I entered the Mohican 50 mile race this weekend without huge expectations. I am still out of shape and had all kinds of stuff on my mind, from a recent break up with Kim, to custody issues with the ex-wife over the kids, and so on. Kim and I agreed that we aren't meant for each other and I will leave it at that. I don't have any hard feelings towards her, and I hope she could say the same, but we it just kind of hit us fully on Thursday and we went our separate ways.
So after giving my 6 year old daughter back to her mother for the weekend, I went up to Mo and checked in for the 50 miler. I haven't really trained at all for this, and kind of entered just so Kim and her boys could come out and crew for me to be honest. But, what the hell, ultras are about one of the funnest things I can think of besides sex, so I still went.
Friday night was pretty cool, I showed up at about 6pm and got signed in. I saw all kinds of people there including Rob Powell (currently an unchambered Bullet), Mike Patton, Kimba, Roy, Wild Bill, Steve Godale, Tanya, COLLEEN!, Regis, Gabe, Di, and on and on. Reunion with these friendly faces and souls is worth the price of admission at Mohican in itself, before you even take a step out of the campground.
After plenty of visiting to soothe my weary mind, I retired to my van around dark and settled into the back where I removed the seats. WOW, even without an air mattress or anything I was pretty comfy in there. I just brought three pillows and a blanket and I slept like a baby right up until my alarm at 4:15 am. I awoke to a pouring rain shower (how I was sleeping through that and the alarm still wakes me who knows?) and began to garb up. I slathered on the body glide, wool socks, put on the "good" underwear, orange shorts, red and orange trail shoes, and the red and orange shirt. Pinned the bib number to my shorts and the rain slowed and stopped around 430 am. Cool. (that is the LAST time I will use the word cool in this report.)
Out of the van and into the wet grass I chatted with a few people before the start - Kimba, Maryann the racewalker from Texas, Luc, etc. As has been the usual the last few years, Ryan got us started right on....oh, nope....5 minutes late. Believe or not that does wreak havoc for the back of the packers watching cutoff times later in the race when the aid station people don't adjust for a late start.
I started near Fred like I did last year and as Kimba predicted when we got to the edge of the campground we all bottlenecked up and had to shuffle and wait. It was very humid from the rain and even as I started up the first hill, I was sweating pretty good. I should have known something right then...I should have been seeking salt. That fact will come back to lick me later.
So I enjoyed the first 5 miles carrying nothing (getting harrassed by Roy as he passed me around mile 4 about not having a water bottle.) I decided I could make due on water from before the start and from the first aid station at Landoll's Castle until I got to Rock Point where I had sent my hydration pack. A quick stop at the castle (Kimba was even quicker) and I was off to Rock Point. Along side Kimba, I heard the clicking of what I thought were rocks in her shoes and almost joked about her having spiked shoes for the trails. Turns out from her blog, she DID and if I had said something I would have known that. Up the hill and doing fine, but wiping sweat from my brow constantly, I went on. No real worries here and just enjoyed a lot of alone time heading to the Rock. There I grabbed some food, water, Gatorade and donned my pack. I headed into the woods just in front of Kimba, but she would pass me in the first half mile and I would not see her again.
She must have really enjoyed the extra traction in the first 5 or 6 miles of trail because it was SLOPPY. I don't mind the slop on the flats, but running downhill in mud is the worst. I am always afraid of taking a header. I took my good old time, and quite honestly, by the time I was about 5 miles into the trail, the combination of the slow pace and all the stuff I was stressing on was really ruining my vibe. I figured when I got to Firetower aid station at 18.3 miles I would just quit and enjoy the day some other way. I got there and confessed to the aid station worker I was fine physically but just bummed out from missing my daughters and was thinking of just quitting. She (Vicky Halsey) listened and gave me some space to veg out for a few minutes and offered me some soup and other foods. I ate a few things, but really just had an epiphany after about 5 minutes in the chair that I wasn't going to let that situation ruin my day. I would be proud to run out of time from being slow and fat, or quit due to circumstances beyond my control, but I wasn't going to quit over that. I am and have always been, stronger than that.
I got my ass up out of the chair, headed across the road and ran down to the covered bridge. As always, I enjoyed counting down the foot bridges on the trail down to CB and it went pretty quick. At the CB, I had no problem cleaning up my feet, grabbing new socks and a little lamb's wool from Colleen and heading out on the Purple loop. The Purple loop is so unique and fun that it is easy to justify running it even when tired. It IS more technical and difficult but the rewards are some great views. I was warned by Walt heading out of the CB that the loop was reported as poorly marked, but I didn't care about that because I know the course. I figured it would be minor. WRONG.
At TWO different T junctions of trail where a runner could go either way, there was no longer any marking at all. I guess the rain showers washed it away, but this was a pretty huge deal. Runners from all over the country and world were at this race and had never seen this trail before. I was worried for Maryann from Texas right away as I knew she was behind me somewhere. I also now enjoy the fact that I ran half of this loop with Jeannie Gerstein who is one of my Ten.....More.....Miles! competitors and I didn't know it was her until AFTER the race at the finish line. I also saw Don on the way out to the Dam as he was coming back in.
I finished Purple thinking I was maybe within 10-15 minutes of cutoffs because I was going so slow. As I got back to the CB though, Walt told me I had a full 30 minutes, so what the hell, I saw Mike George there and asked him to repeat his experience of 2008 and join me to start the Orange loop. He liked the idea too and we were off on a Mike Hike. We both have plenty to bitch about and traded war stories a little, but I also found out the reason he was still this far back in the race was because he was having hydration issues and had peed blood a little (this happens when you get REALLY dehydrated.) If I had known that I wouldn't have asked him to join me.
Well, like clockwork, I started noticing on the Orange loop that I hadn't really peed much all day, and I usually pee at least once an hour during a race. I had been drinking pretty faithfully because of the heat, but what I didn't pack and prepare was electrolyte tabs, or S! caps that I usually bring to an ultra and take at least hourly. By replacing the electrolytes you sweat out, you restore the bodies ability to absorb and use the water you are drinking effectively. When you don't get enough salt (electrolytes) back in, you can start to swell up in your feet, fingers, etc. and notice that you don't pee much because the water isn't being processed but is instead being stored in your tissues.
Guess what? I had to loosen my watch a notch, TWO times in the first hour on the orange loop. I noticed my fingers were fat and I could hardly pee. I could not tell if my pee was getting orange because my shorts were orange and might have been affecting the color I saw. I took the few remaining E caps I had (similar to S! caps, different brand) and also ate a Luna bar from my pack to get more electrolytes in. Mike was feeling better and went on ahead of me, so I just plodded along to Hickory Ridge. I knew the time cutoff there to be 2:07 pm (plus 5 minutes from the start?) and I cruised in there at 2:00. I made a good show of running in fairly strong even though I knew I needed to quit due to hydration/dehydration and just being zonked. I settled in for the long wait for a ride back to the start finish and watched Maryann come in behind me by about 35 minutes and well past cutoff. She was relieved too, because she didn't want to go on. She had been lucky to run with Luc on the Purple (he had to run it TWICE because of missing a turn that was unmarked) and he guided her the second time. He came into Hickory Ridge right behind me and went right back out.
Luc, Mike George and so many others had to DNF their races this day, and I was very happy with my 30.4 miles completed. I am not CONTENT with that result going forward, but for the shape I am in, I am just happy and proud I didn't quit on myself and made the race beat me instead of other crap.
After the ride back I got a shower and a short nap in the van before getting up and helping at the start/finish line for the rest of the night with Colleen. I got to help as the race announcer from about midnight until 6 am as the runners came in to finish the 100 mile race. The winning male was Wyatt Hornsby in 19:52:40 and female was Jenny Chow in something around 23 hours (not sure.) Regis finished his 5th Mohican 100 in around 23 hours as well, and Gabe finished much later after I went to sleep to get his third buckle.
LOTS of other little stories from the weekend in the woods, but I have said enough. It was great being there for the 20th running of this great race and witnessing such great people.
So after giving my 6 year old daughter back to her mother for the weekend, I went up to Mo and checked in for the 50 miler. I haven't really trained at all for this, and kind of entered just so Kim and her boys could come out and crew for me to be honest. But, what the hell, ultras are about one of the funnest things I can think of besides sex, so I still went.
Friday night was pretty cool, I showed up at about 6pm and got signed in. I saw all kinds of people there including Rob Powell (currently an unchambered Bullet), Mike Patton, Kimba, Roy, Wild Bill, Steve Godale, Tanya, COLLEEN!, Regis, Gabe, Di, and on and on. Reunion with these friendly faces and souls is worth the price of admission at Mohican in itself, before you even take a step out of the campground.
After plenty of visiting to soothe my weary mind, I retired to my van around dark and settled into the back where I removed the seats. WOW, even without an air mattress or anything I was pretty comfy in there. I just brought three pillows and a blanket and I slept like a baby right up until my alarm at 4:15 am. I awoke to a pouring rain shower (how I was sleeping through that and the alarm still wakes me who knows?) and began to garb up. I slathered on the body glide, wool socks, put on the "good" underwear, orange shorts, red and orange trail shoes, and the red and orange shirt. Pinned the bib number to my shorts and the rain slowed and stopped around 430 am. Cool. (that is the LAST time I will use the word cool in this report.)
Out of the van and into the wet grass I chatted with a few people before the start - Kimba, Maryann the racewalker from Texas, Luc, etc. As has been the usual the last few years, Ryan got us started right on....oh, nope....5 minutes late. Believe or not that does wreak havoc for the back of the packers watching cutoff times later in the race when the aid station people don't adjust for a late start.
I started near Fred like I did last year and as Kimba predicted when we got to the edge of the campground we all bottlenecked up and had to shuffle and wait. It was very humid from the rain and even as I started up the first hill, I was sweating pretty good. I should have known something right then...I should have been seeking salt. That fact will come back to lick me later.
So I enjoyed the first 5 miles carrying nothing (getting harrassed by Roy as he passed me around mile 4 about not having a water bottle.) I decided I could make due on water from before the start and from the first aid station at Landoll's Castle until I got to Rock Point where I had sent my hydration pack. A quick stop at the castle (Kimba was even quicker) and I was off to Rock Point. Along side Kimba, I heard the clicking of what I thought were rocks in her shoes and almost joked about her having spiked shoes for the trails. Turns out from her blog, she DID and if I had said something I would have known that. Up the hill and doing fine, but wiping sweat from my brow constantly, I went on. No real worries here and just enjoyed a lot of alone time heading to the Rock. There I grabbed some food, water, Gatorade and donned my pack. I headed into the woods just in front of Kimba, but she would pass me in the first half mile and I would not see her again.
She must have really enjoyed the extra traction in the first 5 or 6 miles of trail because it was SLOPPY. I don't mind the slop on the flats, but running downhill in mud is the worst. I am always afraid of taking a header. I took my good old time, and quite honestly, by the time I was about 5 miles into the trail, the combination of the slow pace and all the stuff I was stressing on was really ruining my vibe. I figured when I got to Firetower aid station at 18.3 miles I would just quit and enjoy the day some other way. I got there and confessed to the aid station worker I was fine physically but just bummed out from missing my daughters and was thinking of just quitting. She (Vicky Halsey) listened and gave me some space to veg out for a few minutes and offered me some soup and other foods. I ate a few things, but really just had an epiphany after about 5 minutes in the chair that I wasn't going to let that situation ruin my day. I would be proud to run out of time from being slow and fat, or quit due to circumstances beyond my control, but I wasn't going to quit over that. I am and have always been, stronger than that.
I got my ass up out of the chair, headed across the road and ran down to the covered bridge. As always, I enjoyed counting down the foot bridges on the trail down to CB and it went pretty quick. At the CB, I had no problem cleaning up my feet, grabbing new socks and a little lamb's wool from Colleen and heading out on the Purple loop. The Purple loop is so unique and fun that it is easy to justify running it even when tired. It IS more technical and difficult but the rewards are some great views. I was warned by Walt heading out of the CB that the loop was reported as poorly marked, but I didn't care about that because I know the course. I figured it would be minor. WRONG.
At TWO different T junctions of trail where a runner could go either way, there was no longer any marking at all. I guess the rain showers washed it away, but this was a pretty huge deal. Runners from all over the country and world were at this race and had never seen this trail before. I was worried for Maryann from Texas right away as I knew she was behind me somewhere. I also now enjoy the fact that I ran half of this loop with Jeannie Gerstein who is one of my Ten.....More.....Miles! competitors and I didn't know it was her until AFTER the race at the finish line. I also saw Don on the way out to the Dam as he was coming back in.
I finished Purple thinking I was maybe within 10-15 minutes of cutoffs because I was going so slow. As I got back to the CB though, Walt told me I had a full 30 minutes, so what the hell, I saw Mike George there and asked him to repeat his experience of 2008 and join me to start the Orange loop. He liked the idea too and we were off on a Mike Hike. We both have plenty to bitch about and traded war stories a little, but I also found out the reason he was still this far back in the race was because he was having hydration issues and had peed blood a little (this happens when you get REALLY dehydrated.) If I had known that I wouldn't have asked him to join me.
Well, like clockwork, I started noticing on the Orange loop that I hadn't really peed much all day, and I usually pee at least once an hour during a race. I had been drinking pretty faithfully because of the heat, but what I didn't pack and prepare was electrolyte tabs, or S! caps that I usually bring to an ultra and take at least hourly. By replacing the electrolytes you sweat out, you restore the bodies ability to absorb and use the water you are drinking effectively. When you don't get enough salt (electrolytes) back in, you can start to swell up in your feet, fingers, etc. and notice that you don't pee much because the water isn't being processed but is instead being stored in your tissues.
Guess what? I had to loosen my watch a notch, TWO times in the first hour on the orange loop. I noticed my fingers were fat and I could hardly pee. I could not tell if my pee was getting orange because my shorts were orange and might have been affecting the color I saw. I took the few remaining E caps I had (similar to S! caps, different brand) and also ate a Luna bar from my pack to get more electrolytes in. Mike was feeling better and went on ahead of me, so I just plodded along to Hickory Ridge. I knew the time cutoff there to be 2:07 pm (plus 5 minutes from the start?) and I cruised in there at 2:00. I made a good show of running in fairly strong even though I knew I needed to quit due to hydration/dehydration and just being zonked. I settled in for the long wait for a ride back to the start finish and watched Maryann come in behind me by about 35 minutes and well past cutoff. She was relieved too, because she didn't want to go on. She had been lucky to run with Luc on the Purple (he had to run it TWICE because of missing a turn that was unmarked) and he guided her the second time. He came into Hickory Ridge right behind me and went right back out.
Luc, Mike George and so many others had to DNF their races this day, and I was very happy with my 30.4 miles completed. I am not CONTENT with that result going forward, but for the shape I am in, I am just happy and proud I didn't quit on myself and made the race beat me instead of other crap.
After the ride back I got a shower and a short nap in the van before getting up and helping at the start/finish line for the rest of the night with Colleen. I got to help as the race announcer from about midnight until 6 am as the runners came in to finish the 100 mile race. The winning male was Wyatt Hornsby in 19:52:40 and female was Jenny Chow in something around 23 hours (not sure.) Regis finished his 5th Mohican 100 in around 23 hours as well, and Gabe finished much later after I went to sleep to get his third buckle.
LOTS of other little stories from the weekend in the woods, but I have said enough. It was great being there for the 20th running of this great race and witnessing such great people.
9 comments:
Hey Mike, Nice to see a good long post from you. Sorry to hear about you and Kim. Valiant effort out there. Hey...anyone that laces up their shoes at the starting line of a race is a winner to me! Sheesh--it's still 30 freakin miles!
Good race report Mike!
Yes, I wore my winter shoes with the screws. The screws helped ALOT! Especially on the downhills. I would catch up to 2 guys who kept passing me on the ups-I'd catch them on the downs.
Way to hang in there. Glad you had a nice weekend experience.
A great job considering all of the conditions. And it's good that you didn't let your mind stop you.
Mike, exciting 30+ mile adventure under tough circumstances, way to go! In my 1 and only ultra (SO FAR), it really is about the people you run with and meet "out there"! Loved it!
So true the quote..."only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go"
You're going "through" some tough life stuff... key word - through, not staying there! Hang in there and I'll def keep you in my prayers!
30 miles is great! Glad you chose to stop to take care of yourself.
Mike, as always, I enjoy running with you. Thanks for the gels and BIG thanks for the s-cap you selflessly gave me. Here is a link that provided me with a lot of information and ease of mind.
http://www.ultrunr.com/urine-bl.html
I’m going into BR100 much better prepared.
Great job Mike you have done very well for yourself this year!
Job well done with all the other pressures added to your life. Go for a run relieves stress, racing 50 miles is not a stress release.
So a 50 mile race and stress, not good.
Congrats on the distance and hopefully life's distractions will be better next year.
Enjoyed our visit and glad you stopped by.
Nice job getting in the miles Mike.. Keep it up!
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