Rocky Raccoon 100 2022

Rocky Raccoon 100 Race Report 2022

Rocky Raccoon 100 miler Is a 5 loop 100-mile race in Huntsville state park in Huntsville, Texas. This is about an hour north of Houston. All 5 loops are the same and go in a clockwise direction. It is a popular ultramarathon with around 400 people showing up to race the 100 miler and additional people running the 100k. It has gotten so popular that they have the 50k/50-mile race the following weekend.

I’ve never raced in Texas and figured I’d get out of my comfort zone. I’ve had multiple friends run the race, and they all spoke highly of the experience. So I signed up and was selected in the lottery. It lined up ideally three weeks after Coldwater Rumble 100 and two weeks before Jackpot 100. Well, it’s going to be a busy month of racing. But after the last 2 years of pandemic race cancellations, I am ready to race again.

The week before, I had neurotically checked the weather because Texas had a huge rainstorm. The good news was the rain stopped on Wednesday, but in its place came a temperature drop. Being a Southern California boy, freezing cold temperatures were going to test me in a new different way, and so I started planning for very cold weather. I reminded myself that I did do UTMB the year it snowed at the top of every peak, and I frequently climb the local mountains in the snow and wind. I should be fine, I told myself.

I flew to Houston, rented a car, and drove to the start line on Friday. It was 30 degrees, and the line was about 45 minutes long to get your bib. I started chatting with an older gentleman up next to me in line. It was Rene Villalobos, and he’s run over two hundred 100 mile races! Great conversation ensued, and he broke down the course for me. He had run it 15 times. You never know who you’re going to meet at an ultramarathon. Afterward, Howie Stern took my photo, and I hurried back to the safety of my warm car. I was frozen to the bone. If it was 30 degrees during the day. How cold would it be at night? I had planned on doing a shake-out run at the park. I like to see the first mile or two of the course since I’ll start in the dark. But nevermind. I drove 30 minutes South to my hotel, where the weather was slightly warmer, and ran around the hotel. 

Race morning, I arrived bright and early at 415am. I wanted to get good parking and make sure I had ample time to go to the bathroom. Rene Villalobos had his pickup truck backed up against the trail and told me I was welcome to throw my dropbag in it for easy access. I had a small duffle bag that I had stuffed with extra batteries, lube, extra clothes, food, and drinks that I would come to every 20 miles on the course. At 5am, I went and got my tracker. This was one of the old school trackers that went around your ankle with a neoprene strap. Very retro. It was 27 degrees but with no wind. I decided I would start with 3 layers. A t-shirt, a Patagonia long sleeve Capilene and my bomb-proof Arc’teryx wind/waterproof jacket. I wore my windproof fleece beanie, 2 layers of black diamond gloves, an inner fleece layer with a windproof outer layer, a buff around my neck, my jort running shorts, and my merino wool socks. I thought I would warm up quickly and figured this would be good enough. 

Lap 1

Without much fanfare, the race abruptly started at 6am. It started winding through the campground grass before crossing into the trail system. It was a double track, and the first 3 miles had a lot of roots. At mile 0.89, I had my first fall. Jumping up, I shouted to the surrounding runners, “well, I got the first one out of the way.” Around mile 4, I got to the first aid station and then headed down a couple mile out and back dirt road that had no roots and a couple small sections of mud. It was slightly rolling but nothing to worry me; even on lap 5, I figured it was runnable. Around mile 7, we got back onto the double track and had 3 more miles of technical root-filled trails before reaching aid station 2. I grabbed a single serving of pretzels and continued down another dirt road. The entire race is rolling hills, but this section seemed more downhill to me, and with it being a wide road, it was easy to avoid the roots and rocks. At one point, a pine tree had fallen across the trail, and we had to climb over it. Around mile 14, I came into the 3rd aid station, which was connected to the 1st aid station. I ate some more pretzels and headed onward to the start/finish line to complete lap 1. Mentally I was struggling during this lap. My hamstrings felt very tight, and although I was running at the appropriate pace (around 10-minute miles), I felt that I wasn’t warming up and couldn’t find a groove. My mind started going through all the scenarios of failure and how I hadn’t recovered from Coldwater, how I shouldn’t have run 162 miles last week, how I should have properly tapered, and anything else negative it could make me feel. Gotta love your brain trying to make you quit. If you feel this bad at mile 20, imagine how mile 60 will feel, imagine mile 80, my brain told me. It’s so cold. Do you really want to just suffer all day like this? Yes, I do, I told my brain, and I started thinking about how I wasn’t at work, how this was a mini-vacation, about how lucky I was, and as many positive things I could muster to keep moving forward. I finished lap 1 in 3 hours and 20 minutes and went to my aid station. I stuffed my face with potatoes, watermelon, and a red bull. I took off my headlamp, Ary’teryx jacket, long-sleeved shirt, beanie, and outer layer of gloves and took off with a t-shirt, fleece gloves, a buff, and my hat on.

Lap 2

The sun was out, and it’s not that it was hot out, but my body felt warm, and I knew that over the next 20 miles, it would increasingly warm-up, and I figured that I could make it with the above gear. It actually worked out well, and at points, I was even able to take off my gloves. Although the park seemed to have several microclimates and where one section would feel warmer, other sections would drop 10 to 15 degrees. The back half of the 20 miles was much colder. I found myself running much better in the light, and having already seen the loop, I knew where to mentally prepare for the technical root-filled sections. I knew where I could run a little harder and faster and where I needed to slow down and pick up my feet. The hamstring issue that had mentally hurt me on lap 1 was nonexistent now, and I realized that the extremely cold weather had just hampered my body’s ability to warm up. It’s not to say that lap 2 was pain-free because it wasn’t, but my hamstrings felt good, and I fell into a better rhythm. There were several wooden bridge trails that went over the boggy sections of the park. Some longer than others, on lap 1, they had an almost snow layer on them. By lap 2, this had become slick ice, and you had to slow down, so you didn’t slip and fall. The last thing I wanted to do was fall in a cold bog. At all the aid stations, I continued to eat pretzels. Despite everyone telling me how great the aid stations would be, these were the only real vegan option that appealed to me. I had drop bags at every aid station and would quickly refill my pack with fig bars, Frooze balls, and Lara bars. During the lap, that was what I primarily ate. I attempted to eat around 100 calories an hour or when I felt hungry. I wasn’t drinking much water because it was so cold. At mile 34, I had happily completed my 100th 100-mile week in a row! This gave me a boost of energy, and now I just had 66 bonus miles to run. I had dropped my gloves at aid station 2 (mile 30) as it had finally warmed up enough, and I didn’t need them. I finished lap 2 right at 6 hours and 50 minutes. Time-wise, I was slightly ahead of schedule.

Lap 3

I was feeling good on lap 3. The weather was perfect; I knew what to expect and stayed very consistent with my pace. Then at mile 43, I tripped on a root and went down. Thanks to the universe for reminding me that I couldn’t take my guard down. I had the course mapped out in my head now and could break down each section into manageable mini-goals. The old adage of “how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” is how I approach most ultras. It makes it way easier to get through a section when you’re only focused on a couple miles at a time. It also makes it feel like you’ve achieved a goal when you finish the section. I was still just in a t-shirt and hat at this point. I had been wearing my Oakley trail Prizm glasses throughout the daylight. I don’t know if they still make them, but they did an excellent job changing the colors of the dirt, roots, and leaves so I could see the roots clearer. Without them, the roots blended in with everything and were hard to see. I finished lap 3 at 10 hours 57 minutes, and I still had a lot of daylight left.

Lap 4

I started this lap harder than normal. Not because I hate lap 4, because I do. But because I wanted to run as many miles as possible without my headlamp. I’ve discovered over the past several races that my once perfect eyesight is started to fail a bit at night. As my grandfather would often tell me, “getting old ain’t for sissies.” And with my poor night vision and advancing age, I felt this strongly. I will probably have to go see an optometrist soon. I made it to mile 67 before having to put on my headlamp. I was impressed with myself for making it this far. Literally, a quarter-mile after the sun went down and I was powered by my headlamp, I had fall number 3. I had been in a good groove and was moving well, and bam, the wind gets taken out of my sails. I knew the next 3 miles were technical, and so I slowed down and started really focusing on those roots. The gloves went back on, and although I had brought my jacket with me, I stubbornly pushed on in my t-shirt. At the 3rd aid station (mile 70), I was frozen. I put on my jacket, drank a red bull, and continued on. Like I said earlier, the back half of the race was much colder, and I was pretty cold between mile 70 to 78. I had to keep my hands in tight fists to keep them warm and my nose and ears stung. I finished lap 4 in 14 hours and 45 minutes.

Lap 5

I felt great starting this lap. Because I run so much, 20 miles does not seem far to me, and my legs felt strong. I drank a Redbull, and it gave me wings. Despite my night vision issues, I charged out into the darkness and was ready to kill this lap. The first 5 miles went really well, and I found myself on the dirt road moving at a good speed. This was one of the easiest sections on the course, and then the only issue was the couple of small sections of mud you had to circumnavigate. At mile 85, I stepped wrong on the mud section, went full airborne, and landed in a freezing cold puddle of water. Jumping up, my entire left side was coated in thick freezing cold mud, and my left glove was soaking wet. What could I do? I just kept running down the road. This took the wind out of my sails a bit, and I had landed pretty hard on my left knee. Although it was so cold, I couldn’t really tell if it hurt or not. At least this section wasn’t technical. At mile 87, I reentered the 3-mile technical section and found myself falling again. This time directly onto both knees. Now I was moving much slower. I lost a bit of confidence but reminded myself I only had 12 miles to go, and even if I ran 1 minute per mile slower than I wanted, that would only add 12 minutes to my overall time. So who really cared. And so the last 10 miles, I just went slightly slower. Again the back half of the race got extremely cold. I think it probably dropped into the upper teens. It was miserable, but when you can smell the hay in the barn, not a whole lot can ruin your mood. I just did what I do best, put my head down, and ground out the last couple of miles. The last 2 miles are not very technical, and I mentally prepared myself all race to charge this section at the end. When I reached mile 98, I pushed as hard as I could, which translated to a 9 to 10-minute mile, but to me, it felt like I was sprinting. I finished the race in 19 hours 26 minutes and got 15th place overall and 1st place in my division. It was a good day because it was a hard day.