Todd Walker's Grindstone 100 mile Report

Below is Todd's race report from his strong 3rd OA placing at Grindstone 100 mile.

Race day was beautiful and sunny. As evening approached, it was getting cloudy and a few showers came our way. I went out fairly conservatively as I was wearing my heart rate monitor and was determined not to work too hard. That being said, I still let my heart get up to 145-146 while climbing in the first many hours of the race. A typical moderately hard workout for me is a 130-135 average HR.

The first real mountain was pretty intense. It was a long, steep climb. They all were as it turns out. As we climbed , we entered a very dense, wet cloud bank. It was pretty much a white out. I was chatting and enjoying myself. As you hit the top, you are supposed to punch your number to prove you were there. The punch was about 30' off the trail. This guy and I came up to it alone. We were in maybe 8th or 9th place at that point and didn't have a group to work with. Finding our way back to the trail was a challenge as we were in a complete white out. It was kind of fun as it was so over the top.
While coming down off the top, I saw Donna. She was not too far behind and climbing strong. This course really is Donna's strength. Anyway, as we started to descend, I found myself taking off and feeling great. I moved up 3-4 spots on a long, rocky descent. It was a ball. The rocks were a little loose and it was little technical but it was somehow great fun.

I was basically back and fourth with 3-4 guys for the next whole bunch of miles. We were working together and having a pretty good time. My good buddy Mike Mason was just a little behind us at that point. At one point we were a group of about 5 all working together. I can't remember how I ended up running with a guy named Chris but we were together when my friend Mike Mason came blowing by us while we were getting food at an aid station. He just blew by and yelled out "4 in/out." He looked like he was going to really gap us, but I caught up with him on the next very long climb. We started working together and soon caught up to Bill. We were putting the hammer down. Any spot with great running and he'd put the hammer down. I stopped looking at my heart rate monitor but knew it was too fast.

I knew it was not going to last for me. For one thing, I did not prepare my drop bags well enough and did not have a crew. I was already having some issues. I had not taken any e caps since mile 22 when I changed drop bags. By mile 34 I was feeling a little off. As Mike, myself and Chris were flying into the mile 34 aid station, I knew it was too fast. By the time I got myself fuel, Mike was long gone as he had a crew and did not even stop running. I started suffering as soon as the climb began in earnest. This climb was horrible. The whole section was 8 miles. One mile was consistently downhill, the rest was basically uphill with some rolling miles. The main climb lasted like forever. I threw up, bonked and basically fell apart. I was literally staggering a bit on the trail. By the time I hit the aid station I couldn't run downhill. I couldn't even get my heart rate up to 95 running downhill. The only good thing was the weather. It was clear and the moon was up.

As I left the aid station with food in hand, another runner came in. He caught me pretty quickly as I was still walking downhill. As soon as I got some food in me, I was able to start running again. I started feeling pretty good and was pressing as best as I could once again. Knowing that we were all fighting for 2-5th place was a turn on. It felt like a solid race. I could see Chris up ahead. After coming into the next aid station, you run up another hill and punch your number again. While I was heading up, he and Bill were coming down. I think they had about 2 minutes on me at that point.

The descent was about 2.5 miles. I thought I was running OK, but during the next out and back (the turnaround as the course is basically an out and back) I figured that they had opened up a little bit of a gap. At that point, I could tell that Mike had about 8-9 minutes on me, Bill had about 3-4 and Chris had a couple. By the time that I started back up the long, paved road climb I could see Chris. I was working hard and keeping my HR at 120-125. I pushed most of the climb and got within a 100 yds or less as we approached the top of the hill but then ran out of steam. He opened the gap right back up.
This climb also featured a lot of weather. For awhile the moon was out and beautiful. We also had another very dense cloud bank to contend with and a few drops of rain. The threat of rain had me a bit freaked as I made another critical error with my bags and was only running in shorts and a tank top. It was probably 45-50 degrees so I was nervous about a downpour. 2 plus hours between aid stations and no crew.

I fueled up at the top and started running pretty well again. I finally caught back up to Chris. We started running the same section that had nearly killed me earlier. Chris was really putting the hammer down. We caught Bill and blew right past him. Only Mike and Karl remained ahead of us. Karl was obviously out of reach and not even remotely on my radar. Chris was pretty much flying on the downs and hitting the ups with good speed. I was fine until I once again ran out of fuel. Once I was out of fuel, I ended up walking the last two miles into the aid station. I got there just as Chris was leaving. The sun had just come up during that last section of trail. It took me awhile to get my legs back from bonking but they eventually came back.

The next aid station folks told me that Mike was 8 minutes ahead and Chris was 12. I caught Mike within 40 minutes. Someone else told me that Chris was only 2 minutes up at that point. I was jacked and was pushing pretty good. A few minutes later, Mike's crew told me that Chris was 10 minutes up. My bubble was a little burst. From this point on it basically became a death march. Bill was pretty consistently 25 minutes behind. Chris was pretty much in front my 20-25 minutes. Mike and I ran together for better or worse for the remaining 28 miles. They were pretty ugly miles. My electrolites were off. My fingers were swollen up like sausages and my quads were sucking on the downhills toward the end. I was out of gels for the last 25 miles and that didn't help either.

This was my 10th 100 mile finish and I made more errors than I ever had before. I was not meticulously prepared. I usually plan every last detail. I think I was almost taking it for granted. I'm not unsatisfied with my race but at the same time expect that I can run it 90 minutes faster next year. I had issues with the electrolites and my body that I've never had before. I was 11 lbs heavier two days after the race than before the race. I'm feeling OK and my weight is back but that was a little spooky as I typically gain 4-5 lbs right after a race. 11 was new territory.

I didn't see any bears although the area is thick with them. There was bear scat all over the place and plenty of sightings but other people. The landscape was beautiful and the people were great. The competition, the people and the land have me coming back for more. Had a chance to hang out with Karl Meltzer afterward and enjoyed his company. Running in with Mike's crew, Amy and his friend Mitchell was also a nice treat.

Stats: 17,256 calories burned. Max HR 156. Avg 125. 22,300 climbing. Hooked on 100's: 100%.

Shoes: Inov-8 Flyroc 345. This was my first 100 wearing the 345's. I had not put a lot of miles on the 345's going into the race and was not 100% on what to expect. The bottom of my feet felt great throughout, traction was terrific and I had no blisters. I did go with one size larger than I normally do and that turned out to be a bit problematic as the top of my feet got a little sore from going downhill.
The 345's are going to be the shoe I wear in 100's going forward. The added support coupled with their being waterproof and breathable is just icing on the cake.