EPIC. I won't be able to give justice to the effort my older sister Heidi gave this past weekend at the first ever Creede 100. Let's start with a few numbers, based on the race website, which turned out to be fairly accurate:
Distance: ~106.5 miles (actual distance was about 108.3 miles)
High Point: 13,261 ft
Low Point: 8,786 ft
Average Elevation: 11,359 ft
Total Elevation gain: ~20,822 ft
Cut Off: 40 hours
This was Heidi's first 100 mile race. Having said that she has been running for a long time and, unlike me, has more gradually (some might say responsibly and intelligently) moved up in distances.
Heidi invited me to join her for the weekend to crew her and pace her from miles 55 to 80, a lovely section which would include the largest climb of the course over first 9 miles of my section, a total of about 6,000 feet of climbing and going up to the high point of the course which was an oxygen sucking 13,200 feet above sea level.
Logistics were a bit of a challenge since I had to leave the car at the 25/80 mile aid station and find a ride to the 55 mile aid station so I could then run back with Heidi to the 80 mile aid station where the car would be waiting. Fortunately, I found a fabulous crew of another pacer who not only gave me a ride but also gave me food, a nice chair and lots of laughs while we waited for around 7 hours at the 55 mile aid station. I also got to meet Jordan Ricks, the founder of Revenant Running (https://www.revenantrunning.com/), a newer Ultra Race Series near Colorado Springs, CO. I'm exited to try one or two of his races in 2023!
The drop rate at this race was very high with less than 50% of runners that started finishing the race. Most people that dropped did so before or at the 55 mile aid station. Heidi came in, looking strong, around 1AM. I hustled to help her get food, refills etc. while getting ready to run myself. The first 9, yes, 9 miles of the section I was pacing was a 4,000 foot ascent to the highest part of the entire course. I could barley keep up with Heidi even though she had already run 55 miles! This was Heidi's first time running through an entire night and it was a special, albeit very cold, experience to share with her.
Seeing the sunrise after running all night is a magical experience, but doing so in the mountains is just indescribably exhilarating. The sun gives you new energy, and hope, that maybe, just maybe, you can actually finish the race. Heidi kept pushing forward and about 24 miles into my pacing and one mile from the 80 mile aid station Heidi began to "bonk". It was her first true experience with this phenomenon. I encouraged her that the feeling of total depletion would pass and to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I went a few feet ahead of her and told her to just keep up with me and I would hold a 20 minute mile to get us into the aid station.
We made it into the 80 mile aid station around 11AM, a little ahead of her projected pace. At this point there were only two women left in the race. Heidi, and a young woman named Lauren who was usually around 5 to 10 minutes behind us. We saw her come in as Heidi was getting re-fueled and set to leave the 80 mile aid station as Lauren came in. One of the things I was most impressed by is the fact that during the entire race, including time at aid stations, Heidi NEVER SAT DOWN. Not once for 37 hours and 108 miles of running. Incredible.
I picked up the car at 80 mile aid station and drove to the 92 mile aid station to meet Heidi. I got there and learned after a few hours there that Lauren, the other woman left in the race, had to drop out due to altitude sickness and fainting several times. The two women at the aid station were so excited when they saw Heidi a few hours later, approaching the aid station through the fields. The race was so small at this point that everyone knew who Heidi was and that she was the only female runner left in the race. So they all started yelling "It's Heidi! It's Heidi!". Later Heidi told me she felt like she might be dreaming at this point! She got what she needed, once again, not sitting down, and began the final 13 miles to the finish.
The final cutoff was 12PM on Sunday night, I got to the finish line around 8PM thinking I'd be waiting at least a few hours for Heidi. The race director told me she was less than an hour away from the finish and sure enough, we see a headlamp coming down the road, around 8:30PM, I walked out to meet her and ran through the finish line, which was a line scratched in the dirt (no joke, very ultra!). I was, and still am, so incredibly proud of my big sister. She was the only female finisher, first place, and set the female course record (it was the first year for the race so now next year other women have a mark to chase!). I also got a whole new appreciation for what it takes to crew and pace a runner during a mountain 100 mile race. It's exhausting! But worth every sleepless minute! So proud of you Heidi, absolute BAD ASS!
So rest up Heidi, and get ready to pace me through the night, in the mountains and cold, at Moab 240 in October!