The following is one of four race reviews on the H.U.R.T. Peacock Flats 54-miler that took place on Saturday, October 25th 2008. Under rainy, windy, and muddy conditions, 28 intrepid runners took part in an exceptionally challenging event. Here's my bro's review. As aforementioned in the previous blog this was the furthest we (he, Habu, and I) have ran to date. Awesome job and congrats! Will be savoring this one for quite some time!
So where do I begin...
Just a warning...This is a lengthy report so when you have the time...
To just read my Peacock 54 miler report, go down about midway where you see the first sentence in ORANGE. The first section explains what lead up to my decision to do it.
It all began when HURT put out their race calendar earlier this year. The very last event listed was this Peacock 54 miler. I just shook my head and said to myself: "I won't be doing that one!!!"
I eventually heard through the grapevine that last year was the first time for this run and that only two people finished: Gordon Lau and Ed Bugarin. Very few people on this island are tougher than these two.
Well fast forward to the Maunawili 22 miler. On a Maunawili training run while going DOWN to the turn around, Heather, Mark and I were chatting about the Peacock 54 miler. We were considering it as we were leisurely running downhill. Funny how our attitudes changed on our way back UP to the Pali lookout. As we were huffing and puffing, we thought that maybe the 54 miler is not a realistic goal after all. If anything, maybe we'll just do 1/2 the distance, just one loop.
Fast forward to late August and the Red Rabbit (Gary Marr who now lives in Washington State) is quickly gaining on me in overall marathons completed (We Marathon Maniacs are a little competitive in that sense). I figure I had to try and stay ahead of him somehow. Some of us decided not to do Portland and the only other race on the horizon to consider was the Peacock 54, basically the distance of more than two marathons. At this point I had never been on the course so I had no idea what the ultra entailed and the farthest I have ever gone was the HURT Run to the Sun. Looking at Gary's upcoming race schedule, I was basically screwed. The weekend of the Maui Marathon, we were tied and the following week he passed me and he continues to add more marathons under his belt. Washington State is Marathon Maniac country and there are marathons almost every week in the surrounding area. Why bother doing Peacock now? I will not be able to catch the Red Rabbit! For some reason though, I still was interested in doing it.
Now the next thing I needed to do was to actually make it out on the course and see what I will be getting myself into. For one reason or another I could not make it to the first two or three practice runs that HURT was putting on. Finally Heather, Jeff F. and I were able to make it to the September 27th workout. Just so happens it was the same day as Brenda's birthday party out in Waialua. The party was in the same area as the course so I told Ray that we will swing by when we were done.
There were 21 of us that morning who started off around 6:15am. The first thing we had to do was to go up 1.2 miles of rocky switch backs. Well about 7 hours into our run I get a phone call from Ray. He was checking on us being that I told him that we will probably be at the party around noon. It was around 1pm and I told him: "We're still running!" He said: "What?!" We both laughed. Heather and I made it back to the car a little after 2pm. Jeff was waiting patiently for us. It was a very tough, hilly and hot course. Some of the regulars say that it rarely rains out in this area. The first thing I noticed once at the car was the burning sensation in my eyes. The dust and sun really irritated my contacts. And the very first thought that came to my mind: "How the heck am I suppose to do this loop one more time???"
The following Saturday, I went out to Peacocks on my own and met up with others. I wanted to run 40 miles but I was not going to do it by myself. Fortunately someone else (Rex) wanted to do 40 miles as well so after the first loop, he and I went back up to do twelve more miles. This was the farthest I have ever gone. And the whole time, Rex was giving me pointers about pacing, hydrating, and other very valuable tips to have a successful event. It took us 13 hours to cover the 40 miles. My eyes again were very irritated and very bloodshot. And I asked myself: "How am I going to cover the 16 additional very hilly miles in the dark and by midnight?
With the third and final practice run (which was two weeks before the actual run) Heather and Jeff were able to come out again and we were able to bring Mike H (Habu) and Wily (Coyote) along with us. My goal was to do an additional 5 more miles to make 33 for the day. Well I really pushed doing one loop and I finished in 7 hours. But when I went back up for the additional 5 on my own, I died!!! I cramped, I bonked, and I had major contact issues. I learned a lot in those extra 5 miles: Take the first loop at an easy pace; constantly eat to keep up the energy; and do not use contacts for the actual run!!! I was very appreciative of Heather, Jeff, Mike and Wily for waiting for me!
The morning of Peacock I woke up at 1:25am. It was raining in `Aiea and being that it rarely rains out in the Peacock area, I made a last minute decision to bring along my contacts anyway being that I the decided to run with my prescription glasses.
As Heather, Jeff and I followed each other to the start, the rain followed us all the way to the start. There was a steady rain. I WAS SO HAPPY I DECIDED TO BRING ALONG MY CONTACTS!!!!! I quickly popped them in my eyes and got ready for the 6am start. Dry air, dust and sun were not were not going to be issues today to irritate my eyes and contacts.
I most likely had the heaviest camelbak. I started off with 100 ounces of water, 50 ounces of gatorade, three packs of clif shot bloks, three clif bars, 8 power gels, 23 salt tablets, my prescription glasses, tp, first aid pouch, headlight, flashlight and other little knick knacks. I wanted to make sure I was prepared for anything.
Certain sections were VERY MUDDY AND VERY SLIPPERY! About 4 miles into the run I had my first fall. Not a good sign. I scraped up my left knee and my left palm but nothing major. I quickly got up, used the water from my camelbak to rinse off the mud and continued on. I was initially with Ernest Tay, Brenda Yim, and Ryan Seto. At one moment I would be with them and the next moment I would be by myself. I always had to play catch up. Well I survived the first loop with just that one fall and got to the starting area around 1:30pm. I changed my shirt and debated whether to switch shoes. I chose to stick with the pair I had on and was back on the trail by 1:42pm. I had three time goals I needed to meet in order to finish by midnight. On my way to my first goal time of 5pm at the three way, I fell again along the single track area where if you fall either side, you were going down for quite a distance. Fortunately where I fell, there was a little area that kept me from going over. Well when I caught up with Brenda and Ryan for the last time, both of them slipped in the exact same spot as I did. I reached my first goal of 5pm at the three way. This gave me 3 hours to get to the end of the long road by the 8pm cut off time. I was on a jeep trail now and I was happy that I had another hour of daylight until I get to paved road. About midway to the paved road, the lead runner's were already on their way back. In the lead was Ben Cavazos followed by Rod H (Huddy). VERY IMPRESSIVE!!! At this point, I knew I had at the very least another 5 hours to go. I got to the paved road by the time it was dark so I got my headlight out and headed down long road to the last aid station. On my way down, I did not realize it but before I reached the aid station, I surpassed the farthest distance I have every gone of 40 miles.
As I reached the final aid station, I was greeted by Cheryl Loomis, Ernest Tay, Wah Berman, and HEATHER!!! She decided to volunteer for a bit after she did her one loop. It was nice seeing her. Jeff had just left the aid station and as we passed each other, he was talking on the phone with frayedlaces (Laura K.) Jeff was looking strong. I reached my second time goal of 7pm. I had 5 hours to cover 10 miles. Ernest decided that one loop was enough for him. I was surprised that he was going slow with me but found out that he recently had knee surgery and the cold weather was affecting his right knee. Well Cheryl gave me something to eat and told me that I ONLY had 10 more miles to go. Earnest helped me refill my water and gatorade. I changed into a long sleeve shirt and put on a windbreaker. I took everything I had left in my drop bag. I had 6 power gels, 2 1/2 clif bars, and 2 1/2 packs of clif shot bloks. Heather mentioned that she had a spam musubi for me for the end of the run but I asked her if I can have it now. As I was getting resupplied, Rex pulled in and he wasted no time and was back on the road very quickly! I left shortly after him. I was about to go the farthest I have ever gone and I will be doing it in the dark, in the cold, in the rain and most than likely all by myself! As I was heading back up, only two people were behind me: Devon and Mike M. I was one of the last persons out on the course.
About two thirds up long road, I looked down and I saw a headlight. This was either Devon or Mike. When I looked up, I saw a headlight. I was able to catch up with the light above and it turned out to be Rex. I stayed with him until we got off the paved road. He gave me one last piece of advice that proved to be very helpful. He asked if I had a flashlight and I did. So I had him get it out of my pack and the next thing I knew, he disappeared into the dark. I was all alone. The next 4 miles was the longest miles I have covered in my entire life! I could only see a few feet in front of me due to the rain, fog/mist and the shear darkness of the night. I saw a couple of centipedes along the trail. My biggest worry though was coming across a pig with babies. The only thing that I could do was to hug the hillside and use it as a guide. The only problem with this is that rocks were falling and sure enough there were rocks on the trail that were not there earlier. I had no choice though because the other side was the down slope. What seemed an eternity and way more than 4 miles, I finally reached the three way. I had 2.7 miles to go. I needed to make sure that I did not miss three major turns in which I made successfully. It was the section between the last left turn and the picnic table that I got turned around a bit. It was VERY HARD to see at this point and I made three wrong turns. Fortunately in this section, the only turns were dead end dirt piles used to keep the road clear. I made my last time goal of 10:30pm at the picnic table which was the start of the very last section: the switch backs back down to the finish line. I had 1 1/2 hours to complete it.
Well right when I passed the picnic table and made my first turn on the switch back, I fell for the third time. It was when I got back on my feet that my calves cramped for the first time. I was able to walk it off and then I was on my way down to the finish line. Luckily it stopped raining so I only had to deal with the slick rocks and very uneven terrain. I TOOK MY TIME and safely made it to solid flat ground. I jogged the final section and was met by several people yards before the finish line. Cheryl jogged next to me. I jokingly said to her: "Ah...That was kind of hard" As the HURT saying goes: A`ole makou e ho`o hikiwale kela!Rough translation: We wouldn't want it easy!
I finished around 11:12pm. The official results have not been posted yet but I believe I was second to the last. I am so happy that I was able to complete the run and complete it in one piece.
http://www.hurthawaii.blogs.com/
The results should be posted on this website soon. Also, you will see other stories, two in particular from Mike M and Devon. I posted a comment on Devon's story so just scoll down the bottom of his story and you'll see the tail end of my report.
I have so many people to thank but the two who really helped me were HURT veterens Cheryl Loomis and Rex V. Jeff F. was very supportive and believed in me the whole entire time that I would be able to finish. I would like to thank Heather because she is the person who she is! I would like to thank Ray and the entire Runner's Hi Ohana for providing the base I needed to get through this very tough Peacock 54 (56) mile run.
Aloha,
Shaka
p.s. I forgot to mention that I just finished the Peacock report from Ray's as we're sipping on a couple of cold one's and eating poke!!! This has been my foundation that carried me through my recent marathons and definitely through this ultra run!!!
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