Carl Hutzler’s Blog

On July 21 and 22, I had the distinct pleasure of providing support to one of the nation’s top 100 mile endurance runners, Davy Crockett.

While Davy is not a professional/sponsored runner, I consider him one of the best ultra marathon runners in the nation because:

1. He runs four or five 100 mile races a year….and FINISHES!
2. He is 49 years old
3. He typically finishes in the top half to third of the field.

For this, I have great respect for him.

Davy asked me if I would like to handle and pace him during the Vermont 100 race this year. After a little discussion with Rylan and figuring out logistics, I agreed. I drove up to New York on Thursday night and stayed with my friend Kenny in Brooklyn. Then early Friday I completed the drive to Woodstock, Vermont, about 30 minutes from Killington, up in the Green Mountains.

I found the campsite field where the race would start at 4am the following day (Saturday) and met up with Davy and his wife and son. We discussed the race, my responsibilities as a “handler”, and responsibilities as a “pacer”. Handlers basically drive around from aid station to aid station and wait for their runner to arrive. Then we tend to their every need…refilling water bottles, getting them food, helping with any foot issues, etc.

Pacers are a different breed. Starting at mile 70 (at the Camp 10 Bear aid station) a runner can have a pacer that basically runs with the runner for moral support, trail finding, etc. In this race pacers could not “mule” meaning I could not carry any supplies (water, food) for Davy, but I was able to help keep him on track.

The race started at 4am in the dark. I got up and met Davy and we made a little small talk about the weather front that had pushed through and how the temps and humidity were very low compared to the day before. We talked about Davy wanting to finish in 24 hours to earn the coveted belt buckle.

Davy Crocket #36 and family in the big tent just before the start.

Then it was time. Someone on a bull horn told all the runners it was 1 minute till the start. Then they beat on a cow bell and a bunch of people with headlamps departed through the official starting gate for their 100 mile journey. The top finishers would take 14+ hours. Most people would be running for more than 24 hours without stopping for more than a few minutes at aid stations.

 

“Welcome 100 Milers” - Runners Start

After the start, I grabbed a donut and a bagel and waited for the horse racers to start. The fun thing about this race is that there are two races on the same course. Runners and horses. The horses start one hour after the runners but they catch up to the runners about mid way through. I watched about 25 or 30 horses trot down the road in a less enthusiastic start and then I started back up to my jeep.

Horse Race Start about an hour later

 

It was dawn now and I decided to start driving to the first aid station. It took me about 30 minutes up and down some beautiful country roads.

Barn on the way to the first aid station

I arrived at the first aid station called “Pretty House”. I put on some music and relaxed in my beach chair. I talked to a few of the other handlers and started to make a few friends….some which I would see over and over throughout the race. It was cool in the morning and I sipped my coffee and relax and took a little snooze.

 

Pretty House Aid Station

After about an hour the first of the runners came through. Davy came in shortly there after. I think he was maybe in 20th place at that point. He made a quick check-in with the race officials, filled his water bottle up with Heed© and downed a salt covered boiled potato. Then he was off.

I drove to the next station. And waited. A few of the lead runners arrived.

While I was waiting for Davy, I told everyone around me to cheer like crazy when he arrived and to make him feel like a hero or something. Davy showed up running down a hill and I signaled to everyone and they cheered like crazy. Davy laughed and I felt like I did my job.

I noticed a funny sign at the aid station to encourage another runner.

“No Whining. No Stopping. 100 Miles”

The rest of the day pretty much followed the same pattern. I would drive to the next aid station and wait for Davy. He would arrive and look a little more beaten up than the last time I saw him.

 

 

 

Davy arriving at Tracer Brook Aid Station

Davy holding himself up and trying to eat.

I helped Davy with a new shoe and sock (just one) and wished him luck. I knew (as did he) that the next section would be long and very steep….the steepest part of the course. I told him I would be ready to run with him when we saw each other next.

I saw Davy next at Camp 10 Bear. He actually looked quite strong and came running down into the aid station. They weighed him and the medics asked him a few questions to see if he was OK mentally. He was and I got him a seat so we could go to work on his feat. We cleaned them with cold water and ice and got him some fresh socks and shoes.

I was ready to start my pacing run. It was around 7:30pm and we still had some light. I admitted to Davy that I was a bit apprehensive about the trip as I had never run this far in my life (26.2 miles is my PR). I also had never run up and down hills like this…over 5,000 feet in 30 miles. And I was very afraid that I would not be able to keep up with the mighty Davy Crockett.

Most of my fears were allayed fairly quickly on the first hill. I expected Davy to charge up it but he slowed to a power walk pace which was no problem for me. As a matter of fact, I could go faster than Davy. This was a big boost for me mentally and allowed me to focus on helping Davy instead of being worried about me.

We went up and around some of the most beautiful countryside you will ever see. No pictures unfortunately as I did not bring the camera. But the the hills were just awe inspiring. And at the top of each one were beautiful homes overlooking the Green Mountains. I could easily live there someday!

As the sun set we hit some nice downhills. Davy is known for his strong technical running ability on the downhills and he can usually power down them faster than even the best runners. Today was no different. He took over the lead and I tried to keep up without breaking an ankle.

Darkness hit and we dawned our headlamps. We powered up hill after hill after hill after hill. It was endless. Then we hit a nice long (maybe 8-10 miles) stretch of moderate downhill to flat with just a little uphill. We both started running a nice 10-12 min pace. Davy had his MP3 player on and was singing at the top of his lungs. His voice is awful. No, dreadful. I put mine on and sang louder.

When we finally hit the bottom of the long stretch we had descended from 1600 feet down to 700 feet. I knew we would have some uphill now but I was not sure how much. Little did I know that the rest of the race (11 miles) was just about all uphill! This is a lousy way to finish 100 miles, but that is the way it was. As they say, if you don’t know what’s ahead, its easier to keep going.

In the dark we continued fast walking to slow walking the last 11 miles. It was grueling for Davy and it was now beginning to get tough for me too. I had energy and felt good, but my feet were beginning to hurt form the pounding. Davy was really hurting. He also had some bad blisters on his little toe which were painful for him. He was also tired and could not run much at all. But his worst issue was that he was feeling sick in his stomach and tossed his cookies a few times. If he pushed the pace even a little, he made these loud and nasty sounding dry heave sounds which he tells me were not dry heaves. What were they? I don’t need to know.

At one point on an uphill stretch, Davy said he was going to sit down for a while. I was not sure if this was a good thing, but he insisted. He curled up on the side of the trail in a drainage ditch. He slept there for 3 minutes and I awakened him. He got up and started walking again.

As I mentioned, Davy was trying to finish in under 24 hours which would earn him a “buckle” award instead of the normal plaque. Buckles are the mark of a great race. So during the last 30 miles, Davy and I kept a close eye on our times and distances and tried to keep up a pace to allow us to finish in time.

We were doing OK with the pace to meet 24 hours until that last 11 miles (all uphill). We needed to maintain a 3.5 mph pace but Davy (nor I) could keep it going on the uphills. The 24 hour finish was beginning to slip out of reach. I was thinking a lot about Davy’s condition and did not want to have a medical issue on the fairly deserted trail. Davy kept saying we could make it but I wanted to take the pressure off and tell him the buckle was out of reach. I was nervous about saying anything as I know how determined he is so I kept quiet for now.

Around mile 91 Davy again wanted to lay down for a short rest. I was up ahead of him about 50 yards and I turned around to see him laying down on the side of the road again. A small group of runners came up to him and said something like “should we check his pulse” to which the sleeping Davy replied “I am OK…just sleeping”. Now was the time I could tell him the 24 hour finish was out of reach. I told him the news and he agreed that our goal for 24 hours was now a goal to finish. I let him get some “deep REMs” for 7 or 8 minutes and we continued on.

It was getting cold around mile 94 as we were just walking now and the temps were in the 50’s. I was wearing a fleece jacket which I had debated about bringing with me way back at Camp 10 Bear…but thankfully did bring it. Davy said he was cold. I held out for a little while (as I was cold too!) but then gave it to Davy. A few miles later when we got to Polly’s aid station, I asked a volunteer for a trash bag which I wore to keep warm for the rest of the night.

Around mile 98 dawn began to break (5am) and we could finally turn off the headlamps. We had been running/walking together for nearly 10 hours. My sore feet were actually better now and I had some energy. Davy was also feeling better. We kept going up these hills and thinking that this would be the “last hill” but it was not to be. There were at least 5 more hills before the finish as we would eventually find out.

As we started the final descent into the field were the tents were located we could see the cars and trailers. Our pace picked up and we both were running together. As we hit bottom of the last hill, we exited the woods onto flat grass and could see the finish line just ahead. I started to run harder and Davy started to run faster too. I started to sprint and Davy did too. He was gaining on me and I upped it one gear and we finished together running as fast as we could…around 15 mph!

Davy’s final time was 25 hours, 18 minutes, and 19 seconds. He finished in 79th place out of 144 finishers (and 55 DNFs). You can read his race report here.

I followed Davy and family back to their hotel and grabbed a show. Then I drove to the center of town, parked and slept on the Woodstock Green (a park) for 3 hours. As soon as I put my head down, I was a sleep. When I woke up, I started my 6 hour drive to Watkins Glen, NY where the rest of my family had just started a week long vacation in the finger lakes region.

 

End of Race, Pre-shower Portrait.
100 miler (left), 30 miler (right)

For me, this was a personal record for distance as well as elevation (30 miles, 5000 feet, 9.75 hours). In terms of toughness, it was certainly up there with running a rim-river-rim in the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago (19 miles and 5000 feet, 9 hours). And I think it was also harder than climbing Mt. Rainier (8 miles, 7000 feet, 28 hours) as I was 16 way back then. Perhaps the hardest thing was doing most of it in the dark! Either way, I am glad I did it and look forward to pacing Davy again in the Leadville 100 next week.

Race Map from GPS

Elevation profile for last 30 miles of VT100 and my heart rate