Ken Gioia's 2023 Javelina Race Report

Where to begin... First a HUGE thank you to my crew chief Brett Martinez and pacer numero uno Miguel Leyva. Thank you guys so much for making this trip to make this possible. Equal thanks to my wife Amy Gioia for being there for support. I am beyond happy you were there. Also equal thanks to BRRC Crew Brianna Santos, Mariel Yapdiangco, Mandy Winkler, Travis Winkler you went above and beyond!! Travis, you held my banana for christ sake!! Also thank you to the support of everyone who always has kind comments, these go a long way during the dark times of 100 miles and trust me, there were many. Big congrats to all the BRRC members who toed the line gave it their all and dug very, very deep to find the courage to continue on, push through and GET THAT BUCKLE. I am completely inspired by all of you: synya balanon , Mayra Lopez, Todd Farlee, Mimi Lam . Also shoutout to Ken B for pushing through and getting it done!! Can't wait for some mountain days with you. I am missing so much about this day. I will come back and post details and more pics. I at least needed to get these few words out there after the magnitude of this event.

Loop 1
Nervous. Wanted to get a good starting position to avoid being stuck behind a big group. The first couple miles is single-track so it's very easy to get stuck walking, not a bad thing for 100 miles... Started about 10 rows back which ended up putting me in a good spot around runners of similar pace. Kept things steady, pushing slightly out of my comfort zone. I wanted to take advantage of the cool air and "bank" a little time for loops 2 and 3 when it got hot. In and out of Coyote Creek, the first aid station. Pretty much ran the whole way to Jackass Junction, the second aid station. 10 miles in, this is the high point of the course which give you the bulk of the 1200ish feet of gain. I knew it would make more sense to power hike a couple of these "climbs" but trying to stick to the strategy. Had a drop bag at Jackass. Decided from loop 1 that I would stop, take the time and lube up. That proved to be huge for the later miles. Chafing was kept to a minimum, especially considering the deluge of ice and water in the later miles. Kept things rolling. The first loop had an additional 1.4 mile section on the Escondido trail which had a few surprisingly punchy climbs. Good thing we only did this once. Got back to the crew camp feeling really good

Loop 2
Outfit change. Sun came out and things got warm quick. Switched to the long sleeve and big ol full brim golf hat customized with an Xacto knife for max ventilation. Huge mistake I saw a whole bunch of people making was exposed skin in direct sunlight. Even at only 75f, there's absolutely zero shade on the course. I take that back, there is one tree like bush about 3 miles out. That's just one more method of getting beat down during the day, cover up. Got back to the plan of trying to conserve. Realized right before Coyote that my hamstrings were really tight. This never happens. I wore compression sleeves for the first time here after pulling my calf 3 weeks ago. I think the sleeves affected my blood flow causing the hams to tighten up. Pulled off the sleeves and just prayed my calf would hold together. The hammies came back around and never thought about the calf again. Made sure to ice up and get a sponge bath at each aid station and keep it rollin. Stuck to the nutrition plan and things were going well.

Loop 3
HOT. Got some good real food, had a blueberry eating contest with myself, got some amazing positive vibes from the crew and I was gone. Learned here that I REALLY love Biofreeze! somebody sprayed my legs down with that during the massage and I was rejuvenated!! The big floppy hat was getting very annoying but decided to deal with that instead of using the hoodie. That was a good call, love the floppy now. Stuck to the plan, nutrition was still going good. Kinda settled into a manageable rhythm here in the heat.

Loop 4
Shit got real here. I found out that all of the nutrition planning strategy I had worked on really didn't mean anything by around mile 70. I found the limit of bars and gels. Those are fine for the long training runs, but that will only get you so far. Well, me anyway. The sunset was absolutely beautiful, but after that it was like a smack in the face. Combined with the 100k, there were about a thousand runners on course. But this is a 20 mile loop. I had lots of alone time, time to focus on how bad things started to hurt and I still had to do a 50k!!. I started to fall behind on calories. Tried eating different things at aid, nothing sounded good. Watermelon did sit well though. Doubled up on electrolyte and forced down some Maurten gel with caffeine. Train was on the tracks but I lost a lot of time here. Before this loop I switched to the hoodie and back to the regular hat. Felt great to get out of the floppy hat but I really started to overheat in the hoodie even after the sun went down. Part of it I think was an elevated heart rate when I fell behind on calories. Even through all the pain, the beauty I found in this loop was unreal. There was a full moon and not a cloud in the sky. I soaked that up a few times then got back to it. Nothing like the light of an aid station to pick you back up. Also very glad I changed shoes and socks at the start of this loop.