Candlelight 24 Hour: You've Got me Running in Circles

Holy. Effing. Crazy. Batman!

If you know me outside of this venue, you at least know I am still alive.  For the rest of you, hey - its me - I didn't die at the 24 hour last week! (well- mostly LOL).

What an experience.  What a completely crazy day.  And since I want to run the fine line between sharing ALL the things (No, I will not re write Moby Dick) and sharing enough that's entertaining and helpful - we will break this in to two parts - 1.  The story - the race report, the thrills, the gross, and the fun. 2. The lessons learned - and there were a ton of them - if you are ever debating this insanity, I have some stuff to share of what to do and what for the love of god NOT to do.

But now, its time for the story!  When we last left off, I gave you the scoop - all the fuckery that led to this choice to see if I could run 100 miles in 24 hours.  Oof.  Race week was predictable - tired, caffeine deprived, watching the temp prediction rise up to the upper 80s for race day.  What could possibly go wrong??  Early o dark thirty, my friend Dave (another bad decision encourager named Dave - yay) and I loaded up his RV and headed out to Rush to set up shop.  We found a clutch spot at Tent city for our own personal aid station and lined up pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.  It was hot as balls out already and I knew I was gonna be in for a decent amount of outfit changes to stay dry.  I selected my first "I am serious runner" outfit (cupcake bra, watermelon shorts, tiara I promised to run one loop in - who TF is this woman??) and we headed to the start line! Amidst jokes about not getting lost and going nowhere fast, the RD announced GO! and Dave and I led the pack, kidding around that we at least were winning for two minutes.

The first hour was pretty uneventful - Since my overall goal pace was a 14:00ish to hit 100 miles, I knew I had to front load it slightly but not kill myself.  The problem is - in the beginning of a race, you feel fantastic!  It was already warm out and muggy as shit, so I made the decision to run steady as long as I could without blowing my load (that's what she said).  For the first ten miles or so, I ran in a group of 4 - Dave, myself, and two new friends - Mike and Jason.  It was all of our first 24 hour races and the goals varied - Mike, Dave and I all wanted 100 plus and Jason was going for 100k.  We clocked 9:30s for the first ten miles - fast, but also doable, with no walk breaks.  Two miles in, Dave spotted a potato on the course, which led to a ridiculous amount of jokes #iykiyk.  As irony goes, each loop, the potato got a little more smashed and 20 miles in, it was completely obliterated (#itwasntme).  

Aside from mashed potatoes, the first 3 hours were pretty uneventful - I had some awesome cheer squad people show up - Bill, who brought fireball (YAS) and Craig, who brought popsicles and kiddos.  I hit the marathon at 4:22, which, again, was fast, but with the heat already in the mid 80s, I knew I was doing alright.  I pit stopped for an outfit change (ice made everything soggy) and my friend Amanda showed up to cheer AND crew, and saved our butts for the next few hours with popsicles, gel, and even an icee, She is my angel.

  The RD started snapping pics at this point and I flashed him a thumbs up and he goes - you're in second!  I thought that was pretty cool, even though I'd never seen first woman and he informed me I was....second overall.  Woah.  what??  Still - a lot of race left!

About 6 hours in I changed shoes - no blisters yet (#teamnosocks) and hit up another sports bra.  I had been doing GU and skratch to this point, and my stomach was getting a little messy with the heat.  We had a pretty steady stream of awesome support - Brittany, Gary, Carolyn, Matt, Amanda, Billy, Kelly - you guys all rock!  I was still feeling good and dancing around as I always do - running at times with Mike and Jason, and now getting lapped by Dave (expected).  

As the afternoon carried into early evening, I checked my halfway split - 62 miles in 12 hours.  Holy nuts!  I made a joke with Gil, the RD, about expecting my lunchbox cooler - a prize awarded at Mind the Ducks for hitting 100k in 12 hours.  I had tried to hit that mark 3 times and failed, with my PR in the 12 hours being 56 miles.  This was either very good or very bad.  At this point, the kids showed up and gave me the high fives I needed, as my stomach was starting to get a little weird and food was a struggle.  I switched to a power walk and connected with my friend Clem, who has done two 100 milers and very diplomatically advised me I was going way TF too fast and to slow it down.  At this point I was in 3rd place overall and still first woman, with #2 being 9 laps behind me.  Good advice, but I was also aware that if I stopped - I would not start again.  So we power walked for an hour and drank ginger ale (THANK YOU DIANE!) while I tried to get my GI issues under control).

15 hours in, I was at 75 miles and knew an outfit change was needed.  I was so chafed from all the ice and sweating, and my legs and um, delicate region, was so destroyed it wasn't even funny (yes I used friction defense a LOT.  No, it wasn't enough).  It hurt to go to the bathroom, which was a BIG issue.  I switched to my safety tights (bright orange capris) and back to my green shoes (Endorphin pros) which had a bigger toe box, as I had one hot spot I taped up.  This helped a TON and I was able to rattle off a bunch of 11 to 12 minute miles with my fresh duds and the sun finally down.

Nighttime got really eerie.  I had heard about this during an ultra and had no idea what to expect.  It was pitch black and stull humid as hell, but the headlamps and quiet on the course were soothing and aside from watching football on the trail section of the course, it was pretty cool to be part of.  Around midnight I hooked up with Mike again, and we had good conversation about the um...weather...and other things that shall remain unsaid (what happens in an Ultra, stays in an ultra - but damn, you get to know a person fast!)  He had some hot spots so I advised a shoe change with all the savvy of a newbie, which he took me up on and he felt a lot better!  Salty fries arrived at 1am and I tried gamely to get them down, then promptly threw up 3 times.  Hell.  At this point, my legs felt ok but my stomach was so off again - Mike was a lap behind me but game to do my power walk, so we pressed on, averaging 15-16 minute miles.  Ill take it.  I started to do some mental math and knew my 100 mile goal was in the bag if I kept moving, with a stretch goal of 105 - 4 marathons (I cannot fathom).  I was in 4th place overall, still 1st female. Oddly enough, I never got tired and did not nap - which I know a lot of people asked.  

Clem showed up again and cooked me ramen, bless him.  some of the broth stayed down but we were now just into coke and ginger ale.  Fine.  I stopped to sit for 3 minutes, as advised and knew immediately that could not happen again.  I added a new shirt and got back up - some people can rest during an Ultra, but I knew if I did it again, my body would not allow me to get back up.

Pre dawn, my miles averaged 18-20 and we were just at - forward progress.  I had already snagged the women's record of 80 miles hours ago (Thank you Kelly for your support!) and knew that forward progress would net my 100 miler.  No ego.  Mike and I connected again at mile 98 - he was feeling a LOT better than me with the new shoe change but he stayed with me and we hit our 100 mile goal together hand in hand at 22:39. Holy crap.  So, what now?

Well, we had another hour to work with! So while Mike zoomed ahead, I kept on with my miles and ticked off 1, 2 3 more for a finish of 103.3 miles in 23:42, 13:05 pace moving time, 49 minutes total non moving (bathroom and outfit changes)!

No, I did not have one more mile in me.  I tried.  No, I could not have hit 4 marathons (105 miles).  LOL  Now that that's out of the way, I crossed the finish and immediately found a seat and began sobbing as the RD handed me my coveted belt buckle.  One, for the pure emotion of all of it.  Two, because my body gave all it had and I was 100% done.  Mike and Dave crossed not long after me - Dave with 116 miles and Mike with 104 - and we finished first, second and third respectively, with me taking the woman's win by 16 miles and beating the women's course record by a crazy 23 miles!

The award ceremony took place shortly after, complete with me retching behind a sign and standing only long enough to get my cool candlestick and sweet winners perk of a race refund fee.  I'll take it! 

Post race....well, we dont talk about that.  LOL.  

I'll leave that for the reflections post, but the short of it is - I was a ridiculous "need to be carried to the bathroom" mess for all of Sunday, rallied Monday to be a human being, and finally was able to eat Tuesday.  We are a week out and I'm swimming, biking and have done one short run.  All in all, after the first 24 hours it was perfect.  And I regret absolutely none of it.

What's next?  Well, stay tuned.....I'll drop some "What to consider and what TF NOT to do during an ultra" that I learned during this process - but overall, I am elated with the result and so incredibly happy with this race!  Gil put on a fine event, and despite my um...hesitation on the course, I enjoyed it all and will NOT be back for more, but that's just because I have some other goals to chase :)  Cheers!!