"No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately." - Michel de Montaigne
The link to these was just sent to me via email, so here are a few pictures from the Mt. Cheaha 50k a week or so ago. We've got a few of the creek crossing, and for those of you who have read about them for so long, finally some photo evidence of my race-ending heel clicks...
I think this is my last run before the Delano Day. This tapering business never really sits well with me, but I figure that I ought to let any nagging overuse injuries subside.
"The heights by which great men have reached and kept were not attained in sudden flight, but the, while others slept, toiled upward through the night." - St. Augustine
Quick story: Left foot, right foot. Repeat as necessary.
Not so quick:
WARNING:This report
is entirely too long, too boring, and too incoherent to be of any interest,
but, if you have the urge to delve into it (along with a decent amount of free
time and an appreciation of eccentric activities), here it is for your perusal:
A few months ago, I had an idea.I have run the Delano Park 12 Hour Run, twice
as an individual and once as a relay team member, but this year I wanted to
make it something more, both in terms of running and as something a bit more
worth while.I was going to start running
twelve hours before the official start of the race, thereby making it a 24 hour
run, and to make such silliness worth the while, I took pledges from donors who
wanted to sponsor me on a per mile basis to raise money for NTSAD, the same
organization for which a group ran across the state of Alabama this past summer.The race directors for the Delano 12 both ran
the full way across AL, and one of the directors, Eric Schotz, has a son,
Elliott, who is afflicted with Tay Sachs Disease.Having such a worthwhile cause provided some
much needed motivation throughout the late night/early morning hours of solo
running, the latter miles of painful slogging, and many miles of pounding in
training.A few miles into my run, Eliza
Schotz, Eric’s wife, brought Elliott out for a few minutes, and seeing the
reason for the run drove the point home that it was time to get down to
business.
I arrived at Delano Park about 15 minutes before I needed to
start, got my aid station ready (consisting of a table, a couple water bottles,
bananas, and pb&j), and nervously chatted with the small crowd that had
assembled to watch me start.Promptly at
6pm (by the RD’s watch), the Delano Day was underway with me anticlimactically
trotting away from the start/finish line.
1 mile:8:55
The first mile or two went by relatively uneventfully,
albeit far too quickly, and slowly, the little group that came out to watch the
start thinned out (some had to go to a prerace dinner and packet pickup before
getting a good night’s sleep before their own race – the Delano 12 – in the
morning).Soon, we were down to just a
couple people at the park with me, which was great to have, as I had expected
to be alone for quite a bit of the night.
As the daylight faded into night, Fred Trouse, a good friend
from Auburn who
served as a pacer for me during both runnings of the Pinhoti 100, began running
with me.Fred is always a pleasure to
have along for a run, given his rather wide range of past experiences that have
left him knowledgeable in so many areas.This, coupled with the fact that he is an overly kind, intuitive, and
selfless pacer, makes him a sublime pacer.In any case, Fred and I circled the 1-mile loop time and time again.
Since this event was in my hometown of Decatur, AL,
my family could come to watch the madness.My Illustrious Father, Darling Little Sister, and, of course, Inimitable
Mother, were all on hand for the start, and took different shifts to hang out
at the park.Whereas my Illustrious
Father has been to both successful 100’s and the one failed attempt to watch
the carnage, Darling Little Sister and Inimitable Mother haven’t had the joy of
observing such stunts.That being the
case, my Inimitable Mother took the first shift and watched Fred and me plug away
the first few miles.
As I settled into my natural pace, several people came by
the park to say hi and see how everything was going, often stopping by after
picking up their race packets and eating the prerace pasta supper.One such visitor, Spurgeon Hendrick, a fellow
Pinhoti veteran and all around good guy, happens to be sponsored by the Moon
Pie company, and when he stopped by to check on me, he left a few moon pies
along with some new flavored versions of the moon pie.I know; I was spoiled.
At one point, Fred and I were treated with a couple of kids
running with us.Mrs. Burgreen, my high
school freshman history teacher, came out for an hour or so to help cheer me on
and brought along her children.It’s not
often that I feel old during these events, as I’m often one of the youngest
participants, but seeing Mrs. Burgreen’s three kids, all of whom ran a little,
and two of whom ran a couple laps as fast or faster than me, almost made me
feel like an adult, because Mrs. Burgreen was pregnant with the first one when
I was in her class a decade ago.Regardless, it was nice to see Mrs. Burgreen; she always seems to have a
smile on her face and encouraging words on her lips, and I’m glad she and her
progeny came out.
Marathon:4:11
At some point, another local bunch of ultrarunners, the
Fagerman’s, came out for a few laps.They were some of the lucky participants of the Run From the Ranger 50k
last December, and it was nice to have the company while Fred took a little
break.
50k:5:09
Late in the evening, yet another Pinhoti alumnus, Philip
Sustar, showed up with his family and another runner or two and set up their
tent for the race the next morning.I
initially assumed that they were simply going to set up the tent and then go
find a hotel for the night.I was
incorrect.Philip ran quite a few miles
with me throughout the night, made sure I always had what I needed, offered up
his tent and supplies to me, and even helped me change my shoes and socks after
62 miles.Because of helping me, I don’t
think Philip even got 3 hours of sleep Friday night, and he still managed to
get up and run 52 miles during the race Saturday morning (all the while
checking on me whenever we crossed paths).
Around midnight, Darling Little Sister arrived to run with
me for an hour or so.Unfortunately, she
showed up right as I hit my one and only real crash of the run.She arrived just as I was completing 35
miles, ready to run, and the only thing I could do at the time was rest my head
on the aid table, sit down, and ask for warm clothes and my first round of
caffeine in a week (Mt. Dew is a lifesaver at times like these).So after around 10 minutes of recouping, I
got back up and set out with Darling Little Sister for around four miles.She is always an utter joy to run alongside,
and considering the somewhat unusual circumstances, it was all the more
enjoyable.All too soon, though, her
running shift was over, and she went home to get a well-earned good night’s
sleep and roust my Inimitable Mother for her running shift.In the interim, of course, Philip and Fred
filled in running with me.
Within 30 or 45 minutes, the Inimitable Mother showed up,
and we plugged away a few more miles.I
thoroughly enjoyed my hour with her; the best way I know to describe it is that
I like running with my Mama.Before I
knew it, her shift had come to an end, and she went home to roust my
Illustrious Father to come out for moral support.Around the time he showed up to check in
(being the experienced crew chief from my previous 100-miler excursions), Jon
Elmore, one of the race directors showed up to get his mileage in for the
day.Jon ran around 5 before taking up
the responsibilities of co-race director as other runners began arriving for
the race.
100k:11:46
Around 15 minutes before the official start of the Delano 12, I hit the 100k
mark and decided to take the opportunity to get off of my feet for a few
minutes, warm up, and change socks (which proved to be a gloriously wise
decision).As the race began, so did the
rain.The weather throughout the night
had been perfect. Upper 40’s with a slight breeze, but the Delano 12 has a
reputation of bad weather to uphold, so there was an obligatory soaking rain,
wind, and (later in the day) a bout of sleet/hail.Regardless, I donned a light rain shell, and
managed to remain pretty comfortable for most of the day.
The first couple hours of the “official” race passed rather
quickly for me, since I had the company of John Bolding, a senior runner from
the Austin High School XC team.He’s
picked up a bit of an interest in ultrarunning and claims that he wants to try
one out after he graduates, so I gave him a little introduction to the oddity
that generally accompanies this small niche of running.
During the day, the miles came and went.Having all of the other racers around was
nice, and since it was a loop course, we were constantly seeing each other to
offer encouragement, support, and jokes.Even so, or perhaps because of this, the miles seemed to blend together
throughout the day.
It was nice to see a bunch of my friends out running the
race.Almost everyone I talked to had a
good day of running, and I only wish I could thank everyone I saw for the
unending encouragement they offered me throughout the day.I think Fred, who continued to plug away at
the miles with me throughout the day, PR’d for the total distance that he
covered in a day.I’m not entirely sure
of his total mileage, but it had to be approaching 50 (especially considering
he kept on plugging away even after I had finished, even though he wasn’t
officially entered in the race; he just enjoys being out there).
In any case, after the final few miles (it seemed like the
last 15 took forever), my Inimitable
Mother and Darling Little Sister joined me for my last lap.With a few meters to go, we even got the
privilege of pushing Elliott across the finish line.
100 Miles:19:42:53
Chatting with Elliott
at the finish
For what it’s worth, this is a 100 mile PR by 7:55:27.I suspect I’ll have a hard time PR’ing by
over 7 hours again in just about any event.
Shortly after I got done, I headed into Philip and Co.’s
tent to warm up, and the combination of the fact that I couldn’t move my legs
and the sudden onset of sideways sleet convinced me that I was done for the
day.In retrospect, maybe I should have
gotten out and walked a few more miles.Oh well; call me lazy…
While I was warming (and stiffening) up, I was giving a bit
of a recap to Tony Bolan.Tony is a
friend from church who happens to be a local magistrate. When he heard about my little overnight
adventure, he sent word to the officer in charge of patrols from the police
department to concentrate patrols around DelanoPark
throughout the night. It was a welcome
sight to see cop cars cruise by checking on things. Tony had come out during the first couple of
hours to watch, he showed up around 4am to check, and then he came out again to
watch me finish. I cannot reiterate enough
how much all of the support I got from friends meant as I circled that loop
time after time after time.
This run was perhaps the most thorough mental effort and
surreal running experience I’ve ever had.The very nature of running through the night and over this many miles
causes you to cover the full spectrum of physical, mental, and emotional
states, and coupling that with the knowledge that I was running for a cause
served to heighten the experience.
Afterwards, I got to enjoy some time with a bunch of running
buddies, sitting around and cutting up, well pleased with the effort.A bunch of folks managed to go farther than
they ever had before, which certainly an accomplishment.
I haven’t managed to total up all of the donations and
pledges, but I think that somewhere around $1000 was raised for NTSAD through
the run, and I’ll gladly repeat the effort if it can in any way help facilitate
research or support for families and those afflicted with Tay Sachs.
A day later, muscularly, I’m not too sore, but the joints
are screaming at me.Totally worth it.
Well, yet again, I warned you that it was long and boring,
but somehow you’ve made it to the finish.I am fairly certain that I’ve left out or forgotten quite a bit of what
happened, but such is the nature of the beast.My apologies if it was a bit long, winding, and incoherent, but that’s
how the run was, too.(and I’ll post up
pictures as I get them…)
