Dirty Girls 24 Hour Run, August 7/8 2010

I got the buckle.......

Those who did 120km received the belt buckle , this was my goal but I really wanted to go the full 24 hours. Run , jog, walk or crawl across the finish I as going for it. I was really excited about doing this event. My previous Limberlost run was an 8hour+, a good primer for the Dirty Girls. My plan was to do 90 minute laps for as long as I could , keep hydrated and eat as much as I could.

Allot of the details of the race escape me , I will probably have a better idea of what really went on when I see the lap times. Last year the course was a half K short, this year it was a true 10K loop. The new course also seemed a little bit tougher. The first 3K you were more or less going up and down. The downhills were steep enough that I had to break a bit and the uphills went on forever. Past the 5K aide station the course opened up and it was mostly runnable back to the start finish. Did the first loop in 1hr31min. It was my goal time but I was a bit surprised because the effort on the first loop it felt like I was faster. The weather was perfect at the race start with temps in the low teens. Throughout the morning and into the afternoon the temperature and humidity was slowly creeping up. The day went by pretty much as I expected. On the third loop I noticed a bit of a burn in my legs and I felt some blisters forming on my right foot. The fourth loop was my one and only " music lap", cranked up the tunes and disconnected the mind from the body...it was fun! My race plan was to get to 80K before it got dark. I fell short of this goal passing the 70K mark at 7:30 pm, 11.5 hours into the race. I was still running all the downhills and flat sections but was walking all the uphills. I was eating every 5K and drinking a liter of water every loop. I was doing eload caps every other loop and was doing the eload discs on the trail! I got a little behind on the hydration through the heat of the day but I managed to recover in the evening hours. My feet we starting to hurt , I knew that there were quite a few blisters forming and considered changing shoes and socks but decided against it thinking it would make it worse! I was very fortunate to have Anne and Luke McCutcheon join me after dark. Without their assistance and encouragement I doubt I would have had it in me to achieve my goal. Anne and I headed for my 8th lap, she was ahead of me and I followed in her foot steps. She pointed out all of the hazards as we went along. It was getting dark by the time we made it to the 5K aide station. Having company on the trail was such a moral boost it made the running seem easy again. Not sure of the lap time yet but I suspect that the 8th loop was done in around 1hr45min. The 9th loop was a really big milestone for me , every step was a new territory! My previous long run was 8oK at last years DG. I was still moving along pretty good approaching 90K but I was staring to get extremely fatigued and my feet were incredibly painful. In the 9th loop I stubbed my left foot so hard that it busted a few of the blisters. Luke headed out with me on the 10th loop. Started walking more then running but we were still making good time. Luke was a really fast walker and we were under 2 hours. Anne joined me on the 11th lap. With about 5.5 hours to go I wasn't sure that I had the buckle yet. Anne was wearing a Garmin and a watch and every couple of Ks I would ask here how far we were in the loop and what time it was. We pretty much walked this entire loop at a much slower pace. I did open it up on the longer downhills but that's about all the running I could do. Heading out on the final loop I knew I was going to be successful. I came up with the idea of going to the 2.5K mark after the 12th loop because I knew that most would be stopping after the 12th lap. It seemed like forever until we got to the 5K aide station. This last loop was LONG , when I know there is more to go I get in a mindset of just go and don't think about it but when I know its almost over I find myself focused on the moment. With less then 5K to go the buckle I was still thinking about the extra 2.5K. With 2K to go it started to rain quite heavily. It was at this point that I decided that I would stop after the 12th loop. The next couple of Ks were long but also very sweet knowing that I achieved my goal with about an hour to spare I was satisfied.

Finishing picture ...

Ouch ...

When I was done I headed for the showers and then stuck around for breakfast and the awards. I was feeling quite alert so I drove home and jumped into bed for a couple of hours then it was off to my sons baseball game at 1pm. I felt pretty good on Sunday afternoon , hit the couch and watched some TV and dozed off for another couple of hours. Felt good going to bed Sunday Eve but it was short lived. Woke up at 3:00 am to a rather severe case of the runs...not just once but several time over the next hour. I was fevered too and getting out of bed was an effort! I didn't get up until 6pm after spending nearly 20 hours in bed! Its now Tuesday and I have recovered from what ever it was that hit me yesterday. I know that what happened is a result of the 23hour effort but I really believe that it was something I ate and my troubles were a result of food poisoning. Guess I wont know until the next time I run this long .... yup , will be back for more!

Splits....
Lap__Time__ Time Elapsed
1: ___1:32:15___ 1:32:15
2: ___1:21:40___ 2:53:55
3: ___1:34:54___ 4:28:48
4: ___1:32:30___ 6:01:17
5: ___1:49:55___ 7:51:12
6:___ 1:47:05___ 9:38:17
7: ___1:51:17___ 11:29:33
8: ___2:15:28 ___13:45:00
9:___ 2:20:08___ 16:05:08
10:___2:07:46___ 18:12:53
11: ___2:25:05___ 20:37:58
12: ___2:39:27___ 23:17:24