How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Weather - 40-60 degrees, sunny.

I am not sure where to start, how to describe such an unusual experience. 3 years ago I never would have guessed that I was capable of running 33.5 miles. I am still having trouble believing that I really did it.

The fun started on Friday evening. When I arrived at the hotel they told me I was not on the reservation list, and they had no available rooms.  I handed them my Expedia receipt, and explained that I had already been charged for a 2 night stay. The receptionist told me to take a seat while she tried to figure things out. So I sat in the lobby eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich, deciding what my next move would be. I could look for another hotel in the area, or drive 2 hours back home, get up at 3:00am, and return to Washington. After a 30 minute wait the receptionist told me they were going to bump a late arrival because I had already paid and was present. I felt bad about the person getting bumped, but she told me they would find that person a new hotel. I wasn't going to refuse the room, and I felt relief that I could now relax in my room and not have to endure 4 more hours of driving.

I decided to drive to Farmdale at 7:00pm after I got settled into my room. It was only 10 minutes from the hotel. I picked up my racing bib and running shirt. They had a fire going because the evening was cool, about 40 degrees. They offered me some pizza, but I thought it would upset my stomach, so I declined. 

When I got back to the hotel room I reread an inspiring Western States story, and then dozed off.

I arrived at the race site at 7:00am, took a 15 minute walk around the grounds, and then readied myself at the starting line. They sent us on our way at 7:30am. It was about 40 degrees, clear, and no wind - perfect! I wore 3 shirts, gloves, and shorts. I was planning to ditch 2 of the shirts at the end of the first loop, knowing that in a couple of hours it would probably be in the low 50's.

The ultra runners were grouped with the 8 mile runners, so I did not bother trying to keep up with the leaders. Actually, after running 400m into the woods, I turned around and realized I was dead last. I had to laugh, and could not believe all of the ultra runners would be going out at sub-10:00 pace. I can see why runners hoping to achieve a  sub-5 hour time would go out quick, but there was only going to be 5 or 6 runners at the most who would achieve that kind of result. I am not sure how slow I was running, but it seemed similar to my 1 mile track experiment a couple of weeks ago, so it must have been close to 10 minute pace, which seemed reasonable. If I could achieve 10 minute pace in the final loop, I would be very happy.

After a quarter mile I passed 4 or 5 runners in quick order because they were walking tiny hills. I was planning to walk the longer hills, but we had not reached any yet. I scooted along for a mile, but 2 women behind were starting to annoy me because they were talking loudly. I decided to get as far from them as possible, and went a little faster and slowed down when I could not hear them any longer. I caught up with a man and a woman who were running together at 9:30 pace. It seemed good to me, so I followed them for a few miles.

Before reaching the first aid station we had to cross a creek at about mile 3. I had not been aware of the creek crossing, but I had brought extra socks and had them in my car near the starting line. I decided to change into a dry pair after the completion of each loop, but I realized I would be running 24 of the 33 miles with wet socks.

When we reached the first aid station I asked how far into the course we were, and they told me 4.5 miles. It seemed longer than that, and the man and the woman I had been following agreed with me. I was not thirsty or hungry, so I left the 2 runners and started off on my own.

I tried to keep my pace as moderate as possible. My plan was to delay the onset of the death-march/wall until the 3rd loop. That required having a knowledge of the causes of the wall phenomenon. Some things I have read declare it is caused by a depletion of glycogen. This may be true, but there may be more at work here. I hit the wall at the Wilderness race a few weeks ago at mile 3, and I surely had not run out of glycogen. I also recall reading that running at too high a heart rate for too long a time can cause the body to shut itself down. I planned to eat while running, making sure my glycogen supply remained steady, but I also had to make sure my heart rate never went beyond an aerobic level. Since I do not have a heart rate monitor, I was going to have to monitor my breath, making sure it remained easy. I was confident that if my breathing remained steady I could cover the full distance without crashing and burning.Well, that was the plan, anyways.

I passed a few more runners by the time I reached the 2nd aid station at mile 6.5. I was feeling pretty good, not tired, but still hesitant about what I was attempting to accomplish. I still had 27 miles to cover, so it was too early to know how it would turn out. 

After the aid station I began following 2 men and a woman on a tricky single track trail with lots of little hills. The woman was directly ahead of me, she had a knee brace on, and seemed like a tough runner.

Before long we reached the 3rd aid station, which happened to also be the 2nd aid station, I think we looped around it for a few miles and then did a return trip. I was starting to feel warm, so I poured some water on my head, ate some peanuts, and stood around for a few minutes to get rested. I asked one the volunteers how many miles we were into the loop. "About 6.5", he said. It did not seem right, as I had already been running for about 1:45. If he was correct I did not think I was going to be able to finish the race, because I was moving too slow.

I decided I needed to go a little faster, but I held steady and continued to follow the 3 runners. Soon after the aid station we came to a beautiful earth dam that was about 600m in length, and it towered over the countryside, allowing a great view of the small creek and woods. When we got off the dam we went into more woods, and soon reached the end of the loop. The volunteer had told me mile 6.5, which is correct for the second station, but not the third. The third was actually at mile 9.5.

When I reached the finish shoot I saw that it took me 2:01 to run the first loop, which was about 10:54 pace. I had walked a number of the hills, and had spent about 5 minutes at the aid stations, which put my actual running pace at 10:15, which meant, I hoped, that I had a lot of energy saved in the bank for the next 2 loops. Throughout the first loop I continually thought, "the real race does not start until the 3rd loop. The first loop is a test of will, to see who will over-extend by going too hard."

I stopped at my car, changed out of my wet socks, ate some strawberries, blueberries, nuts, and drank a can of V-8 and water. I had to pee, so I walked to the porto-potty, but all 3 were full. I found a place in the woods and went. When I was ready to go I had forgotten how to get on the trail so I had to walk 150m back to the directors tent and ask directions. He pointed to the direction I had just come from. I looked at the clock, it was at 2:09. I realized I had managed my time poorly, and taken too much time lounging around. I knew I had some money in the bank, so I decided to run at 9:00-9:15 pace during most of the 2nd loop.  I knew I could negative split the 2nd loop, and I was looking forward to passing the runners who had gone out hard in the first loop, and now were slowing down.

It felt good to lengthen out my stride, and dry socks felt nice also. I was surprised that my feet were holding up with no blisters. I started to pass a number of runners, including the 3 that I had been following during the 1st loop. They had obviously managed their time better than me and had started the 2nd loop sooner. When I reached the blond woman I slowed a bit and decided to follow, because we were on narrow single track, making it difficult to pass. About 1 minute later I looked up and saw her crumpled on the ground. I stopped to see if she was ok. She got up slowly, said yes, and that it was her second time falling. She was really tough. I followed her a little bit longer, making sure she was ok, and when we got off the single track I resumed running at 9:00 pace. I passed 4 or 5 runners, and then came upon 2 guys who looked back when they heard me and didn't seem to like that I was running faster than they were. I passed them, and then we came to a long hill, which I walked. One of the guys who I had just passed came flying by on the hill at about 7:00 pace. I was not sure what his idea was, but it did not bother me in the least. When I got to the top, I saw that he was walking the downhill. I laughed, and said, "are you sprinting the uphills and walking the downhills?!". He laughed and said he was pacing the other guy, so I knew he was just getting in a hill workout, and was not running the full 33.

I was looking forward to reaching the first aid station, because that would mark the halfway point of the race. I was still running strong, and felt I was expending energy well within my means. Once I reached the half way point, I expected the struggle of the race to begin in earnest.

When I arrived at the aid station the volunteers seemed more concerned about my welfare than the first time around. They were pushing me to take S-caps, which I had never tried before. They told me it would counteract all the water I was drinking. When they said this I realized I had not been drinking a lot of water because it was fairly cool outside. However, I decided to go along with their advice and I swallowed 2 caps and ate some pretzels. They tried to get me to eat some nasty looking strawberry fig newtons, but I normally avoid all junk food, so I politely declined and instead ate some peanuts. I poured some water on my head, felt refreshed, and took off running again.

I now knew that I was approaching the critical miles of the race. At last years marathon I hit the wall at mile 19. However, I ran hard for the 18 miles leading up to that horrible mile, and today I had run easy the whole way. I knew I had a chance to hold it all together, I just needed a little luck, and a lot of determination to hit the right pace that would not throw my body off its natural rhythm.

I passed more runners, who were looking fatigued and tired. I caught up with a woman in her late 40’s who looked strong. I slowed down and ran at her side. I decided to start a conversation, and discovered she had run 3 100 milers and a number of 50 milers. She also told me she had taken a fall today, and showed me her hand. It was swollen, maybe she had broken a bone. But she had a smile on her face when she said, “I don’t need my hand to run this race”. Soon after she stopped to walk, and I continued on my way. She yelled out to me, "I hope to catch you in the 3rd loop.”

Before I knew it I had passed the other 2 aid stations and was already back on the beautiful damn. At this time I noticed that my quads were starting to get slightly sore. It was not very bad at this point, but I knew it was going to get worse as the miles wore on. I saw two runners up ahead and I was gaining on them. I had completed almost 22 miles and I was still going strong. Just past the dam I caught up with one of the runners, it happened to be Chris M., who directs the Clinton Lake 30 miler, and whose blog I read regularly. I introduced myself, and told him I was a fan of his blog. Just then we reached the end of the second loop, and the clock read 3:58, which means I had run the loop in 1:50, a big negative split.

Chris and I parted ways and I walked to my car, changed socks again, ate some more fruit, drank 2 V-8’s, and swallowed 5 or 6 chocolate covered espresso beans. I never drink coffee or ingest caffeine, so I was hoping for a big energy boost from the beans. I grabbed a bottle of green Bolthouse juice and a hummus sandwich, and started running. I realized I had only peed once in 4 hours. Probably not a good sign.

On my long training runs I had taught myself how to eat a sandwich on the run, so as I ran mile 23 I chomped heartily into my hummus sandwich while downing large quantities of juice. By the time I had finished my sandwich my thighs were beginning to ache, but I had not hit the wall yet, which made me happy. I decided to continue running at 9:00-9:15 pace. I soon caught up with Chris, and I slowed down to about 10:30 pace so that I could talk with him. One of the things he told me was that instead of shortening the course due to flooding, the director had actually lengthened it to 33.5 miles. I was kind of glad to hear this, because it made me feel less slow. We stayed together for 2 or 3 miles, crossing the creek, and then another runner came up behind us. At this time I decided I needed to pick up the pace, so I said good-bye to Chris and started to lengthen my stride.  I still had good energy, and I was approaching mile 26, which was encouraging. I ended up taking a wrong turn on the trail and ran 200m up a hill. When I looked down I saw Chris and the other runner down below, following another trail. I groaned and turned around to backtrack. I soon caught up with Chris, passed him a second time, and then caught the other runner.

When I reached the 1st aid station at mile 26.5 I drank a lot of water, took 2 S-caps, ate some pretzels, and talked with the aid volunteer for a few minutes. He asked me if this was my second loop. I told him it was my third, and he looked at me in surprise. I must have looked fresh, or looked like a not very good ultra runner. My time was pretty slow, so I don’t know why he was surprised.

I took off down the trail again. I was now into unknown territory, but holding up good. I was expecting to have to run in discomfort, but about the only thing I had to put up with was the ever-increasing soreness of my thighs. The down-hills were now a drag because I did not have the agility to handle them with grace. But my energy was still with me. I slowed down a bit, and was now running about 9:30-10:15 pace, but all things considered, that was ok with me.

I got into a zone and just chugged along through the trails, feeling kind of odd in the head, like I was drunk. I started singing, which I rarely do. Before I knew it I had reached the 2nd aid station at mile 28.5. Only 5 miles to go. If I could avoid the wall I would be able to breeze through them, but if I lost my composure those last 5 miles would be hell. I poured 3 cups of water over my head, rubbed some body glide under my right armpit because it was starting to rub raw, ate some salty snacks, then got back into the woods, pounding the tricky single track and navigating the hills like a drunk staggering down an alley at 3:00am.

I kept chugging and chugging, my breath becoming a little labored, but still manageable. I was now in the real race, the point where body is aching and the mind is low on energy, causing the world to look a whole lot different than normal.

When I hit the third aid station, the volunteer asked if I was on my second loop, and looked surprised when I told him it was my third. Once again, I decided either I looked too fresh, which I now highly doubted, or I just do not look like a competent ultra runner. I actually double checked in my head if I really had run 3 loops. I tried to recount my experiences, and decided that I indeed had run 3 loops.

With only 1.5 miles to go, and not having hit the wall, I was feeling ecstatic, and went running down the trail with very stiff legs, looking forward to seeing the dam for the third time. Before reaching it I came upon another runner who was with his pacer. I did not feel like passing, so I slowed down and ran behind them. When we reached the damn they slowed to a walk, so I plodded past and started to feel elated. I was almost there, 33.5 miles almost complete, 6 hours of running in the woods. When I got to the last stretch of woods I started to run quickly, giving it everything I had. Now I could breathe hard, the adventure almost complete. I had avoided the wall, and could allow myself the luxury of running at 8:00 pace for a half mile. When I saw the chute I sprinted across the meadow and finished  in 6 hours 8 minutes.

My old friend from college, Rick, was at the finish, and when I saw him I ran to him and gave him a hug and a big smile.

The run was over, the day a success. I loved every minute of it, and I am looking forward to running another one next year.

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