by
"Sherpa"
John Lacroix
When MOST folks hear the term
"Ultra-marathon," they automatically think of RUNNING. In fact most
think an ultra-marathon is all running. Over the last 7 months I have been able
to learn much about this particular sport and can attest to the sheer fact..
that and Ultra-marathon is JUST as much "speed hiking" as it is
running. This past Saturday, I competed in my first ever official
Ultra-Marathon, the Damn Wakely Dam Ultra-Marathon. It was suggested I run this
race by Tim Seaver himself, in part of training for my big Wild Whites Adventure
planned for next year. It was also just another step in the ladder for my
fundraising efforts that I thank all of you for being a part of.
Friday I left work early and Sarah and I loaded up the car and headed for New
York State. Neither one of us had ever been in the ADK's before, so it was an
added treat as we would be camping at Little Sand Point on Piseco Lake. We
arrived after 5 1/2 hours of driving, set up camp and enjoyed a quick swim
before dinner. Dinner was your typical pre race meal of Pasta and lots of bread
for carbo loading. We headed to be at 9:30 as 4:30am would be arriving quickly.
The alarm went off at 4:30 and we were treated to one of the most spectacular
sunrises I had ever seen in my life, 23 years old as it may be. After a few
quick pictures that came out blurry (go figure), we hoped in the car and drive
the 20 minutes to the starting line, trail-head, just up the road. When we got
there a few racers had spent the night in their car. We got out of our car and
enjoyed bowls of cereal. My pack was organized the night before with everything
I would need, I would find out afterward that i had too much.
The ultra was to start at 6 and by 5:35 no one else was there aside from me and
one other runner. So I gave Sarah a kiss and told her I would see her at the
finish line. She left and drove back to camp to go back to bed. I now felt all
alone, nervous and started to shiver. I was wearing my tiny red shorts and red
short sleeve "sherpa john" shirt. I decided to go to the trailhead to
see if the others were there. Nope... no one but me, a trail sign and a few deer
flies that were all ready foaming at the mouth. I killed the flies, took a deep
breath and headed back for the parking area.
As soon as I got to the parking area I notched a few more cars had arrived. One
of which was carrying VFTT's Mtn.Goat. I spoke with his parents before he came
and introduced himself. I had no clue who they were at first. What a nice
family. No soon as we finish the introduction a large noise was coming from over
the hill down the road. As if from a scene in the movie "Meatballs," a
big blue bus came bounding over the hill. Now my nerves were running high as I
was about to see the others whom I would be in the woods with today. And as I
suspected.. they were some of the top ultra-marathoners in the region. Each one
of them came off the bus one by one, chiseled legs with veins popping along each
muscle in their calf and quads. Tiny packs filled with just the essentials for
the day and a whole lot of confidence and feeling of how this would be a piece
of cake for them.. me.. I looked like the youngest, felt like the youngest and
hell.. I felt rather small as I was truly standing in the land of giants and was
about to compete on their turf.
The race director came up to me and introduced himself. RD JIM as we referred to
him as. He felt my pack and asked if I thought it may be too heavy for the day.
I said, "I always come prepared, I'll be fine." he chuckled and walked
away. In my pack I had a banana, orange, 2 PB & J's, GU, 2 Cliff Bars, 3L of
water, a nalgene of Gatorade and some supplements which contained all organic
grasses. I also had a water filter and solar blanket and bug spray.
While training in the whites, when I mention the term "speed" the name
CAVE DOG always seems to pop up. I always feel bad when I hear it because Tim
Seaver bested Cave Dogs mark a year after. When I arrived at Wakely, I
anticipated the talk of the town would be Tim Seaver.. but the most he got was a
"is Seaver coming?" Unfortunately.. I felt bad for Tim because the
only speedy person I heard talk of was the immaculate Sue Johnston. So.. to try
and bolster respect, though to not take away from Sue's accomplishments.. I
talked about BOTH of them but more so about how Tim holds the Wakely Dam course
record at 32.6 miles in 5 hours 5 minutes. The reason he no showed the event
this year is because he is resting for his 2nd attempt at the NPT speed record.
Sue Johnston... yeah.. I met her.. and she is every bit of woman I'll NEVER be
as a man. You can talk about her as if she were a piece of folklore... a
legend... certainly both of them are. (end tangent)
We all gathered for the pre-race photo then headed for the trailhead. At the
trailhead the director told us a story about a man who drove up from Florida to
do the event, but as he set up camp a few days ago, a crazed man came out of the
woods yelling "DEMONS!!" and whacked him with a stick breaking his
wrist. Our instruction was to beware of crazed mountain men and those apposed to
trail-running events. As soon as that was done... the RD said start your
watches.... ...... NOW. And we were off with 32.6 miles of trail before us.
As the field of athletes panned out, I found myself running in the 6th position.
I heard footsteps quickly approach behind me and I stepped aside to let him
pass. I was now in 7th. For a good chunk of time I ran through the woods alone
in a land a knew nothing about. The tree's were much bigger here and the forest definitely
more grown in, thick and dark. I guess this is one of the most wild places in
The ADK's.. I would agree. The trail was rather muddy. in the whites, we walk
around mud bogs, there was no evidence of this in New York. Strangely enough..
In NH we go OVER or UNDER blowdowns, in NY.. they go around them. ::scratches
head::
At Mile 9 I let 3 more people pass me, one was the female front runner who was
running UP all the hills the entire way. Most of the other competitors including
myself, "speed hiked" all the up hills. Just as they ran out of sight,
I was stung my a mud wasp in my left hamstring. The hamstring immediately
swelled, I placed mud on it and tried stretching the leg to keep the swelling
from allowing it to strain. At Mile 10.3 I had arrived at Spruce Lake after
running and hiking for a mere 1:24.
At the 16.4 Mile mark I had been passed by a few runners near my age. one being
Mtn. Goat whose shoes had been sucked off a few times y the mud. Another was a
female runner from Atkinson, NH (nest town over) who at 19 years old was an
incredible athlete. I followed her for quite a while at her pace, while tying my
shoe, I looked up and she was gone and I would never catch her again though
would hear her voice. I had made it to mile 16.4 in 2 hours 26 minutes.
As I crossed the rickety bridges of West and Mud Lakes, I thought of how great
it would be to jump in. My face was covered in gritty salt, I was hot and
slowing down. As I gazed into the water as I paused.. I reared over to dunk my
hat when a LEACH came swimming towards the edge. It was at least 6" long
and made me gag. I immediately stood up and carried on.
As we took into the deep woods of the area I grew increasingly more tired and
began to Bonk Hard. I had done the hard days in the whites, but nothing like
this. When speed hiking I was giving it my all going as fast uphill as I could.
While running.. much of the same. There was no pace, no slow down or speed up..
it had been all fast. And before I knew it.. I was crashing hard. Every muscle
in my body had been working together in perfect unison trying to keep me going
along the heavily wooded trails. They were now shutting down.
The trail for quite a ways was terribly grown in with high grasses, thorns and
weeds. At times it became hard to tell if you were even on a trail or if when
you came out of this thicket.. you would remain on a trail. I was getting angry
and cranky as I felt I was moving too slow. My concentration was now muffled as
equilibrium was off.. my brain not properly functioning. I hit my shin on a down
spruce tree... I bent down in pain and rubbed it until I regained feeling in my
leg. I stood up and started running again, 10 paces down trail, I banged my knee
on the same leg on another downed spruce I could not see from the over growth. I
kept going and soon caught my leg on a down branch and fell flat on my face and
elbow. I was hurt, dazed and confused... but I knew enough to stop and eat. I
had a PB & J.. some GU and Gatorade. When I felt good enough to continue I
got up and moved along.
For the first time in my life I could feel every single muscle in my legs pushing
me along. Each one, most of which I never knew existed, played their part. I
hurried down the trail, no knowledge of what my time was, no knowledge of how
many miles remained.. I felt lost and very alone. Soon.. a white tunnel vision
took over me and I was losing ground fast. I again stopped for drinks and
stopped for a longer period of time... to truly make sure that I was ok to
continue. I had lost count of how many were in front of me nor did I even care.
At this point.. I just wanted to finish this true test of endurance.
I gathered myself as best I could and carried on to the next trail sign, of
which there were few. I assumed I had 6 miles to go.. I would find out that I
had 10. At first, a feeling of defeat but I thought of some comments I received
from folks this week. I thought of the guy who gave me a red square which said,
"This isn't the Sherpa John Show," the other that said "Brag brag
Brag." I then thought of the guy who said he doesn't give me a stone's
throw chance to best Seaver's mark in the Whites... I was getting very angry. I
took off my pack and threw it to the ground. Its contents spread about on the
trail and I screamed on the top of my lungs. And then.. at that moment... came
some soothing voices of those who have helped me along. Artex.. Brian.. Bob and
Geri..Jim Lombard.. Panama Jack.. Sarah waiting for me at the end.. and then..
Albee. During the pemi-Loop.. Albee recited a saying I used to encourage myself
during the Vermont City Marathon.. "They said No, I say Yes." I took
his words and put them in my head. I meditated.. and said to myself "I can,
I will... I am."
I gathered my belongings put them on my back.. and after wasting a half hour in
the wilderness of an area I knew nothing of.. I had gathered every ounce of courage
in my body. Its true that this type of sport drains every bit of everything in
your mind body and soul. All of your pains sink to your lower back, your
equilibrium is thrown off and your emotions take control over your every move..
none of this you can control... but I DID. I started singing to myself "You've
gotta set a pace, you've gotta set a pace.." and I began to move once
again. The miles were now slowly going behind me, I felt nausea's but knew I was
going to finish this thing. "I CAN finish it.. I WILL.. I AM finishing
it." I kept chanting and singing. More competitors passed me and I got
angrier... but who was I kidding.. this was their turf.. their sport.. I'm the
new comer and rookie.
I ran into a ranger and he told me I was only 5.7 miles from the finish. I
figured about 9 hour has gone by and I was in close to last place. I thanked him
for this stats and continued down the trail. At mile 29 I made it to a grassy
service road.. which reminded me of home and the Wilderness trail. It was all
road from here on out. The elevation gain chart shows the road as down hill...
it had more gradual up hills than anything. My legs had completely failed and
walking was excruciating. My feet burned, a blister on my heel and my big toes
severely bruised. I would walk as fast as I could with a grimace, gathering
enough energy to muster in a 100 yard trot/jog down the road. Soon those 100 yds
turned to 50 and eventually not at all.
I heard a dog barking.. The grass road turned to stone and the RD who was
competing himself ran past me. Soon a few other runners who I though had paced
me once.. passed me again.. MY GOD I WAS BEING LAPPED!
Then.. there it was.. the cabins that
marked the campground where the damn was. And as I ran down the road, Mtn. Goats
family stood up and cheered me on as did others parked on this tiny hill. The
hill was on a circle where you could drive around the hill or over it. I went to
run left and they all yelled "NO JOHN.. THIS WAY." I went to run
right.. "NO JOHN.. STRAIGHT!" My word.. where was the DAMN DAM! I ran
straight over the hill and there it was.. 32.6 miles later.. I used every last
.. VERY LAST drop of energy and ran across the dam. On the other side, the race
team took pictures which will be posted on their website within the next few
days.. then I saw Sarah.. sitting in the chair reading "A Fine Kind of
Madness".. a Fine Kind of Madness indeed.
The pemi loop was by far tougher than this, but I think it has ebocme the 2nd
hardest thing I have EVER done in my life. I competed against the best in a
spectacular event through the wilds of New York. Proud? Yeah.. I stand tall
today.. well.. as tall as I can because EVERY muscle in my is sore.. and I am
walking everywhere with my trophy for finishing. A year ago I had no clue all of
this existed. Here I was... gathering up all my courage.. and doing it with men
and women who have done it many times Over. Was I scared... hell yes.. in the
end.. I was in disbelief.
Of 45 competitors.. I finished 26th. The winner finished in 5:15:?? I finished
in 7:57:48. It was an hour slower than my predicted finish time and goal I had
set for myself.. but I didn't care. Because in the end I overcame my fears, I
overcame myself, my mind, my body and my soul. I was beat up, battered bruised..
and a defeated man.. who was able to resurrect myself to carry on. This is
something I'll do time and time again in the future.. because my goals are
clear... prove them wrong.. prove MYSELF wrong.. and raise a whole load of cash.
Specs: 32.6 MILES 3,903' Elevation Gain 3,478' Elevation Descent
26 of 45 in 7 Hours 57 Minutes and 48 Seconds
Next Up: THE FITCH 46!/48 In 4 1/2 Days.. don't EVER count Sherpa John out. Believe
In Me instead! See ya then August 6-10!!