Smiling... |
Aid Station #3 was a welcome sight. I soaked the body, drank some
water, and was off. Within 2 miles I was in trouble. It was 10am
and in the high 80's with 90% humidity. I didn't know my body was capable of
sweating that much. I was still moving but the heat was really getting to
me. Aside from heavy legs and tired body, I felt ok. I was eating,
ankle/knee felt fine, feet felt great, but I just couldn't move very
fast. At 40km/25m I was already tired. Soon I was out of water.
I also stumbled upon Justin who sadly was done for the day. I wished him
the best and kept moving. Coming to the 52km aid station was a
relief. Takashi and crew went to work cooling me off and getting me to
drink. I also took an additional hand-held for the next sections. I
left with a rejuvenated mood.
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| Oh yeah! |
I was now going through another ski resort which had planted acres and acres
of flowers. There were tourists riding the ski lift looking at me like I
was crazy (yet to be proven!). It was surreal as the flowers seemed to go on for
miles. Finally they ended as I was heading up
another horrible dirt road. The hi's and low's seemed to be rather close and I went to another low. I decided to focus on nutrition and ignore
the several runners who were able to run by me. It was a 5k climb that
seemed to last forever. Soon it leveled out and turned onto a technical
single-track. My energy was coming back, probably due to my eating and drinking on the climb, and I re-passed everyone
who had passed me on the climb. It was the best I'd felt all day. There was a
VERY steep decline and incline that was brutal but I seemed to thrive. We
ended up in an old growth forest that was a perfect trail. I was buzzed
and loving it. It lasted all the way to the next aid station nearly 5
miles away. I passed a dozen runners and was smiling all the way.
The subtle differences of terrain seemed to accentuate the feeling. I'm
not good enough with the English language to describe these differences but it
was stunning scenery running through old Japanese forests, fields, and pathways.
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| Coming into the Aid Station |
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| I swear I drank a bathtub of water...and was still dehydrated. |
At the 67km mark I hit my crew with smiles. I felt great. I
swapped bottles, socks, and shoes feeling really good about the next 40km. The
Superiors continue to impress but I swapped to Lone Peaks for the last 43km for additional protection.
However like the day was going, the fun wasn't there to stay. On a long
climb at the 70km mark it all came crashing back down (they had signs every
10km telling you how far you had gone!). It was another long exposed dirt
road and I was drained. I didn't even know what was wrong aside from I
could barely move. The heat seemed to sap everything away. I
plotted along as best I could. I definitely seem to thrive on
single-track as after a couple miles I was back climbing up the most remote
overgrown part of the course. I think I'm more comfortable in this
terrain and I think its cooler temperature. It was apparent that I was
not prepared for the heat/humidity.
I gained momentum on the climb and cresting the top was now in the shadows
on the east side of the mountain. Again I was feeling better and moving
well. Several of these sections were severally rutted and overgrown with
mossy roots but I loved it. I came down to a lovely lake at dusk with
bugs buzzing everywhere and silhouetted mountains in the background. It
looked like it was from a movie. I was not flying but still running
well. I seemed to be in no-mans land seeing almost no other runner for
miles. I passed two runners through here but saw no-one else.
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| Typical terrain and view of the course |
One highlight was an ancient shine with thousands of tourists. We ran
about 1/2 mile dodging tourists to then see this amazing site. I'll need
to research more about the place but a sharp left turn took me away from the
crowd and shine. It was on a wooden pathway through old growth forests.
Beautiful. Suddenly several runners appeared both ahead and behind
me. Having seen nobody for hours the pressure was now on...and I was
tired. I pushed into the last aid station with the group. My crew
gathered around giving me Coke and chips. 18km left. I gathered what
I could and left too quickly.
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| Sunset in Japan |
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| Mustering the courage to leave the last major aid station |
Within minutes I had to turn my headlamp on. There was a huge climb to
the hi-point of the course. I was dead set on distancing myself from
those behind and taking in the 3 runners that were within minutes of me.
I powered up the hill the best I could. It kept going and going.
Finally at the top I stopped to adjust my laces and cramped up fiercely.
I had to sit down for 3-4 minutes watching what was a couple close lights bound
away. As I got up and started down the mountain, I was struggling
terribly. My ankle was trashed, I was dizzy, cramping, tired, and I just couldn't get a rhythm
going. With 10km left I was a mess.
I found myself
walking into the next aid station where I sat for 20 minutes hyperventilating and trying to pull myself together.
I drank 4-5
glasses of soup (they had water, soup, and chips...nothing else at this last little outpost). I was
four miles from the finish and DEAD! After watching 10 people pass by, I
started walking. Desperate to finish and just plan tired I walked for
over a mile. Slowly I increased the speed and was slowly running. I
vowed to let nobody else pass me. Soon I saw a light ahead. I was
re-passing someone! Within a mile left I was giving it all I had and
managed to pass 2 more people. The last mile was coasting down the
mountain. I knew the finish was close
and pushed all the way down the mountain.
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| Triumphantly Done!! |
I had finished. Worn out primarily by the heat, fatigued
from travel, and too much racing on not enough base but I had finished. 54th
place (600 starters) 15 hours and 47 min.
It wasn’t my goal finishing time but I left everything I had on the
course. The experience as a whole was
quite incredible. Amazing course, more
volunteers then ANY US race (they had people at every turn..yes, every turn!), better organized then any US race, more festival like then but still a
good ole fashion ultra feeling. Thank you to the volunteers, my gracious
hosts, and Altra Japanese supports. I
hope to come back soon!
