Day 4,293—Recovery and Part I of the Shippey Recap—

 

        I hear my car running outside, and although I am inside now, I have a handwarmer in my pocket and a heated blanket around my feet. Once the cold sets in, it takes a while for my core body temperature to return to normal, which made it difficult to get in and out of the bath yesterday and go to sleep in the buff last night. This morning, my run was inevitable; I could have done without. My run yesterday I knew was going to be tough, so I faced it head-on, accepting the challenge for what it was. Today was supposed to be my normal daily run, and I didn’t want to walk down the stairs, let alone run up and down hills, but I got dressed in my warmest clothes and opened the back door.   

The Shippey 100 Part I

Loop 1

Time of Day: 6 a.m.

        I didn’t know how far in the front I wanted to start. I knew I would get frustrated if I was stuck behind too many people going up the rocks where the rope was, so I stayed in the front of the pack. There were so many people at the start, and everyone was wearing vastly different clothes. Some people were bundled up like me, while others were wearing shorts and what looked like street clothes. Almost half the group didn’t have a running vest. Snow started to fall as the clock ticked closer to the start, and then we were off.

        The first leg, I stayed in the same group I started with. I hadn’t gone too far when someone was walking the other way. They told me they thought they were lost because they hadn’t seen a flag yet. I promised them we were going the right way, even though their uncertainty made me less sure of myself, but then we saw another flag, and all was good, but it wasn’t long until I ran into two more people who did the same thing. I felt like an old guide who finally knew the course so well. Although I had only run this course in the other direction for 63.x miles, the legs were still the same, just in a different order, and it was all coming back to me.

        When I started on the second leg, I had changed headlamps because the one I started with wasn’t bright enough. I went full speed ahead, and soon I was in an area where I didn’t see anyone for a while, which made me feel good because I guessed I must be ahead of the main pack, but when I saw a big group moving on a connecting trail, I realized I must have made a mistake somewhere. At first, I convinced myself that maybe everyone else had gone the wrong way, as ludicrous as that sounds, but once I caught up with Eric, I asked him what distances he had on his watch. He was at 5.9, and I was at 7, so I confirmed I made the mistake, which was hard to accept so early in the race. What was wrong with me! How did I already screw up and add a mile!

        The rest of the loop went by quickly. I fell once royally and ended up all dirty, and I tripped a few times, but so far, I have been mostly in good shape, and my leg issue wasn’t bothering me too much. I realized I was sweaty a lot and needed to take off my hat, which caused my hair to freeze. My hands were also getting cold, and my gloves were soaking wet. When I made it back to Emerson at the completion of the first loop, I was ready to change gloves and change hats.

Loop 1

Time: 4:21:20

Loop Pace: 13 mi

Distance: 20.09 (unofficial 21.x)