Day 4,214—Waiting for my Shoes and Part VII of the OT 100: Crossing the Finish Line!—

 

        I didn’t realize it was daylight savings time, so it was nice to learn how much earlier it was than I thought. I worked on the video this morning. I couldn’t believe that the OT results hadn’t been uploaded yet. My wife said she thinks maybe I was in 10th place. I am mainly curious about the spread. It is a little frustrating to know that even if the video was done, I wouldn’t be able to post it yet because I don’t have the final results.

        Today’s run was pure fun. I was dealing with some aches and pain around my left hip, but I wanted to get a decent two-hour run. I was impressed with how many times I felt like I needed to slow down and stop to take pictures. I decided to stay in Webster and do a mix of Lockwood and the trail in Brentwood. I wasn’t tired when I was finished, but I felt like I had gotten a decent workout in. I was mainly thinking about if I was going to sign up for another 100 mile race this year. I am happy to finish my 6th one this year, and it is not like I am going out of my way to want to finish 7. It is more about wanting to do a race for my birthday. If I cannot treat myself to race when I turn 40 when can I? It is not like I never let myself do races but this one would be around the week of my birthday.  

Part VII of the OT 100: Crossing the Finish Line

Pigeon Roost Rd.

18 hours and 30 minutes  

12:30 a.m.

73.3 miles

Weather, mid to low 40s, raining

        I had been asking all the aid stations about their hot food, and this one had a guy who was vegan, and he made me a quesadilla with vegan cheese. It felt amazing to have some actual hot food, and I was finally feeling at a good spot with how much I was eating. I also had  more Coke. I think I had a couple of cups, and then the aid worker just gave me a can. I was still so tired, and I wasn’t sure how long I would have to stay up.

        When I started running again, I kept doing the math to figure out when I might finish. It shouldn’t be impossible to run 26.7 miles in 5 and a half hours to finish around 24 hours, but the course seemed to have gotten more difficult. I was dealing with a lot of sections that were unrunnable with how little light there was; the rain was making it muddy and slippery, but it still wasn’t that bad, and I heard it might stop in the next couple of hours. I got tired of stepping wrong on the rocks, so I started to just walk when I hit a section with a bunch of rocks. More than once, a guy with poles passed me. He wasn’t running at all, just doing a better job of managing his walking pace than me. I thought I either needed to practice running trails in the dark more or use hiking poles when it gets dark. My body was holding up fine, but I did start having some moments of soreness in my quadriceps and thighs. My calves were almost fresh without nearly as much use. I kept telling my body that I had only just started and would sing along to the music I was listening to. It would only last for a few lines until I would go back to focusing on breathing through my nose and trying to focus on the next path because I was hallucinating at an alarming rate.

        I kept seeing things moving in the corners of my eyes. If I jerked around to look, nothing would be there, but it kept happening. Also, as I looked out in front, I would see what looked like creatures in different spots on the trail. I would acknowledge what I saw, but no part of me was buying into the realness of anything; it just made me worried about how tired I  was.

Berryman Campground

20 hours

2 a.m.

78.6 miles

Weather, mid to low 40s, raining only sporadically

        I was happy to change my shorts this time. It had been raining too muchfor me to go in the dark and do it, but now the rain had stopped mostly. I went behind a tent and quickly changed in the dark. I had changed my shirt a number of times in public, but I figured I needed a little privacy for my shorts. It was so good to feel dry clothes again on my body as I left the aid station, knowing that I just hit the last aid station with a drop bag and was about to come to some of the most difficult turns in the race. Most of the race, I would see the OT markers so frequently that I never worried about if I was going the right way or not, but now I was suddenly getting in a few more sections that made me wonder. I looked at the course in the Gai app a handful of times when I started to get  worried after seeing a different type of marking on the course. It freaked me out more because not only was I seeing a course marker that didn’t make any sense, but I was also not seeing the OT markers as much. Part of me knew this was partially because I was moving slower because it was dark, but I did think it was unique and checked the course a handful of times.

        When I got to the sections with the sharp turns, they were marked extremely well and had so many OT trail markers that it was obvious that I was going the right way. One of them was almost straight up a hill, so I wasn’t surprised that people missed that section, maybe partially out of wishful thinking, hoping they didn’t have to suddenly climb this huge hill.

Billy’s Branch

22 hours and 30 minutes

4:30 a.m.

87.1 miles

Weather, upper 40s, raining only sporadically

        I didn’t spend long at Billy’s Branch. I had a cup of Coke, and then the aid worker asked me if I wanted some Red Bull. It isn’t my favorite energy drink, but the Coke wasn’t doing it for me anymore. One thing that isn’t an option is having cans of energy drinks in your drop bag. The chances are that it will spill before you get to drink it, so you have to depend on the aid stations for the caffeine fix. They all have soda, and although, like many ultra runners, I usually don’t drink soda, some Coke during a run usually hits the spot.

        When I started out this time, I was determined to make up time. I was running as hard as I could on the straights, but found myself slowing down on the rocks. I started to hold onto the hope of running during sunrise after 7 hours. I was thinking that when the sun came up, I might feel a surge of adrenaline and be able to make it to the finish at 8 a.m., but I just couldn’t catch a break. At the same time, I was feeling mostly fresh. I was sleepy and hallucinating constantly, but I was jamming out to my music, and my body wasn’t hurting to the point where stopping was even something I was considering. All I could think was that I needed to go faster. I texted my wife that I was at least going to be an hour late, which was a whole thing because there was no signal for most of the race, but I could get the satellites to connect to my phone if I was patient, so I checked a lot and let her know initially I might be at least an hour later than planned, and then I told her two hours.

Henpeck Hollow

24 hours and 30 minutes

6:30 a.m.

94.4 miles

Weather in the 50s, and the rain has almost completely stopped

        With fewer than 8 miles left, I felt so close to the finish, but at the same time, I knew it might take me another two hours. I was still hoping I would see the sunrise and be able to bolt fast and have a great last hour. I asked if they had any Red Bull or anything at the aid station, but they didn’t, which was fine; I didn’t need Red Bull, but I was just so sleepy, yet excited to finally make it to the end. The only positive to having to deal with the shoe problem for such a long time is that it was such a distraction from running, which meant I was not nearly as physically exhausted as I usually am, as I would have been otherwise if I had been able to go as fast as possible that first 12 hours. Typically, I go a lot faster during that time and take very few breaks. Yet, this time I was forced to spend at least 5 minutes at every aid station and frequently stop on the trail. This translated to me finishing with energy left to spare, yet at the same time, I was so sleepy with how little sleep I had gotten the past two nights.

        Once it hit 7 a.m., it still wasn’t bright enough to turn off my headlamp. I was so upset. I was hoping that I would get a decent picture of a sunrise, and at 8:12 a.m., shortly before I finished, I was able to get one good picture of the early morning light, but it was so cloudy. It had stopped raining for a while, yet it was still dark and cloudy all through the morning. I had my watch set to only show the mile lap, so I would keep myself awake by constantly checking my time to see how far I had gotten through the mile. Once I hit 101, I figured it was any moment now, but with about a mile left to go, I landed on the Bass River Resort’s grounds. It was a solid mile of running, which eased my mind about keeping my streak alive. I always try to think about the continuous mile I can run after midnight, and it was a comfort to know that I easily did it on my last mile of this race. When I got closer, I saw Sarah jump out from a tree and record me. I was happy to see her, but I was still focused on the finish line. Next, some kids asked me if I had run 100 miles, and I responded that it was 100 miles. I am sure it seemed so strange to them that some random people were finishing a race from seemingly nowhere, and they had traveled throughout an entire day to make it there. Part of me thought maybe I hadn’t just been there the night before; it might have seemed more like I traveled somewhere, but it was still so fun to make it to the end, hug my wife, and claim my buckle.