Kettle Moraine 100 Mile - RunUltra Marathon

I started towards the back and did well walking the hills from the beginning... more coming back than going out, or at least it seemed. I couldn't even relish the downhills since they're almost slower for me than the ups. I knew I needed to pace muyself, but I also knew that I would be walking a LOT at the end and needed to bank at least a little time to meet cut-offs later in the race. That course must inspire something in me because at Ice Age I kept repeating in my head "Get into the Zone, the Running Zone" to the tune of the Auto Zone commercials and at this race I kept hearing "Make hay while the sun still shines" and kept thinking about my Grandma and her funny sayings. (She always tells my husband he's as handy as a "pocket on a shirt" etc.) It made me smile and kept me focused to be sure I was "making hay"=running as much as I could. I was going so well the first few miles and around mile 9 (Garmin-less for this run) took my first fall, probably on a rock. Big bloody gash on my elbow and banged up my right knee, but not too bad. Run on. A mile later, I wipe out again and land the exact same way. Leaves and dirt in the gash now, more knee damage. I'm now comfortably hanging with the sub-24 hour guys and go down twice more banging up both sides of my left knee sometime before the 24 mile aid station. This is also when my feet start aching like crazy, which isn't entirely new, but not super common that early in. My Mom was working the aid station when I came through around mile 24 so that was nice, except I really was feeling kind of bad. I had to remind myself several times during this race not to extraopolate the pain. Just because I feel awful at mile 24 doesn't mean I won't feel really good later on, and I kind of did. After leaving there my feet started to feel a lot better and I couldn't even feel my gashes anymore, but it felt like a long, long way to the turnaround for the first loop at mile 31. Heading back from there was nice because it was in some ways the "home stretch", for the first loop at least. My upper back and shoulders were the sorest I think they've ever been and I kept thinking how nice it would be to have a little massage. I asked the general crowd at the mile 37ish station if anyone would be willing to rub my shoulders and a spectator did. I felt a little awkward asking, but I knew I would feel so much better and really did. I was so thankful for her!! Somewhere in the stretch I met a girl doing the 100k in a very low spot. She asked me if I though she could walk it in and apparently she didn't know she had until midnight which really should've been enough time if she kept moving. Then she said she didn't have a light. I had a back-up in my drop bag at the next aid station and offered to run-walk there with her, but she didn't want to run at all, so I got her name and number and told her I'd leave it with the workers for her. She was a little worried about not being able to return it, but I told her that she could keep it or pass it along to someone someday. Somehow, knowing I could help fellow runner really buoyed my spirits and from meeting her to the mile 47 aid station (where my Mom would also be working)were my highest miles mentally at least. I thought I really was doing alright when I saw Mom again at mile 47. She massaged my shoulders and I had some pumpkin and banana bread. We made plans for her to head out to the finish line for me the next morning and I was optimistic that I really had a chance of making it in. In the next few miles I was attacked my mosquitos, which I think is somewhat irrelevant to the race outcome, but I should've sprayed down at the aid station and I also started losing speed and was having to walk a lot more: some due to lack of training, but a lot due to the rough terrain. I needed my headlight around 9:30 and it was so dim it was useless in the woods. I had a handheld LED too, but wanted to save its batteries for later that night. So, at this point I was totally planning on making an all-night go for it. I did have extra headlamp batteries though and had a volunteer change them out for me at the last aid station before the 100k finish/end of 1st loop. Such a difference. It really was stupid not to plan and pack with more care. (I should've learned my lesson after packing old, leaky, foggy goggles my last tri to really inspect my gear. The low battery light was on from the beginning.)
I then started a little math. This took some time, but I knew I would finish the 100k in around 17 hours which would give me 13 hours for the last 38 miles. I knew that meant walking 20 min. miles. Generally, that would be totally doable for me maybe even for so far. However, my knee was starting to not ache so much as just not cooperate, especially on the constant hills. I checked the mile markers against my watch (the last 5 miles are markedas a countdown) and I was taking around 22-23 min. per mile and I wasn't sure how much longer my knee would hold out period. So, it was pretty disappointing that last mile knowing that I should call it a night since I had no chance of even making it under cut-off and was starting to worry about damaging my otherwise quite fine knees. Even sadder with the perfect weather conditions and full moon. I had to choke it back a little at the finish line announcing that I was a 100 miler dropping to the 100k as I ran under the mocking banner. The race director said I looked really good and seemed really together and offered me time to reconsider since I had another hour before the 62 mile cut-off, but he commended my choice when I explained about my knees and how I had been doing 22-23 min. miles for the past 4+ miles. I might have been just a little out of it though since when he pointed to my waist and asked me to "snap it off" I thought he was asking for me race number to mark me off the 100 mile list, but it was really my headlamp he was talking about. Then he asked if I ever drank beer and I explained that I don't drink and he asked if I ever had a Coke and I said "yes" thinking maybe he was offering a drink, but it really was just making small talk about the finishers' bottle opener/pocket knife that went with the little copper kettle. They label everything the Kettle 100 so it works for 100 mile and, I guess, 100k. I used his phone to call my Mom (in bed) at the hotel to come get me. She was really good about it. Supporting my decision to drop, but also saying how proud she was that I ran what I did. She even let me stay in the car got my drop bag for me that had been taken to the 85 mile aid station. Ok, I didn't think I was too upset about dropping, but I'm actually crying a little now typing this all out. It's good though to care and learn. I did for the first time not have blisters on the balls of my feet (I put Dr.Scholls blister pads on pre-race hoping they would stick to clean, dry feet. They didn't, but the glue stuck my sock to the balls of my feet and it was perfection(!)and am happy with near perfect nutrition/hydration. I did some new things nutrition-wise and they went very well.
I'm not really sure how I actually thought I could run 100 miles with the recent chaos of my life, but I'll try to be content with the 62 I did. There's no point in wondering what I would've felt like if I hadn't fallen so many times (actually 4 ties my record for least number of falls during a trail race). It didn't really hit me until I got up and around this morning and realized that I would've still been out on the course that maybe I should've kept going until I actually missed a cut-off. I know realistically, there was no way I would be able to walk 20 min. miles 85 miles into it when I couldn't even make them 60 miles in, but a person still wonders.

Training would've helped. I did have an October 100 miler, solid winter training of back-to-backs and two spring 50ks and two spring trail 50 milers, but it just wasn't enough.

We hit the McDonald's drive-thru for a Diet Coke and chocolate shake after getting my drop bag before returning to the hotel and I had the worst, most sudden wave of nausea I think I have ever experienced. I was seriously worried about puking in my Mom's brand new car. I rolled down the window and laid the seat back and it passed in a few minutes, but it was close. Maybe if I feel like that during a race I'll at least have the experience of knowing that it might pass.


Working 50 hour weeks plus prep/grading/commute and preparing to sell a house and move cross-country is not conducive to training. Just one of those "life" things I guess.