Five loops, 20 miles each loop. All trail.

Snap-Crackle -Thunk...That about sums up what the first few miles at Rocky Raccoon 100. Race morning began at a cool 25 degrees in Huntsville, Texas. Getting to the start line, I gave kisses and hugs to my husband and my Dad who was able to come up for the race. At 6AM we were off and running.

Lap 1 - As soon as we hit the trails, I knew instantly this race was going to start off much-much slower than I planned, for two reasons: 1. I have terrible eyesight to begin; in the dark I might as well be blind and 2. Wooden bridges the first three miles were frozen over with ice and all of the roots just waiting to eat up my ankles.

My friend Doug ran this race last year and had to bail within the first five miles due to a terrible ankle injury - now I know why - ROOTS! Tons of evil roots hiding under pine straw. All I could think of the first few miles was, Do NOT get injured!! I decided pace was not as important as preventing injury and slowed way down.

I passed my loved ones around the first aid station hoping to catch a little sympathy when I yelled, "I can't see!!" But eh, all I heard back was, "Keep rolling." Oh. Ok. Thanks.

The rest of the loop didn't get any better. As the sun came up, I was thankful for the warmth, but it's been a long time since I ran trails that my stride was off. I ran like a road runner forgetting to lift feet high enough to miss roots. Within the first lap I managed to fall four times. The first time I remember thinking, "Ok, well that wasn't too bad a fall." By the fourth fall, for a fraction of a second I wanted to just stay on the ground and have someone carry me off. My body ached so bad, my knees and right quad felt terrible and knotted up. I'm not a graceful faller either. It's more like a THUNK-SPLAT! I usually never think to use Aleve or anything during runs until at least the last 30 miles or so of a 100 but geez - first 20 miles and I was begging like a puppy for Aleve. No such luck.

Lap 2 - I don't really remember much except that I hurt all over. The sun was up and I struggled a lot to find a good line in the trails. I'm so blind that the sun played tricks with my eyes, casting shadows through the trees. I think this is the lap where I asked for my prescription eyeglasses. It was a last minute thought I had in hopes of seeing better. Unfortunately, no such luck. The glasses made me dizzy and I stumbled once more. Stored in my pocket, they would stay until the next lap.

Lap 3 - I need better eyesight! Here's the problem, I have one extreme far sighted eye, and one near sighted eyeball and they don't get along at all. Ugh! Depth perception on trails is incredibly difficult. Having said that, I don't think it was my eyesight this time when I zoned out and took a wrong turn. Somewhere on the back stretch I did the back loop and almost did it again. Things started to seem awfully familiar (like hey, didn't I *just* pass this?!!?). Came up on two other runners who graciously helped me figure out that I was going the wrong way. Darn it! Heading back I felt tears rushing down my face and my clenched up throat would barely let me breathe. Runners coming toward me yelled to me that I was going the wrong way. Yes - I know!! It felt like eternity on that trail and I started to worry I was still lost. More tears. Two more runners asked if I needed help. We compared distance from our GPS watches and they told me to keep going I was almost back on track. And yes finally - I made it back to DamNation aid Station. It was so upsetting because I had passed the third place female and now I knew my 25 minute screw up threw me back into fourth place. Coming into the aid station I saw a volunteer using his blackberry to take pictures. I came up on him and asked if I could use his phone. He dialed my husband's number and I quickly told Russ what happened. My fear was that the delay would create additional worry for them and I just needed them to know what happened. (Ok, and maybe I just needed to hear Russ' voice to calm me down a bit too.)

Lap 4 - This is when we were allowed to have pacers. Yay!! My first pacer was Russ. I had asked him on the fly toward the end of Lap 3 if he would meet me and run the first three miles. He was there waiting to run. I was sooo happy to have him running beside me. He pep talked me and updated me with all of the texts , and messages from friends. All of it made me feel so much better about things. We came up on the first aid station said goodbye and picked up my next pacer Keith. I had never met Keith in person until the night before the race. My friend Sarah recruited him to be my pacer and not until later would I know how incredibly lucky I was to have an amazing person pace me. The first few miles Keith talked and we got to know each other. It was getting dark so our focus was finding the best way to light up the trails so I could see. What a massive struggle! I think we switched light positions three or four times. I was very achy from the ankle twists and falls from the morning so I took some Aleve and starting feeling better. Moving at a decent clip I could tell my pace was still completely off track. I didn't know what my target time and with Keith there it made more sense to just let him take control of timing. The night slowed us down in the heavily rooted section but we were able to pick up the pace a bit on the flat straight sections. I remember laughing with him because on the sections I hated the most, he loved. On the sections I couldn't wait to run on, he couldn't stand. It actually made for a good team. No telling what my pace would have been if my pacer couldn't run on rooted trails either.

It was getting late into the evening and as we made our way back to the Start/Finish area the idea of having one more lap seemed incredibly daunting.

Lap 5 - Back out for one last loop. Russ confirmed I was holding second place female overall....although it seemed a bit hokey to still be 2nd when the first place female, Liza Howard, had won hours ago. I think at that point the 3rd place female was about 15 minutes behind but who knows if that was Russ trying to get me to run faster or actually the case...

This was the hardest lap of all. My body ached all over from the falls, the ankle crunchings; fatigue in general . Keith and I talked about my previous races and I told him how the other races seemed so picture perfect, seamless. This one was testing me. Everything that could go wrong did but I told him quitting was not an option. I wanted so badly to push through and see for myself what happens when the wheels fall off. Sure, I've had other races that didn't go completely perfect but goodness, this race so many things went wrong altogether. Keith was incredibly patient, remaining positive and upbeat despite my slow pace. Pretty much the entire last lap I had explosive stomach issues. Explosive being the key word here and I apologize for the graphic details but you just can't imagine. At times it was just explosive, but possibly violent! And worse yet - the rashy feeling after was terribly painful. Thank goodness for Bodyglide or I may have used GU as a last resort to stop the chafing (talk about creative!). The last six miles Keith and I realized that running of any kind caused more frequent explosions. It really became a matter of what's faster - running with more explosions or walk fast with less explosions. We walked. Of course that had negative effects too because temperatures were back to freezing. We were shivering trying to stay warm. With the last three miles to go, Keith grabbed some hot chicken broth in hopes of warming me up and helping the stomach. It felt like a death march. My heart wanted to RUN, my body had enough that day.

Finally in a time of 22:36:31 I came across the finish line placing 2nd female overall. What a day!

When I think of all the races I've done. This is my proudest race. There was never any wavering on my commitment. Did I cry? Several times. Did I ache? Yes. Was there an option to quit? Heck no. There were many (and I mean, many) times throughout the day when I thought of my friend Arthur Webb, The Grinder. He's a legend at Badwater and has had to push through some serious moments but always comes through to the finish. My friend Sandy was also in my heart and mind. She's an incredibly strong woman who has been fighting cancer and always has the most contagious smile and laughter despite! It's people like Sandy and Arthur that make anything seem possible.

There are so many people to thank too. I posted earlier that morning that it takes a village to run 100 miles, not just one person. It's the truth. So many people go into helping out. Not just Joe P., Race Director, and awesome volunteers but friends and family who literally go above and beyond the call of duty.

My darling husband Russ who was instrumental in handling logistics, crewing and communicating time splits, among a million other things. Coach Amanda who has been an incredible help getting me trained, Keith G. unbelievable pacer. Keith and I started as strangers and ended up as family. His wife Rebecca was there helping out too! Doug R who spent countless hours working the numbers to create pace scenarios and kept in touch with Russ on the phone going over time splits. My Dad who drove up pulling his camper for the first time ever in the crazy ice weather just to be there for me. And of course all my friends sending super awesome messages throughout the day! Thank you all so very much!!

Now - what's next? Recovery...and yes...I can *FINALLY*apply for Badwater!!! Stay tuned.

PS: Will I do Rocky Raccoon again? Absolutely! This race is very well done. Great aid stations, super schwag and well ok....it didn't hurt that there was nice eye candy lapping me by the names of Krupicka, Jurek, Meltzer, et. al. Ha!