Training for and finishing a mountain 100 was still high on my goal list in 2017. I had completed Javelina Jundred twice and Mountain Lakes 100 once, plus over a 100 miles three other times at fixed time races. While I don't think any 100 mile race is easy, I wanted to tackle a more challenging race. Mogollon Monster in September seemed to fit the criteria so most of my training and racing in 2017 would be focused on that race set on and around the Mogollon Rim of Northeastern Arizona.
February: Hagg Lake 50k DNF. It was a beautiful day but I was recovering from bronchitis and even the little hills were a struggle. So I called it a day after one loop.
April: Tillamook Burn 50k 8:00 This felt slow. It was slow. But I needed to get in the vert if I wanted to have a chance at Mogollon.
May: McDonald Forest 50k 7:12 Another slow time but I got my 5 year mug. I love the vibe at this old school race, but the course itself isn't one of my favorites so I haven't run it since. But I probably will again some day.
June: Mary's Peak 50k 7:21 And yet another slow one. I think at this point I thought my age (52) was starting to catch up to me.
June: Hypnosis Night Runs 50k DNF This is one of Aravaipa Running's races in the Phoenix area. During the summer they hold their Phoenix races at night and as you can imagine they are a lot of fun. I chose the 50k and on this course in Estrella Mountain Regional Park that's four total loops. But I never realized that there could be a heat wave in the desert. Normally it would cool down to at least 80 degrees overnight. But this night it was still 107 degrees at 8pm and by the time I stopped running in the middle of the night it was still 99 degrees. Thankfully no sun beating down on me, but the heat and sweat in the night eventually became unbearable. I couldn't make myself go out on the last lap so officially DNF'd with about 24 miles. But they still gave me a finisher's award - I think they realized how brutal it was.
July: Mt Hood 50k 6:13 I finished 2nd in my age group so I feel like I finally had some redemption and my old self back. (But I still think I can run this one in sub 6.)
July: Ochoco 50k 7:55 Back to slow, but this was another challenging course. I love the Ochoco's but this race no longer exists. Hopefully Alpine Running will bring it back or someone else will revive it. Looks like I took a tumble at this one. I don't remember but apparently I biffed it a lot on the trails in 2017.
And a few weeks later in Portland:
More trail rash
August: Vertigo Night Runs 50K 8:10 Back to Phoenix for another night run in the White Tanks west of Phoenix. This time the temps were more normal. My brother lives there and he came out and paced me the last lap or two. I remember hitting the trail a few times at this race too. This was really starting to get old, although none of the falls seemed that bad at the time - just a lot of blood.
August: Elkhorn Crest 50 mile DNF (unofficial marathon) This race in Eastern Oregon looked like a great training race for Mogollon. I had never been to this exact location but was not disappointed in the vert and ruggedness of the trails. It climbed right from the start and most of the race would be spent going up and down from the Elkhorn Crest trail.
Race headquarters in Sumpter Oregon
After the huge initial climb and the first aid station there is a long, downhill on a rocky trail --- rocks of varying sizes but baseball to basketball size. So it's really hard to fly down but I did my best to keep a good pace. I never fell but I started to feel some major pain in my right knee. This did not get better. By the time I climbed back up to the crest and then started down the trail to the third aid station I could barely put weight on it. I reached the aid station and the medics wrapped it for me. I could've waited and gotten a ride out but I wanted to leave the course on my own power. Someone pointed out that I was carrying poles. Duh! I could've used those earlier. I got them out and with their help hobbled the 6 miles to the finish for an unofficial 26 miles. That was probably stupid since I was in excruciating pain. I'm really glad I had a motel room and wasn't camping.
I'm not sure how I managed the 6 mile drive home the next day but cruise control is a wonderful things. I went straight to urgent care. I think I had an x-ray which was inconclusive and they said I had bad tendonitis or something like that. They wrapped it up and gave me some crutches. Over the next few weeks I never really improved and there were moments when I had would step wrong and get painful zingers shooting up my leg. I went to another urgent care and they were unhelpful - gave me a brace which I never actually used. My leg was aching at night and the wonderful Ali Novak, ATC said that sounds like bone. So I had an MRI and it came back that I had fractured my lateral femoral condyle. I guess all my falls (and I usually landed on my right knee) had taken their toll. So while I didn't fall at Elkhorn Crest, there was probably a fracture in the making and the pounding and force was the last straw.
September: Mogollon Monster 100M DNS
I was glad to finally have a diagnosis although it took nearly a month to get there. I had already dropped out of Mogollon 100M after dropping down to the 100k. I ended up seeing two different sports medicine doctors and the both thought it would heal fine with staying non-weight bearing for a few weeks and then slowly building back up. So that's what I did and my recovery was pretty straightforward. The worst was having to use crutches for a few weeks and then recovering from using crutches. But I was back to some running by the end of the year - 30 miles in November and 53 in December.
No crutches but still cross training on a box
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