Jarom's Running Page

135 MILE BADWATER ULTRA MARATHON 2008 - see the full documentary by my friend and support crew member, Rob Schopke @ www.TriRacer.com

Katcina Mosa 100km & The Bear 100 Miler- Aug & Sep 2008 English Portuguese

Brazil 135 & Arrowhead 135 in only 8 days!!! Jan/Feb 2009 English Portuguese

**Running the Caminho da Fe Expedition 340 miles in Brazil** Story by Gerard Martinez based on his interview with me...click here to read

Here's a tribute video to all those who ran in the BR135 2009 Ultra Marathon!!!

Me and my niece Kindra who has Sturge-Weber's Syndrome
2010 Brazil 135 video

2010 Brazil 135 Mile Ultra Video from Tony Portera on Vimeo.
In the news...

Runner's World Brasil - May 2009 edition Article about long distance running/endurance races inducing mental breakdowns and hallucinations! Sorry it's in Portuguese....but the point of the story (and there were 4 other stories in the same article too) is that very long distance running and adventure/endurance racing induces mental breakdowns! hahahahaha
I had spent the 2nd night of the Brazil 135 mile Ultramarathon in January of 2008 looking for hidden treasures while running....at one point I didn't even remember I was in an ultramarathon at all. I believe that it was brought on by the fact that on the plane from the U.S. to Brazil a week prior to the race I was reading Paulo Coelho's book "The Pilgrimage" where he tells of his journey pilgrimage on the Road To San Tiago of Compostela where along the way he is taught some magical (or rather spiritual lessons about life) and is tasked with searching for a sword...I never found my sword (I don't think, or did I?), but I finished the race in 45 hours 43 minutes, finishing 7th overall out of a field of 41 international athletes, and am a better person for it... I learned so much about myself on that solo run that I would never take the experience back no matter how painful and exhausting it was at the time!

Other's in the article tell about seeing elephants and a field of heads and smiling faces and hearing fairies speaking an unfamiliar language....etc and many other stories...lol

BR135 & Arrowhead 135 em apenas 8 dias!

2009-02-18T10:46:00.006-07:00

(Um relato rapido da minha condicao da BR135 e Arrowhead 135 ultramaratonas que corri em 8 dias)

Acabei de voltar aos EUA do Brazil no final de Janeiro logo depois de correr a BR135 (em 56 horas conservativas) e ai tinha apenas 8 dias para voltar para correr a Arrowhead 135 no gelo em Minnesota com o Joao Sacks (de Curitiba) e com o Marcio Villar (Rio). Agora ja to de volta em Utah, finalmente! Foram as duas semanas mais dificeis da minha vida.

Aqui ta um video em homenagem a todos os atletas da BR135 2009!!!

A prova comecou na segunda-feira dia 2 de Fev e terminou dia 4 a noite. Eu, infelizmente tive que tomar a decisao dificil de parar e abandonar a prova depois de ter corrido 150km (triste mas eh a verdade). E o pior era o fato de que eu estava liderando a prova depois de 120km ate os 150km por mais de duas horas na frente do segundo e terceiro colocados, mas eu tava realmente com medo de me colocar em risco de vida.

Essa prova eh MUITO perigosa pois eh uma prova de sobrevivencia, nao de corrida, e com muito pouco apoio. Voce tem que ser auto-suficiente e tem apenas dois pontos de apoio durante os primeiros 120km...os ultimos 100km nao tem nada de apoio. Temperaturas chegaram a fazer -25C abaixo de zero durante a primeira noite e eu sofri muito pra nao congelar e poder ver a luz do dia novamente....a segunda noite chegou a fazer quase -40C graus abaixo!!!

E eu sabia que seria muito mais dificil e menos seguro se continuasse sozinho por uma segunda noite sem apoio e sem dormir. Entao foi ai que parei, apesar de estar liderando a prova, depois de 150km antes do por do sol do segundo dia. Chorei muito enquanto esperava resgate de snowmobile.

Passaram se duas horas quando vi finalmente o segundo e terceiro atletas me alcancando e dei meus "parabens" e falei que eu tava fora e que nao ia mais continuar na prova. Comecei a me congelar demais e nao tinha como ficar esperando mais, eu tinha que levantar e comecar a correr mais. Mas eu nao queria ir pra frente e ficar cada vez mais longe da rodovia que tinha passado, entao decidi voltar 5 a 6km procurar ajuda e carona e poder me esquentar novamente.

O Joao abandonou a prova depois de quase 30km e o Marcio, depois de um milagre, se ressucitou de um estado de hipotermia na primeira noite e continuou durante o segundo dia e noite para completar os 217km em 58 horas!!! (Parabens meu amigo). O Marcio tinha tentado correr essa prova em 2008 mas teve que abandonar no primeiro ponto de apoio (+ou- 70km) porque quase perdeu os pes devido ao frio e gelo que formou nos tenis dele (frostbite).

Muita gente abandonou a prova este ano, incluindo o recordista da prova que parou depois de 80km e ate o proprio diretor da prova, que corre todo ano, tbm teve que parar no segundo ponto de apoio (120km)!!!

O desafio todo foi filmado e documentado por tres grandes amigos da Rede Globo (Esporte Espectacular) e foi transmitida ao ar no dia 22 de Fevereiro :

Reportagem da Arrowhead que passou na Globo:
http://video.globo.com/Videos/Player/Esportes/0,,GIM970678-7824-ULTRAMARATONA+DESAFIO+PARA+POUCOS+NO+GELO,00.html

Algumas pessoas que tavam acompanhando a prova pelo site viu que mencionaram algo a respeito do meu pe. Eu tinha um pouco de dor no meu tornozelo direito da BR135 na semana anterior, mas nao era a razao que tive que abandonar a prova. Na verdade, eu tomei a decisao de parar porque pela primeira vez na minha vida, numa prova dessa, eu tava com medo de colocar minha vida em risco uma segunda noite sozinho e sem apoio da organizacao naquelas condicoes. Puxando um treno de 15kg de equipamentos, comida, agua e roupas na neve fofa (pois nevou quase 15cm na noite antes da prova) e depois de correr 217km em montanhas de Minas Gerais me provou que foi algo mais do que eu era capaz.

Eu nao tinha nocao dessa prova antes e nao tava mentalmente preparado pra aquilo. Entao corri com a cabeca e parei quando percebi que nao ia me fazer bem continuar.

Dos 59 que largaram, apenas 24 terminaram a prova em menos de 60 horas e 1 foi desqualificado.

26 de bike largaram, so 15 completaram.
27 a pe largaram, so 8 completaram.
6 de skis largaram, so um completou.

Aqui vai algumas fotos desses dois grandes desafios:

(Eu mostrando o ponto mais alto da prova, Pico do Gaviao)
(Na largada logo antes da prova comecar. Eu to abaixado de camiseta vermelha e chapeu.)

(La vamos noisssss....)

(ainda o primeiro dia....)

(Dia dois.....)

(Dia tres....A linha de chegada depois de 56 horas. Paraisopolis, MG, Brasil.)

Que emocao!!! Nao se pode pagar nem um milhao de dolares pra ganhar o que aquilo que voce recebe depois de completar uma prova dessa.....priceless! (sem preco)

(David Walker, de New Zealand, tbm um Finisher da BR135 2009. David teve a ajuda da minha esposa Sandra na equipe de apoio dele para ser interprete de Portugues/Ingles pra ele e sua familia que tava junto com ele o caminho inteiro. Lauren...you're dad's AWESOME!!! What a tough man.)

Agora so 8 dias pra recuperar e voltar aos EUA e chegar em Minnesota para correr a Arrowhead 135 Winter Ultra no gelo.

(Gil da RedeGlobo, Marcio Villar, eu...chegando em International Falls, Minnesota. O Marcio ja tava la fazia 2 semanas treinando e se adaptando ao frio.)

(Marcio Villar, Eu, Joao Sacks Prestes)

(Edson reporter da RedeGlobo, Tuninho produtor da RedeGlobo, Marcio Villar corredor, Gil da RedeGlobo, Joao Sacks corredor, Eu corredor, Gary Thurston...pai #1)

(Eu, Marcio, e Joao fazendo um treino rapido pra testar nossas roupas e trenos)

(Largada da trilha Arrowhead, 7:35am e ja tava -20 graus. Durante aquela primeira noite chegou a fazer -30 abaixo)

(Primeiro checkpoint....mais ou menos km 70. Aqui eu tava saindo do checkpoint em direcao ao segundo checkpoint no lago do Elefante aproximadamente km 115). Mais tarde durante o segundo dia, antes do por-do-sol, com mais ou menos 150km eu tomei a decisao de parar. Ano que vem eu voltarei...mas dessa vez nao creio que vou correr 217km na semana antes....rsrsrs.

Brazil 135 & Arrowhead 135 in 8 days!!!

2009-02-18T09:35:00.026-07:00

I just got back from Brazil after finishing the grueling 135 mile ultra marathon there, and a week later ran 90 miles of the 135 mile winter ultra marathon in Minnesota called the Arrowhead 135.
Here's my experience I had with the two long distance races back to back.

(a quick update on my condition from the BR135 & Arrowhead Winter 135 mile Ultra Marathons) later

I just got back from Brazil the end of January after running the BR135 again (in a conservative 56 hours) and then had only 8 days to get back to run the Arrowhead 135 in Minnesota. The race started Monday Feb 2nd and finished Wednesday night the 4th. I'm back in Utah now after the longest and toughest week in my life!

Here's a tribute video to all the runners of the BR135 2009 race!!!

I unfortunately had to make the decision to drop out at mile 90 (sad but true). The hardest thing was the fact that I was leading the race from about mile 75 to mile 90 and by over two hours from the 2nd and 3rd runners, but I was seriously too affraid for my life and safety. This race is VERY VERY dangerous as it's a race with very little support, you must be self-supported and there's only two check points/aid stations both in the first half of the race...the second half, about the last 60 miles there's no support and temps reached -15F degree the first night and I struggled to get through it....the second night reached -34F (ouch) and I knew I would have a difficult (and unsafe) time if I continued on alone for the second night w/o sleep and having no more aid stations to stop in. So I stopped, despite being in the lead, at mile 90, just before the sun went down on the second day.

There were two of my brazilian friends who came to run it too. One dropped out after 18 miles the other miraculously recovered from hypothermia the first night and continued on to finish second to last in 58 hours!!! He had tried running this race the year before and almost lost his feet to frostbite but came back to try again and DID IT! (Way to go Marcio Villar)

The course record holder who has run this race several times also dropped out, at mile 52 during the first night into the race. Even the Race Director, who runs it every year abandoned the race at the second aid station!!!

The whole event was filmed and recored by a Brazilian TV News crew (Globo TV) and aired on February 22nd nationwide on Brazil's Esporte Espectacular tv program: (But in Portuguese, sorry)

Check out the Brazil Sports TV report about the Arrowhead Ultra here:Reportagem da Arrowhead:

http://video.globo.com/Videos/Player/Esportes/0,,GIM970678-7824-ULTRAMARATONA+DESAFIO+PARA+POUCOS+NO+GELO,00.html

Some of you may have been following along the Race site blog and they mentioned my foot. I did have some pain in my right ankle from the BR135 the prior week but that was not why I dropped out. The main reason was that for the first time in an ultra marathon I was affraid for my life had I continued on a second night w/o support and sleep in those conditions. Pulling a 30lb sled of equipment, clothing, food and water in the snow after 135 miles in the Brazilian mountains just a week before was proving too much, to say the least!

I underestimated this race and was NOT mentally prepared to be fully self-sufficient out there 2 days and two nights. So I played it safe and threw in the towel. I'm sure running the BR135 one week prior didn't help my chances either, as I was very much still recovering from that extreme challenge too.

Of 59 starters, 24 finished the Arrowhead in under 60 hours and 1 was disqualified.
26 bikers started, only 15 finished.
27 on foot, only 8 finished.
6 skiers, only 1 finished.

Here's some pictures of my two back-to-back Ultras:

(Me pointing out the highest climb of the course, Pico do Gaviao)
(At the starting line right before the race. I'm in the red shirt and sailor hat.)

(And we're off....)

(Day one still....)

(Day two.....)

(Day 3....The finishline after 56 hours. Paraisopolis, MG, Brazil.)

What a great feeling!!! You can't pay a million dollars to gain what you get from finishing such a race...priceless!

(David Walker, from New Zealand, also a BR135 2009 Finisher. David had the help of my wife Sandra on his support crew to translate Portuguese/English for him and his family who were with him the whole way. Lauren...you're dad's AWESOME!!! What a tough man.)

Now only 8 days to rest up and get back to the U.S. to Minnesota for the Arrowhead 135 Winter Ultra.

(Gil from GloboTV, Marcio Villar, me...just arriving in International Falls, Minnesota. Marcio had been there for almost 2 weeks alone to train in the cold.)

(Marcio Villar, Me, Joao Sacks Prestes)

(Edson GloboTV Reporter, Tuninho GloboTV Producer, Marcio Villar runner, Gil Camera man, Joao Sacks runner, Me runner, Gary Thurston...#1 dad and athlete supporter hahaha)

(Me, Marcio, and Joao going on a quick training run to test out our clothing and sleds)

(Beginning of the Arrowhead Trail, 7:35am and it's -5F. Later that night it dropped to -15F)

(First checkpoint....about 38 miles. Here I was just heading out on the trail again to run all night by myself to Elephant Lake approx mile 75). Later the second day, before sundown at mile 90 or so I made the decision to scratch from the race. Next year I'll be back, but this time I don't think I'll be running the BR135 a week before hand...hahahaha.

Katcina Mosa 100km e The Bear 100 Milhas - 2008

2008-10-10T22:58:00.002-06:00

KATCINA MOSA 100KM DE MONTANHAS 2008

Esse foi meu terceiro ano participando dessa prova dificil de 100km de montanhas. Nao fui muito esperto em querer correr essa prova apenas duas semanas depois de ter completo 217km no deserto do Vale da Morte.....BADWATER!!!

Eu nem devia ter tentado correr uma ultra logo depois de completar uma das provas mais dificeis do mundo em menos de 48 horas....mas foi isso que fiz.

Eu ate me senti bem fiz alguns treinos curtos depois de recuperar da Badwater. Eu consegui ficar com os lideres da prova pelos primeiros 20km, e me disseram que tava ainda no quinto lugar ao chegar no ponto de apoio de 40km.

Foi ai que acabou minha sorte...rs. O dia comecou a esquentar muito e foi um dos anos mais quentes da Katcina Mosa...chegou a fazer quase 40 graus. Meu corpo ficou traumatizado e logo estava sentindo fraco e ruim de estomago. Logo depois de passar a metade da prova eu vomitei tudo que tinha comido e bebido naquele ponto de apoio. Demorei muito pra passar os proximos 15km ate o ponto de apoio Little Valley. Ai as bolhas do meu pe esquerdo da Badwater voltaram todas e eu sabia que ia ser muito dificil completar essa prova.

Fiquei surpresa ao ver minha amiga Marcee que foi me encontrar pra correr comigo pelos ultimos 20km. Ela foi fantastica e nao ia me deixar desistir da prova. Eu achava que nao ia chegar ate a linha de chegada em tempo....so tinha ate meia noite pra completar.

Mas depois de vomitar mais e estorar mais bolhas no pe eu consegui completar a prova em 20 horas 33 minutos. Eu ja tinha corrido essa prova duas vezes antes em menos de 17 horas, mas dessa vez foi diferente!

A DOR SEMPRE PASSA, MAS O ORGULHO EH ETERNO!!!

THE BEAR 100 - 2008 Perfile de Elevacao

Depois de ter apoiado a Marcee na Wasatch 100 milhas um mes antes, e correr como pacer com ela pelos ultimos 40km daquele percurso dificissimo....eu tava muito animado para ir participar em mais uma prova minha.

Comecamos num parque da cidade de Logan, Utah as 6am e tinhamos 36 horas para completar a prova de 100 milhas de montanhas, a cerca de 23.000 pes de elevacao total e terminando em frente ao Bear Lake, Idaho.

Os primeiros 80km passaram muito bem, ate que meu estomago comecou a rejeitar tudo. Agora olhando pra tras eu acredito que a causa foi que eu consumi demais de tudo, eletrolites, liquidos, calorias...etc.

Eu gostei muito de ver varios amigos da comunidade de ultramaratonas la. Fiquei surpresa de ver quantas pessoas sabiam da minha prova no Vale da Morte e todos me deram parabens e sempre perguntam a mesma coisa: Eh verdade que a Badwater eh brava?....eu so respondo que sim e que realmente nao to nem ai pra tentar a Badwater de novo....kkkkkkkkkk

Essa foto foi tirado assim que eu tava chegando no segundo ponto de apoio, mais ou menos km 30. Eu tava sentindo que meus pes tavam comecando a criar bolhas entao aproveitei um tempinho para trocar de tenis e meias. Isso salvou meus pes!

Durante a tarde a temperatura aumentou bastante por ser uma prova nas montanhas de Idaho em Setembro e assim que o sol desceu atras das montanhas esfriou muito. Alguns pontos da prova chegou a fazer um ou dois graus abaixo de zero!

Eu comecei a ter problemas com o estomago e nao consegui segurar nada dentro. Entao eu perdi muito mais tempo do que eu queria nos pontos de apoio tentando comer e calmar meu estomago.

Finalmente depois de uma longa noite eu decidi dormir por uma hora, das 5am ate 6am em um dos pontos de apoio. Eu acredito que fazendo isso salvou minha prova e as 9am meu apetite voltou e consegui sentir fome e comer. Depois de repor minhas energias eu consegui correr os ultimos 40km e tres montanhas em menos de oito horas.

Eu corri forte ate o final tentando completar a prova em menos de 35 horas. Acabei chegando em 34 horas e 40 minutos....mas a boa noticia da historia.....nenhuma bolha nos pes!!! Isso foi um milagre.....rsrsrs

Minha equipe de apoio, a Natalie e a Marcee foram otimas. Sempre me empurrando e elogiando. Foi muito bom saber que a cada 2 ou 3 horas eu ia ver elas me esperando em cada ponto de apoio do percurso ate o final.

So pondo meus pes de molho em agua gelada :o)

Consegui....depois de ter completado duas provas de 135 milhas este ano eu consegui minha primeira fivela de uma prova de 100 milhas tbm!!!

Katcina Mosa 100km 2008 & The Bear 100 2008

2008-10-10T21:58:00.015-06:00

KATCINA MOSA 100KM MOUNTAIN RUN 2008

This was my 3rd year in a row running this difficult 100km (62 mile) mountain run. I wasn't too smart though, as I just finished the grueling and demanding 135 mile ultra marathon across Death Valley....BADWATER!!!
I shouldn't have even attempted to run another Ultra Marathon so soon after my sub-48 hour finish at one of the toughest endurance races in the world, but I did anyways.

I actually felt good and had done a few short training runs after resting from Badwater. I managed to hang with the lead runners for about the first 13 miles, then was told I was 5th coming into the Aid Station at mile 24.

But that's all the luck I had. It warmed up to one of the hottest Katcina Mosa year's ever....hitting 100 F some people said. My poor traumatized body went into relapse or something and I was quickly too low on electrolytes. I made it to Windy Pass, halfway, but threw up everything I ate and drank there about a mile after leaving that Aid Station. I was a long 9 miles to the Little Valley Aid Station. The last 20 miles or so I was just lucky to be still standing, honestly. Blisters from the Death Valley race all came back on my left foot and I felt nauseated for hours.

My friend Marcee surprised me about 13 miles from the finish. I knew she might be at the finish watching, but didn't expect her to come meet me and pace me the rest of the way. She kept talking me into finishing, despite my many attempts to just call it quits. I was affraid I wouldn't even make the Midnight Cut-off. After throwing up a few times and threading some blisters on the last 6 mile stretch to the finish I was able to finish in 20 hour 33 min. I was a bit dissappointed as I have done this course twice before in under 17 hours, but I was just glad to be finished. PAIN AND DISCOMFORT ARE TEMPORARY - PRIDE IS FOREVER!!!

THE BEAR 100 - 2008 Elevation Profile

After crewing Marcee at the Wasatch 100 just a month before, and pacing her for the last 25 miles of that killer course...I was excited to get out again and run another difficult race of my own.

We started at city park in Logan, Ut at 6am and had 36 hours to finish this brand new 100 mile mountain course with nearly 23,000 ft of total elevation gain/loss finishing at the beautiful Bear Lake in Idaho.

The first 50 miles went by really well, until my stomach started turn on me. I believe now, looking back, that I was taking in just too much of everything....electrolytes, fluids, calories..etc.

I enjoyed seeing a lot of familiar faces of many ultra runners I've met over the few years I've been running these endurance races. I was surprised at how many knew about my Badwater finish and congratulated me. They always tend to ask the same thing too: Is it really that bad? To which I reply...ya, it's one I don't really care to do again....hahahaha.

This picture was taken as I was coming into the 2nd Aid Station about 19.6 miles into the race. I had some hot spots on my feet so I changed shoes and socks before going on.

The afternoon was quite hot for this high elevation course in the end of September. As soon as the sun set the tempuratures dropped quickly and some colder spots during the night actually reached a few degrees below freezing. I had hard time keeping down any food all night. I had to spend a lot more time at the Aid Stations than I wanted to try and settle my stomach and keep some food and fluid down for a while.

Finally after a long night I decided to sleep for an hour from 5am to 6am at one of the Aid Stations. I think that saved my race and by 9am I finally got my appetite back and made a strong comeback for the last 25 miles of the race in only 7.5 hours.

I ran the last several miles as hard as I could to try and finish under 35 hours, which I did. My total time was 34 hours 40 minutes....good news though....NOT ONE BLISTER!!! That's a miracle in my book....hahahaha.

My crew, Natalie and Marcee were great. I was so glad to have some friends with me at each of the Aid Stations to encourage me to keep going.

Just soaking my feet in cold water :o)

I did it.....after finishing two 135 mile ultras this year, I actually got my first 100 Miler Buckle!!!

Running With The Devil 2008

2008-07-04T17:08:00.007-06:00

(This was the only picture I got, sitting on the Hoover Dam the day after the race)

Well....I hate to say it, but I stopped at mile 28. What a let down, right before I'm heading to run the hardest ultra in the world, Badwater, 135 across Death Valley. OR, was it a great learning experience?

You just never know if you'll finish an Ultra marathon, especially one in extreme conditions like heat and yes, Lake Mead at 112 degrees is extreme. But, I learned some things that will be CRUCIAL in my quest to finish Badwater and I am more confident now, more then ever, that I'll finish Badwater despite having to drop out at saturday's race.

Here's why: (I know I don't owe any explanations or excuses...these things happen, that's what so crazy about this sport. But wanted to share what I learned.)

I was doing great for 20 miles then I had my stomach turn really bad on me for a few reasons that I now understand. Due to my heat training over the last couple months I didn't realize just how much more efficiently my body is utilizing water and sodium...so as I attempted my longest hottest training run (the Devil Race) I underestimated my body and ended up being too cautious and taking in too much water and too much sodium (lose/lose situation...hehe) and it hit me from mile 20 - 24....bloated up fast, swelled up and quickly threw up...hahah yuck...literally about 2-3 liters of fluid came shooting out from my stomach, even shot outta my nostrils...ewww.

It was all just sitting there...not absorbing at all. Vomitting eased the pain and at the turnaround, mile 25, I rested a bit and tried to rehydrate, but did so too fast and my body rejected it all again at mile 26. So at mile 28 I had gone at least 8 miles with no water getting to my body, it was not absorbing and it hit 110-112 degrees, so a nice hot day... and the heat exhaustion was draining my energy fast.

I knew I just needed recovery time and I'd be fine, but I took the 8am start and with a cut off time of 11 hours I had lost too much time from 20 - 28 that in order to recover I would need at least an hour to let my body rebalance the water and sodium levels and get my appetite back and I would never have made the cut off time...maybe close, but I figured it was too risky to force myself to recover too fast and have more problems down the road again and so close to Badwater.

So I got a ride back, went to the hotel and took a cold shower, rested for an hour and "low and behold" I was feeling 110% again. Ate some bacon and some soup and went back to run another 6 miles with some friends who were just finishing from the 6am start and just making the 12-13 hour mark. Then got up and ran another 8 miles the next morning. So I learned that I'm very well ready to recover and make a come back if I get that bad at Badwater (no pun intended)...and I'll have plenty of time to do that there.

I learned also, how much fluid and electrolyte intake my body now requires as compared to before my heat training. And thirdly... I'll have my ever so blessed support crew with me the whole way to ensure I'm getting the best possible prevention from the heat. RWTD 50 is a tough race due to no crews...aid stations are one thing, but having a dedicated crew following you is essential in Death Valley.

I was depressed for a couple hours that night, but I felt soo good after bouncing back that if saturday would have been the Badwater race, I would have been still in the game and could have run all night. That's worth more to me now than having finished saturday's race without much incident and then have it happen at Badwater and freaking out (mentally that would have been really bad at Badwater not having the experience beforehand).

That's exactly why I went to run the Devil race this year. So keep up your prayers and support for me! I know I can do it.

Good quote to remember when running ultras:

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."~ Earl Nightingale

24 Horas de Curitiba, Brasil - 17 de Maio de 2008

2008-06-13T10:27:00.008-06:00

Que prova divertida, heim!!! Esta prova foi realmente muito diferente de todas as ultras que ja participei antes. Tinha mais ou menos 60 atletas vendo quanta distancia (qts voltas) nos iamos conseguir dar em exatamente 24 houras. Esta prova foi realizada na PUC na pista de esporte (de 400m) em Curitiba, PR.

Minha meta foi de tentar fechar 180km ou mais, mas eu terminei com 159,2km (398 voltas).
Em baixo sao algumas fotos da prova e meu relato.

clique aqui pra ver:
Os Resultados oficiais

Primeiro tudo comecou com um jantar muito chique na Churrascaria Lonatto que especializa em massas...tinha 17 massas pra experimentar...MMMmmm...

A manha da prova. A prova nao comecou ate 10 da manha entao tinhamos bastante tempo pra organizar nossas coisas e areas de apoio. Muitos atletas tinham ate barracas pra seus amigos, familia e apoio.

Fui selecionado a participar num projecto especial (medico & scientifico). No dia antes da prova e a manha antes da prova tivemos que fazer uma serie de exames, incluindo uma ecocardiograma e exames de sangue. Repetimos tudo isso imediatamente depois das 24 horas da prova tbm.

E la vao eles!!! A prova iniciou com todo mundo cantando o hino nacional do Brasil, muito lindo. Em pe ao meu lado esta meu amigo e Fuzileiro Naval, Sebastiao DaGuia Neto. Ele correu muito bem e fechou mais de 200km tomando o quarto lugar na classificacao geral. Isso so um mes depois que ele correr do Rio a Brasilia em vinte poucos dias com a Marinha!!!

Agora so falta 23 horas e 59 segundos.....hahaha.

Depois de apenas 3 voltinhas na pista o grande Mario Lacerda, meu tecnico entre aspas, pediu pra eu e o Joao Sackes (outro Brasileiro que vai correr na Badwater comigo em Julho) a parar por um tempo pra conversar. O QUE? Parar pra bater um papo? Agora que comecou a prova?

Realmente achei que o Mario pirou de vez. Tava me matando por dentro vendo os outros atletas dando voltas e voltas na pista e eu la parado. Eu tava ficando pra tras...ai minha nossa! Mas o Mario eh um veterano da Badwater e ele tinha um proposito pra fazer a gente parar. Nos ensinou uma grande licao...

Ficamos parado em pe falando das nossas metas e planos pra Badwater por 30 minutos. Os outros comecaram a tirar sarro e gritar comentarios tais como: "Vieram aqui pra correr ou namorar...hahahaha", mas o que o Mario tava tentando nos ensinar eh que a maioria dos que nao completam a Badwater desistam logo depois de 80 a 100km depois de Stovepipe Wells porque aquela primeira parte da prova eh muito plano e MUITO QUENTE e tinhamos que aprender a nos segurar na largada, pra dosar e manter nosso foco que eh a linha de chegada ha 217km na frente. Nao podemos largar na Badwater muito rapido se vamos conseguir completar!

Foi realmente muito bom aprender isso e apos acalmar meus nervos o Mario deixou eu e o Joao voltar a pista correr. E pelas proximas horas eu corri e corri e corri...

e corri e corri....eu tinha muitos amigos que vieram correr comigo o tanto que pudiam aguentar. Essa ai em cima eh minha amiga Katherine, ela eh surda mas adora correr! Ela ja completou algumas provas de 10km e saiu muito bem em todas. Quem conhece a Joseli que foi voluntaria na BR135, ela trabalha como interprete para a Katherine na escola dela, a Joseli tbm trabalha com os surdos na FACINTER em Curitiba.

Na foto em cima voce pode me ver correndo com o Curitibano, Raphael Bonatto...acho que ele foi o atleta mais jovem da prova. Ficamos muito perto um do outro em distancia a prova toda. Nas ultimas horas da prova eu consegui colocar mais 8km na frente dele depois que recuperei da nausea que me provocou a noite toda.

A Joseli supreendeu muita gente ao correr 6 horas da prova comigo. Ela nunca tinha corrido mais de 10km e acabou de correr sua segunda prova Domingo dia 8 de Junho e pegou podio de novo!!! Parabens Joseli. Nao marcamos as voltas dela aquele dia mas acredito que ela fechou no minimo 50km...sua primeira ULTRA nao-oficial.

Assim que o dia tava comecando a esquentar, la veio o Mario de novo pra me aprontar mais uma. Ele me disse que tenho que usar essa prova como um treino pra Badwater e me deu um casaco de frio e luvas pra correr e simular o calor que vou passar no Vale da Morte. Pediu pra mim e pro Joao corrermos com os casacos ate o por-do-dol.

Nunca suei tanto na minha vida!!!

Tinha apoio medico durante a prova toda e o Mario quis que a gente desse olhada na nossa pressao de vez em quando. Minha pressao tava otima ainda depois de horas correndo com o casaco.

Tinha musica tocando o dia todo e durante a noite tbm....comida e refeicoes tavam providenciadas para todos os atletas tbm.

Eu achei melhor correr e comer ao mesmo tempo pra tentar nao perder tempo pra poder alcancar minha meta. Embora eu sabia que depois de suar tanto e perder tantas eletrolites eu ia passar mal no frio da noite e ter ansia. Quando fica com nausea nesses desafios a gente perde tempo deitado ou caminhado devegar pra tentar recuperar.

E foi assim mesmo...hahaha. Depois de 14 horas de prova (la pra meia noite) eu comecei e me enjoar e ter ansia. Muitos dos outros atletas ja tinham desistidos da prova justamente por causa da nausea...e muitos antes de anoitecer ate.

A temperatura abaixou muito durante a noite e eu troquei de roupa umas 3 ou 4 vezes pra ficar seco e nao pegar muito frio.

Eu gostaria de agradecer pessoalmente todos voces que me mandaram emails durante a prova. Aqui em baixo ta uma foto que to correndo com um monte de emails em minha mao. Todo mundo ficou com enveja com o tanto de emails que recebi...rs. Acho que tinha mais emails do que todos os outros juntos...kkkk

As suas palavras encorajosas me ajudaram aguentar muitas horas da prova. OBGRIGADO!!!

Eu descobri que uma das melhores coisas que posso tomar pra ajudar meu estomago quando ta mal eh cerveja sem alcoo. O gosto amargo e o gas faz milagre e volto a correr sem demorar.

Ao amanhecer eu sabia que nao ia alcancar minha meta de 180km mas queria tentar fechar pelo menos 160km que da praticamente 100 milhas. Eu suei tanto no primeiro dia com o casaco que meus pes ficaram muito molhados e isso causou uma bolha dolorosa no meu pe.

Minha nausea finalmente passou e tava sentindo muito bem e forte e sabia que ia conseguir correr muito ainda se meu pe parasse de doer por causa da bolha.

Depois de estorar a bolha eu corri que nem um louco pelas ultimas duas horas. Acho que tinha gente chegando pra ver o final da prova e acharam que eu era o lider da prova porque eu tava dando voltas nos outros atletas...hahaha. (a maioria tava so caminhando e tentando perseverar mais duas horas).

Minha esposa, filha, cunhadad e cunhado chegaram tbm pra me ver correr o final da prova. Em cima ta uma foto da minha filha Taila esticando a mao pra bater ma minha mao (que ela fez toda volta por quase uma hora sem parar...rs)

Finalmente o relogio tava chegando perto das 24 horas. Quando eu completei o que eu pensei que fosse minha ultima volta o relogio tava mostrando 23:58:?? e alguma coisa e quis saber se dava pra correr mais uma volta em menos de dois minutos. Entao corri com toda minha forca mais uma volta e completei faltando so alguns segundos pra fechar a prova. Foi DEMAIS!!!

398 voltas - 159,2km = 98,3 milhas em 24 horas.

Eu so quis deitar e morrer depois da ultima volta mas tinha muita gente querendo me dar parabens e tirar fotos entao tentei ficar de pe ate depois da ceremonia dos premios.

Aqui to recebendo medalha do Diretor, Mozart. Parabens Mozart e muito obringado por tudo. A prova foi um grande sucesso.

Essa foi a terceira edicao dessa prova de 24 horas de Curitiba e fui o primeiro americano a participar...adorei :o)

Em baixo ta uma foto com todos que tavam presentes que tbm participaram da BR135 em Janeiro desse ano em Minas Gerais. Foi uma reuniao (de familia) fantastica!

Esta foi meu primeiro podio e trofeu que eu ja recebi nas ultras. Eu fiquei no segundo colocado na minha categoria e decimo-primeiro na classificacao geral.

A Taila, claro, queria estar nos meus bracos ao receber meu trofeu da incrivel Monica Otero, a primeira brasileira completar Badwater e tbm primeiro brasileiro a completar a Sahara - RunningThePlanet.

Existe algo melhor do que compartilhar o que voce ama com sua familia e amigos?

Eu te amo Taila e estou morrendo de saudades!!!

24 Hours of Curitiba, Brazil - May 17th, 2008

2008-06-11T11:49:00.066-06:00

What a fun run!!!
This race was very different than most ultras I've ever competed in. There was about 60 runners seeing how far (how many laps) we could run in exactly 24 hours. This race was held in Curitiba, Brazil on a college campus sport's track (400m track).

My goal was to try and run 110 miles or more, but I finished with about 98.3 miles (398 laps). Below are tons of pictures and my race report.

click here for:
Official Results

First we had an awesome dinner at a local Churrascaria (Brazilian Steakhouse) that specializes in pasta....17 kinds of pasta selections to make...MMMmmm...

Morning of the race. The race didn't start until 10am so we had plenty of time to get ready and set up our own rest areas. Lots of people brought tents for their family, friends and support crews.

I was selected to participate in a special research project (medical/scientific research). The day before the race and race day morning they had some of us do several exams, including an Echocardiogram and blood draws. We repeated this process of exams immediately after the race ended.

And they're off!!! The race started with the signing of the Brazilian National Anthem. Standing next to me at "Attention" is my friend and Brazilian Marine, Sebastiao DaGauia Neto. He ended up running well and took 4th place overall. After the nation anthem we did the count down and started running....only 23 hours 59 seconds to go...hehehe.

I had only run 3 laps around the track when Mario Lacerda asked me and Joao Sackes (who will be running the Badwater ultra marathon with me in July) to stop and talk for a while. It was killing me to stand there and watch all the other runners doing lap after lap while I was getting behind. But Mario, a Badwater Veteran and finisher, had his reasons to stop us from running at the beginning of this event.

We stood there and talked about our goals and plans for the Badwater Ultra for an entire 30 minutes. The other runners were starring at us and making funny comments about us, but Mario's whole point was that we needed to learn to hold ourselves back at the beginning of a long race like Badwater (135 miles). He explained that most people who do not finish Badwater drop out soon after passing StovePipe Wells (42 miles)...because it's the flattest and hottest part of the race and people start off too fast and too hard.

It was a great lesson to learn and then after calming my nerves Mario let Joao and I get back to the race and start running laps. For the next couple hours I ran and ran and ran...

and ran and ran...I had several friends show up to run with me for as long as they could. (This girl above, running with me is a deaf friend of mine. She only speaks and communicates via sign language...she ran about 5-6 miles with me. Thanks Katherine!

Above is a picute of me and Raphael Bonnato, a local Brazilian, I think the youngest runner in this event. Raphael and I stayed very very close (distance wise) the entire duration of the race. The last few hours of the race I pulled 5 - 6 miles ahead of him after recovering from nausea and a blister on the bottom of my foot.

Just as the day was heating up....along came Mario again to perturb me and distract me from reaching my goal of 110 miles...hahaha. He told me I need to use this race as training for Badwater. Then he gave me a big winter coat and gloves to simulate the extreme heat and sweating that I will encounter in Death Valley.

He told me to run with the coat on until sunset!!! I've never sweat so much in my life.

Medical staff was available during the race and Mario encouraged Joao and I to check our blood pressure often while running in the heat with our coats on. My blood pressure was fine every checkin.

There was music playing all day and all night...food and drink available anytime, even several hot meals provided to the athletes.

I figured I'd just eat and run at the same time so I could try and meet my goal despite loosing half an hour at the beginning of the race. I also knew that putting my body through such extreme heat and losing so much fluids and electrolytes that later during the cold night I would probably feel nauseated and loose some more time lying down and doing a lot of walking to recover.

Yep....sure enough after 14 hours of running (about midnight) I started to feel sick to my stomach. Many of the other athletes had already dropped out of the race due to stomach problems on that day. Several had dropped before night fall too.

The temperatures dropped as the night went on and I ended up changing into dry warmer clothers 3-4 times throughout the night.

I want to personally thank everyone who sent me emails during the race. Here I am running with a handful of emails the race director handed me in the middle of the night. Everyone was jealous because I recieved more emails than probably everyone else combined...hahahaha. Your words of encouragement helped me get through many hours of the race. THANK YOU!!!

I've discovered that one of the best things to help my stomack feel better when I'm nauseated is Non-Alcoholic Beer...the bitter taste and lots of bubbles sure does the trick and gets me back to running quickly.

As morning came I knew I was too far behind my 110 mile goal, but wanted to try and reach the 100 mile mark (162km). I had sweated so much the day before wearing that darn coat that my feet had gotten very wet and resulted in a painful blister right on the bottom of my foot that normally I never get.

My nausea passed finally and I felt good and strong and knew I could still run a lot if my foot felt better after popping the blister.

I ran like a crazy man the last two hours. I think people showing up for the finish thought I was winning the race because I was running laps around people...hahaha (most were just walking and trying to survive two more hours).

My wife and daughter and sister-in-law and brother-in-law were there to see me finish running the 24 hours. Above is my daughter Taila reaching her hand out to give me five (which she did on nearly every lap for almost an hour...lol)

Finally the clock was getting closer to 24 hours. When I finished what I thought would be my last lap the clock said 23:58:?? something and I wondered to myself if it was possible to run, well sprint, one more lap before 24hours. So I ran as hard as I could and barely finished another lap just seconds before the end of the race. It was AWESOME!!!

398 laps - 159.2km = Approximately 98.3 miles in 24 hours.

I wanted to just lay down and die after that lap but I had too many people congratulating me and taking pictures so I tried to stay on my feet until after the awards ceremony.

Here I am recieving my finisher's medal from the Race Director, Mozart. Congratulations and thank you Mozart. The race was a HUGE SUCCESS. This was the 3rd annual 24 Hours of Curitiba and I was the first ever american to compete in the race :o)

Below is a picture with everyone who was present that participated in the BR135 Ultra back in January in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was a fantastic "family reunion".

This was my first podium finish and trophey I've ever received running ultra marathons. I placed 2nd in my division and took 11th overall.

Taila of course wanted to join me as I recieved my trophy from the incredible Monica Otero, first ever Brazilian woman to finish Badwater and the first Brazilian to ever finish the Sahara - RunningThePlanet race too.

Is there anything more wonderful than sharing what you love with your family and friends?

I love you and miss you Taila!!!

Antelope Island 80km & 24 Horas de Moab (em 7 dias)

2008-04-01T17:49:00.005-06:00

Antelope Island 50 Mile (80km) Buffalo Run
22 de Marco de 2008

Esta foi a segunda vez que corri essa prova na ilha Antelope no Grande Lago Salgado. Mudaram o percurso este ano e ficou mais bonito e divertido. Eu nao tinha conseguido fazer inscricao, mas algumas semanas antes da prova o Jim Skaggs (diretor da prova) me mandou um email informando que eu ainda podia me inscrever.

Eu nao ia nem tentar quebrar meu recorde pessoal do ano passado de 8 horas 57 minutos porque eu tava me preparando para minha primeira prova de 24 horas apenas sete dias depois dessa prova de 80km. Entao minha estrategia foi correr mais devagar, fazer como se fosse um treino longo para minha corrida de 24 horas em Moab no Sabado seguinte.

Minha amiga Marcee disse que queria correr comigo ja que ela nao tava preparada pra correr essa prova muito rapido. O dia amanheceu muito frio e largamos no escuro. A Marcee teve problemas e dores de estomago desde o comeco ate quase cinco horas de prova.

Finalmente o sol nos aqueceu um pouco e a Marcee comecou a sentir melhor e correr mais rapido. Conseguimos correr os ultimos 40km mais rapido do que os primeiros 40. Nunca fiz isso antes numa ultra maratona...entao foi legal. Corremos os primeiros 40km em quase 5 horas e completamos os 80km bem fortes e em menos de 10 horas com um tempo de 9 horas 44 minutos.

Meu pai, esposa e filha chegaram de carro na ilha para assistir a chegada. Eles chegaram bem na hora de nos ver no Km 70 e de novo na linha de chegada. A Taila ficou tao animada pra poder correr com papai que ela me encontrou quase meio km do final. Ela correu com toda a forca dela, ate de bota, ate que nao aguentou mais e pediu uma carona nos meus ombros ate a linha da chegada.

Eu mostrando (com todo orgulho) minha camiseta da BR135!!! Esta foi a minha primeira ultra maratona desde a prova de 217km no Brasil em Janeiro.

Eu e a Marcee terminamos com uma colocacao boa, quase no meio de 50 atletas que completaram a prova. Eu so tinha planejado correr os 80km em 10 horas e meia, mas depois que prometi pra Marcee que ela poderia terminar em menos de 10 horas ainda eu tive que cumprir, ne? A sopa de vegetais e carne de Bufalo depois da prova foi uma delicia!!!

24 Horas de Moab - Ultra Maratona
29-30 de Marco de 2008

Entao...depois de apenas sete dias de descanso da prova de 80km de trilhas na ilha em menos de 10 horas eu ja tava a caminho de Moab, cidade localizado num dos desertos mais bonitos da terra. Meu pai, esposa, filha e amiguinha da nossa filha foram juntos pra poderem passear e ver os lugares lindos no Parque Nacional de Arcos em Moab. Meu plano era so correr uma trilha de 8,6km por 24 horas sem parar.

Eu cheguei na area da Largada/Chegada/Ponto de Apoio cedo pra poder montar minha areazinha com minhas coisas. Logo mudei tudo pra ficar do lado de um amigo atleta meu, Davy Crockett. A gente deixou nossas coisas do ladinho da barraca de check-in. Ai, a prova comecou exatamente as 7:00 horas da manha, em ponto.

Essa volta em trilha era bem mais puxado do que imaginava. Tinha muita subida, descida, pedra, areia...etc. Larguei um pouco rapido pra poder conversar com meu amigo. Fizemos as duas primeiras voltas em menos de duas horas. Ja na terceira e quarta vez eu vi que nem dava pra correr na subida mais...rs.

Tinha areas de areia, tinha areas de pedra com buracos grandes. Era tudo perigoso pra ficar correndo rapido sem prestar atencao a cada passo. A parte mais gostosa da volta era em terra que cruzou um corrego varias vezes.

Na minha quarta volta eu comecei passar mal e ficar completamente sem energias. Isso eh normal depois de 10 a 12 horas, mas nao depois de 4 horas so. Eu nao tava acreditando...nao tinha nem completado uma maratona ainda e tava achando impossivel continuar por mais uma volta, muito menos mais 20 horas de prova!!!

Eu diminui o meu ritimo e tirei bastante tempo no check-in pra poder sentar e comer. Eu queria bater 100 milhas (160km) em 24 horas, mas esse trajeto tava me matando, tava muito mais dificil do que imaginei. Depois dessa fase de fraqueza total tao cedo na prova eu realmente nao achava mais possivel chegar nem perto de 160km.

Eu queria mesmo era fazer que nem eu fiz no Brazil alguns meses atras e manter um ritimo consistente. Finalmente ao achar meu ritimo eu percebi que eu tava correndo cada volta quase no mesmo tempo toda vez. Minha familia veio algumas vezes pra me ver no primeiro dia e meu pai veio uma terceira vez a noite pra me dar mais uma forca. Ele me falou que eu tava no quinto colocado depois de 11 voltas, mas eu sabia que muita coisa pudia mudar durante a noite.

Tinha um vento forte bem na subida cada volta durante a tarde toda. Finalmente a noite o vento se acalmou um pouco e as nuvens chegaram e manteram a temperatura razoavel. Fazia um tempao que nao via mais varios atletas que via de dia. Ou eles tavam na minha frente ou atras e mantendo o mesmo ritimo, ou eles tinham desistido da prova ja. Depois eu descobri que varios desistiram sim, durante a noite.

Ao completar volta 15 me falaram que eu tava em terceiro lugar, atras do segundo por 17 minutos. Eu tava muito cansado e nao sentindo bem de estomago. Cada volta piorava. Eu queria no minimo completar 17 votas (145km), mas eu sabia que se eu pudia manter meu ritimo de 1 hora e 30 minutos por volta, eu ia ter pouco tempo suficiente pra dar a decima-oitava volta.

Mas com minha sorte eu terminei 17 voltas com uma hora e trinta minutos sobrando ainda...sera que eu ia conseguir dar mais uma volta? Bom, olhei pro cara que tava marcando os tempos dos atletas e falei "Me deseja boa sorte pra que eu chegue antes das sete"...e fui. So me lembro que ele deu uma risada e comentou que era louco mesmo!!!

Nao sei como mas eu consegui correr a ultima volta (#18) de 8,6km de trilha em uma hora e 25 minutos. Ao subir a ultima subidinha chegando na linha de chegada eu vi meu pai e comecei a chorar por dentro. Ele tinha chego antes e viu que larguei mais uma vez com pouco tempo sobrando, mas me informou que tava indo bem pra chegar bem antes do tempo acabar. Pensamentos do dia inteiro e a noite inteira passaram por minha cabeca ao tomar os ultimos passos para mais uma vitoria minha! (155km em 23 horas 54 minutos)

Recebendo medalha de segundo colocado !!!

http://www.geminiadventures.com/UtahResults.html

Antelope Island 50 & 24 Hours of Moab (back to back)

2008-04-01T11:09:00.031-06:00

Antelope Island 50 Mile Buffalo Run
March 22nd, 2008

This was my second time running this fabulous trail race. The course was changed from last year but it was a much more fun and scenic route this time. I was on the waiting list for this event and wasn't sure I'd get to run. But just a couple weeks before the race Jim Skaggs (RD) emailed me saying I could still get in.

I wasn't going to try and beat my time of 8 hours 57 minutes from last year because I was getting ready for my first 24 hour ultra just seven days after this 50 miler. So I planned on going at a slower pace and use it as a training run for my 24 hour race in Moab the following saturday.

My friend Marcee said she wanted to run with me since she didn't think she was ready to go super fast. It was a very cold morning when we started in the dark and Marcee struggled with stomach pains for almost the first 5 hours of the run.

Finally after the sun warmed us up a bit Marcee felt better and we were able to run the last 25 miles faster than the first 25. I've never pulled a negative split in an ultra race before so that was pretty cool. We did the first 25 miles in about 5 hours and we finished strong in under 10 hours with a time 9 hours 44 minutes.

My dad, wife and daughter drove out to the island to watch the finish. They got there just in time to see Marcee and me at mile 43 and then again at the finish. Taila was so excited to run with daddy she met me almost a quarter of a mile from the finish. She ran her little heart out in her boots...hehehe until she finally asked to get a ride on my shoulders to the finish line.

Me showing off my Brazil135 race shirt!!! This was my first ultra since my 135 mile race in Brazil back in January.

Marcee and I finished in an okay position, 22nd and 23rd overall, of 50 who finished the race. I had really only planned to run the 50 miles in 10.5 hours, but after I promised Marcee she could still finish sub-10 hours I had to stick with my promise and push the second half pretty hard.

The Buffalo Stew at the end of the race was really yummy!!! You should try it if you have never had it before.

24 Hours of Moab Ultra Marathon
March 29th-30th, 2008

So...after only 7 days of rest from running 50 miles of trails on Antelope Island in under 10 hours I was off to Moab with my dad (Gary), wife (Sandra), daughter (Taila), and Taila's sidekick friend Ali. Their plan was to go sight seeing in the famous Arches National Park, my plan was to run a 5.37 mile loop trail for 24 hours.

I got to the Start/Finish/Aid Station area early to setup my little rest stop area. I soon moved my things next to my friend Davy Crockett who had a nice big tarp laid out on the dirt ground right next to the check-in station. The race began at 7:00am sharp, just light enough to run without flashlights, but still cold.

The first couple loops I stayed with Crockett and we talked a lot as we held a very quick pace for such a long event. We joked a bit at how easy the climb was to the backside of the loop, it wasn't until the 3rd and 4th time around I already wondering how on earth I ran the entire uphill sections the first two loops.

This was quite a technical and difficult 5.37 mile loop with a lot of variation. There were lots of climbs and descents, rocks and sand, and the downhill section was all on rough slickrock sandstone, harder than concrete and with lots of empty water holes and cracks and drop-offs. The easiest section was a soft dirt path that crossed a stream several times.

My 4th lap around I started to bonk bad....low energy, sick to my stomach, not much of an appetite and tired. I couldn't believe it...only 21 miles into this thing and I was already doubting I could continue for one more round, let alone 20 more hours!!!

I slowed down and took time at the next few check-ins to sit and try to eat and drink and get feeling better. I really wanted to break 100 miles in 24 hours, but this trail was tougher than I had thought it was going to be, and after my low point so early in the race I really didn't think I could come anywhere near 100 miles.

I wanted to do what I did in Brazil a few months ago and just keep a consistent pace. I got a routine going and once I was in my groove I notice I could make each loop and rest stop in almost the same time every time. My family came out to see me a few times that first day and my dad came out a third time at night to wish me luck and cheer me on. He told me I was in 5th place after 11 loops, but I know a lot could change through the night.

There was a terrible headwind on each ascent most of the afternoon and evening. Finally at night the wind calmed some and the clouds rolled in and kept the temperatures fairly mild. I hadn't seen several of the runners I had seen all day. Either they were ahead of me or behind me keeping the same pace or they had stopped. Later I found out that several had quit during the night.

When I finished loop 15 I was told I was in 3rd place, behind 2nd place by about 17 minutes. I was really tired and my stomach was getting worse every passing loop. I just hoped to finish 17 laps (91 miles) at least, but I knew that if I could hold my routine of 1 hour 30 min loops with rest stops I might have just enough time to finish an 18th lap. Sure enough when I came into the check-in after my 17th loop I was in second place and had exactly 1.5 hours to until the 24 hour time limit was up. Could I pull off one more loop? I had thrown up on lap 17 and felt a little better, but I couldn't see how I could do another lap any faster than the previous.

Well, I looked at the guy tracking our times and said "Cross your fingers that I make it back here before 7:00am" he laughed and said something to the effect that I was NUTS!!!

Somehow I managed to pull off the last 5.37 miles of this now "difficult" trail in 1 hour 25 minutes. As I came up the last little climb on that dirt road to the finish line I could see my dad cheering me on. He had arrived and saw that I left on an 18th lap with such a close time to finish...when he saw me he assured me I was in the clear to finish the 96.66 miles just under the 24 hour mark. I couldn't help but cry inside.

Thoughts of the entire day before and the long night rushed through my mind as I made my final steps to one more victorious finish in my book!

Receiving my 2nd place medal !!!

http://www.geminiadventures.com/UtahResults.html

BR135 Ultramaratona 2008

2008-02-11T15:39:00.005-07:00

Veja minha versao curta da ultramaratona BR135:

Parte 1 (17min)

Parte 2 (2 min)

O seguinte eh um artigo do jormal que foi publicado em Ingles da minha experiencia correndo na BR135 Ultra de 2008

Jarom Thurston, de Payson, Utah recentemente retornou do Brasil depois de competir na ultra maratona mais dificil do Brasil e provavelmente uma das mais dificeis do mundo chamada de BR135. Com uma distancia de 217km e mais de 10,000m de elevacao total, essa corrida ocorre todo ano em Janeiro pela linda Serra da Mantiqueira, durante o periodo de chuva.

Jarom cobriu os 217km em apenas 45 horas e 43 minutos, saindo no setimo colocado entre 41 participantes de varios paises diferentes. Sob chuva forte e muita lama, nao e surpresa que apenas 27 dos 41 atletas que largaram terminaram a prova. O atleta Adilson, que reside no local montanhoso ganhou a prova com um tempo de 30:18:00

Diferente dos demais corredores, Jarom nao tinha o luxo de ter uma equipe de apoio seguindo ele. Ele correu os 217km solo com apenas uma mochila nas costas e varias garrafas de agua. Ele levou dinheiro para poder comprar comida na rua e abastecer a mochila quando necessario e nao era contra as regras da prova receber apoio das equipes de suporte dos outros atletas, que ele aceitou em ocasiao e foi grato pela ajuda deles.

Jarom comentou que a organizacao foi fantastica e que as 3.000+ marcacoes pelo percurso o tornou quase impossivel de se perder, embora alguns atletas se perderam. Tinha tres pontos de apoio da organizacao com chuveiros, camas e comida quente que ajudou muito.

Jarom descreveu as dificuldades que encountrou durante a prova: "O desafio maior foi os meus pes molhados depois de horas e horas de pancadas de chuva. Tinha lugares que passamos que tinhamos que correr por corregos e pocas de agua que cobriram nossos tenis inteiros. Na manha do segundo dia meus pes estavam mals pra caramba. Eu tinha bolhas de tamanho de uvas grandes em todo lugar, mas as partes mais dolorosas foram os rachados que se criaram nas solas dos meus pes. O que me salvou de verdade foi super-bonder, acredita?"

Agora o Jarom da risada ao lembrar dos ultimos 40km da prova durante a segunda noite, com apenas 45 minutos de sono em um dos pontos de apoio. Ele conta que ficou em varios estados de delirio onde ele perdeu consciencia do que estava fazendo. "Tinha horas que eu nem lembrava do que eu estava fazendo ou que eu estava participando de uma ultra maratona. Eu me lembro que ficava pensando que eu estava participando de algum tipo de brincadeira de caca ao tesouro e perdi muito tempo parando e olhando pro chao do caminho procurando tesouros. Eu nao sei do que eu estava procurando, apenas tinha certeza que era pra eu procurar algo."

Alcancando a linha de chegada na cidade pequena de Paraisopolis foi um momento emocionante ele diz. "Eu nao acho que tinha qualquer um que completou a prova que nao chorou lagrimas de alegria e dor na chegada." A BR135 cobre uma parte do bem conhecido Caminho da Fe, um caminho de peregrinos brasileiro onde centenas de peregrinos passam todo ano. "Eu senti o espirito do Caminho da Fe e creio que essa foi minha peregrinacao pessoal. Eu aprendi mais a respeito de mim mesmo durante aquelas 45 horas do que a maioria aprendem numa vida inteira. Eh justamente por isso que amo esse esporte."

Se alguem pergunta ao Jarom por que ele queria enfrentar aquelas condicoes tao dificeis e correr a prova, ele ira responder, "Para me qualificar para a Badwater Ultra Marathon, claro!" Ele tinha ido para o Vale da Morte no deserto Mojave na California para dar apoio para alguns amigos atletas brasileiros em Julho de 2007. Ele foi o Pacer da Monica Otero, a primeira Brasileira (e ate Sul-Americana) a se qualificar e completar a prova de 217km no deserto. Foi uma experiencia tao legal que ele fez uma promessa para ele mesmo de um dia se qualificar e correr a mesma corrida atravessando o deserto Mojave. O sonho dele pode talvez ser realizado agora que ele completou a BR135. Sua inscricao para Badwater foi enviada apenas dois dias apos ter terminado a prova no Brasil. Agora ele espera a publicacao da lista de atletas selecionados para a prova Badwater 2008.

45 horas 43 minutos - Setimo colocado

41 largaram mas apenas 27 terminaram

Eu chegando em Estiva (175km de 217km)

BR135 na TV
Parte 1:

Parte 2:

Parte 3:

Video de 2007:

BR135 Ultra Marathon 2008

2008-02-11T15:30:00.005-07:00

See my short video version of the BR135:

Part 1 (17min)

Part 2 (2 min)

News article published about my experience at the 2008 BR135 Ultra Marathon

Jarom Thurston, of Payson, Utah just returned from Brazil after competing in Brazil's, and probably one of the world's most difficult endurance races called the BR 135. With a distance of 135 miles and covering over 30,000 total feet of elevation gain and loss, this race occurs each year in January through the beautiful Serra Da Mantiqueira mountain ranges during Brazil's rainy season.

Jarom covered the 135 miles in 45 hours and 43 minutes, placing 7th overall in a field of 41 runners from several different countries. Conditions were very wet, rainy, and muddy, and of the 41 who started the race, only 27 finished and three of those who finished the course missed the 60-hour cut off time. The winning time was 30:18:00, by Adilson, a local of the mountainous region.

Unlike some of the other runners, Jarom didn't have this luxury of a support crew. He ran the 217 kilometer course solo with just a backpack on his back and several water bottles. He took money to buy meals on the road and restock when he needed and it was not against the rules to get aid or food from other runner's crews, which he did on occasion and was grateful for their help. Jarom commented that the race organization was fantastic and the 3,000+ markings on the course made it difficult to get lost, though some runners did. There were three manned Aid Stations with showers, beds, and hot food, which helped a lot.

Jarom described the difficulties he encountered in the race as follows: "The most difficult challenge was probably my very wet feet from the hours and hours of down-pouring rain. There were areas we had to run in muddy streams and unavoidable puddles of water covering our shoes completely. By the morning of day two my feet were really bad. Blisters the size of large grapes everywhere, but the real pain came from the cracks opening up in the thick white sole of my feet. My saving grace was super glue, of all things."

Jarom laughs now at how he remembers trying to cover the last 25 miles of the race during the 2nd night on only 45 minutes of sleep at one of the aid stations. He remembers going into states of delirium several times were he lost track of what he was doing. "There were times that I didn't even remember what I was doing or that I was participating in a race at all. I remember thinking I was in some kind of treasure hunt and I spent a lot of time stopping and looking around the side of the dirt path for treasures. I didn't know what I was supposed to find, but I was sure I was supposed to look for something."

Reaching the finish line in a small Brazilian town called Paraisopolis was an emotional moment he says. "I don't think there was anyone who completed the race that didn't cry tears of joy and pain at the finish line". The BR135 covers part of the well-known Caminho da Fe, a Brazilian Pilgrimage Path that is traveled by hundreds of Christian pilgrims each year. "I felt the spirit of the Path of Faith (translation of the Caminho da Fe) and believe that it was my own personal pilgrimage. I learned more about myself in those 45 hours then most people learn in a lifetime. That's why I love this sport."

When one asks Jarom why he wanted to run the 135 miles in such difficult conditions, his reply would be, "To qualify for the Badwater Ultra marathon, of course!" He had gone to help some of his Brazilian athlete friends at the 2007 Badwater event last July, where he was a Pacer (one who runs part of the course with the athlete providing moral support and setting the pace for the runner) for Monica Otero, the first ever Brazilian and even South American woman to finish the 135 miles in the desert. It was such a neat experience that he promised himself to one day qualify and run the same race across the Mojave Desert. His dream may come true now that he has completed the BR135. His application for Badwater was submitted just two days after completing the race in Brazil. He now awaits the release of the list of 80-90 athletes who will be selected to run Badwater this July 2008.

45 hours 43 minutes - 7th Overall

41 runners started only 27 finished

Me arriving in Estiva(mile 108 of 135)

BR135 on Brazilian TV
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Video from 2007:

Pony Express 100 (Segunda parte) - 26-27 de Outubro 2007

2007-10-29T13:23:00.000-06:00

Essa foi apenas a minha segunda tentativa a correr 100 milhas (162km)!!!

Os atletas tavam todos prontos ao meio dia para a largada da Pony Express Ultra. (So um atleta que nao ta na foto comecou sozinho as 6:45 da manha e ia correr 50 milhas e voltar 50. Eu o vi quando eu tava com 45 milhas e ele tava com 55 milhas)

O tempo tava otimo, melhor do que esperavamos, mas quente ate a noite. Sabiamos que a temperatura ia abaixar muito a noite. Foi muito bom ter mais participantes dessa vez.

A gente correu no asfalto pelos primeiros 10km ate o topo de Lookout Pass.

Eu nao planejei correr mais rapido do que a minha primeira tentativa 8 meses atras nesse mesmo lugar. A diferenca foi que me sentia mais preparado, forte e determinado a correr a segunda metade da prova um pouco mais rapido do que em Marco.

Meu irmao, Heath, ficou comigo por quase 10 horas. Ele ate correu os primieros 10km junto comigo e depois ficou dirigindo o carro de apoio.

Em cima de Lookout Pass tem um visual lindo em todas as direcoes. A proxima montanha que a gente teria que subir nao ia ser por mais 50km.

Completei a primeira distancia de uma maratona (42km) em 04:18:00... nao senti que tinha me esforcado muito pois tava parando de vez em quando pra descansar e caminha um pouco.

Foi muito divertido nesse sol gostoso e fazendo o que gostamos de fazer. Foi um dia perfeito pra ficar correndo por horas e horas e horas....

(John Bernhisel no fundo)

(Esse cara eh meu irmao mais novo Heath...my brother! Ele vai participar no IRONMAN FLORIDA sabado que vem como um profissional atleta... ele vai competir com mais 75 profissionais e centenas de outros atletas)

So curtindo as paradas!!!

O John (de Wyoning) chegou atras de mim e me disse que nunca tinha corrido mais do que 50 milhas e que so queria completar 62 milhas (100km). Tivemos uma conversa legal e descobrimos que nos dois falamos Portugues e temos um grande amor pelo Brasil e pelo povo Brasileiro.

Depois de 6 horas e 36 milhas (58km) o John decidiu que nao tinha energia suficiente pra continuar, entao entrou no seu carro e voltou. Ele tinha sido mais de 4km a minha frente antes de parar, mas agora nao tinha mais ninguem na minha frente. Os atletas mais perto de mim tava mais de 5km atras.

(Simpson Springs Monument)

Depois de quase 50km minha canela esquerda comecou a doer. O Heath fez uma massagem com um gel gelado que depois aquece o musculo e enrolou minha canela com plastico pra dar um efeito de anti-inflamatorio natural. Depois de poucos minutos minha canela tava sentindo 100% de novo.

Ao anoitecer a temperatura caiu muito. Troquei de roupa e ia trocando a cada duas ou tres horas pra usar roupa seca e mais quente.

Eu estava marcando meu tempo a cada 5 milhas (8km) e eu tava sempre 10 a 15 minutos melhor do que tinha planejado (meta era terminar em 21:20:00). Eu sabia que tinha tempo pra descansar. Quando alcancei 40 milhas e 45 milhas eu tava EXATAMENTE no horario certo, ate o minuto! Meu pai levou minha esposa, Sandra, pra tomar conta do carro de apoio e ficar comigo a noite. Eu parei pra tirar essas fotos exatamente na metade da prova, 50 milhas.

Milha 50 foi um lugar perfeito pra trocar de motoristas. Eu tinha completado a metade da prova em 09:40:00 e Eu tava sentindo muito bem ainda tava bem pra terminar em muito menos de 24 horas. Mas eh triste como as coisas vao por agua abaixo tao rapido :O(

(Eu e meu amigo Rob Hilmo no Fish Springs, 65 milhas, ou 104km)

Depois de 12 horas de prova e mais de 100km meu estomago comecou a ficar mal. Meu amigo Rob apareceu la no deserto pra correr comigo de madrugada, mas foi bem na hora que eu tava com muito enjoo.

Ele ficou surpresa de ver como eu tava conseguindo continuar correndo num ritimo legal, mas logo eu comecei a vomitar muito. Expliquei pra ele que isso eh normal pra quem corre essas distancias longas, mas que geralmente depois de vomitar voce sente melhor e continua pra frente.

Depois que chamei o juca eu tentei continuar mas nao senti nada melhor...foi horrivel! Depois de passar Fish Springs (67 milhas), o Rob tinha que voltar pra casa. Eu aproveitei pra tirar um soneca no carro com a Sandra. Quando acordei, uma hora depois, eu vi que dois atletas tinham me passado. Eu levantei e comecei a correr, tentando alcanca-los antes de amanhecer. Mas logo eu fiquei ruim de estomago de novo. Nao tinha como continuar. Mas eu tentei ate 72.5 milhas (116km). Eu tinha o enjoo por mais de 6 horas entao decidi que a situacao nao ia melhohrar....so ia piorar se continuasse. Foi ai, as 6 horas da manha que decidi parar.

Nada parecia ajudar. Eu tinha comido e tomado muita coisa doce, e na hora que mais queria algo salgado e solido eu nao tinha o que comer. So mais coisa doce...e isso nao me ia fazer bem.

Meus parabens para todos que vieram enfrentar esse deserto e essas 100 milhas. Bem feito meus amigos Brent, Dave e Gary. Voces bombaram! Nos outros 5 todos paramos...mas voltaremos tentar de novo com certeza.

Muito obrigado meu amor Sandra, meu dad, o Heath, e o Rob por ter me dado um pouco do seu tempo para esse meu desafio no deserto!

Pony Express 100 (Part 2) Oct. 26-27, 2007

2007-10-28T08:24:00.000-06:00

This was only my second attempt at such a great distance of 100 miles!!!

The runners all lined up at 12:00pm for the start of Pony Express 100 Mile Ultra Marathon. (One runner started on his own at 6:45am and was going to do the course as an out-and-back, turning back at mile 50. I ran into him, Gary, at the summit of Dugway Pass... when I was at 45 miles and he was on his way back at 55 miles)

We had great weather, in fact, it was warmer than we had expected but we knew the cold would be a drastic change at night fall. It was great to have more runners join this time out in the desert.

The first 5 or 6 miles was on the paved road up to the summit of Lookout Pass.

I didn't plan on going much faster the first 50 miles than what I had done just 8 months ago on this same course. The difference was I felt I was stronger and more confident that I would be able to complete the second half a bit faster than in March.

I had my brother Heath with me for the first 50 miles. He ran the first 7 miles with me and then followed me in the SAG wagon running a little here and there.

The top of Lookout Pass is a spectacular view on both sides of the canyon. The next mountain climb wouldn't be coming for another 30+ miles.

I finished the first 25 miles in 04:08:00....but hadn't felt like I had pushed myself at all. I was keeping a very comfortable pace and taking breaks often.

We were having a blast and enjoying the time in the sun. It was a perfect day to go run for hours and hours and hours...

(John Bernhisel in the background)

(This is Heath...my bro! He's heading to Florida next Saturday to compete in IRONMAN FLORIDA... he'll be in the pro-field with about 75 pro-triathletes)

Just chill'n at one of my mobile "rest stops".

John (from Wyoming) came up behind me and said he hadn't ever run more than 50 miles before and wanted to run 62 miles today (100 kilometers). We had a great conversation for a few miles and discovered that we both speak Portuguese, and we both served a mission in Brazil.

After 6 hours and 36 miles John decided he had done enough and got in his support car to drive back. He had been about 2 miles ahead of me by then, but now there was nobody in front of me. The nearest runners behind me were Davy Crockett and Brent Rutledge, and they were keeping the gap somewhere between 2-4 miles back.

(Simpson Springs Monument Mile)

After about 30 miles my left shin really started hurting and getting tight so Heath massaged it with some Icy-Hot gel and then wrapped it in plastic wrap which helps by acting like a natural anti-inflamatory device. Within minutes the pain was nearly gone.

As night came the temporatures dropped quickly. I had to put warmer clothes on and I decided that I would change into dry clothes every couple hours.

I was tracking my time every 5 miles and was 10-15 minutes ahead of my goal (21:20:00) for about 30 miles. At miles 40 and 45 I was EXACTLY right on (to the minute) of what I had scheduled. My dad drove my wife, Sandra, out to take over driving the support vehicle for the rest of the night. I stopped to take some pictures with them right at 50 miles.

Mile 50 was a pefect place and time to swap drivers. I was feeling great and still on track to finish well under 24 hours. I had finished 50 miles in 9 hours and 40 min.....but, boy can things change quickly :0)

(Me and my friend Rob Hilmo at mile 65, Fish Springs)

After 12 hours of running and covering 60 miles my stomach started acting up. My friend Rob showed up to run with me in the middle of the night, but that was when I started getting really nauseated. Rob was surprised at the pace I was able to run and I told him it's very normal to get sick and that it happens to most ultra runners often. But usually you just throw up, feel better and then press on.

After vomitting a few times I tried pressing on but didn't feel better. I took it slow trying to figure out what went wrong or what had caused my stomach to feel so horrible. At mile 67, just passed Fish Springs, Rob had to head back home. When Rob left Sandra and I took a nap in the car for an hour. I got up and felt a little better and I realized that while I was asleep Brent and Dave had passed me and were probably a couple miles ahead. So I started running again hoping to catch them by sunrise. It was after 3:00am and before I reached mile 70 I was sick as a dog AGAIN!

Nothing seemed to help. I had eaten and drinken a lot of sweet stuff and was craving salty solid food....but didn't have any. I kept a slow walk as that helped me avoid throwing up. Once I reached the car again at 72.5 miles it was 5:50am. I got in the car and took off my shoes praying for inspiration or a cure from the last six hours of being sick.

My situation hadn't improved in 6 hours (and that was with an hour nap).... I wasn't about to make things worse or even continue in such agony for any longer...so at 6:00am sharp I officially made the decision to stop and go home.

My congratulations to all who came out and attempted 100 miles. Great job Brent, Dave and Gary for finishing. You guys rock! The other 5 of us all dropped :( but we'll be back for more)

Thank you Sandra, dad, Heath, and Rob for taking time out of your personal lives to come spend time with me out on this awesome adventure!

12 horas de treino.....mais amigos do Brasil....e a Bear 100

2007-10-02T14:34:00.000-06:00

Essas ultimas semanas pra mim tem sido muito corrido. Depois de correr a maratona nas montanhas e uma semana depois participando de uma prova de 31 horas de ciclismo eu tinha decidido correr por 24 horas e aproveitar o apoio de dois amigos especiais la do Rio de Janeiro.

Eu e o Sebastiao Da Guia Neto no aeroporto Internacional de Salt Lake City, Utah.

Eu, Sebastiao e Marks no aeroporto

Eu planejei o treino de 24 horas e queria alcancar 100 milhas (162km) numa pista de meia milha na minha cidade. Fiquei tao contente quando fiquei sabendo que o Sebastiao e o Marks mudaram seus planos pra poderem chegar aqui bem no dia que eu ia correr 24 horas.

O Marks correu 53 km comigo enquanto o Sebastiao cuidou do apoio, comida agua etc.....O Marks foi um otimo pacer pra ter comigo.

Logo logo eu comecei a sentir que meu corpo nao ia aguentar 24 horas so 5 dias depois da prova de ciclismo. O Sebastiao sabia disso e ate me falou na semana antes que eu deveria fazer so 12 horas.

Paramos varias vezes pra descansar e comer e fazer alongamento. Eu nao tava querendo quebrar recordes...isso foi so um treino. Eu comecei a correr as 15:30 da tarde no dia 21 de Setembro.

Eu me senti bem ate quase meia noite quando meu estomago ficou mal, isso eh normal, mas geralmente passa. Eu fiquei muito enjoado por 4 horas.

Mas eu continuei o mais possivel.

Meu irmao, Heath, e um amigo meu, Karl Teemant, vieram correr comigo por algumas horas tbm.

Finalmente eu dei conta e decidi nao fazer 24 horas, mas so a metade do que queria fazer. Tenho uma prova de 100 milhas mez que vem ainda tbm....tenho que recuperar bem.

Entao, ao invez de 160km em 24 horas eu parei com 80km em 12 horas de treino. Parei as 3:30 da manha. Os coitados do Marks e Sebastiao tava ate dormindo na grama no FRIO por horas enquanto eu corri sozinho.

Aqui vai algumas coisas divertidas que fizemos durante a estadia do Sebastiao e Marks aqui em casa antes da prova Bear 100 milhas de trilha nas montanhas de Idaho.

O Marks eh um grande tri-atleta entao ele foi pra casa do meu irmao pra ter uma aula de natacao.

Alem de nadar, pedalar e correr 10km, o Marks ta pensando em fazer umas Ultra Maratonas tbm.

Nos os levamos para a Igreja tbm pra conhecerem os membros da nossa ala. O Sebastiao eh um membro muito firme na Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias tbm. O Marks conheceu muito melhor agora o que eh a Igreja dos "mormons".

Fomos para varios lugares turisticos tbm...

E os mostrei os lugares e trilhas que eu mais corro pra treinar todos os dias. Assim o Sebastiao teria uma melhor ideia do que ia ser a prova Bear 100.

Nessa epoca nas montanhas tudo fica muito lindo e colorido. Levamos eles pra conhecerem a beleza de Payson Canyon (Nebo Loop).

Ai, o Sebastiao queria se preparar espiritual mente tbm e pediu pra ir ao Templo de Salt Lake City.

Agora....

A prova "Bear 100" Ultramaratona nas montanhas

Nos em casa logo antes de pegar a estrada pra Preston, Idaho. Preston eh a cidezinha onde foi filmado o filme Napoleao Dynamite.

Este cara eh o Phil Lowry, Assistente do Diretor da Prova. O Phil ajudou muito pro Sebastiao poder vir participar da prova.

A manha da corrida. A largada foi exatamente 6:00 da manha de Sexta-feira dia 26 de Setembro.

O Sebastiao eh um atleta super bom que ja participou e ganhou em provas de longas distancias em muitos lugares do mundo como, Franca, Espanha, Republica Czecka (sei la como se escreve).

Ele ja ate ganhou uma prova de 24 horas em Houston, Texas. Mas essa prova eh algo MUITO diferente de todas as que ele ja participou.

Ele queria tentar ganhar essa prova ou pelo menos ser uma competicao boa para o grande Karl Meltzer.

mas infelizmente nos primeiro 30 min de prova o Sebastiao se perdeu da trilha certa.

Foi um dia lindo e a maioria das equipes de apoio foram encontrar com seus atletas no ponto de apoio #2 (km 30)

O Karl Meltzer entrou e passou sem parar com 3 horas e 35 minutos. E olha so como nos primeiros 30 quilometros tem subida pra caramba. Essa prova alcanca mais de 3 mil metros a cima do nivel do mar.

Nos esperavamos ver o Sebastiao logo depois do Karl mas varios atletas passaram e nada do Da Guia.

Este eh meu amigo Mark Sanderson....ele falou que lembra de ter visto um grupo de corredores pegando uma trilha errada logo no comeco da prova. Ele sabia que o Sebastiao tava na sua frente e ficou abismado quando falamos pra ele que o Da Guia nao tinha passado o ponto #2 ainda. O Mark conintuou pra terminar decimo-sexto na colocacao geral com 27,5 horas de corrida. PARABENS !!!

Finalmente.... 4 horas depois, o Sebastiao apareceu no segundo ponto de apoio mais de duas horas atras do ultimo atleta!

Mas com a sua determinacao e ritimo forte, o Da Guia fechou essas duas horas e alcancou varios atletas ao chegar no ponto de apoio #6 (65km, mas ele na verdade, ja tinha corrido mais de 85km) .

Depois que eu corri com ele por muitos quilometros o Marks foi correr na escuridao ao lado do Sebastiao. Os dois ultra passaram ainda mais atletas ainda. Muitos ja estava abandonando a prova.

Ao chegar em Mill Creek, que era pra ser 107 km, o Sebastiao ja tinha corrido quase 130 km. Entre 84 que comecaram a prova, e mais de duas horas atras todos eles, ele agora tava em frente de quase 20 atletas. Mas o Da Guia tinha que tomar uma decisao seria. Continuar, com a gripe que ja tava criando no peito e passar mais 8 horas na neve que comecou a cair, ou largar da prova e se salvar para a competicao na Argentina de 24 horas em Dezembro. Todos nos demos apoio com a decisao que fez e voltamos para o hotel.

Vimos no outro dia, depois de 30 horas de prova so 28 tinham completado a prova...22 ja tinham parados, e o resto tava enfrentando a neve e chuva. O Sebastiao ia ter conseguido 30 horas, e isso incluindo 4 horas que ficou perdido...mas foi melhor ele ter parado...valeu a experiencia. Depois ele falou que essa foi a prova mais dificil que ja fez na sua vida!

BOA SORTE EM TODAS AS FUTURAS PROVAS QUE VIER SEBASTIAO !!!

Na volta pra Payson, Utah eu os levei num lugar que tinha um monte de neve pra brincar e tirar fotos. Foi maravilhoso...e frio, claro! (diferente do Rio 40 graus, ne....rsss)

O Fim!

12 hour training run....friends from Brazil and the Bear 100 Miler

2007-10-01T13:26:00.001-06:00

The last couple weeks have been crazy. After running the Mid Mountain Marathon and a week later doing the HooDoo 500 mile bike race I was excited to have some very special friends of mine from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil come stay with my family for a week or so.

Me and Sebastiao DaGuia Neto at the Salt Lake International Airport.

Me Sebastiao and Marks at the airport.

I had planned to do a 24 hour training run and complete at least 100 miles around a 1/2 mile loop in Payson. I was so excited when my Brazilian friends changed their plans to arrive earlier than planned so that they could be with me during this challenge.

Marks ran the first 33 miles with me.....he was a great pacer to have for several hours of running.

I soon started feeling the toll of all the activity I had done in the previous week. Sebastian told me I should consider doing only 12 hours....

Sebastian made sure Marks and I were eating and drinking a lot.

We took several breaks to eat and rest and stretch. I didn't get started until 3:30pm on Friday, Sept. 21st. 24 hours would mean I would run until 3:30pm on Saturday.

I felt pretty good until late in the night when I got really sick to my stomach...which is normal, but usually passes.

I was sick for 4 hours straight, but kept running and walking as much as possible.

My brother, Heath, and my friend Karl Teemant came and ran with me for a couple hours.

Finally I came to my senses about why 24 hours might be too much for a training run when I haven't let my body rest and recover enough from the week before.

So I decided that instead of running 100 miles in 24hrs, I would just do 50 miles in 12 hours...so I stopped at 3:30am and went home and slept. My poor friends from Brazil had been asleep outside for the last several hours that I was running alone....lol

Here's some of the fun things we did with Sebastian and Marks while we had a few days before the Bear 100 Mile Trail Run in Preston, Idaho.

This is Marks taking some swimming lessons at my brother's place.

Marks is a very dedicated Tri-Athlete in Brazil. He's now thinking about doing more ultra marathons too.

We took them with us to church to meet some of the great members of our ward.

We took them to see the local turist sites....

Then of course we had to do some of my favorite training runs on trails where I live so Sebastian could get a feel for what the 100 miler in Idaho would be like.

And we had to take them up Payson Canyon (Nebo Loop) to see the beautiful mountains and Autumn colors.

Then Sebastian wanted to visit the famous Salt Lake Temple Square.

The Bear 100 Mile Trail Ultrathon

Getting ready to drive to Preston, Idaho....yep the place where they filmed Napoleon Dynamite.
This is Phil Lowry, Assistant Race Director/Organizer who was so helpful in getting Sebastian into the race and writing an official acceptance letter to assist Sebastian in getting released from his Marine corp to come to the U.S. to participate as an international athlete.

Morning of the race. It started at 6:00am on Friday, Sept. 26th.

Sebastian is a very good ultra runner and has competed all over the world in places like, France, Spain, the Czeck Republic and even in the U.S. before....but he has never run anything like this mountain ultra marathon.

He hope to come and give Karl Meltzer some competition and at least place in the top 3...

but unfortunately within the first 30 min of the race he somehow took a wrong trail.
It was a beautiful morning and support crew members went to meet their runners at Aid Station #2 (18.6 miles into the race).

Karl Meltzer came through AS #2 first in an amazing 3 hours 35 min....mind you the first 20 miles of this course climbs over 3000 feet in elevation.

We expected to see Sebastian within a few minutes of Karl at this stage in the race....the first several runners came in and NO Sebastian anywhere.

This is my friend Mark Sanderson....he said he remembers seeing some runners taking a wrong turn early on in the race and he knew Sebastian was ahead of him. So he was shocked when we told him that Sebastian hadn't come in yet. Mark went on to finish 16th overall in about 27.5 hours. AWESOME !!!

Finally....about 4 hours later than expected, Sebastian came in to AS #2. He was over 2 hours behind the last runner. But he didn't want to stop there.

By the time he got to AS #6 (mile 41) he had actually run almost 55 miles and made up the two hour gap and caught three runners.

After I ran several miles with him Marks took a turn to run as it started getting dark. Sebastian continued to catch the slower runners and many started dropping out of the race.

By the time he reach Mill Creek, which was supposed to be mile 67, Sebastian had run nearly 80 miles and out of 84 runners who started the race, he had moved up from 2 hours behind the last runner to 65th place. He was discouraged and dissappointed to say the least. It was sad to see him have to make the decision to stop, but it was a wise decision. He had had that mental challenge on his mind for 22 hours now and with 33 miles to go and a snow storm coming he didn't think a 30 hour finish would be respectful. So he dropped :(

It was about 3:30 am.....ironically the same time I stopped my 24 hour run to 12 hours...hehe. After sleeping for several hours we stopped by the finish line only to discover that as of 30 hours into the race only 28 runners had crossed the finish line, 22 had dropped and the rest were out in the cold rain and snow. Sebastian was holding a slower pace and could have gone on to finish in 30 hours (including 4 hours of lost time)....but he was happy with his decision and wanted to look on to his next competition, a 24 hour ultrathon in Argentina in December.

He admitted that this was the hardest race he had EVER done before. The elevation, weather, trails and mental state were too much. He hopes to come back and do another 100 mile trail run in the U.S. someday. Until then....GOOD LUCK WITH ALL YOUR FUTURE RACES!!!

On the drive home we let them play in the snow....which they had NEVER seen before (it doesn't quite snow in Rio)

The End!

Our Ultra Cycling Race - HooDoo 500 Miler

2007-09-20T17:29:00.000-06:00

(The lowest point on this Elevation Map is about 2,000 ft and the highest point, near Cedar Breaks summits at just over 10,500 ft)

The Thurston Cycling Team (powered by Bounce)

There are few things in this life that really bring people together with a purpose. My dad (Gary), my brother (Heath), and my brother-in-law (Blu) discovered something special this last weekend as a team of athletes on a quest to pedal our bikes 519 miles around souther Utah for the first ever HooDoo 500 Ultra Marathon Cycling Race.
We had 48 hours to complete the distance, which included over 30,000 ft of total elevation gain. Our goal we set for ourselves (not really having any idea what we could do for such a long & grueling event) was 34 hours.
We really thought that riding together in two's, three's and sometimes all four of us would help since we could draft off each other. It was by the first Time Station (mile 82) that we realized that 400+ more miles to go was going to be a LOOOONG way to go and we had to rest.
So we changed tactics and went to a one-person-at-a-time routine. We took one hour shifts for the rest of the evening and on into the night.
Here's Gary and Rob getting ready to handout refills of water and electrolyte drinks and food :)
Heath was "Lance Armsrtong" of the team. He lead us with his speed and ability to put on the most miles of anyone on the team...easily 200+ miles himself. Even Heath said that there were several moments when he didn't think he could go anymore.
Blu was always finding every opportunity to get out of the truck and onto his pedals. It's Blu's fault we got into this event since he knew we could do it. I would never have even considered it.
Biking isn't my favorite sport, Endurance Running is, but I learned to respect those athletes who can pull off a 500 mile race SOLO. I was able to put in 160 miles for the team, over 10 hours of total ride time. The lack of sleep is what really makes it hard to go on.

I look like I'm having fun in this picture, but I really wanted to get back in the truck and rest. I pulled this uphill section of the course and many others throughout the night and into the next day.
A lot of the scenery in this county is BEAUTIFUL....to bad we missed about 10-12 hours of it in the dark.
We had a blast see wildlife come out at night. Gary even ran over a rabbit (a live one) and managed to stay up on his bike. I saw a Hyena even....although the others said I was delusional because they all said it was just a deer...ya whatever!!! I know what I saw....lol
Here's Rob in the bed of the truck helping with a transition of riders. Rob was the only one-man support crew in the event. The other teams had several vehicles and crew members who took turns providing support and driving, while Rob managed to stay awake the entire 31 hours it took us to finish the course. We couldn't have done it without him!!!

By halfway I really didn't think we would make our goal of 34 hours. The night was long and the second day we had headwinds for miles on end. But we pulled it off. We were in third place until the middle of the night when another team passed us and left us in the dark far behind.

However, once we made it to the next Time Station in the morning we discovered that we were trailing that team by about 15 min. So we made a mighty attempt to climb to the highest summit on the course and catch the team ahead of us.

(Finish: 3rd out of 9 teams with a time of 31 hours 20 min)

We finally made up the 15 min gap and my dad pulled ahead of them placing us third overall and somehow we all got our 2nd, 3rd and 4th winds on the last 90 miles of the course and increased our 3rd place gap by nearly an hour.

1st place: Team BHB 26:47:00
2nd place: Team Swarm 28:29:00
3rd place: Team Thurston 31:20:00*
4th place: Team Tri-Cyclers 32:10:00
5th place: Team N.U.B.S 34:37:00
6th place: Team Las Vegas Express 35:37:00
7th place: Soloist Ton Van Dealen 36:45:00
8th place: Team Poser Velo 37:01:00
9th place: Soloist Jared Fisher 38:29:00
10th place: Team HooDoneIts 43:19:00
11th place: Team Clydsdale 44:23:00
12th place: Soloist Matt Ward 47:19:00
13th place: Soloist Jim Auwen 47:27:00
14th place: Soloist Voyager (no support crew) Janet Christiansen 44:37:00
15th place: Soloist Voyager (no support crew) Keith Krombel 51:21:00
(There were 3 soloist DNF's)

Maratona de Meia Montanha - Park City, Utah

2007-09-11T21:08:00.001-06:00

Eu e mais dois amigos meus tivemos uma otima prova esse final de semana passada nas lindas montanhas de Park City, Utah. Essa prova de 42km passa por tres estacoes de esqui: Deer Valley, Park City e The Canyons.

Marcee acabou de ganhar e bater o recorde das mulheres na prova de 100km, Katcina Mosa, mes passado. Ela disse que queria "Correr pra caramba" e tentar ficar entre as cinco primeiras na divisao de mulheres nessa prova....e CONSEGUIU!!!

Eu corri com a Marcee por quase 10km no comeco ate que ela comecou a aumentar o espaco entre a gente e passou varios atletas a nossa frente. Ao chegar a km 15 o meu estomago ja tava ruim e o musculo da minha perna direita tava doendo um pouco...entao diminui a minha velocidade pra ser mais comfortavel e esperar meu amigo Rob que me alcancou quase a metade da prova.

(Mapa da Prova)

Eu consegui correr a primeira metada em 2:01:00 e de alguma forma consegui completar a segunda metada em 2:04:00 que eh uma grande realizacao pra mim. Tenho me esforcado muito nos meus treinos a manter um ritimo consistente, independente da distancia que to correndo.

Rob me passou e ficou na minha frente ate 32km quando estavamos terminando com o trecho de subidas de 10km da prova. Dai nos corremos juntos quase ate o final...so que a perna do Rob ficou com caimbra e ele ficou mais ou menos meio km atras de mim.

Marcee estava no segundo lugar das mulheres pelos primeiros 25km, ai ela segurou o terceiro lugar ate km 32...e conseguiu completar a prova no quarto lugar com um tempo impressionante de 4:01:35. (Tinha 67 mulheres que completaram a maratona.)

Eu cheguei apenas quatro minutos depois da Marcee com um tempo de 4:05:46, e fiquei no vigesimo-oitavo (28) lugar na colocacao geral dos homens entre 116 que completaram a prova. (Eu melhorei meu tempo do ano passado por 14 minutos.)

O Rob me seguiu pelos ultimos 10km mas por causa das caimbras na perna acabou 2 minutos depois de mim com um tempo de 4:07:35 e ficou no trigesimo lugar na divisao dos homens.

Resultados da Prova: Clique Aqui

E mais uma coisa...so cai uma vez :)

Video da prova do ano passado - 2006

(Pode me ver no video em 2 min 52 seg...logo depois de ver o viado, estou usando camisa vermelha sem manga e um bone preto)

Role pra baixo pra ver o video...

Mid Mountain Marathon - Park City, Utah

2007-09-11T20:30:00.002-06:00

Me and two friends had a great race this last weekend up in the beautiful mountains of Park City, Utah for the running of the 3rd Annual Mid Mountain Marathon. This 26.2 mile course runs through the mountains of Deer Valley Ski Resort, Park City Ski Resort and finally finishes at The Canyons Ski Resort.

Marcee was coming off her win and course record at Katcina Mosa 100km and wanted to "Run her guts out" and try and place in the top 5 women's division...which she DID!!!
I ran with Marcee for the first 4 miles and then watched her increase the gap as she passed several runners in front of us. By mile 10 my stomach wasn't feeling well and my right hamstring muscle was hurting a little...so I slowed to a comfortable pace until my friend Rob caught up to me around mile 12.

(Course Map)

I ran the first half in 2:01:00 and yet somehow managed to pull off a 2:04:00 second half which was a great accomplishment for me. I've been focusing my training on maintaining a very consistant pace no matter what the distance I'm running.

Rob took a small lead until mile 20 when we had just the last little bit of the 5 mile uphill section of the course. Then we ran together on to about mile 24 when Rob's leg started to cramp up. He managed to stay right on my tail and only fell back to about a quarter of a mile behind me.

Marcee was in 2nd place in the women's field for the first 15 miles, then held 3rd place through mile 20....and finished 4th place overall with an impressive time 4:01:35. (There were 67 women who finished the marathon.)

I came in just four minutes behind Marcee's dust with a time of 4:05:46, taking 28th overall in the men's division out of 116 male finishers. (I improved my time from last year's race by 14 minutes.)

Rob tailed me the last 6 miles but had cramps in his leg which slowed him down in the last two miles to finish two minutes behind me with a time of 4:07:35 and 30th overall in the men's division.

Official Race results: Click Here

BTW....I only tripped and fell down once this year :)

Video clip from last year's race - 2006

(Watch for me at about 2 min 52 sec ...right after you see the deer, I'm wearing a red shirt and black hat)

Scroll down to see the video...

Treino na Montanha Timpanogas e 100km de Katcina Mosa

2007-08-13T13:53:00.000-06:00

Algumas semanas atras meu irmao e eu levamos meu amigo Marcio Villar (do Rio de Janeiro) para fazer um treino numa das trilhas mais famosas das montanhas de Utah, Trilha Timpanookee na Montanha Timpanogas no canyon da cidade American Fork, Utah. Esse treino vai ser sempre um treino inesquecivel pra nos.

Marcio ta de camiseta branca e meu irmao, Heath, de regata amarela. Aqui eh o comeco da trilha Timpanookee. Sao um pouco mais de 10km pra chegar no topo (the saddle) e alcanca mais de 3.600 metros acima do nivel do mar.

Tem varios corregos de agua assim que a gente passou por cima....oh, e muita pedra que atrapalha e fez a gente cair bastante...rssrssrss

Foi apenas 3 dias antes da gente ir ser pacer e equipe da Monica Otero na ultramaratona Badwater no Vale da Morte, California.

Pra mim, essa trilha eh um otimo lugar pra treinar para provas como Katcina Mosa 100km e Squaw Peak 50 Milhas. Com bastante dificuldade e subida e descida.

Uma semana depois da Badwater eu ia correr, pela segunda vez, a prova Katcina Mosa 100km nessas montanhas....vixi!!!

Heath e Marcio subindo com pressa esse trecho pedroso da Trilha Timpanookee.

Essa foi a primeira neve do Marcio!!! Ele nunca tinha visto nem tocado em neve na sua vida. Rio de Janeiro eh bem diferente do que Utah com neve....hahahaha. Ele disse ate que o que ele mais gostou da sua viagem aos EUA foi de ter brincado na neve. :)

As flores nessa secao da trilha e nesse periodo do ano sao incriveis.....tem que ver pra crer!

Sim...esses bichinhos sao de verdade! Vimos varios bodes assim subindo a montanha. Essa era uma mae com seu filhote. Deu um susto tao grande ao ve-los derepente de tao perto. Ainda bem que nao eram agressivos.

Olhando pra baixo no vale de Utah e o Lago Utah de 3.600 metros!!!

Mais bodes!!!

Esquerda a direita: Eu (Jarom), meu irmao Heath, meu amigo Marcio Villar....subimos os 10km ate o topo em menos de 2 horas....incluindo todas as paradas pra tirar fotos, e a guerra de bolas de neve...kkkkkk. Meu irmao correu essa mesma trilha no dia sequinte com uns amigos depois de ter nadado no lago e pedalado de bicicleta subinho o canyon ate a trilha...e ainda correu em 1:25:00....nossa, que FERA!!!

Marcio eh um grande Ultramaratonista. Depois de chegar no Brasil apos Badwater, ele participou numa ultra maratona no Rio e ganhou a prova!!! Correu 164km em 24 horas.

Katcina Mosa 100km 2007 (Prova nas montanhas) !!!

Ok...agora vou compartilhar algumas fotos e palavras da prova Katcina Mosa que corri no Sabado, dia 4 de Agosto. Em primeiro lugar, eu queria comentar que eu corri essa mesma prova no ano passado e tive uma otima experiencia, foi uma boa corrida. Este ano foi ao contrario e me ensinou algumas coisas...

(Meu irmao Heath sendo meu pacer nos ultimos 15km da prova. Tbm tem minha filha e algumas sobrinhas minhas chegaram la pra correr no finalzinho comigo.)

Que nem sempre os planos, teinos e intencoes boas fazem uma boa ultra maratona. Eu ja comecei a prova com problemas no estomago que me fez parar duas vezes de emergencia no mato nos primieros 20km :(

(Eu tinha uma otima prova mas so depois de sofrer durante os primeiros 50km, os proximos 50km eu arrebentei!!!)

Eu tava correndo com a Marcie Christian (primeira mulher e ela ate quebrou o recorde das mulheres) pela primeira metade da prova. Ela disse que queria correr comigo ate nao puder mais...hahaha, bom, isso ela conseguiu sim. Ela acabou me deixando na segunda metade e completou a prova 2 horas antes de mim :)

Meu irmao correu com nos dois por 25km e ai voltou no final do dia pra correr comigo nos ultimos 15km tbm. Depois de 35km eu comecei a passar mal...deu tontura, desidratacao, e falta de energia, deu ate sono. Eu ia abandonar a prova na proxima parada de apoio (quase 50km).

(Mapa de elevacao) caramba.....qta subida, heim!!!

Eu tava morrendo e muita gente me passou. Ao chegar na parada de apoio eu dormi por 20 min e me falaram que nao pudia abandonar la, pois nao tem acesso a veiculos. Eu tinha que ou voltar 10km ou continuar mais 15km para a proxima parada. Decidi continuar. Comi e bebi o mais possivel pra tentar criar forcas pra superar.

Depois de deixar Windy Pass (3.100 metros) eu comecei a sentir cada vez melhor. Eu comecei a correr de novo e cheguei na proxima parada mais rapido do que no ano passado. Consegui ate ultrapassar gente que tinha me passado quando eu tava dormindo.

(Eu depois da prova. Todo mundo querendo falar comigo e eu fiz o melhor que pude pra conversar, mas o que eu realmente queria fazer era vomitar....CREDO!!!)

Nao sei como, mas eu fiz a melhor metade da prova depois de ter passado mal. Consegui subir mais uma montanha sem problema e ao encontrar com meu irmao de novo ele trocou de tenis comigo, pois eu tava usando um tipo de sandalha de trilha (que agora acho nao uma boa ideia).

(Aqui eu to tomando soro...depois de ter vomitado um monte. Eu tava morrendo de frio, apesar do calor, e tremendo e com caimbras o tempo todo, entao a esposa do diretor da prova, uma enfermeira, me aplicou soro.)

Nos ultimos 15km com meu irmao eu consegui passar mais 4 pessoas que tava sempre a minha frente. Nem parei na ultima parada de apoio, so peguei mais agua e continuei. Meu irmao trocou de tenis, tirando minhas sandalhas e me alcancou logo depois. Eu consegui correr bem apesar de ter corrido mais de 90km durante o dia todo desde as 3 horas da manha. Mas os ultimos 5km foram muito dificeis de completar. Eu tava morto e com ansia. Foi dificil ate so caminhar ate a linha de chegada.

Mas o importante foi que eu consegui completar. Acho engracado que participo nessas provas com metas, mas na verdade minhas intencoes sao sempre so tentar completar, pois a gente nunca sabe se vai conseguir. Meu tempo final foi 16:57:00.....17 minutos mais do que no ano passado....mas sabendo que eu perdi muito tempo quando quase abandonei a prova eu to feliz com o resultado!

e mais alguma coisa....ja que vc tava querendo saber, a Marcee completou a prova em 14:51:00 quebrando o recorde das mulheres por 25 minutos.

Fotos por John Bozung (Diretor da Prova)

Resultados:

Place # Name Sex Age From Finish Time
1st 2 David Hunt M 48 UT 12:49:00
2nd 1 Brian Beckstead M 25 UT 13:04:08
3rd 44 Matt Galland M 30 UT 13:42:10
4th25Chad BrackelsbergM34UT13:58:30
5th 51 Dan Mitchell M 38 UT 14:05:10
6th 26 John Jorgensen M 51 IA 14:24:15
7th 55 Marcee Christian F 34 UT 14:51:07 (First Female and new course record)
8th 32 Bruce Coulter M 48 UT 15:31:48
9th 49 James Breyfogle M 25 NM 15:46:27
10th 28 Kristen Swenson F 37 UT 15:58:22
11th 47 Jim Skaggs M 48 UT 16:12:08
12th 24 Emily Mitzel F 34 UT 16:30:28
13th 41 Chris Boyack M 37 CO 16:32:04
14th 46 Chris Anderson M 47 UT 16:42:08
15th 11 Jarom Thurston M 33 UT 16:57:53 (12th Overall Male, 5th in Age Division)
16th 23 Dave Evans M 30 UT 17:24:04
17th 60 Dan Harris M 29 UT 17:28:10
18th 59 Matt Ward M 30 UT 17:33:01
19th 58 Mori Hannemann M 42 CA 17:36:52
20th 48 Carolyn Luckett F 40 UT 17:41:20 ES
21st 7 Lyle Nay M 45 UT 17:59:08
22nd 34 Laura Pyle F 36 CO 18:09:45
22nd 54 Holly Pyle F 33 CO 18:09:45
24th 31 Lori Pratt Smith F 54 UT 18:12:08 ES
25th 33 Kenneth Posner M 44 NY 18:21:23
26th 38 Andrew Barney M 34 UT 18:57:48
27th 22 LeRoy Gleichmann M 37 UT 18:58:05
28th 40 Herbert Ley M 49 UT 19:01:41
29th 39 Jeff Flick M 48 UT 19:10:00
30th 29 Marit Janse F 46 MI 19:27:39
31st 17 Colleen Ford F 45 UT 20:05:04 ES
32nd 52 Carl Tippets M 54 UT 20:19:09 ES
33rd 57 Gary Stosich M 50 UT 21:57:59 ES
34th 53 Joe Larsen M 57 UT 22:39:08 ES

Training on Timpanogas and Katcina Mosa 2007

2007-08-09T13:40:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago my brother and I took my friend Marcio Villar (from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) to run on some of Utahs famous mountain trails, the Timpanookee trail up the back side of Mount Timpanogas in American Fork canyon proved to be a great training run for us.

Marcio in the long sleeve white t-shirt and my brother Heath in the yellow tanktop. This is right at the start of the Timpanookee trail. It's a little over 6 miles to the top (the saddle) and reaches just over 11,000 ft above sea level.

There's lots of little streams to manuever over.....oh, and tons of rocky terrain making it dificult to NOT fall :)

This was just 3 days before Marcio and I would go pace Monica Otero at the Badwater 135 mile ultra marathon in Death Valley, California.

This is, to me, the perfect training run for a race like Katcina Mosa 100km and Squaw Peak 50 Miler. Lost of difficult terrain and elevation gain and loss.

One week after Badwater I was going to be running my second Katcina Mosa 100km Mountain Challenge Run (62 miles of this stuff....ouch)

Heath and Marcio making a speedy ascent up this rocky section of the Timpanookee Trail.

This was Marcio's very first snow EVER!!! He had never seen or touched snow in his life. Rio de Janeiro is nothing like Utah in the snow...hahahaha. He said that playing in this snow was the highlight of his entire trip to the U.S. :)

Heath up on the cliff's edge above where Marcio was making his first snowman.

The flowers on this section and this time of year are unbelievable...you gotta see it to believe it.

Yep....they're real. We ran into two sets of Mountain Goats, both a mother and a baby. I didn't see these ones until they were right in front of me on the trail....scared me half outta my wits. Luckily for me the were not aggressive.

Looking down on Utah county and Utah Lake from 11,000 feet !!!

Left to right: Me (Jarom), My brother Heath, my friend Marcio Villar.....we made the ascent in under two hours....including stopping for lots of pictures, and making snowballs...hehehe. My brother actually did this same run the very next day with some triathlete friends as part of a training. They swam in Utah Lake, biked up A.F. canyon and then ran to the saddle and back. Heath made it to the saddle in just 1:25:00 that day....that's freak'n haul'n !!!

Marcio is a great endurance runner. After returning to Brazil after Badwater, he ran a 24 hour ultra marathon in Rio and took first place, running 164km (~103 miles) in 24 hours straight.

Katcina Mosa 100km (62 mile) Mountain Challenge Run 2007 !!!

Okay.... now I've got a few pictures and words from the Katcina Mosa run I did on Saturday, August 4th. First of all, I want to mention that I ran this same race last year and had a great experience and a good run. This year proved to be opposite and taught me a few lessons...

(My brother Heath pacing me the last 10 miles of the course and my daughter and some nieces running with me just a few hundred yards from the finish line)

That not always do good plans, trainings and intentions equate to a good Ultra Marathon. I started the race with stomach problems right from the get go, and that only led to two emergency stops in the bushes in the first 12 miles of the course.

(I had a great last 30 miles of the course and from miles 52 to 59 I was making up a lot of time, but eventually it broke me to a moderate speed walk)

I was running with Marcie Christian (women's first place and new female record setter) for the first half of the race. She said she wanted to run with me as far as she could....hahahaha, well she did, and left me in her dust by two hours :)

(Elevation Map of course) Holy moly.....that's a lot of uphill!!!

My brother ran with the two of us to Aid Station #3 (16 miles) and then came back to finish the last 10 miles with me. After Heath left us Shaun paced Marcee and I on Lightning Ridge pass to Big Springs and then to Windy Pass. But for some reason climbing the six miles from Big Springs to Windy Pass I was totally overcome with fatigue, dizziness, dehydration and 100% lack of energy. I've never felt such a drain and I wasn't even halfway done with the 62 miles of the race.

I took like FOREVER to reach the summit at Windy Pass (9,300 ft) and was ready to drop out. There was no way for me to continue in the physical state I was in. I was quickly told that nobody can abandon the race at Windy Pass, since there's no vehicle access there. I would have to either go back 6 miles to AS#4 or continue on for 9 more miles to Little Valley (AS#6).

I made the decision to continue on but only after taking a nap and eating and drinking as much as possible. I left the aid station a while later, after many other runners had caught up and passed me. I couldn't believe that at AS#4 I was 5 minutes ahead of my goal (to finsih an hour better than I did last year) and now I was over 45 min behind my schedule already :(

(Here I am after finishing the race. People wanted to talk to me and I did my best to converse, but all I really wanted to do was throw up.....yuck!)

Somehow, about 10-15 min after leaving Windy Pass I started to feel better and soon began running again. I recoved quickly and made it the next 9 miles in good time. Then took some time to rest and rehydrate at Little Valley, before making the next big climb to AS #7 (mile46).

I felt great and kept running and passing people again. I even felt great on the last big mountain pass and didn't stay long at the Bathtub Aid Station. I wanted to finish the race. I continued on alone to AS#8 (mile 52) where I met my brother Heath. He gave me his running shoes and took my trail sandals I had been wearing (and now think was a bad idea).

(Here I am after the race getting an IV from the Race Director's wife, an RN, after vomitting and an hour of cramps and shaking)

Once I left AS#8 with Heath we made the next 4 miles of trail in very fast time, catching 3 or 4 runners who had been ahead of me the whole time. I only got water at the last AS#9 and kept running making Heath catch up to me after changing his shoes. Heath kept me going for the next several miles but I eventually became so nauseated I was dry-heaving and stopping to walk every few hundred yards. I had hopes of finishing with a better time than last year's 16:40:00, but with all the time I lost at Windy Pass and until I recovered it was too much to make up.

But the important thing is that I managed to finish at all. It's kind of funny that I run these races with a goal, but in reality I'm always just hoping to finish them...hahaha. My final time was just under 17 hours at 16:57:00....so not far off of my time last year.

btw....if you were wondering, Marcee finished the course in 14:51:00 taking first place in the women's field and breaking the record by 25 minutes.

Pictures taken by John Bozung (RD)

Results:

Place # Name Sex Age From Finish Time

1st 2 David Hunt M 48 UT 12:49:00

2nd 1 Brian Beckstead M 25 UT 13:04:08

3rd 44 Matt Galland M 30 UT 13:42:10

4th25Chad BrackelsbergM34UT13:58:30

5th 51 Dan Mitchell M 38 UT 14:05:10

6th 26 John Jorgensen M 51 IA 14:24:15

7th 55 Marcee Christian F 34 UT 14:51:07 (First Female and new course record)

8th 32 Bruce Coulter M 48 UT 15:31:48

9th 49 James Breyfogle M 25 NM 15:46:27

10th 28 Kristen Swenson F 37 UT 15:58:22

11th 47 Jim Skaggs M 48 UT 16:12:08

12th 24 Emily Mitzel F 34 UT 16:30:28

13th 41 Chris Boyack M 37 CO 16:32:04

14th 46 Chris Anderson M 47 UT 16:42:08

15th 11 Jarom Thurston M 33 UT 16:57:53 (12th Overall Male, 5th in Age Division)

16th 23 Dave Evans M 30 UT 17:24:04

17th 60 Dan Harris M 29 UT 17:28:10

18th 59 Matt Ward M 30 UT 17:33:01

19th 58 Mori Hannemann M 42 CA 17:36:52

20th 48 Carolyn Luckett F 40 UT 17:41:20 ES

21st 7 Lyle Nay M 45 UT 17:59:08

22nd 34 Laura Pyle F 36 CO 18:09:45

22nd 54 Holly Pyle F 33 CO 18:09:45

24th 31 Lori Pratt Smith F 54 UT 18:12:08 ES

25th 33 Kenneth Posner M 44 NY 18:21:23

26th 38 Andrew Barney M 34 UT 18:57:48

27th 22 LeRoy Gleichmann M 37 UT 18:58:05

28th 40 Herbert Ley M 49 UT 19:01:41

29th 39 Jeff Flick M 48 UT 19:10:00

30th 29 Marit Janse F 46 MI 19:27:39

31st 17 Colleen Ford F 45 UT 20:05:04 ES

32nd 52 Carl Tippets M 54 UT 20:19:09 ES

33rd 57 Gary Stosich M 50 UT 21:57:59 ES

34th 53 Joe Larsen M 57 UT 22:39:08 ES

O Brasil Na Badwater!!! (Ultra Maratona de 217km)

2007-07-30T18:08:00.000-06:00

Ela venceu o cancer tres vezes...sera que ela ia sobreviver a Badwater?

Monica Otero - Badwater Girl e oficialmente veterana agora!!! (54:16:26)

Badwater 217km - Ultra Maratona 2007

Tem gente que gosta de tirar ferias para relaxar na praia ou nas montanhas onde ta tudo em silencio e paz....mas tbm tem gente que tira ferias para testar e tentar descobrir mais a respeito de si mesmo.

(Eu e meu amigo de ultra maratonas do Rio, o grande Marcio Villar)

Eu passei a semana passada toda com tres pessoas muito especiais do Brasil. Eles vieram para ca participar de uma das provas mais dificeis do planeta. Cada um deles tinha suas proprias razoes em vir para a Ultra Maratona da Badwater 2007.

(Eu e o Valmir Nunes um dia antes da prova.)

Valmir Nunes tem 43 anos e eh um super atleta de provas de distancias extremamente longas. Ele tem varios recordes mundiais na distancia de 100km e tambem tem o segundo recorde mais longo de distancia corrida em 24 horas...correndo 273km!

A historia do Valmir na Badwater eh INACREDITAVEL! Essa foi a primeira vez dele correndo esta prova no deserto Mojave com calor tao extremo. Ele sabia que fisicamente ele era capaz de completar os 217km em menos de 24 horas se ele pudesse evitar problemas com o estomago.

(Eu correndo com o Valmir logo depois dos primeiros 22km da largada.) Tinha tres largadas diferentes na prova, as 6:00, as 8:00, e as 10:00. Valmir largou com o grupo das 10:00. Ele ainda tava em terceiro lugar quando eu tava correndo com ele aqui...e ele continuou no terceiro lugar por mais de 175km.

Tirei essa foto do Valmir passando a Moninha, quem comecou duas horas mais cedo com o grupo das 8:00.

(Equipe de Suporte do Valmir: Mario, Valmir, Ely, Charlse, Jason, Peter, Tony Montana) O Valmir tem patrocinio da Brooks e ja faz 17 anos que eh um atleta profissional. Ele tbm eh um tecnico e personal trainer e um dos atletas dele acabou de ganha a medalha de terceiro lugar na maratona feminina dos jogos da Pan no Rio!

Entao, depois de uma batalha com os lideres da prova, o Valmir planejou a sua corrida estrategicamente bem, e ele conseguiu fechar a distancia de 10km do lider, Jorge Pacheco, e acabou ganhando...

...oh, e eu quase esqueci de falar tbm que ele quebrou o recorde da prova que o Scott Jurek fez em 2005 de 24:36:08. O Valmir correu os 217km em 22 horas e 51 minutos!!! Acho que esse recorde vai ficar por muito tempo ainda.

(Mario Lacerda fazendo papel de tradutor do Valmir durante as entrevistas.)

A segunda pessoa brasileira que correu a Badwater este ano eh, Monica Otero, ela tem 51 anos e teve que lutar contra o cancer por muitos anos. Ela tbm eh a primeira brasileira e ate sul americana a se qualificar, participar e completar essa prova tao dificultosa.

(Eu sendo Pacer da Monica apos mais de 30 horas de prova e depois de ter corrido quase 150km de estrada.)

Este foi a primeira vez dela participar dessa ultra maratona e sua unica meta foi a de COMPLETAR nas 60 horas permitidas. Nao foi nada facil e ela teve muitas dificuldades na primiera metade da prova que fez a gente quase perder a esperanca.

A Monica conseguiu organizar uma otima equipe de suporte que amou muito ela e queria ve-la ter sucesso na prova. Tivemos uma reuniao de equipe no dia antes da prova onde a Monica falou da sua gratidao e amor por cada um de nos, e que ela nao seria nada sem a equipe dela. Todos choramos junto com ela e sabiamos entao que estavamos fazendo parte de algo muito especial.

(Esquerda a Direita: Mario, Karen, Eu (Jarom), Monica, Pat, Marta, Marcio, Jerry)

Nao sei se reparou, mas to descalco nessa foto...isso so porque sao apenas 7:30 da manha. As 9:00 ou 10:00 da manha nem me pagando dolar eu nao piso descalco naquele lugar...rss

A prova da Badwater atravessa o deserto Mojave no Vale da Morte na California, e atravessa duas serras grandes e acaba subindo uma terceira montanha que se chama Mount Whitney. Para as poucas pessoas no mundo que fazem essa prova eh como se fosse uma jornada espiritual. Aqui voce pode ver a Monica de pe na linha de largada e ja ta emocionada pelo poder desse lugar. Muitos consideram esse evento a estrada do Inferno para o Ceu!

Tem muitas analogias quando se compara as diferencas entre o comeco e o fim, a largada e a chegada, Badwater ate Whitney Portal....por exemplo: Agua mal para agua boa (tem uma cachoeira linda no final), o lugar mais quente para o lugar mais fresco, o lugar mais escalvado para o lugar mais cheio de vida e mato, o lugar mais baixo para o lugar mais alto...etc.

Todos temos nos preparados por este dia por meses. O dia final chegou para arrumarmos tudo, incluindo botando os nomes e numeros dos atletas nos carros de apoio.

A Monica nao tava tentando ganhar a prova....mas apenas sobreviver a distancia enorme e o calor insuportavel. Ate 11:00 da manha ja tava fazendo 50 graus (119 F). O bom foi que o dia ficou meio coberto e nao sentimos o sol direto ate quase 2:00 da tarde.

Banhos de gelo, mangueiras de agua gelada, bandanas com gelo, e toalhas e roupas molhadas foram as maneiras melhores de manter a temperatura do corpo dela. Ela ficou colocando gelo em baixo do bone dela direto e o chamou do "cooler" dela.

Eu fui a primeira pessoa correr como pacer dela assim que ela chegou em Furnace Creek, que foi o primeiro check-in da prova. Durante o treino dela comigo duas semanas atras ela demorou 6 horas chegar em Furnace Creek de Badwater. No dia da prova ela fez essa mesma secao da prova em apenas 4,5 horas :)

Depois de Furnace Creek ainda faltava mais 40km ate o proximo check-in em Stovepipe Wells...que a Monica nao ia alcancar ate depois do por-do-sol.

(Mario Villar sendo pacer da Monica chegando em Stovepipe Wells a noite.)

Assim que chegamos em Stovepipe Wells a gente deu uma parada no hotel por 3 horas pra descansar, jantar e tentar dormir um pouco. Monica tomou um banho frio e foi ver o medico de pe pra ele cuidar das bolhas dela. Lembre-se que o tempo NAO PARA para essas paradas.

Agora a secao mais baixa da prova e o segundo Check-In atras dela....a Monica alcancou o primeiro pico de montanha e subida de mais ou menos 1.600 metros, Townes Pass, bem na hora de assistir o nascer do sol.

(Marcio, Marta, Pat, e Eu no topo de Townes Pass com o Vale de Panamint no fundo.)

Aqui em baixo voce pode ver que to apontando para o terceiro Check-In e a proxima serra que a Monica tinha que subir no segundo dia da prova.

Depois de uma parada de 2 horas em Panamint Springs para recuperarmos e descansarmos antes de enfrentar a proxima serra, a Monica virou outra pessoa 100% diferente....determinada como nunca vi antes ela subiu a serra de 25km como se ela estivesse comecando a prova.

(Eu e meu meu amigo Dave Hemmert almocando em Panamint antes de continuar por mais 25 horas ate a linha de chegada.)

(Essa eh so uma foto que tirei durante um treino de 10km com o Marcio na noite antes da prova....eu a coloquei no blog porque eh muito LEGAL, nao acha? hehehe.)

A Moninha tinha o que parecia uma caravana de apoio o tempo todo encorajando ela e fazendo de tudo pra que ela consumisse calorias suficientes e liquido.

Aqui eu tava dando um pedaco de batatinha pra Monica comer. Voce pode ver a Mount Whitney no fundo e ate a rua que vai e vem subindo a montanha ate a linha de chegada mais ou menos 2.800 metros em cima do nivel do mar. A pequena cidade de Lone Pine fica so 3km a nossa frente, ai so falta uma meia maratona de subidas ate Whitney Portal.

(Centro de Lone Pine...ate que enfim :)

Aqui ja eh a penultima virada na montanha antes da chegada. Monica tinha ultrapassado dois corredores 2km atras, antes de tirar essa foto.
O Marcio queria provar pra mim que ele ainda tinha energias pra fazer flexoes depois de tantas horas e milhas de dar suporte. Ele so conseguiu fazer apenas dois! hahahaha

Faltando apenas 1km a equipe toda pegou bandeiras e vestiu a camisa do time que Monica nos deu e seguimos atras dela gritando "MONICA...MONICA...MONICA." Nao demorou muito ate o resto do povo la tbm comecou a gritar o nome dela juntos. Foi um chegada cheio de emocao pra todos.

(Diretor da Prova Badwater Chris Kostman e Monica Otero)

(Os pes da nossa Moniquinha depois de 217km e 54 horas de prova atravessando o deserto...Acho melhor voce nao ver os pes dela sem meia....kkkk)

O ultimo atleta Brasileiro que correu a Badwater este ano tbm eh um cara muito legal, Manoel Mendes, ou Manoelzinho, como conhecido entre os ultra maratonistas do Brasil. Manoel tem 47 anos e ja correu essa prova duas vezes antes, infelizmente sem muito sucesso. Mas esse ano ia ser diferente...TINHA QUE SER !

Manoel me disse que nas duas tentativas anteriores ele se esforcou muito, querendo uma colocacao boa...ele eh um grande ultra maratonista, mas com a pressao de fazer rapido e o calor extremo sem ter se aclimatado acabou com ele as duas vezes. Este ano ele simplesmente queria atravessar a linha de chegada independente de tempo.

Ele nao eh apenas uma ultra maratonista mas tbm um tri-atleta super forte. Ele ja completou a Ultra IronMan no Hawaii tres vezes como vc ta vendo na tatuagem dele nas costas. Uma ultra ironman eh o dobro das distancias de um ironman que ja eh muita coisa.

(Equipe do Manoel: Mario, Maira, Manoelzinho, Kuami, Henrique, Patricia. Sarah e Cindy nao estao na foto.)

Essa eh a Sarah Lowell sendo pacer do Manoelzinho....ela tbm eh incrivel!!! Ela nao so tem patrocinio da Montrail mas ela tbm ganhou (e foi a unica pessoa a completar) a prova ArrowHead de 217km no gelo com temperaturas de -45 graus abaixo de zero em Fevereiro deste ano. E fez sem suporte...so ela, um trenol com seus equipamentos e alimentos.

A Sarah tbm acabou de correr uma prova de 80km um dia antes da prova no Vale da Morte onde ela ia correr com o Manoel pelo deserto. Ela espera encorojar o time da Montrail dela para considerarem o Manoel como o primeiro atleta internacional patrocinado pela Montrail. Sem promessas e nada garantido, mas pelo menos isso ajudou muito o Manoelzinho a achar mais forca nele para conseguir chegar ate o fim da prova dessa vez.

O Manoel comecou a prova duas horas depois da Monica (largou com o Valmir e o grupo das 10:00), entao quando ele alcancou a Monica ele parou por uns minutinhos pra celebrar e dancar :)

Foi muito bom ver o nivel de entusiasmo tao alto e saber que ele tava muito bem. Eu fui correr com o Manoel pelos proximos 5 km pra poder conversar com ele e desfrutar desse sonho realizado! Correndo com o Manoelzinho foi uma das experiencias que eu mais gostei da prova toda. Thank you Manoelzinho! Te vejo em Janeiro 2008 na Brooks BR 135 pra vc retribruir o favor, ta beleza?

Manoel eh capaz de completar a distancia em bem menos de 40 horas, mas ele nao queria riscar e nao terminar esta vez.

(Patricia sendo pacer do Manoelzinho)

Manoel e sua equipe tiraram um tempao pra descansar/dormir em Stovepipe Wells, entao a Monica acabou deixando ele pra tras ate umas duas ou tres horas de madrugada quando ele a alcancou novamente em baixo das estrelas :)

A ultima subida do Manoel na montanha Whitney...ele tava muito perto da marca de 48 horas. Quem consegue completar essa prova em menos de 48 horas nao so ganha medalha mas ganha uma fivela da Badwater :)

Manoel completou em 48,5 horas !!! Parabens meu amigo. Agora eh minha vez completar a Brooks Brazil 135 em 2008 :)

Badwater 2007 - Stop!!! (THE END) http://www.badwater.com/ / http://www.brazil135.com.br/

Quero muito agradecer o Rodrigo Cerqueira....Cara voce merece mil "Thank You's". Keep dreaming and working hard. You help bring so many people together in such a special way.

Tbm quero agradecer o grande Mario Lacerda por tudo que fez, sua dedicacao e pelas horas que gastou organizando as equipes...Vc foi quem conseguiu juntar as pessoas para poderem chegar a linha de largada....nos agora fizemos a nossa parte e ajudamos os atletas a chegarem ate a linha de chegada!

JT

Rodrigo: Nao vemos a hora dos artigos serem lancados na revista...e quem sabe um livro um dia tbm, QUE TAL?

Badwater Meets Brazil !!! 135 mile Ultra Marathon

2007-07-29T17:44:00.000-06:00

She survived cancer three times...could she now survive Badwater?

Monica Otero - Badwater Girl and now official Badwater Finisher !!! (54:16:26)

Badwater 135 Mile Ultra Marathon 2007

Some people enjoy taking relaxing vacations at the beach or up in the mountains where it's quiet and peaceful....then there's people who take vacation to test themselves and try to discover more about who they are and what they are made of.

(Me and my ultra running friend from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Marcio Villar)

I spent this last week with three very special people who were from another country, Brazil. They came here to the world's toughest footrace. They each had their own reasons for coming to the 2007 Badwater Ultra Marathon.

(Me and Valmir Nunes. The day before the race)

Valmir Nunes is 43 and a very very good endurance runner. He holds several World Records in the 100km distance (100km = 62 miles). He also holds the world's second longest record in a 24 hour race....running 170 miles.

Valmir's story at Badwater is an AMAZING one to say the least. This was his first time running the Badwater Ultra Marathon and to compete in such extreme heat. He knew he was physically able to run the 135 miles in under 24 hours if he could keep from getting nauseated.

(Me running with Valmir at approximately mile 13 or 14)

There were 3 different start times at this race, 6am, 8am and 10am. Valmir was in the 10am group. He was in 3rd place here when I was running with him....he remained in 3rd place for about 110 miles.

This was a shot I took as Valmir passed the runner I was pacing, Monica Otero, who started two hours earlier with the 8am group.

(Valmir's Support Crew: Mario, Valmir, Ely, Charlse, Jason, Peter, Tony Montana)

Valmir is sponsored by Brooks and has been a professional ultra runner for 17 years now. He is also a personal trainer/coach and one of his athletes just took the bronze medal in the women's marathon at the PAN-American Games being held in Rio de Janeiro this summer!

So after a difficult battle and strategically planned race, Valmir made a come back from over an hour deficit and being at one point 6 miles behind the leader, Jorge Pacheco, he ended up winning....

...oh, and did I say that he also broke Scott Jurek's course record of 24:36:08 by running the 135 miles in 22 hours and 51 minutes??? I really don't think anyone will be breaking Valmir's record any time soon.

(Mario Lacerda translates for Valmir during the Media Interviews)

The second brazilian who ran Badwater this year is Monica Otero, she is 51 yrs old and cancer survivor and also the first brazilian and even south american woman to ever qualify, run and finish this grueling event.

(Me pacing Monica over 30 hours into the race and after covering nearly 90 miles of road)

This was Monica's first time running this ultra marathon too and her only goal was to FINISH within the 60 hour cut off time limit. She struggled to meet her coach's (Mario's) first milestone goal of 60 miles in the first 24 hours of the race.

Monica was able to get a great support team organized who all loved her very much and wanted her to succeed. We had a very emotional team meeting the day before the race where Monica expressed her gratitude towards all of us on her support crew. We all cried with her and knew we were all apart of something amazing.

(Left to Right: Mario, Karen, Me (Jarom), Monica, Pat, Marta, Marcio, Jerry)

You notice I am barefoot in this photo...that's only because it was still 7:30am. By 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning you couldn't pay me to walk barefoot in that place...hehehe.

The Badwater race across the Mojave Desert in Death Valley and over two mountain passes and halfway up Mount Whitney. It's a very spiritual journey for those few people who ever attempt it. Here you can see Monica standing at the starting line of the race and already emotionally overtaken by the power of this place. Many consider this event the road from Hell to Heaven.

There were so many analogies we came up with along the course to compare the differences between the beginning and the end, the start and finish, Badwater to Whitney Portal....things like: Bad water to Good water (there's an amazing waterfall at the finish), The hottest place to the coolest place on the course, the most desolate and barren to the most full of life and lush, the lowest point to the highest point....etc.

We have all been preparing for this day for months. The final day came for us to get everything ready, including detailing the car with racer's names and numbers.

Monica wasn't trying to win the race....just survive it's grueling heat and distance. By 11:00am it was already 119 degrees. The good news was it was still cloudy and we didn't get hit with the direct sunlight until about 2:00pm in the afternoon.

Ice baths, water sprayers, bandanas with ice, and ice cold soaked towels and clothing were the best way to keep her body tempurate down. She was constantly putting ice under hat and called it her own personal "cooler".

I was the first to start pacing Monica after she reached the time check-in at Furnace Creek. In our training two weeks ago Monica took 6 hours to get from Badwater to Furnace Creek. Day of the race she covered the same section of the course in only 4.5 hours :)

After reaching Furnace Creek there's still another 24 miles to the next check-in stop in Stove Pipe Wells...which Monica wouldn't reach until dusk of the first night of the race.

(Mario Villar pacing Monica into the darkness nearing Stovepipe Wells)

Once we reached Stovepipe we spent the next 3 hours in a hotel room there to rest, eat dinner and try and sleep. Monica took a nice cold bath and then a visit to the foot doctor to re-wrap her feet and blisters. Keep in mind that the clock DOES NOT for these rest stops.

Now with the lowest section of the course and Stovepipe Wells behind us....Monica had reached the first summit, Townes Pass just in time for the sun rise.

(Marcio, Marta, Pat, and myself pose at the top of Townes Pass with Panamint Valley in the background)

Below you can see where I'm pointing is the next valley and mountain pass that Monica would do in day two of the race.

After a 2 hour stop in Panamint Springs to recover and rest before the next mountain pass, Monica turned into a whole new person....determined and with a sense of urgency she covered the next 15 miles and elevation climb up to over 5,000 ft again as if she was just starting the race.

(Me and my friend Dave Hemmert eating lunch in Panamint Valley before hitting the road for another 25 hours to the finish.)

(Just a picture of me out on a training run the night before the race....I just had to put this in because it's so damn cool...well, hot...hehehe. You know what I mean.)

Monica had her own caravan of pacers and support crew encouraging her and making sure she was getting enough calories and fluids the whole time.

Here I was handing Monica a piece of a hash brown to eat. You can see Mount Whitney in the background and even the zigzaging switch backs that take you up to the race finish at 8,400 ft above sea level. The small town of Lone Pine is just less than two miles ahead of us and then it's the last stretch of the race, 13 miles of uphill to the Whitney Portal.

(Down town Lone Pine...finally, civilization :)

This is now on the last switch back going up Mount Whitney with only about 1.5 miles left. Monica had just caught and passed two other runners about a mile before this picture was taken.
Marcio proving to me that he still had it in him after so many hours and miles of crewing and pacing. He only managed to do 2 push ups, hahahaha...)

With only 1/2 mile to go the whole team got out Brazil flags and our team shirts and we followed behind Monica to the finish line yelling "MONICA...MONICA....MONICA." It didn't take long for all the other spectators to join in the chant too....it was a very emotional finish for all of us.

(Badwater Race Director Chris Kostman and Monica Otero)

(Monica's feet after 135 miles across Death Valley to Mount Whitney...I don't think you want to see them with her socks off...lol)

The last Brazilian athlete I wanted to blog about is a great guy named Manoel Mendes, or Manoelzinho, as known by fellow brazilian ultra runners. Manoel is 47 years old and has been to Badwater two times before this, however, both times unsuccessfully finishing the race. This time was going to be different...it had to be !

Manoel told me he came the last two times to try and place in the top 5 or 10...he's a very good ultra runner, but the pressure to do well and the heat did him in both tries in the past. This year he only cared about crossing the finish line.

Manoel is not just an ultra endurance runner but he has also competed in and finished the Ultra IronMan in Hawaii three times as tattoo'd on his back. That's double the distances of the already incredibly difficult Ironman distances.

(Manoel's Crew: Mario, Maira, Manoelzinho, Kuami, Henrique, Patricia. Sarah and Cindy not pictured here)

This is Sarah Lowell pacing Manoel...she's amazing!!! Not only is she sponsored by Montrail but she was the winner (and only finisher) of the ArrowHead 135 mile ultra marathon in the snow back in February. No support crew either...just her and a sled with her food and equipement in temperatures of -50 degrees below zero.

Sarah also ran a 50 mile ultra just a day before coming to Death Valley to pace Manoel across the desert. Sarah hopes to encourage her Montrail sponsorship team to consider Manoel as a possible first international sponsored athlete. This news helped Manoel to dig even deeper to find it in him to finish the race this year.

As Manoel caught Monica (he started two hours later than her with the 10am group too)...he had to take a minute to celebrate and dance some samba. It was wonderful to see his level of enthusiasm so high and to know he was doing well. I took the next few miles to run with him so we could talk and just enjoy this dream come true.

Running with Manoel was one of my highlights of the whole experience :) thanks Manoelzinho! Te vejo em Janeiro 2008 na Brooks BR 135 pra vc poder correr comigo, ta beleza?

Manoel is capable of finishing the distance in well under 40 hours, but he didn't want to risk NOT finishing this time.

(Patricia pacing Manoelzinho)

Manoel and his crew took a long rest/sleep stop in Stovepipe Wells so Monica actually left the hotel and started the climb to Townes Pass before him....it wasn't long until Manoel made his second pass around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, in the dark under the stars.

Manoel's last climb, up Mount Whitney was so close to making the 48 hour time. Anyone who can finish this course in under 48 hours not only gets a finishers medal, but also a prized Badwater Belt Buckle :)

Manoel finished in 48.5 hours !!! Nice job my friend. Now it's my turn to finish the Brooks Brazil 135 mile mountain Ultra Marathon in 2008 :)

Badwater 2007 - Stop!!! (THE END) www.Badwater.com

Special thanks to Rodrigo Cerqueira....Cara voce merece mil "Thank You's". Keep dreaming and working hard. You help bring so many people together in such a special way.

Also, thank you to Mario Lacerda for all your dedication and hours of "delegation"...lol to get us all at least to the starting line....we took over and helped get them to the finish line!

JT

Rodrigo: We can't wait for the Magazine Articles...oh and maybe a book too :)