About Don Quixote's delusional 45 hour odyssey running 110 miles from the mountains of Sierra Madre through jungles of Jalisco and finally to the Pacific Ocean of Puerto Vallarta
"I Sing of War and Men at War! So began Virgil singing Aeneid, an epic poem of how from the Fall of Troy rose what would become the mighty Roman Empire!" Don Quixote shouted at the finish line when I asked him about the ultramarathon that he just completed. "And just like how Rome rose from the ashes of Troy, I rose from the depth of self-pity and self-loathing, vomiting at times, to run from the mountains of Sierra Madre to deep jungles of Jalisco to Pacific Ocean in Puerto Vallarta, just like a Phoenix rising from the ashes!" Senor Quixote continued to shout while waving his arms furiously above him.
A race staff, a young lady, seeing my master's wild antic, came over and asked: "Senor, are you ok? You must be hallucinating from lack of sleep since you have been running for over 43 hours!"
Don Quixote heard her, turned his head, and saw her with dazzling sun behind her, which was then at its brightest and shining directly into his eyes. My master, having been out in the wilderness for almost two whole days, was fully delusional so in his mad imagination he thought she was a beautiful damsel, a daughter of a local king, who had been overcome by love for him from his gallantry and was seeking his favors; with this thought in mind, and not wanting to be discourteous, he responded: "Oh my beautiful lady, I am solely grieved that thou has turned thy thoughts on to me despite no possibility that they will be returned for I have vowed my heart and service to my fair lady Dulcinea del Toboso, she of noble birth of incomparable beauty for whom I have pledge to perform brave deeds as her knight errant."
Hearing this nonsense, she and other ladies were certain that my master was suffering from mad delusion from hot Mexican sun and hallucinating from lack of sleep so they quickly ushered him into a medical tent and laid him down on a cot while placing ice bags on and around him to cool his body temperature and started to tend to his injuries.
Last time I saw Don Quixote was in San Sebastian del Oste, a charming little town in Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, that was the starting point of this 110 mile ultramarathon. 109 runners were blessed by a local shaman before they headed out for an epic 180km of run through constantly changing landscape.
The race started at 6:00 PM with a mile loop around San Sebastian on cobblestone roads before the course took the runners out of town and into the mountains for a 3,500 ft climb over 5 miles. "This was a hard and intense climb, Sancho", Don Quixote stated while being tended by the medical staff. "But, with a fresh set of legs, the climb took little less than two hours and by the time we got to the peak, the sun was setting so we were rewarded with a beautiful mountain sunset."
Don Quixote continued: "After a quick stay at the aid station, it was a nice 12.5 miles (20 km) descent on a single track to Amulco and 6 miles to Sierra Lago, an aid station located on a lake. Here, at Sierra Lago, I met Dan A. from the Bay area, whom I ended up running most of next 80 miles with. He was a gallant gent who's determination and resolve inspired me to press-on despite moments of self-doubt. I could not have finished this race without him!"
"Master, Senor Dan sounds like a noble knight like yourself! Was he also on an errantry seeking adventures? Who is his lady that he has vowed to be her champion?" I asked, curious what other knight could possibly match the bravely and valor of Don Quixote.
But before my master could respond, a damsel who was treating him urged my master to relax and not talk too much so he could preserve his strength. My master, continuing his mad imagination that she's a daughter of a local king who's madly in love with him and who's tending to his battle wounds he has suffered from fighting giants and cyclops, responded: "My noble lady, what you urge is correct as I must preserve my strength since a knight must be ready for a battle at any moment. Who would rise and defend thee if any of those giants and cyclops that I just defeated were to rise again? But, I must also tell the tales of my triumphs so that others may chronicle my adventures for the history book. Where would we be and how would we know the gallantry of King Arthur, or bravely of King Godfrey, or heroism of Richard the Lionheart if those knights took refuge from their wariness instead of chronicling their adventures for others to follow?"
After hearing this gobbledygook, the nurse became more worried that his heat-induced delusion has fully travelled to his brain and now have turned that mad delusion into a full blown hallucination. She grabbed other nurses who were nearby and they doubled their effort to pack my master with ice bags all around him so that only a small portion around his nose and mouth, undoubtedly to allow him to breath, was visible.
According to Don Quixote, who spoke through the small opening around his mouth despite urging from the ladies to remain calm, he ran through the night and made to Navidad aid station (at 40 mile mark) as sun was rising. He arrived in good spirit and in good physical shape as most of first 40 miles to Navidad was runnable despite some uphills, technical trails and being in the dark. "You can pick up lot of time during the first 40 miles," my master noted.
The section from Navidad to Mascota, the halfway point, is divided into three parts. First, a nice, runnable and descending trail (about 5 miles) to a small farming town of Cimarron. Town itself is about a mile in length that's highlighted by a gentle rolling hill along agave field. After Cimarron, there's a small aid station at Yerbabuena (4 miles from Cimarron) before the final section, a 3 miles of very intense and steep up and down a mountain, into Mascota. "Sancho, my dear friend, do not allow anyone to underestimate this last section just because it's short and its intensity doesn't show up on a map. It's a very steep section that's brutal, especially if you are climbing it during the day with sun at its highest," urged Senor Quixote.
Don Quixote arrived at Mascota an hour ahead of cut-off, and despite intense heat and fatigue from running 18 hours, he felt strong and in good spirit. He quickly changed his Injinji socks, ate 3 tacos and after commiserating his misery with Senor Dan, who had arrived at Mascota 10 mins after he did, Senor Quixote left the aid station through a cobblestone road that led to a trail deep into the mountains for a very hard, hot and ridiculously long climb of switchbacks and false peaks.
The climb provided beautiful view of dense forests of Jalisco, Mexico, but physically this was the hardest section of the race as intense heat, thirst and fatigue drained all energy so that my master had to stop multiple times during this climb with that so familiar pose of an exhausted ultrarunner: bent-forward at the waist, head down, arms out bracing against hiking poles while hyperventilating. As he climbed higher, elevation and lack of vegetation and trees, which increased intensity of the heat due to lack of shades, added additional hardship to his misery. He began to vomit furiously. However, nothing came up so he just ended up dry heaving, leaving him with a feeling of pitifulness that he couldn't even vomit properly. At least the trail wasn't too technical, without too many loose or sharp rocks or tree roots protruding from the ground, he thought while dry heaving on the trail.
After hours and hours of relentless climb through several false peaks, Senor Quixote was rapidly losing his patience and when your mind becomes overburdened mad imagination and delusion take over: "Halt, you two! In order to continue, you must confess that there's no more beautiful lady in this world than peerless lady Dulcinea! If you disagree, if you dare, then you must face me in combat under the watchful eyes of the Holy One to test who is telling the truth! I, Don Quixote de La Mancha, a noble Catholic Christian knight who has vowed to be her champion and vanquish all evil throughout the King's Highway in her name, will not allow such blasphemy!" challenged my master to two runners ahead of him while holding his hiking poles as if they were his sword and battle club.
"Senor, are you alright? Who is this lady Dulcinea that you speak of? Is she running this ultramarathon with us?" asked one of the runners wondering what delusional fool they had to deal with.
"No, Senor, she is not with us now but at her castle in Toboso, waiting anxiously but patiently for me to present myself before her so that I can tell her the tales of my adventures in vanquishing evil, fighting giants, defeating cyclops and undoing injustices in this treacherous land all in her name! She of noble birth and beauty that has no equal," proudly responded Don Quixote.
The two runners, who turned out to be Senora Mercedes and Senor Mario, wondering how delusional one must be to talk such a way and fearing for my master's safety and sanity agreed between themselves that it might be best to play along with his mad delusion to get him safely down the mountain rather than argue with him in the forest.
Senora Mercedes told Don Quixote: "Senor, we all agree that lady Dulcinea's beauty has no peer and her grace has no limit so it is not us that you must confront. But, I heard from a nearby peasant that there's someone who would dare disagree with your grace at the next aid station. Why don't you allow us to escort you to Tecuani so that your excellency may confront him?"
"Senora, I humbly accept your offer of assistance. Though my heart can only belong to my lady Dulcinea, a lady of gentle grace such as yourself will undoubtedly have a champion that you can call your own soon, if you do not have one already. Now, please lead the way so I may confront this blasphemous rascal!" Don Quixote shouted.
Luckily for Senora Mercedes and Senor Mario, they were close to the peak when their dialog with Senor Quixote took place so the trail quickly turned downhill, which ended up not being much of relief as 4 miles of intense climb being compressed into 1 mile of descent made the downhill section very steep and technical, forcing them to grab tree trunks and branches to slow their decent, use their poles for additional support and climb down large rocks step by step to prevent falling on their faces. Eventually, though, the trail stabilized into flat grass and dirt track that allowed my master to regain his strength heading into Tecuani aid station.
Having regain some of his strength, but certainly not his sanity, Don Quixote strutted into the aid station and heroically declared: "I, Don Quixote de La Mancha, a knight-errant in service of lady Dulcinea, arrived here to confront he who would dare question the noble birth and beauty of my lady Dulcinea del Toboso, she of enchanted beauty that has no peer, and she of such grace that even lady Guinevere of King Arthur's court would be shame to show herself in her presence! What say you?"
Hearing this, all who were present at the aid station tent, two exhausted runners and four annoyed staff, looked at my master and wondered what slow-witted dunce has just walked into their camp. Luckily for Don Quixote, before those exhausted runners could take out their frustrations at him with sure physical beating, Senora Mercedes and Senor Mario arrived and told him that the one he's seeking, the blasphemous rascal who would dare offend lady Dulcinea, has already left for the next aid station so he should quickly leave after him after grabbing some food and water.
My master did as instructed and left the aid station on a long and mostly flat dirt road (that was very runnable) to San Jose Del Mosco, the next aid station.
From San Jose Del Mosco (70 miles) to Barandillas (88 miles) was rather uneventful, other than a river crossing immediately out of the aid station. By this time, Senor Quixote was into his second night so he, like other runners, was in a survival mode, where time seems to stop and you force yourself to keep down whatever food you could force down your throat while focusing on putting one foot in front of other and praying for a quick sunrise.
Eventually, Don Quixote and four other runners (Dan, Alejandro, Mercedes and Mario) arrived at Barandillas shortly after a brutal and intense climb that seemed to have came out of nowhere; this segment started with climbing a sharp bank with an aid of a rope and it continued and continued through several false peaks before cresting and leading runners down to Barandillas aid station.
According to Senor Quixote, the runners left Barandillas for Uma with an understanding that cut-offs were no longer in force for the rest of the race and the runners would just need to get to the finish by the end, which was at 1:00PM, 43 hours from the start.
Well, this is where the drama began!
The section to Uma was probably the most technical part of the race with terrain becoming unbearable. The first part of the section was highlight by sharp downhills, often needing to climb down large rocks slowly in the dark. Don Quixote was rapidly losing his patience with this section and a combination of fatigue, hunger and sleepiness led him to a very unpleasant and dark place as he struggled to navigate through the wilderness half-asleep.
"I cursed my decision to run this race, which turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated, and vowed that I would never run another 100 miler in my life! I also cursed the race for forcing me to make this treacherous climb down so far into the race," cried Don Quixote.
This was the lowest point of the race for him mentally. He started to hallucinate both in sight and sound. He saw large RVs parked along the trail and thought ripples and trickles of nearby streams as alluring voices of nearby people in an aid station, which disappeared as he got closer. Luckily, he was traveling with Senor Dan at this point so both gents were able to help each other stay sane.
"Sancho, steep downhill eventually gave away, but now we were faced with more frequent water crossings that were wider so I couldn't hop-skip across on rocks. I had to make peace with the fact that my feet would get soaked, leading to blisters, and just plow through the water. By my estimate there were about a dozen water crossings in this section alone. Luckily, weather was dry during the week of the race so water level was relatively low. But, if I were running this ultramarathon during a rainy weather, the entire section would be covered in water and mud, increasing difficulty level of the section and the race. Future runners should be mindful of this.
"By the Grace of God, we finally arrived at Uma at around 6:45 AM. But, instead of relief and rest, us five runners were met with what could have been a fatal setback that could have ended our race! According to the staff at Uma, we missed the cut-off by 15 mins! The staff at Barandilla had told us incorrect information. I was distraught, Sancho! How could we after struggling over 90 miles miss our cut-off by 15 mins due to a misinformation?
"After conferring among themselves for several minutes, the race staff allowed us to continue. But, there was a catch: we had to meet the next cut-off, which was at El Jorullo, 6.5 miles away, by 9:45 AM. By this time, it was close to 7:00 AM so we had 2:45 hours. I wasn't sure if I could make the next cut-off with this latest drama seeping what little energy and motivation I had out of me. I thought about dropping here so I could spare myself of coming pain, agony and misery. But, Dan got me out of my funk and out of the aid station.
"Once I started to move, my body started to feel better and I started to regain my spirit so I decided to push myself. The dirt road out of the aid station veered into a rolling single track through a mountain that lasted for couple miles before before re-emerging coming out of the mountain pass. I was making very good time, but seeing the trail open up to a runnable dirt road gave me a boost of adrenaline! I started to run harder, ignoring any and all pain. More I ran better I felt so I ran faster and faster. I had a Runner's High after 90 miles and 36 hours of running! I was running uphill and downhill with a ferocity of a race horse! I was alive again, like a Phoenix burning bright and rising from ashes!" Don Quixote shouted waving his arms furiously above him as he told of his triumph.
"Devil, take me! Master, what creature is this Phoenix that you continue to speak of that's burning with fire? Could you capture one during your adventures so that we could present it to a local king who's sure to reward us with favors from this deed?" I asked, hoping that this could be a way for me to receive another governorship of an island.
"In time, my dearest friend, Sancho, we will have plenty of trophies to validate our victories and heroism that will certainly grant us favors from kings and other knights all across this land! But, for now, allow me to continue my tale," said Don Quixote before continuing.
"I strutted into the aid station heroically, having completed this section in about 1 hour and 30 mins! But, the El Jorullo staff had no idea that we were coming and was dismantling the aid station. I tried my best to explain to the aid station captain, who spoke very limited English, about what took place at Uma, but he would not budge: the aid station was closed and I can not continue! I pleaded with him to call Uma, but he continue to be difficult, saying that he had no cell reception. I didn't know what to do, I felt hopeless...Luckily, after 20 mins of going back and forth without success, Mercedes arrived and she took control and talked to the staff (in Spanish). I wasn't sure what the issue was and what was said to alleviate the problem, but after about 5 mins of arguing, she told me that everything was good and we were allowed to continue. So I left, chasing after another cut-off; this time about 6 miles (10 km) to the last aid station, Rancho El Coyote.
"This section to Rancho El Coyote was brutal. By this time, Runner's High had wore off and heat continued to drain my energy, making the course seem frustratingly protracted with a long, steep decline followed by an ascent that was highlighted by three or four false peaks before eventually arriving at a gate that signaled that the final aid station was nearby. I can not stress how brutal and demoralizing this section was: the heat, climb, distance and fatigue made for a toxic combination. I got to the aid station at around 11:45 AM drained and worried if we had sufficient time to make finish - by my estimation, we only had 1 hour and 15 mins left and we still had 4.5 miles to get to the finish.
"But, as with last three aid stations, another surprise was in store for us here. First, instead of 4.5 miles, the last stretch increased to 7.5 miles. Second, two hours were added so instead of 1 hour and 15 mins I had 3 hours and 15 mins. I was frustrated and wondered why the race continues to change. But, at this point, I didn't care. I just wanted to finish. So, after a brief stay, I left for the final push!
"I left the last aid station at around noon. By this time, my feet were destroyed and each step was accompanied by sharp pain. The run became agonizingly painful as I had to run couple miles on cobblestone road on the way to Puerto Vallarta. Those cobblestones were painful with edges of stones poking into my blister filled feet with every step.
"Eventually, I arrived at Puerto Vallarta and ran through a flea market with crowd cheering me on. I got to Malecon and navigated through a sea of cheering crowds celebrating the Dias De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Finally, I arrived at the finish after 43 hours of running," concluded the Knight of Sorrowful Face!
From Don Quixote:
This was a very difficult race. On paper, the race doesn't seem too bad with only 20K of elevation gain, but it turned out to be much tougher. Cat Bradley, in her podcast below, noted that the course was actually 112 miles with 24K of elevation gains and 30K of elevation losses by her estimate (my watch died after 38 hours). Do not be fooled by the map that you see on the race site, it is very deceiving, hiding brutal intensity of climbs and technical nature of the trails.
Out of 109 runners who started, only 64 finished, so over 40% DNF rate. Of finishers, only two finished under 24 hours and 37 runners (about 60% of finishers) finished over 40 hours.
The race can be divided into two sections. First half to Mascota was relatively easy with trails not being too technical so there were many runnable sections. The race starts at 6:00 PM so most of the first 50 miles are done at night and early morning, shielding runners from intense heat. Pick up as much time as you can during the first half so you'll have some buffer during the second half because the race changes dramatically: the trail becomes much more technical, with steeper inclines and declines, uneven trails, uncultivated (bushwhacking) trails, water crossing and intense heat all in the deep jungles of Jalisco, Mexico.
Ultrarunning community is a very small community and a sense of strong comradely tends to develop among runners who end up spending 30-40 hours together. Often, we suffer extreme physical and emotional highs and lows together and have to rely on each other to get us to the finish. Dan, Alejandro, Mercedes and Mario were the Rocks that I relied on to get me to the finish. Thank you guys and hope to see you in future races!
For those of you who are more video inclined, check out this video by Ultra Kraut Running who ran and videoed Hikuri 100K, which started from Mascota and ended in Puerto Vallarta. This video should give you a good overview of second half of 100M.
Anthony Lee, who finished 4th overall for 100M, wrote about his experience here.
Lastly, special thanks to Puerto Vallarta by UTMB volunteers and staff who made this grueling race possible! Would not have suffered as much without you!
Thanks and send me your thoughts, tips, suggestions and experience about Puerto Vallarta by UTMB and I'll share them here with others so the future runners would be better prepared than we were!
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