Grindstone 2024 Race Report

I’ll begin with my finish and then recap my experience at this event.

I was 116th overall out of 294 starters. There were 168 finishers, a 43% DNF rate.

I was 3rd in my age group!

I finished in 33:29:23 – 33 hours, 29 minutes, and 23 seconds to be clear. This is the first time I’ve started an event on Friday and finished on Sunday. I crossed the finish line at 3:29 am Sunday to the cheers of a few onlookers and my exhausted wife, who was also my solo crew. She was amazing and a HUGE part of why I was able to complete this race!

Without exception, this was the most difficult thing I have accomplished! The climbs were a combination of steep and unrelenting. The downhill sections were, to me, more challenging than the climbs. Normally, I make up time lost in the climbing sections on the descents, but that was not the case with most of the downhill sections of this race. They were too steep and rocky to run safely, especially in the dark. That meant when it was flat-ish I needed to run at a modest pace to maintain the average necessary to beat the cutoff times and finish before the 36-hour time limit. 

The start of Grindstone is 6 pm on Friday. So, if you’re an average runner, you’re going to endure almost two full nights of running. I spent approximately 13 hours running all day Saturday, meaning nearly 20 hours of my race was in the dark: 12 hours Friday night and 7-½ hours Saturday night. I don’t mind running in the dark and rarely get sleepy but during the second night, around 1 am I felt a nap was in order. A high dose of vitamin D and some Ketone Aid kept me moving and feeling upbeat about my performance.

My fueling was very simple. Over the past two years, I’ve been building my metabolic capacity and fat-adaptation so I don’t need excessive calories during the race. I used Perpetuem from Hammer Nutrition for my main fuel and was aiming for around 140 calories per hour. I fell way short of that because I got too lazy to mix up my fuel between aid stations where I could meet my crew. I did add some PB&J sandwiches, quesadillas, and Oreo cookies from the aid stations but for the most part, I stuck with the liquid calories from the Perpetuem. This approach has greatly simplified things for my crew. 

Adding ketones to my fueling before the big climbing sections of the course helped me maintain my intensity during the climbs. I find I hike uphill faster than most and can push hard without raising my heart rate much. This was very beneficial to keeping my average pace where it needed to be.

As always I had a Vespa Ultra Concentrate every 2 hours, except when I forgot then tried to catch up by taking one in 90 minutes to get back on track. Electrolytes were from one S-Cap every 1-2 hours. The temperature during the day didn’t get above 80 and I’d guess 90% of the race was shaded by the forest canopy. I had zero issues with swelling hands/sausage fingers this time so I think the dosage was on point.

During the afternoon on Saturday, several thunderstorms rolled through the area. My Patagonia rain jacket proved worth every penny spent on it. Sometimes, buy-once, cry-once is the right approach to gear. It fit over my pack and kept everything dry and light. The ‘highlight’ of the race was provided by the first storm that hit as I was running along a ridgeline after a particularly long, grueling climb. Two storms merged, one from either side of the ridge. As I ran along in full sunshine the storms climbed the mountain and joined forces right above the trail. As I began the descent back to the valley and the next crewed aid station, about 6 miles away, the lightning and thunder were simultaneous, meaning I was right under the worst of the storm. A couple of thunderbolts were deafening as some small hail bounced off my hood and the rocky trail. Needless to say, this motivated my speedy descent. It is a bit scary being that close to Mother Nature with no shelter. The rain turned portions of the trail into tiny streams and I was soaked from the waist down, including my shoes, which never completely dried for the remainder of the race – about 12 more hours.

It rained heavily two or three more times before the last crewed aid station at mile 92. I changed socks at miles 82 and 92, mostly to get the sand and trail grit away from my ever-worsening feet. They blistered badly during this race, which was unexpected as I was blister-free in my last 100 which was also very wet. I used the same shoe/sock combination this time but I think the rocky terrain, increased downhill running, and additional duration were contributing factors. Something to look into for the next race.

The blisters and associated foot pain started around the 80-mile mark. Despite the pain, I was able to continue to run periodically to the end of the race. 

Many times I questioned the sanity of continuing. I wasn’t enjoying the race, which is unusual for me. I heard a term in an online forum in which someone was describing their race as having a lot of PUDs: Pointless Ups and Downs. That describes Grindstone perfectly. There are many, many, ascents, some of which go straight up to a ridgeline, just to come back down and go back up again. I suppose that’s part of the challenge of this event. I do love the climbs and find that I make up time on other runners as I climb. I don’t descend quickly, especially with blistered feet on rocky terrain but I hold my position. I hope to improve this with future shoe/sock experimentation.

Once I hit the halfway point of this race I knew I was going to finish unless I missed a cutoff. To be honest, when I leave the start line I continually tell myself that finishing is a given. It’s only when I finish which is in question. There was no way I was going to DNF no matter how hard or painful it became, after investing so heavily into the first ½. With that mindset, it made it easier to keep pushing forward, maintaining the 18- to 21-minute-per-mile pace necessary to be under the 36-hour limit.

Crossing the finish line was one of the best feelings ever. I am overjoyed that I was able to complete this course and proud of myself for continuing to push hard to the end. As I sit at my desk writing this recap, I’m still in awe of the scope and magnitude of the course and that I was able to complete it. I may even start to think of myself as exceptional for a 60-year-old with no quit in the foreseeable future. Seven weeks to the next 100-mile race! Time to get the recovery started.