Dirty Girls 48 Hour Trail Race - August 9/10/11 2013 - Mansfield Outdoor Centre

Where to begin....

Going long is really all about the adventure for me.  You never really know where these runs will take you and this years event didn't disappoint.

Did my first 100 miler in 2011 ,  Sulphur Springs.  Last year my one and only race of this distance was the inaugural Dirty Girls 48 hour.   I really like this race for allot of reasons but one very important on is that logistically speaking its a breeze.

Unlike other years this time I was on my own ,  no support,  no pacers ( or so I thought ) just me  and the endless hours on the trails at Mansfield.   Once again I planned and packed and cooked ahead of time and and packed it in my old Dodge Durango.   On very important component was an air bed  and a sleeping bag where I could fully stretch out and snooze  when needed.  

 Race start as 08:00 am ,  I showed up around 07:30 the last to pick up my race kit.    Dianne the RD said she was "worried" because I hadn't showed yet.     I failed to get a race shirt in the last minute arrival but I was OK with that...there are only so many places you can wear a shirt that says " I did the Dirty Girls" besides I have a handful of them already.   Last thing I did before we started was to weigh in.   I had been "eating ahead" and tipped the scales at 178.8 lbs.

08:00 Friday Aug 9th and the race had begun.


Walked the entire 1st loop with 74 year old  Joe Cleary ...the guy is a legend... Google "Joe Cleary Ultra Runner" and you will see.    Joe was using the Dirty Girls to prepare for the " The Pilgrimage to Santiago" ( Google that too).  A little 1000 km walk that has been taking place since the Medieval Times.   90 minutes of talking with Joe was a great way to do the first 8K .   I remember feeling refreshed and excites ready to run the remaining 152 km or 19 loops.   


Got off to a bit of a tough start ,  loops 2 and 3 my "March Madness Broken Ass" flared up...right cheek hurt like hell.   4th loop the Ass troubles went away and I was moving well.  After the 5th loop ( 40K in) I stopped and had allot of food and washed it down with a Beer but I sat too long and it was really hard starting again.  Cramped on the 6th loop after all the food.  7th and 8th loop were great but I was stuck in a mental loop playing the numbers something like this ....

OK , its 7:00 pm I am on my 8th loop  if I finish in 1hr20min it will be 8:20 pm if I keep going is will get to loop 10 by midnight if I slow down to 90 minute loops I should get through loop 13 by 4:30 am take a break until 8:00 am then back out after the 24 hour race starts should get to loop 16 by noon and should finish before nightfall bit maybe I will break at midnight with 10 loops done but I really should do at least one more loop fishing around 1am but then last year I took a break at 03:00 am after 13 loops so I better go til then no wait my feet hurt and I feel tired and its dark and quiet at the start finish I think I should stop after loop 10 and sleep say until 5:00 am then do 2 loops before 08:00 am getting through loop 12.

The above went on on my head constantly for dam near 3 hours.  I tried to think of anything other then the numbers but nothing worked.

Writing this blog I totally forgot about my loop 2 and 3 "Broken Ass".  If it wasn't for this video I would have forgot so here it is loop 1-8 recap...





I had a very pleasant surprise finishing loop 8.   Patrick Rose had arrived and was waiting to pace me.  His timing couldn't have been better.  I explained to him about the numbers game I had been playing and asked him to tell stories about anything just to get my mind to a different place.  He followed me and and totally turned my mental around.   Patrick was going to leave after loop 9 but decided to go one more getting me through loop 10 by 11:30 pm.  Loop 10 was half way to my minimum goal in 15hrs30min with 32hrs30min remaining in the race.   Lets just say I had time on my side.    Said goodbye to Patrick and decided that it would be a good time to break for a bit of shut eye.   My feet were really achy like someone had been beating on them with a 2X4.   When I took  my toe socks off they were full of fine powder like sand.   Only has a couple of small blisters ... no big deal!     Crawled into the back of my Durango and into the sleeping bag and was way way way too hot but without it I was frozen.   I laid there tossing and turning not able to get thermally comfortable for what seemed to be forever.   Laying flat on my back I woke my self up with the loudest snore I ever hear myself snore ...scared me!!!   After the core cooled down the sleeping bag was a nice comfy cocoon from which I couldn't escape due to the single digit temps.   Woke up to day break pissed that I had slept so long still not able to get out of the sleeping bag due to the cold.   Came up with a game plan .... new shorts ,  shirt , shoes my Montrail Mountain Masochist  , socks ,  compression hat , gloves and a sweatshirt I would wear until I started to sweat.   One very pleasant surprise was those oh so achy feet now felt really good.  Decided not to do anything about the blisters knowing they would take care of themselves.    So I hit the trail around 6:30 am wanting to get through loop 11 by 08:00 am.

Did my last video recap of the race after loop 11 was completed....





Nailed the Nutrition ,  Hydration and Electrolytes the entire race.   I had no GI issues what so ever ...only brief minor cramping as a result of eating and eating I did.    Right from the start of loop 2 I grabbed solids  and fluids to go ... lots of calories.   I would walk the first almost K eating and drinking ... it was mostly uphill.  My goal was to always finish consuming after the last big climb to the top then I would start running.  At the 4K aid station I would do 2 full cups of water and a Hammer Gel.... repeat 20 times!

Loops 12 through 18 were all about getting to loops 19 and 20.   I was really moving well and feeling good but the foot pain was building again.    The Montrails are a fantastic shoe but probably not the best choice for this course.   They are a little lite on the "Rock Plate" protection.   Felt a rub on the inside right heal around lap 17 but there was no way I was going to stop to investigate.    Figured I may get to loop 19 before 7pm leaving one loop to so in the dark but I came in around 7:45 pm way to late to go out sans light.     I wished I had of done a video to recount more of the details but there are a few thing the stood out between loops 11 and 19.   Loop 17  I was stung my a  Bee on the top of my head.  Loop 18 I had a really hard right foot kick on a stump that I missed.   Its also the loop that I recall seeing this really nice women  with a very large head of  glowing silver hair  that was always smiling a chipper in the middle of nowhere.  For a moment I though it may have been my "Guardian Angle" so I asked at the 4K aide station if she was real ... they assured me that she was out there cleaning up the trails ... PHEW!

Half of loop 19 was run in the Daylight.   I made it to the 4K aid station before the 12 hour night gang rolled through the course for the first time.   I didn't do any solids heading out on this one just hydration ... I was really tired of eating and eating and eating and eating.    I didn't waste any time heading out on my final lap and decided to walk this one not feeling comfortable running in the dark.   Walking was tougher then running but the trade off was less chance of killing myself.  I had contemplated going beyond loop 20 by crawling into the sleeping bag and getting up at day break for one more loop but then I thought WHY?   The other option was a Red Bull,  pack the Durango ,  1 hour to home , a shower then in bed by 01:30 am.   So I walking through the dark trail I firmly decided on the home option.    It was almost like I was making things go south so I would feel worse and make the choice not to go on.  Walking was way way way more painful then running ,   laying off on the solids a few hours earlier was going to make running impossible it was like committing running suicide ... I was doomed into stopping.  So without fan fair sometime after 11pm I finished lap 20 for a total of 160km.  I collected my Belt Buckle then proceed to pack up and head home.

Driving though Flesherton it was 12:45 am and the Pizza place at the South End of town was still open .... drove by it but did a U Turn.   I arrived at the same time as a young fellow on a Motorcycle.    Whilst we orders he asked where I was coming from.  I told him Mansfiled where I had just ran 100 miles and that's why I was dressed funny and probably didn't smell too good!   He paused for a moment and said " that's like 160 km"   yup I said.  The young fellow excitedly told the two working behind the counter  who gave me the yeah right that's impossible so I whipped out the belt buckle.   The young fellow paused while eating his Pizza and suggested that I must of burned 14,000 calories.   I told him it was non stop consuming calories and he was amazed that we could run and eat at the same time.

I was home a little after 01:00 am ,  a quick clean up and crawled into bed for a really satisfying sleep waking up close to noon not feeling all that bad and already planning next years  48 or maybe even 72 hour Dirty Girls Race.