What Just Happened to me? -Where's Waldo 2010 Race Report

Writing this race report was really the impetus for starting this blog.  I wrote the report and sent it to a few friends who then asked if they could forward it on.  In a few days it was posted on the running group forum I belong to.  After multiple positive email comments and several encounters with people who new me as the girl who wrote this report I decided to start a blog.  It has taking me about 5 months to get my blog going, mainly because I wanted to come up with a good title.   Hope I did!

At the Start the night before (by CSmith)

What just happened to me?

I have to say it even hurts to sit at my computer today.  To say the race was hard is an understatement but I guess in my case it could have been  5 minutes and 40 seconds harder and I still would have gotten my "I don't ever have to do this race again" finishers hat!

Yup with a time of 15:54:21 I finished my first 100k 5 minutes before the 9pm (hat) cutoff. 

The race started pretty well I fell in with Craig, John Liebeskind, and a few other runners.  We all warmed up on the big climb out of the start by laughing and yelling at John.  He decided it was more important to know his heart was beating than to start the race.  Hint for next year John: You’re moving so you’re beating!
 

AS1 came up and oh yes a pit toilet, guess I'll stop.  This was the end of the fun race for me.  I never ran with another racer again, except 5 miles towards the end.  The climb up Mt. Fuji made me dizzy, I almost left the AS2 without eating and I have absolutely no memory of someone taking off my headlamp which happened either here or at AS1.

More walking (by CSmith)

I saw Craig a few times in here but he didn't seem to be having a good time either.  The run down Mt. Fuji was fine but then the terrain flattened out and I couldn't run.  By mile 18 I was counting 100 paces to make myself run and was seriously thinking about a DNF. After a few hundred rounds I got cranky at counting and told myself I needed to figure out the cutoff times and go from there, so I started walking.

One of the few Happy Moments (by CSmith).

That's when the angels appeared handing out smiles and chocolate frosting (AS4) in fist size globs, I was in “Heaven!” As soon as I saw a familiar face I moaned "I need some Waldo." The Twins aid station was my salvation.  I stayed there so long Gaby (Tia Gabalita) was yelling at me to "Get up, Get going, Start running"  so I did, I walked another half hour out of there.  Then I came upon an early start who informed me of all the cutoffs.  I started running.

The Angels (by CSmith)

32 miles in I arrived at Charlton Lake Aid station (AS5) with 21 minutes until the cutoff.  I made Scott Leanord (the aid station captain and also the Co-RD for our local 50K) jump into Charlton Lake with me, since he's the one that made me think I could do this!  We waded into the water and he said to me “I can't go any further these are my only shorts.”  I laughed at him and said "These are my only shorts and I still have to run!"  He grabbed my hand and we dove in.  Thanks to everyone that dried me off and shoved Vaseline in my face reminding me of all the places I could potentially want it while dripping wet and running!

Shoes back on, I was sprinting. I was now making tracks from my frosting sugar rush and an adrenaline rush from the dunking.
 

Weird side note: a northbound PCT thru hiker was hanging out at that aid station waiting for me.  He had talked to Craig earlier in the race and it turns out that we had met in Vermont while Craig and I were south bounding the AT and he was out on a long trail run!  Go Freebird!

I reached the next aid station with 20 minutes to go before its cutoff.  This adorable toothless 6 year old, Macy, asked me in the sweetest syrupy cute and worried voice "Are you last?"  I couldn't help but melt she was just too cute!  I said, "I don't think so, but almost."  Then she said "What's your name?" I said, "April" and she gasped "Oh that's cute!"  If anyone else in the world had asked and responded in such a way, after I’d run 37 miles, I probably would have knocked their two front teeth out.  Seeing how she didn't have any, I just wanted her to keep me company as hanging out with her for those few minutes really was one of the more pleasant moments in the race!

So her dad came over and I started drilling him.  What times the next cutoff?  How many miles? How much is uphill?  His answers just kept getting worse and worse. Where's Macy?  At least she would have been cute when telling me the bad news.  I had 150 minutes to get 7.5 miles and it was 80% uphill. Considering I was 37.5 miles in on the day it was devastating news.  Plus I had to start carrying extra gear here since it was the last aid station I could pick up my flashlight, extra water bottle, and warm clothes.  At this point (approximately 2pm) I had no idea if I was even going to finish, more or less finish before I’d needed any of it.

I guess the two espresso flavored Gu's, with 100mg caffeine each, really helped because I

Hell! (by CSmith)

made it into "Hell" with 30 minutes to spare!  This was the second to last cut off for the race and the last cutoff where you could be pulled from the race if you did not get there on time.  The final cutoff occurs at the finish line.  If you are not there by 9pm you still get a qualifying finish time, but no finisher’s hat! 

Lucky for me this was the same aid station with the good food, you loop your way back here so this was my second time through!  I'd eaten the fist size glob of frosting here earlier.  So I parked my butt in front of the food, it was nearly dinner time right? and proceeded to graze on everything: soysausages, grapes, melon, potato, m&m's and yep more chocolate frosting.  I'd never eaten so much or such a variety at a race before.  I was always strictly gu and potato girl before.  But I was starving and I spent a large portion of the race starving I need some serious calories.   

 Here I picked up 2 more racers and we walked, ran, and chatted another five miles to the next aid station.  I got stung by a bee in the section. Suck.

Doesn't he just look evil?  (by CSmith)

 Maiden Peak aid station arrived and I parked it in front of the food again, in a chair this time. Got the stats and was out of there.  3 miles to the top of Maiden Peak, 2 miles down to the last aid station and 12.5 miles left to go.  I left the aid station with the 2 other racers we talked about the seriousness of our situation.  It was 5:15pm and we had the hardest 3 miles of the race in front of us.  We had to be at the top of Maiden Peak by 7pm or we did not have a chance at that hat.   I had done Maiden Peak 3 weekends before, but this was an entirely different experience.  The other two racers fell behind me and I started having evil thoughts. “Craig Thornley is a bad bad man.  Craig Thronley is sadistic.”  “No one that I would call a friend would ever make people do this 53 miles into a race.” “Craig Thornley is so mean.”  

I made it to the top at 6:55pm.  That’s 3 miles in 100 minutes, a 33min/mile pace.  Really?  Really!

The top was carnage; there were volunteers 0.25 miles from the top and at the top.  There were racers sitting on the ground in the cold with the volunteers, there were people contemplating each step on the way down from the summit. It was not a pretty site.  But I had 125 minutes and 9.5 miles to get that darn hat.  So I ran, I started feeling shin splints and I ran.  There was an aid station in there somewhere and someone tried to put a sanitizing wipe across my forehead.  I’m allergic to those, but I freaked out.  I had 7.5 miles to go and someone was holding my chin trying to swipe my face with something that was going to give me a terrible rash.  I grabbed some potatoes and ran.

What just happened to me? (by CSmith)

I got to Rosary Lakes, aah 3 miles left and 50 minutes to do it in. I thought I was in the clear. So I slowed down but ran what I thought was another mile.  Then out of nowhere, they looked like ghosts, I hear “you’re at lower Rosary lake 3.4 miles to the finish line.” I had only 40 minutes left.  I said “Sh*t” and just kept running.  It was dark now and I was trying to get my headlamp out.  I was screaming at my fannypack.  I was screaming at my legs.  Every thought I had was spoken outloud. “OK you have about 2 miles left and 24 minutes that's 12 minute miles."  I even said the the "OK you" part outloud. There were a few “F*ck!” and a few, “April why are you walking?”  I may have been alone for most of this race but those last few miles I kept myself good company!  

I saw the ski lift lights and threw down my handheld and fanny pack.  I had 7 minutes and I had no idea how much further.  I broke through the trees and I hear “It’s right there.” I had a football field size gravel lot to cross and I hear “Number 80 is coming to the finish!”  In this booming God like voice from on high.  Then I hear “Is that you April?”  I yelled Yep!  And Meghan Arboghast and Craig T. were there to give me a big hug.  I got my darn hat.

What just happened to me?