100 Mile Run - 28.5 Hours Straight!!!

Feb 10, 2012

100EC - 104 Miles Ran In 28.5 Hours

  It has been one week since I completed this epic race and I feel like I have recounted all the details sufficiently in my head so I can help you get a glimpse of how awesome this journey was! So, I ask for your patience with my VERY winded report of one of the most gratifying but by far, the most dificult thing I have ever done in my life.

Without going in to too much detail about this race last year, I will just say that I got through just about 75 miles in 19 hours, and since that day, I have wanted to get my vengance on this course! This would be my 4th attempt at the 100 mile distance. 2 times I got to about the 75 mile mark and could not continue. My 3rd attempt earlier this year got called short when I rolled my ankle twice at mile 25 on some roots, and could not continue. Go in to this race, I KNEW I was going to finish it! I have found that when you go into a race with full confidence in your training, your ability, and your motivation to get through some serious pain, there is a great chance you will complete your goal, and probably BETTER than you expected to. This was the very feeling I had when I registered for this race many months ago.

My training for this race was far more effective than past attempts at the distance. A lot of that is due to the fact that my base was uber strong, and I just needed to maintain it while increasing my strength, which I did, and proved to be spot-on. My longest run leading up to this race was an 8 hour ULTRA which I got in 37 miles, and was really pleased with. My preperations included lots of cross-training and more intense, shorter workouts, which enabled me to avoid injury and toe the line without injury and at 100%! I really tried to listen to my body, and most importantly, I found a WONDERFUL balance between work, family, training, church, etc, which as a whole, made me a very happy man when race time came around.

One of the biggest bummers for me was going in to the race knowing that my sweetheart and children were not going to be there with me, but I knew they would be there in spirit. As the race drew closer and closer I found a general sense of peace, confidence, and assurance come over me, that let me know this was going to be MY victory. Last year in my race report, I stated "Perhaps this distance is bigger than me, RIGHT NOW, but it is my Mt. Everest, and I WILL conquer it". Those very words were my own motivation throughout this past year, and when race day came, I knew my motivation and ability was far bigger than the Mt Everest that stood in front of me.

On to the race... I had asked my buddy, Andy Meadows, several months ago if he would be interested in crewing for me at this event, and he said yes. I also asked my best friend of 18 years, Aric Hill, if he would crew for me as well, to which he of course said yes. So these guys were my support throughout the ENTIRE race, and I owe much of this milestone to these guys...



Andy and I flew in to So Cal from Fort Worth on Thursday morning and the race started on Saturday. Thursday we all went out for a little round of golf and dinner and got some solid sleep. Friday we spent the day getting the rest of our supplies dialed in and went over our strategy and game plan for the race. Aric also had some friends come over Friday night for a friendly game of cards, at which, Aric made a bet with one of his sceptic friends. No, the bet was not about me, it was about Aric's ability to ride a bike for 15 miles along side of me, which could take 3-4 hours depending on what stage of the race we were in, and he had not been on a bike for about as long as we have been friends! He gladly accepted the bet, I internally prayed for him, and we went on with the game. More on this later... Andy is a very strong cyclist and I knew he would be able to handle pacing me on the bike for the duration without a problem. He is just starting to get in to triathlon and his longest run to date was about 6 miles. More on that later...

As race morning was upon us, I got up at 4am and started the rituals. After checking everything and ensuring we had everything we needed, we headed to the race start. The atmosphere was lively and cheery, and it was great to see so many familiar faces! My mom came to the race start which was a nice treat. After the race director and founder of The 100 Mile Club, Kara Lubin, made some general announcements, gave some recognition, and laid out some particulars about the course, it was time to line up and get ready to head out. As the horn blew, and the beeping of all the GPS watched commenced, the adrenaline kicked in, the crowd was cheering, spirits were soaring, and that calm peace I spoke of earlier came over me, and with a confident nod-n-a wink to my mom, I was off.

I told Andy that my goal for the first 25 miles was to maintain a 10 - 11 minute per mile pace. My nutrition plan was simple... One can of Chicken broth (1890mg of Sodium) every 2 hours (broken up by sips of it in my handheld every 20 minutes), a gel every 30 minutes, a 100 calorie snack at the top of each hour, and every 3 hours a mini meal. I also used straight Gatorade in my Camelbak and would alternate that with water every few sips. My mini meals typically consisted of peanut butter sandwiches, pizza, french fries, soup, and milkshakes. My snacks at the top of the hours typically consisted of Bananas, chips, candy, and whatever else sounded good along the way. Throughout the whiole race, my nutrition was absolutely spot-on and could not have worked out better. The night before the race, as Andy and I were going over strategy, we made maticulous notes, being sure to put down what time and what item I needed to eat or drink and out on the course, pretty much kept that schedule to a "T". On the first section, my pace was perfect, not too fast, not too slow and finished the first 25 miles in 4:29:-- (They did not record the seconds).

At the first aid station, it had warmed up pretty good and I decided I wanted to change. So, I threw on some new digs, taped up my feet where I was starting to feel some "Hot Spots" where blisters were starting to form, refueled, and was off again. This stretch leads right down the Santa Ana River Trail, which basically runs next to Angel Stadium all the way down to the ocean shore. At this point, Aric, decided to switch off pacing duties with Andy and took reigns over the bike and trailer and to fulfill the bet he made with his friend at the card game the night prior. Andy would speed ahead in the car and meet up with us every 6 miles or so to make sure we were all set. This point in the race is where I would typically blow it! I would try to keep running fast, using all my energy, and subsequently, pay for it down the road. I knew I had to stick to my game plan and start walking a bit. I have to admit that it took me swallowing a lot of pride to watch people run past me at mile 25-50, but I knew I was doing the right thing. This section was pretty uneventful. Just kept the head down, pounded out the miles, stuck to the nutrition plan, and enjoyed some time with my bro Aric. As we finally hit the ocean, we ran along the bike trail where many RV's were parked to camp out. We got glimpses, on the big screen TVs that adorned these RVs, of the USC game score, and other interesting things as well. Random people would ask us how far we were running, we would tell thim, they would proceed to use explatives to describe their feelings about running that far, and we would carry on. As we made our way down Bolsa Chica Beach, I told Aric that some hot Curly Fries from Jack In The Box sounded pretty good. He phoned ahead to Andy who was waiting there and had them for me when I arrived. At this point it was dark and I had about 4.5 miles to go until the 50 mile Aid Station. I told Aric to call ahead and have my mom, and mother-in-law, Grace, to have a warm Cheese Pizza waiting for me when I got there in about an hour. I finally got to the station on 2nd Street & PCH by Belmont Shore and found many runers hanging out and refueling. I also found that my Mom & MIL decided to WALK to get my pizza... Those of you who have ever walked with my mom KNOW that it is not exactly as "BRISK" pace she carries. So, after waiting 20 minutes for my pizza, I chow down, regroup, and head out to the 3rd stage... Mile 50-75. (2nd stage total time 7:18:--)

This is the stage of an ULTRA I had never been passed, but I KNEW I had it today, and still had that confidence and swagger in my step. Now, to digress just a moment... Aric ended up riding the ENTIRE 2nd stretch on the bike. My prayers turned from hoping he could do it, to praying that his underparts didn't look like chop meat as he opted to NOT wear cycling shorts for a 6 hour trek in the saddle!!! So, needless to say, Andy picked the bike back up at 50 and as we ran off in to the mist and fog, I think I got a faint glimpse of Aric "Flipping Off" the bike & trailer! We made it down to the shore and again began running on the bike trail. The fog was so thick you could barely see 4-5 feet in front of you in the darkness. After several miles, I knew we were in a place that was pretty hallowed for me and Christie. On March 12th, 1992, I asked Christie to be my girl on the very steps we were running past. I asked Andy to take a picture of the steps as I reached into my pack to grab the laminated picture of my family I brought with me, kissed my sweet Christie's face on the picture, and we set off again. I knew Christie and the family couldn't be there with me, but they were in spirit, and with the picture of them I carried with me, they actually ran the whole way with me!

This section wound through Shoreline Village in Long Beach, down the marina breezeway and then paralleled the Los Angeles River along the 710 Freeway. This part had a couple VERY big areas that were full of Vagrants / tranziants and would have been very "Hairy" at the midnight hour without Andy along my side. We made it out of dodge unscathed and continued on until we hit PCH again. Once we were back on the road, we ran along the refineries, which smelled heavenly, and then down towards Wilmington. I asked for Andy to have Aric hook me up with a Vanilla shake, which he did. After chugging that, we finally arrived at the 62.5 mile sub station. This was probably the only "Dark Spot" I had in the whole race. Doubts were starting to creep into my head, the air had turned bitterly cold, the fog was thick and soupy, my legs were throbbing, and morale was pretty low. It took a lot of convincing to get myself up again and started to make my way out of the station back onto the course. As I began to move, I started feeling better. I took in a lot of calories, chugged fluids, took a pain reliever, and soon found myself putting together some good runs here and there and began to feel good. I also noticed that we were heading directly south through San Pedro Harbor, where I had fished many a time, and enjoyed the familiar surroundings. When we finally made our way all the way to the coast, we were supposed to follow this bike trail as we began our ascent up to Rancho Palos Verdes Estates. The fog was as thick as soup now, and Andy and I did not know where we were to go. Andy gave the bike back to Aric before we got to this point, and was walking / running along with me. We later found out that the road we were supposed to take was CLOSED, but we did not now that, nor did we have any clue how to navigate around it. THANK GOODNESS FOR OUR GPS WATCHES!!! We ended up turning UPHILL which led us in to the hills and soon found ourselves on a mountain trail! There was no way this was right! We continued on and began to see a street below us that our Garmin said we needed to get to, the only problem was the 100 foot drop off to get down to it. We continued on until we found a resonable enough path to get to it and as we descended, found some headlights coming at us. It was a member of the crew of another runer, basically asking us what the hell we were doing in the sticks! He pointed us in the right direction and we soon discovered that we added almost 3 miles to our journey and 1200 feet of elevation climb on that trail!!! My legs were trashed!

After we got through that, we had another 5 miles to get to the 75 mile aid station. We could not see anything except occasional headlights. We passed The Donald Trump Golf Course, which we obviously could not see, and this section was literally uphill the whole way. 5 miles up into the aid station. I had finally made it, and found Aric, Grace, and my mom waiting for me there! HALELUJAH!!! (Total time for 3rd section 8:37:--) I put my jacket on, posted up next to the fire, drank a couple cups of soup, and was pleased to discover that there was a gentleman there performing ART for athletes who needed it. SIGN ME UP I said. He loosened my quads and calves and I felt much better! This is it, unchartered waters for me... These are the championship miles, but I was in it to win it and there was not going to be anything that would keep me from finishing at this point! I called Christie, told her I was good to go, and Andy and I headed back out in to the dark fog. 2 more hours until the sun would come back up!

The words that kept popping into my head in this first part of the last section were... "Does this hill EVER end???" It seemed like we were literally going uphill for the better part of 10 miles. So, we just kept slogging out the miles until the sun lightened up the sky. I finally was able to take off my jacket and my beenie, and was ready to hit the beach again that would lead me to the finish. We finally crested the hill, and I got back on the bike trail at Redondo Beach. At this point I was really hungry, and REALLY tired of Gatorade, gels, snacks, and all the other stuff I had been eating for a day straight. I told Andy to call Aric and have him get me some breakfast from McDonald's. A bit later, Aric met up with Andy to deliver the greasy Mana, and mana it was! I probably would have gladly eaten anything that was half warm at this point. I chow down, and realized I was less than 10 miles away!!! I kept running along the beach, walking when I had to, and struggled to stay awake! That was nothing a 5 Hour Energy shot didn't fix! There was a group of about 4 runners that were playing cat and mouse back and forth with me. They were walking VERY fast, and I do not walk that fast, so I had to jog/walk to stay with or ahead of them. As we came in to the home stretch down the madness that is Venice Beach, I knew I had this thing. I plug away and keep grinding it out. When I saw the chase pack get close, I would run and then walk when I had to. Less than 2 miles to go now!!! I had Andy call Christie and tell her I was almost done and to have her phone next to her. As we get near the finish, I see the FINISH banner!!! I got my phone out and called Christie. I asked her to round up all the children and get them on the phone. As they all cheered for me over the phone, I crossed the finish line with them! I cried a little, told them I loved them, hung up, and collapsed on the ground. Colapsed in exhaustion, exhileration, in astonishment, and in humility...
(4th Section total time 8:06:--)

Overall Total Time 28:30:00

After getting hugs and my shiny finisher's belt buckle, I just sat on the ground, burried my head between my legs and sobbed for a bit. I am not sure if it was the foul stench that I emminated or the sheer hunger and desire to get a greasy burger that compelled me up from my prone position, but either way, it was a long way up, even with the help of Aric and Kara Lubin! There were several folks who requested that I dedicate 1 mile of the race to them... Andrew Miceli, Mile 69, this mile was yours because at mile 62.5 I almost gave up on myself, but I knew you were pulling for me and I ran that whole mile for you brother, because you did not give up at Ironman in August! Katrina Mumaw, she didnt request a specific mile, but I gave her mile 89. I was so tired, so exhausted, falling asleep while walking, I thought about her and her service to our country overseas in the military, and remembered it is because of her and all the others that have, are, and ever will serve our country in the Armed Forces, and protect our freedoms and my dream of running 100 miles. To all the others who contributed to this run and cause I thank you sincerely, I kept moving because I knew you ALL were pulling for me.

In retrospect, I think about the enormity of what I did, and here are the things that stick out in my mind, and are really the true challenges that are associated with this challenge.

1) Have you ever stayed awake for 30 hours?
2) Have you ever stood on your feet for 30 hours?
3) Have you ever continuously moved for 30 hours?
4) (If you have ever ran 100 miles) Ever done it on concrete?
5) What is your motivation to finish?
6) How much pain are you willing to endure?
7) How prepared are you?
8) Do you believe in yourself?
9) Are you affraid to punch through the darkness to see what's on the other side?
10) Do you believe there is a strength within you that lies deep in your soul, that is yet to be unveiled?

My feet were basically entirely covered in blisters, my legs were so sore, but all of it was worth it. 6 days later and I am RECOVERED! I am racing in a triathlon tomorrow and the only thing that I can say to those who say that I am crazy is...

"I am not crazy, I am just not affraid"

Thank you all for your continued love, support, encouragement, and care... I did NOT run this race alone, you all were there with me. A special thanks to the best crew a man could ever ask for... Aric "Sorenuts" Hill, and Andy "howdidienduprunning30mileswithDan" Meadows. Most importantly, I want to express my love and appreciation to my wonderful wife Christie. She is my strength, my support, my everything, and truly without her, I am nothing. The truest quote I ever read was... "Behind every good man is an even better woman". THAT IS THE TRUTH!!!

So that's it, 104 miles in the books, and on to the next challenge! "The greatest reward for success, is the opportunity to do MORE". BRING IT ON!!!
 

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