DATE: March 20-21, 2010
LOCATION: Lake Sacajawea Park in Longview, Washington
I had no intention of doing this race until January. I was gearing up for the Pigtails/Yours Truly double, and thought I should maybe do as much of the 24 hour race as I could. Plus I noticed that a lot of my Maniac friends were doing the race. So I decided to start training. In 2008 I started training 4-5 months before the race, this time I was only giving myself two months.
In early February, I thought about ways to make this race special. It was just after the earthquake in Haiti and wondered how I could make an impact. I decided to take pledges and donations for Medical Teams International (a Portland based international relief organization). Because this race is based how many miles you run and not on your time, it creates for a unique opportunity for people to make a per mile pledge and gave me an incentive to run more miles.
My goal was to run 100 miles, and so based on that I had a goal of raising a total of $20 per mile, which means I would raise $2,000. I started in early February by asking people for pledges and the response was incredible. I was asking people to donate $0.25 per mile and many donated $0.50/$1.00 per mile and some even threw in additional incentives for me if I ran more than 100 miles. I ended up raising about $23 per mile, so the pressure was on to run at least 100 miles.
I drove to Longview on race morning and got all my stuff setup for the race. It was fun to see so many of my Maniac friends. The weather was nice and I was looking forward to a good day. I started off running at a decent pace, I didn't want to get going too fast, but also wanted to put in as many miles as I could early.
In the first three hours I ran about 20 miles, but then after that I started to take walking breaks. I was running nine minute miles, but I would the slow that down to about 10-11 minute miles, at started to take in some food on the run as well.
I hit the marathon mark in about 4:05, which I felt like was a little too fast, but I felt pretty good. I slowed it down more, and ended up running a 50k in 5:02:25. In a race like this you need to be really careful to not push too hard too early. In the first 6 hours I had run a little more than 37 miles, and knew I was on pace for 100 miles. It was fun to see the other runners, as they passed me and as I passed them.
From that point forward I was pushing and felt pretty good, but knew there was still a long ways to go. I hit the 50 mile split in 8:59, and the 100k split in 11:37:15. At this point I was about half way and the sun had set, so we were entering into the dark hours when it gets tough.
I continued to run pretty good until midnight (about 15 hours into the race), I believe I had about 77 miles. When I got back to the start finish area, I started for a minute to grab a bit to eat, and then started going again. But this time, my legs stiffened up and I couldn't get running again. At this point I knew I had to just keep moving, and I knew I had to run at least another 23 miles. So what was I going to do? With nine hours left, I decided to start walking. I started out with a fast walk (15-17 minute miles), and just kept walking the rest of the race. It was really hard because I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn't let me. But I knew so many people were counting on me running at least 100 miles.
It took me a long time to go from the 100k mark (11:37) to the 150k mark (21:00). But I got to it at about 6:00 am. At this point I had only 9 more miles to get to the 100 mile mark. I pushed really hard after that hit the 100 mile point in 22:36:09. I noticed that quite a few of the leaders had stopped after 100 miles. This meant I was pushing up in the standings at this point.
My mom and sisters arrived about this point to cheer me on. It was such a welcome sight to see them, because I was really down and wanted the race to be over! My two sisters walked with me for the last three miles and I ended up finishing with 103 miles in 23:53. At this point I was done! I had reached my goal of 100 miles and I was whipped out!
Shortly after the race was over I found out that I once again was the 5th male finisher (also got fifth in 2008). So I got a 5th place plaque and my mom drove me home so I could get some rest. During the race, we never really had any rain, it remained pretty dry, but on the drive home it was pouring down rain. It started raining pretty hard five minutes after the race was over. We got lucky!
As for the money raised for Haiti, I had a number of people that gave money after the race, and I ended up raising $2,600 for Haiti relief! This was $600 more than I planned. It made me feel so good that I could make such a difference in my running.
In the next few days, I came down with a cold and it took me about two weeks to recover from the race. I struggled in those last nine hours and it was because I didn't put enough training into do this race. Next year, I plan to break my 107 mile personal record!
LOCATION: Lake Sacajawea Park in Longview, Washington
I had no intention of doing this race until January. I was gearing up for the Pigtails/Yours Truly double, and thought I should maybe do as much of the 24 hour race as I could. Plus I noticed that a lot of my Maniac friends were doing the race. So I decided to start training. In 2008 I started training 4-5 months before the race, this time I was only giving myself two months.
In early February, I thought about ways to make this race special. It was just after the earthquake in Haiti and wondered how I could make an impact. I decided to take pledges and donations for Medical Teams International (a Portland based international relief organization). Because this race is based how many miles you run and not on your time, it creates for a unique opportunity for people to make a per mile pledge and gave me an incentive to run more miles.
My goal was to run 100 miles, and so based on that I had a goal of raising a total of $20 per mile, which means I would raise $2,000. I started in early February by asking people for pledges and the response was incredible. I was asking people to donate $0.25 per mile and many donated $0.50/$1.00 per mile and some even threw in additional incentives for me if I ran more than 100 miles. I ended up raising about $23 per mile, so the pressure was on to run at least 100 miles.
I drove to Longview on race morning and got all my stuff setup for the race. It was fun to see so many of my Maniac friends. The weather was nice and I was looking forward to a good day. I started off running at a decent pace, I didn't want to get going too fast, but also wanted to put in as many miles as I could early.
In the first three hours I ran about 20 miles, but then after that I started to take walking breaks. I was running nine minute miles, but I would the slow that down to about 10-11 minute miles, at started to take in some food on the run as well.
I hit the marathon mark in about 4:05, which I felt like was a little too fast, but I felt pretty good. I slowed it down more, and ended up running a 50k in 5:02:25. In a race like this you need to be really careful to not push too hard too early. In the first 6 hours I had run a little more than 37 miles, and knew I was on pace for 100 miles. It was fun to see the other runners, as they passed me and as I passed them.
From that point forward I was pushing and felt pretty good, but knew there was still a long ways to go. I hit the 50 mile split in 8:59, and the 100k split in 11:37:15. At this point I was about half way and the sun had set, so we were entering into the dark hours when it gets tough.
I continued to run pretty good until midnight (about 15 hours into the race), I believe I had about 77 miles. When I got back to the start finish area, I started for a minute to grab a bit to eat, and then started going again. But this time, my legs stiffened up and I couldn't get running again. At this point I knew I had to just keep moving, and I knew I had to run at least another 23 miles. So what was I going to do? With nine hours left, I decided to start walking. I started out with a fast walk (15-17 minute miles), and just kept walking the rest of the race. It was really hard because I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn't let me. But I knew so many people were counting on me running at least 100 miles.
It took me a long time to go from the 100k mark (11:37) to the 150k mark (21:00). But I got to it at about 6:00 am. At this point I had only 9 more miles to get to the 100 mile mark. I pushed really hard after that hit the 100 mile point in 22:36:09. I noticed that quite a few of the leaders had stopped after 100 miles. This meant I was pushing up in the standings at this point.
My mom and sisters arrived about this point to cheer me on. It was such a welcome sight to see them, because I was really down and wanted the race to be over! My two sisters walked with me for the last three miles and I ended up finishing with 103 miles in 23:53. At this point I was done! I had reached my goal of 100 miles and I was whipped out!
Shortly after the race was over I found out that I once again was the 5th male finisher (also got fifth in 2008). So I got a 5th place plaque and my mom drove me home so I could get some rest. During the race, we never really had any rain, it remained pretty dry, but on the drive home it was pouring down rain. It started raining pretty hard five minutes after the race was over. We got lucky!
As for the money raised for Haiti, I had a number of people that gave money after the race, and I ended up raising $2,600 for Haiti relief! This was $600 more than I planned. It made me feel so good that I could make such a difference in my running.
In the next few days, I came down with a cold and it took me about two weeks to recover from the race. I struggled in those last nine hours and it was because I didn't put enough training into do this race. Next year, I plan to break my 107 mile personal record!
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