| Jim Garcia of Westford won the bronze medal at the National 100K Championship, held in Pittsburgh's North Park on March 25, 2000. Here is Jim winning the Rocky Racoon 100 Miler in February 2000. | 
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In short, I wore the 827 (B width) with a custom full length orthotic through 35, then a D width to the end. I agonized over which shoe/insole/orthotic to use. I had an insole which I had customized with a left heel lift, but decided to go with the orthotic since I had used it successfully for 55 miles at the Rocky Raccoon 100 before blistering. By 10 miles, I was not happy with it, but it was not a big deal. I thought I might get a hot spot or blister on the ball of my right foot, but after 20 miles it had stabilized. Still, I didn't like the way they rolled over. I did not have any back problems, and the camber did not bother me. My left leg was a bit pinched from 20-35, which was why I changed shoes then.
I thought I had my intestinal problems solved, but I had the runs from Friday night until race time. I ate fresh stuff, etc., but definitely more than I needed. I was not weakened by the pit stops; they just wasted time. I wasted more time at aid stations than anything else. Hickey and Melcher went out too fast. I ran (comfortably) with Campbell and Hewitt for the first 5, took a quick stop at 5, caught up, took an emergency one at 8, lost contact, but stayed ahead of Setnes and Nippert. Took another quickie at 15. Caught up with Setnes and Nippert peeing at about 15.5. Funny, when Nippert stopped to pee, Kevin did too. Kevin even let me get back in front. I guess he figured it was too early to take the lead. I lost 2 minutes at 20 with another, longer pit stop (plus I re-tied my right shoe). Ran poorly through 35. I was in a slump. Godale almost caught me at the 35-mile aid station. I then changed shoes (old 827's) and socks and re-applied bag balm. Ran Godale down by 45. Ran well 'till the end. Looking at the splits, I lost 1-1:30 per loop from 20 through 40, then held even to the end. Kevin's official 50 mile split is 2 minutes faster than the sum of his splits. Either I was 7 minutes back at 50 and gained a couple of minutes, or I was 5 minutes back and held even. Nippert ran strong the last 12 miles considering his 50 mile split was 5:33.
At the start/finish table Nippert had 12 ultimate direction bottles filled with a pink fluid. I'm guessing Setnes' CLIP, plus a baggie with 2 of Setnes' salt tablets taped to each one. He had 3 crew members. Setnes had his wife. Godale had Wayne. Teason his Dad. I have no friends, I guess. Oh, you knew that already.
I had a few bottles and bags stashed on the table too, plus spotted some dry mix at the halfway point which I got the aid station personnel to mix up for me. I didn't even have to yell at them. I carried a baggie with pills with me. I pretty much stopped at every station, slugged down 8 oz. of mixed drink, then 8 oz of water, then started up again. It just seemed to feel better than trying to drink out of a bottle on the run. I also took GU. I did a lot of Mountain Dew the last 20 miles. Overall, typical for me. I just ran too slow in between. I am sure I spent at least 1 minute per loop stopped, but I chose not to go in with a dozen pre-mixed bottles. At Chancellor, I had a guy hand me everything so I didn't stop. Hmmm. There must be a lesson there, but I can't figure it out.
I recovered very well. I had too much left, but just couldn't deliver during the race. I will show up at Boston and kick Godale's butt again there. Journeyman, my a##.
Here are my 5-mile splits thru 50 miles. They did not give us the 55 and 60 mile splits.
- 32:33
- 33:02
- 33:46
- 33:07
- 34:09
- 33:51
- 34:58
- 36:29
- 36:58
- 38:11
5:47:04 (7:15:40)
USA NATIONAL TEAM SELECTIONS
(Automatic Selection for Top 3 Men and
Top 3 Women)
| MEN | TIME |
| Howard Nippert | 7:01:06 |
| Kevin Setnes | 7:11:04 |
| Jim Garcia | 7:15:40 |
| WOMEN | TIME |
| Dana Parrot | 8:22:21 |
| Deb Bollig | 8:36:17 |
| Tracy Rose | 8:51:46 |