2012 Mohican 100 Mile Race Report

Mohican beat me again. The weather was great, the aid stations were packed, and the trails were beautiful as ever. Best yet, I actually ran a better race this year than I did last year. I kept my pace slow and steady, and I felt strong through most of the race. Ultimately, my stomach got the best of me around mile 55, and I dropped at mile 60.

Pre Race Drama
I showed up Friday night and went to check-in to get my race packet. Oddly, they couldn't find my name on the list. After talking with 3 different people and a few phone calls, it was determined that I never actually signed up for the race!!?? How could this have happened!? I was able to convince them that I really did think I signed up (I was sure I did), and the race organizers let me pay the original fee to sign up and join the race. Phew, silly me...

After getting checked in, Farley showed up and we just hung out up at our campsite and started drinking some pre-race beers. Our old college buddy, Jauffrey Fougere, showed up and was going to camp with us for the night. It was like old times at BGSU! Only instead of being ultra party animals, we were ultra athletes. :) It was unfortunate that I had to pack in to my tent early and missed out on catching up with Jauf. We vowed to do it again soon when didn't have to go to bed so early. Farley and Jauf hung out by the fire til around midnight. Oddly, I think I stayed up long after they fell asleep. I had the pre-race jitters and simply couldn't shut my mind off.

Jauf, Luc, and Farley

Race Morning
I woke up to a faint voice saying "Luc... Luc... Dude, you missed the starting line, it's quarter after five..." I shot up like a rocket and said a few choice words... I then gathered myself and started getting ready. My biggest fear was "fighting the clock" and by the time I actually set foot on the trail, I was 45 minutes behind it. Crap! Although, to be honest, it worked out great, because I got to run my own race at my own pace. I didn't have to get stuck running someone else's race while being caught up in conversation. I just focused on staying slow and steady.

First Loop 
I did a lot of power walking and jogging on my first loop. I felt strong enough to run, but also knew that I had all day to make up for the lost time and didn't want to use up all of my energy. I felt extremely strong and kept a close watch on my calories, hydration, and keeping cool. I peed like a rockstar so I knew I was staying well hydrated. I never got hungry, so I knew my calories were great. And everytime I started to sweat I would slow down and pour icy cold water over my neck and head. Towards the end of the first loop, I had actually passed a few people. Therefore, I had caught up with the back of the pack and was no longer in last place. This felt great.

I ran a few miles with Fred Davis III and got some tips from him on how to finish a 100 mile race. He said I was on a good pace and to just stay slow and steady. It was great to run with him. I've seen him at lots of ultra events. I remember running a few miles with him at Oil Creek 100 a few years ago, and he's always happy and full of stories. One great guy!

The first loop was pretty uneventful, I powered through the aid stations and kept moving at a steady pace through the entire first 27.4 miles.

Second Loop
I met up with Farley and Jauf at the campsite before getting back to the start / finish. Farley hooked me up with some ice and I hung out for a bout a minute or two before powering on towards the start / finish. We all had a few laughs about me missing the starting line like Jean Paul in Seinfeld. :) Doh!!

As I sat on the bench talking to my brothas, the sun was in full force and the humidity was pretty high. It was about 1pm and I was ready to start my next loop. The sooner I got back into the forest, the sooner I get out of the sun and under the canopy of the trees. I still felt strong and made sure to pay extra special attention to keeping cool. From this point on, I left every aid station with both water bottles full of ice and a large cup of ice chips. I would literally walk with my cup of ice chips in one hand and my 2 ice filled water bottles in the other. I made my own rule to not start running until all my ice chips were gone. It worked great and also kept me motivated to get to the "next" aid station (ie. more ice).

Covered Bridge
I felt amazing through the first two aid stations on my second loop. However, by the time I got to the Covered Bridge, I was feeling pretty gross. My calories were still on par, my hydration was good, I was still peeing (sorry for all you non runners, but this is an important aspect to distance running), and best yet I was staying cool by squirting ice water on the back of my neck from time to time. When I entered the Covered Bridge, I decided I should sit down and get my stomach in order. I killed about 10 minutes here and talked with ultra-rock-star, Jay Smithberger for a while. He had good advice and was very supportive with various tips on how to get my stomach back. Eventually, Shelley (his wife) warmed up some potato soup and then Jay kicked me out of the aid station with the cup and said "keep moving".

For the next 2 miles, I ate the soup and crunched on more ice chips. By the time I ascended the switch backs of the Orange loop, I was feeling amazing! I had no more nausea and I was running again. I ran and power walked for the next 4 miles with no worries in the world. It was a great day to be running at Mohican!

Hickory Ridge
When I arrived at Hickory Ridge I saw a few familiar faces; one by the name of Don Baun. It's always great to see him, and he's one of my favorite Mohican..inians...? I decided to sit down for about a minute and chose wisely as to what I put in my stomach. I was feeling great, but I knew that the wrong thing in my stomach could change everything. I grabbed a PBJ square and pushed on...

Around 2 miles later, the sun started to go down. I ended up running 4 miles in the dark back to Mohican Adventures. This caused me to come to a slow walk towards the end of the course. Amazingly my eyes were adjusting as the sun was going down and I was able to see every root and rock on the trail. However, I was not able to judge depth and the trail has lots of dips and mounds all throughout it. I ended up walking very slowly for the last 2 miles before descending down onto the campground road.

Farley!
As I was climbing the dirt road up to the bath house at the campground, I saw a headlight coming towards me. The light said "Luc!?"... It was Farley! He had my headlamp for me and he was ready to start pacing me. It was around 10:30pm by this point and I still felt great after the potato soup @ Covered Bridge. I think I surprised him when I nudged him and told him how great I felt. I was surprised myself actually... I've never felt this good after running 50+ miles before. I was ready to tackle the 3rd loop and we had a plan! We got up to the campsite and I had a few crackers with hummus, and some ice water. Farley and I spent about 2 minutes getting ready for the 3rd loop and then headed down to the start / finish where he would "officially" start pacing me through the night.

Third Loop
We left the campground eager to run Mohican at night. Quick recap: I had lost some time at the starting line when I slept in, then I lost some more time at Covered Bridge where Jay kicked me out of. My pace came to a crawl from running in the dark, but I was still NOT BEHIND THE CUTOFFS! That was huge for me and had me pumped up about being able to finish this 100 mile race. I was one of the last runners in the race and the cutoffs were creeping up on me, but I wasn't scared by this. Knowing that I came into the race 45 minutes late and caught up with the clock after 3 aid stations convinced me that I had nothing to worry about.

Houston, We Have a Problem
Farley and I power walked most of the first section toward the aid station. About 4 miles into this leg, I tried to consume a Hammer Gel. Immediately, I was overcome with nauseau and chucked... No warning. No build up. I went from 95% awesome to puke... Just like that! It surprised me, and I'm sure it surprised Farley too. We were laughing and talking and power walking without a worry in the world, then I went and did that... After it happened, I still felt fine so we kept moving. Oddly, I still felt ok... I actually kept jogging after that little episode. About 1 mile from the Park Rd. Aid station, I had to sit down though. My energy had drained and my stomach was starting to feel nauseous again. We pretty much walked to Park Rd.

Park Rd.
When I got Park Rd., I felt pretty bad; like I could puke at any second. The thought of any food, water, heed, or motion made me want to vomit. I decided to sit down on a milk crate and gather myself. Perhaps my will power was taking a hit here... My stomach is what destroyed me last year, and here I was dealing with it again this year. As I sat on the milk crate, someone eventually suggested a Dramamine. I thought it couldn't hurt, so I took it down and was waiting for it to "kick in".

About 5 minutes later the nausea waved through my body and I got sick right right on the street in front of everybody at the aid station. I apologized to them in between heaves, but there was nothing else I could do. It was mostly water, but upon further investigation, I saw that the Dramamine pill had never digested either...

I didn't want to sit back down because my legs were starting to lock up, so I decided to walk back and forth there at the aid station. A minute or so later I started seeing stars and things started to go dark. I felt cooky, so I walked up the road a bit and decided to sit down on the concrete... quickly. I really wanted to lay down on my back and take a nap, but knew that was out of the question. Once the shakes kicked in, I knew that I was probably not going to finish this race. I was now hyperthemic (I think), with gross stomach, fighting the clock, and had 3 miles of darkness until the next aid station.

I Dropped
Farley and I talked about it for a while, and I really wasn't feeling it anymore. It's amazing how last year I felt this bad (maybe worse), but pushed on for another 15+ miles. This year, I think sleep deprivation and exhaustion had a bit to play into it. I didn't get much sleep the night before and I really just wanted to lay down and pass out. We had an aid station member drive us back to the camp ground and I got my 50+ mile medal (again). I took a shower, and then passed out in my tent thinking about what went wrong... :(

Already, I'm thinking about trying it ONE MORE TIME next year. In hind-sight, I think it was poor electrolyte management. I didn't take any electrolytes the entire day and stuck strictly to water and ice. Lesson learned...

Mohican 100 Mile Race Report

DNF: Did Not Finish

I went out to run 100 miles at Mohican yesterday in the annual Mohican Trail 100 Mile Run. I ran very strong and steady for 38 solid miles; no real issues. Around mile 38, nausea kicked in and I couldn't get my stomach back together. I made it to mile 60 where I had to drop out of the race. It was a hard thing to realize that I couldn't continue, but I was happy to crawl out of the woods on my own, rather than be carried out with the help of others. Basically, nothing was staying in my stomach and my energy had dropped to 0% before I officially threw in my towel. I simply couldn't continue. It just wasn't my time. Mohican had beaten me down.

I'm telling my story so I remember it the way I experienced it. Also, I'm telling it for those mere mortals that don't run, or who don't run long distances, or for someone who might just want to hear the wave of emotions that go into pushing their body past the normal limits of everyday comfort. It started off as a curiosity project and adventure for me, simply to see if I could run 100 miles in one fail swoop. It ultimately turned into an emotional battle with my own body to keep moving forward.

Tent, sleeping bag, drop bags, and race supplies

Check In
The day before, I had Jennifer give me the "Ultra-Luc Mohawk" in the garage. The girls got to watch and thought it was pretty cool to see daddy with a rad do. Once the hair was prepped, we all headed up to Mohican so I could crush this thing... Yes, confidence was very high by this point. Jennifer and the girls were driving me up and help me setup camp. They were going to come back up on Sunday to see me cross the finish line, and then help me break my site down again. The idea was that I wouldn't have been in any condition to drive home by myself after running so far with no sleep.

We arrived at the campground around 6pm, and got all checked in. We all enjoyed a nice pre-race dinner just hung out. It was Jennifer and I's 11 year anniversary, I loved the way it turned out; I got to spend my time with her and the girls and just relax. The girls got to play on the jungle gym at the campground, and we all stole cookies from the local church group that was supplying dinner. J/K they were paid for. :)

Nick doing what he does best, drinking beer. :)

Girls being monkeys

Around 8 o'clock, I called Farley and learned that he had just arrived, so Jen packed up the girls and headed back home to leave us boys to our beer. Almost as soon as Jennifer left, the sky cut loose and it poured down rain. It rained for a good hour or so. Everything got wet and it got me pumped for the race actually. Farley and I stood in the rain (me in my poncho, him with an umbrella) and drank beers and caught up with one another. Around 10:30, I headed to my tent to try and get some sleep before my 4am alarm clock. My insomnia kept me awake until around 1:30am. I heard Farley go to his tent around 11:30 and he was snoring way before me. Grr... Alarm's set 4am sharp.

Starting Line
When the alarm went off, it felt like I'd just fallen asleep. I got all my race gear on, and started my walk down to the starting line with my poncho, two empty water bottles, my headlamp, and an apple (ie. breakfast). The campground was pretty quiet and dark, but I could see headlamps coming from every direction while other runners were making their way to the starting line.

Once I got down to the starting line, the atmosphere was awesome! Runners were all jazzed up and ready to run. I ran into a lot of people that I typically run into at these events. It's amazing how small the ultra running community is around here. We all traded our well-wishes and got set for the gun. The race started at 5am sharp.

Miles 1 - 27 (First Loop)
My first few miles, were very easy. It felt so good to be running after the long 2 week taper. My legs were fresh. We all ran in a huge convoy through the woods for a steady 2 hours. There was a long line of head lamps illuminating the single track trail in front of me, and behind me. I tucked into a cozy spot where the pace was a slow jog through the hills. The first couple of aid stations were very quick for me. I was in and out with only a handful of snacks and some sips of fluid to keep me hydrated.

I ran with a lot of amazing people. We all played leap frog through the forrest, and each time we'd pass one another we would trade words of encouragement and sometimes run together for a few miles and share stories to pass the time. I caught up with a few people I knew from previous races and also met some new people along the way. Even at the aid stations, I saw some familiar faces who were volunteering and was able to catch up with them as well. I'm beginning to feel like a veteran, even though I'm only 3 years into this sport.

It was really neat to see the forrest come to life from darkness to daylight. What started out as a quiet and dark jog down a narrow path in the woods, turned into be a dewy haze of morning dew through a beautiful forrest. The birds began to chirp and the leaves that were hovering over the trail would brush against me as I weaved through them. I really wish I would have had my camera on this loop. It was very soothing and relaxing. As the early morning turned to late morning, the sun had heated up the woods and made things very sticky. There were very few spots where we were directly under the sun, but the heat was mostly humid air, much like a rain forrest. It was just "thick and wet heat", basically... I can't think of a better way to describe it.

I was still feeling very strong after the first 27 miles. 3 more loops to go!

Miles 27 - 38
When we got back to the start/finish, I ran into more familiar faces and was able to relax for a minute to get my feet right. Lindsay helped me take care of my blisters with some Desitin (who would have thought? Desitin?). I cleaned off my feet, put this miracle cream over my blisters, and covered them back up with fresh socks and they felt great. I changed into a dry shirt, refilled my water bottles, and off I went for my second loop.

I was still feeling strong and made my way to the first aid station with zero problems. Legs were fresh. Feet felt great. Stomach was not causing me any problems. My confidence was very high. Once I made it through the first aid station, a girl by the name of Bethany caught up with me. I'd met her on the first loop and we ran for a few miles together. We got separated somewhere in the first loop, but now we had caught back up to one another. She felt strong and I felt strong, so (not saying anything), we both started to push forward a bit. I led the way and we passed quite a few runners. We were probably doing 10-12 minute miles for a good 4 miles. We made it to the MTB Parking area and felt great. We pushed hard to this point. I was still feeling strong, but I was pretty worked from the hard running. We stood around for about 5 minutes rehydrating and getting some food. I got to meet her family and we just hung out for a few minutes.

Mid-day heat had arrived. Mostly sticky humid heat, but heat non-the-less!

We decided to slow it down after this aid station and recover a bit. We made our way through the purple loop and had a good old time trying to take some pictures for her 11th grade class that she teaches (funny story). We seemed to have a pretty good pace and told each other that we'd try to stick together through the night section so that our pacers could keep our pacers fresh so they could pick us up on our last loop. At one point, I decided to stay back, but told her to push on; I'd catch up to her later. As it turns out, about 2 miles later, my stomach flipped on me. I was never able to catch back up with her, but learned that she kept on going and finish her race (also her first attempt at the 100 mile distance). Congratulations Bethany!! :)

Houston, We Have a Problem
I made it to the Covered Bridge aid station feeling "OK". I stood around and ate some watermelon, and had a few sips of Pepsi. I wanted to get in and get out, but then I decided to sit down for a minute and let my legs have a little rest. Once I sat down, my stomach got sour. I sat there in the sun for about 2 minutes, and my skin got cold, my spit got watery, and I had to puke... now. I made my way over to a tree and let it go. There was a family that was visiting Mohican near by (not affiliated with the race) that witnessed the whole thing. They had a little boy with them, and after my first purge I heard him yell "EWWW!!". I just turned my head and smiled... Sorry... "BLAAAAAHHHHHH". :)

I felt better. I was amazed at how much crap was in my stomach actually. The main problem now is that I had no food and no fluid in my stomach anymore. I wiped off my mouth, grabbed a couple of snacky items and refilled my water bottles with icy cold water, before heading back into the woods. This next section was tough for me. It was uphill for the first 2-3 miles, and I had spent a lot of energy on my little "chuck fest" back at the aid station. My stomach felt fine through here, but my energy was depleting fast. I found myself wanting to sit down on the trail about every 500 yards or so. At one point, I sat down for about 5 minutes and tried to cool my body down. I poured about 1/2 of a water bottle full of ice water over my head and let it take my breath away a few times. Eventually, somebody came along and kicked my ass to get up. I'm very grateful that they did. Once I got moving, my energy came back a little bit. Thank you Jeff and Sheila. :)

On my way to Hickory Ridge, I had another little puke session, but it was mostly just heaving (no solids). It took a lot of energy out of me, and I felt like crap after this one. The first one helped me to feel good, this one just drained the energy out of me. I slogged my way to the Hickory Ridge aid station (about 2 miles). This was the longest 2 miles of the race for me. I eventually made it to Hickory Ridge, but had very little energy left in my tank. I sat down and let the volunteers rejuvenate me with more ice water. Food was simply not possible at this point. I knew that if I put anything in my stomach, it would come back up. I just sat for about 10 to 15 minutes. I could feel the cut offs catching up to me by this point. All the progress that I had made on my first loop and even on the first half of this second loop were now void. I'd lost all of my time trying to recuperate from my earlier spurt of energy. Damn!

While at Hickory Ridge, I ran into two gentlemen by the names of Dan and Frank. Frank was ready to drop right there at Hickory Ridge. Dan was also feeling bad and was wanting to drop as well. While we were talking, I assured them that I was NOT about to drop, and was going to keep pushing forward (sorry Mom). I told them that I would be walking a lot through this next session, so they decided to walk with me and drop at the start/finish instead. Perfect! At least I would have someone to be with me if I ended up passing out in the woods. :) Their company was just what I needed. We walked for a good 2 miles, and eventually, I was able to jog again. Frank wasn't feeling it, so he gave Dan and I his assurance that he was OK. We wished him good luck and pushed on. Dan and I jogged and walked for the next 2 miles til we got back to the campground.

As we were coming out of the woods and into the campground, I saw brother Farley at the trail head cheering us in. Seeing Farley actually got me psyched up. He walked with us up a steady hill to our campsite. Dan decided to push through the night loop with me, and he wasn't going to drop anymore! Awesome!! He thought it would be best to push on to the start/finish, whereas I had to hang out at the tent for a few minutes to try and get some energy for the last 2 mile hills-from-hell section. While at the campsite, I sat down again and tried to sip on some gatorade... That didn't work. PUKE!!! Damn. Farley was awesome, he gave me some great advice on things that I might try. He was a rock star of a crew captain, and I'm glad he was here for me. He tended to my every need, and was shotgun-ready to go when I needed him. Thank you Farley!!

Me @ mile 52

Eventually, I pushed myself up from the chair and did a half-ass jog to the next trail head towards the hill section. Energy level: 2%! This was at mile 52, and I had 2 more hard miles to the start/finish. This section was mostly walking for me and it was very demoralizing. As soon as I would round a corner, I would be faced with a huge hill that went up and up. At the top of each hill, I was faced with an equally huge downhill. This went on for 2 miles.

By the time I made it to the start/finish, I was (yet again) spent. It had been about 15 solid miles by this point with no food and no water. I was at mile 54 and night had set in. I sat down again!! This time, I tried crunching on some ice cubes. Dan's crew captain gave me some warm chicken broth to see if that would help, but I only feared that it would bring on another purge fest. I settled with just a cup of ice instead. I bandaged my feet again, changed my shirt and socks, and off I went into the night with Dan leading the way.

Miles 54 - 60
As we left the start/finish line, I was feeling pretty low. The cut off times were catching up with us, and my 2 hours had dwindled down to just under an hour by this point. My energy was at an all time low, night had set in and I was just drained of all energy. Any thought of running was out of the door until I could get some food into me. Unfortunately the next food stop was miles away... would I even be able to keep that down though...? After a long and quiet power walk through some hills with Dan, I decided to speak up.

I don't think I can go on...

I tried to let him talk me out of it, and I just asked for some of his advice. He's an 8 time 100 mile finisher. He had amazing advice, and it all came down to the fact that I hadn't had any food or any (significant amount of) water over the last 20 miles. He didn't talk me into dropping, nor did he talk me out of it, but he laid the facts out for me in black and white. After hearing him state the obvious, I knew I was making the right decision... We shook hands, and he pushed on into the night without me. I'm glad I was able to convince him not to drop, and that I was able to take some of his wisdom with me.

Post Race
My legs are pretty sore, and my spirit took a bit of a hit as well. A lot of training got put into this race. My legs could have carried me the distance, and (as a professional insomniac) my mental state could have held up to the challenge as well. It's the one thing that I couldn't train for that did me in: my stomach. I tried to push too hard, too soon. I was never able to fully recover from my energy boost @ mile 30-35; I didn't stop to consider the distance that I still had yet to run.

My girls still think I'm a rock star, and that's all that matters!!

The cutest cheering section ever!

Daizi's sign reads:

Daddy, you have a mohawk!

You're running a hundred miles!

Run, Daddy, Run!

Father's Day Fun after Mohican

For now, I'm going to do more research... Yes I will try this distance again!

Mohican Forget the PR Audio and Pictorial

This is really cool:

Forget the PR from Samantha Goresh on Vimeo.

- By Samantha Goresh

2011 Mohican Forget the PR 50k Weekend

What a crazy weekend.

Note: Sorry I had no camera. All pics below are courtesy of Nick Longworth's Facebook album. Thanks buddy! :)

The weekend can be summed up with:

• Little sleep
• Long days
• Lots of friends
• Muddy runners
• Amazing time!

Friday night, my flight landed at midnight. I drove up to Mohican State Park and made it there by 2am. My good buddy, Farley had already setup camp and he let me crash in his tent. The alarm went off at 7:30am and we got ready to start preparing the forrest for tomorrow's race.

The first half of the day was a mostly logistics and getting things setup at the Start/Finish. We went through and packed the different aid station supplies. Synced up spreadsheets and did a few printouts to ensure that the runners would have a smooth checkin the next morning. It was pouring down rain for most of the morning. There was a small patch of sun that snuck in there, but for the most part it was raining in buckets and then it was sprinkling (off and on). Yuk.

We broke for lunch at Pizza Hut and gorged like trail runners. :)

After lunch, we all split up and did our own course marking duties. Farley and I took the trail from the Covered Bridge back to the North Rim Trail. This section was pretty easy to mark; there was one turn and the rest was just a long trail that winded along the river. Not a whole lot of flags were needed on the single track trail section, so we gave some extra attention to the river crossing. We used enough flags to ensure that the runners knew how to get into the water and how to get out of the water, and back on the course. We probably used 1/3 of our flags at this section alone. The remaining 3 miles simply followed the river so we would just drop a flag every so often so that runners knew they were still on course. All in all it was a 'no brainer' though.

Around 2pm or so, Jennifer came up with the girls and we were going to try and hang out a little bit. The plan was for them to help with little odd's and end's and just be together. The truth was that I've not been home all week and won't be home for the next couple of weeks, so we just wanted to find some time to hang out. What better place than Mohican. :) However, as it turned out, she decided to take the girls over to play putt-putt golf and let Farley and I focus on our course markings. It turned out to be the absolute right decision because it got pretty gross out on the course and the girls wouldn't have had much fun walking for 3+ miles anyway.

Farley and I just hung out and did a lot of laughing. We talked about all the different ways we could totally sabotage the race with the amount of lime and flags we had (ie. turn left! now turn right! go in the river! now come out!). :) We played it cool though and tried to be adults about it. :)

Work it, Nick... :)

When we got back to the Start/Finish we all had some nice frosty beers on tap, compliments of Nick. There was a really nice girl there by the name of Samantha, who was doing some audio and photos for the race. She was interviewing various people about the race and who they were. Nick and I decided to let her interview us together. Nick was half lit and I was feeling goofy from the few beers I had. I'm anxious to see how it turned out. :) I tried to sound as unbuzzed as possible, but we'll see... :)

Around 9pm, Farley and I decided to take a night run through Mohican with our headlamps. We started at out campsite and I took him up Big Ass Hill and we made it most of the way to the Fire Tower before turning around and heading back to the camp. We ran about 8 miles total and had a great time. It was Farley's first night run through the woods, and it was my first time doing that since I paced Kimba back in 2008. Farley and I got back to the campsite, cleaned off our funk and crashed by around 1am.

I froze this night and simply could not get warm. I was pleasantly surprised and relieved once I woke up and learned that my feet weren't going to have to be amputated from frost-bite. It was a horrible nights sleep on a cold hard ground! But it is Mohican and the complaining ends there. :)

The alarm sounded at 5am and we fought the snooze button a few times before getting up and out of there for a 6am volunteer shift at the Start/Finish. Farley was on parking duty all morning and I was on t-shirt duty. The runners all came in and got registered in a frenzy. I saw so many familiar faces and it was great to just be surrounded by so many trail runners.

Before the race started Cassandra McCune got up and spoke a few words about her husband, Mike McCune and his legacy that will live on here at Mohican from now until forever. He was a passionate, passionate Mo runner and he was missed dearly today. As Cassandra talked, it was dead silence. She told about who Mike was, not just to the running community or Mohican, but who he was to her. I don't think that there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd. I had a good cry as she talked. She really did a great job introducing Mike to those that never had the pleasure of knowing him. Mike was there in spirit for sure; you could feel it. Thank you for such a great opening ceremony to the race Cassandra.

The 50K race started at 7:30 am sharp. (30 minutes later)... the 25K race started at 8:00 am sharp.

50K start

Farley and I headed over to the Covered Bridge. I was working the Course Marshall duty again, and Farley was there to lend assistance to the Mansfield Running Club. We got to meet some really cool people at this aid station. I also got to see some familiar faces from last year's volunteer group. What a great atmosphere the Covered Bridge is... It is the heart of most all Mohican running events. Many of the trails meet here and runners pass through here multiple times in most events because of it's location.

This year, Rob threw in a nice river crossing and it was awesome to watch the runners belly aching and anticipating the freezing water. The line of the day was when one runner said.. "But there's a perfectly good bridge right there!?!" It summed up the logic of having a river crossing... it's just what us runners like to do for no good reason. :)

About half way through the race, I went back up to the Start/Finish for some technical support on a small little computer app that I built for keeping times. They were having some troubles with it, so I handed over my orange vest and spent the remainder of my day at the Start/Finish greeting runners and doing odds and ends for Rob and other volunteers that needed assistance. I met a lot of really great people here. One runner (named Seth) introduced himself and claimed he reads my blog from time to time. I didn't ask how he recognized me, but I assume it was my crazy shoes. :) If you're reading this Seth, it was great meeting you and perhaps we'll cross paths again soon. Thanks for reading these silly ramblings. :P

While standing there greeting the runners, I realized that I was spent from lack of sleep and really got to missing my girls. I wasn't much use to Rob anymore (sorry man) and I decided to make an executive decision to drive the hour home and spend some quality time with my girls before having to travel back to Virginia in the morning.

Awesome job, runners! Awesome work, volunteers! Awesome race, Rob!

Mohican Forget the PR 50k Race Report

This may appear odd, since the race report is being posted a few days before the actual Forget the PR 50K race, but there's a reason for this. The reason is that the race director (Rob Powell) is cool enough to allow the volunteers to come and run the course a week before the "official" race takes place. For this particular run, Rob promises to:

"have a poorly marked course" and offers "water and terrible aid"

However, the event was absolutely awesome in every way. I wouldn't have changed a thing about it!

I'll admit: I almost didn't run this race. I was on the couch all day Saturday with a box of tissues guzzling cup after cup of hot green tea. I never get sick, but this day I was sick. When I woke up at 5am on Sunday morning to get ready for the race, I felt like crap. I stood up to walk into the kitchen and got really dizzy. I got a total of about 3.5 hours of sleep. I still had a headache. My face was all stuffy with snot. I could only breath out of my mouth. I had heartburn from the meds that I took the night before (which I never take medicine either). Most of all, I just felt weak. I needed more sleep. I actually went back to my bed and laid down. No way could I run 31 miles today...

As I laid in bed, I thought about how ridiculous it was to even consider NOT doing this run. The 1hr drive will wake me up. The fresh air from Mohican forrest will help my sinuses. I'd probably sweat the sickness out of my body. The heartburn will be solved after the first mile. And my legs will be throbbing with pleasure after the run... All signs were actually pointing me to get up rather than lay in self pity. I got up and had a change of mood; I decided to fight the negative thoughts with positive ones... Glad I did!

I didn't know what type of weather to expect so I dressed warm and hoped for chilly weather (long sleeve & long pants). I screwed up on that one. :) It turned out to be the hottest day of the week; 80+ fahrenheit. Oops. This would actually help me sweat out my cold though, so there's another way of looking at it. :) I decided to show up and treat this as a slow 30+ mile training run rather than a race. I wanted hills and time on my feet. After all, it's called "Forget the PR". Therefore, I decided to use my CamelBak as my portable aid station. I had it swelling with a bladder full of day-old water that I filled the evening before. I had some apples, bananas, napkins, Vaseline, and some extra nip-guards. I didn't know what to expect in regards to aid, so I packed for the worst...

The drive up was dark and foggy. We all gathered around the starting line around 7:25, for the 7:30 start. Some of the finest racers were there: Rob, Mark, Kimba, Cheryl, Michelle, Paul, Jim, Glenn, Terri, Bob, and (of course) Myself. :) Rob quickly briefed us all on some tricky areas and handed out some maps to those that needed them (myself included). There were some new trails being ran on this run, so I took a map and listened very attentively to his instructions... At one point, Rob interrupted himself in mid-sentence and said "Oh... go!". We were off! :)


I should also add that I wore my VFF's and got some crap for being a "hippie" from my buddy, Kimba. :) For those that may recall, I wore these shoes last year on this run and ended up in pretty bad shape after the run. It was my first time running more than 5 miles in them at that time and I did some pretty nasty damage to my feet & legs as a result. Since then I've done most of my runs in them, minus Oil Creek and the snowy/icy runs this winter.

The course was great. It's quite different from last years course due to some downed trees from recent winds. The course was 2 loops, so we had to do everything twice. Well, except for the Purple loop; we only did the Purple loop on the first time around. Also it started at Mohican Adventures Campground this year, and also had a new section added to the course. Rob decided to throw in a funny joke around mile 3 this year which he calls "Big Ass Hill". Yeah. I was completely winded about 1/4 way up the first climb of it (which we had to do twice today). Once we get to the top of the vertical ascent, the course meets up with the old Red/Green loop where we immediately go back down the other side of "Big Ass Hill". When you get to the bottom of that, you go back up another hill. Ouch.

Looking up 'Big Ass Hill'

There were a few times where I got to run with a few people and it was great catching up with them. For the most part though, I just kept to myself for the majority of the run. A few times I'd bump into others, then I'd let them trot ahead of me. I enjoyed shuffling through the woods and hills in silence with nothing but my own thoughts...

Oh, here comes a huge and deserved shout out to our rolling aid station, Ron Dukes. Ron drove all over Mohican State Park with his pick up truck and provided cookies, snacks, water, and other fuel for us runners. He always greeted us with a big smile and a gallon of warm water ready to rehydrate us. We were all so thankful that he came out and did this. A few times I stopped and enjoyed his conversation before heading back out onto the trail. Thanks a bunch, Ron. See you this weekend!

The run was oddly relaxing. It got really hot around noon, and my clothes were saturated with sweat. Even though I was dressed for winter on a hot summer-like day and trudging through the forrest, I felt great. I ran out of energy a few times, but kept moving toward the "next downhill". The heat didn't bother me too much... If anything, it was good training for the 100 miler. After all, it's going to be much hotter in 2 months for the Mohican 100. Although, I'll be wearing much less clothes for that run. :)

My favorite part of the race was the finish. I was the last of the 50k runners to cross the finish line and all of the other runners and attendees of this race came out of the conference hall and greeted me with a tunnel of cheers and high-fives. It was a finish that I'll never forget! Thanks everybody! I felt like a sweaty first place finisher. Hopefully my energy depleted 100 meter sprint to you all looked half-way believable.

I finished in 8 hrs and 17 minutes (or something like that)

Post race fun @ Mohican Adventures

The post-race meal was spectacular. There was beer and lasagna (thank you Betty Baun) for all of the runners. Rob handed out our t-shirts and the 50k finishers all got fancy belt buckles. Rob explained some last minute details for next weeks logistics, then we all sat around and had conversation for a few minutes before departing back to our normal lives.

Mohican Forget the PR 50K is a great race with great views of a great park that is always accompanied by great people.

Springing Back Into Minimalist Running

Get it? Spring?... :P No, but I've dropped the heavy shoes again, and I'm a 100% minimalist runner.

It's been a little over 2 weeks since I've switched back to my VFF's and my New Balance Minimus shoes. My feet and legs didn't miss a beat over the winter months. I've not been suffering from the lower leg pains that I experienced last year when I started running in my VFFs. Muscle memory at work here, I'm assuming. (?)

This past Friday, I took an 8 mile fun run with my buddy Eric @ Dillon State park. On this run, my new Minimus shoes gave me some nasty blisters due to the fact that I didn't wear any socks and we sloshed through some mud early into the run. When the shoes came off, I had some bright-shiny blisters on the tips of my middle 3 toes on both feet, and some nasty blisters on my heels from the back of the shoe. I put socks on after that run and had to grin-n-bear it the rest of the evening.

On Saturday morning, I met my good buddy Farley up at Mohican and we ran the Orange loop (15 miles).

Due to my tender blisters, I decided to break out the old black VFF KSO Treks that I got over a year ago. They have 500+ miles on them, and they stink like hell. They're falling apart but they are still amazingly comfortable. I glided through the forrest and only kicked a few roots and rocks on this run. Farley wore his Merrell Trail Gloves and had nothing but great things to say about them. They looked pretty comfortable and he claims that they are indeed extremely comfortable.

Side Note: Remember the last time I met with Farley, we ran into a fellow named "Last Place Jason". Farley recognized him from the Huaraches Google Group, and we stood around and talked to him for a few minutes after the race. At that time, we only knew him as "Last Place Jason". He was (and still is) a huge advocate of barefoot running and all things "minimalist". Anyway, (long story short) it turns out that he recently became the official spokesperson for Merrell Barefoot running. Oh and he has a real name too: it is Jason Robillard. :) I thought it was pretty cool to see a true success story from a great guy.

Check out some of his work on the Merrell Barefoot Training site.



Anyway, back to the Mohican run, this was the farthest that Farley has ever ran, and he rocked it like a trail pro. I think he has the taste for Mohican running now. :) It's quite addictive. He stated that most of his runs are flat, road runs around his neighborhood. This was an insanely hilly, single track trail that weaved in and out of trees and up and down hills the whole time. He admitted that he was a bit concerned after the first 2 miles. Of course, the first two miles of this run was all uphill and pretty slow going. However, once we got to the top of the hill and settled into a nice pace, our conversation allowed the time to pass pretty fast. I totally enjoyed this run and can't wait to run with "Brother Farley" again soon.

2011 Mohican Trail 100 Mile Run

I did it. I signed up for my first 100 mile run.

I'm nervous as hell but excited at the same time. I know I can do it if I put my mind (and body) to it.

The 100 mile run has been something that I've been curious about since I found out there was such a thing. Ever since my first run @ Mohican, I've brushed it off as something that I'd never try; "that's just crazy!"

After my 100 km race last year, I got the bug to go further... As I was approaching the finish line at Oil Creek, I thought to myself that I could have probably gone another loop if I had to. It would have hurt really bad and I would have probably hit a wall that I'd never hit before. However, I could have tried it with no real fear leaving the aid station. After that realization, I went through all the "what if" situations in my head for weeks. I realized that there's no real good reason NOT to try the 100 miler.

A few months ago, I told Jennifer that I was considering it and she was (kind of) supportive by saying:

Whatever, Babe!? You know I don't care...

So that was my approval from her to know that she was on board with my decision if I wanted to do it. Well, I arrived home from Virginia on Friday, and knew that if I was going to do this, I had better just do it. I didn't say anything to her or anybody else about it. I just went to the website and paid the fee. After I did it, I went over and gave her a big hug and told her what I'd done. :) She thought I was crazy, but she's used to that by now...

The organizers have made some huge changes to the race this year and I'm excited to be in the first group of runners to run the new course. For an understanding of what has changed and why they've changed it, visit Mikey P's blog. He lays it all out beautifully and tells what they've changed and why they've changed it. They knew they'd get the good and the bad responses from the veterans. I'm not a veteran by any means; I've ran at Mohican quite a few times, and attempted the 50 miler two years ago. However, I'm still one of the new kids and have crazy respect for the veterans of Mohican. My response to the new course change is very good; I think it's great what they're doing to to welcome the new class of trail runners. The course is much easier to manage, it eliminates a lot of bottle necks, it makes it easy for runners to know where they're going next, and most importantly it makes it easy for aid and crew to do their jobs.

This morning was the first day of my training. I ran a slow 12 miler yesterday and ate a lot of crap food during the Super Bowl. Today I woke up early and began the first day of the P90X program. I did this once and got very strong. The idea is to do it again and get even stronger. I'm going to eat right and run during the program too (of course). I'm really going to try and improve my pace this time. I don't want the cutoffs to beat me for this race. My goal is to loose about 20 lbs of excess weight so that I don't have to lug it around the woods for 24+ hours. My running buddy (Kimba) has dropped an insane amount of weight and she's reaping the rewards with faster times, and stronger finishes. I know that my weight loss from last year helped me finish Oil Creek, and that was only 62 miles. :)

As for running as a minimalist... I don't think I'm going to focus on that for this race. I will absolutely wear my VFF's on my training runs, but won't limit myself to just running in them as I train for this race. Last year, I ran exclusively in them. I didn't wear shoes all summer. However, the Indian Run 60K really put my feet and calves through hell. That run was only 38 miles. (again, :) ). After that run, I began to prepared for the Oil Creek race and switched back to shoes... It paid off and I finished with minimal damage. This race is very important to me and I don't want my feet to be the reason for me to DNF (Did Not Finish). Therefore, I'll use my VFF's for most of my training runs, but will wear shoes for my "longer" long runs and the race itself.

I just have to know if I can do this. My ultra-running friends say I can do it, and I believe I can do it, so the next logical step is to do it. I'm going to give it everything I have to finish this thing so I can get it off my back. After June 19th, I'll know all of the ups and downs of the 100 mile race. I'll run through the morning, day, evening, night, morning, and day to finish it... or black out (whichever comes first).

My Mohican Marathon

Today I ran my longest training run of the year. I ran my very own private marathon at Mohican State Park. This was my last (and longest) training run before the 2010 Indian Run 60k, in 2 weeks.

The night before, I headed to Newark and called my buddy Dan to see if he wanted to join me on a night run. He was in town for the weekend so we met up and ran 7.5 miles around the west end of Newark with our headlamps. I wore my VFF's even though my feet were still pretty bruised from last weekends run @ Mohican.

This morning, I woke up around 5am and got everything ready to head up to Mohican. Due to my bruised feet, and painful stroll around Newark last night, I decided to run in my Brooks Cascadia 5 shoes today. I've only wore them 2 or 3 times this summer, so they still kind of have the new smell. I used my CamelBak since I was going to be running solo and didn't feel like dropping water at various locations.

The plan was to park at the covered bridge and keep a gallon of water in my car for refills as I came back through off of each loop. I made it to Mohican State Park around 7am and found that the covered bridge was still under construction. This forced me to drive around the construction to the back side of the bridge and drop a gallon of water. Due to the construction, I decided to focus all of my running on the Orange loop. This little "water drop" detour took me about 30 minutes.

I made it back to the campground A parking lot and started running towards the covered bridge. This was a 4 mile run along the river. It was very early in the morning and the river had a nice fog hovering over it. It was very relaxing! When I made it to the covered bridge, I didn't fill up my CamelBak, because I hardly used any water after only 4 miles. I simply turned around and headed back to the campground A parking lot for a total of 8 miles.

When I got back to the car, I packed a bunch of nutrition bars for my 15 mile loop around the orange loop. I headed up the switchbacks along RT 3, and took a relaxing stroll through the woods. I came upon a few mountain bikers and hikers along here, and nothing too adventurous happened. I just let my mind wander from thought to thought as I shuffled over the roots and rocks.

I made it to Hickory Ridge and kept on moving. I didn't even stop to get some fuel or anything, I just strolled right on through. Somewhere after here, I turned on my iPod and listened to some music. It helped me to pick up the pace a little bit. It's amazing how music can take your mind off of the mundane "left, right, left, right". I had a few startling moments as bikers would come up behind me and yell right before they got to me. I think I yelled at one dude (politely of course) about it. It would be much better if you yell when you see me up the trail rather than waiting until you get 4 feet behind me and say "COMING THROUGH".

Towards the end of the Orange loop I ran into a Mohican runner named Ron, but I forget his last name. I'd seen him at various races here at Mohican, and we were both wearing our "Forget The PR 50K" shirts. We looked like twins. :) We traded greetings and kept on moving; he was going the opposite direction anyway. I made my way down the backside of the Orange loop to my gallon jug of water and filled up my CamelBak. It was pretty low by this point and the warm, crisp water tasted great actually. I decided to crush the gallon jug and stick it in my backpack so that I didn't have to drive all the way back around just to pick it up.

Now it was on to run along the river one last time. I'm sure the campers thought I was crazy, as I saw most of them early in the morning as they were creeping out of there tents, and here I was still running around by myself in the mid-day heat. The good thing about running this river section 3 times today is that it's no longer a sore spot for me to run along the river. I used to always dread this section because it's so technical and slow at spots and the North Rim Trail is a killer. It's no longer a bad section for me and I forced myself to appreciate it today. :)

When I got back to the car, I chugged some gatorade, ate some of my packed lunch (PB & J, Cheez-Its, Granolla bars, etc..). I was at mile 23 or so by this point, so I had 2 miles to go. My goal today was to run 25 miles... I then got to thinking, why not just make it a marathon!? I thew my CamelBak on again and headed down to Campground A. On my way down there, I saw Ron walking through the campgrounds as it looked like he was pretty well spent from his run today. I slowed down and walked with him for about a mile. He took me on a path I'd never been on before. It was great! We traded stories and talked about various things. It's amazing how many people we both knew, and even more amazing that we'd never (officially) met one another until today.

Around mile 25, I told him I was going to head back to my car and call it a day. I did just that. My walked turned into a jog and I jogged the last 1.5 miles back to my car to a make it a full marathon. I actually ran 26.24 miles, so if you want to get politically correct, I ran an Ultra Marathon today. :) Time to taper...

Red/Green Loop at Mohican

Yesterday was my longest long run of the season since my Forget The PR 50K. That race put me in a hospital boot for a week due to my poor approach to being a "minimalist" runner. Basically I had got my VFF's, decided I was going to run in them, and did. I didn't do any of the prep work that went into transitioning from a shoed runner to a barefoot runner; I just did it. Oops.

Anyway, I had trained all summer in my VFF's and it has really changed the way I run. I'm still slow, but I'm a more elegant slow now. I now land on my forefeet and watch my every step. I now lean forward with my ankles after Dan told me about some "Chi Running" book (which I still need to read). I really believe that I can run farther and less strenuous in my VFF's than I ever could in my shoes. Yesterday was my day to prove this point.

Dan (ma dood) was gonna run with me on this run. I had sent around an email earlier in the week to invite other runners, but nobody responded except for Dan. I decided to arrive at Mohican a little early so that I could drop water at Rock Point and and a few other areas. I got to the area around 7:15am and went looking for where I thought Rock Point might be. I drove around for about 20 minutes and then ran into Rob, Michelle, and Terry & Mark Lemke. I asked how to get to Rock Point and Rob told me that I was pretty much off course. He gave me directions and I started heading that way. About that time, Dan called me and said that he tried to get down to the Covered Bridge, but it was blocked off. I told him to meet me at Bridle Staging area, so I headed there to meet him. By this time it was around 8am. Dan and I drove to Rock Point to drop water, then to the Fire Tower and again where the Green loop crosses over RT97.

Old pic, but I didn't have a camera today

We got back to the Bridle Staging area around 8:20am and started our 21 mile journey through the woods. This was the first time I'd been on the "official" Red loop in a very long time. I think the last time I was on this was when I ran with Nick, Bret, and Luca sometime last spring. I forgot how cool this loop was. We did the river crossings and the water was pretty low on most all of them. The last water crossing was pretty deep and Dan tried to keep from getting his feet wet. It backfired and he actually got more wet than I did, but he spent more time doing it. :)

We arrived at Rock Point and chugged our water. Dan fixed his feet for a few minutes, then we began on the Green loop. The last time I ran the "official" green loop was at last years 50 miler. We ran into a few horseback riders and a few donkey riders as well. :) It got pretty sketchy after crossing RT97. We made our way up the hill after the road crossing and then trekked down some gravel roads to the "big hill". This is where I got a little turned around. I wasn't sure exactly which way to go, so we ventured down each of them only to realize that I STILL didin't know which way to go. We picked one and stuck with it and it turned out to be pretty close (if not exactly correct?), for we were able to make our way back to the FireTower after some long journeys along the gravel roads.

I must pause and mention that VFF's and large gravel rocks don't get along too well. My feet are pretty bruised today from walking on the gravel for so long. I'm sure Dan was a little frustrated as to how slow I had to move through here, but I (truly) couldn't go any faster. Each step hurt pretty bad. This is the one downfall to my VFF's and I may have to do some research to see if there is going to be many gravel roads at Oil Creek. If so, I may need to incorporate my Cascadia's on some of the sections...

After the FireTower, Dan and I were pretty spent. The heat was getting to us and we were drenched in sweat. Luckily the water that we dropped at the FireTower was still pretty cold so we took turns dumping it on each others head. It was so cold that it actually took my breath as it hit my neck. It definitely helped and I could feel my core cooling down after this. I'm sure the people that were playing football there thought we were quite the spectacle. :)

We journeyed from the FireTower down to the Covered Bridge and I had to hobble over more gravel through here. After the gravel sections, I was able to run, but it was a slow-go on each service road we came to. It kind of sucked actually. Regardless, we made it to the covered bridge and kept right on trucking up the road to the beginning of the Red loop. The Green loop was officially conquered and now we just had to tie up our loose ends on the Red loop. It was a 3-4 mile jog (uphill) to the Bridle staging area.

We journeyed up the hill and had to pause every now and then to allow the Mountain bikers to pass us. We did that about 7-8 times and then we were able to split off of the mountain bike trail and onto the horse trails. The horse trail was a bit more steep, but we weren't surprised by fast riding mountain bikers anymore; a welcomed change. We made our way to the section that follows RT97 back to the Bridle Staging area and I had gotten a 3rd (maybe 4th) wind. I picked it up a bit, even though the balls of my feet were pretty bruised from those damned rocks. We got back to the car with 20.37 miles. I think I did screw up the course somewhere before the FireTower, but I didn't care at this point. :) Our map can be found on my BuckeyeOutdoors.com.

Upon arriving at the cars, I toweled off my sweat, changed my clothes and then we sat in the shade to chug some Gatorade and gorge on some cold Pizza. Thank you, Dan!!

2010 Mohican Runners

I just wanted to say a quick congratulations to all of my Mohican buddies who ran the 2010 Mohican 50 or 100 Mile Trail Race. I'd like to give an extra BIG congratulations to those that fought through the pain, the sun, the darkness, the heat, the chill, dehydration, nausea, lucid day-dreaming, and (in some cases) hallucinations to actually FINISH the race.

I don't want to get into a name dropping post, so I'm just going to say that if you're reading this and was a part of the Mohican Trail Ultra, then this is me saying: Congratulations !

Hope to see you soon and put in some miles together. I can't wait to hear all the stories...

Volunteering at Mohican Forget the PR 50k

David, Ralph, Katie, Steve, Leigh, Lindsay, ?, Me

As I stated in my last post, I ran my Forget the PR 50k race last weekend at Mohican State Park because the official race was the following weekend and I would be volunteering. I had planned on going up after my work day on Friday, but the weather had set in and they were calling for high winds and a possibility of hail. Since I wasn't needed until Saturday morning, I decided to spend Friday night in my own bed and wake up early to be at Mohican by 10am instead.

Saturday Morning
At 8am I woke up and left the house to meet up with Don, Rob, and Kim at their cabin at 10am. We got all jacked up on coffee and went our separate ways. My duty was to mark the Purple loop with flags and white lime to help runners stay on the course. After my love/hate relationship with the Purple loop, this was a perfect choice for me. I knew this loop by the back of my hand since I'd screwed up on it so many times in the past. :) I took my hospital boot off and tied up my work boots real tight so that I could walked the course with a canister of lime and a handful of orange and yellow flags. It was a beautiful day to be out marking the course, and I had a blast.

After we had all marked the course, we met back at the Start/Finish to pack the aid station boxes full of supplies. It was a lot of fun, and I had a great time hanging out with other volunteers that showed up to help. Rob didn't cut any corners when it came to ordering supplies and there was plenty of food and drinks for every runner at every aid station. I really learned a lot about what goes into a top-notch aid station.

Once the aid station boxes were filled, the runners starting coming in to register for the race. Rob opened registration from 5pm - 7pm on Saturday, and we had quite a turn out! It was quite chaotic at first, as many runners pile in at once. We struggled keeping them all organized for about 20 minutes, but then we figured out a good system and it got easier.

After registration, all of the volunteers headed back to Rob's cabin for a feast. We all had a great time and shared various running stories. It was a lot of fun to hear some of the adventures that go down in a 100 mile race. I met a lot of cool people and really enjoyed the day!

Around 8:30 or so, I was starting to get pretty tired. Don and Betty Baun were nice enough to offer their backyard to me to setup camp. I headed over there around 8:30 and got everything setup. It took me all of about 10 minutes to get everything in order, so I decided to start a fire and just chilled out for about an hour or so before calling it a night.


Sunday Morning
It was way too cold to get good sleep. Each time I turned my head, the coldness of the pillow would wake me up. I woke up at 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, a few times in between then finally at 5:15 (thanks to the Crazy Rooster that Nick told me about last year). :) Once I got my tent broke down, I headed over to the cabin for some donuts and other sugary breakfast items before heading to the start finish where runners would be showing up shortly to register for the race. We did a lot of things before the runners got there, then when they started piling in, I sat next to Elizabeth and Michelle and we got runners to sign their wavers. Once the waivers were signed, Kim and Betty would hand them their race packets. We moved through the line pretty quickly. I saw a lot of familiar faces at check in and had a great time.

Moments before the 50k start

Starting Line
When it was about time to get started, Rob got up on his truck and gave the rules of the race. He introduced all the sponsors and explained some of the tricky parts of the race. Once he had briefed everybody on the course, Don Baun got up and had some words to say. Don asked everybody to keep their eyes open and really enjoy the beauty of the course. He is so right, sometimes people get caught up in the race itself that they don't see the actual beauty of the forest. Don gave a few good words of advise and then counted down the runners for the race. Off they went, the 50k runners were moving through the course! The 25k runners would start their race in 30 minutes. Therefore, we hung around for a while and then sent them on their way at 8:30.

Don Baun

Covered Bridge
After the 25k runners left, I took Fred (he's a beat up pylon) to the Covered Bridge, and met up with the other aid station volunteers. The theme this year for the covered bridge aid station was M*A*S*H. So we all wore our finest camo's.

This was my first volunteering experience and I was quite honored and surprised that Rob asked me to be the "Course Marshal". It sounded pretty important, and I guess to think about it, it was a pretty important role. However, each person at this aid station played a key role and my role was just one of many. The biggest difference between my role and the others was that I would be wearing an orange vest. Basically, whenever somebody had any question about where to go, I would be the one to go to; they weren't to 'trust' anybody else. :P The 50k runners would be coming through the covered bridge 3 times, whereas the 25k runners would come through exactly one time.

50k front runners at the start

My vest came in handy a few times, as there was a lot of traffic at the covered bridge, so I got to "use my authoritay" to stop traffic as runners came out of the woods. The only thing I was missing at times was a whistle and a billy club.

The Covered Bridge aid station was on the ball. Two of the runners that I met last week on the race (Steve and David) were manning this aid station as well with their wives (Katie and Leigh). Ralph was the aid station captain, and Lindsay was on her toes the whole time tending to the runners needs. Katie and Leigh ensured that every runner was accounted for and their time was recorded. They could tell you where any runner was at any time. Ralph ensured that the food supplies were up to par and made sure that nothing ran out. Steve, David, and Lindsay were all there to see to it that the runners were taken care of as soon as they entered the aid station. As the runners were approaching the aid station, the crew would find out what the runners needed before they got there so that they would be ready with water or Heed. I, of course, just stayed visible to all runners and managed traffic as best as I could. I was able to save a few runners races with my eagle-eye skills. But other than that, I just had a great time talking with runners and cheering them on.

The Race
One of the most exciting parts of being at an aid station volunteer is that you get to see the actual race. Especially being at the Covered Bridge (again, runners came through here 3 times). We saw all the excitement of the race. The front runner was Shaun Pope, and he made it look effortless each time he came through our aid station. Second place was last year's winner, Jay Smithberger. The race between Shaun and Jay was awesome. Shaun was 5 minutes ahead of Jay as they came through the aid station the first and second time. The third time through, Jay had picked up 3 minutes on Shaun. There were only 2 minutes between them at mile 27. Shaun came through the last time looking pretty spent, but Jay came through looking strong and ready to make his move. Ultimately, Shaun won the race by 1 minute!! I later heard later that Jay might have caught up to him, but took a bad spill (blood, mud, and all) with only about 2 miles to go and lost his momentum. It goes without saying that both guys kicked butt!

D'Lyn and Luca

Another great thing about volunteering is that I got to see was my running buddies come through. I saw Mike McCune (The Dillon Runner), Mark Carroll, Mike Keller, Gianluca Blengio, Tim Harber, and many others. Mike McCune was coming off of a knee injury and this was his first race since it had happened. He looked strong each time he came through and he finished with a very respectable time. It was great seeing Luca, Tim, and Mike Keller as well. Mark Carroll ran a hell of a race! This guy came into the aid station the second time and looked like he was pretty much ready to kick ass til the finish. Sure enough, he did; coming back into the aid station for the 3rd time he had moved his way up the chain of runners. This man is a machine. Mark finished very strong and he proved that he's a force to be reckoned with. Great race man!

Post Race
After Matt (ie. "The Michigan Sweeper") came through our aid station in his high fluting kilt :), we knew there was nobody else out there. Matt was a volunteer that ran behind the last runner and his job was to pick up all of the flags on the course. I can't imagine how hard that job must have been for a non back-of-the-pack runner, like Matt. As he came through the last time he said that he's mostly been walking all day; not much running at all. Once he left, we immediately broke down our station and picked up all the trash. It took a total of about 15 minutes. Once we broke down, I went back up to the Start/Finish to help with a few final things and say good bye to Rob and crew. After 8+ hours of "feet time" I was happy to sit back in my car and make the hour drive home...

Congratulations to Rob, all the 50k and 25k runners, and a great job to all volunteers. This was an amazing experience for me and I look forward to doing it again next year. It was nice to be on the other side of the race for once. Most all runners (with the exception of a few) were very appreciative and friendly to all of us. This experience gave me a whole new appreciation as to what the volunteers do before, during, and after these ultra races.

Oh yeah, Rob, here's that picture I took the morning of the race. I fixed it up a bit because it was pitch black; it turned out "kinda" cool actually. :)

Rob Powell (Forget the PR Race Director)