LCW run

From the Wigwam TH, Wigwam, Goose Creek, Hankins Pass, Brookside-McCurdy, McCurdy Park, Refrigerator Gulch, Goose Creek, Wigwam, Wigwam TH.

With Mark O. Started at 5:51 am. We started out pretty easy up Wigwam and Goose Creek. Legs not feeling peppy...still not recovered from Jemez. When we started going down the other side of the pass on Goose Creek, I started feeling soreness in my quads. The downhills were going to be painful again today.

Early on the Wigwam trail, we noted a number of downed trees over the trail. This would become a theme for our day, as Mark and I would end up clearing many trees (10-40 feet long) and branches from the trails throughout the day. Mark started the effort somewhere along the Goose Creek trail. Lots more out there, unfortunately.

Rolled along the Goose Creek trail and then up towards Hankins Pass. Down the other side of Hankins to Brookside-McCurdy. Cruised down that then started the long climb to McCurdy Park. Took a short break about half way up the climb, as both Mark and I were pretty beat. On up to McCurdy Park, then the long downhill to Refrigerator Gulch. This downhill, in particular, had my quads screaming.

Up and down and up and down through Refrigerator Gulch until we finally reached the Goose Creek trail again. Slowly worked our way back over the pass. Here I didn't want to stop to get my full water bottle from my pack. This was stupid, as I got fairly parched. I also started getting a sharp pain above my right knee on the inside through this section. Stopped when we hit flowing water. I dumped several bottle fulls on my aching quads, on my head, shirt, etc. I also had a Gu, S-Cap, and 2 Ibuprofen (for the sharp knee pain). Continued down with 2 bottles in hands, one for drinking, one for pouring on my quads and head.

Continued down Goose Creek, and I tried to keep a jog going, despite my quads. Gradually, the pain in my quads disappeared. I'm sure this was the Ibuprofen kicking in. I didn't expect this and found myself flying down the trail and cruising up the occasional uphill back down to the Wigwam trail.

Mark lucked out through here. Near the bottom of the Goose Creek trail, Mark's camera fell out of his pack without him noticing. He subsequently lost a shoe in a muddy section. Fortunately, some backpackers we had just passed found the camera and hustled after us to ask if it was ours. If Mark hadn't lost his shoe, they probably never would have caught us, and Mark's camera would be gone.

We hit the Wigwam trail with 3.7 miles to go back to the trailhead about 10:15 into the run, and Mark noted that we might be able to finish in under 11 hours. That sounded hard given the way my quads were feeling all day and with some technical downhill ahead.

Turns out my quads were feeling even better at this point. We flew down this descent. I felt unbelievably strong and fresh. At a short, steep uphill, I flat out sprinted up the thing and turned on the jets down the other side. I couldn't believe how well I felt some 35 miles into this run. On some of the smoother trail sections, I'm sure I was running under 7:00 pace (very rare for me). When I hit the final, short climb back up to the trailhead, I waited for Mark for a couple of minutes so that we could finish up together. Very satisfying finish!

So, the Ibuprofen thing is a tough one for me. I immediately wondered what could have been if I had taken some at Jemez when my quads disintegrated (I was actually carrying some but never even thought about taking it). In general, I don't like taking stuff like this. And I'm aware of the issues that some have had with Ibuprofen usage in ultrarunning, so I'm quite wary of using it. Definitely something I'll consider if/when the quads start suffering at Hardrock, though.

Mark's GPS recorded around 36.5 miles. I didn't run a log on my watch, but I did this run in 2005, and my watch recorded around 8500' of gain on that trip.

0:00 - Wigwam TH
10:48:29 - Wigwam TH

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