For years now I had a unrelenting dream of completing a 100 mile run. I had started training multiple times in the past but something always prevented me from completing it; weather and injury or illness or most recently, a sinus infection 2 days before the 100 mile race I originally signed up for.
Which brings me here: I am attempting to complete what the ultra community calls a backyard 100. Basically, I run 100 miles using your watch and your reputation to prove that I have completed the distance. If I am lucky, I will have friends pace and help me along the way. We put out the word to our running and triathlon community about the date and time for the event.
Sara, and I woke up at 4am to get dressed in warm clothes that I could shed as it got warmer. We dished out some overnight oats in small bowl for me to eat on the drive, loaded the ice and food into the cooler and took our bags down to the Prius which would serve as our home for this big adventure.
By 4:45 we were off to Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park to begin the “day” part of the run. We parked on the entrance road near the exit to the trail. I turned on my running light, kissed Sara goodbye and was off running at 5:12am in the cold and dark for my first 10 mile loop.
The moon was at the start of its cycle so it was really dark; just me and the stars on Garys trail. It was about 43 degrees so I had on sleeves, a vest, a hat and some small gloves. It still felt cold but I knew I was only about an hour from daylight and it would warm up fast so I just keep moving to stay warm. About halfway through the first loop my hip flexors became really tight and I stopped to stretch them out. This really worried me so I called for a PT consult (Sara) about 2 miles out. She assured me that they were probably just cold and when it warmed up they would get better.
I arrived back at the car after loop 1
and Will, Loren and Debbie were there to greet me with Sara. I replenished my food, nuts and blocks, refilled both of my pack bottles with Rocktane. It was starting to get warmer so I shed my hat but kept the rest for lap 2; it was about 7:25am.
Running with the group took my mind off the rest of what was coming and any tightness I was feeling and we got into a pretty good pace. I was keeping up my hydration, but the cool temperature caused me to need to stop for a bathroom break. Fast Freddie made an appearance on the trail on his mountain bike and it was great to have him drop in twice on the lap.
I got back to the car and was greeted by Scott who showed up to run with me.
I replenished my food and water, tied my ice bandana around my neck, then Scott and I started off on the trail again for another 10 mile loop. Scott was awesome asking what pace to go and thinking up new ways to distract me from the miles. We played an alphabet game where Scott and I tried to come up with all of the rock bands we could for each letter of the alphabet. We stated with A – Abba, Alphaville… you get the idea. Made it though the whole alphabet and had so much fun learning more about a great friend.
Junior, Brian and Steve were waiting to run with me at the car.
It was hot by lap five, so took some extra time to get a new ice bandana and drank lots of ice water. It was hard to eat in the heat so drank half of a smoothie Sara had prepared for just such an occasion. It went down pretty easy at the car but it kinda made me burp up some blueberry taste over the next 10 miles.
The three of them had 2 bikes so they switch off running and riding to keep me company for the next 2 hours.
It wasn’t until I got back to the car from this lap that I noticed that SteveO had created a custom Stickman chalk drawing It had Hoka’s and said “Run with God”, so awesome!
When we got back to the car it was late in the day and time to prepare for running at night. I changed all out of my wet clothes and got into dry ones including my vest and tights. I also picked up my light because I knew it was going to get dark quickly.
It was time to transition between Aliso park to Chapparosa park for my night running and the way to get there was through Laguna Niguel park right across the street.
Brian and Junior ran me through Laguna Niguel park and as we neared the other side we heard a large pack of coyotes howling in the near distance from the trail. I was glad I was making my way through the park. The trio accompanied me all the way to the park before they took Niguel road back to their cars. It was hard seeing them go, the time had passed quickly with them distracting me.
I ran through Chapparosa Park to the Pooch Park Parking lot where Sara was parked with the Prius.
Here I met up with Terry who started me off in my Chapparosa park laps. I got fueled up and put on some gloves and Terry and I took off. It was dark now and there was no one out there in the dark except Terry and me. We had a great time chatting and shuffling through the starry night.
After this lap it started getting pretty cold so I added a windbreaker and a warmer hat and met up with Jim and Sara at the car. Sara had something warm tea for me to drink and I think I might have had my first cup of noodles at this time. Besides the noodles the ruffles potato chips were going down really well and I didn’t have any issues with my stomach.
The overnight timeframes are a little fuzzy but I was walking laps near the top of Chapparosa park near Golden Lantern for about 30 miles. Andrea, Jeff, Chris and his little dog “Twiggy” came out after midnight. Andrea was so upbeat telling how she couldn’t sleep anyway so came out to support me even though she was leaving for Mexico on vacation in the morning. Jeff was at Chris’ grandchild’s baby shower earlier in the day and heard about my 100 mile adventure. He decided to come out and support even though I hardly knew him. Amazing. Chris brought his dog Twiggy and entertained me with history lessons of the castles he had been too in a recent trip. This was all a great distraction because my left ankle, hip flexors and knee’s were all pretty much pissed off at me by now.
Larry and Kim came out about 2am and Larry joined the group doing laps with me. He said he couldn’t sleep either. I got some more food and water and I think ate cup of noodles and chips again. Larry was another breath of fresh air as he asked me questions and took video of me narrator style.
At about 3:30 am it was back to me and Sara out in the dark alone. She was so good about keeping me going and making sure I had what I needed. She was with me alone until sunrise about 6am. It was beautiful seeing the red and orange sunrise colors. A short time after sunrise more people started showing up and joining me for last couple of hours.
About 7:30 or 8 the sun started getting hotter and I was getting warmer.
I got some new Rocktane and some ice water and kept going. I had bikers and walkers doing laps with me to keep me company on my last 8 miles.
Mike came on his ebike as he had already done his workouts for the weekend. At this point I was avoiding even small hills so Mike would shuttle items to and from Sara and I so I could stay on the flats.
When it got about 9am Larry asked how many miles I had left and it just about 2 miles. He and John Steed calculated the exact number of laps I needed to do make it exactly 100 miles at the parking lot. When I looked down at my watch and saw it was just over a mile left I started to cry softly to myself. I had been holding on so long mentally to keep going I couldn’t believe it was almost here.
When I went up the last hill to the Pooch park parking lot there were a group of friends holding there hands up in the line to form the shoot for the finish line. It was so amazing to go through it and see the 100 miles show up on my watch.
It had been 28 ½ hours since I started Saturday morning and I was done. I threw up my hands in victory and couldn’t believe it.
Sara and I stood by the open hastchback of the Prius to get a picture taken of us and John Steed walked over and handed up both wooden finisher medals he had engraved. On the front mine said “Kari’s Backyard 100 Nov 11-12 2023 and on the back “ 1st Place”. Sara’s on the front said “Sara Best Wife Ever” and on the back “ 1st Place”.
After celebrating and getting some pictures with all of my friends Sara took me home and help me get into to shower. It felt amazing to get clean and put on some clean sweats. She got me situated on the couch with my legs elevated and handed me the remote for the TV. I must have passed out because I don’t remember falling asleep I just woke up a couple of hours later and really couldn’t stand up or walk had to go to the bathroom.
Special thanks for all my friends who came out to support me and especially to my amazing wife Sara who was there for me every step of the way. Hope to see all of you soon on the trails.
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