50 miles of trail dirt

The week before my race started off poorly. I came down with some type of stomach bug that kept me knocked down all week. I took the entire week off from running, which was already a taper week, but a little running would have been good. By Friday, the tummy was feeling better but not perfect. Oh well, that wasn't going to stop me.

Woke up at 4:30am, guzzled down an Ensure and a cup of coffee, and we were off to the starting line. Lori dropped me off, and I immediately got in the porta-potty line. Then we all headed over in complete darkness to the starting line. I met up with some of my group, and before you knew it, the horn blew and we were off.

The first 27 miles of the race are on a paved bike trail, and are very uneventful. There were aid stations along the way to get snacks and fill up water bottles. In the first 20 miles, I had to stop twice to "go", and I mean "go". I was feeling okay, keeping a good 9 min mile pace. The most exciting part of this stretch was near William Land Park, there were 3 ducks sitting right by the side of the trail, and it looked they were just there to watch the race.

Then somewhere about mile 20, I suddenly started getting achy. My legs turned into lead, my ankles hurt, I felt like I had totally run out of gas. In my head, I started saying "There is no way..." Lori and my crew (Moki, Emmy and niece Catherine) were waiting at the first major aid station, Beals Point. This is also where the course changes from paved trail to very hill, rocky single track dirt trail.

There is a big hill leading up to Beals. I walked for more than a mile, just feeling terrible. Then Hawaii Mike caught up and I told him I was stopping at Beals. Then Paula caught up, and I told her. Then Ed caught up, and I told him. So now I had fully convinced myself that it was over. As I approached Beals, I ran it in. I found Lori and started to tell her that I was done. "No you aren't!" Then Coach Nikon was suddenly there telling me exactly what I needed to do. He said that the legs will bounce back after I get on the dirt, that I needed to stop eating the solid food and switch to Cokes and GU for the rest of the race. I'm not sure what really happened, but I had hit the first serious Wall in my running career, and Lori and Coach pushed me up and over it.

From Beals, the course quickly turned to beautiful trail, and my attitude and body did a complete 180. It was like I started a whole new race. My pace picked up considerably and I fell into a nice groove. It's difficult to pass people on these trails, so you end up in conga lines. These proved to also be lifesavers, because they forced me to keep a slow but steady pace, and to keep walking the hills. At each Aid Station from here on out, I just had Coke. I also ran a number of these miles with Partner Jim. He was hurting, but it's not a run with Jim if he's not hurting in someway. It was nice to have someone to run with for a while. Jim is a horse, he just keeps plowing forward even though you know he's in pain.

My next goal was to get to Rattlesnake, because I knew Lori, the Crew and Nikon were going to be there. I couldn't wait to get there to let them know I was running a new race. I could hear the cheering as I came down the hill, and saw my Cat waiting on the hill. She ran down with me, and this aid station was a completely different experience. I got all emotional because I was so happy that I hadn't quit, and I knew it was because of support team! Coach took one of my bottles to lighten my load and I was off again. 9 miles to go.

9 miles seems doable! Especially if you don't count the last 3, which are all uphill (which means I'd be walking). The next 6 miles turned out to be pretty tough. My quads and calfs were on fire at the point. Whenever I stepped funny on a rock or root, It felt like I could pull a muscle. I ended up walking/shuffling more of this than expected, because my legs were really giving out. Then I finally got the bottom of the hill. And there was a familiar face, Kathy, taking pictures! 3 miles to go. I knew I'd walk a lot of this, and I did. I just couldn't get the calves to stop biting! Then close to the top, there was Coach taking pics, then right after that, with .5 miles to go, Cat was waiting for me again. Together, we ran in the last .5 miles. Crossing that finish line and getting my jacket was really unbelievable. We worked so hard for the moment.

We left early after the race because I had 2 tired dogs, 1 tired niece and 1 super tired pregnant wife. Got home and had a little pizza, 2 beers and fell asleep on the floor watching "Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs". I got a terrible nights sleep though. Woke up often so sore I couldn't believe it. Got up to pee at one point and felt like I was going to get sick and got kind of dizzy. But I got up early, ate a little for breakfast and a little more for lunch, and actually ran a few errands. But now it's 3 and I'm ready for bed.