Javelina Jundred 100K Race Report: October 28, 2023

 

Javelina Jundred. A true icon in the ultrarunning community. They call it the Burning Man of trail racing, the Halloween (Jalloween) Party, the Rave in the Desert, and a Western States Golden Ticket opportunity. Does the first and last part of that sentence sound counterintuitive? I thought so, but I was wrong.  

The Javelina Jundred is different from the majority of trail races because of its party atmosphere. Part of why I love trail racing is the low-key nature of most of it. Javelina was a hoot! (or should I say, joot?) How many costume changes did race director Jubilee Page have over the course of the weekend? At least 7 that I counted but I’m sure I missed a few. What other race has space astronaut cowboy DJ’s spinning at 7 am? Fire jugglers at the start line? Why not? The atmosphere is what makes this race exceptional. Oh, and the fact that some of the fastest ultrarunners in the country show up to compete for those Western States Golden Tickets.

 

Photo by Howie Stern

Race website:  https://aravaiparunning.com/network/javelinajundred/

Registration: UltraSignup

Location:  ★★★★☆

The race takes place at McDowell Mountain Regional Park, which is about 10 miles outside Fountain Hills, Arizona. This area is quite remote. We were lucky enough to have a full moon on race night. The night before the race, we were woken by the howling of coyotes in the desert. What an incredible experience! A 60-minute drive from the phoenix airport, this is a convenient location for non-locals to travel and navigate. The location is remote enough that there aren’t really bathroom facilities (there is a small building but it was already closed for the season). However, there were two showers available.

Most of the hotels around are about a half hour drive away. Aravaipa sets up a large expo area and there is quite a bit of on-site camping. Camping is quiet the night before the race. However, race day, there is music late into the night as 100 milers continue to finish. This should be carefully considered if you are running the 100K.

There is no shade available so sitting in the tents after 10 am is absolutely unbearable. Friday before the race, I ended up driving down to Fountain Hills to sit in a coffee shop just to stay cool.

There is not much parking available. Folks have to park up to 1.5 miles down the park road and depend on a shuttle to get to the start/finish. I paid for VIP parking to stay in a lot nearby. Even so, I had to walk almost a half mile to the campsite. When toting gear, this really adds up.

Sunrise over tent city

Organization: ★★★★☆

You know what you’re getting with an Aravaipa event. This organization knows what they are doing. Communication leading up to the race is a dialed-in affair with good emails and an electronic copy of the athlete’s guide provided 1 week in advance. That being said, the cell service in McDowell is poor and there weren’t enough boosters to help out. The live results and livestream were consequently glitchy and unreliable. Drop bags were delayed by about 1.5 hours and this wasn’t communicated unless you sought out organizers. They were very nice about the delay and agreed to mail drop bags to athletes at the athlete’s expense. However, pro-active communication does so much more to alleviate stress as compared to retroactive apologetics.

The course was well marked. All intersections had signs with arrows and “wrong way” indicators on the off trails. There were only a few intersections so it was easy to stay on course.

Morning sun in the desert

Course:★★★★☆

This was a loop course: 3 loops for the 100K and 5 for the 100 mile. The first loop had an extra little hump to make for a 22.3 mile loop 1. The remaining loops were 19.45 miles each. Loop courses are great when you’re by yourself as it is much easier to self-crew when you know you’re going back to through the same aid stations. Loop courses can pose a huge mental challenge. If you go through the start/finish in a low mental state, it can be very easy to drop out.

The trail is not technical. That doesn’t mean it’s easy – I have never run on a trail where I could run the entire time. I quickly found myself missing the built-in walk breaks provided by technical terrain.

Desert running is very different from that in the Midwest – there is no shade. The sun starts cooking around 9 am and burns hot until 4 pm. The only shade provided came from tents set up at the aid stations. Re-application of sunscreen is a must.

The course is relatively flat: just over 1500 feet of elevation gain per loop. There is a small climb to aid station 1, then the trail is a steady uphill grade from miles 4-10. The beauty of that is that after the Jackass Junction aid station, it’s a steady downhill grade to a few rollers to the finish. There are a few washout sections to turn your ankle in if you aren’t careful. Most of the risk comes from passing and going outside the designated footpath. Desert vegetation is unfriendly. Either it’s dry and pokey, or just plain sharp. Off the footpath, rocks are a bit looser and more likely to cause slippage.

I found the major challenge in this course to be just how flat and steady it was. There was very little variation in gait and speed. This almost felt more akin to a road race than a trail race.

There was minimal non-race traffic on the trail. There were a few mountain bikers but all were courteous to the race participants.

 

Photo by Howie Stern

Food: ★★★☆☆

Typical ultra fare at the aid stations, although I do have to say there qas quite a bit to choose from! I appreciate that a list was sent out in advance to update folks on what was and wasn’t vegan or vegetarian to save time sifting through options on the table. Real food included soups, sandwiches and handhelds. Snacks consisted of fruits, chips, cookies, pretzels, candies, chews, pickles, and potatoes. The finish area had plenty of food trucks that accepted both cash and card. Pizza, coffee, fair food, and a vegetarian food truck were the ones that stood out to me. I may have frequented all of them at least once.

Photo by Howie Stern

My race experience:

I was having some mild panic leading up to the race. Monday before leaving, I was riding my mountain bike and slid out on a wet wooden bridge. I had a deep, gnarly bruise on my right hip and knee. I was having some compensatory hip adductor tightness and with my pelvic stress fracture history, I always get nervous when the adductors are off. To top things off, Javelina was my first ultra that my crew champion husband didn’t travel to with me. It was weird traveling alone and toting all my own gear, setting up my own camp, and just generally feeling like if I had issues I was on my own. I’m a princess, I know. I kept reminding myself that other people do it all the time! Being on my feet and putting in 23,000 steps in the heat the day before the race wasn’t ideal preparation, though.

Race morning, I really wasn't nervous anymore. It was going to happen one way or the other so my “buckle down and get to business” persona took over! I chatted with a few ladies at the start line, a few first-timers like me as well as some veterans. The 100K was 50% women. I'm used to races being comprised predominantly of men. This was a fun new experience!

Race morning start line

I went out more aggressive on the pace knowing that I had very limited time where it would be nice and cool out. It was fairly congested coming out of the first aid station as 100K runners started to catch 100 mile runners. Passing was generally easy in the desert compared to the tighter trails I usually run. I got to run with two different Lyndsey's and a guy named Chris for the first 16 miles, then a girl named Christy for the last 6 miles of loop one. I ran through the first aid station, then just briefly stopped to refill handhelds at aid stations 2 and 3. Coming through the start/finish, I stopped and switched from trail shoes to road shoes. I had some gear changes: wiggling into my arm coolers, adding an ice bandana and swapping hydration packs. I did not have a smooth transition here – I couldn't find my drop back for a minute! That was psychologically hard. I was a bit demoralized about not having a crew as I watched my new friends split back out to loop 2 while I was still struggling with my drop bag. I shook it off and just reminded myself to be grateful that I was having this experience of being alone, so that I would not take my A-team crew for granted in the future!

 

I was solo on loop 2 but doing a lot of passing, so at least I never felt completely alone. Passing on the camber was starting to tighten my left IT band and peroneal tendon but the body otherwise felt great! I stopped at each aid station to fill my ice bandana and air coolers with ice, refill bottles and mix up more infinite. I will, in future, come up with a different way to carry the powder because trying to get it out of ziplocks and into a handheld was absolutely atrocious. Around mile 7 of the second loop, I saw Christy and Lyndsey again! Christy was down and Lyndsey had her phone out. Christy had fallen and her wrist was clearly broken. She seemed shocky, pale but assuring people that she was ok. Lyndsey was calling medical assistance but not getting through. We stuck together until one of the Aravaipa livestream guys came by on a mountain bike. I flagged him down and he was able to contact someone in the media tent. He promised to stay with her so I headed back out and Lyndsey followed soon after. She was moving a bit faster than me so soon she split off again.

 

Photo by Scott Rokis

Ice was my best friend through the day. The volunteers at the aid stations would just shovel that stuff into my arm coolers and refill my bandana. Soon I was obsessing about my next ice refill. 

Mentally the second half of loop two and first half of loop 3 were the hardest. It had heated up into the mid 80’s, and there is absolutely no shade in the desert. It was a new experience being on such a runnable course. Most of the races I gravitate towards have technical sections or steep climbs that allow you to walk and break up the monotony. I watched the 2nd and 3rd place women heading out on loop 3 with their pacers as I rolled into the start/finish. I sat down and changed my socks, refilled my ice again, and chugged some infinite jet fuel. That caffeine boost was key! I was still running strong through loop 3. My aid station stops were a bit longer because my left IT and peroneal were so tight that if I stopped to walk or stand, it was hard to start running again. It would take several wonky strides for the knee to loosen up enough to bend. Fortunately, it started to cool off around 3:30 pm. I started feeling good again leaving the last aid station when I knew I was going to finish under 10:15.

Rolling into the finish line felt like rolling into a tailgate. There was music, costumes, and random shirtless, mustached cowboys walking around with tallboys of beer. There were two showers and I only had to wait in line about 10 minutes before getting in. After that, I wandered around to food trucks, ate most of a pizza, and hung out in the Hoka lounge (kind of a fake beach set up with nice lounger chairs) to watch the start/finish. At dark, the fire jugglers came back out to do another show as the Jackass race started and the pros were finishing. Then it was rave time! The finisher’s chute was filled with dancing and finishers rolled right into the party.

 

Photo by Scott Rokis

Unfortunately, the music was pretty loud if you were camping at Javelina Jeadquarters. More unfortunately, I was camping at Javelina Jeadquarters. I decided to walk the ½ mile to my car and sleep there. It was a painful, restless night and I was only about to snatch a couple hours of sleep. Sleeping with your knees bent, as one does when sleeping in a compact vehicle, is excruciating after an ultra. By morning, I was ready to chug a coffee or four to make it through the day.

 

Drop bags were complicated. I needed to catch an afternoon flight and drop bags were slated to arrive by 10 am. My plan was to collect the drop bag and leave. I had already packed up camp and was lingering by the start/finish cheering on 100 mile finishers while waiting on that bag. At 10:40, we learned that drop bags would be delayed at least 1-1.5 hours. The timeline was getting tight and I really just wanted to leave at that point. Like the economical flyer I am, my drop bag was my carry-on. This posed the challenge of trying to transport all of my gear home should I leave my drop bag for dead in the wilderness. The drop bags did arrive back at the start a bit after 12, so I made it to the airport with plenty of time. Even more time than I needed, it turns out, as my flight was delayed by several hours.

Despite the tears of exhaustion and frustration shed in the Phoenix-Mesa airport, Javelina Jundred is a core memory. The volunteers were incredible. The race ethos was exceptional. This is the end-of-year you should not miss! I was stoked to pull off 4th place woman and 7th overall in the 100K, with a finish time of 10:08:59!

 

Nutrition: 

The majority of my nutrition was infinite go-far. I carried an extra pre-portioned baggie and quickly mixed up a fresh handheld at each of the aid stations. I also used the Gatorade and Gu roctane hydration provided at the aid stations. I had a couple of potato chips, pickles and pickle juice at the aid stations. There were plenty of options: there was “real food” (soups, sandwiches) as well as plenty of fruits, chips, cookies, candies and chews. I get overwhelmed looking at the options so typically beeline for the thing I know will work best for me.

 

Gear: 

The best piece of gear for the day was the ice bandana by Rabbit. Having that thing filled at every aid station on loops two and three gave me something to look forward to. Having the ice in the bandana instead of stuffed in the sports bra reduced some of the sloshing and chaffing effect while keeping the ice on the core. For hydration/nutrition, I alternated between my front-loading double 20oz Nathan (pinnacle) pack and a 2L back loaded Nathan (Vapor) hydration pack. I also had a 12oz handheld for my infinite. I ran the first loop in the Hoka Speedgoats. I made the last-minute call to switch out to the Hoka Cliftons for the next two loops. There were a few areas where the rocks were a bit loose, but overall the course was very road-shoe friendly.

                                                                    

 

Full moon on race day!

Recognition:

The biggest shoutout goes to my coach Erin Young, who talked me off the ledge when I started panicking about being out in the desert alone the day before the race. The volunteers were top-notch, remembering where I was from and cheering on the “Michigan girl” whenever I rolled through the aid station.

 

I am a proud member of Team Athletic Mentors, and Ambassador for the Iceman Cometh Challenge. I don't have nutrition or gear sponsors and am not getting any kickbacks if you like my gear/nutrition, I'm just sharing what works for me!