100 Mile Run: Part 2 of 2

The excitement began at 6 PM yesterday as Duffty, Ashman and I piled into my car and drove the hour from Worcester to Foxboro to stay at Todd's house. We had a few drivers and pacers back out at the last minute which was probably a good thing because they might have pushed us to run too fast or been negative about the hours of running and a positive attitude is very important in this kind of thing.

We made it to Todd's house and his parents were great they fed us pizza and gatorade. We then played some poker, pool, and fooseball for awhile and watched the Celtics game. Then around 10 we watched the Running the Sahara movie his mom had bought and it was surprisingly good.

Going to sleep just before midnight none of us could fall asleep because we were so nervous and excited about the run. 

We woke up at 3:20 and got everything together. We had enough to supply a small track meet. Food of all types, gallons of gatorade and water, spare pairs of all types of running clothing, extra shoes and socks, towels, blankets, cameras, athletic tape, pretty much everything but pain pills. Todd drove us to the end of Woods Hole. Which is a 2 mile long peninsula with a private road we went down anyway. When the signs said "turn around now" we decided we had gone far enough and and got out and tied out shoes and took a group picture of the four of us and we started running just after 5 AM. We had a slight detour from our plan because a bridge was out but met up with Todd for the first time at 2.7 miles. We then headed out along the road by the beach taking the same course as the Cape Cod Marathon and Falmouth Road Race which is a fantastic road and very scenic. We pretty much cruised easily for the first 11 miles until out first encounter. We stopped at Burger King (before 7 AM) to use the bathroom and this lady asked us "Are you out running?" 

"Yes" I replied.

"That's nice. Are you doing the road race this year?"

"Which road race?" I asked.

"The Falmouth Road Race, it's like nine miles or something." 

"Well not this year." Except for the fact that we pretty much just ran the whole course plus four miles.

"It's a good race you should do it."

We trotted on usually doing a little over 8 minute miles and not walking much. We saw Todd around the 16 mile point and agreed to meet up at the 20 mile mark but he ended up on the wrong road and we ran past just missing each other so we kept running. We started to get worried that he got in a car crash or something because we hadn't seen him pass. Finally around mile 25.5 we stumbled to a deli and I asked to use a phone because I was the only one wearing a shirt and I called my cell phone. Todd answered after two rings, 

"Where are you?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm at Old Post Road." I looked down at my turn by turn directions and see that we passed that 5 miles ago.

"Todd, we're at Fancy Deli or something on Main street".

"I'm so sorry I totally missed your guys I'll be there in a few minutes"

So we waited outside the deli trying to answer questions about our running without mentioning how far we had already ran or how far we wanted to run. When I made the call they other two told a guy they had just run over 25 miles and using graphic language he found that amazing. Todd finally arrived and we decided to go down the road to the marathon mark and take a long break to eat and change socks. So Duffty flew down the road at 6:30 pace to prove something to himself and Ashman and I jogged less than a mile to the end and took some pictures and it took the two of us using a continuous watch 4:31 to run the marathon. Yes I felt pretty accomplished by 9:30 AM.

We took about 20 minutes there and headed out. I ran with Ashman because Duffty's idea was to run 7:40s and rest more and we were content to handle 8:20s or something. We had a break around 28.2 and Ashman was starting to feel it about a half a mile after the stop he said that the next break he would take himself out. The purpose of this run was to push ourselves and he ended up running 31.3 miles or so which is very respectable.

At that stop I started to pick up the pace and try to run with Duffty. Things are a bit of blur from there. I spent most of the 30s close to him perhaps 10 feet or so. We threw down a 7:32 mile at some point which was the fastest of the day. Finally, I just could not maintain that pace so I would run my pace and he would run his and then walk and I would catch up and we'd walk together for a little bit then repeat the process. This was fine but around 35 or so we took a break to sit down and relax and about a mile or two after that he was hurting and decided that if he stopped at all he would not get up again so we took our breaks for the next 7 miles or so by taking our water bottles and walking for a few minutes drinking and then Todd and Mike would drive up and take our bottles and drive two miles ahead. Our rest stops averaged 2-3 miles with the exception of the 10 mile stretch.

Around the early 40s Duffty got less coherent and we didn't really talk much. I took a sit down break in the van around 43 to tell the other two who couldn't see as much as I did that Duffty wasn't looking good. I then ran after him and he said that at the next stop he would be done. So he ended around 45. 

I still have energy in me and I was thinking clearly so I wanted to try and take a crack at 100k. About 10 minutes after I started out alone I was on a high which is a misnomer. I still felts lots of pain just not as much as a low and my pace on a high was maybe 9 minute miles while running. However when I was a mile or two out there on my own it started to get much harder.  All I could think about was the time and the distance. I would look at my watch and then run a few hills which took a long time and look at my watch again but only 3 minutes would pass. Around 48 my knee started to hurt a little and my quads were really hurting from the low. At the 50 mile rest stop (that I reached after 9:05 of running) they took pictures and Mike asked if there would be a mile 51. While 50 miles is cool two marathons is cooler so I told them make it 52.4 and I would call it a day. I took some water and energy jelly cube things and headed out. The gave me directions at 51 miles and 51.6 miles because I didn't want to try and navigate anymore. I also wanted to stick on the sidewalk. While I wasn't stumbling I was afraid of a car hitting me or one of those huge boats on a trailer. When they told me .8 miles to go mI thought I would be able to pick it up. Yeah not so much. I even walked within a half mile of the finish line. The finish was on a down hill and they rolled out the toilet paper finish line a took pictures and I hopped in the van without a single stretch. Total time for two marathons 9:34:39.

Todd drove us the hour and a half back to his house and Ashman drove us the hour back to Worcester. How do I feel? Ok. I mean pretty much the worst I've ever felt physically but I can walk and I showered and besides being really sore I can't feel my plantar fasciitis at all which is great! My left knee hurts but two marathons mostly on the right side of the road in motion control shoes will do that to you. My quads which started to hurt around 11 are toast. A little bit of chaffing in a few different places but nothing that won't heal in two days. Basically, I'm doing amazing. I had a great birthday and I had three good friends share it with me. 

There are pictures and video but I don't have them right now.