Arcata to Willow Creek Run 12/03/11

Sat., December 03, 2011

Directed by “Bill Daniel” <drd@reninet.com>

The completion of the 39’th running of Arcata to Willow Creek insured the status of this event as the most venerable ultra-marathon west of The Mississippi. While the finishing times were not the fastest ever, this was the most exciting race of the thirty nine. Four participants started and four finished. Bob Thompson had run to Redwood Creek the previous year and declared himself ready to go all the way. Danny Huddleston, relatively new to the Club was talked into this attempt by Barry Milender. Mike Wood, an experienced ultra-runner would also attempt his first Willow Creek. Finally, Vic Harris, who had finished two Willow Creeks in the 1980’s made the trek from Grants Pass in order to renew his acquaintance with the 299 hills.

The runners departed California Street under perfectly clear skies, a far cry from the conditions accompanying the ’81 edition of this event described elsewhere. .At first all four were closely bunched and chatting amiably, thus prompting an admonition “This is a race, not a dammed social event!” This admonition would prove to be unnecessary. Danny and Mike had a 20 second lead over Bob at the first check point (6.55 mi.) Vic lost a couple of minutes because of a potty break. Danny and Bob were even at the Northfork Bridge, followed three minutes later by Vic and six minutes later by Mike. Soon, Danny began to feel especially strong and decided to pick up the pace. By Lord Ellis he had a 2 minute lead over Bob and a substantial lead over Vic. By this point it was clear that Mike was running just to finish. The trip downhill to Redwood Creek might seem a breeze to casual observers, but all who have finished this leg will tell you that legs take an awful pounding. Such was the case this year. At Redwood Creek Danny and Bob were within 5 seconds of each other, and Vic had closed the gap to 4 minutes. It was here that Bob realized to his amazement that the ordeal had barely begun. Both Bob and Danny alternately jogged and walked up to Barry Summit, exchanging the lead several times; while the more experienced Vick eased his way up. Danny led Bob by 16 seconds and Vic by about 8 minutes at the summit. What followed is the stuff of legend. Both Bob and Danny were struggling and Vic appeared to be the strongest runner, but observers opined that Vic had too much time to make up. But with 5 miles to go, Vic had cut the lead in half and things were getting interesting. Bob and Danny battled on with Vic relentlessly closing the gap. With two miles to go, Vic had cut the lead to less than 2 minutes, and the race began. At some point thereafter, someone informed the leaders about Vic, and an all-out effort began. The last 200 yards witnessed a mad dash. Somehow Danny (6:06:21) managed to hold off Bob by ONE second. Vic trailed by the sum total of 8 seconds. Mike cruised to a 7:49 finish, declaring himself to be in fine shape. I sincerely hope some folks will run this thing next year, knowing there will likely never be such an exciting finish.

Many thanks goes to Yoon for photography and transportation, to John and Barry Milender for their support all along the course, and to the tireless handlers who make this race possible, especially to Gary who agreed to provide support to Mike at the last minute. See y’all next year for the big 40. Happy training!

Place Name Age/G (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

1 Daniel Huddleston 30M 58:22 1:34:11 2:44:25 3:11:16 4:42:24 6:06:21

2 Bob Thompson 61M 58:45 1:34:12 2:46:50 3:17:01 4:42:40 6:06:22

3 Vic Harris 54M 60:19 1:37:24 2:56:20 3:21:01 4:50:18 6:06:29

4 Mike Wood 52M 58:22 1:40:06 3:23:32 4:08:51 6:01:19 7:49:36

Arcata to Willow Creek Breakdown

Leg (1): West end of the Blue Lake off ramp 299 (6.65 miles)

Leg (2): West end of North Fork Bridge (12.35 miles)

Leg (3): Lord Ellis Summit (18.75 miles)

Leg (4): East side of Redwood Creek Bridge (23.35 miles)

Leg (5): Berry Summit (29.85 miles)

Leg (6): Willow Creek (39.95 miles)

After the race, runners wrote …

Hi Bill, Yoon, Gary and rest of SRRC,

Just settled in back in Grants Pass and wanted to thank you all for keeping a wonderful tradition going. Julie and I really enjoyed the race, just like the old days. Yes, the hills were bigger and gravity was stronger but you couldn't ask for a better weekend! Heck, I might even plan on it again next year. Thanks also for encouragement and motivation for me to motor down Berry Summit, sure was easier than going up. Take care and thanks again,

-- Vic and Julie Harris <javaharris@charter.net> wrote on Sun, Dec 4, 2011,

<<< Caution: Danny Huddleston’s message below is “very” long! >>>

By “Danny Huddleston” <ddh28@hotmail.com>

Preface to reflection:

After running the 40 miles between Arcata and Willow Creek I was riding an incredible runner’s high of endorphins. Sleep was difficult Saturday evening so I decided to do some therapeutic writing to clear my head. After a quick hour I had put most of my thoughts in word form. Then over the last week I made little changes either for clarity or succinctness, hopefully without changing much of the tone. I am pretty sure my “running career” is just beginning and that my lifetime personal best marks are still somewhere hidden in the future. Thank you for reading.

-- Yours in Running, Danny Huddleston (Enclosed photos were captured by Karen Kidwell)

Like many people I have many goals in Life, but most goals can be combined under one main purpose: living my life to my own full potential, or getting the most out of life. So, it was serendipitous that before the Great Race known as the Arcata to Willow Creek 40 Mile Run, that the twists and turns of life led me to studying the “Third Force” of psychology, otherwise known as Humanistic Psychology.

As a teacher I have studied humanist ideas on a superficial level, but never been pre-disposed to really understand the implications of the theory (silly me). As it turns out there are a great many implications of the “Third Force” of psychology that go even beyond the realm of education.

Abraham Maslow (the father if you will of the Humanist movement), in his book The Farther Reaches of Human Nature describes his theory of self-actualization. Self-actualization, if you are not familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, is the need that he placed highest on his hierarchy or pyramid – what he believed humans should strive to attain in their life. Like any good key concept, self-actualization is not just one simple idea but a synthesis of many elements. There are eight behaviors that Maslow describes as ways to recognize when a person self actualizes. The seventh behavior that Abraham Maslow defines, as representing his idea of self-actualization, is the idea of “peak experiences”. Since Maslow was a much more gifted thinker than I, I am going to quote directly a passage describing “peak experiences”:

… are transient moments of self-actualization. They are moments of ecstasy which cannot be bought, cannot be guaranteed, cannot even be sought. One must be, as CS Lewis (another of my favorite writers) wrote, “surprised by joy.” But one can set up the conditions so that peak experiences are more likely, or perversely one can set up the conditions so they are less likely. (p. 49) (parenthetical remarks are mine)

How does one set up the conditions for a peak experience 40 mile race?

· I suppose a runner could log lots of miles at different paces. (In the last five months I have logged 80+ miles a few times, but according to the Collapse Point Theory I may have still been “under-trained”.)

· I suppose a runner could make a point of doing many long runs to get a feel of what it is like to be on your feet for a real, real long time (I only had one run of 30 miles back at the end of August. I guess you could say I slacked here). I personally think doing a lot of doubles (primarily on weekends) is easier, faster, and just as effective, but I'm sure there are people who would want to argue that with me.

· A runner may try to somehow scientifically deduce just what is the best food and drink schedule (I went on the “go by feel” plan).

· A runner may want to prepare a good support crew (and even a pace crew) to get through the tough miles (Special thank you to Dale Huddleston, Matthew and Karen Kidwell, and Barry Millender and his son John, and the race officials – Bill Daniel, Yoon Kim, not to mention the other supporters, Phil Lescano, Gary Timek, and Vic's wife Julie).

These are my conditions for putting together awesome performances and peak experiences. I am sure I could list more pre-requisites.

Initially, my main focus when I started running was on fitness and vanity (okay, I admit I still have that focus), but now I know that that focus does not have to be primary and I will still get those benefits, it’s a very nice situation we runners enjoy. To quote some anonymous person: We can have our cake and eat it too.

My new main focus over the last, oh I don't know, 24, 48 months, has been on two goals. I do not really know how they are ranked, because to me they are very intertwined:

• Have fun;
• Get faster.

I'll be honest I could have written them in reverse order, but notice how I did not use numbered bullets, just symbol bullets. That is a big difference.

I wrote all that stuff in the beginning, because the longer I run and the more friends I make in the running culture, I have more “peak experiences”. Thus, I get to experience Maslow's seventh behavior of self-actualization more frequently. Admittedly, running only produces peak experiences in the moment, but I am learning how to create those peak experiences more and more often. Basically, get a lot of similarly passionate folks in one area, define an agenda, do it.

And you do not even need to be running to be “surprised by joy” if you are surrounded by runners. After the Arcata Bottoms 8 Mile Adventure, Yoshi asked Bob Thompson if he had found anyone to run the 40 miler with him. Bob pointed over to me. The look of exasperation, bewilderment, and confusion on the face of Yoshi was priceless and he capped it off by saying, “Why do you have to run that? I was really hoping you would want to stick around and run a little bit more.”

Why would I not want to run it? Why would I not want to surround myself with crazy, passionate people and go on epic 40 mile adventures? (Don't answer that.) To me it sounds like a lot of fun. And I was not disappointed. Sure going up Berry Summit was some “extreme torture test” (to badly paraphrase someone), and the debilitating leg cramp sitting down at the post-race party at Cinnabar Sam definitely was not my finest moment (but the party was). But, the number of laughs I shared between Mike, Vic, Bob and my pacers (Matthew and Karen) far out-numbered those two insignificant details.

And I mean A LOT of fun. A LOT. Bill Daniel, Yoon Kim, and Barry Millender were all getting fed up with my antics that whenever I saw Yoon getting ready to take another picture I would do another Dorothy in Wizard of Oz jumping heel tap (if you need photographic proof I am sure Yoon will supply it). They tried to tell me that every movement not directed toward running kills a minute on your final running time.

In My Humble Opinion, it was my race strategy of deciding to race to the top of Lord Ellis Summit like it was the finish line, that killed meaningful minutes. But the exhilaration of running (what I perceived to be) sub-eight minute miles up a long, steep grade more than counter-acted my shitty performance on Berry Summit (speaking of which, for any veterans of this race, can you believe that summit is only 2800'? I could have sworn I would have been at least a mile high.).

Plus, now I know what it’s like to run hard uphill for several miles. I just gotta do it for two mountains, not just one. Vic Harris, who last ran Arcata to Willow Creek in 1987 running 5:19, has run both hills at sub-8 pace. He came back this year to run because it was the 25 year anniversary. If I can run both hills like the first, then I would be charging the finish line darn near 5:19 ... maybe.

So, anyway, I will be doing this race a few more times, I'm not sure if they will all be in a row (CIM is the same weekend and some year I am going to run that when I am ready for a “fast” marathon. I have not decided what qualifies for “fast” yet, but I do know that it will be faster than my age qualifying time for automatic entry to the NYCM, which is faster than the standards of Boston). Rest assured, though, each time I run it the goals will be the same: Have fun, Run fast(er).

... And anytime someone needs some support, or someone to run the last 20+ miles with them, I'll tell you this now, I'm available.