Lean Horse Came Up Skinny

Not an auspicious start to my fall slam. In fact, you can say it’s over.

“Over?! Did you say ‘over’?! Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” -– Animal House

Okay, I didn’t manage to finish Lean Horse, the first leg of my four 100 miler slam this year. I still have three to go. So it ain’t over yet.

I had a lofty goal of finishing in under 24 hours, but realistically was hoping for a finish under 28 hours. I haven’t done the kind of training of late needed to finish a 100 miler. Although Lean Horse is not an overly difficult 100, it’s still a 100 miles and, as I know all too well, anything can happen over the course of something like this. I was about to experience something new on the journey that I have never had to deal with before, but have heard about from a lot from other 100 milers: stomach bloating. Severe stomach distress. Dry heaves.

I drove up to Hot Springs SD early Friday morning and got there around 1 in the afternoon. Checked in and got my race packet, talked with Ulli Kamm and his wife Traudl, and met up with Pat standing in the doorway. So I went out and met his mom Mazie and Karen. They would meet me after the pre-race briefing and we would go out for dinner in town. Got to the hotel room and started sorting out stuff. Eventually I left for the briefing. Dropped off my four drop bags and talked to several people before going into the auditorium for the briefing: very low key and it was mostly a question and answer format. The RD Jerry mentioned that although cutoffs are published for the latter aid stations, he wasn’t going to enforce them too severely. “You guys came here to run so why should I stand in your way”. At the end, met up with Pat, Karen and Mazie and we did a brief tour of the first 16 miles of the course, which is in town and eventually along a rolling dirt road that takes us to the Mickelson Trail, a “rails to trails” trail which is very smooth and a gradual uphill.



Along the way we saw a wild turkey with her chicks. I hurried to get out of the car and snap a picture, and managed to get the chicks in mid-flight. After that we headed back to town and we picked up Pat’s brother Mike and we all went to the Mammoth Grille for dinner. Dinner was okay, and I got dropped off at my hotel to get ready for the next days’ run.

Got up early and did the usual pre-race stuff. It was a bit cool out, so I opted to layer: a short sleeve under a long sleeve shirt. I decided not to bring gloves or a warm hat, as I knew I would warm up quickly once started. Put on my regular ball cap, and was ready to roll. Filled up my two bottles with my energy drink, and stashed another bag of mix in my waist pack that should get me to the first drop bag at the Argyle Road aid station 16 miles in. Drove over to the race start and hung out and talked to various runners. Soon we were herded outside and behind the civic center building for the start. I tried to position myself towards the back so as to not get swept up in the early fury of the start.

Then we were off with the word “GO!” from Jerry. The first mile and change took us through town. I looked at my watch at various times and saw the pace was about 10:30. Not overly fast, but not slow either. It felt good so I kept it there for a while. We then made it onto a dirt road and the start of many rolling hills. I opted to walk the hills, as it afforded me the opportunity to take it easy early and not shoot my wad early. I was amazed though at the number of runner, most of them 50 milers, but there were a good number of 100 milers, who were running the hills. I thought to myself more power to them, as I’m going to run my race, and not theirs. I had written down splits for what I thought would be a sub-24 hour pace, and I hit the first aid station at Coldbrook at 4.1 miles in 42:39. This was right on the split I projected. So far so good. Not needing anything I breezed on through.


We soon came to a nice open meadow that connected us from the dirt road we were on to the Argyle Road that would take us to the Mickelson Trail ahead. Jerry had mentioned that there was one less aid station on the road, making the aid station distances around 4 miles, 10 miles, and 16 miles. At this point the road meandered through open country of farms and neighborhoods. It really reminded me a lot of Heartland, in that the road was a constant up and down of rolling hills, nothing steep and long, but without Heartland’s rocks and lack of trees.


I had projected a time to the next aid station of around 1:48. I hit it in 2:01, 10 miles into the run. I was okay with that, as it was starting to get warmer and I was walking more of the hills. I did take off my long sleeve shirt by this time. I got to the aid station and refilled both of my bottles, figuring an hour to the next one.

I was glad I scouted out the road with Pat and Karen the day before as I was able to get a better feel for this part of the course knowing where the end was. I was now in my run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute mode for nearly an hour. Unfortunately, the hills made it difficult to stick to it too rigorously, as I wanted to walk the hills, not run them. With each hill being completed, I would switch back to running and run for either 4 minutes or the next hill. This seemed to work out fine.

I reached the Argyle aid station, mile 15.7, in 3:06, just 6 minutes behind my split. I spent about 5 minutes here, changing into dry clothes, refilling bottles, refilling my pack, downing an Ensure, etc. until ready to go. It was getting hot by now. I didn’t have my ice hat or bandana until the next drop bag at the Pringle aid station 8 miles distant. I’d be okay until then. Bobby Keough was here helping out so he helped refill bottles for me.



I returned my drop bag and headed out onto the Mickelson. It was a gradual up and so I walked it a bit, then started running. The section between here and the next aid station at Lime Kiln Road was fairly rolling. I ran most of it, but was able to stick to the 4/1 plan easier here as the uphills were very slight. Got to Lime Kiln in 45 minutes, 12 minutes behind my splits. Still okay. Refilled my bottle and went out on my way to Pringle.

I got to Pringle in 4:42, still behind a bit, but feeling pretty good about my pace and hoping I would be able to keep this up, but I knew I was going to slow it down some as it was getting warmer out and the sun was unrelenting by now. Bobby was here to help me and I gave him my ice hat to fill up with ice. I probably spent about 5 minutes here changing stuff and refilling.



“A man drink like that and he don’t eat, he is going to DIE!” -– Blazing Saddles

The next few miles were pretty boring, as the trail was parallel to the main highway leading up to Hill City. I was running with another runner who asked me if I was doing the 50 miler or 100 miler. I said 100. He was doing the 50 and upon reaching the 25 mile mark, he jumped up in the air and came back at me as I cruised on through.

Soon the trail veered off to the left and into the farmland, and I found myself walking more and more due to the heat. I was feeling great but feeling the heat so I wanted to take it easy during the rest of the day.

“How about a Fresca?” -- Caddyshack

Got to the next aid station at Carroll Creek (mile 30) in 6:16, about 25 minutes behind. Bobby was here waiting for his runner Dennis Drey and I decided to sit down and get some ice cold beverages, refill the ice hat and bandana, and ate a sandwich. I think I was here about 10 minutes, so I decided it was time to head on out.

From here on, it was mostly a walk. I kept looking at my watch for the pace and I was hovering around 14:30 minute miles, so not too bad. It took me about an hour and a half to get to Custer and the next aid station, at mile 36. I was here about 10 minutes, getting my hat and bandana refilled with ice, sucked down a few ice cokes and refilled my bottles with mix. Got up and headed out through town.

“Am I going mad, or did the work ‘think’ escape your lips?” -– Princess Bride



The next 5 miles to the Mountain aid station was all walking, although I was able to keep up with a few runners ahead (who were jogging) and passed several people walking. I guess my forward progress is okay. I had been doing a lot of powerwalking on my training runs this year to try to improve my walking. I guess that was paying off. By the time I got to the Mountain aid station at mile 41, I was starting to feel a little off. Not sure what it was, so I sat down and downed a few ice cokes, had my hat and bandana refilled with ice. The aid station volunteer was really taken with my hat and bandana. The hat has a zipper compartment that allows you to add ice to it, so the ice stays in the hat and doesn’t fall out over your head. The bandana is a specially made item that is a bandana sewn together in half, with a chamois inside and little openings on either side to add ice. So again, the ice doesn’t fall out and stays inside. I decided to use one bottle of mix and one bottle of ice water at this point.



It was now 9:05 into the race, and I was hoping to be able to make the 50 mile turnaround in under 11 hours now. As we left, we had another mile or so of uphill, then a nice gradual downhill for several miles until the next aid station. As I was walking up to the top, I noticed Crazy Horse Monument to my right. Pretty cool sight. As my eyes were a little dry and fuzzy, I couldn’t make out the intricate details, but enough to see what it was. I also kept seeing helicopters flying back and forth overhead, which I found out later was a helicopter tour over the area.

“A Man’s got to know his limitations.” -– Dirty Harry

By now I realized I may be having some trouble. I couldn’t run much of the downhill, and my belly felt really full land bloated. I looked down and noticed it was a bit distended and sloshy. Shit! I have been electrolytes regularly every hour, and was peeing about once every 1.5 to 2 hours, so normal for me. I wasn’t sure what was going on here, but it was pissing me off as I couldn’t run much here. I’d run, but only for a minute or so and had to revert back to walking. So I resigned myself to walking for awhile. I was hoping I would feel better and be able to run more as the daytime sun started setting and it got a little cooler.

“I guess sometimes the past just catches up with you, whether you want it or not.” -– The Green Mile

I got to the next aid station at mile 47 in 10:38. I was really feeling bad by now, I saw Bobby and he offered me some ginger to try. I took it but it didn’t really help. I sat down for a bit and took in some ice coke. I asked the aid station people what mile it was and they said 45 miles. My GPS said 47.2. Shit! So I got up and left thinking it was going to take another 90 minutes to the turnaround (12 hours). To my surprise there was the last aid station in this direction just ahead. I looked at my GPS and it read 49.7. It was only 2.5 miles, not 4! I got here in 55 minutes, or 11:34 total running time.

“Wipe your face before you get up Dean.” -– The Green Mile

I sat down and was really feeling like shit. They offered me a Sprite and a cracker to help settle the stomach. I took them, and not long after I had the urge to vomit. I ran over to the side of the road and puked a ton of liquid out and some chunks of potato I had eaten at the Mountain aid station 2.5 hours earlier. Fuck! I wasn’t processing anything I was eating for at least 3 hours. No wonder I felt like shit. I was going on no calories and just burning my glycogen and fat stores. I sat here for about 23 minutes farting and hoping to feel better with each one, but it wasn’t, so I decided to try to go out and go to the turnaround ¾ mile down. I was hoping I might start feeling better and be able to finish this journey.

“Hey! Did somebody step on a duck?” -– Caddyshack

I got up among much cheering from the aid station folks (who were witnessing my condition) and walked out. I actually was feeling okay, but slow. Got to the turnaround and headed back, then I started getting sick again. More puking. I laid down on the trail for a minute or so hoping the cramping would stop. I even stepped off trail to take a dump. Still didn’t feel good. About 20 feet from the aid station, the cramps were unbearable and I started dry heaving. I don’t like dry heaves, as they really take all your energy away from you. I hunched over the fence for about a minute and decided this was it. This was as far as I can go.

My race was done.

“Percy fucked up, Hal. Pure and simple.
Is that your official position?
Don’t you think it should be?” -– The Green Mile

I finally got a ride out of there with one of the aid station volunteers with another runner who had also dropped. I got back to Hot Springs and my car, and spied the Dairy Queen next door. So I limped on inside in my smelly dirty clothes and ordered a large chocolate malt and a regular cheeseburger. Took them back to the hotel room just a block away and fell on the bed. Man, that malt and burger tasted so good! To my surprise, I kept it all down.

Pat called me not long after wanting to know where I was. I told them I was back at the hotel. They were waiting for me at the Mountain aid station on the return leg. He said they would be there shortly with beer. I got up and took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and waited. They arrived and we took our beers over to the picnic table by the river and talked about the days events, while watching runners come in for their finish.

So…..what went wrong? It took me awhile to figure this out, and I may be wrong, but I believe my problem was too much energy/calorie drinks per hour during the run. What a stupid mistake. This was something I’ve never done before, and knew better. I think the scenario was this: at the start I was drinking a bottle an hour while it was cool. This consisted of my energy/calorie drink mix, which I have used for over a year now, with no problems. Well, as it got warmer, I was drinking about 1.5 to 2 bottles an hour, all energy/calorie drink. My normal routine for hot runs is to alternate my mix with water. So I’d have one bottle of my energy/calorie mix and then I’d have a bottle of water, and I’d continue this routine until it got cooler and I was down to 1 bottle an hour and I’d either go with the energy mix or still alternate, depending on how things were going. I didn’t do that here. It was all energy mix. I did switch to water late in the race (at Mountain) but it was too late by then. All the stuff I had taken in was just sitting in my stomach and not getting processed. The body is an amazing thing. If it gets too much of something it just shuts off and waits to get rid of it via drastic means. All things being equal, this is the only logical explanation as it was something that I normally don’t do but I did. Other than that, at the end and afterward I was feeling alright: no aches, no soreness (except for the feet), no blisters. Just the stomach issues. Like they say, never do anything during the run unless you've trained for it on your training runs. Doh!

In any event, at least I got a good lesson in not what to do, and got in a nice 51 mile training run. I now have 6 weeks to get ready for Heartland, which should be enough time to work out the issues and get back in the swing of training.

One thing’s for sure: next year “I’ll be back” -– The Terminator