Hardrock 100 2009 Pole Creek to Sherman

Mile 19.6 to mile 28.7
Arrived 3:23 pm
2:36 from Pole Creek, 15 minutes in the aid station (:26 total in aid stations)

-left the aid station right behind Liz and Rickie, Rodger had left about a minute earlier


Liz passed Rickie and took off down the hill toward the creek, she was running well downhill and said that her plan was to walk the ups (power walk, I'm sure she wasn't doing any 'mall strolling') and to cruise on the flats and the downs. It looked like she was keeping well on that plan.
-Rickie and I stopped at one of the creek crossings to wash off our legs, the mud was starting to get to the consistency of hardening plaster
-Followed Liz but finally lost sight of her about 3 miles before Sherman
-Dobies got ahead of me here as well, I lost sight of him before Liz
-It started getting a bit gloomy, then it started raining with lightning off in the distance, fortunately not too close judging from the flash to bang time. It rained consistently all the way to Sherman
-ran with Fred Abramowitz once I caught up to him. We kept seeing Liz just up ahead of us and wondered why we couldn't catch up to her...


-Fred and I crossed the boulder fields above cataract gulch then started the numerous stream crossings. Since it was raining, I wasn't nearly as concerned about getting my feet wet; that and I knew that I had more Desitin and a dry pair of socks at Sherman.


-Fred and I caught up to Rickie Redland just below tree line and she let us pass her by.


-As we descended the switchbacks, I started to tell Fred about how two years ago they had signs for about the last half mile or so before the aid station advertising their menu and giving the runners (who would read them) encouragement. Once I saw the first of these signs, I told Fred ‘it is as I have foretold.' I couldn't tell if he thought it was funny, but we continued on just the same.


-There was a radio person about ¼ mile before the aid station and asked my number. He also asked if I had a drop bag and I told him I did and thanked him for being there for all of runners, especially standing in the rain (even with the cover of the trees it was clear he had been getting wet for probably several hours...)
-I arrived at the aid station and my drop bag was on the table with all of the contents on top of it, neatly laid out
-I ate and drank, then ate and drank some more
-Saw Dobies at the aid station, he asked ‘do you need any malto?’ I said ‘what are you still doing here?’ and he said ‘stuffing my face’…he left about 5 minutes before me and I never saw him again
-Saw Karen waiting for Pat
-Said hello to Annette Anthony (she comes down to AZ occasionally for training runs, usually in the winter time, when the AZ weather is nice)
-I was getting ready to leave and Jody rolled in. I asked if she felt better and she said ‘about 10% better’ so I said ‘you look 25% better!’ I knew I had to hurry out of there or she would get ahead of me (which I figured would happen eventually, I just wanted to put it off as long as I could)
-As I was leaving I noticed a table with some smoothies on it and a bottle of tequila. I asked if there was any tequila in any of the smoothies and the volunteer said that they wouldn’t let them. I said that maybe it would make them better. I debated but finally grabbed one, drank about half of it and dumped it into the trash (I didn’t want to waste, but I really was full.)
-I guess the smoothie put me over the top (or maybe it was the veggie quesadilla, all the food I ate from my drop bag, the potato soup, etc.) because my stomach started to bug me quite a bit for about the next 45 minutes or so; I knew I was going to walk the shortcut trail that links the road to Sherman with the road to Burrows, but I was reduced to walking the easily runnable road. I decided that it was alright to walk a bit and let the food digest; and not wear myself out so early in the race.


Once I reached the top of the climb to the Burrows Park road, John Sharp caught up to me..