Day 4,070—Today and Hooray the Huron 100 Part III: Slowing Down and Just Halfway—

 

         I stayed up late last night editing the video. It's not that I had been putting it off, but everything seemed to be taking longer. Last night I had a timeline done, but I only got halfway through my first pass of arranging the clips and pictures chronologically when I had to go to bed. This morning, I worked on the video for about 4 hours until I needed a break and went for a run.

         I felt tired as I started and took a picture of the near-complete Starbucks down the street from my house. I decided I would only do 3 miles today because I had been behind on things, and I would feel mentally better if I was able to complete one round of editing to know how long the video was and how hard it was going to be to get it down to an appropriate length.

I started walking to the construction site to take a picture, but I wondered if I had forgotten to pause my watch because I had to push myself hard to get my first mile down to a 9:40 mile pace. The next mile was a little quicker, but I didn’t feel like I was unreasonably struggling considering what I was able to do the past two days. I was not listening to anything, but instead, I was trying to keep focusing on the write-up and the video, so I would have some stuff figured out when I got home.

Part III: Slowing Down and Just Halfway

Time of Day: 1:07-5:58 p.m.

Total Time: 8:58

Section Time: 4:51

Miles: 24.4-47.1

Average Pace for Section: 12:49

         There was a decent amount of road sections at the start of this part. We were running through neighborhoods and not getting the shade from the trail. I was happy to finally get back on the trail, and it didn’t take long for John to catch up to me. We ran a little more together to the next water-only aid station at mile 30.1. I was starting to hurt some and had run out of water, so I needed to fill up and drink a lot at this station. However, when I finally got there, another runner had the water jug lifted to their head, so he could get some. I was able to fill up my 16-ounce bottles, but it didn’t look like there was a lot of water left. There was plenty of Tailwind, but I was staying consistent with water and the Right Stuff and didn’t want to start switching things up. I noticed one of the guy's clothes were dry, so I figured he most likely changed at the last aid station, but said he didn’t. The guy he was running with just had one 20-ounce bottle, and I wasn’t sure how he was still making it at this point. The three of them were almost immediately going to start again after I filled up my two 16-ounce bottles. Part of me was saying, “STOP! LET THEM GO! YOU NEED MORE WATER! DRINK THE TAILWIND! DON'T KEEP GOING!”

         I asked one of the guys how far to the next aid station, and he said he thought it was 4. Officially, it was 5.5, but my watch had it closer to 6. I screwed up and kept running and ended up paying for it by having to slow down and dealing with the potential of getting seriously dehydrated. It was only in the 70s, but there were more road sections without covering. John and I both passed the two runners we started with, but John went ahead of me shortly after.

         I was struggling and having to go slow, walking some, and two other runners started getting close to me and passing. First, a woman, Johanna, passed me, and then a guy, Arcadio. Johanna was running really consistently. I was able to catch her when the course was straight or downhill, but both Johanna and Arcadio were beating me up the hills.

         I was so thankful to get to the 35.6-mile aid station! I had been out of water for about two miles, and now I was drinking ginger ale and filling up the water again after going through it. I also ate more food, and one of the aid workers who was wearing a shirt that said, “Medic,” showed concern for me and said it looked like my legs were getting heavy and offered to let me use his Theragun massager. I surprised myself by saying yes and sitting down for a few minutes to use it on my right calf. Both my calves were cramping, and I knew I needed to be safe now even though it sucked, having screwed up, and now having to slow down to not make it worse.

         I saw one of the two guys I had passed earlier, and a guy commented, “Did you just run 35 miles while only carrying one water bottle on purpose?!” I knew listening to his tone that he wasn’t trying to be mean, but I was thinking the same thing. The guy had to be hurting and went straight to the bathroom.

         I was able to get up and start back out, feeling finally refreshed and caught up some on hydration. The next aid station was in a little over 5 miles, but getting close to 40 was exciting because that meant 50 wasn’t that far away! And I was still doing great on time! I figured as long as I got the first 50 done in close to 10 hours, I would be sitting in a good place to finish between 20 and 24 hours.

Now I was trying to make up ground a little and was pushing myself down the hills, and I ran into a guy who had been out in front for a while. I said I was passing, but he didn’t hear me. I noticed later he was wearing headphones and was out of it. I passed him, but then he was back running fast and passed me within a couple of minutes. When I saw him again not too much later, I ran behind him for a while and asked, “You doing okay?!”

         I don’t think he heard me, but he got off to the side to let me pass. I was running by myself now and not listening to music. I wanted to wait until at least after mile 50 to start playing music. In my mind, the race doesn’t start until after mile 50. Also, I kept catching up to the 50-mile runners who had started their race 2 hours before us, so I did think it was crazy how soon I started seeing them. It was also a little disappointing every time I passed someone who was doing a different race. The last I heard about place, I was still in either 5th or 6th overall.  

         I was occasionally catching Arcadio whom I would run with a little, and we made it to the 47.1 aid station at the same time. There was an aid worker there who was nice and helpful, getting me a chair while I changed my socks and put more Vaseline on my feet. I also changed my shirt, and shorts, which meant I had to take my race bib off and put it on the new pair. Everything seemed to take forever. I had a bean taco and grabbed one of my BOBO muffins from my drop bag. I also put my headlamp in my hydration vest with the spare battery. I was so glad I hadn’t brought my one from before. I still had at least 3 hours until it was going to get dark. I heard the woman who was helping me tell Arcadio that she would help with a lot, but not on putting on the Vaseline. A joke she laughed at after repeating to me later as she was helping me put my shoes back on.

         “How far to the next aid station?” I asked as I was gearing up to leave after at least 10 minutes.

         “Not far, less than 3.”

It was more than 3 to the next aid station, but the 50-mile race ended in fewer than 3 miles, which must have been why she got confused. However, I had all the aid station distances on my phone from the race packet. I needed to stop asking people and just look for myself! 

Tomorrow Part IV: the Last Drop Bag and a Powwow