Day 4,066-8 —a Recovery Five and Hooray the Huron 100 Part I—

 

A Recovery Five

         I got home around 2:30 a.m. last night, and I was on the verge of crashing, but I made it through by drinking caffeine and singing along to music. I ate some food and took a bath, and this morning I unpacked my car. 

The weather was so nice, so I figured why wait to go on my run? I was thinking about the race, but also about how happy I was feeling today. This is my second fastest 100 but by far my best recovery after a race where I pushed myself to be fast! I give the race and A, but my recovery an A+! 

Hooray, the Huron 100 Part I: Leading up to the Start

  

       The 8 and half hour drive Down

Somehow, my phone took me by Chicago as opposed to Indianapolis, which meant that I would hit a toll and some crazy driving. Cars were going by on the right side of the road, easily 60 to 80 miles an hour, during otherwise standstill traffic waiting for the toll. It was an electronic one with the only direction “Pay Online.” I register for the site later, but I still don’t see any tolls I need to pay.

         The Packet Pickup

The place was a local running store, which was on a main strip in Michigan. The air felt light when I got out of my car. When I got to the store, the woman who opened the door said, “You here for the race? What’s your name?”

         When I told her my name, she didn’t know who I was, but it was a nice way to give me the impression that everyone was familiar. I wanted to video record more, but I don’t like my first impression of someone to be pointing a camera at them. It just seems rude, but maybe I could figure out a compromise in the future and ask them first.

         After getting my bib and stuff, I headed to the back of the store, where the two-race directors were taking before pictures of everyone. They were both super happy and excited about the race. I asked them if they thought I needed trail shoes for the course. They both told me something different, but it was good to see I wasn’t the only one who had mixed feelings about what shoes to wear. I decided to start in trail shoes but put my road shoes in my first drop bag, which is also what one of them suggested.

         I went into a local bookstore on my way back to my car and bought a copy of Stephen Fry’s Odyssey, which I had been meaning to buy. When I got to the campsite, the guy at check-in looked concerned and said, “Has anyone told you about the out-of-state fee?”

         No one had, but it ended up only costing me eleven dollars, but the way he said it, it was like he expected me to throw a fit. I got everything set up at camp and made food on a portable gas stove. I was in bed by 9 p.m.

I got up a little after 5 a.m. and drove to shuttle pickup at 6:30 a.m. I was still not 100 percent where it was, so when I got to the footpath trailhead and saw a bunch of other cars driving down the road, I followed them. When we got out, we all talked for a minute, and then one of them texted one of the race directors, and we found out we needed to go back to where we were before.

         Crisis adverted, and the shuttle was there when we all ended up back at the footpath trailhead. I sat in the front of the shuttle and ended up sitting next to one of the most successful ultra-runners I had ever met. His name was Rick Hohman and this was going to be his 56th 100-mile race! He also was at 26 states. He said that one year he did 10! It also seemed clear he had done some of the more challenging 100-mile races, like the Moab 240, Hurt 100, and No Business 100. I had never met anyone before who had completed that many 100s before and in so many states! He said his goal was to complete 100, 100-mile races, and at least one in every state.

         We both talked about time briefly, and we seemed to agree that 24 hours should be doable, but finishing around 22 hours might be possible. He did something that will I adopt in the future, which is to fold your bib, so it isn’t so difficult to wear on your shorts. Rick had a great attitude about racing and had never DNFed before! He told me how on more than one occasion he was struggling at the end with all kinds of things, but that didn’t stop him from not stopping. He said at Moab he was delirious close to the finish and had dreamed he had already finished the race, but some other runners found him and talked to him as they all made their way to the finish.

Once we got to the start line, there was everything I might need at the start of the race. The drop bag locations were marked, and there were different kinds of food. Even some vegan deli meat! They also had sunscreen and bug spray, which I used. I walked over to the start line with 10 minutes to start, and only two other runners had lined up. One of them joked with me about the duct tape on my shoes, commenting I had “custom shoes.”

         They both had big smiles on their faces, and everyone was in a good mood. The race director had every one come to the start line. The person talking on the mic was telling running jokes. Then, the countdown started! “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!”

Tomorrow, Part II: the trail Underwater and to the First Drop-bag!