Spokes

Standing in the early twilight hours of the sunrise at the Gould Community Center I was thankful that I could join the other 285 runners at the starting line. My heart issues a few weeks prior cost me some valuable training time and had me wondering if I’d be able to race. Once I got the green light from the cardiologist to run, I had five solid weekends to get some vert in and a small taper before the Never Summer 100K . It would have to be enough. Never Summer 100K is a 65-mile race in State Forest State Park in Northern Colorado. The course takes you through the Never Summer Mountains and skirts the southern edge of the Medicine Bow Mountain Range. The race has over 13,000 feet of vertical gain and most of it takes place over 10,000 feet above sea level. Simply put, this was one of the hardest 100K races in the country. Elevation Profile of Never Summer 100K I was fortunate to be racing with several other athletes I knew well including my good friend and legendary ultrarun

It’s no big secret that I was not feeling super great heading into my last race. It was the perfect storm in many ways. I had a stressful week at work two weeks prior working on a massive deadline followed by a heavy training volume week where I nearly doubled my weekly mileage and then fell behind in sleep the week leading into Quad Rock. I was super stressed out heading into Quad Rock due to the distance and vertical gain. I felt comfortably trained up to the 35 mile distance, but I had failed to put in the back-to-back days in training that would have given me confidence to make the jump to 50. The night leading into my race I had some significant arrhythmia while I was lying in bed. The feeling was not new to me. 10-years ago I was diagnosed with benign PVC’s. The condition takes place when nodes in the ventricles fire off signals that interfere with the main SA pace-making node in the heart. The result is a feeling of a skipped heartbeat followed by a hard thud in your chest

I was standing in the midday sun staring into my car. Sweat was dripping down my face and my eyes were heavy when a little devil popped up on my shoulder. “Just stop Tim. You are tired, beat up and it’s hotter than hell out here. Just get a 25 mile finisher time and take a nap in the shade. This was not an “A” race for you anyway” ------------- Rewinding the clock 5 hours, I was ironically shivering from the cold awaiting sunrise as I stood next to 200 other ultrarunners. The sun was just beginning to light up the sky as the race director made his final announcements about the race. Early morning view The Quad Rock 50 would consist of a clockwise, 25-mile loop followed by a reverse run of the same loop. Each lap has three major climbs and about 5,500 feet of vertical gain per lap for a grand total of 50ish miles and 11,000 feet of elevation gain. “Follow the pink flags,” the race director said. This piece of advice would come in handy later in the day as I slogge