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| Me, Garrett (Prefontaine), Jon |
Sept. 21 - 3:30am - I am wide awake and thinking "Why am I awake and did the Ducks win?" Checking the phone I am surprised that they didn't win by more but a W is a W. I went to bed at half time the night before. I then started worrying about the race and thinking I NEED to get back to sleep. Finally fell back to sleep at 4:30am.
5:15am - Awake before my alarm again.... Okay so it was only 15min before when I wanted to get up. Eat and hydrate are a must. I think to myself "Why the HELL 'em I doing this..... that's right I've always got to push myself to my limits.
6:00am- Thank you Holly for dropping Jonathan and I off at Garrett's house so early in the morning.
6:45am- Where's the Porta Potty!! Jon, Garrett and I all unload for the last time before the race. And where are my calf sleeves?? Can't find them, oh well I don't need them anyways! "Wait for me bro!" I jump into the van still wearing bball shorts over my running pants because they were about to leave me and I didn't want to add 1/2 mile to the race. Luckly they let me ditch them in the van.
7:00am - Start Line Mile 0- Let's do this!! We were all pumped up and ready to go. Official start time was some time around 7:03. The pace felt really slow as our first mile was 10:52 but I glad we started so slow.
6:00am- Thank you Holly for dropping Jonathan and I off at Garrett's house so early in the morning.
6:45am- Where's the Porta Potty!! Jon, Garrett and I all unload for the last time before the race. And where are my calf sleeves?? Can't find them, oh well I don't need them anyways! "Wait for me bro!" I jump into the van still wearing bball shorts over my running pants because they were about to leave me and I didn't want to add 1/2 mile to the race. Luckly they let me ditch them in the van.
7:00am - Start Line Mile 0- Let's do this!! We were all pumped up and ready to go. Official start time was some time around 7:03. The pace felt really slow as our first mile was 10:52 but I glad we started so slow.
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| Feeling good ~mile 15 |
~10 mile - Let the up hill hiking begin. The Next 3 miles were all uphill we went from about 6000' to 7000' in elevation.
~11 miles- 9:05 am - The Pro Races that started an hour after us are already starting to pass us! I can't believe how fast they are up these steep hills!!
~13 miles - What the heck is going on in my pants!!!! It's felt like sand paper between my legs. I thought I might have to stop. But I took a gamble. I ran off into the forest and got Naked. Well almost. Took off my compression shorts and just wore my running shorts (which had a built in brief). Best thing I did. I CAN DO THIS!!
~14 miles - Aid station 2- We are all looking and feeling good at this point except for the fire between my legs. Thank goodness that stopped!! More red vines and grapes for me.
~Between 14 and 17- We had great views, river crossings, and alpine meadows, and rolling hills. Best part of the course. We started to get worried about Garrett because he wasn't eating and not drinking as much as he should.
~ Aid Station 3 - Mile 17.5 - Popsicles are the Best!!! Got down on two of those bad boys! Garrett and Jon also got some of that action. mmmmm gummy bears and m & m's!! We spent awhile here as the hills had taken a toll on our bodies.
~ miles 17-21- Were just nasty running down dirt/gravel roads with hunters wearing camo flying past us blanketing us in dirty. Some where along this stretch we lost Garrett.
~ miles 21-24.5 Jon started to pull away as I hit the wall. Walking most of it. My muscles did not want to move and I had to will myself to even run the few flat and down hill sections. This sound like a good idea 2 months ago.
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| We Love Pop slices! |
~ miles 24.5 - 26 - Was Mostly downhill and flat and I COULD NOT RUN! Believe me I tried for 30s-1 min at a time. I stopped at a creek and dunked my head and almost pasted out. This was my lowest point. Surprising after taking like a 10 min break Garrett catches up to me. He said, "I had to catch up some how." He gave me motivation to keep up the fight. We ran most of the section until the next check point.
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| Tanner give me a 5 |
~ mile 28.5 - Coke is the anti-kryptonite for this Superman and I think the drugs finally kicked in. I ran until I hit the Mt. Bachelor service road around mile 30. This road was the worst section of the whole race. Hot, steep, paved and down right nasty. I mustered up the strength to run parts of this hill knowing that I was almost there. When I popped over the hill and could see the end I knew that I could run the rest (and I had to....I was wearing a superman shirt after all.) If I had a pink barbie shirt on I could have walked and got away with it...maybe.
The best part was seeing my family right before the finish line and giving Tanner a high five. This carried me to the finish.
One of my favorite quotes comes to mind when I think about this experience.
“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." Christopher Robin to Pooh
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| My Family at the end of the Race |
My official time was 6:52:55. I placed 99 out of 130. I didn't get hurt and I learned a lot about myself.
I couldn't have done it without the support and love of Katie my awesomely beautiful wife, Garrett and Jon for running and sharing this experience with me.
