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Once again, Jamey and I procrastinated setting up the hotel. It also got a little harder because we weren't sure of how many days etc. Let me explain... Jamey goes during the week and spends some time with family. That was easy. His job is to get a car. After the previous trip, where we got a little car, he vowed to get the BIGGEST car available. We joked that it would have a gun rack as well as a bow rack as well as a crossbow rack. By the way, spoiler alert, wasn't the biggest. Someone stole the catalytic converter. Seriously? In Texas too?!?
I was coming in on Friday and he would pick me up. Depending on whether the hotel was ready for us, we would either check in, go shopping for food and then to race site for pick up OR as what did happen, went for food first (Subway ritual...), then pick up, then food shopping then hotel. OK - did that.
So what was the big question about the hotel? Seems easy right? Well, we decided that after the race, we would head straight home. It would have made more sense to finish the race, go back to the hotel, shower, eat, recover and sleep there. But alas, it was not to be. Both of us wanted to head home... So, here is the dilema. Do we check-in on Friday and check out on Saturday because we are doing the race AND then check back in on Sunday so we can shower? Unfortunatly, check-in would not be ready for us and it would be silly for just a shower, but we could not in any good conscious get on an airplace without a shower after running for a hundred miles. It just wouldn't be right. So, we reserved one room for one night only and the other room for 3 days. We checked in on Friday and Jamey would check out on Saturday morning. I would only check out on Sunday even though I had the room till Monday as they didn't give us a late enough check out. Crazy, right? But imagine if the race would NOT go ok and we would be without a room to stay at... Whatever, it is what it is.
So the rooms were set (same hotel). The car was set up. Food shopping was done. Picked up our stuff. By the way, they gave cool hoodies this year too. Yay...
Back to the hotel. My thing is to eat by myself and to relax. Jamey went to get more food and stopped at a Jeans store and was so happy to finally get jeans that he liked. He's particular that way. He was also very tempted to get boots but didn't.
I went to sleep very very early. I don't need a lot of sleep but I know how to stack it too and so I did. Early wake up and I will take every minute of it.
Went early. We thought we would be sure to get the closest parking lot since we were so damn early. We didn't. WHAT?!? Still, it was still close by and didn't need a shuttle or anything so that's good. I went in search of indoor plumbing instead of using the port-a-pottie like I did for the 100K. This was strange. I am not the tallest guy in the world but definitly not the shortest. Still, the seat was so damn high, that my feet were barely touching the ground. Not to be too much TMI-ish but because of that, I felt like I didn't go as much as I would have liked. It made me nervous. I mean, I went but again, not enough. Whatever... Took my little blue pill and we walked around to get the jitters out. I was also a man on a mission.
I wanted sunscreen spray and also a place to put our stuff under in case of the forecasted possible rain. As I said, I was on a mission and I found what I was looking for. I found a woman, Jordan Scales, applying her sunscreen spray and her husband was manning a canopy. Nice... She sprayed me (I'm a baby and can't do it myself) and we started talking and it's her first race and of course we can put our stuff there and AWESOME!
We were talking to them and I realized I gotta try to go again. Went to the port-a-pottie this time and major success. Yes - a lot of TMI here but go ahead and do an ultra or even better, a hundo, and you'll realize that it's most def not too much TMI but rather par for the course.
And then I went back to pee last last last time. Nervous bladder too...
We found Jordan and invited her to stay with us. She was glad.
The course: For the hundred, it was 6 loops. Also, unlike the 100K, there was an extra section for the 100 miler. I guess if it wasn't a hundred miler, I would have enjoyed that section but I didn't. Amanda Kelly from the 100K told me that this race was always short. This time, they decided to "fix it so we wouldn't go extra" and added a special little out and back section too. This contradicted Amanda so I don't know anymore. They also got rid of a nice section. Let me try to explain it as much as I remember but ultimatly you should probably look at the map.
We left the start/finish and ran some in the woods. From there, you run to the watch tower and pass it. Lot of gator opportunties. Circled around the lake and back to the watch tower and toward the start/finish. So far, I considered it, the fun section. Unfortunatly, it was only 4ish miles of the 16.85. From there, we went next to the visitor section and toward the aid station. That was ok too. From there to the section I affectionly called "the gator molestation section". Why? That's where they had the signs not to molest gators. Seriously, who molests alligators? What does that even mean?!? Out of there and over the Big Creek and into the extra section which I dubbed the "small shit section". It really wasn't that bad and again, if I only had to do it once or twice then maybe, but we did it 6 times and hated it. Out of there and into the section that we affectionly called the "big shit section". This one we truly hated during the 100K and still hated it now. Up and up for 3 miles to the aid station. The extra out and back was there waiting for us. Hated that too. Then back down 3ish miles to the aid station and from there to the gator molestation area to finish a loop.
As I said, out of 16.85 miles, the first 4ish miles were nice. The rest, not so much.
By the way, as much as part of the course was not a favorite of mine, I should mention that the aid stations were awesome. They were manned by tons of people who were always cheerful. Always helpful. Always plentiful with food and the food was good. They also were well stocked with ICE and ice was constantly being offered and served.
It was dark on our first loop and we saw some glowing yellow dots in the water which I showed Jamey and Jordan. We stashed our headlamps after the first loop. Jordan stayed with us for 2 or 3 loops, I think and then decided to leave us. She said that she couldn't keep up with the walking but ran faster than us when we walked. It was weird. Whatever. She waited for us for the night loop tho. She called her coach and he told her to stay with us. Duh!
Gator update: Yup - Started seeing them more frequently during the day. The night was full of glowing yellow lights in the water. Some alligators did come out of the water and we got some nice shots near them with the race photographer. At night, a gator apparently blocked the path in 2 different areas. During the night, we also heard some serious growling and some people caught it on video. I downloaded a bunch of pictures and videos and I will post them.
At night, Jordan did leave us again. It was a little annoying but that's ok. I know people use us all the time for that kinda thing but let's not be so obvious shall we?
We met a Casey from New Orleans during the race and he was a nice guy. Later I found out he is a RD of a race in New Orleans. Maybe some day... He knew and had run TGNY. Sucks for him, he did DNF in this race. We kept joking with him whenever we saw him and I was calling him things like "Casey with an R" switching the letter everytime. This is because of a meme I saw which was a starbucks thing. Guy went in and ordered a drink and said that his name was "Marc with a K" meaning "Mark". The genius barista wrote on the cup "Karc".
At LGA, while waiting to board, I went to a woman and asked if she's doing Brazos and she looked at me like I was nuts and said Yes and started asking "how the ..." and I simply pointed at her hoodie that said, "I'd rather be running a hundred miles". She laughed. She boarded before me and sat well in front of me so we didn't get a chance to talk. Funny coincident tho, Jamey recognized her during the race as someone who did TGNY while he was pacing Jean. She was wearing an elf costume during brazos. I suddenly recognized her from being in LGA and I asked her and YES it was her. What a small world... Still, she DNFed. Sucks. By the way, I just looked her up. Her name is Lara Gonzalez and we have apparently done numerous races together including BUS events and Pistol and others. Cool.
Truly, this whole thing reinforces my point as to how to hopefully succeed in an ultra, and the longer the ultra, even more: bring a friend ; make a friend.
Jamey did during the race, go and use the indoor plumbing and again came out screaming that he lost 2 pounds quite happily. I unfortunatly decided that it would be in my best interest to use the port-a-bush and it did feel wonderful except for the whole "let's look for alligators, snakes and spiders while doing my business and not being obvious that I am outside where I should not be doing my business". Oy!
The volunteers and the food: I cannot stress how wonderful these people were. So cheerful and helpful. During the day, the aid stations were swarmed with peaceful bees which did not attack but it was annoying. The aid station people nonetheless did go through them to get food and drink for you. I kept refilling my bottle with ice and some water and would demolish it which is strange for me. I also peed a few times at the turnaround of the out and back of the long shit section. I had a ton of pecan pie (OH MY GOD!!!) and other stuff like grill cheese. But the best was the mash potatoes. Yes - I know it was instant and in fact, one cup was not stirred well so I had powder fly into my mouth at one point but out of the blue it would mix with my spit and a burst of flavor hit. Awesome.
Jamey: Drank and ate and (oh well... Here it comes...) threw up a few times but he was adamant about not DNFing like he did at the 100K. Later he told me that he wasn't going to leave me out there at night and that's what helped him. Nice.
At night: For the first time for me, I was very tired. Sleepy almost but we talked and I found my second wind.
(Not racist) Statistics: For the most part, in my opinion and from my experience, there typically aren't that many black people who do ultras and especially the long ones. There was one black guy and he was running awesome. Well, until his wheels fell off and we past him at night after giving him some encouragement. All of a minute later, he found his wheels and he ran right past us but fast. He did well and that was good.
I was, in theory anyway, secretly wondering if there was a chance of a PR but saw it disappear. That's ok... Maybe a Jamey PR? and that went out the door too. That's ok. Let's go for a finish. Last loop on the long shit section going up, we met Jennifer Cecil and she was awesome and she hung with us for a little while. But coming down the long shit section, she realized she may be able to PR and so she left us. She got a PR by a few minutes so that's cool. Her other 3 friends? DNF. Ouch. Jordan found a friend and they were chasing us but we were moving. Still, we when we finished the last out and back of the long shit section, they had just arrived and while I wished her and her friend luck, I did not want to get "beat" on the last few miles and so, I mercilessly pushed Jamey. He also did not want to get beat and was willing.
By the way, I heard from someone, that the guy who was with Jordan, touched (I guess he is an alligator molester) an alligator. Silly! I don't if it's true but shaking my head nonetheless.
I did notice for a while that Jamey was doing his imitation of the leaning tower of piazza while we were going. Certainly the last 2 maybe 3 loops. On that last 5-6 mile stretch, not only was he leaning dangerously to the side but he also was leaning to the front so he looked almost like he was falling forward and to the side. About 3 miles out, he told me to leave. I told him to shut up and keep moving. The last mile he ordered me to go. I told him to shut up and keep moving. The last 1/2 mile, he told me that I have to go already. I told him to shut up and keep moving. That whole interaction, in my opinion, is a sign of great friendship on both sides and that we can both talk like that to each other. Even if we were beat, I would not have left.
Quite unceremoniously, we finished and got our buckles. Jamey really leaning. I got a picture and it's really obvious and Jamey was shocked. We walked to jordan's tent and it was bad. We both had blisters but Jamey was suffering between that and the lean and he was walking SssssLlllOoooWww. Jordan still didn't finish and her husband went to find her. We wanted to take a picture with her and our buckles but Jamey was in a bad place and we went to the car. Turns out that the last end of the loop, coming back from the long shit section, was terrible for Jordan. Her stomach was in a bad place and she was in the bushes the whole time. I feel terrible for her. Her new friend, thankfully, waited for her and made sure she was safe. If she was with us, we would have given her a little blue pill, but she thankfully made it and got her buckle.
We went to the hotel and I started the recovery process. I took a needle to my blisters. Lots of brain matter was left in Texas that day. I then showered. There are beautiful pictures of my blisters in the gallery. Do try and enjoy the blister porn that I have provided...
I thankfully did not get chafed. Jamey did get chafed and I heard him screaming and cursing in the shower. Sucks...
Went to the airport and returned the car and to the gate. I got my Wendy's and he ended up with Chinese food instead of his customary chilli. He then went to the restroom and came back quite happily saying that the "gates of hell have reopened". Awesome.
Flight home was uneventful and we walked a lot in the airport until we found the taxi area. No Uber area for that terminal. I got home and after saying hi to the dogs, got in bed and went to sleep next to the wife. In the morning, she tested for Covid as she wasn't feeling well, and tested positive. Crap... I didn't want her to have it and also I'm sure my immune system was a little taxed so I slept downstairs for the rest of the week. Interesting enough, when I got Covid in May, I gave it to the boy (who passed it to his GF) and the girl. Wife never got it. This time, she got it, and did not give it to anyone else in the family. Funny how that is...
I did have to drain my blisters a little more. Turns out I missed a pocket so lost some more brain matter but that's ok. Overall, feeling good through it all.
I wonder if I missed anything else but I'm sure that I did and I'm sure that I will add later but that's it for now.
By the way, I reached to the awesome Amanda Kelly. Initially she said she will not be doing this race. Suddenly on Facebook, I saw she was doing it. Turns out she was ony doing the half. I had a little funny exchange with her. Hopefully, I'll put it
I also reached out to Liz. She was very excited for this race but initially, she didn't look great in my opinion. Well, she got her second wind at the end and looked great at the finish.
Here is a link to Brazos Bend 100K.
