This evening Brian and I drove over to Cuyahoga Falls to park his car at the Burning River 100 mile race finish line. Tonight he was going to be pacing Mike Keller from Happy Days to the finish or a few miles over 50K.
We got to Happy Days around 7 and saw a lot of familiar faces since this was a NEO Trail sponsored aid station. This always seems to be a favorite stop for runners at 64 miles in. There was plenty of good food and music playing.
Mike showed up a little after 11 looking pretty tired. He took his shoes off and we helped him put Dr. Sholl's inserts in. Mike relaxed for a bit, then Brian and him were off.
All of us broke down the aid station as the midnight cutoff time for Happy Days approached. Jim Harris went out to sweep the course with Rich Vrbonic, who had been sweeping most the day. I got changed into running clothes and caught up with them to get some miles in.
We ran with a girl named Jennifer from Canada from the Pine Grove trail to Kendall Lake. She was in great spirits and had a good attitude. When we ran into Brian at Kendall Lake, I knew Mike wasn't doing well. Jim and Rich stayed with Mike and I kept running with Jennifer. She told me about HURT 100 in Hawaii which sounded extremely difficult. She also said there was another runner with them from Canada who was trying to beat her own record of the most 100s in a year. This year she was going for 30!!!
After a few miles, Brian ran up behind us. He was running to the Pine Hallow aid station to let them know Mike was done. So I joined him and both of us ran quickly to the aid station. They were surprised to see two runners running up the hill at them, but soon figured out we were pacers.
Brian and I rode with Gailanne (also from Canada) to pick up Mike. We talked shortly to Mike and Jim, then Brian and I headed back to Happy Days where my car was parked.
It was 2 AM when we got back to my and around 4 by the time I hit the sack. I had a fun time helping at the aid station and running in the wee hours of the morning in the Cuyahoga Valley. Congrats to all the participants of the Burning River 100 this year!
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