This route was my first-ever ultra back in early 2023. That time my goal was sub-8 hrs. I had a rough day and ran 8:29, so I knew I had to come back eventually. The problem was, I moved to Colorado later that year. So this year, when I was home for the holidays, I decided to go make an attempt at the record. The weather looked good - cloudy and cool with a small chance of rain.
I opted to go unsupported to save time by not having to resupply. Plus, if the overall record slipped away, I could still go for the unsupported one.
I started with 1.6 L of skratch, and carried 4 flasks pre-filled with skratch powder to fill up at the water fountain at the summit parking lot. I knew that water fountains are a bit of a grey area in the rules for an unsupported fkt, but the previous unsupported record holder mentioned using this water fountain in his attempt, so I planned on using it as well (key word: planned). I also packed a filter flask, just in case I ran out of water. For fuel I used sis beta fuel gels, precision flow gel, and precision & amacx caffeine gels, along with skratch in each bottle.
I wrote splits on my arm for a 6:50 finish, but ran by feel. I started by climbing Jack’s Knob because it was closest to home. I felt better as I went, and tagged the summit sign 10 minutes ahead of my prediction. Next, I descended Arkaquah, my favorite of the 3. It went smoothly until I took a minor fall on the super steep, loose part near the bottom. I was fine, but had to search for my glasses in the leaves for a little bit. I still made it to the bottom 10 minutes ahead of my prediction, so I now had a 25 minute buffer on the record according to my predictions (previous record holder ran trails in a different order).
I was daunted by the Arkaquah climb, and thought shit was about to get real, but I felt fine and moved well!
I made it to the summit parking lot ahead of schedule, and headed to the water fountain to fill my bottles, only to find that the water fountains were closed for the season due to freezing temperatures. It was well above freezing, but both of them were duct taped and impossible to use. I probably should've driven up before my attempt just to make sure they were open. A park ranger was standing nearby, and noticed my reaction. He offered me some water, but I turned him down immediately and explained what an unsupported fkt was (in about 10 seconds). Apparently I was very committed to going unsupported (and stubborn). I continued up to the summit and suddenly realized how much of a risk I was taking. Mentally, it felt like I was 3/4 done, but I was only halfway mileage-wise. I could not finish (safely) without water. I had a water filter with me, but I hadn’t seen or heard any running water on either of the trails so far. This was quite the gamble. So I prayed to the trail running gods, and 3 miles later, they answered.
After 30 minutes without water, I heard the sweet sound of a stream. I chugged a bottle and filled another one while popping some salt pills. I was back in business. With the dehydration scare out of the way, it felt like I had permission to push again.
The wagon train descent was more technical than I remembered. Despite my renewed spirits, I lost some time, coming in 6 minutes behind my prediction. I tagged the red gate, popped a caffeine gel, put on some music, put my big boy pants on, and ran like someone was chasing me.
I beat my predicted time by 4 minutes on the final climb, even after stopping to refill again, and found that I still had legs for the final downhill on Jack's Knob. My hamstrings threatened to cramp on the short climb just past the parking lot, but I just sipped my skratch and kept running. I checked my watch and saw that sub-6:20 was possible if I sent it. So I sent it! And the Rocky theme song came on in my headphones at the very end as I sprinted to the Jack’s Knob info sign. Awesome ending to an awesome day!
This route is so fun and challenging! Hope to see more action on it!