Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run 2014

I'm starting this Sunday morning, at 5:18am; about 6 hours, 50 minutes after I finished the race and have failed to be able to get to sleep.

**Late morning extra** Went to breakfast at the State Farmers Market. Killed some bacon, eggs, and a monster pancake.

Pre-race: Even though it was the "secret" goal, most people knew I was aiming for a sub 16 hour finish. My competitive entry "mandated" a sub 17 hour finish, but I truly wanted to push the envelope. Last year, at my first 100, I had no goals, and while it was very tough, I don't remember feeling forced to overcome my body. 16 hours was perfect because a) it WAS far enough ahead to be truly challenging, and b) at 8 laps, 16 hours was an easy 2 hours per lap. My timing was incredibly tight; the difference between 17 and 16 hours was only 7 1/2 minutes per lap, which can EASILY snowball.

The week and a half before the race, the forecast was scary, flirting with the mid- to upper 70s, dipping higher and lower as we counted down. All week leading up to the race, I was incredibly nervous. Do I really have to do this?

Friday morning: That's all gone. I woke up, did an easy shake out run, and COULDN'T WAIT to get going. I volunteered at packet pickup, which gave me the opportunity to get a prime spot for a crew, and get settled pretty stress free. I rambled with the other pickup volunteers: Tom who was a multi-year, multi-race veteran, Caitlin a volunteer pacer, and Dana who was doing her first one hundred. I LOVE hearing everyone's stories, and that was no exception. I'll breeze over the rest of the evening, as we have race briefing, dinner, and Greg and I do a basic run down of my gear.

RACE MORNING:
I get up and munch down on some energy bars at my 4:30 wake up. I had moments where I had fallen asleep, but not being much of a pre-race sleeper, that didn't bother me. My roommate and I traded back random wake ups for midnight bathroom breaks. Over at HQ, Greg and I did another run through, and I chatted with all the guys I knew; racers, volunteers, staff.

LAP 1:
Right on time, the cannon fires, and we're off at 6:00. I place myself away from the front to get myself to get a good pace. I past most people within the first mile and half along the airport spur, but I'm not really worried at this point. At way point 1 (WP1), I grab a cookie. I'm still in that seesaw stage with most other racers; some of these hills a runnable, and there's a mix of strategies; I'm among the runners. For this lap, as planned, I'm running the LONG hill up ORCR before Turkey Creek. From the intersection with Reedy Creek Lake until aid station 2 (AS2), I chat with a guy, Jonas, from Rolesville who recognized me from the Mountain Masochist Trail Run. Here I take a long needed pee break, grab some easily digested fruit and water, and continue on my way. Having stopped, several guys get past me. Along North Turkey Creek, the seesaw hits the extremes, and I see people running some truly steep sections. For a few, I get caught up and run before I planned, but I ended getting a hold of myself. As we're coming down Graylyn, we finally introduced ourselves; one guy Mike I had met on lap 1 last year, and though stayed a head of him, it was only about 10 minutes. I also meet Traci, who had won the race in 2012. We're all pretty similar; Mike wants under 17; Traci under 16.
** Perspective ** There's a big difference between advice/encouragement give from mid-/back-of-the-packers and these front runners. And fourth runner who was with us was on his first 100 and wanted a 22. Most mid-/back would have give some encouragement: "Wow, well good luck to you." Traci and Mike were straight up: "Dude, slow the "f*ck down!"
** At WP1 I grab Gu to save my stash. I grab a hat from Greg back at HQ, who, after this lap, easily adjust to my shorter transitions. I've tried to be extremely specific in my requests. I think Traci and Mike said we were in around 1:54.

LAP 2:
I'm running the same sections as before. Most of this lap I'm running within a few 10s of yards of Traci and Mike. They are walking some of the hills I'm so use to running, but Traci is obviously great on the downhills, so overall we're pretty even. I left them as I ran up ORCR and they walked, but by 1.5 miles to AS2, they caught up and we stay together. I made a strategy changed, and plan to start walking some of that the following lap to save some energy. We continued our seesaw, and mostly piecemeal conversation, but were doing good. I add one hill as a walker but overall stick to my plan and don't lose time. It's incredible how fast Traci is on the downhills (she unabashedly LOVES them, even 4-5 laps later). I like the downhills; I just can't run them as fast. I grab another Gu at WP1 and keep on going. We're in right at 3:45. It's 15 hours pace, but I'm OK because I need some extra time. Greg and I have a good trade off, and I tell him to have the HEED ready for lap 5.


Lap 3&4. Probably some of the toughest laps because I'm still without a pacer. Mike's dropped off, but Traci and I still go back and forth. I'm quicker out of the aid stations and I think she's losing speed. It almost takes an hour to the next aid station, but she's gets on back. My walk/run ORCR feels good; only a minute slower to AS2 that before. Overall Lap 3 is in at 5:40, so not as quick. I've switched to HEED and it tasted better, but it's hot and nothing taste good going in. I'm force feeding/drinking at WP1. It leaves me bloated, but perks me up after a couple of minutes. I'm right at 7:40. With a 2 hour lap, I'm cooked, and tell Greg I can't do better than that. I'm thinking 2:05's if I'm working, but I honest could care less if I dropped to 2:30's.

Lap 5:
But holy crap! I've gotten my first pacer, Emmeline. She's good friend of Daren and Tood, but I've never met her, I didn't have great expectations. Those were unwarranted. She was simply amazing, and my spirits soared. When we talked about the race, the encouragement was dead on, but she also distracted me brilliantly. At the fuel spots, she asks what I want. I mostly know it when I see it, and from her I just want her to keep talking. We had a lot in common (she had gotten a Masters degree in Chemistry from NC State), and worked as pharmacists for a drug company on a really neat ailment (dilutional hyponatremia). We slowed a bit to 2:10, but I knew it would happen, and felt good that we kept that. I think I'm staying on top of my nutrition. My intake at the way points and aid stations is consistent, but I'm drinking less. I'm urination way darker, and way less than I did last year. I just keep trying to do the best I can.

Lap 6:
Another low point. I've picked up not-my-brother David, who I had met while coaching Masters swimming. He does a good job, but he's not the bubbly personality that Emmeline was. I guess I should've told him to talk, but I don't, and it's too quiet for my taste. He also asks me I want to walk at certain points, which is really the opposite motivation if you're trying to keep running. He's a very "maximize-efficiency" runner and tries to get me to run a certain spot of the trail which is unnerving. To be fair, I think I'm just hitting my bottom, knowing that even after 75 miles, I still have 25 miles to go. At some point Traci passes me with a gale-force second wind. However, I feel good because I feel that I've perfectly honed my walking/running points. I have all my landmarks in my head, and stick to regiment. I really think that determination, not to push the body, but to stick to the routine, kept me going. Hitting 2:10 again, we're to an average 2 hour lap, which unless I'm faster on the next two, 16 hours is gone.

Lap 7:
Todd. We start out kind of rough. Like last year, I need have to remind him several times to NOT run in front of me before he settles down. Starting lap 7, I feel like I just want to get through this lap well (another 2:10 is good) and just sandbag lap 8 for whatever. Todd's style is different, he's a good motivator, which perks me up. I get rid of eating Gu's and focus on true love; Sports Beans and Shot Blocks. I guess just that it's sort of solid food, but so much more digestible. It takes a while, but I hitting another high point. I hope it last until I get going on lap 8. I'm not sure what time I pass the timing mat, but I don't leave my crew until 2:18, but I had some major gear change, with my shirt, hat headlamp, and fuel pack.

Lap 8:
Again, I was resigned to sandbag this and just make it a victory lap. But I'm still on another high. Pace and pain be damned, but I still hit all the right running and walking landmarks. Nicole and I keep up a conversation. I'm so amazed, and proud; hills I felt sure I would walk, I'm digging deep to keep on running. My legs are on fire. But after seeing it for 8 laps, I see the sign "Pain is temporary, Pride is forever" and I keep up my strategy. We crest Cemetery Hill for the last time, a mile to go, and I'm start gunning it as best I can. At half a mile, I send Nicole up for the heads up. I crush the pain deep down and hurl myself down.

I come in at 16:28:49, within a minute of an hour improvement.

The rest is a happy blur. I do better to keep walking around. I'm wary of hugs and slaps on the back: my skin is sunburned and badly chaffed from my pack. This time I'm able to walk back to my car. David and I just get to make it out of the park for the 11 o'clock gate.


**Final Nutrition thoughts**
I used WP1, AS2, WP1 again, and HQ as my points of fueling. Besides the first lap, both WP1 stops were Gu stops, AS2 and HQ was solid fruit with Gatorade (once or twice Mtn Dew or Ginger Ale). I switched from water to HEED in my pack on lap 4 (mile 37.5) when it warmed up and took a S-cap (electrolyte pill) every hour. Initially the HEED tasted great, but when it got even hotter, that, as well as everything else got grosser.

I sucked down HEED, but also tried to increase my calories at my fuel stops. Both WP1 switched to a cup half Gatorade - half water, a Gu (eaten quickly before I spit it out), chased with a cup of water. I did that from lap 4, maybe until lap 5 around lap 7 and half-ish. AS2 and HQ was an additional cup of liquid fuel. I had a love hate relationship with this strategy. Everything tasted gross, and I had to chug to liquids before I'd throw away a half-sipped cup. That left me churning, but after 10 minutes or so, I could really feel the pick-me-up. Later, I was switching to Sports Beans and Shot Blocks; don't ask me how, but these really hit the spot over Gu's and were quite a blessing. Todd and Nicole were great at piecing them out.

One of the biggest take-a-ways was having a routine and sticking to it. I've always tried to take a more flexible approach. But I appreciated that when I didn't really feel like I could trust my gut, I just followed a regiment that I knew and in the end, dragged me through.

BTW. I changed shirt at mile 50. A friend along the course goes "New shirt, new man!" Another girl I was passing goes "Do you mind just taking it off and running just a little bit ahead of me." Loved it! Can't say I haven't wished for similar when the NC State team is out there.

So now it's all about taking it easy. I won't do much running for a bit, but work will keep me moving around, which I think helps mitigate the stiffness. I don't plan on even signing up for a race for a while; just let any running being about enjoyment.