| Event Map | Elevation Map | Parking Lot Map |
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The story, unfortunatly, begins at the end so that's where I will start...
Mike was thinking about doing a hundred miler. Someone told him that he can't and that he should do a 50 Miler instead. I don't think the person meant anything bad by that comment but since it "was" that person, Mike felt slighted. He immediatly started researching hundreds. He found the Ghost Train 100 in New Hampshire. He asked me to do it, but I as a compromise, told Elizabeth that I would take 2 years off from hundos. So no go for me. He pushed. He cajoled. He tried but no go. Meanwhile, I was chomping at the bit. Told him to wait a year but the thought was implanted and he had to "run" with it. Not sure who convinced whom but Kate Stoker was going as well.
There are pros and cons in every race and I will try to summarize them here as best as I can.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Flat (for the most part anyway) | It's in October and the night time portion will be 13 hours |
| It's in October and maybe cold (yay?) | It's in October and maybe cold (sucks!) |
| It's a 7.5 mile out and back for a 15 mile loop - Will see plenty of runners | It's a 7.5 mile out and back for a 15 mile loop - Mind numbing boring loops |
| 15 mile loops with no DNF's - You can do less without a DNF but without a buckle | 15 mile loops with no DNF's - You can do less without a DNF but without a buckle |
As you can see, a lot of these can be both pros AND cons but the last one is very important. If you are a beginner, who has never done such a distance, you can stop before you finish a hundred and not DNF. You won't get a buckle but you can always come back another year, right? On the other hand, if alot of runners decide that 15 miles is enough for them (or any multiple of 15's) and you really want that buckle, then you may just end up by yourself without any friends. I think that's mentally very hard.
I'm not sure Mike and Kate realized this. Add to that, Mike and Maria left NY late after Mike worked all day, and only got there around midnight. Not enough sleep!!! As you can see, Mike cooked himself a whole lot of trouble. He really set himself with hurdles every step of the way.
So... They had a very long night (13 hours) and cold temps and at one point severe rain. Maria opted out at 30 miles. Mike, after not sleeping enough and driving too much, found himself without his teammate. He continuued but at mile 60, he got tired. Very tired. He then decided to take a 2 hour nap. Got into his car and fell asleep. He woke up about 5 or 7 hours later (I forget now) and realized that he still has 40 miles to go with 5 or 7 hours (I forget) and upset with himself stopped. He didn't DNF! He wasn't a failure. This race was very happy to report that he successfuly did 60 miles but he did not get a buckle and he was VERY upset about that. Turns out that Kate had also stopped at 60 miles. She decided that that was it and stopped.
I talked to Mike afterwards. I tried to explain to him over and over that the cards were stacked against him. Everytime, I made a little headway, he talked to Kate and both concluded (3 steps back) that they both failed miserably.
I spoke to Kate also and did my best to (again) explain to them what they had against them but when those 2 talked together, backwards they went.
Finally, Mike asked me if I would consider doing Ghost with him. I told him that I am going to do it and that I tried to tell him that so many times. Not sure if he heard me that time but he was very happy that I am going to do it... Actually, both he and Kate were very happy to hear that. Here's a screen shot:
No pressure right? Oh, and while this Mike has never finished a hundred, Kate did Ghost the year before in 22:20 or in Plain English, MUCH MUCH FASTER THAN ME! What do these guys think? I say this often and I'll say this again: I'm nobody...
Meanwhile, Jamey has been itching for a buckle too, especially upon hearing the whole Ghost train stories, and well, he has finally convinced his boss to let him do one. He's got permission to do no more than 1 a year and well, he picked C&O which I'm planning on anyway and so is Mike.
Lastly, (notice I'm going backwards here?), I have Pistol. Later in the more specific to this race area, I will give more details about Bill, but I will give a little info here. Bill, who I'm doing Pistol with, just donated something medical to his brother and just let me know that he will need my help to finish. Let me just say that Bill is part of the "Connecticut Kids" as Mike like to call it and is good friends with Kate as well as Mike. My guess is that they got talking too.
So, just to recap: Pistol I'm pulling Bill (potentially carrying on my shoulders but more on that later), C&O I have Jamey as well as Mike assuming I can rein him in and at Ghost I will have Mike and Kate tho realistically, both are faster than me.
I'm not complaining or kvetching. I'm just reporting. I really don't mind helping. I have pulled many people before. I pulled friends on their first Marathons and I have pulled strangers on their first as well. Hundreds are just more stressful. By the way, I don't agree with something Kate or Mike said which is "for us, Marathons are like 10Ks. Very doable...". I understand what they are saying tho I still stress about a 5K...
In any case, I'm up to the job as long as a) they follow my lead and b) listen to me. I plan on finishing. Anyone who decides to go off script, good luck to them. Hopefully, I get them across the finish line (in time).
This was the generic stuff. All other specific to this or the other races will follow now...
I have been thinking about this one for a while. They really do have the coolest buckle. Now, I know many friends think I'm nuts etc but maybe my "enjoying the experience journey" AKA endurance athlete addiction is really out of control. By the way, I just called myself an endurance athlete... Crazy. Anyway, what do I mean? Well, the race really has come cool race swag and I kinda want it all. The 50K and 50M finishers swag is cool too but I gotta do the 100 mile, right? Still, the RD now has a new thing. Anyone, who does either the 100M, 50K or 50M and then does the 50M at night as well will get a really cool additional prize. Damn it! I thought about it for a while and finally had a bright idea. I reached out to the RD and asked if I could self-support myself the day before to do the 50K followed by the 50M and then the next day do the 100M with everyone. Unfortunatly, he said no. I "guess" that's a good thing but it still sucks. I guess I will have to come back another year to get it done tho 2017/2018 won't happen as we have a Bat-Mitzvah to go to. Still, I will get my buckle this year.
A real quick thing about Bill. I briefly mentioned his thing up top but I would like to get a little more here. I met Bill at my first PJ run. He is a fellow Double Agent (MM and HF) and we really hit it off. I mentioned Pistol and he was interested. This was 2 years ago. He told me that he got bit by a tick and was suffering from Lyme Disease like symptoms even though he was tested for Lyme and it came out negative. Wow. Scary. I ran into him a few more times since then. At Watchung 50K he ran well. At Walkway Over the Hudson, he picked up a newbie and ran her to the finish. At this years PJ run, he ran hand-in-hand with his 12 year old daughter. She did her first 50K when she was 12. She wasn't feeling it that day (it was 93 degrees at the start) so hand-in-hand they did somewhere between 22 and 24 miles. I forget. Point is, as much as he would have wanted to just go, he didn't. Good dad status...
Anyway, through FB I find out he donated something to his brother. I reached out. He's still excited. He still wants to do this. Unfortunatly, he ran 8 miles and came back dizzy. He's gonna need my help... Oi.
First let's get rid of 1 myth: There's no "easy" 100. They all have the mileage and the sleep deprivation and the mental as well as physical high and lows. Anyone who tells you there's an easy 100 is either deluding himself or is a liar. There is tho the concept of an "easier" 100 and I will agree to that. In any case, this was NOT an easier 100. As I said, they all have something inherently crazy with them.
The day: There's a 50K, 50K Relay, 100K and a 100 mile option all which start in the morning. There's also a 50 miler which starts at night as well as the double barrel option which means you do the 50K in the morning and then come back for the 50 miler at night. Their finishers swag is awesome by the way. The 50M or double barrel option means that at 8pm, or 12 hours into the 100M, you have new blood joining. Some may have fresh legs or you may encounter double barrells without the fresh legs. This means suddenly you have more people on the course. While it's nice to have new faces, it can also mess you up mentally when you wonder how the hell that guy is running so fast. In any case, it can work both ways.
Before I start describing the course properly, let me quickly mention the pros and cons...
Pros: It's a loop course. The longest you have to go is approx 4.23 miles before you hit an aid station. You have heated indoor plumbing on each side and port-a-potties about 2 miles from the start/finish. You can leave drop bags on either side of the course. There is an aid station on each side of the loop. These are fully stocked. You can have pacers join you. There's only about 330 feet of elevation on each loop. The course is lighted at night so no need to take headlamps with you.
Cons: You do this loop 10 times!!! Kill me now please...While there's only 330 feet per 10 mile loop, this is misleading. These elevations sections are not long but they are steep. Some will be over 8% of elevation. This is not an issue so much of climbing but rather is an issue of descending. You will hurt. Also, this race is in December/January. Temperatures can be a factor and rain is an issue. The pistol Creek does flood very easily and you may have to either skirt some areas for bonus elevations or just get wet. This assumes you aren't drenched from the rain...
The course: The course is what they call a double lollipop loop. You leave the high-school and immediatly turn right and down the hill for 2 blocks. A right turn again and eventually you get into the trails. When I say trails, I do NOT mean a technical trail with roots and such. I mean a paved blacktop which is lit at night. You have a big bridge to go under and then a whole lot of things. There's small bridges to go over, 1 road crossing, a train crossing and a few low bridges to go under. BIG NOTE: If it rains, the pistol creek easily floods and you may want to skirt the bridges by climbing up to the road, cross it and go back.
Approx 2 miles from the the start/finish, there are a few port-a-potties and a working, even during winter, water fountain. Up to here, there are a few 8+ % grade elevations. Some you went down and others you climbed. Since it's a loop course, you will see them again!
Soon after you will see a dog run on your left and that signifies the real hilly part of the course and your first split. Going out, the beautiful scenic lake with a fountain will be on your left. You take a right turn and go over a small wooden bridge. Unfortunatly this bridge while short has up and down and you need to be careful about your toes. Elevations... Some small, some longer but you go through them. Eventually you have a short steep uphill and downhill and you have 2 road crossings. You pass graffiti bridge which is awesome but confusing and another down and up with cobblestones. BE CAREFUL especially if it is raining.
Soon after you hit the Woody aid station. Unfortunatly you still don't turn back and this next small section is the worst. You have a small but very steep up and down, an ugly corner where you need to be careful to avoid other runners and again another split where you make a right toward a building with an original RC Cola sign. Go around the small lake, over timing mats and pass the indoor bathrooms and back up to the ugly hill section. Again up and down, you will hate this section, then into woody.
From Woody to the Start/Finish is 4.23 miles.
You retrace your steps including the cobblestones near graffiti bridge and split again from the incoming traffic. This time you will be on the other side of the lake with the fountain. A mexican restaurant will be over you on the right and you may smell delicious food. From here on, you are back on the course.
Getting out of the trails sucks. That hill is huge. Two lefts and then the 2 block uphill to the school to go through the Start/Finish mats and continue on to the aid station. Continue out of the school parking lots and head down the hill to the next set of timing mats. The 100milers don't go as far as everyone else. Yay. Turn around and climb back up to the school to reach the aid station and then the start/finish mats. Congrats - you have just finished exactly 1 loop.
I must say that it is nice to have indoor plumbing as well as porta-potties at the start/finish, port-a-potties 2 miles in, port-a-potties at the woody aid station and then a little later again indoor plumbing. It is nice to have 2 fully stocked aid stations that you effectivly see twice each on each loop. It's almost like having 4 aid stations. The furthest distance you must travel without aid is 4.23 miles. That's awesome.
The hills tho are NOT nice. I will say it again and again. It is very misleading that you only climb 330 feet per 10 miles. That's absolutly nothing. Those short elevations are steep and you must go up and down them. Expect to hurt later and perhaps during. We all know what we are doing here and I realize that 330 feet is nothing but trust me when I say it will hurt. That hill near Woody you do twice per loop. People cursed at that hill. Leaving woody to climb it is not a big deal. Grab food and feed while climbing but the downhill is horrible and later you must both ascend and descend that monstrosity.
What else is there to say....? The aid stations are awesome. They say that Woody is the best. I disagree. I am very thankful for all of them but the start/finish knew how to take care of my wounds while Woody with it's ambulance crew fell short. At the start/finish, when they saw me, they immedialty dropped what they were doing, gloved up and warmed the vaseline for me so that when I came back from the out/back they were ready for me. They were angels.
It is also worth mentioning that they let the 100 milers park real close so that you can either leave a bag inside the HS, set up a tent or work from your car. Since we knew it was going to rain, I left my bag in the HS. Bill worked from his car. Woody also was able to take a small drop bag so that was nice.
By the way, loop 9 found me all alone and a volunteer whose wife was working asked if I want company. I was shocked. This 20+ "kid" stayed with me and that was awesome. He stopped after that but later when I was coming back at the end of loop 10, I saw him go out again with a group. WOW!
One short coming of the school tho was that when the new school was built, this year, they did not include showers so what we had to do was after we ate and warmed up, we had to walk back to the car to drive up the hill to the old school to shower. I wasn't going to drive all the way back home without a shower. That's not the races fault but must be mentioned as it was stupid/inconvenient.
Overall, I liked the race and the buckle is AWESOME. They also gave a lot of swag. I got a visor, shirt, hoody and a tech finishers shirt upon completion. All photos are free. Food was good afterwards and there was a warming tent and Quest medical was there to work you over. I didn't choose the warming tent and/or medical help but knowing it was there was comforting. The course was beautiful and scenic. Still, you must be prepared for 10, are we done yet?, loops filled with nasty elevations. I cannot stress this enough.
The aid stations were great and were well supported but it seems to me that after experiencing the Beast of Burden aid stations, nothing will compare.
I recommend the race but please(!) do NOT expect an easy 100 miler. Again, there is no such thing. While you aren't climbing 40,000 feet up a mountain, this course can easily be misleading. IF you do this race, you MUST realize what you are getting yourself into.
Well, I guess by this point, you should have somewhat of a feel of what the course and race were like but there are more details to fill in.
On December 24th, I drove the wife and kids to the airport for their trip to Florida. My in-laws were there. I stayed with the dog. It sucked but it was ok. Elizabeth actually offered for me to go with the kids but how can I when she hasn't seen her parents in a while? They came back on the 29th which was nice. I spent that week trying to rest as much as I could. I went to sleep early that night since I knew that the next day, Friday December 30th, was the long drive.
Not really related to the story but important to me was the fact that I tried a new food. While I like Hershey Reeces Pieces which have chocolate and peanut butter and I like pretzels with panut butter in them, I have never had a peanut butter sandwhich and I usually try to stay away from there. Camp trips were always hard for me because they almost never had sandwiches with just jelley. Well, Bill made 4 sandwhiches with 9 grain bread (delicious), high quality peanut butter and this amazing blue berry jelley. He convinced me to taste it and just writing about it right now is making me salivate. This thing was awesome! THANK YOU BILL!
We drove - we talked - I napped - I ate - he napped - he ate. We entered different states and entered new ones. Constantly going forward.
We didn't really expect to hit the expo. Figured we would do the packet pickup race day but we actually made some real good time and lo and behold we went to the expo.
Picked up our stuff and there was a lot to pick up. At this point, it made sense to stay for the almost-mandatory meeting. I think it was supposed to start at 4pm and we were in our seats by 3:50. Unfortunatly the meeting did NOT start on time. Normally that would annoy me but after an early wakeup and sitting in the car for such a long time, this really annoyed me. Will's (the RD) wife comes storming in and said "I have until 4:15 so no one rush me". Hm... Not liking this guys. I travelled all the way here from NY and made it on time... Whatever. Meeting started. Will was ok. Nice enough guy. Explained the course. Introduced sponsors. They had a lot of giveaways and raffles. It was weird but I just knew I would win something. Took of my jacket in anticipation. My number was called. Unlike all the others who were quiet about it and quietly coming to get their award, I simply yelled out "BINGO!" and jumped over the seats to get new massage roller. Cool.
One thing really hit as I was going down the auditorium to get the prize. All these people were wearing running clothes and perhaps showing off buckles from other hundos. Then there was me... I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, sweatpants and wearing crocs. I was not looking like the typical runner. Perhaps I looked more like an old school ultra guy? I don't know. All I know is that I definitly stood out.
Then they had the "pistol squat contest". A few women tried it along with 2 guys. Why would anyone do something to destroy their quads and hamstrings and potentially calves right before a hundo just does not make sense to me. This of course is coming from the guy who wante to do the 50/50 unsupported the day before.
Anyway, there were 2 ways to do it. One was a squat on 1 leg with the other behind you. The other way was to extend one leg in front of you and to squat. The 2 guys each chose to do it a different way. The asian dude did it with the leg in front. The other dude chose to do it with the leg behind you. Other dude clearly won. He was an animal going up and down. He would go 5 on one leg and then switch to the other leg. I was sure he broke 100. Everyone around our seat was convinced he won. Well, unil they declared the asian guy the winner. My guess is that perhaps he didn't go down low enough.
Anyway, after this we and a bunch of others left while others stayed behind to hear some wisdom from Lazarus Lake, the sadistic creater of the Barkley Marathons. We just wanted to unpack, eat, shower and sleep.
The hotel was about a mile away which was nice. We unpacked and I ate while unpacking and getting stuff ready for the next day. A nice hot shower bled some of the stress away and went to sleep early.
Got things done, dressed and packed last minute things. Met Bill and went down to the car. It's getting real now...
We got to the school pretty early. As mentioned before, the hundos get to park closer than anyone else which was nice. Now decision time... You could either leave your stuff in the school, work out of your car (or trailer etc) or set up a tent. There were quite a few people who put up a tent or canopy. Bill decided to work out of his car. He initially was going to leave his bag right near the car but last minute decided against it. We met 2 guys who did every pistol and they had a canopy and they offered for us to leave our stuff under the canopy. I decided to put it in the school. It looked like bad rain and I wasn't taking the chance. By the way, one of the guys was wearing a kilt or in the "pure sense" a running skirt.
We went for the indoor plumbing and it really hit that the school was huge but was very light on indoor plumbing. I mean the rest room was huge but it only had 2 stalls. Such a waste of space... Why not put more stalls? There was plenty of space... Oh well.
Got ready and was suprised to see quite a few maniacs present. I also spoke to the guy who should have won the squat contest in my opinion and pretty much everyone elses. Turns out the winner did 30 something squats while he did 70 something. So why didn't he win? The RD asked him how much he did and when he told him he was shocked. Turns out the guys running the contest meant but didn't say that in order to win you MUST(!) have the leg in the air in front of you. The other way is nice but does NOT count. The RD thought it was unfair because that was not said and awarded that guy a prize too. The prize? The prize was a free race next year. Nice!
The 50Kers and the 100Kers all started at 7:55 and we went outside to watch them go. My then freaking nervous bladder decided I needed to run in again so I did and just made it to the 100M and 50 Relay start. Nice.
The first loop was uneventful. Trying to understand the course and basically just to get a feel for it. I took that loop as an educational loop trying to figure out which sections I will really hate later. The first loop ended with me having a strange happiness that in the out and back section that needs to be completed after the start/finish timing carpet, the 100M/50M turn around was earlier than the 50K/100K turn around. It's totally stupid as we have a ton more miles than they do but it was a minor victory of sorts and made me feel good even though I realize it was stupid.
During that first loop, it was obvious who the dominant runner was for the Kers. This dude without a shirt was scorching the course. I did think it was stupid that this guy was wearing short shorts, no shirt with something written on his chest and gloves. Why the gloves dude??? Didn't make sense to me...
I met a woman named Sarah and we ran together. Her only marathon was 6 years ago and she was worried as effectively this was her first all over again. We ran the 2nd loop and most of the 3rd loop. I slowed down to talk to someone on the 3rd loop and she left me. Her goal was sub 6 hours and I like to think that I definitely helped made that happen.
The bibs were very interesting to me. Green color was the 50Kers. Blue was the hundred mile bib color. The other colors I don't remember anymore but there were also ranges of numbers so anyone in the 600 and over was a hundo. I don't remember the rest anymore but there was 1 other thing that was really interesting to me. Here and there I would see people wearing 2 bibs or even 3 and that was weird. Turns out they were doing the 50K relay. The timers gave you a personal time as well as a relay leg time so you could potentially do the whole 50K solo while donating one of your running legs to a relay team. That's pretty cool. If you had 2 bibs on, it meant you were doing one of the races while also donating one of your legs. If you had 3 bibs on, it meant doing a solo race while donating 2 of 3 relay legs.
On my 3rd loop, I slowed down to talk to Sally who was doing one leg of the 50K relay. She was nice and only later did I realize what a good thing it was to make her acquaintance. More on that later.
So far it did not rain and I was hoping that maybe we escaped it. Depending on which weather app or tv station or radio station you were believing, the chance for rain was either in the teens or in the high 90s. Well, the clouds rolled in and it got ugly. At the end of 1 of my loops, I stopped in the school and got my windbreaker and put it in my backpack just in case. I never took it out so it was just 1 more thing to carry - oh well.
Well, rest assured it did rain. It also got very windy in one open section and that sucked as the wind kept changing directions. We got soaked.
At one point (I don't remember which loop), I also realized that I was chafed and that I had to do something about it. I stopped at the aid station at the start/finish (my lifesavers) and asked for help. I needed Vaseline and I couldn't apply it myself because I couldn't see where and because I couldn't take my gloves off. I knew if I would do that, I would be in big trouble. They were great. Did it no problem.
Sometime after the 3rd loop, I hooked up with Johnathon who was going for his first 100. We stuck together and it was pretty good together. He works with gene splicing if I remember correctly and explained to me how to get lactose pills. That was pretty cool. At the end of every loop, he would deal with his troubling feet while I would deal with my chafing issues.
I love the aid stations and the volunteers but the ever loved Woody station was well, how should I say it? Not as great as I expected. It's run by an ultra runner but I asked for chafing help once and they looked at me funny. The EMS guys there were useless too. They were there to play cards. OK - I still appreciate their time and service but my favorite was at the start/finish. They were my life savers. They were my angels. My new friend Sally? After the race, she went home to eat and clean up and later came back for some hours at the aid station. By the way, she is/was a nurse and helped me too. She was great.
Johnathon and I got along quite well and things were going well. He did see his friend on/off on the course and I don't mind some small breaks but he was slowing down. He told me to leave him but I wanted to at least finish the 6th loop together and then he can decide. Well he decided to talk to his buddy for too long. I couldn't wait. Oh well. I didn't see him after that and I was worried. It was possible that around the lake we missed each other but I kept my eyes open for him. Oh well. Later on I did see him. He decided to take a small nap. Oh well. He woke up some hours later to try to finish this. I couldn't imagine how by himself he would be able to do it and well, he didn't. He asked for a drop down and they gave him an unoffical 100K finish. Why is it unofficial? There are 2 reasons. The first is because he dropped down during the race. The other race reason is that the Kers do a different size loop then us and since he did 6 loops or 60 miles, he was 2 miles short of a 100K. It's actually pretty nice of the race to let people do that. It was a great achievment for him and I'm proud of him and I hope that he goes back and makes this happen.
I think it was during my 7th loop that I met Kevin. An older gentleman from Tennesshee who has done a hundred before. That race gave a 32 hour cutoff and he had just made it. That means that even if he finishes at the end of this race at 30 hours, he would PR. That's cool. We talked and I told him about my chafe. He gave me this piece of advise: Take a bottle of alcohol and pour it on. Cool... No, I don't think so.
He took off for the 8th loop while I went get first aid so that was it for me with him. The 8th loop was uneventful.
I was at the aid station getting taken care of before starting my 9th loop, when a volunteer asked if I wanted company. Really?!? His wife was manning the aid station and he felt like going out. Wow!!! I told you these guys rocked! He went with me for the entire loop! He didn't go with me for the 10th loop but later I saw him escorting someone else. Wow. He told me how he and his wife built with their own 2 hands a "tiny epic house" and I was shocked. This is a link to their website. These guys are TRULY EPIC!
Before I continue with the 10th loop, I was talk again about the start/finish aid stations. As I previously mentioned, I would go through the start/finish mat, grab food then do the out and back and come back to the aid station for some TLC before starting the next loop. When I would go through the first time, I would let them know I would need help in a few minutes. At this point, (I think her name was) Michelle was my and only my special person. I didn't realize it until later but she would immediatly glove up and put the vaseline near the heat so she would be able to spread it more easily and it would hurt less. I didn't find out until later that she is a nurse. She would then wait for me. I would come in, pull my race belt down and lift my top and stood there like the freaking idiot that I was in my bloated, bloody state. She would spread it all over while I did my best not to scream in agony. I did apparently bite the inside of bottom lip tho but what's a little more blood drawn?
By the way, the whole race I was in good spirits but I guess at 1 painful vaseline moment, I closed my eyes for a second and Michele thought it meant something bad. From that point on, I would also get a hug for good measure. I love hugs by the way...
Meanwhile, Bill was usually behind me but would catch up to me while I was getting lubed up and passing. I would then pass him at 1 point.
loop 10: I had a bunch of text messages and I chose the start of this loop to really glance at them. I also then sent an update to Elizabeth and copied/pasted it to others. Still alive but wet and cold was the jist.
I eventually caught Bill and instead of leaving him (he was slower) decided to pull him. At Woody, we ran into Bea. She was a Maniac doing her first hundo. She dropped her friend and was awesome except for the part that she was very cold at this point. I told her to warm up and wait for us and we will finish together. I didn't know if she would do it or not but I think warming up helped her and she was also looking forward to some company on the last 5 miles.
Bill told us to leave him and he would follow. He was adamant about it. We left him but I knew I would go back for him. Well, that wasn't an issue... When we hit the final turn around, he as just coming down the hill. He finished about 10 minutes or so behind me so that was cool. He is awesome! He actually used us in front of him as a pacer to go faster. Something that I could not get him to do while next to him.
We finished. I didn't get vaseline that last time as it didn't make sense but I told them I would say my byes before I left but after food.
Bea and I finished (and of course Bill a little later). We got our buckles and our finishers shirt and got our pictures taken and went to get food. I got a chocolate milk and I was hoping for something good but the pancakes were dry and I don't like syrup. All the pizza was gone... But then a delivery guy came and they had pizza - YAY! But it was only pepperoni - SUCKS! But I then found some veggie slices - YAY!!!
Bill and I sat together and ate. The shivers set in and I was shivering out of control. I really wish the showers were closer. I would shower first and stop the shivers but oh well. Someone came over and told me to take the wet gloves off but I wouldn't. I should mention that I took off the big gloves but the inside gloves I wasn't getting rid off. My chemical hand warmers already died but someone at my favorite aid station gave me hers and they helped a little. Eventually this woman couldn't take it anymore and took my gloves off anyway. Turns out the chemical handwarmer came apart in my glove and stained my hand badly and also burned me a little. Cool.
She told me that I have to get rid of the wet clothes and I told her that I will but more importantly was the chafe. I don't think she got how bad it was so I stood up and flashed her too. That caused 3 things. A look of shock on her face and conversation stopped at all the near by tables. Also, the infamous Lazarus Lake came over to sit with us and talk. He had a suggestion for me and well, being who he is, I listened. He suggested I take a bottle of alcohol and pour it on. Told you he was sadistic... Still, is this a Tennessee thing guys?
Well, I'm not a groupie but at this point, I said to him that if he's already here, if he minds a picture. Before he answered, I also said that "I promise I stink and that I won't charge him for the picture". A smile lit his face up before he laughed and a picture was taken with Bill and Lazarus and me.
We packed up and it was time to go to the car to drive to the shower for me and for Bill to change clothes. Still before that, I wanted to thank my angels and for 1 last lube to hopefully alleviate the pain I was going to endure. Before I deal with that I have to explain what state we were in and I do NOT mean Tennessee.
Me: My right adductor/abductor (I don't know which one) was slightly hurting. This went away in a day but getting in/out of the car was just joy. I also had what I thought was a blister on each little toe. My quads were a little beat up too so getting up and sitting was interesting. Of course there was also the chafing. I knew the pain would be gone in a day from all of these but I had to deal with it until then.
Bill: He was in worse shape. While for me, it was just the start of the walk that was tough, for him it was worse. He asked if he could lean on me and I said yes. So, I had my huge bag on my right shoulder and Bill leaning on me on my left and I escorted him to his car. I then went to the aid station for a final lube and a big thanks. I don't remember it if it was at this point that Michelle said that she's gonna lower my underwear a little and lube there too. She meant my compression pants but I didn't care. I told her that even tho I am happily married, at this point she could do whatever she wants and if she wants to cup a feel too, that would be ok too. A laugh and a hug and all was well in the world. I thanked them profusly and in the car I went.
The shower suprisingly did NOT hurt. I think it was that last dose of Vaseline that did it. I was actually able to take a hot shower! Well, until the hot water ran out which happened way too fast. I lanced the blisters and all was better.
As we were packing the car again and getting ready for our trek back home, a car pulled up. They asked if this was the showers. I told them where it was and advised the wife that no one is in the mens locker room and that she should just go in and help her hubby out as he didn't look too good.
We left. Got some yummy food and took turns napping. Bill at one point pulled over and told me he needs me to drive. I said ok. He needed to go to the bathroom but couldn't get out of the car. Last thing I heard before falling asleep again was that he was going to use a bottle. After that, we both slept there for 2 hours. I then drove. Every aid station, I would help Bill out of the car and supported him to the restroom. From there, it was all up to him. Sorry...
We took turns driving while the other was napping. When he napped, I would put my headphones on and listen to music so as not to interrupt him. We also just talked. He shared some personal stuff with me. He is a really good guy. We stopped at the last rest stop in NJ before the GWB and I drove the last leg to my house. I offered him the couch but he said that he feels good right now and that he would try to get home. I unloaded and told him to text me when he got home.
I thought I would get home around 2am but we took longer to get home and so got home around 7am I think. I was shocked to see that Lee and LC were still upstairs. She was so tired she was still sleeping?!? He was tired that he actually let her sleep?!? I unpacked and put away everything. I then went for my 1 mile minimum a day streak mile and then went upstairs to get LC to walk him. I was hoping to do it quietly so she could sleep a little more. They were both sleeping so nicely. I woke him up from his slumber and he gave this big yawn. We then took a nice walk and I gave him his breakfast. Lee had gotten out of bed at this point and was already downstairs. Eventually the kids came down too.
Bill texted me that he managed to get to Darian CT and was stopping for a nap at a rest stop.
That's it for the most part, I think. Just going to include here some stuff that I forgot to include above.
I didn't PR that day nor did I PW. I just finished and pretty happy about it. Bill is happy too.
