Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run – 2007

Davy Crockett

Saratoga Spring, UT

Other Crockett running adventures

“Should we check his pulse?”

Comment from a runner or pacer seeing me laying on the trail at mile 93

During my first ultrarunning year, I ran in the 2005 Vermont 100. It was my third 100-mile race attempt. I was trying to do too much, too fast. After a hot and humid day, I quit the race around mile 80 at 2 a.m. My recovery was very tough and I was sick for a week. I knew that one of these years I would return for revenge. 2007 was the year to get revenge.

The race is run near Woodstock, VT, and runs up and down beautiful rolling hills by gorgeous ranches and farms and through a few small rural towns. The course is a huge loop, laid out in a “shamrock” formation, consisting of 70% dirt or jeep roads with the rest on forest trails (there are a couple miles of pavement). The course both climbs and descends 14,000 – 15,000 feet. Many of the dirt roads are very hard and feel like pavement. The wooded trails are wonderful, soft and technical at times. An endurance horse ride is conducted pretty much on the same course at the same time.

The Vermont 100 is one of the four 100-milers that make up the “Grand Slam” of ultrarunning. (The other three are Western States, Leadville, and Wasatch). This year I lost out in the lottery for both Western States and Wasatch, so I scheduled my own “Grand Slam” that would be tougher than the official one – five races in four months. I would run Bighorn 100, Vermont 100, Leadville 100, Plain 100, and Bear 100. I was successful at Bighorn last month. Next up was Vermont.

We planned a vacation to visit family in New York and then would travel to beautiful Vermont for the big race. My wife Linda, and youngest son, 10-year-old Connor, made the trip with me. On Thursday and Friday, we spent some time in Stowe, Vermont, watching the rain fall from the skies. The forecast for race day looked great. After a few days of rain to soften up the trails, it looked like we would receive cool and dry weather for race day.

We arrived at the start/finish location, Silver Hill Meadow, in the early afternoon on Friday. I checked into the race and attended the entertaining race briefing. This year they discovered that the course had been 2.5 miles short of 100 miles for the past few years. 2.5 miles were added to the first part of the race in order to make it an official 100-miler.

Me at Silver Hill Meadow

After the race briefing, my crew and pacer arrived, Carl Hutzler of Virginia. Carl is a backpacking buddy who made the long drive from Virginia to experience his first ultra race. Last year he took up running and completed his first marathon. When he greeted me, he joked that I already looked wobbly. At the pre-race dinner we planned out the race strategy and went over my likely schedule. My goal was to break 24 hours. It was an aggressive goal, but with a good race I was confident that I could do it. My training leading up to this race concentrated on improving my foot speed on dirt roads. I placed well in both a 10K and a half marathon in the two weeks before the race. I carefully planned my pace goals and was astounded at how slow my pace was two years ago in 2005. I knew I could greatly improve on that. (Note that 2.5 miles was added to the 2007 course in the first few miles).

	miles	clock goal	goal	2005
Start	0	4:00 AM	0:00:00
Densmore Hill	7	5:10 AM	1:10:00	0:54
Tafsville Bridge	15.3	6:40 AM	2:40:00	2:27
S. Pomfret	17.5	7:05 AM	3:05:00
Pretty House	21.1	7:50 AM	3:50:00	3:51
U-Turn	25.1	8:40 AM	4:40:00	4:38
Stage Rd	30.1	9:40 AM	5:40:00	6:15
Route 12	33.9	10:25 AM	6:25:00	7:21
Vondell Res	35.8	10:50 AM	6:50:00	8:02
Lincoln Brg	39.2	11:45 AM	7:45:00	8:50
Barr House	41.4	12:15 PM	8:15:00	9:35
Lillians	43.5	12:43 PM	8:43:00	10:15
Jenny Farm	45.6	1:08 PM	9:08:00	10:59
Camp 10 Bear	47.2	1:33 PM	9:33:00	11:28
Pinky's	51	2:33 PM	10:33:00	12:55
Birminghams	54.1	3:23 PM	11:23:00	13:53
Tracer Brook	57	4:11 PM	12:11:00	14:46
Prospect Hill	60.2	5:11 PM	13:11:00	16:06
Margarittaville	62.1	5:39 PM	13:39:00	16:36
Brown SH	65.1	6:24 PM	14:24:00	17:22
Camp 10 Bear	70.1	7:34 PM	15:34:00	18:52
Seabrook	74.4	8:47 PM	16:47:00	20:20
West Winds	77	9:32 PM	17:32:00	22:12
Goodmans	81	10:42 PM	18:42:00
Cow Shed	83.6	11:27 PM	19:27:00
Bill's	88.6	12:52 AM	20:52:00
Keating's	92	1:45 AM	21:45:00
Polly's	95.3	2:41 AM	22:41:00
Sargent's	97.9	3:25 AM	23:25:00
Finish	100	4:00 AM	24:00:00

The Crocketts under the tent at the start

We spent the night at the Pond Ridge Motel, about 20 minutes from the start area. I actually managed to sleep about four hours before getting up at 2:30 a.m. to get ready. We arrived at the start with a half hour to spare and quickly found Carl who had camped at Silver Hill Meadow. The wait for the last few minutes before a 100-miler is always odd. You feel great but know that in a few minutes the torture will begin. Because this race is in the east, there wasn’t anyone I recognized to wish luck. With five minutes to go, I shed my jacket and made my way to the start line. My plan was to start fast and bank a bunch of miles while I still felt good.

The 100-milers are off and running down the road

At 4:00 a.m., we were off, running down the road – about 200 of us. I carried in my hand a headlamp to light the road for the first hour or so. The roads would be pretty smooth so tripping shouldn’t be a problem. I soon settled in not far behind the leaders. For the first mile the leaders were only a hundred yards ahead. As I started to get warmed up, I maintained an initial place right behind the second pack for runners. There were probably about 12-15 runners ahead of me. I was feeling great as we made our way up and down dirt roads passing by many ranches and farms. Because I train at 5,000 feet or higher, I could really feel the difference at this low altitude. It didn’t feel like I would get tired. The clear dark sky was blazing with stars. After about a half hour, I was still feeling very fine and just couldn’t hold back, I passed the runners in the second pack and set the pace for them for a couple miles. I arrived at Densmore Hill (mile 7) at 1:02. It was a very fast start to a 100-miler.

Dawn arrives

Signs of dawn started to appear. We could hear birds chirping and roosters crowing. In the dark it seemed like the race directors were making us run in a constant circle as a joke. I remember having this thought as Hiroki Ishikawa (finished 5^th) passed by me. As the light finally appeared, the beautiful green hills of Vermont came into view. That is why I love this race, the green scenery is incredible. I arrived at the first covered bridge, Taftsville Bridge (mile 15.3) at 2:15. The second pack of runners caught up to me at the aid station and ran on ahead. I was carrying two water bottles but only needed to have one filled during the entire race. The aid stations are very close together making it possible to carry less than other races.

With about 15-20 runners ahead and about 180 behind, I discovered that it became pretty lonely near the front of the pack. There weren’t any large groups to run with or talk to. At times I couldn’t see any runners ahead or behind me for long stretches. The morning run continued to go well. The leading woman runner passed me about the 2:30 mark. I arrived at South Pomfret (mile 17.5) at 2:40. I was 25 minutes ahead of my pace goal. After running almost the entire time so far, I started to walk uphills and saw more runners as they passed me. I was ready to settle into my usual race pace and knew that dozens of runners would probably pass me over the next few hours. I was really enjoying the morning. The course took us through a nice trail section that I really liked. These trail sections were usually double-track ATV trails on private property. The land owners kindly were letting us get away from the dirt roads and cruise through the wonderful shady forest. At times there would be a person in front of their house cheering us on in the early morning. The temperature was perfect for running. The sun was starting to peek through the trees and there was a nice breeze.

Me, running through a forest road in the morning

I arrived at the first crewing station, Pretty House (mile 21.1) at 3:32. It was great to see Carl. I think he was surprised to see me so soon. He let out a cheer and went to work. I really didn’t need much, just a refill, so I only stayed for about a minute. I continued on strong and arrived at U-turn (mile 25.1) at 4:19. I was just a mile shy of a marathon and still cranking at a fast pace. Those that passed me looked like strong, young runners.

The Endurance Ride

At the 5:16 mark I pulled out my mini-recorder and recorded the sound of horse hoofs. I said, “Well, the horses caught up with me a little after the 5-hour mark. (They started an hour after the runners). About ten horses have passed me now. I’m getting close to the Stage Road aid station. The second-place woman just passed me. During this section, I slowed down quite a bit. I was passed by about 15 people who were cruising pretty well. I’m in my rhythm now. It sure is pleasant – lots of shade. We went up on a high grassy ridge that was fun coming down. Most of it is forested road with some trails with some short muddy sections.” My main problem that would plague me for the rest of the day was a sore toe. The toe next to my small toe sometimes starts swelling up and is painful with every step. This flared up and started to slow me.

A crazy crew vehicle. The sign on the headlights reads:

No Whining, No Stopping, 100 Miles

I arrived at Stage Road (mile 30.1) at 5:23. It was just a mile shy of 50K. Still a nice fast pace. Carl really let out a cheer when I arrived calling out my name, Davy Crockett. I could hear other crew members ask, “Is that really his name?” They joined in the crazy hooting and hollering. It looked like Carl was having a good time.

The rest of the morning went pretty well. I reached Vondell Reservoir (mile 35.8) at 6:34 and Lincoln Bridge (mile 39.2) at 7:14. In 2005, I arrived here at 8:50, running 2.5 fewer miles. I was very pleased at my improved pace, well over two hours ahead of my first attempt here. After the Lincoln Covered Bridge, I watched the last two horses cross the river through the water. They were a beautiful sight.

My next problem was my bad knee that was scoped four years ago (torn meniscus). The pavement and very hard dirt roads for the past few miles was really taking its toll on my knee. This is what is annoying about this course. My knee started to ache bad and started to slow me down some more. At 7:40 I took out my recorder and said with labored breathing, “Well, I’m grinding up a hill, in the heat, paved, hurting my knee. I’m at about mile 41. I’m doing OK, about a half hour ahead of schedule. I’ll see Carl again in about six miles. It’s getting warm. At least there is a breeze otherwise it would be pretty oppressive. (Noise of car passing). It is mostly sunny, only a few clouds up there that aren’t getting in the way. People are still passing me, but less frequently. I’m content to just stay on my schedule. If I can get through this heat. I have quite a ways to go before sunset. (noise of another car passing). Cars go by really fast, not very courteous. This hill is pretty steep.”

A runner on the course

I continued on, staying ahead of pace going into the next aid stations. I noticed that at the aid stations I caught up and re-passed many runners. I pushed it hard going into Camp 10 Bear (mile 47.2) at 9:13. Carl yelled like crazy as I arrived. He noticed that I looked pretty hammered and he guided me to the medical station where I was weighed. I was doing fine and felt pretty well hydrated. Carl then guided me to a chair near his jeep. He had everything from my drop bags laid out and ready for me use. A perfect crew!

Carl made these observations in a quick email to my backpacking buddies. “He looked a little wobbly but he was still going. Of course he looked wobbly last night before the race too. He got some hammer gel a half a sandwich and a sock. I think he left a water bottle behind (I didn’t) but thankfully its is only 8 miles to the next station where I can give it back to him. So he is 20 mins in front of his 24 hour finish pace. And he is now allowed to start slowing down at bit in the final 50 miles to sub 4 mph speeds.”

The quick rest at Camp 10 Bear was nice, but I got up and Carl pushed me on my way. Next up was a big 23-mile loop, returning to Camp 10 Bear gain. In 2005, this loop really killed me. But this time, I was three hours ahead of that pace! I pushed on and reached the 50-mile point at about the 10:15 mark. I was very pleased.

I really enjoyed running on the soft, muddy trail sections through the forest. At one point, I noticed very old rock walls lining this rough trail. I stopped to look closely and speculated that the rock walls looked like they were built in the 1800s. This must have been a turnpike used to travel between towns. One runner passed me and complained about the muddy, rough trail. That surprised me because I was loving the more technical soft surface. I had had enough of the hard dirt roads.

My next problem was that I discovered that I had a severe sinus infection. It really worried me and I wondered how it would affect the rest of my race. I took a decongestant and did my best to try to deal with it. In a couple hours I would start feeling better. As I was in a zone, I took a wrong turn and then heard runners behind me yelling. That was nice. I quickly got back on course. Earlier I met a runner who really missed a turn and ended up doing an extra five miles. That would really be a bummer. But the course was very well marked. Instead of using flags on trees, they used yellow pie plates on stakes that were very noticeable.

Getting food and trying to stand up at an aid station

I saw Carl again at Tracer Brook (mile 57) at 11:48 (almost 4 p.m.). I was still 23 minutes ahead of my pace goal. I commented to Carl that I didn’t look forward to the next long hill that had almost made me quit two years ago. He wished me well and said he would next see me at Camp 10 Bear, ready to start running with me. I really looked forward to the company.

An Endurance rider crossing a field

During this next leg I didn’t see a single runner ahead or behind me. I pushed up Prospect Hill, no problem. I recalled how two years ago I started to cramp in a leg and the heat was terrible. At that time I saw a car coming and planned to ask for a ride to the finish. But a pacer for an older runner started to talk to me and convinced me to keep going. The sun went down within an hour, cooled me down, and I found my second wind. This year, I felt much better. The cool breeze was great. I recalled how in 2005 that darkness hit me at the Margarittaville aid station. My flashlight was at Camp 10 Bear so I had to borrow one from another runner. This year, dusk was still hours away, but Margarittaville was full of life. For the next two legs I really cruised. I finally started to pass a few runners for the first time. The downhill sections were nice and very enjoyable.

Me feeling good, clowning around

I arrived back at Camp 10 Bear (mile 70.1) at 15:06 to the cheers of Carl. He yelled, “Wow, you are ahead of schedule.” He commented that I looked much fresher than I did 23 miles ago. I did feel great. He brought me to a chair and we worked on my problem toe. The doctor came by and tried to ask me how I was doing. I was concentrating so hard on my foot that I didn’t answer him. “Well, you must not be doing very well if you can’t answer me.” Oh, that woke me up. I explained I was doing great. He asked about my collar bone wound and I explained it was nothing, from a two-week-old fall. I changed into a new shoe, a clean shirt, ate a cheese burger, and rested for about 15 minutes. Carl cleaned up my mess, gathered his things and away we went. It was very fun to have Carl along.

We immediately had to tackle the steepest climb on the course. I had Carl lead. to push a good pace. We were closely followed by Dave Yeakle, from Virginia, who we would see on and off for the next 8 hours or so. I loved the forest trails. As we reached the top, I blasted down the trail very fast and Carl did his best to keep up. This was the general pattern for the next couple hours. I would go a slower pace up the hills but run like crazy down the soft single-track trails. At one point Dave Yeakle commented, “there he goes, Downhill Boy.” The sun went down and we finally had to pull out our flashlights. Next I showed Carl the fun of blasting down trails in the dark. There were many glow sticks hung on the course making it very easy to follow the trail throughout the night. We arrived at West Winds (mile 77) at 17:15. We were still doing great, 17 minutes ahead of schedule. I was also nearly six hours ahead of my 2005 pace at this point. I remember the section that I started to bonk like crazy, almost knocking on the door of a house for help at 2:00 a.m I finally just staggered down the road until I received a ride to the finish from a passing car. This year there was no doubt I would finish.

Carl did a great job trying to keep me on pace. Using his GPS he would set a 15-minute-mile pace that I would at time struggle to keep up with. But with my quick downhill runs, we were able to average things out pretty well. I went through some low points. I probably wasn’t eating enough, but I continued to press on. About a mile before Cow Shed (mile 83.6) I had a second wind and started to sing at the top of my lungs as I ran a good fast pace. Carl commented how terrible my voice sounded. What do you expect after 80 miles, Neil Diamond? We cruised past several runners as I sang a song from the 70s. We arrived at Cow Shed at 19:11. Carl asked the volunteers if they could DQ me for terrible singing. He couldn’t get me to stop. I laughed. Things were going great, we were still 16 minutes ahead of schedule and knew that we could walk it in and still break 24 hours.

The next stretch seemed to take forever as I started to struggle more. I was hit by drowsiness that just wouldn’t go away. At times I started to zig-zag down the road. I would also close my eyes and listen to Carl’s steps in front of me to keep me going in the right direction. But I almost fell into a ditch several times. We kept pushing forward. It seemed like a lot more work. We arrived at the major aid station, Bill’s (mile 88.6) at 20:45, now only seven minutes ahead of schedule. I knew I was losing my time buffer fast.

At Bill’s I drank soup and Coke, and ate sandwiches. As I was resting for a few minutes, a woman came in and sat across from me. She was in tears, in obvious intense pain. The volunteers and medical staff went to work on her. Her feet were the problem. They weren’t blistered, but hurting terribly. They went to get ice packs. I watched it all carefully with interest and concern. Why were we doing this to ourselves? She continued to cry but wasn’t talking about giving up. We left before the ice packs arrived. We had stayed too long. I knew my pace schedule was now in trouble.

As I climbed the hill going out of Bill’s, all of a sudden, I veered sharply to the left off the trail and almost fell flat on my face. I had almost fainted. That spooked me and I backed off my pace for awhile. I had never experienced that before. I’ve stumbled in a sleepy wobble before, but never almost passed out on my feet.

Things were rough at that point. Carl did his best to try to speed me up. On the downhills I would do fine and push a 12-minute-mile pace, but on the hills and flats I was slowing way down. Finally I just had to stop. I hoped that a five-minute nap would boost some life into me. I looked around for a place to stop and chose a ditch by the road that I could lean up against. I closed my eyes. It felt so good to stop. Runners passed by and asked if I was OK. I heard a car stop. “Is he OK?” “Yes,” Carl replied, “he’s just taking a nap.” “Oh, he is just sleeping.” I smiled and thought, thanks everyone for waking me up! Carl and I talked about my pace. We both recognized that a hope for a sub-24 finish was probably going away. Here I was with only ten miles to go in less than three hours. I knew I didn’t have it in me but I pushed on as hard as I could.

We arrived at Keating’s (mile 92) at 22:04. I sat down for a five-minute rest. I was wasted. Runners caught up to me and I saw Dave Yeakle for the last time. I wanted to sleep, but had to press on. I heard a volunteer comment that about 80 runners had passed through, that there were still more than half of the runners behind on the trail. That got my attention. Despite my struggles, there were tons of runners who still had many more hours left on the trail.

We pushed on again. At some point I again had to stop for a quick “nap.” I chose some rocks in the middle of the trail. As I laid on the trail with my flashlight still beaming, I heard a runner and pacer pass me. “Should we check his pulse?” That made me smile and woke me up.

From that point on, I no longer cared about finishing time or place. We basically just coasted home. We arrived at Polly’s (mile 95.3) at 23:37. At the 24-hour mark, I commented that we should have finished by then. It seemed very strange to be finishing a 100-miler before the second sunrise. That really is a challenge because my roughest points are usually before dawn. The sunrise always brings new energy. The birds started to chirp and we saw a glow in the sky. I actually enjoyed the last four miles or so and was very surprised that no runners passed us despite our slow pace. Everyone behind me was also slowing way down. With about a mile to go, Carl started to whine about more uphills. It seemed like they would never stop. We climbed what I knew was the last major ridge and started to descend into the finishing valley. We still needed to use our flashlights in the dark forested sections.

Finally the finish area came into view. Carl encouraged me to finish strong so we started to run strong. As the finish line came into view, he started to sprint, saying something about beating me. I couldn’t let that happen, so I sprinted like crazy and we crossed the finish line laughing. I finished in 25:18. I finished in 78^th place. It was good respectable time and I indeed got revenge on my 2005 DNF. I had a very strong 90 miles this year. Those last ten miles were tough. It happens sometimes.

Me and Carl at the motel.

I went into the medical tent to warm up with a blanket. The medical staff came by, took a look at me and said, “you look just fine.” I guess I did look much better than some poor souls moaning in cots next to me. I only stayed for a few minutes. Linda and Conner arrived, missing my finish by only five minutes. I got up from the cot, went and ate some pasta, and then was anxious for a shower.