Chapter 3- The heat

Chapter 3- The heat

After all the bumps along the road, the race started better than I could have ever planned. It was a beautiful morning, I felt great, the race team of Gary, Doug, Emily and Spencer, and myself were all assembled and ready for whatever was about to come at us, and it was finally time to run. I knew that I never wanted to run faster than a 10-minute mile, and the first 10 miles or so I may have to keep myself in check. In reality, it was easy. I quickly settled in to my all day pace. I forget how much I love the trail running community. People talk about the comradery of marathons, and it is true…but they pale in comparison to the true nature and authenticity of trail running events.

The first 7.5 miles to Bluff aid station were perfect. My body felt great, I took my time, and Doug and Gary were pumped to see me when I pulled in right on cue. In fact, right on cue would become the theme of the race. Regardless of the mayhem that this day brought, my body managed (with the support of an INCREDIBLE TEAM) stay right on cue. At Bluff (7.5), I pulled in for my first pit stop with nothing to report. 7 minutes later I was filled up on food and fluids and back out.

Again, from Bluff to Emma Carlin (mile 16), it was still nothing out of the ordinary. It was heating up, but the whole section was in the woods, and I was staying on top of my electrolytes, food, and hydration early. Every thirty-minutes I would take one electrolyte replacement tablet. Once it got hotter, the plan was to fit in some extras.

Between Bluff and Emma Carlin sits an unmanned water station at Horseriders. When I popped out of the woods and saw the horses I got my first little mid-race rush. “I have been here on training runs and it is not that far from Emma.” I knew where I was and that somehow that felt good. After a quick stop at Emma I headed out for Hwy 67. And indeed, about an hour and a half later I saw Gary waiting barefoot in the woods and I knew that we were rolling up into Hwy 67 and for the first time, the whole team. Em and Spencer headed to the course during his morning nap and made it Hwy 67. To see them was fresh air. It made the heat feel cooler, my feet feel better, and my mind even more driven. I was so excited to have them see me feeling strong.

Then came the heat. From miles 16 (Emma Carlin) to 47 (Emma Carlin on the way back) there was about 16 miles of open prairie running and it was creeping over 90 degrees. This got tough. As I hit the prairie I was feeling good, but was definitely feeling the first signs of heat and that dangerous blanket of perceived exhaustion. In the open sun I took the cue from a couple of woman that I was leap frogging with and took my run down to a power-walk. This helped almost instantly. I got my legs back and the nausea that was creeping in subsided. As I hit the sauna that waited in the woods, I would open back into a jog, and of course, walked all of the hills (later in the race I learned/discovered my power-walk on the hills). I was draining Heed sports drink (provided on the course) pretty well, and drinking water at the unmanned aid stations, but food was getting near impossible to even look at. Gels, sandwiches, potatoes, etc… it all looked incredibly unappetizing. TOO HOT for eating!

I met some great people along this stretch. Everyone was struggling with the heat and it seemed that a little conversation was even more welcome than normal. I met a woman who owns a bed and breakfast in WI, a woman here from Australia just for the race, a 51-year-old guy who was the best conversation I had the whole race (until Gary), and more than anyone, I had plenty of time with myself. My mind was flowing very freely and I had no desire for music at all. In fact, I would not listen to even one song through the entire 100 miles. When I am training, I differentiate good days from bad by how much music I listen to on my run. The less music I need, the better the run.

After what felt like hours, I finally hit Scuppemong, the turn-around point for the first 100k. I pulled in at 12:54pm; 6 hours and 54 minutes into the race, I was done with the first 31 miles. That was a little hard to stomach. I had trained longer than this with no race support and a backpack with 48oz of fluid. However, never had any of my training runs happened in anything close to this heat. I hit Scuppemong, got some of that much need team love, stripped off my outer shorts, and headed back to the race start. The next few miles back to Hwy 67 were a bit tough on my head. It was hot but I was a running well. However, I thought County ZZ (unmanned aid station) was going to be Hwy 67…it was not, but I quickly shook it off and added some pace to my trot. The heat was dropping a bit, the breeze was picking up, I felt a light sprinkle every now and then, and…still… I was feeling good. In fact, Before realizing that County ZZ was not Hwy 67 I almost pulle dout my cel phone just to call the team to tell them how good I was feeling. Right then, I got hit with the reality of my five-mile blunder. When I finally did roll into hwy 67 I knew the race was about to turn somehow. I didn’t understand how, but it was in the air.

The team, as usual was incredible! Everyone talked about how strong I looked and how so many people came in looking rough and dropping out. I wasn’t sure how much I believed them (I later learned it was very true), but it still felt good to know that I was feeling strong overall, and there was nothing inside even considering dropping out. I would leave each aid station feeling like a new runner. This was the first station that I spent a bit of time with Doug and Gary. Gary spent the time figuring out how to get calories into me, and Doug went to work keeping my feet from becoming hamburger. From here on, at each stop, Doug took my socks off, greased between each toe, and talked to me about anything and everything that I was feeling in my body. He started me on a capsule of Sportenine each stop (endurance sport homeopathic) and homeopathies for both nausea and diarrhea. Gary (he doesn’t know this…yet) brought me a couple of potatoes to shove into my stomach…well, Gary…when I went to the porta-potty to unload some lingering diarrhea, into the hole went over half of the potatoes. I just couldn’t do it.

The talk of the stations and even more, on the course, was the dread of having to go back through the prairie in even hotter afternoon sun. I did my best not think about it. I managed to rally myself around the high that the team left me with and the fact that overall, I still felt great! With this new energy I headed back into the now slightly cooler heat, and eventually right back into the belly of the prairie. But then, as I was getting ready to pull out (after throwing ANOTHER potato down the hole-of-no-return) our good friends and current neighbors, the Vitals’ popped out of the car. It was an awesome surprise! I was at a point where I didn’t even realize that a special lift was exactly what I needed. And had I known what I was about to head into…I would have realized just how clutch the Vitalis visit was. Not only did they find me just in the knick of time, but they caught me at the next stop as well; the most pivotal stop of the race.

Why was the next stop the most pivotal? Because of what would happen between leaving Hwy 67 and arriving back at Emma Carlin 8 miles later.

Good news: The temperature kept dropping.
Bad news: Well…we got wet. Very, very wet.