Day 3,464—New Course Record at the Minnie—

What was said while I was running

“You’re a machine!” 

“You’re making this look easy!” 

“Are you sure there are not two of you?” 

        These were some of the nice things that different people told me throughout the day! Part of me felt like I didn’t deserve all the encouragement but I wanted to be thankful and appreciate it. I was in first place for most of the race, so I had a lot of people helping me and talking to me most of the day. 

        When I did the 9-hour race, returning as last year’s winner, people didn’t remember me, nor were they that interested in talking in general. 

At the end of the day, I had finished, knowing I had won and secured a new course record but not knowing by how much. When Phil gave me the plaque, I was nervous about what my official time would be. 

        “Winner in the Overall Male—new course record! This guy did beat his own previous course record, so he is one of those guys, Daniel V, with the distance of 72.49 miles!”

It was satisfying, if not a little anticlimactic. I beat my old record and accomplished my goal, but it didn't feel as incredible as before, though it still feels good. 

        This guy I have done many races with, Andrew, was there and started out strong. I thought he would beat me this year, but he saved himself for the world champions. He competed in a 24-hour Tough Mudder OCR, which is impressive. He said he was currently ranked 6th in the world. I was super happy for his friend, who ended up getting 2nd overall with 67 miles! Also, I talked to Sarah, who won the female category last year, and this time she set the record and won the category with 62 miles. She must have pushed at the end because she was about to get 50 miles when there were around 2 hours left in the race. 

        Food 

I brought cookies and candy, plus the energy chews that I usually bring but I didn’t eat much. I ate pickles! Someone in the crew even had to go get more pickles! I had pickles from the aid station and half a banana.

Altogether, I ate six cookies, a handful of plant-based M&Ms, four bags of chews, six helpings of pickles, and one-half banana.

My stomach was bothering me at different points, and a guy gave me a ginger chew, which was good but a little intense. I think it did help. 

        Hydration  

I had four different specific hydration drinks and a lot of coconut water. Also, I drank three servings of ginger ale, two Budweiser Zeros, and two Bais, and lastly, I drank three containers of pre-mixed GU Roctane. I was also sipping water, getting a taste as I passed the main aid station. 

        Biggest struggle

I felt a little miffed that the other runners didn’t notice my macro struggles throughout the race. However, now that I've read those sentences, I don’t have any reason to feel miffed. I guess I mean it was really hard, but because I was winning, and I never looked like I was struggling, it must not have seemed obvious to others. My stomach caused the most trouble. I spent more time in the bathroom than in most races. This made it stressful to decide what to eat and drink. I didn't feel like eating much, but I didn't want to keep stopping. 

        Something New 

I excitedly shared this with runners yesterday, but my eagerness was mostly met with indifference. I have thought about trying it before but it is slightly counterintuitive. Instead of walking to drop my heart rate, I just stopped for 30 seconds to a minute. 

Basically, I would run a mile in 9 minutes. Then I would stand and breathe for 30 seconds to a minute. On average, it's similar to walking for 2 minutes. But it greatly affects my heart rate. Even walking, my heart rate usually takes a while to change, but when I stop, it usually drops like a rock. 

        Thoughts on the Battery 

Even though I put the energy battery on my display, I didn’t want to look at it, fearing it wouldn’t be encouraging. Sure enough, after four hours and 15 minutes of running, it told me I was down to 1% of my battery. Fenix my friend, you could not have been more wrong.