A Win In A Lively Ghost Town

Old grave in cemetery

Where are you going???

It started when I was putting my race schedule for 2009 together a couple months ago. I saw the Ghost Town 38.5 miler in New Mexico and thought, “hmm, good time of year (Jan), great distance (38.5 miles), and cool place I’ve not yet visited.” Unfortunately, when I went to the website to register it and its waiting list were full. So, I forgot about it. Sometime about a week before the event I saw an email on a trail running list I belong to and it stated that a friend is injured and can’t compete in the GT 38.5, so her registration is up for grabs. A few phone calls and emails later and I was on the entrants list. Susan Reynolds is the race director and is, well, how shall I say, wordy. She’s an author and artist. When she talks or writes emails it’s as though the words are piled up so high in her body that she can’t get enough of them out fast enough. I believe she uttered more words over the three days I was in NM than I have spoken in my lifetime. This is a terrific attribute to possess when you’re a race director. She covered EVERY detail a number of times. On the drive down I noticed a number of things but three stand out: 1) you can drive 90 mph, half asleep, with one finger on the wheel. 2) The lighting and colors are incredible from blanched powdery tan and grey mountains to purple and pink hazy evening stillness. 3) There are homemade memorial crosses every 2 miles along the highway (I mean hundreds). This seems to be in direct correlation with the numerous highway signs advising drivers to report drunk drivers (dial #DUI). So, after 650 miles I arrive at shangri la, I mean the ghost town of Hillsboro. Being the closet nerd that I am, I like to research places before I visit or move there (did you know the state bird of Mass is the Chickadee?). Anyway, I researched Hillsboro, NM since it was a ghost town and ghost towns fascinate me. Quickly, it was, like many western towns, formed abruptly due to its proximity to mining of silver and gold. It grew to 10,000 and was the county seat in Sierra County. Once the silver was mostly plucked away and a few natural disasters (fires and floods) pounded the little town, people left. In 1936 Hot Springs became the county seat. Hot Springs is now called Truth or Consequences. T or C sits right on I-25 whereas Hillsboro is a twisty turn long 18 miles west of the highway. Now, I believe there are approximately 225 residents of the unincorporated Hillsboro, many of whom are retirees.  I actually revised and added to the Wikipedia page for Hillsboro based on my research.  I found the neatest part of the town to be the cemetery and I spent a lot of time there.

The welcome sign is bigger than the town

Some canyon speed testing for Pontiac in my rental

Saturday more participants filtered in and picked up their race packets (generously overstuffed with all sorts of great stuff, like a long sleeve shirt, an embroidered hat, one of Susan’s homemade greeting cards, coffee, Zombie Runner stuff, Power bar, note pad, food, a whistle, and more – easily the best race packet I’ve ever received).  Saturday evening we had the sold out pasta dinner and every last scrap of food was gone.

The pasta dinner

Matt and Tim working the pasta dinner

A little before dinner I introduced myself to Andy Jones-Wilkins.  I’m like a goofy teenage girl meeting movie stars when I meet the elite ultra runners.  Andy and I went for a 50 minute run on part of the course and talked and talked.  He’s not what I expected and I feel we hit it off like old friends.

Dinner on Friday. Susan had homemade dinner for anyone on Fri, Sat, and Sun, plus breakfast each day. It's easily the most you'll see from a "one day" event.

Now the nitty gritty race stuff…

Since I was helping at the race as a quasi-volunteer I think most people didn’t think I was participating.  I didn’t really talk about the race with anyone.  I discussed it briefly on my run with Jeff V. on the way back down Bear Mtn.  I told him how I was looking forward to racing AJW.  I think he asked whether I could beat him and my response was, “I’ll have to come in 1st place to do it and that’s not likely.”  Personally, my goals were:  Basic=to run under six hours and Bonus=win.  I finally admitted this to Susan (the race director) and a couple other people who were sitting around on Saturday afternoon.  Asked what my plan was, I said that I intended to stay with AJW like glue on his shoe.  Also, I was slowly finding out that there were going to be some other very strong and fast guys in the field too.  Great, I thought I would have to contend only with last year’s winner, Ed Heller and Andy.  Now, there were Bobby Biles from NM, Pete Stevenson from CO, Jason Halladay from NM, Scott Eppelman from TX, and 7th place finisher at Hardrock, Dave Coblentz.  Oh well, top ten finish with that group there would be fine.  I was still only focused on Andy.  I figured he would be the one to win and if I stayed with him, I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else.

Race morning was a blur.  It was scheduled to start at 6am, so it was dark.  There were a bunch of headlamps bobbing in the darkness and a fire in Susan’s front yard.  I checked in and sat in the car with Pippit and listened to music and visualized each part of the race.  I finally decided that I wanted to go out strong, not crazy, but at a good clip.  At the line in the road we started and Andy pulled out with me next to him.  After about 200 meters I started pulling away and ran alone for about 3 miles.  I did this for two reasons.  I didn’t want to be in the big crowd of people in the dark (I wasn’t wearing my headlamp) and I wanted to pull out the front runners early so I would know who they were.  After 3 miles I backed off enough to group up with the guys who followed.  I’ve found that when I don’t know much about competition it helps to just be quiet and listen to their conversation.  Past races, times, placings, injuries, it all unfolds in the race chatter in the early stages.  Finally we hit the first aid station at 6.3 miles and a turn onto a dirt road.  I’m not sure of the time it took since my $500 Suunto stopped working (this is the third time I’ve had a watch die in a race; it must be a sign).  The morning light gave visibility at this point but it was still chilly, so I kept my running jacket on until the 2nd aid station.  No one knew who I was until someone (I think Bobby from Fleet Feet in Albuquerque NM) said, “Maybe we should be paying attention to that third guy over there.”  We were running side by side and they had been discussing who would be running fast at the end and the general consensus was AJW.  At that point Andy says, “Oh, that’s Tim and he’s fast.  Watch him.”  Super.  Now the nervous knot that had gone away after we started returned and was bigger.  I decided I didn’t want to hear any more and started pulling away on this gradual incline.

I hit this “spur” out and back section with someone (I honestly can’t remember if it was Andy or Eppleman).  It was a very technical section that zig-zagged over a creek and then climbs very steeply to a turn around point at an abandoned mine shaft, so I took advantage of it and ran faster putting some distance on the others.  Once out of the spur and back on to the road I continued to increase my pace.  There is another, longer out and back that is the crux of the race in my opinion.  It is easily one of the gnarliest trails I’ve been on.  It’s 4 miles out and 4 miles back.  At the turn around it’s something like 20.5 miles into the race.  I hit the turn around and was devastated to see Andy coming up quickly.  He had gained a lot of space on me in that 4 miles.  I tried to brush it aside and just stay focused but it gnawed at me and I could hear his booming voice behind me as we passed oncoming runners on their way to the turn around.  On the flatter and rolling sections I was faster and would gain distance on him but on the very steep, technical ups and downs Andy would reel me in some until finally at about mile 23 he and I were together.  Before the aid station at mile 25 I ran harder to put some distance on him so I could jump behind a tree for a pee just before the aid station.  He passed me and got to the AS first.  I was wearing my Nathan race vest and had 90 lbs of food stuffed in it which allowed me to run through all the stations unless I was shedding clothing.  I passed Andy there and we stayed at anywhere between 50-200 meters apart with me dangling out front.  I would gain space again on the flatter and rolling sections, then he’d catch back up some on the steep stuff, especially descents.  I figure all that training and running for Western States 100 gives him a lot of descent practice and it showed.  Finally, at around 12 miles to go we were together.  Andy would surge and hold a tough pace then ease up then surge again and hold it for a half mile.  It was draining but I felt amazing.  I had timed my last gel perfectly and was able to run smoothly with him, allowing him to dictate the pace.  I remembered reading on his blog where he jumped into a 5k race in Boston while on a trip and ran a 17:19, so I said, “Should be an interesting finish since we have about the same 5k times.”  When we got to the point where it was 10k (6.2 miles) to go I took my race vest off and flung it into the bushes, rolling my ankle in the process.  I knew we were in for a tough six miles and I didn’t want anything to slow me.

I got into a good pace, maybe 6:30/mile and just allowed it to become a rhythm.  We hit the last aid station with four miles to the finish.  We were in a no talking mode race at this point and I just sort of waived at the volunteers.  Andy was increasing the pace and we were doing between 6-6:10/mile at this point.  My thinking was that if he wants to run this hard, then I’ll sit on his heels.  If he wants me to come around, then I’ll slow the pace to ready myself for the sprint.  I think he read my mind.  I actually touched one of his heels lightly, then apologized and came up around so we were side by side with two miles to go.  It was a very hard effort, running a straight 6 minute pace with 37 miles of hard running on my legs already.  My vision narrowed with stars around the perimeter a couple of times.  We were running at 5:35 pace at this point for the last mile.  Then with a half mile to go I surged hard but didn’t hold onto it for very long and I could hear Andy pulling back up.  We were shoulder to shoulder.  Andy had thrown his hand held bottles down.  I was trying to pick a landmark to start my sprint but couldn’t concentrate.  All the people at the finish were in the road yelling and waving their arms.  They had been getting the close split times all day and knew it would be a close finish but I’m certain they never expected this.  I felt that 100 meters out would be good to pour it on.  I had been anaerobic for a couple of minutes already and didn’t want to start the sprint too soon but I didn’t want Andy to start it first, so I rocketed out in a burst with everything I had left!  I could feel  that I was pulling away but pushed harder.  My mind was blank and stayed blank until the oxygen returned to it and I could hear Susan say, “you won by 5 seconds.”

Finish time:  5:21:01 – New course record (Old record: 6:06)

Post race was incredible.  I don’t even want to go into how nice this race is because I don’t want people to flock to it; I want a spot in it next year and for years to come.  Susan had Enchiladas, soup, corn bread, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, everything and more.  I’ve paid more money in a Mexican restaurant for food not nearly as good.  Overall, I think it’s such a unique place at the perfect “get away” time of year, that Susan could command as many people as she pleases at her event.

I was thrilled to meet and run with AJW.  He is insightful, open, and kind.  Post race he broke down my strengths and weaknesses better than coaches I paid $110 per month to do the same.

Here’s AJW’s blog post on the race:  http://ajwsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/running-on-frontier.html

My only regret of the whole four days is that I didn’t get to say goodbye to Matt Reynolds, Susan’s husband.  He was still working out on the course and would be there for a long time.  It was a pleasure spending time with him.  It seemed we always had something to talk about and he’s a badass 4-wheel driver.  I’d also like to point out how nice their son, Gabe and his girlfriend, Tasha are.

Also, I want to say thanks for the generosity of the sponsors.  Susan must have done some sugar-sweet talkin’ for all the great things provided.  Thanks to Bobby and Rona from Fleet Feet in Albuquerque for providing countless pairs of free shoes to the award winners.  Also, Bobby took 3rd overall and Rona took 1st for the women (I wish I was their kid!).

Can’t wait for next year!

Tim

Race Director, Susan Reynolds, and Tim post race

Andy Jones-Wilkins and Tim chatting and beer drinking post race