2009/2010 Freedom Park New Year's Ultra 24 Hour Run

There are times when all the world's asleep,

the questions run too deep

for such a simple man.

Won't you please, please tell me what I've learned

I know it sounds absurd

but please tell me who I am.

-The Logical Song - Supertramp

This is but one of the songs that hit me like a truck sometime after 10 o'clock on New Year's Eve. That's when I decided it was time to put the iPod on, put my head down, and just force the run. And force it I did for about the next four hours or so. Until the pain in my feet became too much for me to run on at all and I was reduced to the slowest walk I've ever done.

Going into this 24 hour run I was prepared to both hurt and to face exhaustion. But I wasn't prepared for the pain of exhaustion. It wasn't the pain of a cramp, less immediately debilitating. It built over time, preventing me from recognizing what was happening. I'm absolutely sure the compression tights were a bad idea. Now. But at the time I didn't realize they were adding to my physical woes. The combination of the swollen and inflexible ankles, knee pain, tight hamstrings and quads, and the problem in the balls of my feet were tolerable, but the blister on my left foot was the proverbial straw, and I, the camel.

I had been looking forward to the dark, when the effort on my face would go unnoticed.

The day began nice enough, grabbing breakfast at the hotel before checking out, making our way to the park, finding a spot near the port-a-potties, and getting set up. Never mind that I needed to run the shower in our room for literally four minutes before the water got warm. Or that it had snowed overnight and temperatures were hovering at just over 30 degrees. We were all in good spirits, and that was the important thing.

Ladd putting the finishing touches on his supplies.

Dan, Mike, Ladd, and myself, four members of Team Ohio.

Looking from our base camp down towards the aid station and timing mats.

The construction of Base Camp Ohio went quickly with the four of us hauling equipment and erecting tents. Although it was cold that morning, the only part of my body that was feeling it was my toes. I was fine with that because I knew they would warm as soon as we began moving. My main worry was still the rain which was forecast to arrive during the afternoon and overnight. Running 6 hours in the rain is one thing. Spending 24 hours in it, completely different.

Dan and Ladd a few mile into the run.

One of many walking breaks.

With nervous energy trying to burst forth from within, the run began. Keeping the pace under control was the hardest thing to do at this point. We may have been better off just forcing a walk for the first few miles, but our conservative starting pace morphed into a comfortable 8:30 running pace. Too fast and we knew it. Dan was out ahead of us doing his thing, eventually making it to fourth place overall for a time, while Ladd and I ran our regular pace. I was of the mind to just stay comfortable, and the pace felt comfortable.

Never find, never mind, never peace God at least

give me strength just for one more try

Got to give, need to live long enough just to say

that I stayed to the end of the big time

-Default - Never Slow Me Down

Sure, I wanted to speed up even more. I would have liked to let go and RACE. But as much as I wanted to, I knew that this wasn't the place for me to do that. That was for guys like Dave James, who tore things up at the North Coast 24 in October. He was flying again here. Except this time I was a runner, not a volunteer, and getting passed!

Looking down the "hilly" stretch out by the road.

The lonely tree I noticed every lap until it got dark.

Each lap was nearly a mile in length, and we ran so many they all kind of blend together. We hit our first marathon in about 4:15 and our first 50K shortly after that. I made my only shoe change at that point, going from the Asics Gel Stratus to the Saucony Grids. What a difference! I had immediate support in the parts of my feet that needed it. All was well. For the time being, anyway.

Some drizzle in the morning amounted to nothing. The afternoon rain never materialized. Neither did the overnight precipitation. We really lucked out! What we did get was a steady temperature until the wee hours of the morning. And a fog/mist that seeped into everything. Food. Clothing. The 100% humidity made breathing difficult. Combine the moisture with mid-30s temperatures and it was pretty chilly unless you were moving.

I hit three low points during the run. They all came before midnight and were all due to low blood sugar. I am fortunate to have enough experience to recognize it for what it was and eat something. The great thing about ultras is the wonderful selection of food available on the course. A pair of hot dogs perked me right up out of one funk. A cheeseburger out of another. Chips, fig newtons, pretzels, nut bars, Reese's Peanut Butter Christmas Trees, Gatorade, gels, Coke, Mountain Dew, grilled cheese, bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, all helped me out during the run. Each time I hit a new low, I grabbed some grub and walked a mile.

I was hoping to hit 60 miles by 8:00 PM and was darn close. Within a few miles. You can guess what kind of shape I was in to make it only another 18.8 miles in the second half of the run. The music came on after 10:00 and I phoned home at midnight. After downing a few glasses of sparkling grape juice, along with some other yummy things, I took full advantage of my second wind and ran until about 2:00 AM. Granted, the shuffle I was doing was far from my normal gait, but I was moving quicker than walking pace. This is important because I had earlier considered stopping after midnight. Just make it into the new year and make a decision then, I had told myself, and Ladd as well. Somewhere along the way I decided I wasn't going to step out for a prolonged break. I may have nodded off a few times while sitting in one of our chairs, but that didn't last long and I was back out on the trail.

Forcing myself to get moving after each stop at base camp or the port-a-potty was hard. Really hard. And had I not just gone through something very hard, I may not have been able to find the strength to keep pressing on. I was hoping for 100+ miles at the start, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I had a good chance to hit a triple marathon if I just kept moving. That became my goal. I couldn't run any more, so I walked. I limped. I was broken physically but not mentally. I was being passed by people walking at a pace I should have been able to maintain. It was like I was in someone else's body, or in a dream. I just couldn't get the thing to move the way I wanted it to. By this time I was in a rain coat, more for heat retention than anything else, the hood drawn down low, my eyes focused a mere few feet in front of me.

And that's how I finished my last lap. A far cry from how I began the previous day. I've run in pain before, but these pains were new. I had no solution for them. I think that without them I could have kept running. At least a little bit. As bad as I felt though, I didn't swear off doing it again. Which is good, considering I'm already registered for the NC 24 this September! And surprisingly, I'm looking forward to it.

What I've learned:

-I'm still stronger mentally than physically.

-A 24 hour run is right up my alley.

-I'm nuts enough to derive pleasure from beating myself into the ground.

-I need to go out a little slower in the early miles.

-I need to walk more early on.

-A hilly course is harder than a flat one.

-I need to take more photos next time.

-DO NOT wear compression anything on the lower legs for that amount of time!

-Try to get more sleep the night before.

-Hire a crew!

-Have more than a month of specialized training.

So, I'm happy with my 78.8 miles. I really worked to get those last few! And as bad as I felt, I had a great time down there. The Ohio group was great, I saw some familiar faces from North Coast, and met some new people as well. Congratulations are in order for everyone who ran, however far they went, and however long they went for. A small percentage of the population runs, an even smaller percentage of runners would sign up for something like this.

Finally, big thanks go out to BMRC for putting on a GREAT event. This was only the second time for it, and each one has seen it's share of less than ideal weather, but they still managed to put on a fantastic event. I felt very comfortable running there, like I hadn't even left Ohio. Nice job everyone!