Germany 2013 - Day 15 (The 2013 Dusseldorf Marathon)

OK, it's time to spill the beans... I was not trained for this race by any stretch. I know I've probably said thsi before, but this time I meant it. I was genuinely nervous about how this run would go; I didn't know if I would pull a muscle at mile 10, damage my feet from pounding the concrete with my minimalist shoes, or blow a knee from all the cool new weight I have gained over the last few months. See my Facebook page for details of when (and why) my training came to a screeching halt on Feb. 2nd. :) Regardless, I was quite pleased with the end result. I finished in 4 hours and 46 minutes.

I woke up at 7:30 am and awoke to my obnoxious iPad "alarm" alarm. I taped my nips, charged my iPod, laced my shoes, and headed down to the dining area for a hearty breakfast. The breakfast hall was packed full of Germans in spandex and sweat-wicking clothes. Carbo craving runners filled the dining area and German speaking excitement filled the room between the clanking of dishes and silver wear sounds. Everybody was preparing for a day of running. All of the eggs had been consumed by the time I arrived, so I defaulted to rations of bread and cucumbers. Blah. I was able to grab an apple on my way out, but that was it...

Bob, Michelle, and Me (aka. Luc)

Around 8:30 am, I met Michelle and Bob near their flat and we all walked down to the starting line. The sun was warm but the shade was freezing; it was one of those mornings. I wore my Columbia jacket all the way up to sound of the starting gun. The race started at 9 am sharp.

The first 5 miles were effortless. I ran steady and strong. After a while I came upon a crowd of runners who were gathered near a woman wearing balloons strapped to her waist. The balloons read "4:00"... This meant that I had been keeping an 4 hour marathon pace up to this point. I though "Hell, this is easy". I figured as long as I could keep this balloon lady in my sights for the next 3.5 hours, I'd have a new PR under my belt. A few meters back ran a dude holding a flag which read "3:59:59". Apparently, they didn't coordinate with one another before the race. Shouldn't he be in front of her?

Beautiful Day for a Marathon

The next 5 miles were just as easy. I was keeping up with the 4 hour balloon lady, and the 3:59:59 flag dude was hot on my trail. He and I played hop scotch for the next few miles, but we never passed the 4:00 balloon lady. Go figure. Regardless, I was still feeling strong and my breath was in tact. I wasn't exerting myself too much (which was surprising). Who said marathons were hard...?

Around mile 6, I found Bob and Michelle off to the side and they were cheering me on to keep running strong. This helped immensely. I had been in the zone for so long with my only friend (my iPod nano) that I hadn't really realized there were other people here. I was "in the zone". My music helped me to stay focused on my form and my breathing; everything else was German.

As I approached the 10 mile marker, I was still keeping up with the balloon lady, and the flag dude was creeping up on me. Eventually he passed me around mile 11 or 12. I still felt strong, but my calves were starting to tighten up a bit. They weren't screaming expletives yet, so I continued to push forward with diligence.

On pace for a sub 4 hour marathon!!

Approaching the "half marathon" checkpoint, I realized I was rocking a 4 hour marathon pace. I crossed the 1/2 marathon checkpoint at 2 hours exactly! At this point, I thought I might be able to keep this up and set a new record for myself. My goal was to keep the balloon lady in my sights at all time, and then as we approached the finish, I'd scream past her and finish with the flag dude (assuming he'd eventually pass her).

As it turns out, my calves and my will had taken a beating from this crazy-for-a-chubby-dude pace and I found myself slowing down with each passing "K". Keep in mind that this was a European race and all of the checkpoints were in kilometers. By the time I'd reached the 25K mark, I'd lost sight of the balloons and my will to pass her...

I thought to myself, I still might beat the flag dude... Needless to say, he passed me shortly thereafter and I never saw them again. I was approaching the 30K mark now and my pace had slipped even further. I was hitting the wall.

By the time I reached the 20 mile marker I found myself doing a walk / jog regiment. I'd walk for 50 meters and then jog for 200-300 meters. Running was a thing of the past at this point. My quads and calves just weren't in it anymore. Around mile 22 I started looking around each corner for the finish line. It was nowhere to be found. The 4:15 balloon dude passed me, then the 4:30 balloon dude...

The ailments of this distance run tacked on more and more pain to my calves; I continued  looking for that finish line for the next 5-6 miles. Kilometers just didn't make sense to me anymore. My legs were pissed.

Eventually I came to a point in the race where the finish line was in sight, but there was still another 2 miles to go before I could cross it. Talk about gluttony. The race directors did this on purpose! I just knew it! I wanted their names and their addresses. They were clearly distance runners who found joy in this "false hope" game. I see the humor now, but didn't see it then.

Around mile 24 I was able to see the 4:15 balloon dude pass me, but he was passing me on the other side of the road; heading for the finish. I looked at my watch and realized that I was still on a sub 5 hour pace, but my dreams of crushing my PR were just that; a dream. My goal now was to "not die" and just finish. I continued with my jog / walk regiment, but by this point, it was almost easier to jog. Walking took more effort. Ironically, it's more difficult to walk on sore legs than it is to jog. Ask any runner and I'm sure they'd tell you the same. Once you get to a certain point, the mechanics of running are less painful than the mechanics of walking. Weird, I know.

Less than 1 mile to go!!

I eventually made it to "the other side of the road" where I saw the 4:15 balloon dude 30 minute ago. I was on the home stretch. I only had about 1/2 a kilometer to go... That's about 1/3 a mile for all my American friends. Oddly, this tends to be the longest part of a marathon. The last 0.25 miles of a marathon are sometimes the most difficult. Your brain says your "almost there", but your eyes say "holy crap, that's far as hell".

2013 Dusseldorf Marathon

I crossed the finish line and the clock read 4:46 with some odd change. The wall is a bitch. If my legs could have just kept up with my ego, I may have qualified for Boston! Maybe next year... (?)

After the race I hobbled around the Altstadt looking for Bob and Michelle. I never saw Michelle on the "other side of the road" as I approached the finish, so I wasn't sure if she had already finished or not. The crowd was pretty compact, so my eyes were scanning every German face to see if they resembled an Andreini. Bob, or Michael, or Matt should be somewhere in this crowd waiting for Michelle to exit the runners area.

Eventually I found Michael and then I saw Bob. Luckily Bob had my coat and that was a good thing. The shade was still cold and I was drenched with man-sweat. I immediately put my coat on and we all enjoyed a tall beer with Michelle's relay team near the finish line.

After the race, I went back to my room, showered, and fell on my bed. I tried to catch a few Z's, but I'm not sure if I ever did... I laid there for a while and eventually I got up. Again, I'm not sure if I ever actually saw the sand man though...? Let's assume I did.

Me, Bob, Michelle, Becky, Erin, and Barry

We had dinner plans for 6 pm, so I arrived at Bob and Michelle's around 5:45 and we headed to a very nice restaurant named Meyer & Freeman (ie. Morgan Freeman) to eat dinner with Barry, his wife Becky (?), and their daughter Erin. I had the shnitzel, and it was THE SHNITZEL! :) I ate it all.


After dinner, Bob and Michelle dropped me off at my front door. I hobbled up the steps and fell on my bed again... I definitely saw the sand man this time.

This was a great experience. I'm proud of the way I ran the race. I pushed hard in the beginning and pushed even harder near the end when all of my energy was gone; I left everything on the course. Once the 4:30 balloon dude passed me, I knew it was time to just enjoy the run since all hopes of a new PR were gone. I will remember this run forever. It's the run that I didn't (ok, couldn't) train for, but still kicked ass on. :)

Thank you, Bob, for allowing me to run this race again! Maybe I'll set a new PR here next year??? :)

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...

2012 Dusseldorf Marathon Race Report

Well this is long overdue, and I couldn't put it off any longer. :)

On April 29th I ran the Dusseldorf Marathon in Dusseldorf, Germany. I was a bit nervous about the race for the last 3 weeks. I've not been training much lately, and actually have been eating all kinds of delicious foods with no solid training schedule. Therefore, I was really just looking to go out and enjoy the run through the beautiful city... As it turns out, being unprepared and a bit undertrained worked in my favor; I ran my fastest marathon ever.

I prepared for the run the night before, and informed Bob and Michelle that I'd probably be running about a 5hr - 5:30 race if they'd like to look for me at the finish. I woke up in the morning with a feeling that this was going to be a very tough challenge for me and that I'd have to push myself very hard. I actually, warmed up by running to the starting line and working up an early morning sweat. I think I surprised some people as I ran past them on my way.

At the starting line, there were people and porta potty's. :) I also saw something that I'd never seen before. There were all these unicyclists who were there to ride the course on one wheel. I'd never seen these types of bikes before. I've seen unicycles, but these ones had huge off road tires. They started their race a few minutes before us marathoners started our race.

A lot of things were said at the starting line, but I understood nothing. I take that back... I understood the count down from about 5, then off we went. I was about 1/2 way back into the starting crowd, so it took me about 2 or 3 minutes to make it to the starting line after the gun.

Once we got moving, I found my groove and just kept a steady 9 or 10 minute mile pace. The first part went along the Rhine River. Actually, along this stretch was a famous house that was on House Hunters International a few weeks prior to my trip.

The course was absolutely beautiful, we ran through various residential areas, as well as old German areas. We ran by the river, over the river, through the industrial areas, and down the roads of the busy Zentrum area of Dusseldorf. The crowd support was awesome. People lined the street at every corner to cheer on the runners. Many groups would have cookouts or little parties on the side of the road. Some even had full bands setup and were playing music for the runners. I loved it!

 A spectator drinking beer @ 9am

German fire fighters spraying the runners

4 Mens Restrooms + 4 Womens Restrooms

Oddly, the further into the race I got the faster I felt like I was running. After about mile 15 or so, I looked at my time and realized that I was on course to get a PR; I just had to keep up a steady pace for another 11+ miles. I really wasn't huffing and puffing and felt very strong, I knew that to keep it up I just had to keep my focus on my leg work and pay attention to my hydration management. The sun was out in full force by this point and it was pretty hot on certain stretches of road. I made sure to grab a cup of Wasser at each Wasser station. I also started to focus on all the things that make it easy and effortless to run. Things like leaning forward and letting gravity pull you. Things like shoulders back, chest out, pelvis in, arms down, chin up. Silly things, really... but things that actually work.

My splits were faster in the last few miles. However, I bonked pretty hard at mile 25. The sun was bumping by this point and it was getting the best of me. I felt dizzy a few times and really felt that if I hadn't stopped to cool down, I would have passed out. Not a good feeling with only 1 mile to go. My lower back was also starting to tighten up on me and the pavement pounding was really taking a toll on me. Of course, I wore my Minimus shoes, so there was very little cushion between my bones and the pavement.

I had pushed hard for 25 miles and this was the first time that I actually stopped and walked... The walk only lasted about 15 - 20 seconds, and then I was at it again. Around a 5 minutes later, I got the feeling of passing out again and had to stop and walk again... I had hit a low in my race, but I only had about 0.5 miles to go until I was done!

Finally I decided to suck it up and push. I gave it my all and crossed the finish line with a new PR. Granted my PR was only a few seconds faster than my last PR, it was still a PR! This race actually had an extra 3/10's of a mile to the course, so this means that my PR was even better than recorded.

I crossed the finish line at:

4 hours 27 minutes and 16 seconds

Done.

This was a great experience. It was my first international running event, and every aspect of the event was spectacular. The crowd was amazing, the weather was perfect, the city was beautiful, and the post race goody bag was (by far) the best I've ever had! Every runner got a bag of all kinds of foods, meal tickets, and we were even treated to a free TALL beer. German Style Baby!

After getting my bearings back at the finish line, I hobbled back to my hotel room and lounged around for about 5 hours before getting ready and spending the evening with Bob and Michelle and Friends (link). This race really hurt. I typically don't go out and run fast races. I typically run races to finish. This was was special for me in many regards, and I was happy I pushed myself to a new personal best time. My lower back hurt, my hips were shot, and the balls of my feet were tender. Perfect race!

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!

Warrior Dash 2011

This was fun. I'd not treated this race as an actual "race", but more of a fun thing to do. I went into the run with ZERO goals, other than to have a good time and get muddy. The idea is that you pay money to go through a bunch of obstacle and drink beer. My kind of event!

The course features muddy water crossings (chin deep at times), tire obstacles, tunnels, fire pits, barbed wire, mud, rope walls, cargo climbs, and hocking hills trails. I was pretty excited to do it. As it turns out the entire family went. Jennifer and the girls came and Lizzie got to bring one of her friends (Lucy) along with us. We met up with Tyler and Liz in Brownsville, then drove the hour down to the event in Logan county.

Everybody got a team shirt and we ran the race as the "Running Dirty" team.

I stuck the entire race out with my buddy Tyler. He and I just slogged through the course at a walking pace most of the time and approached each obstacle as a challenge. By the end of the run, we were covered in mud. The girls thought it was pretty cool to see me crawling in the mud under barbed wire. :)

After the race, all the runners got sprayed off in a fire hose. We stuck around for about 20 minutes afterwards and I got to eat a turkey leg like a true viking warrior. I also drank my free (watered down) beer. We had a great time, and the girls got to see that there are other people out there that are just as crazy as their daddy. :)

Here is the finisher photo of me and Bub:

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.