WS 100 endurance run observations: Product, privacy and sloshing packs
I was hanging out helping brain-dead runners summit the Devil’s Thumb climb in the Western States 100 on Saturday, June 27, 2009. It’s a nasty, rocky, 1,500 foot climb over 1.8 miles that comes for most in the hottest part of the day. And it was pretty hot, dry and dusty last weekend. As I escorted runner after runner from the top to the medical aid weigh-in, got their bottles and packs refilled, and made sure they were in OK shape for the remaining 52.2 miles, I found myself taking a look at the apparel, gear, food and product they all had. OK, Adventure Network plus Total Fitness Network is sick. We are always looking at brands.
When it came to hydration, Nathan frankly ruled the day. After traditional hand-held bottles (mostly Nathan), the Nathan packs frankly came up the hill one after the other. We saw quite a few from the HPL series, especially the vest with just pockets on the front and a pocket across the back (HPL #028). But we also saw a few Ultimate Design’s, Amphipods, and just a teeny smattering of CamelBaks.
What struck me as an aid station volunteer filling bottles and packs was how much we all frankly cursed a couple of things:
>> the ancient Platypus reservoirs with a teeny screw cap opening AT THE BOTTOM of the pack that was impossible to get to and too teeny to get ice through. %^$))%&%*!
>> Amphipod curved bottles that wouldn’t stand up on the table to fill. ARRRGH!
>> antiquated reservoirs with small openings or even the totally out-dated UD roll-tops that were super difficult to fill (ultra runners do hang onto old gear, perhaps because they are just cheap?) GRRRRR!!
Between greeting runners, a few of us started nattering about our own dislikes while running and top of the list was sloshing reservoirs. We all had the habit of turning a pack upside down and trying to suck the air out of it so it wouldn’t slosh. I said aloud, gee, wouldn’t it be great if somebody came up with a de-sloosh or burping mechanism? (hint hint)
In other apparel observations: One runner, looked rather tattered, had on an a pair of long-ish shorts that had a great selection of low-set pockets. As I fetched his arm and looked him in the eye to see if he was OK, I said, “Great pockets on those shorts.” He popped to attention, turned to me and said, “Yeah! Patagonia!” Wow, that woke him up!
There was also a wide acceptance of electrolyte tabs that you drop into water, but not any tab — rather, specifically Nuun tabs. They were fished out of packs and pockets and we obligingly dropped them into bottles. But in most cases not even a whole tab… Take note… Most wanted just a half-tab. Thank goodness they are easily split.
What else did we see that begged for invention?
>> Folks stick ice cubes UNDER their hats. Problem is, that melts too quickly. We’ve seen hats with pockets but often the rest of the hat kinda sucks and the pocket is too hard to get to. (Hint hint)
>> You can’t have enough pockets out there. And we need more shorts with nice big pockets that are low enough on your hips to accommodate also wearing a belt or pack. Too often the pockets are side-slit and that doesn’t work well or keep stuff in them. or they are teeny cute zippered things on the low of the back that are, frankly, pretty useless.
>> Better gaiters…With the dust and dirt, gaiters are mandatory but most are just not made for easy sleek wear and quick on and off… except Dirty Girl, which our team has worn and reviewed. Forget systems where you have to have X shoe to go with X gaiter, since that’s too limited. We need ones that go with any shoe. Anybody?
>> Wicking shirts are dandy but in this sort of event you want to STAY wet and breathe. How well I know. I overheated in 2006 on my climb up to Devil’s Thumb, ended up with slight heat illness and nearly didn’t move on to the finish. I was wearing a nylon shirt that despite soaking it in the creek at the bottom had quickly dried. We need (heck, any gardener or others who go outside needs) shirts that have a high collar (or one that can flip up) with long baggy sleeves (perhaps with a mesh insert for venting) and the ability to leave it hanging or tie it up with a front that can be left open for more venting. How about it?
Of course, maybe we also need little privacy booths for some runners. I stumbled across a runner sitting in a chair behind the food tables and off the path when I went looking for my own water bottle. I asked him if he needed any help since he was sitting there with his shoes off and bandages and pins lying all around him. No, he said curtly. I said, well, if you have blisters, I bet the medical staff could help you out and get you out more quickly. “I want privacy,” he said glaring at me. Okey dokey then… I slithered away and wondered to myself how he managed to pee and take care of “other business” along a trail. Did he call his sherpas to set up a tent for him? After about 20 minutes we saw him still sitting and fiddling with his feet. Sadly, his number was not on the finishers’ list.
In other entertainment, local runner Bill Finkbeiner, 53, ambled in casually, looking tired but pretty together as he aimed for his 15th finish. Having run with him in the past, I knew he had a hidden talent: having memorized Pi to a few hundred decimals, which he will recite at a moment’s notice. For those of us who have better uses for quickly diminishing memory space, Pi is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space (I had to look that up). As he sponged off with his head dipped low over the ground, I walked up behind him and asked, “So, Bill, how many digits of Pi can you recite now?” Without hesitating the shortest of nano-seconds, he started rattling numbers as his head stayed low over the water bucket. At the end of a quick spew, he ended with a deep breath and announced for the gaping crowd: “…and that was 50.”
Not everybody is brain-dead when they get to Devil’s Thumb.
Note: In this year’s run, presented by Montrail, 238 of 399 starters finished for a relatively low rate of 59.6 percent. For those not in the know, the Western States 100 run starts at Squaw Valley and ends in Auburn, to the west and a number of valleys and mountains later. The trail ascends from the Squaw Valley floor (elevation 6,200 feet) to Emigrant Pass (elevation 8,750 feet), a climb of 2,550 vertical feet in the first 4½ miles. From the pass, following the original trails used by the gold and silver miners of the 1850’s, runners travel west, climbing another 15,540 feet and descending 22,970 feet before reaching Auburn. Most of the trail passes through remote and rugged territory, accessible only to hikers, horses and helicopters.
In memoriam: Dan Moores, owner of the Auburn Running Company store in the finish city of the race and a two-time race finisher, passed away June 24 after a seven-month battle with leukemia. Moores, who had opened the store in 2004 and whose face and business became a hallmark for area runners, finished the run in 2006 and 2007. He was feeling better after a bone marrow transplant but the cancer came back in late May. He will be sadly missed.
