Up Oil Creek without a paddle!

 After completing my eastern States 100 mile run in Mid August I was looking forward to a recovery  week and a few easy weeks before the YUTC 50k four weeks later and then Oil Creek 100 on October 14th. Everything was going as planned and I was thrilled to have a good run in Youngstown in spite of a few spills on the rocky trails! A funny thing happened between the 50k & the Oil Creek 100. My friend Dena ended up having to pull out of The Northern Ohio Marathon on the roads of my hometown of Mentor. In hind sight running my first road marathon in a year 2 weeks before a 100 mile trail run may not have been the wisest decision! At least according to my quads! However I had a blast and even got to stop & say hey to my wife, Mary since the race went right past our street! The nice flat course through NE Ohio led to my second fastest marathon time of 3:38:29, which is also a BQ for my age group.

Photo op & sip of coffee with Mary at mile 10.75

Mile 26 and feeling strong!

I wasn't going to do too much running between the marathon & Oil Creek. Just enough to keep some semblance of sanity.  I recovered well from the marathon ran a little the following week. Thanks for the trail miles Desiree & JT. Friday the 13th came and it was time for the 2.5 hr drive to Titusville PA. Once I realized lights out was 9pm for those choosing to "camp" in the school gym I decided to sleep in my car at the start/finish and rock & roll come Saturday! Lights out at 9pm wasn't going to work. I went to packet pick up Friday evening & saw too many friends to mention all of them by name, but you all are the reason I was back in PA going for my 3rd straight Oil Creek 100 finish. PA has a great trail running community!!!

Good to see Candie at Packet pick up. Way to rock the 100k!

5 minutes until the 5:00 am start and ready to go!

My alarm was set for 3:33am so I ended up with my usual 4 hours of pre 100 sleep. I felt well rested took my time getting ready & walked the 100 yards from my vehicle to the Middle School. Its a treat to get to hang inside until the race starts! I had visions of taking at least a couple hours off my best finish which would mean finishing in around 27-28 hours. The course at Oil Creek is three 50k loops & a 7 mile+ loop to finish off the 100 miler. Loops 1 & 2 pretty much went as planned and I got to spend some trail time with Jim Harris who is the RD of YUTC, so that was an unexpected bonus! Nice chatting with you Jim! The Wizard of Oz themed aid station was too cool!!! It happens to be Mary's favorite movie.




I almost forgot to mention the muzzleloader deer hunter that shot about 100 yards from me on the second loop. Got to see him but not the deer. Until my dad got sick we spent many October weekends muzzleloading in PA and I actually spread some of his ashes on the GHT during my first OC 100 in 2013! My years hunting with him are a big part of the reason I love the PA woods!!!!
 Let's fast forward to loop three, which aside from miles 55-75 at my 2014 failed attempt at Eastern States 100, ended up being the most miserable miles since I started running ultras! Not sure what happened as I was pretty much eating well & having no physical issues beyond the usual nagging discomfort of seemingly endless hours of self propulsion.  I ended up walking almost the entire 31 miles which ended any thoughts of a personal best at Oil Creek.  I completed the first loop in just under 7 hours and the second in around 8.5 which was just 30 minutes over my goal. The 11.50 hour 3rd loop however, was not part of the plan. I was in such a dark spot mentally that I could not shake myself out of it as is normally the case.  I was not too thrilled with life for about 9 to 10 hours. Not sure wtf happened but it was ugly, constant, and almost the end of my 2nd PA 100 finish of 2017!
I want to mention a couple of folks because they are the reason I kept moving even when I had told myself I was going to drop as soon as I got to aid station #2. Michael Meyer you may not realize it but your encouragement and that of Brian Newcomer, Mary Dauberman, & a few of the volunteers was THE ONLY REASON I left the aid station under the power of my own two feet instead of a car!! It is amazing to see people that care so much for someone they don't know all that well at 2:30 in the morning. I still wasn't thrilled but once I stepped out of the aid station I knew I would finish the race! Of course that was still going to be about 9 hours, a bear, porcupine, deer, & cat sighting later! The moon and stars really lifted my spirits and by 6:00 am my funk had pretty much dissipated and was completely gone with coming daylight. I got back to the middle school and after a quick shirt change and ditching the poles & vest I had used on loop three was ready to get this last 7.3 miles done!
I felt great on this loop and pretty much ran all of the flats & down hills while power hiking the rest.

One mile left and feeling pretty thrilled it would  come to an end soon!

I was pretty confident that with walking almost an entire 50k I would have a personal worst and not the personal best I was hoping for. To my surprise my time of 30:39:16 was 1 minute & 37 seconds faster than my 2015 time!!! Woo Hoo, any victory no matter how small is a victory none the less!!!

Congrats to all that toed the line & a heartfelt thanks to Race Director Tom Jennings and all of the volunteers that make the Oil Creek 100 a very special race!!!!

I have only attempted eleven 100 milers & have finished eight of them. Of my three DNF's two of them were because I just didn't want to go on and the other due to foot issues which I probably could have dealt with if I had been mentally tougher! Oil Creek may not have been the race I wanted but I now know a little better how much more my body can handle when my mind wants to quit! To me that is a major key to finishing 100 milers!!

Oh yea, no more BQ road marathons two weeks out before a 100 miler! I did however sign up for the 2018 Cleveland Marathon after taking the last two years off!

Rest with a little running this week then get prepared for Bills BadAss 50k in four weeks!!!