I’ve taken a couple days to try to process my latest running adventure…
Last year I trained with Liz for Pistol 100 and when it canceled we decided to run anyways on a local crushed gravel loop here in Canton Georgia. We got it done and had a buckle made, but in my heart I still really wanted that Pistol buckle. This year the RD offered the race virtually- run it anywhere, submit your time and get your swag and a buckle. We decided to do it again at the same place...this time things were a whole lot different.
I mentioned it to an ultrarunner friend who is also plant-based and when she offered to help with an aid station I had no idea she meant she’d provide the entire aid station. For as challenging as life can be at times, I often think I must have done something somewhere to cultivate some amazing karma because I somehow manage to cross paths with some of the most amazing people in the world. My friend Drina definitely exceeds amazing. We met a couple times before the race and went over the list of all of my preferred foods and anything that I might possibly want as back ups. Drina said she had everything covered and would arrive race day and set up the aid station. So aid was set.
I then went about recruiting friends and clients to volunteer...maybe asking people I’m training for a first marathon or 50k wasn’t the smartest idea- I’m sure seeing me at mile 70 or 80 did nothing to make them want to go further ;) But they agreed to help and by the time race day rolled around I had a full aid station, volunteers, crew and pacers lined up. All so two people could run around a crushed gravel loop 100 times and get a piece of metal hardware to wear on a belt.
Liz arrived Thursday from Ohio and we spent Friday running last minute errands and getting ready for the race. We arrived at Boling Park at 6:30am on Saturday and as we were getting ready to start at 7 several others who were running some miles that day showed up. Rich got us started off at 7am sharp and by the time we finished the first loop Drina had arrived and Rich was helping her and her husband set up the aid station. The weather was still perfect at that point and we were comfortable and moving well.
We started with a run/walk of 1 minute of running and 30 seconds of walking and were averaging a 12:45 pace. We took a couple food breaks throughout the early part of the day. My friend Jill had arrived to help at the aid station and she and Drina made vegan cheese quesadillas with avocados and some vegan grilled cheese sammies. We hit the 50k mark just under 7 hours and then the heat hit, the clouds we were supposed to have all day parted and we found ourselves running on an exposed course in almost 80 degree sunny weather. I was running in my usual attire- a running dress and a pair of underwear. The heat was quickly causing some chafe problems with the elastic bands of my underwear around my thighs. Ultimately it resulted in me ditching the underwear and Rich bringing out a tin of bagbalm for me to smear all over my crotch...ultrarunning can be so glamorous at times... Liz was not at all acclimated or prepared for this coming from Ohio and within a couple hours she was displaying every symptom of heat stroke and dehydration. We stopped several times at the aid station and tried to find solutions, but pretty much everything was making her sick. We continued on, switching to 30 second run/30 second walk and eventually 30 second run/1 minute walk and at 10pm our first pacer Allison showed up. It was great to have someone with fresh legs and fresh energy, but I could tell that the heat from earlier and the havoc it had wreaked on Liz’s well-being was catching up. As we wrapped up mile 62 somewhere around 11pm, Liz said she wanted to sit out a loop and rest a little. By this time Drina had gone home and my friend Kelly was manning the aid station. By the time Allison and I came back around, Kelly had covered Liz with a blanket where she laid on the ground next to the aid station trying to sleep. The mental part of this was a struggle for me. I hadn’t wanted to let her stop, but I knew the heat had completely drained her and stopping was the smartest thing for her to do. I didn’t know if I should stop with her, if maybe a break would get her back out there, or if I could even mentally finish it on my own if she didn’t come back out. I had Allison with me then and we were moving well despite my stomach giving me some trouble, and Justin was scheduled to come pace from 2am-6am, but beyond that I hadn’t lined up a pacer. I had anticipated we’d finish in close to 24 hours and I had just assumed we’d be together so I wasn't worried about it, but now I was faced with knowing that given the pace I was at I would have at least 5 hours or more on my own out there after Justin left. I kept telling myself to stay in the mile I was in and not borrow worry.
So Allison and I pushed forward. I had had my doubts about having a female pacer, that generally just doesn’t work for me... I don’t know if I’m just capable of being tougher in front of a guy or what the deal is, but I just do better with male pacers. Allison however is a whole different story- she’s very direct and no bullshit, no whining, no crying and unless you’ve got bone exposed you keep moving...I quickly kept my moaning and groaning to myself and found myself digging deeper than I thought I could to keep up with her. The miles started going by a little quicker and as we were wrapping up mile 67 I saw headlights aimed into the park and could hear voices as we approached the aid station. It was a couple of police officers and although the conversation seemed friendly and non-confrontational I just needed an answer and immediately asked “You’re not going to make me stop, are you?” They were really great and said they wouldn’t make me leave when I had so many miles invested, they kindly explained that the signs about the park closing time were mostly to keep the local teens from getting into trouble out there. They let us know they’d give them a heads up back at the station that I was there running.
Shortly thereafter Justin arrived. I know Allison from a local trail steward group we both belong to and it turns out she lives in my neighborhood, so although we had never run together before this, I knew her and had seen her plenty of times. Justin however, I had never met in person. We had “met” in a running forum when he was looking for some local trails about a year ago and upon seeing he lived in Canton I had offered to show him the trails we run on. As our scheduled run together got closer everything shut down and we were cautioned to social distance so I suggested it might not be the right time to be making new friends in person and I tried to give him the best description I could of where to run and then kept an eye on his strava for a couple days to make sure he made it out of the woods ok. We stayed in touch on social media and although I didn’t see him personally, our paths did cross at Georgia Jewel where he was pacing a friend and spoke with Rich several times while he was crewing for me. He got to witness me crawling out of a chair and dragging myself back out onto the trail with all of my bee stings before ultimately dnf’ing that race and afterwards sent some really kind words about what I had accomplished out there. So when it came time to find a pacer for the later miles of this race, I felt like I could trust him to push me after having witnessed the level of suffering I’m willing to go to. Fortunately things never managed to get that ugly during this race ;)
Allison ran the first loop or two with us once Justin got there and then headed home to get some rest. In some ways the night seemed to go by quickly. We shut off the interval timer to let me try to get my stomach under control. I was struggling with nausea, I think left over from getting a little behind on calories during the heat of the day. I’ve been down that road plenty of times and I knew that no matter how bad I felt, I had to keep forcing the food in. I continued drinking vitargo and eating gels, but I was burning through stuff so quickly and I knew I needed solid calories. My nightshift volunteer Tracy had shown up at this point and made me coffee, a sandwich, ramen noodles, broth with rice, oatmeal...I choked down as much of it as I could and kept pushing along.
By morning Drina had come back and she was in full aid station captain mode-- making coffee, cooking food for everyone around her and she offered me pancakes...of all the things she had brought out to this aid station, I had felt bad that she was going to the effort of making a homemade vegan pancake batter to bring out there- in my wildest dreams I would never imagine that I could choke down a pancake during a 100-miler. Little did I know those beloved pancakes would be my saving grace. The last 4-5 hours became pancakes, vitargo and a random gel here and there, but the pancakes were definitely the staple that got me through.
Somewhere during the night my kidneys got a little overactive and I spent the last 7-8 hours having to pee every 15 minutes. This wasn’t a problem during the night, we settled into a sort of routine of me stopping alongside the track to squat while Justin ran ahead to let them know at the aid station what I needed. And then it got light out and the weather was beautiful and lots of people started showing up to walk the track. Justin was great about keeping watch for me at the back end of the loop, but as we neared the end there were just too many people around for me to find a lull in foot traffic. Around mile 96 we got to the backend of the loop and I had to go and the field was full of picnicking and hiking families and even some girl doing a workout on a tree stump...I had no patience at that point and definitely no modesty and despite Justin suggesting I step over a log just beyond the treeline (I just stared at him and then he suddenly realized the magnitude of what he was proposing I was capable of at that stage of the game) I dropped down where I was on the trail and in an effort to distract people, Justin proceeded to do exaggerated air squats in front of me which really only made me laugh and draw more attention…
The sun made an unexpected appearance and I was really wondering if I would just melt right there on the track as we came back towards the aid station heading into what I think was around mile 98. We decided to cross over and take the high trail back to keep me out of the direct sun and as we approached the end of the loop I could see a woman coming towards me and heard Justin say “look you’ve got a friend here!” In my ultrabrain I was confused because I was sure it looked like Allison, but I couldn’t figure out why she would be there and not home sleeping- it didn’t occur to me that it was almost noon. Her husband had been running in the park and when he saw the aid station he rushed home to let her know I was still out there and she came to surprise me and run to the finish with Justin and I. She had brought a bluetooth speaker with her and turned on my playlist and shortly we were all singing along to my stupid 70’s music.
After a final round of pancakes I was ready to get it done. I wanted to be done forcing myself to eat. I wanted to be done having to pee every 15 minutes. I wanted to be done moving. We made it out to the back end of the loop and did an extra circle out there on the little loop- I wanted to make sure I was really done when I finally got back. The sun was really hot at this point and everything hurt...as we ran into the aid station all I could hear was cheering and the sounds of my own choked back sobs. I finished in 28:48:17. Someone brought me a chair and I just sat in awe of how many people had given up time and sleep to stay out there and help me finish a 100 miler...the outpouring of support and love I experienced out there is indescribable and I’ll probably spend years trying to come up with ways to express my gratitude to everyone who made this run possible for me.
On to Double Top 200 in just over 3 weeks :)
