Cascade Crest 100 Crew Report

It seemed like many months ago when I first told Andy Kumeda that I'd help him by crewing and/or pacing for the Cascade Crest 100.  Catra ended up as his pacer so I was on crew duty.  The weekend started with my 2 hour and 40 minute drive from my home in Lake Oswego to SeaTac airport where Andy and Catra were flying to.  It was a quick and painless drive and I had Tobey in tow in the back seat, ready for a weekend of adventure!

We stayed in Cle Elum (site of my upcoming 50k race!) which was about 11 miles from the race start.  Cascade Crest has a generous start time of 10AM so you don't need to wake up early and even someone driving in from Seattle could sleep in before the race.  It was chilly at the start and I was not really dressed for it with my tank top, but I survived.  In addition to the runners, there were lots of crew, family & friends mulling about near the start.  I met some new people and saw some familiar faces.  I'm sure I will miss some, but the faces old and new included: Eric & Michelle, Rob, Matt Hart, Jess Mullen (thanks for the first ride to my car!), Abi (thanks for the ride to my car), Steve Stoyles, Ronda, Glenn, Wendell , Linda Dewess, Mark Tanaka, Christian & crew, and more...  Always such a good bunch of people at ultras isn't it?

At 10AM the race was off and I took a video of the start.  From there Catra and I went and checked out of the hotel, stocked up on a few things and made the trek to the mile 23 aid station where it was freezing!  I had to change into something warmer as we sat there and waited.  It wasn't long before we started to see the front runners come blazing through, including Samantha Sigle who led the women's race wire to wire, and men's winner (and new course record holder) Phil Shaw.  Andy came through right on track and looked good.  It was on to mile 33 after that...

I wish I remember the names of all the crews we met.  It's funny how you see the same people hopping around from station to station.  In this case it was JB who was shooting video and crewing for his wife Jenn, Matt Hart who seemed to be crewing multiple runners, a girl from Florida who was crewing for her boyfriend Wesley who completed his first 100 in just over 27 hours, Christian Griffith's crew, "Kiwi's" mom, and others...

Mile 33 went pretty much the same as 23 and before long Andy was back on the trail.  Catra and I had until mile 53 before we saw Andy again so we drove into Snoqualmie Pass to kill some time and stay warm.  We went to a coffee place first but had to move since they closed at 7PM.  We killed the rest of our time at nearby bar, me drinking a Stella and Catra chatting with a PCT through hiker who had been on the trail since mid May and was fighting an injury hoping to make it through the last 200 miles.  Running a 100 miles is surely tough but 4 months on the trail and 2600 miles?  That's in a completely different league I think.

At mile 53 we waiting and spent some time with Christian's crew who gave me a beer and a bit of steak.  I think they are my new favorite crew! :)  Andy came in and he and Catra did a little TLC to his feet.  He changed his clothes and shoes and both he and Catra were off.  I wouldn't see them again until mile 68 so I spent some time relaxing at mile 53 before driving over to 68 and catching about an hour of sleep.  Catra came up to me there and told me she had to change and didn't want to hold Andy up.  She was trying out a new running dress that just wasn't working for her so the plan was for me to take her to mile 75 (which I was originally going to skip).  It took us almost an hour and a half to drive there (reasons I was going to skip it) and I was wiped.  Catra picked up Andy just after 5AM and I took a nap until about 7AM when someone ran past my car and knocked on my window.  Time to get up I guess!! 

On the way over to mile 95 I got some food and changed into my running clothes.  The plan was for me and Tobey to join Andy and Catra from there to the finish.  I was starting to wonder where they were after a while, based on Andy's time through mile 75.  I checked with the time keeper and saw that Andy was a bit behind when I had expected him.  He had given me pace charts for a 25 hour and 27 hour schedule.  most of the race he had been closer to 25 but now was pushing past 27.  I waited patiently while Tobey kept entertained by playing fetch with some kids.  I was ready to run so started to make my way backwards on the course.  I went about a mile I think and shortly thereafter saw Andy and Catra coming down the hill.  Andy was limping a bit since he had hurt his foot/leg.  He was worried it was a stress fracture but it was not.  The last 20 miles where really rough on him and slowed them way down.  He didn't think he'd make 27 hours and was surprised to learn it was still an option.  I asked if they needed anything from the car since it was not in the path to or from the aid station.  Catra said yes so I had fun flying back down the trail ahead of them, made a stop back at the car, and arrived at the aid station in time to meet them.  The four of us were soon off to complete the race together.  Andy said he wanted to try to run so he did.  In fact I think he had a pretty darn good steady pace for that last section - very impressive after 95 miles.  The sun was warm and it felt good.  Andy kept moving and moving.  It became clear that he'd make 27 hours and in fact came in 8 minutes under!  Quite an accomplishment considering the pain and walking from mile 75-95.

I had a blast helping out Andy that weekend (and so did Tobey).  Crewing a 100 miler is a feat of endurance in a different way but only pales in comparison to what those runners go through.  So thank you Andy, Catra, Charlie (RD), all the volunteers, runners and crews for helping make Cascade Crest such a great race and a memorable one!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

Comments

[backofpack]

Great report Jessica! Crewing is an endurance feat of it's own, but with so many other great crews out there, it's totally a blast! It was nice meeting you - good luck at Cle Elem!

[Linda Dewees]

Hi Jessica! It was great seeing you at Cascade, and thanks for sending out the "start" video. I got a kick out of it! I thought Andy had an amazing finish time, so I had no idea he hurt those 20 miles. You guys were long gone by the time I came in, but I was just thrilled to finish. It was hard! But I don't know...I thinking crewing is way more exhausting! Hope to see you again soon! Oh...we had a super good Italian dinner in Cle Elum -- maybe you could try the place when there for your race. It starts with an "L", one block south of about 300 W.1st (behind the Cheveron and Timberlodge motel) Might want to reserve.

[miki]

I love Tobey. Good dog. :)