19.5 miles pacing my friend Janice from miles 69.5 - 89 at Antelope Island! 13:14 average pace.
About a month ago Janice, Julia, and I ran 17 miles together. At the time Janice was registered for the 50 miler and after talking about her training Julia said you should just do the 100 miler....I chimed in and agreed. The next week she switched to the 100 miler and since we were the 2 that talked her into it we were committed to pacing her. I'll admit I was completely nervous about this....I mean first of all I'm far from experiences on the trails and secondly what do you say to someone after they've already ran 70 freaking miles?
Julia paced Janice through elephant head and I started running with her at 3am.
Miles 1-4: Things started out okay but after mile 1 there was an incredibly steep downhill portion. Janice's IT band started bothering her at mile 46 so she was walking all of the downhills and running the uphill/flat. We walked down the hill but it was so steep that it irritated her IT band so bad she could barely walk. She was in a lot of pain and the first 4 miles of the run took us 75 minutes. She caked her IT with icy hot took tylenol/ibuprofin and got a blessing from her husband. Somehow after mile 4 she was able to run again.
Miles 5 - 19.5: We ran the entire way. There were miles clicking in between 10:00-12:30 pace and Janice never stopped. Her breathing got a little heavy at one point and I suggested we walk for a minute. She didn't want to. Walking irritated her ITband more than running so we just carried on. We talked the entire time, I reminded her to drink/fuel and really that is all I did. She was absolutely amazing and it was seriously inspiring to see how strong she was this far into the race. It was an absolutely incredibly experience and I was so sad to see it end as we ran into the aid station where we met her husband Greg to run the final leg of the race with her. I finished running with her around 7:30 am and I cannot believe how fast those 4.5 hours flew by. I am so thankful I was able to experience this and I am truly inspired by these ultra runners. It is freaking amazing what our bodies are capable of.
Janice ended up finishing her very first 100 mile race in 22 hours and 19 minutes. She was second place female. She is seriously one tough cookie and I am so proud of her!
It was fun to see some FRB people out there. I finally got to meet the famous Jen (neasts) she is adorable and it was so fun to hang out with her. Also RAD, Kelli, and Scott W. Congrats to Scott on his 100 mile PR.:) I have absolutely no desire to run a 100 miler myself but it sure was a cool experience.
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