Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Answering Questions About a 100 Mile Run


A little over a  week has passed since I crossed the finish line of the Kettle 100.
I am still fielding questions and believe me I understand the challenge of wrapping your head around a 100 mile run.  My mom mentioned in a conversation that it was difficult to imagine running that far and I understand what she means.  Even though I physically did it, it is still hard for me to wrap my head around that kind of distance.  In my head it doesn’t seem like it was that long and to be honest, there was no point out there where it felt that long.
Here are some of the most common questions.
Do you stop at night to sleep?  No!  Stopping was a constant temptation.  The bonfires that were going to keep crew members warm were tempting and the hard plastic chairs looked as inviting as my bed ever has.  As much as every cell in my body screamed for a break,  I knew allowing myself a rest would be more than a break.   
The urge  became a battle in my head the last few hours.  If you could have recorded my internal thought process I would have qualified for any number of diagnosis, and my sanity was no longer in question.  It was just nowhere to be found.  I seemed to be stuck in a loop of the same thoughts over and over with the same rebuttal and argument.  “Stop, rest”.  “Just keep moving,  don’t stop”.   Repeat that at least one trillion times and that was my thought process for the final 15 miles.
Do you eat?  Yes, at least at first.  I had everything carefully planned out, labeled, sorted, marked, organized into bins, times and aid station marked.   I had calories, mg of sodium and hydration marked out hour by hour. Part of running this distance though it the necessity of flexibility. We have had a cold spring here in Wisconsin and my last long run three weeks ago was in rain, sleet and 30 degrees.  At the start it was already over 70 degrees,  the humidity was 80% and climbing.  We have had high amounts of rain which  meant the trails and woods were wet and humid, and the air was tropical even at 6 am.  Within the first hour I knew my initial estimates for sodium was not going to be enough, so I doubled my intake.  This worked OK, but by 4 pm, about 10 hours in, my body started refusing calories.  With a long way to go I knew this could be an issue, so I quickly came up with a new goal.  To make it through the race without vomiting. Judging by what I saw at aid stations a lot of runners were not so fortunate.   Nutrition from that point on was sporadic at best, it was a constant balance of trying to get something in me and to figure out what might stay down.  As long as I kept up my hydration and sodium I thought I could make it through.   As evening approached the aid stations started providing broth which would turn out to be a lifesaver for me, and just under the 100k mark, one of the stations had perky volunteers making grilled cheese!  It was the best sandwich ever!  
How do you run that distance?  Early in the day, I was surprised multiple times when I looked at my GPS.  The course, although extremely difficult was beautiful and I was feeling good.  I remember looking down several times and being completely surprised to see another 5 or 6 miles had clipped by.  It was clipping by and I was enjoying every moment of it.  Part of my strategy mentally is just running from aid station to aid station which makes it feel like a bunch of shorter runs clumped together.  The camaraderie of ultra-runners is also amazing and even though most of us were out there running on our own, there is a genuine encouragement versus competitiveness among runners.  Whether it was someone coming back on a loop meaning they were really far ahead of me or someone I was passing, no one ever passed without an encouraging comment.  I was shocked and surprised that I didn’t hit a wall until after the 100k mark. The training I had done had prepared me well.  Through the night as my pace slowed,  I kept trying to figure out what was wrong.  I had slowed down, I was tired and cold and the miles started to feel really long.  In my head I caught myself a hundred times trying to determine if it was an issue of fuel or hydration.  Then I would laugh at myself realizing that at 3 am after running for 21 hours, it wasn’t any of those things.  I was just tired!!  And then 5 minutes later I would be mentally checking my list of what I had taken in, trying to figure out why I was falling short.  Mental smack. “ You are just tired, you should be tired.  Oh yeah.”  Repeat.
The race was officially 100.8.  On any normal day .8 is not a big deal.  The last few hours of the morning though, I had fantasies of stopping exactly at 100 miles and making them move the finish line to me. 
Would I do it again?  Without a doubt.  Despite the pain, the fatigue, the challenges that come with it there  is nothing quite like it.  It is sense of pushing myself in a way I will never be able to put into words and a feeling of empowerment which is priceless.   It is a sense of coming face to face with your deepest layers and your deepest fears.  It is facing them, acknowledging them and knowing that no matter what they are you will be OK and you have what it takes.  It is a personal accountability and a personal challenge to survive the highs and lows and to know you can go from heaven to hell and back again, but in the end smile as you hit the finish line. 

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