2020 Rocky Raccoon 100 Race Report

Way back on September 10^th 2019, I signed up to run the 2020 Rocky Racoon 100 miler. When I started my ultrarunning journey way back in 2017, I was already on board with the idea of running 100+ miles over the course of several days…but the idea of running 100 miles in one shot never crossed my mind. I’m still not quite sure what possessed me to sign up, but I am sure morbid curiosity had something to do with it. I already had two 50 milers under my belt (Grand Mesa and the long stage of the Grand to Grand Ultra) and had another coming up in November (Mountain Masochist). Aside from Mauna to Mauna Ultra in May, my 2020 race schedule was still wide open and I was itching to run something early on in the year. So instead of doing the logical thing – like picking a 100k to run – I just went for it and signed up for my first 100 miler. 

Drop Bag prep 

So that is how Ericka and I ended up on a plane to Texas at the end of January. We landed in Houston on Friday and drove up to Huntsville State Park for packet pickup, the pre-race brief, and to claim a spot for our canopy tent along the start/finish chute. I hadn’t packed my drop bag prior to arriving in Texas, so I spent some time organizing my bag in the parking lot. After the race brief, we linked up with Nicole (my rockstar pacer), checked into our Airbnb, and went out to dinner. Pizza is my go-to pre-race meal and if that is also your jam, I highly recommend going to the Pizza Place in Willis. 

The best pre-race meal

In between carbo-loading and catching up, we also talked strategy. The course is a  25 mile loop that you run four times with aid stations every 3-4(ish) miles apart. Even though I planned to rely heavily on aid station food, I also supplemented the slightly longer stretches with my own fuel. Fueling wise, I planned on eating something every 30-45 min. On top of that, I planned to take 2x Endurolytes and 2x Anti-fatigue pills every hour. As a result, I elected to use one drop bag location (Damnation) that I’d see twice per loop and then have Ericka and Nicole crew me from our permanent setup at the start/finish area (Dogwood). In terms of pacing, I planned to run each lap in 6 hours. Although it was unlikely that I’d be able to maintain this pace  throughout the entire race, I figured there was nothing wrong with dreaming big. I believe in going into every race with some sort of strategy and since I’d never run 100 miles before in my life, I knew having one (regardless of how ridiculous it sounded) would be critical to help keep my head in the game if when things started going wrong. 

Race morning was a blur and I was a ball of nerves. I ate most of the peanut butter sandwich I made for breakfast, but not much else. We departed our Airbnb at 3:30am and arrived at the park at 4:00am to ensure that we were able to snag a good parking spot. After we parked, Ericka and Nicole dozed while I stretched, foam rolled, and tried to focus in the back of the rental car. My stomach was full of butterflies and my mind darted between confidence and worry. On one hand, I already knew what 24 sleep deprived, nutrition deficient hours on my feet felt like. On the other, I had no idea what I was getting into after mile 50 and as with all things in ultrarunning, anything – good, bad, indifferent - was possible. I closed my eyes for 10 minutes to try and settle myself and at about 5:40am, we begrudgingly left the warmth of our cars and walked over to the start line to wait. The final 20 minutes before gun time flew by. We stopped at the row of portapotties, took some pictures in front of the Start/Finish sign, and then I said goodbye. Before I knew it, the countdown started and it was go time.

Dozing in the car

Lap 1

The race started at 6:00am. It was still dark, so we had to use headlamps for the first hour or so. As with any race, the first few miles were congested. This was fine because my main task for the first lap was to just take it easy and focus on getting to know the course. I focused on the trail and followed the walk/run cues of other runners around me. At Nature Center, I grabbed a few PB&J squares and pressed on. I power walked anything uphill or heavily rooted and ran the flats and downs…a pattern that I would repeat for the remainer of the race. The sun finally came up while I was on the out and back to Gate aid station and at this point, the field had started to spread out a little. At Damnation, I restocked my vest, texted Ericka and Nicole to let them know my status, and then went to quickly browse the food selection at the aid station. I picked up some more PB&J squares and a banana before taking off to Farside.

If you’ve read other Rocky Raccoon race reports before, then you already know how horrible this out and back is. If you haven’t…let me tell you. Each segment is only 4.27 miles (8.54 miles roundtrip), but outbound to Farside is a steady uphill full of roots. On top of that, the aid station is limited with only water, Tailwind, and Vfuel. This part of the course also feels like it goes on for-ev-er, which I didn’t notice on the first lap, but definitely did later on. The only redeeming factor about this out and back was knowing that what goes up must come down making the return trip much better (and faster).  

As I made my way back to Damnation, the field had spread out even more and I found myself yo-yoing with the same handful of runners. Everyone was friendly and in good spirits. We made small talk and when they heard it was my first 100, they offered some bits of advice: “at the end, you have to really want it” and “be patient”. At Damnation, I ate more PB&J and let Ericka and Nicole know that I was on my way back to Dogwood. I did stop at my drop bag as planned, but already noticed that I was taking less than I had anticipated. 

The rest of Lap 1 passed by quickly. I spent the majority of the time taking in my surroundings and enjoying the trail while I could. I thought that the course itself was pretty good…a nice rolling course with some nice views of the lake. It is also incredibly runnable which means that if you are a seasoned ultrarunner or an elite, it is a great course to PR on. But it this also means that if you’re not careful, you could blow up very early on in the race…which is something I hoped to avoid. That said, it is also worth mentioning that we were super lucky this year that it didn’t rain. Aside from the roots, Rocky Raccoon is also known for being muddy. During previous editions, it either rained the week leading up to the race or at some point during adding yet another layer of difficulty to the course. We didn’t encounter too many mud patches this year, but the ones we did pass definitely made me recognize how lucky we were. 

Suddenly, my watch chirped at me and let out a sad sounding trill. That couldn’t be good. I looked down at my wrist and saw that my Suunto had stopped tracking my progress and wanted me to rotate the watch in a figure 8 to re-calibrate it. I’d never seen this prompt before and thought that it might have to do with the tree coverage or maybe the battery setting I selected. But I really didn’t have time to stop and troubleshoot it so I did my best to replicate the pattern it wanted (which isn’t as intuitive as it sounds) and somehow my watch came back to life. But the fix wasn’t permanent and this ended up being the first of hundreds of times this would happen during the race.

Now I was in the final stretch of the lap: Nature Center to Dogwood. We already passed through this section in the morning, but this was the first time I was actually seeing it in broad daylight. My main takeaway was that it felt just as long as the out and back to Farside. On top of that, this section gives you a false sense of smelling the barn. Not a huge deal early on, but something that would most certainly be a mental hurdle later on. I finally made the turn up the final hill and breezed through the start/finish chute crossing the timing mat in 5hrs and 34min. 

Lap 2

Prepping feet

I made my way back to our tent and was greeted with a flurry of excitement. Morale was high. Ericka and Nicole caught me up on their morning while I got ready for Lap 2. My plan for lap transition was fairly simple: after every loop, I would change my socks and treat my feet with anti-friction cream, put on a fresh kit, drink a bottle of Tailwind Rebuild, refill my vest with necessary fuel, and be on my way. All of these things were pre-staged in labeled bags to make it easier for Ericka to just grab for me. Because I was about 25 min ahead of schedule, I took my time getting ready and gave Nicole a rundown of the course conditions. At noon, I set off on Lap 2. 

Overall, Lap 2 was relatively smooth despite the persistent issues with my watch. Early on, I paired up with another runner until the Gate aid station when I realized I was behind on my pacing strategy. All things considered, this wasn’t really an issue considering I still had 70 miles to go, but for some reason it made me feel slightly panicked. In ultras, the mental game is always the hardest part to control but one that you really need to hold on to …and it was too early to slip up. I wanted to keep myself in the right headspace for as long as I could and if this meant speeding up a little bit, then so be it. I was able to make up some time and soon found myself back with the same group of runners I settled in with during Lap 1. Inner calm returned and I hit cruise control again. Soon, I found myself back at the final hill leading up to Dogwood and flew through the chute. 6hrs and 37 min. 

Lap 3

50 miles down, 50 to go. Although I felt a little worn out, I honestly felt the best I’ve ever felt after a 50 mile run. My legs were still loose and I knew I would have no issues starting Lap 3. I also PR’d my 50 mile time. What??? I made a mental note to tell Jen, my coach, that whatever we had done in training leading up to this race, we would have to repeat for my next 50. 

Nicole was ready to roll when I got back to the tent and patiently waited while I changed socks, grabbed a clean hat, and threw on a long sleeve shirt. The sun was already setting and I knew the toughest part of the entire race was closing in fast. I was thankful for the green and blue chem lights that Ericka and Nicole put up around our tent earlier in the day to help make our tent more identifiable going into the night.

Now for some real talk: a friend of mine told me that the race “doesn’t start until sundown” and that is 100% true. But it’s not just about the physical aspect of the race anymore…you have to manage the mental parts too. Running in the dark does strange things to you and it takes a lot to grit up, ignore the demons, and push through. Of course, this is easier said than done, but in a sport where nothing is guaranteed, you have to go in ready to fight. 

As I finished getting myself ready, I told Nicole that I just wanted to put in a solid third lap. We switched on our headlamps, bid Ericka goodbye, and were off. 

Lights at Gate Aid Station

The first half of the third loop went well despite the increasing darkness. Minutes and miles passed quickly as Nicole and I played catch up and updated each other on things going on in our lives. We made pretty good time to the Gate where we were welcomed by a neat row of glow sticks and white lights on either side of the road leading up to the aid station. I had noticed that my appetite was starting to wane and had asked Nicole to remind me to continue to eat between aid stations. The options I currently had in my vest didn’t seem appealing and all I could do was sip on some Tailwind. At Gate, I shopped around hoping I’d see something tempting. I had hit my PB&J limit and sought out the hot food options. I eventually settled on a cup of ramen. I’d had really good experiences with ramen at previous races and had this idea that the salty broth would fix all my problems. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. 

After Gate, things started to get weird. I was tired and losing focus …so much so that I relied on Nicole to call out uphills, downhills, and flats to help manage our run/walk strategy. I was loopy from the tunnel vision my headlamp was creating and had to start fighting the desire to pass out.  At Damnation, I stopped at my drop bag and switched out the fuel in my vest and then stopped to look at our aid station options. After I ate some ramen and some potato chips, we set off to Farside. The rest of the lap was absolutely horrible. To give you perspective, our pace at the beginning of loop fell between 16-17 minute miles. By the second half of the loop, our pace was likely somewhere between 18 and 20+ min miles. But Nicole kept encouraging me to walk the uphills and technical areas and try to pick up the pace on the flats and downs, even if it was just a shuffle. We were crawling. It was cold. It was dark. I was stumbling around like I was drunk. My feet were burning. I wanted to quit. I remember telling Nicole repeatedly that things sucked and that I was feeling really, really bad. I would stop often to regain my composure and break eye contact from the trail to try and refocus my vision. Did I mention I wanted to quit? 

At some point, I became fixated on what to do with my drop bag on Lap 4. I knew that drop bags wouldn’t be returned to the start/finish area until about an hour or so after the official cut off. The idea of sticking around to wait for it seemed ridiculous so I thought about different ways I could take it with me. I thought about cinching it to the back of my hydration pack but realized it was too full and bulky. I also thought about throwing out the extra race fuel I hadn’t used to make the drop bag more compact. But I couldn’t justify doing that to untouched food. I thought about it some more, but my moment of coherent thinking quickly dissipated into a muddled haze of exhaustion.

Somewhere close to Nature Center, the roots finally got me and I fell hard…twice in the span of 30 seconds. Ouch. Luckily, this part of the trail was soft sand so I shuffled away unscathed. Minutes later, we hit the aid station. That meant we were only 3.78 miles away from Dogwood. The smell of the barn was real and we were so close to the end! But it wasn’t real…it wasn’t over yet. Yes, we were 3.78 miles away from the end, but that was 3.78 miles away from starting another lap. I literally couldn’t even fathom doing that. All I wanted to do was to get back to Dogwood, throw in the towel, and go back to our Airbnb to sleep. Finally, Nicole and I made it to that final hill. We walked sullenly through the start/finish chute and crossed the timing mat in ~8hrs 5min.

Lap 4

Back at the tent, Nicole and I sat shivering in our camping chairs. Ericka ran around like a mother hen grabbing the gear I needed for Lap 4. I just sat there and told Ericka that I felt horrible and that we all really needed to have a serious chat. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it and told them that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t. To their credit, neither of them took the bait. Instead, Ericka gave me my down jacket, wrapped me up in a sleeping bag to keep me warm, and sweetly explained why my logic didn’t make sense. I asked Nicole what the pace was on our worst mile during Lap 3 (22 min) and had Ericka quickly do the math. Apparently, even in the worst-case scenario, it was likely that I’d still make the 30 hour cutoff. I sat some more and let that settle in. I think if it were guaranteed that I wouldn’t make it, I would have DNF’d right then and there. But I still had a chance…a very good chance…and if I stopped now, I’d just be flat out giving up. Before the race, I told Ericka that she could not let me quit unless I was experiencing a serious health issue, dying, or was already dead. I wasn’t any of those things so there was no other choice. I had to continue. I finally changed my socks, switched into leggings, and slowly stood up. It took everything in me to take that first step. One step turned into two and then Nicole and I were on our way down the hill and back out into the night.

Trying to decide what to do

Heading out for Lap 4

Lap 4 was a death march…exactly like what I’d read about in other race reports. At some point during Lap 3 Nicole had said “please don’t make me walk for 10 hours on the next lap.” Well, we definitely walked but only for 9 hours…so I consider that a success! 

Things were pretty rough up for the first part of the loop. Nicole’s IT bands had flared up, but she was a trooper and continued on with me. Although my feet hurt pretty badly, my legs were somehow still working and my IT bands were fine. I was genuinely surprised because they were pretty tight prior to the race and I was sure that they were going to cause issues. But it seemed that my biggest problem for this race would be the mental hurdles. And the fact that my headlamp was starting to lose power. I ran with an extra headlamp in my hand to offset the fading beam on my head. Unfortunately, my secondary light was only 200 lumens and didn’t seem to make too much of a difference. Bummer. 

At Gate, I ate some more ramen and one of the volunteers cheerfully told me I was doing great and that by the time we got to Farside, the sun would be coming up. This raised my spirits a bit because we’d be able to see the trail again, get our bearings, and maybe regain a little sanity. I convinced myself that if I could hold on until sunup, we’d be okay. 

On our way back from Gate towards Damnation, a runner came up to us and told us a runner was on the ground ahead and that they were going to get help. We came upon him soon after and he was huddled in the fetal position on the side of the trail. We stopped to ask him if he was okay and thankfully, he was conscious and speaking. Once we confirmed he was stable, we continued on. 

Sunrise...finally

At Damnation, I ate more ramen, but it was clear to me that this wasn’t enough. I haven’t talked about fueling in a while, but just know that it wasn’t great. Over the course of Lap 3, my fueling regimen had faltered and I definitely wasn’t getting enough calories. I felt like I was trying to play catch up which is NOT the position you want to be in. In a last-ditch effort to fix myself, I decided to visit my drop bag and eat two high calorie (200) gels for a 420 calorie boost. This was 100% the right call and I started to feel good again. My focus and determination returned and I was able to push the speed a bit on the Farside out and back. Finally, the sun was coming up and soon we were refilling our water bottles at the aid station. This was another turning point for me because once we left Farside, I could mentally start crossing off the aid stations and celebrating the fact that we’d never have to see them again. Ever. 

Back at Damnation, I picked up my drop bag and decided to carry it with me to the finish line. I was mentally fried and wanted to get home as quickly as possible after the race. At this point, I knew I was going to finish. All we needed to do was grind out the rest of the loop. Of course, this is easier said than done. The sun brought its own set of issues, namely the heat. I had shed my down jacket and stuffed it in my drop bag, but I still had on my black long sleeve shirt and black cold weather leggings. My drop bag had everything you could ever possibly need in terms of food and first aid…but no additional layers of clothing. There was nothing I could do but hydrate and cook. 

Running with my drop bag; Photo cred Tejas Trails/No Sleep Media

At some point after Damnation, I noticed I had a blister on the ball of my foot. I blame the sand on the course. Unfortunately, I didn’t use gaiters so a bunch of it ended up in my shoes. I considered doing the smart thing which would have been to stop and take care of it right then. But I was stubborn and we were so, so close to the end. I decided to ignore it until we were somewhere between Nature Center and Dogwood when it popped. I stopped dead in my tracks and thought I was going to be sick. Once the feeling passed, I gingerly took a step forward and pain shot through my foot and it started throbbing. Great. I ended up sitting down on the side of the trail to take a quick look at it, but since the issue had taken care of itself, there was nothing I could do. So I put my shoe back on and pushed the pain out of my mind. 

Soon, we ran into some guys on a gator who said hello and told us we were about a mile and a half or so from the finish. Then they took off and Nicole suspected they were going to go round up the runners behind us who weren’t going to make the cutoff. The smell of the barn was strong now and Nicole and I were both antsy for the race to be over. Knowing things were coming to an end soon, I thanked her profusely for everything she had done for me during the race. She laughed and said “Hey. The next time you want to hang out, can we just go to bar?” 

As we approached the final hill up to the start/finish chute, Nicole told me that if I had the energy, I should go ahead and finish it. I didn’t need to be asked twice. I took off running. When I got to the base of the hill, I met a volunteer who immediately turned and raced back up. Apparently, she was the crossing guard at the road crossing before the chute. I power hiked the hill and as soon as I hit the pavement, I started running again. Most of the tents in the chute had been packed up and there were only a few here and there left. I saw Ericka sitting at our tent typing on her laptop and called out to her. I threw my drop bag next to her as she snapped to attention and ran to get ahead of me so she could meet me under the finish arch.  And then just like that, I crossed the finish line completing Lap 4 in ~9 hours and 15 min. I had done it! I finished in 29hrs 33 min. Race Director Brad Quinn presented me with my finisher buckle and just like that, I was officially a 100-miler runner. 

                                  
                                               

Reflection

I don’t think it has fully sunk in that I finished Rocky Raccoon 100 a week ago. In some ways, it feels like a dream…but then the anterior tibial tendonitis in my right ankle reminds me that it did happen. Despite all the lows (and believe me, I experienced some of my lowest during this race), this was one of the best experiences of my life. I'm thankful that this sport and this community have inspired my curiosity to question my limits, push those limits, and -most importantly- given me the confidence to just go for it and try. 

That said, I honestly could not have done this without the support of my family, friends, and coach. Thank you all for your love, support, and sacrifice. 

-To my wife Ericka and my friend Nicole: You are amazing. You gave up your weekend to crew and pace me and I will forever be grateful. Nicole, I am so happy I could be there for your first 50 miler!!!

-To my coach Jen: Thank you for not batting an eye when I casually asked if I could add this race to my schedule and for your expert advice since the start of my ultra journey. 

-To Tejas Trails: Thank you for a wonderfully organized race. Hats off to you. Your staff, volunteers, and aid stations were fantastic. 

-And lastly...a very special thanks goes out to my fellow Rocky Raccoon 2020 racers. Your bravery to toe the line, your selflessness to encourage others, and your grit to get it done inspires me to keep going. See ya’ll at the next one!