Quick Barkley thoughts
Blake P. Wood
Apr. 5, 2011
Posted to ultra list

I really thought I had five loops in me this year.  Obviously, I was mistaken.

After arriving at Frozen Head on Friday and discovering that there were no
changes in the course, I guessed that the promised "Raw Dog Surprise" was
probably a 1 or 2 am start.  Sure enough, the conch blew at 12:08 am and the
cigarette was lit at 1:08 am.

I'm sure there will be much speculation about whether this was a good or bad
thing.  One problem it did cause, at least for me, was that it meant I'd
have to be out for three nights rather than two for a five-loop finish. 
Actually more like 2 1/2 nights - harder than usual, and requiring add'l sleep.

In addition, the early start changed what needed to be carried.  For
instance, warmer nighttime clothing had to be carried the whole time
(probably a good thing), as well as a substantial light.  For me, sunrise or
sunset came when I was near the top of Frozen Head on each loop.

I finished one loop in about 10:30 (mostly with a fun crowd), and felt
pretty good - I figured that not having distinct daytime and nighttime loops
would make them all more even.  But despite feeling good and having made no
navigational mistakes, my second loop took 11:45 (mostly alone).  With about
30 minutes in camp between loops, this meant that I started the third loop
at 23:08 - only an hour of cushion instead of the hoped for 2 or 3 hours.  

I knew I would need to get an hour of sleep before setting out on a fourth
loop (the second half of which would be in the "third" night), which meant
that I needed to finish my third loop in 11:30 - slightly faster than my
second loop.  However, the third loop started with the challenge of
navigating the backward direction in the dark - a difficult task usually not
faced until the fourth loop, at which point you've already done the backward
direction in the light.

I did a tolerably good job of dead reckoning the first three climb/descents
alone in the dark - on Big Hell and Zipline I ended up about 200 m off but
knew immediately which way to go to get to the right place, and I perfectly
nailed The Bad Thing from Indian Knob down to the prison.  But they were
still slow - it took me longer to descend Big Hell in the dark than it had
to climb it on either of the first two loops.  

I lost my stomach on the third loop, and did nearly the whole thing on the
700 calories I had in camp after the second loop.  But this was just the
coup de grace - I simply couldn't get around the course fast enough this
year to have a chance of starting a fourth loop.  Nothing that being 10 or
20 years younger wouldn't fix.  In general, I felt that my climbing was
excellent, but that I didn't move fast enough downhill.

I was alone the entire third loop, except when passing runners going in the
other direction.  I got to the Garden spot with six hours to go before the
40 hour fun run cutoff.  After that, however, I started feeling very strange
- despite taking in no calories, my energy level felt pretty good and I
could power up the hills, but I continually felt like I was going to pass
out if I pressed too hard.  The final six hours became an exercise in going
as slowly as possible to still make the 40 hour cutoff, and as fast as
possible without falling face down on the trail.  I did this about perfectly
and finished with 20 minutes to spare.  My seventh fun run finish in eight
attempts.

Even with the mildly frightening "thundersnow" storm at 4:30 am atop
Stallion Mountain on the first loop, the weather was the best I've seen in
any year at Frozen Head - mostly clear skies and mild temps.  My hat is off
to Carl for attempting a fourth loop, and to Brett for finishing five.

- Blake