Jackpot!

As referenced in my last post (which in turn was my first post in four years!) I’ve sorta renewed my interest in the online preservation of my selfish memories. Hell, that’s the definition of blogging for most of us, right? Anyway, my entries are heavily running focused with some life stuff thrown in. This post is mostly about the Jackpot Ultra Running Festival in Las Vegas, held from February 15-17, 2019.  

I’ve participated in Jackpot (I think) since its inception, missing only 2017 when we were in KC for K’s dad’s funeral. Jackpot consists of multiple events going on simultaneously, but I gravitate towards the fixed time events. Simply put, the runner has a designated amount of time to cover as many miles as they can or want to. The event is held at Cornerstone Park in Henderson, NV on an irregularly shaped loop course.  For all of us fixed-timers, the loop was 2.5 miles.  I participated in the 48 hour event, which started at 8 AM on Friday, February 15, giving me until 8 AM Sunday to log as many miles as desired.

Cornerstone Park is 100 acres, including a 31 acre lake. Not necessarily what you would expect in Vegas?

The beauty of fixed time events is the flexibility afforded.  In the old days, I would enter 24 hour events with the goal of hitting 100 miles.  I can no longer hit that milestone in 24 hours, so I now enter the 48 hour event.  It is important to note that there is no requirement to be on the course for any of the event…..of course, the clock keeps moving whether you are doing so or not.  Last year, I entered the same event with the same goal, to cover 100 miles.  In 2018, I did 67.5 miles on day one, slept for a bit, came back and did 32.5 by late afternoon day two, then slogged a few early morning miles before the event ended.  

Not everyone participating was a senior citizen attempting to hit the century mark, but many entrants were just that.  When asked, lots of runners expressed their goal as hitting 100.  There were also a number of really strong runners attempting to hit some unbelievable (to me) mileage totals.  As I say, the beauty of the fixed time event is its flexibility, for runners of all abilities with varying goals.

Told I was from St. George, UT, Elvis said, “Boy, you better have fun while you’re here.” Maybe Elvis has been to St. George?

While there is a central aid station, runners can also set up their own private aid station, with tents or other accommodations.

Not my accommodations.

Also not my accommodations.

My stuff. First year I’ve had a chair!

It rained every mile of the drive to Vegas on Thursday, with Henderson reportedly getting 1.7 inches of rain.  Friday was overcast, with a forecast of 30+ mph winds, which turned out to be accurate.  With a loop / out and back course, the winds should have evened out.  I guess they did, although I don’t remember much in the way of a tailwind.

The event played out almost exactly as last year!  At Across the Years 2018-19, I managed to tough out 100 miles without stopping, albeit due to an inclement weather forecast for day two.  At Jackpot, the weather was reversed:  strong winds on day one continuing into the night, with rain arriving about 11 PM, and a forecast of better weather on day two.  So I stopped at mile 67.5…..when I got in the car it was 12:53 AM.  Went back to the Sunset Station hotel / casino, took a hot shower and slept reasonably well until about 5:45 AM.

Elderly man, shuffling along another loop.

For any elitists, feel free to laugh at this next part:  I went to a McDonalds housed in a Wal-Mart and had a delicious breakfast sandwich and a caffeinated coffee.  

Back to the course by 6:30 AM, I had 13 laps at 2.5 miles each to hit 100.  The weather was good, the wind was gone, and I was doing OK.  Not great, but OK.  This changed at about mile 82.  The course is in a park, for chrissakes, mostly asphalt and crushed rock.  There is a stretch, maybe 100 yards long, that is rocky.  During this stretch on lap 33 I inexplicably decided to pass someone.  Of course, I found one of the few rocks on the course and took a nasty fall.  I guess the good news is that my left shoulder took the brunt of the fall, with my head taking a much lighter blow.  This incident did little to improve my outlook.

During times like these, my internal negotiations take on a very familiar tone: “Just finish this damn thing,” I tell myself, “and you never have to run another one.  Just DNS the one you entered in April.  You never have to run anything longer than a half marathon after today.”  Reaching this negotiated settlement makes me feel somewhat better.  I plodded on until I hit 100 miles at 3:30 PM and in the immortal words of Roberto Duran said “No mas!”  Note that there was a couple more hours of daylight when I quit and a whopping 15.5 hours left in the event!  But I opted to drive to Lees Discount Liquors to pick up some IPAs, and headed back to the hotel for a shower, beer, sleep and food, generally in that order.

I did return to the course at about sunrise on Sunday morning and logged an additional seven miles.  All in all, I was on the course for about 27.5 hours of a possible 48.  What did I say about “flexibility?”  As of now, I do not know who won, but one young dude did 215 miles in 48 hours…..just over double my total.  Those are crazy miles.

All this for a stupid buckle?

 Overall this was a fun event, pissiness and fall (somewhat related) notwithstanding. In the immortal words of my mentor, George Costanza, “If you take everything I’ve accomplished in my life and condense it down to one day, it looks decent!.” Similarly, if you take the 107 miles I finished and figure it took place in 27.5 hours, it looks decent. Maybe next time I’ll stay on the course a bit longer.