It has been a few days now since “running” my first 100 miler and instead of the usual long drawn out story, I mostly just have some internal thoughts to try and capture. First and foremost is that I turned 50 this year and I had set one of my GOALS to do my first (and probably only) 100 miler when I turned 50. I also wanted to do the Texas Trilogy while I was at it and cross that off my list as well.
Steve and I started training this spring to build toward it but our training plans got derailed when Hurricane Rita came through our neighborhood. This closed the park where our running trails are. In fact it is still closed. As a result, our only training after the end of September was reduced to 4-5 mile runs during lunch on weekdays and a long run about once a month. I did NOT want to take the pounding of doing long runs on pavement so we got the long runs by signing up for races (Rocky Raccoon 50K, Rocky Trails 50M, Big Dog 50K) and then off to the trilogy (Sunmart 50M, Bandera 100K, RR100). I guess this means that we are the poster children of “minimal training” for a first 100 miler.
Anyway, Steve and I have built up some experience in running semi-long stuff and we had some idea of what we wanted to do. The RR100 actually went almost according to our plan. We were going to shoot for a 4:45 loop for the first couple and then taper back a bit to work our way through the night and next morning. Our key goal was to be patient and maintain good hydration and energy levels. I have lost the splits off my watch so I don’t know how well we stuck with the plan. I do know the first loop was right on 4:45 and the second loop was a bit slower but in the ball park of the target.
I started getting blisters on top (or underneath) my Bandera blisters and changed shoes about mile 33. I am sure this helped some but I fought them the rest of the way. Third loop I started having problems with my hip flexors – and this is what turned out to be what killed my pace. This was totally unexpected. We had done Bandera 100K a month before and there were no issues with hip flexors at all. Go figure.
Fourth loop, Robert Melendez and my wife Rebecca paced Steve and I. This was the best part of the whole race for me since I got to run some with Rebecca. Kind of like the good old days running with her around Bastrop. Anyway, we turned in a 6:50 loop. I was hoping for a 6:30 but at this point I was already slowing us down with my hip flexors going out and forcing grunts of pain out of me every hundred yards or so. Energy wise we were in great shape. Running through the night was absolutely a non-event for us (I guess Bandera gets you ready for running through the night when you are as slow as we are). No problems with muscle fatigue or cramping. No stomach issues. Blisters had pretty much gotten as bad as they were going to and we were getting used to the pain by now so they were sort of under control as well. We started the fifth loop right at 5:00 and I figured we could hold the 6:50 pace since we still had great energy and attitudes and make the 30 hour cutoff. If only the hip flexors would hold out……….
As it turned out things just kept going down hill for me and never got better. The pain of moving just got worse and worse with every hour that went by. As the sun came up there was no uplift of spirits or anything – just a continuation of dealing with the pain in my hips. The whole race finally boiled down to simple grim determination to not stop. I just had to totally focus on a spot about 5 feet in front of me and just pull it toward me. Push through the pain. Concentrate on forward motion instead of sideways waddling. Push through the pain. Take advantage of every little bit of down hill since I didn’t have to lift my legs to swing them forward. Find some way of making it up hills and over roots when you can’t make your legs lift. It was all about focus, focus, losing it and then coming back – focus, focus, focus………… Just keep pushing toward forward motion in spite of anything……
Somewhere between Dam Road and 174 I told Steve to stop waiting on me and go on ahead and finish his race. If he had left me sooner he probably would have made the 30 hour cut off and I feel badly about that. Robert Melendez our pacer stuck with me and kept me moving forward. Since I knew I was DFL at this point, I also used guilt about keeping the volunteers out there forever to try and keep me moving forward. It was fun though coming in to the aid stations and telling volunteers they could go home now. Boy did I get some enthusiastic receptions!
It would have been so easy to just stop moving and make the pain stop. Curling up right there on the trail was tempting but I did not let it become an option. Shuffle step by shuffle step I ticked off the remaining distance until finally it was all done. Robert even got me sprinting (ha!) on the last bit of downhill finish. It wasn’t totally clear to me exactly where the finish line was and I almost knocked my wife over as I came in because I just had to be DAMN sure I didn’t stop before I crossed the finish line. I knew that when I stopped I wouldn’t be able to start moving again. I think I kept moving just about all the way to the tables in the tent. Kinda silly I guess.
In hind sight I‘ve been re-examining what all we did during the race as far as pace, eating, hydration, electrolytes, etc. I guess I’d have to say that there isn’t a single thing I feel I should have done differently. I finished the race mentally alert, energy wise in good shape, no cramping to mention. My feet were a huge mess with new blisters underneath old Bandera blisters but that was to be expected. I even had some kind of blister thing that had grown up between my toes and was spreading on the top of my foot like some kind of strange growth. That one didn’t hurt but sure looked weird and we even got a photo of it.
Simply put I think what got me was that the ol hip flexors just weren’t ready to take the punishment. On one hand I wonder if maybe I just wasn’t tough enough to push through the pain and could have done better and kept my pace up if I was tougher. Was I as strong as other people?
On the other hand, I pushed through a hell of a lot of pain simply to finish when all I had to do was stop moving to make the pain stop - so maybe I am pretty tough. Who knows? How can you compare your pain to someone else’s? You really can’t. It is such a personal thing.
In summary I guess I met my goal but it would have been nice to make the 30 hour cut off. It’s a bummer to miss the Trilogy trophy but it is my own fault for not making the cutoff. I think I did things as right as I could during the race and am really pleased with that. I am totally convinced, though, that I needed more, longer runs on a more consistent basis to prepare my connective tissue for the pounding. Even though the hip flexors are what slowed me down, the ankles and heels were really beat up as well. I guess you just never know. If the hip flexors had been fine, I would have probably run into some other thing like energy level when I went faster. All in all I guess I did as well as I could have on that given weekend.
So - Will I ever do another 100 miler? No big plans to right now but I am not ruling it out. Since I didn’t make the cutoff, I certainly have more incentive to give it another whirl than I expected. This wasn’t a life changing experience and I am not just dying to get out there and have that much “fun” again right away. I may be willing to try again some time (next year?) if someone talks me into it - but only if I actually train for it first. On the other hand I’d really like to do the volunteer thing next year. We’ll see.
Finally - Thanks Joe and Gang for being out there and putting on a great show. Thanks Reb for pacing us and sharing the fun that fourth loop. It was good to be on the trails with you again. Steve – you are still an animal! Thanks for pulling me along. Robert – thanks for everything EXCEPT making me do that final “sprint” to the finish!
Duane Lewis, DFL/DNQ