Mmt 100 - Run

This was an incredible event. Highs and lows, extremely low lows. I wasn't feeling the run for a while, if at all. Just wasn't doing well way too early. I was moving okay but my mental status wasn't great. Somewhere around 30 miles I started to feel better mentally. Phew! Somewhere around mile 45 is where I thought my wheels were coming off. My stomach was a bit upset and my gels, food, and water weren't appealing to me so I wasn't eating or drinking. Leading into Habron gap aid station at mile 54 where I was to pick up sophorn as a pacer I hadn't eaten or drank anything for 2 hours

Off we went and I was getting deeper and deeper in the hole. For another 3.5 hours I didn't eat or drink another thing. The next aid station was 9 miles out and it was ALL I could think about. I thought that one of two things are going to happen here. I'm either going to keep moving and my stomach would get better or I would keep moving without eating or drinking until my body collapsed on the side of the trail. Buckle or hospital was my mantra for this one.

When I got into the aid station I broke down. Laid on the ground crying, questioning why they would ever put aid stations so far apart (9 miles is pretty standard). I was in desperate need not so much for aid but just to reach a marked point on the course. I was heading into despair. I sat in this aid station for a while and begged for my sister to come out with me. I didn't need a pacer - I needed someone who can handle me. I needed to be dealt with, for sure.

I can't speak of much about the next 15 ish miles as I was a mess. It took all my might to simply grunt to Chrissy. I couldn't produce recognizable words. I had to put on like 4 or 5 layers of tops as i was so cold. It was reminiscent of when I had that brief bout of hypothermia and I couldn't produce words and could physically feel my organs zapping my energy used for unnecessary uses to maintain life. Sounds dramatic but it was that bad. I had begged my sister to let me nap on the side of the trail JUST for five minutes. I made deals with her. I would have offered her a lot of money, too. Too bad for her that I didn't have my wallet on me haha. I know she won't like me saying this but it was hard to fall asleep because she kept rustling leaves while she was pooping. She poops - I nap. :-). Perhaps she will chime in on the comments and add stuff I was not aware of.

As the sun came up things got better. I was able to take my medication for my narcolepsy which helped a ton, I think. I had put coffee in my water bottle and chicken soup in another. I was trying anything to get calories and/or caffeine to get me going.

As my spirits improved I was able to eat some food. I had to still be cautious because my stomach didn't feel that good -just good enough. Chrissy and I moved on and we were doing pretty well. Around mile 85 ish is where I couldn't run those steep downs on the trails anymore. My quads wouldn't do it. I was still climbing very well and we were picking people off on those climbs. Note: Chrissy did very well with all of these climbs. I was impressed with her this weekend.

As we were approaching the last aid station I had another mini breakdown. Chrissy had been telling me that we had plenty of time and I had been arguing that anything can happen so we still needed to try and hustle. Then a new and very painful blister emerged and for one stupid minute while I was taking my sock off to see what was happening I just cried blaming Chrissy that we weren't going to make it. It was pathetic. Just one of those lows. Popped the blister and moved on. Changed shoes at the last aid station and moved on unknowingly accidentally putting my wet sock back on inside out. Oh well.

We had one big long climb left, a rocky long down and then 4 miles of road to the finish. I just couldn't believe I was almost done. It was so tough. We powered up jawbone 2, dealt with painful rocky and steep down (oh and long ) and got on the road. We did a fantastic job here and we both had to dig down deep. This was a rolling 4 miles. Nothing really flat. We ran pretty hard on the downs and power hiked up the hills. It was so tough. Toughest thing ever or me.

Finally saw the finish and ran my ass in.

I'm not sure. I'm happy I got it done and it was hard to do so. I knew this was going to be tough, but DAMN!!! It's freaking ridiculous. Anything can happen out there. I'm unsure why my stomach wasn't working but I think with the help of my crew and my stupid intestinal fortitude I got through it. I can honestly say that even with the ridiculous state I was in at times there was only one time I thought about the idea of me not finishing. I'm getting pretty good at just moving. I know things pass. Bad moments pass. They always do, but I thought without food or water I was done.

Drank my recovery drink and ate some food. After the last member of animal camp came in we did our push-ups.


I got some decent long runs in during training but I was lacking in overall mileage. Next time I will change socks more frequently on a wet and/or muddy course.


Can't say enough nice things about the folks at vhtrc. They are fantastic.