Another One Down

By this time I am sure I have lost all of my faithful blog readers. I guess thats what happens when you only post every month or so. I will continue to write anyway.

Last Friday morning (5:00am), John & I set out for Huntsville Texas. We were both signed up for the Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Endurance Run. After several stops at Starbucks and 9 & a half hours of road time, we arrived at Sam Houston State Park. We set up camp, got the race packet, listened to the race briefing, ate the pasta dinner and got to sleep at a decent time. We woke up at 4:00am on Saturday to get ready for the race. We arrived at the starting area and were running right at 6:00am. The start of the race was dark for about an hour and then the sun came out. This course is set on a 20 mile looop. The first one went down pretty easy, but it started getting a little warm. I ended up ditching the shirt at the start of the second loop. Some time during the second loop, the temperature rose to around 80 degrees. What? This is February!!! As the heat started wearing on me, I began to realize how far I had left to go and the current run down condition I was in. (I don't care about the preposition). My mind started to get some negativity going and I started questioning my pace, fluid and food intake, and wether or not I could finish the race. By the end of the second loop, I had pretty much decided that I was going to quit. I told John that I might not be able to finish and he told me to sit and rest for a little bit. I sat in my chair at the start finish line and debated. I didn't want to turn in the number and timing chip. I drove 9.5 hours to get here, paid the race fee, and already put in 2/5 of the race. After 20 minutes I decided to take off for another loop. I put on the ipod and ran. On the third loop, I started to feel a little less run down and kept up a decent pace. I did the first and second loop in 3:45. I did the third loop in 4:00. When I got back to the start finish line, I sat in the chair for about 15 minutes and took off again. Night fell and it cooled down enough to wear my shirt again. I continued to listen to the ipod and log the miles. I was counting them down at this point. During the night, I stopped and sat down at every aid station except for the first one. I would drink a cup of coffee or eat some soup and then continue on. Eventually I finished the fourth loop in 4:15. I sat in the chair and looked at my pace chart. I had plenty of time to make it in under 24 hours. I knew I didn't want to walk the whole 20 miles so I started to try to push it a little. I think that lasted about a mile before the wheels fell off. I passed multiple people in the last loop but they were all hurting. I did get passed by a girl who was moving like a machine. We were coming through the last 5 miles and she was still running up the hills!!!! Thats rediculous. Anyway, I took my time on the last loop and I just kept thinking, "I will never see this section again". Finally, I could see the light of the finish line. I trotted in at 21:38:00. Thats a new PR for me. I am glad I didn't give up at 40 miles. On another note, I ran down a full battery on one ipod and switched over for about 4 hours on another one. I never really talked to anyone for the last 60 miles or so. I met people but it was just in passing. I was just ready to finish. After the race I recieved the belt buckle, shook the race directors hand and hobbled to the car. John was waiting for me at the finish. He got done around 19:30 for 11th place. I came in 33rd. We got showered up and hit the road around 4:45am on Sunday. After several coffee/stretching/gas/food/driver rotation stops, we arrived back in Memphis around 3:30 that afternoon. It was definitely an endurance trip. It was pretty fun. I still can't believe I can run that far.