Type 4 Fun!

We’re back from Covid and everything is fine!

You may or may not recall, but there was a pandemic that raged globally for several years. It disrupted every industry, and every community. It was a very scary time for the world as hundreds of millions of people contracted Covid-19 and as of March of 2025 over 7 million people have died from Covid.

Living with diabetes also means living with a compromised immune system adding an extra unneeded dose of fear and anxiety about being in the world. Fortunately, my body is not severely compromised they way other diseases can exponentially increase your vulnerability. Though, it did still require mustering some courage to re-enter society. This brings us to the Broken Arrow Skyrace in Palisades Tahoe, California.

Just getting there was a challenge. I had signed up for the race, normally held in June, back in 2020 when they announced they were going to attempt to re-open. As many races and events had adapted to the realities of Covid, the race officials announced they were prepared to postpone to a later date if needed. That would happen, not once, not twice, but three times. The 2020 edition was ultimately canceled after being rescheduled to the Fall but would try again to return in 2021. Eventually, the normally scheduled June race was rescheduled to October and seemingly went off without a hitch. Many kudos to the race organization for giving at least the appearance of a seamless return!

First things first, Brendan Madigan and gang put on one hell of a race! The race village, the course, the aid stations, everything was top notch! This is one of those bucket list races that you end up doing more than once because it’s so good. I haven’t gone back yet, but I definitely intend to, just need to scratch off a few other bucket list items first.

This was just my second attempt at a big mountain ultra. I had ventured out to The Rut in 2017 for my first ever adventure at altitude. There will be a whole other post about The Rut so I won’t go into it that much here. I adopted a similar strategy for Broken Arrow as I had developed for The Rut. I signed up for the VK taking place earlier that weekend so that I would at least experience one epic victory in case the main event ended up being too much for me.

This would become something of a modus operandi for me in future races. The VK has since become my favorite sub-ultra race modality. Whenever I am researching a big race I also check if they have a VK option and whether or not it conflicts with the main event. It’s become a big selling point for me.

Broken Arrow has changed over the years, as is common but in the year I participated the VK fell short of being an official VK by the International Skyrunning Federation’s rules. But who cares? It’s a dope race! The main event has also changed over the years, having been listed as a 52k before and now shortened to 46k (though if you look at the 2025 course, despite calling it a 46k, it clearly says 42.5k in the description). Such is the nature of mountain and trail racing, you simply can’t sweat it. Sometimes, you’re going to get bonus miles for free, other times you’re relieved of a bit of suffering. It’s just the way it is, folks who complain about it are truly missing the point.

So let’s get on with it! I’m milling about the grounds getting ready for the early afternoon VK. Most are masked up which feels great but also quite strange. The starting gate started to deflate prior to getting everyone in the starting corral which felt like a funny omen of things to come.

The race was great, though! It even featured a brief downhill stretch which was a fun twist to the constant climb of the vertical kilometer. It was about 4.5 miles and just about 3,000 feet with some epic views and a ladder climb referred to as the Stairway to Heaven. The name does not exaggerate.

This was just my second VK and I was thrilled to finish in 1:37:55. Nearly a half hour faster than the ’17 Rut VK!

The main event was next morning and while nervous I was bolstered by a solid performance the day before. It’s a two loop course, and it starts climbing immediately. For the first lap, it’s fine, you’re stuck in a bottle neck anyway so I didn’t really feel the challenge of it as I simply hiked in traffic. Once the race opens up, it gets really fun. You’re given a couple of rolling miles to really get warmed up and then you get slammed by about 4 miles of climbing. It’s difficult to gauge the vertical gain of this stretch as you’re teased by brief downhill reprieves before it’s back to climbing.

The first lap went smoothly but the descent back into the village highlighted for me how difficult the second lap was going to be. I paused for a while to prepare for the 2nd lap. I felt determination to get going but I knew I needed to take care to myself here and now. I effectively ate lunch. I remember drinking two full bottles of water, having a handful of pickles, and eating a full snack bar. Unfortunately, I can not recall what bar it was though I’m sure it was full of nuts and fruit. I do my best to stick to whole food or whole food adjacent snacks at aid stations as they are less likely to make me hyperglycemic. Or, at least less hyperglycemic than other popular bars.

I started the second lap with poles out. I was tired and immediately felt it on the initial climb out of the village. I struggled through most of the second lap but I did find some encouragement in the downhills. I found the people that I would pass on the long descents appeared to be having a much harder time. Maybe it was their quads, maybe it was their knees, maybe they were just feeling tired and timid. I don’t know, but I relished in the opportunity to let gravity do some work. Did it hurt? Yes, of course! a lot! But it’s just too much fun!

With one last climb to go before the 3.5 mile and 2,000 foot descent to the finish line, I knew I was going to finish this race. My first mountain ultra finish was nearly at hand and in my excitement I decided to celebrate with a spectator who was clearly a hasher (they had an On-On sign, so I’m not speculating) and took a much too large swig of the Woodford’s Reserve bourbon they offered. My penchant for bad decisions never wanes and I have no regrets but I did nearly throw up the potatoes I ate at the aid station a few minutes later.

Going back to what I said earlier about how well organized this race is, as you descend into the village there is a hype person spotting you with binoculars and pulling up details to tell the spectating crowd about you as you’re crossing the finish line. I wasn’t really feeling too emotional about this accomplishment, that is until I heard my name over the loud speaker. There is something truly special about hearing Eric Schranz give the crowd a short bio of you as you come down the finish chute.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6054933685

It was so distracting in fact, that I didn’t even realize the cowbell had a rope so I wanged it with my pole like a doofus!

At this point, nutritionally, I really haven’t figure much out despite having run ultras for about 6 years but I found Nuun hydration tabs and an as needed approach to consuming GU Roctane gels worked. Additionally, at this point in my journey I was not using CGMs so I have no real insight into what was happening inside my body. You’ll observe that I am wearing calf sleeves, and that is because by this point in my running career I can guarantee calf cramps. Everything else can be going swimmingly but I will without a doubt experience painful calf cramps. There is no confirmation that this affliction is directly tied to diabetes but since I diabetes does impact blood circulation, I wear sleeves pretty regularly for long efforts just in case it might help.

As a final note, I also volunteered this weekend. I strongly encourage everyone to volunteer at least as much as you race. It feels really great to give back to the community that gives me so much. I try to make time to volunteer every time I travel or participate in weekend long event. At Broken Arrow I had the absolute privilege of being that spotter on Sunday for the 11k and 28k runners. Spotting and calling out bib numbers so Eric Schranz could hype up the crowd was so utterly satisfying.

10/10 would do again.