Happy Jack Endurance Races

The inaugural edition of an old classic, the Happy Jack Endurance Races, 24-hour, 12-hour, 6-hour, and 100-mile, brought an incredible experience for all participants and volunteers alike.  From crazy weather, to numerous wild animal sightings (some real, some fantasy), to injuries and physical and mental challenges, this event, brought to you courtesy of Journeyman Adventures, brought the goods.  In so many ways.


Alec and crew set up base camp Friday night for the Saturday morning start.  While they were hanging out that evening, a black bear moseyed down the trail next to camp.  Word of this would continually freak runners out (and convince them they were seeing bears on every lap) for the entire weekend.  Other notable wildlife sightings included several moose, deer, a supposed elk, a goshawk, and crazy runners.

Anxious for the start.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

The races began Saturday morning in overcast, humid weather, with rain threatening.  After many weeks of record high temperatures, resulting in the combustion of forests all over the region, we were finally blessed with cooler temps and much needed rain.  While these conditions proved challenging, no one complained.  Everyone, I believe, was thankful to have any relief from the heat and flames.

Photo by Wendy Perkins.

Sam was the race's first casualty.  Elizabeth was excited to put her Wilderness First Responder/First Aid training to good use.  Everyone else is laughing at Sam for taking a digger in the first mile of the race.  Sam got the last laugh when he put in 36 miles.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

I helped haul in supplies for the aid station in the morning, then hung out at base camp for a bit before I went home to nap a little before the 6pm start of the 6-hour race.  Around a quarter to four, it began to rain so hard in town that the sound of the rain drops pounding my roof woke me up from a pretty deep sleep.  I looked outside and realized my approach to the race would have to change.  I packed several changes of clothes and my rain jacket.  It was going to be a wet one, and with the temps falling (it was around 50 degrees when I started running), staying dry and warm was going to be an issue.


I got back up the hill and we started the six hours of ordeal.  I wanted to see if I could get a six-mile lap in per hour.  This depended on me not dilly-dallying at the aid stations and on how my hip would hold up.  While the hip has been doing quite a bit better, it isn't 100% and up until the race, I had only put, at longest, nine miles on it at once.


The first lap went by in a flash, though I did take a wrong turn and get off course.  The crew made fun of me for getting lost on my own trails, to which I responded, "I wasn't lost.  I knew exactly where I was.  It just wasn't where I was supposed to be."  Once I actually learned the course, things were pretty smooth.

Done with lap one.  Photo by Cassandra Driver.

I finished lap one in just over 49 minutes, which is right where I wanted to be.  I grabbed a bite and refilled my water bottle and was back out.  I felt the even-numbered laps were more difficult because we went up Pole Creek, down Haunted Forest, and up to base camp.  Odd numbered laps had the reverse, two downhills to one uphill.


Lap two also went by in 49 minutes, but I spent a little longer at base camp since I decided I needed to change clothes.  Elizabeth looked at me and asked, "Are you cold?"  I asked her, "Do I look cold?"  She shot back, "Yes!"  So I changed, and man was it nice to have on a dry shirt.


Lap three slowed me down a little since I started walking up Haunted Forest.  I also spent several minutes at the aid station talking with Alec (who had gone out on course to put up glowsticks) about the conditions of the trails given the constant downpour.  With darkness coming on, and with Haunted Forest becoming a treacherous mess of slick mud, Alec decided that if people wanted to run in one direction up that trail, then they could.  He didn't want people going down it and slipping and getting hurt.  

Trail?  Looks more like a creek.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

I finished the third lap in 55 minutes.  I spent a little longer at base camp because, after 18 miles, I was getting a little tired.  I was having trouble getting enough water in me, since with the rain and cool temps, I didn't feel the need to drink as much as I should, and I was getting very hungry.  I was putting down over 200 calories per lap, but when I saw the pizza there at base camp, I just had to have a piece.  And so I began lap four with a slice of pepperoni in my hand.

Lap four would be the end for me.  I made it down Pole Creek to the creek crossing with no trouble, but as I started up Haunted Forest again, my hip finally gave up the ghost.  And when it went, it went completely.  I was getting little to no lift from it.  I walked up Haunted Forest, stretched at the aid station, and decided to do what jogging I could back to base camp where I could drop out.  That fourth lap took me nearly 75 minutes.  I got back to base camp and told Alec I was done.  I had covered 24 miles in pretty crappy conditions in 4:03 (that includes time spent at aid stations).  My hip gave me 20 really good miles and four really crappy ones.  Oh well, it's always nice to know where the limit is, and 20 miles, at this point in time, is a pretty good limit.  As it turns out, I won the race by default since no one else went out for another lap.  So, since I completed four laps the quickest, I was deemed the winner.  I feel bad about winning a six-hour race when I only ran four hours.

I think the amazing thing about races like this is the generosity that is present with everyone involved.  Elizabeth was blown away.  "I just can't get over how nice and encouraging everyone is."  Something about ultras brings out the best in people, even when some are in the depths of despair about how far they have to go and how hard it's going to be.  Sometimes all you need is someone to get you a bowl of soup and you're right back in it.  It was a great, well-executed event attended by incredible people.  An amazing experience not soon forgotten.  Here's looking forward to next year!