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| Whole crew: Matt, Juliane, Maggie, Nick, JP, Me, Sean, Mark, Jessie, Holly |
When I opened my eyes Saturday July 14,
I started smiling immediately. Every day that week I had woken up in a panic,
thinking it was Saturday and knowing what I had ahead of me. Yet when it
actually was Saturday, I woke up, ready. I looked at my phone to see the
weather, instead of actually looking out the window (that I do have in this
apartment) and saw the dreaded clouds and rain icon. I looked outside and sure
enough, it was telling the truth. I had been watching the forecast religiously
since Wednesday and I knew that rain was to be expected for both Saturday and
Sunday so I was not shocked. I knew that in the 4 previous years of the 20 in
24 Race it had been hot & sunny, so I think in the back of my mind I was
hoping that would continue. I had the notion the Big Man upstairs got a memo
letting him know that these next 24 hours were more special than the other 24
hours preceding or following it, so He should roll out the VIP treatment and
dry up a bit.
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| Sean, Maggie, Holly, Me, and Mark before the start |
My dad came around 7 and I could tell by
his T-Shirt that the rain picked up. We hurried and packed the truck, putting
all of the open bags: clothes, food, sleeping bags, etc in the front of the
truck with us. We set up camp and were able to get some space around us too
because we had 4 or 5 other tents coming. We had a total of 9 runners at the camp and
probably around the same crew members.
10am- Start
It was still raining when the race
started, but it had gone through waves of speeding up and slowing down. I
honestly can’t tell you when it slowed or when it stopped completely but I
think for my first two laps it was raining pretty consistently. I stopped to
use the Port-a-potty around mile 11 and it felt like I had just come out of a
swimming pool. I was completely drenched, not sure if it was majority sweat or
rain but I was soaked. I did not break between my first two loops and later I
found out that most runners stopped and changed their socks and/or shoes
earlier on to avoid blisters. I stopped for about 10-15 minutes between loops 2
and 3 but wanted to keep going. The first 3 loops I ran alone, but I did meet
some pretty cool people. It is always neat to see how people got into running
in general and then find out what on earth possessed them to become Ultra
marathoners.
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| Checkin in...'you got me right? That's 3 Full laps' |
I met a guy named Basil who was running
about a 10:30-11 min mile steadily. I was walk /running (2min walk/2 min run)
and kept passing him in the run and getting passed in the walk so he slowed up
to talk with me. His goal was 100 + miles (I believe) and he was planning on
only stopping if he absolutely needed to. He said he noticed that I ran on my
toes and not the entire foot, so then I was over thinking my feet placement for
a few miles. I looked online yesterday and unfortunately Basil did not meet his
goal. Hopefully he is not injured. I didn’t see him again after that first
loop.
I lost Sean and Holly around Mile 4 (I
had them in view until then but they were ahead of me). I didn’t see Holly
until maybe 3am and I caught up with Sean for my 4th and 5th
loops. He was ready to walk run and by then I had dropped to a 2min run/ 5 min
walk. This year they did not have us check off the course unless we planned on
taking more than a 30 min break, so I did not check off the course until after
my 6th Lap (50.7 miles).
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| We made friends for our 4th Lap |
Let’s see if I can break this up to make
it easier to read:
Lap 1 – 1 hr 40 mins (no break) -2min
walk/2min run…. 8.4 m
Lap 2- 1hr 50 mins (break 10-15 mins)
2min w/2min r…. 16.912
Lap 3 – 2 hrs (break 20 mins) 4 min
walk/ 2 min run…. 25.368
Lap 4 – 2 hrs 6min (break 20 min?) 5 min
walk/2 min run… 33.824
Lap 5- 2hrs 15 or 20 mins (felt like
eternity- break ? I stopped thinking and counting) 5 min walk/ 2 min run… 42.28
Lap 6 – 2hrs 45 mins (the worst) WALKED
in SILENCE with 3 Pacers who stuck with me even though I hit the WALL… 50.736
BREAK from 12:08am until 6:50am
Lap 7- 2 hrs 25 mins ( A NEW Day) WALK…
59.192
Lap 8 – (ran til 10am- 2.4 miles)- 2 min
run/ 5 min walk… 61.722
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| Sean and I after both finishing 50 miles! |
OK I can’t remember exactly if it was
after my 3rd or 4th lap that I changed my socks but I
remember, not wanting to see what I saw. I had blisters on both feet, on the
heels. My left foot was the worst blister I have ever had in my life. I ignored
it. I decided that I would get my 50 miles in and then take a shower and deal
with whatever I needed to. I was afraid that if I went to the Med tent or let
anyone see my feet they would propose the idea of not finishing and I really
didn’t like that idea.
This was the hardest race I have ever
done in my life. During my 6th lap (miles 42-50) I completely broke
down inside. I had 3 awesome pacers and they allowed me to walk angrily in
silence as I tried to suppress the tears. If what they say is true, that ‘pain
is weakness leaving the body,’ then it felt like I was a bottomless vessel of
weakness and it couldn’t get out fast enough. I can’t write down all of the
thoughts I had in that lap, because I fear it might be confused with a suicide
or homicide note, so I will just say that I broke. I 100% broke and I wanted to
just be done. I didn’t want to have to walk the rest of the loop. As we got
closer to the Med Tent at mile 4 I told my pacers I needed to sit down once we
got to the stop. Luckily before we got there I had to use the port-a-potty so
when I went in there and came back out, I wanted to just keep going. I knew if
I sat down, especially there, I ran the risk of them pulling me from the
course.
It took me 14hours and 8 minutes to do
my 50 miles, which was better than last year. After that lap I didn’t know if I
was going to stop or not, but I knew I didn’t want to keep going. They had the
showers on rotation, every 2 hours it was guys, then girls for 2 hrs, etc. So I
was not able to shower until 2am. I laid down in the tent and set my alarm. The
shower felt good, but it was a little on the cold side. I unfortunately got a
good look at my feet while I was showering and it made me want to see if the
Med Tent could possibly help me out. It was getting harder and harder to put my
sneakers on, even with loosening the laces all the way. I showed the Medic what
was going on and she confirmed that yes that was pretty gross looking right
there.
Since I had been ignoring it for the
last 20 miles the blisters started to harden. The one on my left heel was my
main concern and she was able to drain most of it. The bottom part of it was
already hard and she was not able to drain that part. She told me that had I
gone to them sooner, she could have done more. Then she asked the million
dollar question “Are you going to keep running?”
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| Cutting cut free at the very end |
My body said ‘NO!!!’ but my mouth said
‘Yes, well I would like to have the option.’ She fixed me up with a bandage for
support around the blister and a hole in the middle of it, I guess so it
wouldn’t keep rubbing. I told her that my other foot will probably be fine and
then I hobbled back to camp. I very rarely get blisters, and I know I am lucky
because most of my runner friends suffer from them. I think because of the rain
and the fact that I kept the same socks and shoes on for so long, my feet gave
it their best but eventually had to cry Mercy!
It was after 3am at this point and Holly
just went out on her 6th Loop. Sean had come back from his and
collected his finisher plaque. He was done and now it was time for him to
sleep. Maggie was like a tornado, she came and went with small tiny breaks
between laps. She was close to 80 miles at that point. I tried to talk with
Maggie’s dad and her brother for a little but I kept dosing off. They offered
for me to sleep in their tent for a little. I hit the pillow and passed out! I
woke up over an hour later and it was light out. Around 6am I got out of the
tent and started to think.
I felt refreshed, Mentally, and I really
did not want to remember this race by that last lap of wishing for everything
to be over. I sat talking for a few minutes and ate some fruit, then I decided
that I just needed to go. Even if it took me 3 hours to get another couple
miles, I just needed to end it the right way. At 6:50am I checked back on to
the course, Redbull in hand, and I started to walk. This time I was walking
with a smile. The pajama loop run started at 6am so the runners were coming my
way and we were exchanging ‘Good job!’ and “Looking Good” with each other.
Every time someone blew by me, I felt comfort in telling myself ‘they are only
6 miles into their race and I am 52…’ I came up to the first water stop with
the dude, that I kid you not, did not stop dancing the entire 24 HOURS! They
were bumping techno and dance music at that stop (1 mile in to the loop) the
whole time and this kid had me cracking up every loop. You would think by the 8th
time I was sick of him but I wasn’t, I was envious of his energy! I looked at
my watch and started thinking, maybe I could get a full loop in.
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| 10:20am...Mission Accomplished |
I started thanking God for getting me
through the previous 22 hours. I knew He never gave up on me and that I allowed
myself to get in my own way. There was no use in getting down about caving into
the pain. The only thing I had control over was the next 2 hours (well that one
moment if we want to get technical), the last 2 hours of the race and I wanted
to make it right. That walk was great. I smelled the trees, I said hi to every
runner that passed me by, even the ones that ignored me. I passed other runners
who were now limping but still determined to keep moving and I was grateful
that I had no major injuries. My feet hurt, but so did everyone else’s. I
wasn’t unique in the pain. I had on my clean clothes, socks, different shoes,
and had ditched the hat.
The coolest part of the entire race was
when I came around, to finish my 7th lap (9:10am) and there were
people all around the finish. I had 4 bracelets on from the rest stops and the
official said ‘Are you done?’ and everyone went silent for a minute to hear my
response, “I’m going to keep going” I said, and the cheers were so loud! The
official cut the bracelets off and I heard my mom say ‘She’s gonna keep going?!’
I looked over to my parents and reassured them ‘Just to the next water stop, I’ll be back
after 10. Don’t worry I feel great!’ They both smiled and Goosebumps engulfed my
entire body. Ann Mahlum (Founder of BOMF) gave me a high five and said ‘Awesome
Job Katie!’ I ran 2 minutes/ walked 5 minutes until I got to the rest stop 2.4
miles away.
Serge (the reigning champion) came up to
the rest stop a few minutes after me. He ran 154 miles and still was
smiling. I started talking with the
other runners, 80 miles, 95 miles, 105 miles..when I was asked how far I went,
I sheepishly said ’61, nothing crazy like you guys.’ The woman who ran 95 said ‘are
you kidding? You just ran 100K! 62 miles is 100K’ Well that certainly sounds
better than 61 miles. She continued on to tell me there are a bunch of 100K
races out there. I told her I was taking a break from the running, coming up.
Also a correction, Maggie ran 110 miles not 109...And she amazes me!!
Am I glad that I did this again? Yes. I
am glad that I was able to fit in another loop, so I could end it on my terms:
not hating life.
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| Stole this from Photographer |
"Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother."
~Khalil Gibran
