steve was running the 100k at the lunar trek so i figured i had plenty of time to run 22 miles. my training was not technically up for 22 miles, but that doesn't typically stop me. i figured i would easily finish before him, take a nap, and then drive us home.
for reference, in the last 3 months i haven't run further than 15 miles. so take your longest run and add 7 miles. now stay up for 17 hours, run all night and don't eat first. yeah, i dont' recommend it for you either.
steve's race started at 9:00, mine at 11:00. that's p.m.
so many things i should have thought about before i registered. being up for 17 hours before the race started without a nap. running on trails/dirt/gravel roads i'd never been on before. running said route illuminated only by a head lamp. my view was this, a circle of light about 10 feet in front of me and 5 feet wide.
i added to the difficulty by eating dinner at 5:30 and then eating nothing else before and during the race.
all that said, i felt really good when we started. running well and everything felt good. i had just left the 5.5 mile aid station when i ran into steve, he was running the loop clockwise, i was running counterclockwise. he said his neuroma in his toe was hurting. bummer.
i still felt really good so i plugged along. and realized a couple miles later that my 24 oz bottle of water was not going to last me to the next aid station. i slowed down and started drinking less. with about two miles to the aid station i was out of water so i started walking. this added quite a bit of time to how long i would be on the course.
right before the 11 mile aid station steve texted me to say he had dropped after the first loop because his toe hurt. i understood (surgery is on the schedule for this winter). i wanted to finish my race. i continued on, uneventful until two miles from the 15.5 mile aid station was out of water again, so back to walking.
filled up and back on the road and still feeling really good, but unable to eat anything. my stomach felt okay until i picked up food and then immediate nausea.
blasted (okay, i felt like i blasted, but by this time it was a slow jog) through to the last aid stations, texted steve i was two miles out and turned like a horse toward the barn.
half mile from the finish i shifted into my finish line trot and then, in true wander woman fashion, missed the last sign (in my defense, signs were black arrows on white board about shin high in the ditch of the road. on the inside lane of the course. because 40 milers and 100k runners were coming back out i was being courteous and running the outside lane of the course) because we came in different than we went out, it wasn't terribly visible, there were two ways to go, one dead end sign and no moonlight. i chose poorly. when i had been running another mile and a half with no finish line, but came to a highway i was pretty sure i shouldn't be at, i called steve, lost. i was two miles from the finish.
i wanted to cry, and unlike baseball, there is crying in long distance running, but i didn't.
i also was a little disoriented at the time when i missed the turn. i saw a large combine parked off the side of the road. the combine was actually there, but i saw the wheels spinning and it was rolling out towards the street towards me. it wasn't moving, but the wheels were turning and i thought it was going to roll in front of me. i new this was just a hallucination, but it was still freaky.
i wanted a finish, so i turned in around, turned on my droid navigation system with the volume up loud and went back into race mode. i pushed that last two miles, hard. got to the turn, couldn't see the sign, but the navigation lady told me to turn so i did. even ran up the last hill full tilt.
i saw the finish line and...no steve. i was so disappointed already after a hard run, difficult run, being lost and running 3 miles further than planned, i could hardly stand it. but i finished and went to the car and collapsed into the lawn chair. i pulled a diet coke out of the cooler, because that's what i do post-race and took my shoes off. put on flip flops, talked to the race director, and found my post race sundress.
i finally went inside to change clothes and steve was sitting in the cafeteria with stuart. when i came in he looked at me with huge eyes, looked at the clock and said when did you get here. i told him i'd been back for 30 minutes. he told me my last text said i had 4 miles to go. stupid auto correct. put the decimal on the end of the word before to make it a sentence so it looked like i was 4 miles out, not .4 miles out. i couldn't look at him because at this point, all the disappointment, pain, frustration, anger, pain, tiredness, hunger and pain would have poured out of my eyes. it was my fault, i didn't read my text well enough before i hit send. darn combine.
we drove home this morning, i couldn't keep my eyes open. shower, nap, grocery shopping, laundry, pick up whitney,
and steve asks why i'm limping, i only ran 25 miles...
if i get a copy of the picture gary took at mile 18 i'll share it. simply so you can see me with a headlamp, reflective vest, and how dirty and sweaty i was.
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