The weeks leading up to the Ironhorse 100 miler were filled with injury, doubt and fear. Fear that all of my training and planning would have to be stored away for another race, doubt that if I was able to run I would fall short of the 100 due to my Achilles injury. When the decision was made to attempt the race, I made up my mind that I would push forward through any amount of pain, barring a bone sticking out of my leg… of course. Runners are an irresponsible, short sighted and stubborn bunch, especially us ultramarathoners. I just recently read a quote, “Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon.”
Friday afternoon Tyler and I headed north to Palatka, FL. We checked into our hotel and had an early dinner so we could make it to the race meeting at 6pm and go to bed early, after all we would need ample rest.
The pre-race meeting was held at the hotel next door, there was talk about alligators, panthers and yetis but other than that was pretty uneventful. The race director Chris Rodatz did hang carrots by telling us we could drop down to either the 50 miler or 100K mid race if we wanted. Thanks Chris.
We awoke at 4:15am Saturday morning and had breakfast. I chose oatmeal, ensure, a banana and coffee, then we headed towards the start line an hour later to meet up with Albert to set up our base camp. Tyler did an amazing job being our crew captain, the food and medical spread was pretty impressive.
The gun was fired just after 7am, and off we went. The three races all started together and the course would head west for 1.75 miles, turn around, head back through the Start/Finish line and then another 10.75 miles east to the other turn around. There were three aid stations, one at the start/finish, one 4 miles east of the start line and another 5.3 miles east of the second station. The aid stations we stocked with the typical ultra fare, cookies, candy, pretzels, soda, chips, peanut butter and jelly, potatoes and salt, HEED and water. In my head the course was broken up into 5 mini sections. 1) West of the start line which consisted 3.5 miles of paved trail. 2) East of the start line the pavement continued for another 2.6 miles. 3) Finally we are on dirt/rocks/grass for 1.4 miles till the aid station #2. 4) The section between aid stations #2 & #3, all trail with a couple crew access points. 5) 3 miles of trail (1.5 miles to the turnaround and back) following aid #3, which began with 320 ft of trestles, where we walked on two 2x6s to cross a patch of water (alligator filled water of course).
MILES 0-25:
I realized in the first few minutes how much I disliked being on the asphalt; it hurt my Achilles with each step. Albert asked me about a mile in, “how are you feeling?” “Fine” I responded. “Well that is great the ankle isn’t hurting!” “No, it hurts,” I said “but if I don’t talk about it maybe it will go away.”
The morning was decent temp wise, around 60 degrees, but super humid. It would eventually get into the 70s and feel really warm.
When we crossed the road the separates the asphalt and dirt trail I was relieved, at one point I said to Albert “I could do this all day” “Good cause we have to”.
The first lap I wanted to keep pace around 11 min miles, I was fine with slower if that felt comfortable, but knew that it would be tempting to run faster and I needed to resist that. It was hard. Looking back I probably should have implemented the walk/run strategy from the start, everyone advises that but I just couldn’t do it. I did walk a few minutes ever 40 min (gel break), while eating during/after aid, and when Albert had to stop to pee. Our plan was to stay together as long as it made sense. Around mile 16 I told Albert I needed to pick up the pace because things we stiffening up on me, and it felt like I was tensing my muscles trying to run a slow pace, we had slowed to around a 12-13 min mile. I wished him good luck and told him I loved him and off I went. During our time together I would sing “99…98…97 bottles of beer on the wall” each time we hit another mile, it was wonderfully annoying, I’m sure he missed it.
I came into our badass aid station (Tyler dubbed The Cave), which was set up 100 ft from the Start/Finish line in about 4:40. I had called Tyler 4 miles out to let him know I was getting close and what I would like to have ready, he is the most wonderful man in the world by far! I was already working on a blister so I decided to change shoes and put a blister pad on. I knew I needed to start eating something more than just potatoes and gels, so I had an uncrustable and a mix 1 to go. We switched out a couple of my hydration bottles and off I went. I think I passed the Start/Finish line at 4:45. I was feeling pretty good, it was starting to get warm so I had Tyler reapply sun screen while I was at aid, I was sticking to my hydration/nutrition schedule, drinking every 10 minutes and eating something every 40 minutes. I drank water when I ate and then alternated with Perpetuem and HEED when I wasn’t eating. I was taking Electrolyte Tabs (Salt Stix) every 1:30.
MILES 25-50:
I walked and ate my uncrustable and drank my mix 1. About 10 minutes later I began getting nauseous, dammit. I figured today of all days I needed and could handle sugar but as always it got the best of me. When I passed by the our aid station at 28.5 miles I took another uncrustable since I knew I had to force myself to eat, and picked up my mom who was going to walk with me while I ate. I ended up giving her my 1/2 uneaten sandwich; I just couldn’t stomach it. During training runs I have successfully eaten 1-2 uncrustables midrun and they have always gone down fine. Believe it or not they have a relatively low sugar content, I think the mix 1 is what pushed my stomach over the edge.
One bonus was seeing Diane and West walking up to our aid station. West was planning on running with Albert for a bit, so I was able to give them both quick sweaty hugs.
I made the phone call to Tyler around mile 33 that I would like him to meet me with new shoes, I could feel a blister forming on the bottom of my foot and did not want to risk it getting any worse. Tyler and my mom met me a couple miles up the trail where I tried popping a painful blister on my toe. I wrapped it with another blister shield and off I went. Tyler walked with me for a few steps while my mom got ready to run with me. It was about mile 35 and I was a mess, I was in tears and told Tyler I couldn’t do this, there was no way I was going to make it 100 miles.
I think there is at least one time in every long distance race where you lose it. This was the point in the race for me. It was hot, I was hurting, and the carrot dangling in front of me that I could drop to the 100K was looking awfully tasty.
Running with my mom started to lift me out of the funk. It’s not a secret that she wishes I would stop this ultrarunning, and because of those feelings I think I wanted to look extra strong and positive. With Tyler I can be myself, which is both good and bad. When I’m feeling good it’s great but when I hit those lows I tend to voice them more around him because he is a safe audience.
Mom ran with me till aid station #3, about 2.5 miles up the trail. Tyler was coming to meet her there and she would fuel up on allergy meds. I came into aid, grabbed my standard two potato pieces and salt and refilled my bottles. I covered the 3 mile out and back and returned the aid station to pick up mom again.
During miles 35 to 41 a huge shift occurred, I was going to do this and do it well. I looked Tyler in the eye, put my finger to his chest and said, “Don’t let me quit. No matter what I say don’t let me quit.”
My mom ran with me for another 2.5 miles and I could sense that she was pushing a bit to keep our pace. I got to see West, Fran, Meredith, and Jess at the road where mom exited the trail, so that was a boost. They all commented how super strong I looked, I felt like they were surprised and that made me feel pretty damn good. There are certain people in our lives whose paths we cross briefly and yet their significance is great. My former Gainesville running group is some of the most supportive, fun, genuine, and talented people I know. I am honored to call them my friends.
By this point in the race I had decided to implement a 20 min run/walk cycle. I would run for 17 min and walk for 3, hydrating on the 10 min marks and eating every 40 minutes. I decided to do this after I chatted with a guy around mile 44 who advised me to implement walk breaks early on. He was also recovering from an Achilles injury and had done a couple 100 milers. He said mile 80 was where he hit the wall last time, his theory was that he ran too much in the early miles.
I ran with my ipod and made sure I had some key songs on there before the race. One of my recently added songs was “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson. It became my anthem through the last few weeks of injury. This song came on about mile 47, and it pushed me into a high that runners crave. I started singing and running effortlessly, my pace was 8 min miles.
When the song was over it was point in my cycle to walk, so I did. I called Tyler to let him know I was a couple miles out and the things I thought I needed. I told him I wanted to sit for a few minutes and change my socks and eat some real food, i.e. bagel pizzas. It was almost halfway and I knew I needed to eat.
The next couple miles were my fastest of the race; I was running between 7:45 and 9:00s when I looked at my watch. I felt like a machine. When I came into our aid I felt like my form was perfect and I was pumped to have made it 50 miles in 10 hours and 2 minutes.
I sat down, changed my socks (didn’t even look at my blisters, that would be pointless), chatted with Albert’s family, and tried eating a little chicken noodle soup. I had so much energy I was quite the chatterbox, but my stomach was not nearly as excited. Tyler was planning on running the next lap with me so I asked him to take to bagel bites with him to go, hoping I could nibble on them in the next miles. We crossed the 50 mile mark at 10 hours and 12 minutes.
MILES 50-75:
If you ever get to the place in your life where things seem monotonous I highly recommend ultramarathons. During the course of this race I cried, laughed, sang, danced, hurt, rejoiced, was scared and grateful. Every emotion you can imagine shows up during the hours on your feet. The miles in this lap were overwhelmingly positive, and ones I will forever remember as highlights of my running ‘career’.
It was a hard transition coming out of our aid and trying to begin running again. Tyler and I walked for over 10 minutes, during which I unsuccessfully tried eating a bagel bite. It was very frustrating not being able to eat, knowing how much I needed legitimate sustenance, but everything I ate just brought about nausea. I was still taking gels and forcing down potatoes but even those were getting more difficult to swallow. Tyler told me how Albert ate a hamburger, I don’t understand how people can do that! I am envious.
Once I was able to start running again, strength rose up in my body. We stuck strictly to my 20 min run/walk cycle and the pace we were putting down on the run portions was pretty remarkable. Once the headlamps turned on it got even more fun. There was a section around mile 63-67 where I was getting such fun songs on my ipod that I would sing/rap to Tyler and pump my fists. I was flying high. When we passed the fourth place woman, an incredible lady who is attempting to set the record for most 100 milers run in one year (her goal is 30!), I just squeezed Tyler’s arm. I did the same as we passed the third and second placed females. I was now in second!
The first place woman set the women’s course record two years prior was now only 3 miles ahead of me. Earlier in the race she was easily 8 miles ahead. I was gaining and feeling awesome.
The miles flew by as Tyler and I chatted and sang and conquered the mini goals of minutes not miles. At one point I had to calculate how many miles I had done because I wasn’t focused on that and my GPS was pretty inaccurate at this point. Focusing on the next 10 minutes is much easier then thinking about how many miles you have left to cover.
Around mile 65 Tyler spoke with Matt, a co-worker of mine at Track Shack. Matt was planning on driving up to pace me for awhile and wanted to see if that sounded like a good idea. I was stoked that he was willing to drive 4 hours round trip to support me. I quickly agreed and he was on his way. The plan developed that my mom would run with me through miles 75-78.5 which was a paved portion (night running on trails does take a bit of practice) and then Matt was up for running some miles with me after that.
By the time we approached our aid station, my right knee had been bothering me for many miles so I had taken a couple Excedrin Migranes over the last 25 miles. It definitely took the edge off and the caffeine was helpful. The knee would hurt really bad going from a walk to a run but once I got running didn’t bother me. When we got into aid I gave Karen a hug, she had come to pace Albert, took some broth and off mom and I went.
Tyler had talked to guys at Aid Station #2 when we were running through and asked about Albert. He had decided to drop to the 100K distance. It wasn’t his day for 100 miles, I was so proud of him for gutting out 62!
MILES 75-89.25
I came through the Start/Finish line at 15:43, I had done my last 25 miles in about 5:31, my 2nd 25 miles was 5:27, I was pretty happy with my consistency at this stage in the race. I saw the first place woman, we were still 3 miles back, so apparently we were holding the same pace.
Mom and I walked as I drank some broth. Broth, potatoes, gels, salt tabs, HEED and water were my race diet.
I informed mom of my 20-minute rotation, and we stuck to it. I was getting tired, I could tell in my breathing. An 11-minute run pace now put me out of breath, so I began slowing down. I knew I would need energy in the last 20 miles, I was on my last lap but still had a long way to go.
At mile 78.5 I traded mom for Matt and picked up another cup of broth. Matt and I walked while I drank it, this walk lasted longer than normal, fatigue was setting in big time.
When we ran we were still keeping about a 12 minute pace, which was fine by my standards. It was enough to keep our position and even pass a few folks. Everyone seemed to be walking at this point. It was great having Matt there, talking about random running things, keeping me distracted from the task at hand. Mom and Tyler met us at mile 86 to cheer us on, shortly after we took our scheduled walk break, which lasted nearly 8 long minutes. By this time I was starting to feel overwhelming nausea. I told Matt I wasn’t sure how much more running I would be doing and I didn’t know how to combat the nausea at this point. The only thing I knew to do was take another salt tab, assuming it was an electrolyte issue.
I decided to start running, because walking wasn’t making me feel better and at this point I just wanted to be done. The faster I could get to the finish the faster it would be over. We could see the faint light ahead from aid station #3 (88 miles) and my goal was to run until I got there. I felt like I was running really hard, I know my pace was slow, but I was definitely pushing myself. I told Matt that maybe if I could stomach more broth that would help.
Mom and Tyler were waiting and cheering for us, I took some broth, refilled my bottles and off we went to cross the trestles. Before leaving Tyler whispered, “Amy hasn’t been through yet she is still out there.” Amy was in first place and this meant I was within 3 miles of her. I told him I didn’t care, I just wanted to run my race and finish. I did care of course but I think what I meant was I couldn’t speed up, this was all I had. As we crossed the trestles Amy was passing us going the other direction. She knew we were gaining on her, and I’m sure that help to keep her going.
After we crossed the trestles, Matt and I heard a rustling in the bushes. We stopped to look and there was an armadillo. It was nice to hear Matt proclaim what it was so I knew I wasn’t hallucinating.
As soon as we started forward again, things got weird. I told Matt I felt really unstable and my lips were getting tingly. Then my hands and legs and arms followed suit, I asked to hold onto him because I feared I was going to faint. Things quickly got worse, my vision was going. Matt said I needed to slow down my breathing, apparently I was beginning to hyperventilate. I was scared.
Matt called Tyler and asked him to meet us at the turn around (89.25 mile mark) and walk toward us, that we might need some help. By the time Tyler got to us I had my arm around Matt and we were walking very slowly. I couldn’t walk by myself. The race had ended for me, I knew it the moment I asked for Matt to help me walk. Something wasn’t right and I feared that another 10 miles would be life threatening for me. Even if we had walked at the slow pace we were going we could have made the course cut off but my body was sending me signals that I needed to get checked out.
I told Tyler the race was over and you could hear in his voice that he was trying to hold me to my statement “don’t let me quit”. He was suggesting that we get something to drink, rest, eat something. I told him, “It’s over and I need to hear you tell me that you are okay with that.” I think he was sad for me because we had come so far.
They loaded me into the car and immediately I began shaking violently, it almost felt like a seizure. We called the race director to inform him I had dropped and that we were headed back to the Start/Finish line. The nurse on site met us there and checked my pulse. It was so faint she could barely detect it so she had me get out of the car, lay on my back and get my feet up to get blood back to my core. After a few minutes my pulse was getting stronger. It felt so good lying down, but I was beginning to get really cold.
After about 20 minutes of rest we decided to head back to the hotel. I was freezing and the nurse felt like I would be okay, but if anything got strange to take me to the ER.
We arrived at the hotel and I needed assistance walking, my legs were not working at this point. I walked a few steps and began throwing up. I don’t remember the last time I threw up that amount; unfortunately it was all liquid, liquid that I needed to hydrate me.
My mom wanted to go to the hospital but I believed I would be fine with some rest. I took a couple sips of Pedialyte and went to sleep. When I awoke two hours later I was ferociously thirsty and knew I needed food. I asked Tyler to help me to the bathroom and get me some toast. I made it to the bathroom and started getting sick again, not good. I tried taking a couple sips of water but couldn’t stomach it. I asked my mom to get my things, we needed to go to the ER.
I knew enough basic physiology that if I couldn’t drink I would not recover. My body needed to flush out the toxins that had accumulated over the last 24 hours and without fluids it couldn’t do it’s job. I figured we would just go in for a few hours, get some IV fluids and be out for Sunday brunch… wishful thinking. I left the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
My labs showed that my kidneys were in jeopardy without intervention due to a condition known as rhabdomyolysis. I’ve learned a lot in the past week, but still don’t quite understand where I went wrong. The Race Director told me after the race that I was going too fast for a rookie of this distance, which he later repeated in an email. So maybe that was it, maybe I should have started my walk/run routine sooner. I did lose about 13 pounds over the course of the race, which is almost 9% of my body weight. That is quite a bit. That leads me to believe that I was in fact dehydrated, it was indeed a hot day.
What I learned is that the 100-mile distance now scares me, I don’t like that but it’s true. The recovery has been really tough, Sunday after the race I told Tyler I wanted to die, what scares me is I wasn’t joking. The pain in my legs was beyond post race soreness there was pains in my bones that were excruciating.
Race weekend confirms my mental toughness and yet I am proud of my intuition and being able to feel the difference between pain and emergency. To all my extreme friends out there, may we push ourselves harder and further then we ever thought possible, bask in that ecstasy and pain and recklessness, and stay tuned into our bodies enough to know when they've reached the danger zone.
Now the journey begins to figure out what went wrong and how to prevent it, because as I told Tyler at mile 70ish, this is what I'm meant to do. I have never felt stronger or had more fun then I did during miles 60-75. I am a damn good long distance trail runner, and I never want to end up where I was Sunday again.
