FAT DOG 100K ULTRA
Don Quixote's running odyssey through Canadian Cascade in rain, hail and thunder
"Devil take me!" I shouted as I watched Don Quixote off in the distance across the Lighting Lake screaming about God only knows what, though I had a good idea that it was probably something to do about either knights on errantry, his lady Dulcinea or evil wicked Moorish phantoms.
As he turned the corner and came towards the finish line, I saw him being aided by who turned out to be Senior Andre, who had tight grip on my master to prevent him from falling over as Senor Quixote was swerving and bumbling along like a drunken sailor after running for 24 hours through rain, thunder and hail up and down Canadian Cascade.
"You'll never take me alive, you evil rascal! I, Don Quixote, a Catholic Christian knight in service to my sweet lady Dulcinea, will never surrender and never succumb to your evil schemes, regardless of how many mountain peaks you throw in my way!" furiously shouted my master waving his clinched right fist up in the air while being held up and guided across the finish line by Senor Andre. I marveled at the scene and wondered if his mind was completely gone from running all night in the darkness.
"Master, are you alright? Has your excellency lost his mind again!?" I asked escorting Don Quixote to a chair after he crossed the finish line. "Just like too little sleep and too much reading had dried up your brain and cause you to lose your mind by filling it with fantasies of grandeur, too little sleep and too much running has caused you to lose your mind and hallucinate, seeing and hearing things that are not of this world. Why do you insist on running these ultra races that go on for hours and hours?" I said gently guiding my master into a chair under a tent at the finish.
According to Don Quixote, the last section after Strawberry Flats aid station, which lasted for about 11 miles, was brutal with false peak after a false peak, testing the patience of runners after they have been out in the wilderness for all day and all night long. "Sancho, this section was like a never-ending nightmare that dragged on and on and on...It started out as a gradually climb up through a mountain pass for about 5 miles then quickly changed to reveal its true wicked nature, taking runners through multiple sharp and intense false peaks along the mountain top. True peak did not reveal itself until runners were thoroughly frustrated! The last climb was intense but was a worthy price to pay for the view we were able to enjoy!"
I first bid my master farewell about about 24 hours ago at the start of the race. About 160 runners gather to start on an epic journey across the Manning Park, which is located about 1 hour east of Vancouver, British Columbia. Immediately after the start, no more than few minutes into running, the course makes a sharp left turn into a ascending trail. Here, I said my goodbye Don Quixote and made my way to Blackwall aid station (42 miles) to wait for his arrival.
The first couple sections of the race wasn't too demanding, especially with a fresh set of legs, noted Don Quixote. After the initial climb, lasting couple miles, the trail turned into a nice descent to the Cayuse Flats aid station (3.7 miles) before climbing again gradually to Grainger Creek aid station (7.9 miles). The first two aid stations were about 4 miles apart each so he was able to quickly reach these aid stations. After Grainger Creek, the remoteness of the race made the next three aid stations much further apart, averaging close to 10 miles between these three aid stations.
While heading to the Hope Pass aid station (17.5 miles) on a long and grinding uphill trail, my master started to notice that the weather was turning for the worst with rumbling sounds of thunder off in the distance. Luckily, this happened relatively early in the race so fatigue, hunger and elements had not had their chance to warp his mind and turn every slight incline of the trail into a triumph climb up a castle wall, turn every encounter with a wildlife a fierce battle with a giant or Cyclopes to prove his gallantry and turn every meeting with a runner an opportunity to pontificate about lady Dulcinea who must be eagerly and anxiously waiting for him to return to his homeland and present himself before her so that she can hear all the good deeds my master did on the King's Highway in her honor.
"So there I was, Sancho," started Senor Quixote. "I was gallantly going up a hill heading towards Hope Pass with rumbling sounds off in the distance. I first thought this might be some evil scheme started by those foolish spirits designed to impede good, noble knights on errantry, but this thought quickly vanished from my mind because I know from many books about noble knight on errantry affirmed that no evil enchanters are allowed to start an evil scheme against knights on errantry as long as the knight holds firmly to a token of love given to him my his lady" said Don Quixote while taking out a clump of hair his pocket. "See this, Sancho. This is a piece of my sweet lady Dulcinea's lock of hair, her token of love, given to me by her when she begged me with tears running down her cheeks to promise her that I will return this token of love back to her when I return alive after vanquishing all the evils in her honor."
Now, I might be a simple peasant who doesn't know how to count beyond 20, I know hair of a donkey when I see it! In fact, the clump of hair my master was holding is from Dapple, my donkey that I combed couple days ago. My master, during one of his wild episodes of hallucination, must have thought that clump of hair was somehow given to him by lady Dulcinea and kept it with him during the race.
"Master, how can that clump of hair from lady Dulcinea? She is so far away and we left our homeland many moons ago. Also, that clump of hair you are holding is brown, but lady Duclinea has black hair." I said to Don Quixote.
My master, seemingly annoyed by my question, punched me in my face and ordered me to go fetch coffee for him. I went to do as ordered and when I returned Senor Quixote was telling his story to runners who were sitting near him:
"So my good sirs, I persevered up the mountain despite growing clouds blocking the sun and turning temperature cold and showing early signs of rain. Near the top, once I climbed out of the trees so they would not provide any shelter from the elements, the weather turned more foul and it started to hail heavily. I thought this surely must be the works of evil enchanters because how could they time the hail perfectly with the moment that I got out of the forest so that I would not have any cover from trees. Here, I said a little prayer to my sweet lady Dulcinea to give me the strength to carry on. Well sirs, my lady answered my prayer because after that moment, the trail leveled off and I was run to the Hope Pass aid station.
Senor Quixote continued his tale about reaching reaching the Nicomen aid station (25.7 miles) in heavy rain and majestic views of the Canadian Cascade as he climbed the pass to reach the Heather aid station (35.4 miles). "Yes, I remember this pass very well, Senor Quixite." Senor Andre said. "This was a very intense section of the race with sharp and long climb up the mountain in heavy rain but was definitely worth it with breathtaking view of the mountain range every step of the way. In fact, once at the top, you can almost see the entire Canadian Cascade!"
"You are right, my good sir, and I agree with everything you said. But, if I had to add something, I would caution future runners about the last mile or so where nice and well-maintained trail ends and you have to navigate up to the peak of the mountain climbing on rocks, making the journey treacherous, especially during the rain as it made the rocks and ground slippery," Don Quixote noted.
Other runners all nodded in agreement and continued to nod along as Don Andre noted how the last section could give someone with height phobia a real challenge as the climb was on a very narrow section and a false step could cause you to slip and tumble down a very steep mountain side.
According to the tales told by my master and other runners, the course turns into a nice, rolling, runnable trail on beautiful high alpine meadow for few miles to Heather aid station. And then mostly downhill to Blackwall aid station (41.9 miles), which is where I met Don Quixote about 14 hours into the race.
Coming into the race, Don Quixote noted that if he were able to get to Blackwall aid station in relatively good shape then he thought he could complete the race as the most of the grueling part of the course is done. And seeing my master at the aid station, he seemed to be in good spirit and in good shape, despite cold and rain, that I felt that he could complete the course without much problem. At the aid station, I helped him change his socks and shoes and fed him two large cup ramen noodles (500 calorie per!) and saw him disappear into darkness as he made his way to Windy Joe's aid station (48.6 miles), which was all on downhill pave road so Don Quixote was able to run most of the way and pick up some valuable time.
Windy Joe's to Strawberry Flats aid station (53.5 miles) wasn't too difficult either, according to Senor Quixote. It was a relatively a short section (about 5 miles) with manageable elevation gains (about 1,000 ft) on nice single track.
But, the race had a little surprise hidden for the runner as the last section of the race, lasting about 11 miles with over 3,100 ft of gains, provide to be challenging physically as well as mentally with several false peaks testing patience and endurance of runners, with each false peak crushing the hope that he had reached the peak little harder than the last false peak. And after hours and hours of relentless climbing draining your strength and several false peaks crushing your hopes for the peak, your mind becomes overburdened and when it does mad delusion and imagination takes over. In his mad delusional state, he thought that flies, mosquitoes and other bugs buzzing around him were spells casted upon him by an evil enchanter who's schemes have brought many pain and suffering to this King's Highway. He begin to swing his hiking poles wildly about as if they were battle axe and club, trying to swat the bugs, yelling: "You evil rascal! How dare you try to impede a pious Catholic Christian knight in his quest to right all manners of wring!"
More he swung, more mad he became, which caused him to swing his hiking poles even more wildly. He swung his pole so hard that it caused him to lose his balance and he fell on to the ground. A passing runner saw his wild antic and quickly came by to check on Don Quixote: "Senor, are you ok? Why are you yelling and swinging your poles like a mad man?"
More he swung, more mad he became, which caused him to swing his hiking poles even more wildly. He swung his pole so hard that it caused him to lose his balance and he fell on to the ground. A passing runner saw his wild antic and quickly came by to check on Don Quixote: "Senor, are you ok? Why are you yelling and swinging your poles like a mad man?"
My master, having regained a bit of his composure but not his sanity, picked himself off the ground partially and on his knee looked up at the runner, who had his headlamp light beaming straight into his eyes. In his mad delusional state, Don Quixote thought the other runner was a evil knight from a far away kingdom who has bested him in a duel and was beaming a magical beam that he had learned from a Moorish phantom down at him to drain his strength and will to fight.
Don Quixote thought back to his books of chivalry that he had read and remembered how a knight-errant would often call out to his lady in heat of battle to give them courage and strength, and with thought in mind, he called out to lady Dulcinea: "Oh my lady, who's beauty has no peer and who's grace knows no bounds, I ask thee to give me the strength to right the injustice that I have just suffered so that I may redress wrongs in this world in your honor!"
Senor Andre, having hear this mad gobbledygook asked: "Senor, who is this lady Dulcinea that you speak of? There's no one here but us two. Please stand and let me help you to reach the finish as we only have few more miles to go!" and helped Don Quixote get on his two feet.
Continuing in his mad delusion, Don Quixote thought that this knight might have recognized his foolish ways of evil and mischief and was seeking mercy and compassion so that he can regain the good grace of the Holy One. But, not wanting to fall into his trickery too easily, Don Quixote thought that he would test him to see if he's now bounded by truth or still capable of telling lies. My master asked: "My good sir, in order to continue, you must confess that there's no one more worthy of a title Lady, no one more worthy of admiration and no more more worthy of God's grace than my sweet lady Dulcinea, she of peerless beauty that even Helen of Troy would be ashamed to show herself in her presence. What say you?"
Senor Andre looked at master master with a bewilder looked and thought that how hours and hours of fatigue, hunger and cold in the wilderness must have made him into a mad man. And not wanting to argue with a mad man in a middle of a mountain forest in the dark, he thought that it would be best to play along with his mad delusion and responded: "Yes, I have heard about the beauty and grace of lady Duclinea that you speak of. Why don't we reach the top of this mountain together so that your excellency can basked in a beautiful sunrise while thinking about his lady. Surely, the lady would surely be in awe when she hears about the sunrise that you witnesses while thinking of her after you conquering the Canadian Cascade!"
"Very well, my good sir. I see that you speak the truth now. May God's grace shine upon you and you are worthy to lead me to the finish," said Don Quixote and followed Senor Andre through several demoralizing false peaks before they eventually reach the mountain top. There, they took a rest and marveled at the beauty of God's creation.
Decent down from the peak was bit technical with large rocks, stones and tree roots for the first couple miles but the trail eventually turned into a nice descending single track all the way down to Lighting Lake, at which point you could look across the lake to see the finish.
