Javelina Jundred

Javelina was not only a 2 hour PR but it was fun! The Javelina course consists of six 15+ mile loops and one 9 mile loop at the end. After you finished a loop you would turn around and go the other direction washing machine style. It was fun because you see everyone else on the course. There were a few hills but they weren’t very challenging during the first couple of laps. The hard part of the race was the heat and the rocks. The cool thing about Javelina is that since the race happens a few days before halloween, lots of people dress up in unique costumes.
   

There were about 400 runners, so we were kind of forced to walk the first mile. I didn’t mind since my Mom and I knew a couple people that were running the race. Seeing them was fun. After about 2 miles our friend Rob caught up with us and he was wearing a pirate suit! Running with Rob was funny because every few minutes some one would yell “Arrrr!”. The first lap was fast and very fun.
   
We started to slow down a lot during the second loop because it got hot and painful. The heat started to make me lose motivation and things sucked, but I just thought to myself “We didn’t fly all the way from Colorado to drop down!”.  One thing that made the heat a little bit better was to put ice and some cold water into my buff and have the cold water slowly run down my neck. The really nice thing about the loops was that the last half of the loop was always down hill.

 The third loop was pretty exciting because I was getting into the big number and the sun was starting to go down so heat-wise everything was getting better. What is really cool about the higher miles is that if feels like people stop doubting you and you morale goes up a lot when you go through an aid station. When my Mom and I hit the down hills we were making great time. We walked most of the uphills. At about mile 43 a bunch of family and friends called my Mom and gave us some motivation.

 Mile 45-60 is a little bit of a blur but I remember it being very dark and our headlamps were starting to dim a lot. It was weird because we just put in new batteries. Since our lights weren’t doing well my Mom and I were constantly stubbing our toes and making weird noises out of pain. If you haven’t kicked a rock at mile 60 when its dark then you are lucky. It makes you lose motivation, it hurts, and it stops your motion for a second, which is the worst part. When we finally hit the aid station we both sat down. We found out I had a pacer that was willing to go out with me for a loop. Because I was taken care of and she was in pain,  my Mom called it quits at 100k. I felt pretty bad for her because she had to take care of me and herself which makes running even harder. Luckily there was someone to pace me and help keep me awake through the dark hours.
   
The person that paced me was suppose to run the 100 but he got hit by a car two days before the race. (his name is Eric by the way). The nice thing about Eric was that his headlamp lit up the whole trail so I could see everything within a mile. Eric also had a few stories to talk about so I didn’t think about the pain I was in or being tired as much. This loop was nice because I didn’t know Eric before Javelina, so I could talk to him about a lot of things. I ended up getting to mile 75 in about 22 hours so I met the first cut off with around 2 hours to spare.
  
Since Eric was hit by a car he wasn’t feeling too good,  my Mom managed to enlist another pacer. His name was Jeff. Jeff was like 10 feet tall so when he walked I had to jog to keep up with him. It sucked at the time, but now I am glad that his legs are so long. Jeff had a lot of interesting things to talk about as well. For example, he owns a Christmas tree farm and teaches 5th grade. But the best part about Jeff was that he had bacon. When I would start to fall behind he would grab a piece of bacon and I would have to catch him to get it. Since our walking was super fast because of Jeff’s long legs we got to mile 91 in 27 hours. That meant that I had 3 hours to 9 miles.
   
Jeff didn’t let me sit down at the start/finish. I grabbed some food from my Mom and left. At the time sitting sounded amazing but if I sat down I might not have made it. So the last 9 miles were the same course as the other loops but about 6 miles in you cut down to this 3 mile down hill section that takes you to the finish.The 6 miles to the down hill was a struggle. It was hot, rocky, and uphill. It just seemed to go on and on, and since I am colorblind, from a distance I can’t tell the difference between the trail and normal dirt.

   

When we finally hit the last 3 miles we took off, which when you are at mile 97 “taking off” is a slow painful jog. When we finally hit the one mile marker I almost cried I was so happy, we had 27 minutes for the last mile! I didn’t even bother to go fast for the last mile I just slowly walked until well, I could see the finish of course! When I saw everyone I started another slow jog and made it!!!! I was quickly handed the buckle and youngest finisher award, someone took a few pictures and I finally got to sit down. It was awesome to finish and get a 2 hour PR but what really made me feel good was that  there was a more than 50% drop rate and I actually finished!!
   

Buckle and youngest finisher trophy presented by RD Jamil Coury

This is Teagan. She is 8 and ran the 100k!

Thank you so much to my pacers, Eric and Jeff. The buckle wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t volunteered. If you ever need a pacer, I would love to return the favor!

Jeff and I at the finish. So happy to have met him

Silverton 1000 48 Hour

Silverton 48 hour

Silverton was a blast! The course is a not so easy 1 mile loop that features 250 feet of climbing, oh and it's 9300 feet above sea level! Going into the race I thought "oh 250 feet isn't to bad, that's just a little hill." But when the race started I changed my mind...

With my sister Mimi at the start

beautiful course!

Cameron and I. I was about 55 miles in here

When the race started I ran, well that was until I got to the hill. I ran probably 10 steps and was already winded, I thought to myself "this sucks..." When my Dad and I finally made up all the hills we took off. Closing in on the start/finish I decided that the trick was to not run any part of the incline.

As the sun went down and I did more miles the thought of 100 miles seemed impossible. The hill was just so intimidating, and it felt like it was taking me longer to finish the mile then it actually was. My mind played a trick on me and for some reason I didn't feel like I could keep going for another day. My Dad and I were just trying to stay up and get more miles in. Finally at about mile 41 we took a little break and my dad called it a night and asked our friend Mark (who happened to be the race director) to help me find someone to run with.

It was nice to run with Mark and distract myself by asking him questions about the race. After a couple miles Mark got busy and I started running with one of his friends named Willy. Willy was in the 6 day and had about 150 miles done already. It was cool to run with someone I didn't know and hear his story. At mile 50 I took about a hour nap because I couldn't keep my eyes open. When I woke up I ran with my friend Rachel who was in the 48 hour and was at about the same mile as me. Rachel and I ran until the sun came out and my parents came back.

Seeing my parents and having the sun slowly come up again felt great. I just felt encouraged again. After I did a couple of miles with my Dad our friend Ed also came out. Ed had already done 100 miles and was trying to get 150 for the 72 hour male record. Mile 60 -70 went by fast because I was talking to family and friends a lot since the 24 hour runners had just started.

At about mile 70 Brandon Plate started running with us. Brandon is a kid ultra runner as well he was in the 72 hour and was at the same mile as I was. Talking to a fellow kid runner was pretty cool because there aren't very many of us. At mile 75 it got hard for me. I was hot and tired and lost motivation with every step. As we came into the aid station my Mom and friend Deb quickly changed that, they loaded me up with Mt. Dew and pasta which quickly changed my attitude!

Since my dad had gone to sleep I gained 15 miles on him. My dad wanted to catch up with me so he sped up and I stayed with Ed. Right after my dad left Brandon's brother Cameron started running with us too. After the top of the hill we always took a break and I had a certain stump that I always sat on. So as we get to the top Cameron takes my seat! Ed's reaction to that was to lift up his skirt and let a juicy fart come out all over Cameron! After that Ed and Cameron started having a farting contest, which was a funny but really disgusting if you smelled it!

75 miles done

At about mile 95 I heard Mark yelling "Attention runners there is a bear on the mountain! Do not approach the bear, I repeat do not approach the bear!" I decided to keep going and that I could take on a bear if it was in the way of my buckle!

At mile 98 I was running in a pack but was slowly getting ahead of them as my adrenaline kicked in. At mile 99 ran out of the aid station and very slowly jogged up the hill. It hurt to run, but I was being fueling with anticipation. When I had conquered the up hill I sprinted the down hills, I couldn't wait for the buckle. Closing in on the last .1 I sprinted as fast as I could, my Mom expected me to finish with the pack so when she saw a single light she was caught off guard.

I finished!!! I couldn't believe it but I finished! My last mile took 20 minutes which is pretty good with that monster hill. After 100 miles I sat down had some soup and decided to go out for one last mile and make it a distance PR. I did the last mile the group of friends that I had been running with and took it slow. I am very proud to have finished 101 miles and coming in second place male, third place overall. Silverton was so fun and brutally difficult from the first step! I will wear my buckle with pride and can't wait to come back next year!

My second 100 mile buckle. Yes, I would have fought a bear for it!

My friends and the RDs, Sharill and Mark

My Dad thought I deserved a lift!

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InknBurn is my favorite running clothes company.  I like them because their shirts look cool and don't chafe my skin. The colors are bright and don't fade or change over time. I like that they make kids' running clothes that are really made to run long.

I am so honored to be chosen as an InknBurn ambassador.  The best part about that for you is that I can give my friends a discount! If you want to get your own InknBurn apparel, you can go to their website: www.inknburn.com, use the  code "colbytoldme" to get 15% off!

I know you won't be disappointed!

I ran 100 miles in my favorite InB 100 shirt!

My Dad was very dashing in his InB tuxedo!

Rocking my InB Sonar shirt at the Leadville 10k

Giving Back to The Running Community

I love running so much, but there are a lot of ways you can be involved in the sport besides running in the race.

Have you guys ever been running on a trail and made it to an aid station without anybody there? Well if you haven't, let me just tell you... it sucks! During my 100 miler at Ride The Wind, there were several unmanned aid stations. It wasn't nearly as much fun as when I have experienced fun volunteers at the aid stations of other races.

So when you go volunteer at an aid station or help out a race, you may not know it, but you probably just made a runner feel a lot better. Volunteers are really part of the running family. Volunteering can also be quite fun!

manning the aid station at mile 83 of the Chimera 100

For example, one great thing about big races are people cheering near the finish line. Basically all you need are your hands and/or a cowbell. When people hear all the noise, their adrenaline and morale are increased and they get a great finish to their race experience.  I know from personal experience that a few people cheering for you and some loud noises really make for a great finish. My friend Ed (the Jester) and I have stayed at finish lines until the final runner comes in. That is always really fun. You should try it!

Cheering for the runners at the OC Marathon in 2012

Another way you can give back to the community is by running in someone's name or by running for an organization. I ran in honor of Pete Mingwah at a few of my races. He was an amazing runner I met at several races. He was a member of our California running family and he passed away of a brain aneurism.  I wanted to honor him by wearing a bib with his picture on it. It made me feel good to show his family he was loved by runners everywhere.

Crewing for a runner is another great way to give back. It can help a runner get through their race safely. By crewing you are giving the runner everything they need and helping them get through tough times throughout a race.  I have crewed before and it is really tough work, but to a runner it is amazing to have whatever you need whenever you want it. It is also fun to be such an important part of their race success.

Being on the crew for Ed at Badwater made me really want to run this race!

The last way I think that you can give back to the community is by pacing. Pacers are amazing, they keep you company and entertain you. In my opinion the best part about pacers are the fact that you get to see another living soul that isn't exhausted. Pacers have helped me make bad times in a race not so bad.

pacing my dad at his first 100 miler

It takes a lot of hard work from selfless people to make a running event successful. If you are a runner and you have never volunteered, you really should. It is fun and rewarding.

Ride The Wind 100

RTW (Ride the Wind) was by far the hardest race I have every done, but guess what? I did my first 100 miler!

The course is composed of three technical 31 mile loops and one 7 mile loop.

At the beginning of the race it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest because I was super excited. My Mom was going to run the first 100K with me and then my Dad was going to run the rest with me. 

The first five miles went by pretty fast because it was cool and and we spent time talking to our friend Giovanni and another runner. But after that it started to get hard. After the first aid station, there was an extremely steep down hill and then it was basically like running in a riverbed full of rocks.

part of the downhill portion after AS1

The good thing about getting out of the riverbed was there was some solid ground. Getting to the next aid station was hard considering it was hot and we were out of water. As I was running I was starting to feel good, when my toe got caught under a big rock and I fell and scraped up my elbow. After the fall I shot back up and kept running, but it hurt a lot.

When we hit mile 20 my Dad and sister came out and prepared us for the hardest part of the loop, the last 11 miles. They were exposed, mostly uphill, and it was really easy to get lost. So after getting lost, and gaining about two bonus miles, we got on the right trail and managed to make it to the next aid station. There was little water and the heat was really effecting me, but my Mom managed to encourage me and we made it to the start/finish.

As we ventured the 2nd loop I realized that the hardest part of the race was the heat, because the hills were not tough at all. I also struggled with the rocks and tripped several times throughout the race.

As we were getting closer to mile 50 it was getting really dark, we had to use my Mom's iPhone  for light because we had not made it to the aid station in time to get flashlights. It was really scary until finally we heard bells and saw our friend Ed with our lights. 

What really sucked about running in the dark was those dang Joshua trees... Since it was dark and we didn't have any lights, they looked like people following us!

During the last 11 miles of the loop I felt awful. We had gotten lost again and that added mileage. I was exhausted. I got discouraged, but Ed and my Mom helped cheer me up. 

We ended up finding a main road and we finally made it to the aid station. Ok... so lets get a few things straight now that we are more then half way done with my journey... The last 38 miles were NOT easy, in fact they are the hardest part in my opinion! Since you have gotten this far I am not going to sugar coat it! My Mom said the night part was hard, and boy was she right!

Now that I was running with my Dad and Ed I was exhausted. A mile felt like 10 miles and I felt really tired. By far the worst part of that loop was that awful riverbed, it was dark so it was hard to see the rocks and I wasn't lifting my feet up very high so I stubbed my toe numerous times. 

The one thing I found really nice about the last loop was that the glorious sun was coming up!! As the sun came up my energy slowly came up too. It also helped that my Dad and Ed made a game out of the trail markings. We came up with some unique ice cream flavors. You probably would have had to been there to understand!

I went a little faster when I was starting to realize that I was almost done!  Although I was getting tired it felt really nice to see the mile 20 aid station. At the aid station I ate a donut and slept for a few minutes before heading off again. The good thing about the sun coming up is the recharge of energy you get but the bad thing is that it gets hot...

Boy did it get hot on the last 11 miles! I started bonking again. The only positive thing I can recall from the last 11 miles is the fact that I was so close to that amazing buckle. My pace seemed to increase slightly as I got closer to the start/finish. When I hit the start/finish I basically got an anxiety attack, I was so excited. After that loop the only thing between me and my dream buckle was the last small 7 mile loop.

The last 7 miles hurt a lot, but people came out to help me.  The first 3 miles were all uphill, and the rest of it was flat and rocky. About 4 miles in my knee just started burning and it made me walk even slower. I was just really ready to be done! 

My Dad and I on the last loop

On the last little stretch my Dad and I start running! Our friends made a human tunnel for me to run through and I got the buckle!! 

I was so happy!

When it was in my hands all the pain was worth it. 

It didn't take very long for me to feel normal again after this race. I can't wait to do it again!

only 3 finishers and I was one of them!

My first 100 mile and 100 kilometer buckles!

Beyond Limits Ultra Race Report

BLU was super fun! I did 50 miles, so I had 112 miles for the week. The race was really nice because we slept in cabins right next to the course. The course was pretty nice too because it was flat and was only 1.78 miles long so you were far from the aid station.

I was signed up for the marathon, but Ken, the race director said I could do more miles. The day before the race I was feeling pretty confident that I could do 100 miles, but what I didn't realize is that my body was still recovering from the 100k the week before.

When the race started I was feeling really good. I had some minor pain in my shoulder, but it didn't last long. Since my Mom was still sore from her 100 miler the weekend before and couldn't really run, she decided to walk. Trust me though,  it is a really fast walk! I spent a lot of time early in the race with my dad because he felt good and we ran a lot. As the miles went by I started hurting. The pain just got worse but I was determined to get at least 50 miles. When I hit about mile 30 I found out that my friend Matt who is 13 and was doing his first marathon won his age division, this made me feel pretty good.

When I reached about mile 40 I had this really bad side stitch that wouldn't go away so I walked to mile 44. Since it wouldn't stop I laid down for a while. After several hours, I woke up and the pain was gone, so I put my running gear back on and went out to find my parents. Honestly they looked really bad, so I decided to walk with them. The last six miles were pretty nice because I didn't really have any pain and I was with my Mom and Dad.

Although my original goal was 100 miles, I was pretty happy with 50 miles considering that I did my 100K the weekend before. During the race I was a little bit disappointed that I didn't get 100 miles, but there is always next time!

Overall BLU was a great race and I would recommend it for your first ultra distance because the race directors, course, and volunteers were amazing.

I earned my first buckle!

Razorback was so much fun! It was my first 100k and I got my first buckle there! The course is a 2 mile loop and it is pretty flat. The only really bad thing about the race for my Mom and I was that the drive to get there was 7 hours long!

Right before the race started I was very nervous and excited, it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I had a feeling that I would be fueled by Mt. Dew, soup, and anxiety,  like at Across The Years.

I was glad when the race finally started. Our good friend Ed The Jester ran with us for about 10 or 12 miles but then he left us to run his own pace. He just took off he was going super fast. At about mile 12 I had to go to the bathroom 3 times, my stomach was starting to hurt. It worried me a little bit.

After a few more miles my stomach stopped churning, and thank goodness things started getting better. My confidence was going up and I was starting to feel really good as the day went by.When I started approaching mile 30 I got really excited because I was already half way there, but that is where it starts to get harder for me. I started to ache some and get tired. My mom had me eat more and slow down our pace. After a while, I felt better.

Later, my Mom had a bad tape problem and her toe was just ripped up and looked pretty bad, but I was doing pretty good. When the sun went down my Mom and I still kept around the same pace and we found out that we had an hour to do 2 miles for a sub 12 hour 50 miles. That was a nice little morale boost that helped my mom and I feel a little better.

The next milestone for me was mile 56, that was what I ran at ATY. I was anxious to get passed that distance for the first time. The good thing was I wasn't doing the death march, I was still going pretty strong. After I hit 56 an 11 year old kid ran a lap with me, he had done a half marathon earlier but the farthest he has ever gone was a 50k. It was fun to talk to another kid runner. Along the way I was happy to share several laps with our running friends. It sure makes the time go by faster.

During the last lap anxiety for that buckle started to  kick in and I started to run faster. Ed and our friend John were running with us. All I could think was, "I am about to get my first buckle!!!" The finish line was in sight and I ran as fast as I could. When I hit the finish, my emotions started flooding in.  A phone was handed to me, and I was happy it was my dad talking and I had just gotten my first buckle!!!

After I finished I fell asleep in our car and woke up to seeing a bunch of people huddle around my Mom to see how nasty her blisters were. She finished her 100 mile race while I was sleeping. It was fun to celebrate with everyone.

Razorback was a great race and I suggest it if you are going to try to run your first ultra run Razorback, because of how easy the course is and they have great volunteers and food.

Across the Years - 2012

My First Official Ultra-Marathon!

 I did my first ultra-marathon at Across The Years. Across The Years is a 24,48, or 72 hour event (I chose to do 24 hours). The course is a 1.05 loop and you switch directions every 4 hours so you don’t get bored of it. I was really excited the morning that my race started, my goal was to do a 100k which is about 62 miles. My Mom and Dad had already been running for 24 hours and were doing great! In the beginning I started out way too fast.  “I am doing 62 miles, not 13.1”  was the thought that reminded me to slow down.
 

 I was supposed to be doing 13 or 14 minute miles but I was doing 10 minute miles instead, that made my 10k time about 57 minutes!  That was definitely too fast so I decided to walk half of the next loop with a 9 year old that was going for 50 miles. He looked like he was having a blast.

  
At around mile 18 I ran up to my Mom and Dad and found out that my Mom was at mile 100! She also told me that to win the female division for 48 hours she only had to do 30 miles, so she might have a chance to win. This happy thought made me ignore my aches and run faster. At about mile 26 I was having weird pains, for example if I bent my knee too much pain would shoot up my leg which really hurt. I finished the first marathon just under 6 hours so I was keeping a decent pace.
  
After the first 50k I realized that every step I took was a PR, because this was the farthest I had ever ran! I was feeling pretty good at mile 35, but that ended when I realized that for a 100k i still had 27 long and hard miles... When I hit mile 40 I walked a little bit with the 9 year I was talking about earlier, I found out that his name was Liam and the farthest distance he had ever ran was a marathon too.

  
Miles 45-50 really kicked my butt. My legs were super tight, I was some what cold, and I was pushing to finish 50 miles in under 12 hours. At the beginning of mile 49 I passed my Mom and Dad and this is the conversation me and my mom had:

Mom- Colby why are you crying?
Me- Their tears of joy, I have 20 minutes to finish this lap then ill have done 50 miles in under 12 hours!
Mom- Go do it!   
  
I ended up finishing the first 50 miles in 11 hours 55 minutes, I did it! After that I walked 6 miles with my Mom and was really hurting so I sat down in the warming tent with my grandma. I waited until it was midnight and watched the runners do a “victory lap” to celebrate News Years, and well, I noticed something... our friend Michael Miller was wearing a diaper! I laughed at it until my Mom came back. When my Mom got back I got up to finish my 100k, but my legs were so stiff that I was basically walking like a penguin, so my Mom made me go sleep in my tent.
  
My Dad said that while I was asleep I was rolling around saying, “just one more loop”. Sadly, I couldn't finish the 100k but I did 56 miles that is more than double the farthest I have ever ran.

By the way here are my family's results: my Dad: 103.95 miles, My Mom: 137.52 miles she got first place in the 48hour!, Me: 56.7 miles.