I'll begin by quoting myself: "Heck yeah it hurts, it hurts everywhere, it even hurts to exist!"
That was what I told Marty sometime late in the race, and no, I wasn't being over-dramatic. I was honestly in a lot of pain no matter what I did whether it was running, jogging, trotting, walking, skipping (yes, skipping...I'll get to that later), or sitting. Every race hurts in it's own way depending on distance and speed. Short and fast like 5k's, 10k's, and sometimes half marathons you may want to vomit or cough up a lung all while trying to forget about the fire burning in your quads. Longer races like marathons, half Ironman, Ironman, and ultramarathons you're fine for quite a while until this dull ache starts to set in around those working muscles and begins slowing you down. Some of you that don't participate in endurance sports may believe that highly trained athletes don't hurt as much. Not that I'm highly trained, but I can tell you right now that it doesn't get any easier, you just go faster...and it still hurts.
So, I guess I'll start at the beginning. The trip to the hotel in Pewaukee, WI was quick, especially with the good company of Marty, Karina, and Mark. After getting to the hotel and dropping off our bags, we went to eat at Applebee's and had some pasta and beer (beer is kinda tradition!). Then getting to the hotel we started getting our race gear together into separate bags that will be dropped off at different aid stations along the course. This was mainly for changes of socks, shoes, and shirts since the race is so long that some kind of comfort will be key. Prior to hittin' the sack we visited Katie a few rooms down from ours, talked a little bit while her daughter made us these cool rubber band bracelets to wear during the race. In the morning we loaded up on oatmeal, ensure, and H2O trying to get in enough calories to get us going on our 50mi run. And finally, a little later than we'd planned, we headed out to the race venue.
Once we got there we were in a bit of a rush trying to get our gear bags to the drop off area. Once we finished with that it was already time to get to the starting line. The announcer said a few things, then Dean Karnazes (whom we met the following morning but I'll get to that) had his little speech, and before we knew it the horn sounds and off we go! The start was kind of funny to me and was just as I'd imagined it would look, not too spectacular. To help you imagine I'll exaggerate the situation a little bit....get ready, get set, GO!! And then everyone starts walking! Of course it wasn't walking, but it was such a slow, unremarkable start that it just made me laugh. Anyway, Marty, Mark, and I were off to our own little trot, just goofing around probably knowing that if we don't make our fun of it now, we sure wouldn't be able to later when we're hurting. And then, not too far into the race, a mile or so, we came to our first hill. I was thinking of just slowly trotting up the hill but saw everyone else walking. We're new to this and felt everyone else knew better so we followed suit. Good thing because there weren't many long flat stretches and to run up all the hills would have killed us! Well, killed us more than it did anyway.
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| Right before the start |
I think it was after mile 10 that we got to run through some nice open prairie that wasn't too hilly. However, even this early in the race I could start to feel that tired ache in my legs that I knew would just get worse, much worse. See, I can blast through a 10mi run at a pace and stride that I'm used to with no problem, but, dropping down to trotting at 4-5min per mile slower than you're used to makes you run different and keeps you out there longer than you're used to (I think this is where I made my training mistake). I remember getting to the 2nd aid station and drinking the chicken broth. The salt and other electrolytes noticeably helped those muscles function closer to normal...we made sure to take in some broth at every aid station that had it.
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| Mile 35 aid station |
We made it to the Mcmiller aid station around mile 21 where we had one of our gear bags dropped off. We each put a good amount of stuff in there, including an extra pair of shoes, since we would be stopping by this aid station again. The change of socks was definitely welcome...like putting on fresh underwear, or is the expression actually about socks? I think you understand! At only 21mi in we had quite a bit to go. What I was trying to keep in my head was to get back to the McMiller aid station at mile 35. From there the last two aid stations were roughly at 5mi intervals...so, three 5-milers to go. Once we made it there, we decided to take a 10min break and during that time we learned that we were 20min away from that aid station's cutoff time. Ok, we better get going! I remember getting up and feeling this pain in my foot...I could not run! So disheartening at that point and I didn't want to hold Marty and Mark back and told them to go. Of course, they wouldn't leave me.
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| Mile 35 aid station, already dead! |
Either my foot numbed or it loosened up from being stiff after our extended break at mile 35, but I was able to get going again. However, I wasn't running! I still couldn't run from other pains I was going through. Earlier, around mile 25 or so, by goofing around I found that skipping didn't hurt quite as much as running, so I pretty much skipped and walked almost 10 miles! I kept looking around for other runners because I'm sure it would have been a comical sight to see. I'm glad I found a means to go faster than walking because either they would have had to leave me or if they stayed, we wouldn't have made the cutoff time. It was somewhere early in this 10 mile stretch from mile 36-46 that I uttered the above quote to my brother. I've never been in this much pain from running and it was making me mad at myself for my flimsy training schedule. But, there was still a resolve to finish this monster. Plus, I could not quit with Marty and Mark along side of me...if I quit, I wouldn't see them finish.
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| Bringin' it in! |
Finally! The last aid station came around and there was only 3.7mi to go after that. About 1.5mi before getting to that aid station, Mark was a little bit ahead, Marty had to use the washroom, and I was just plain beat. I told Marty to go ahead and I'll make it there as quick as I could. That was a long 1.5mi! When I got there I saw Mark leaving and Marty was waiting for me. Took in some last bit of nutrition, filled up my water bottle and headed out with Marty. Mark had a good head start on us since he didn't want to stop, but he was going to wait for us at the finish line to cross together. I tried my best to catch up to him, no skipping this time...I said "screw it" and just ran through the pain. We ended up passing 5 other runners in the last 3.7mi stretch since we were actually going at a good pace for having run almost 50mi. Probably the best thing to hear was the police officer saying we had .8mi to go...home stretch! Coming around that corner and heading down that street a little, we could just make out the finishing chute. You have no idea how good it was too see that.
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| SO glad to be done |
There was pain at the moment, a lot of it, but we were not going to walk past that finish line, so we started our last running effort. We knew this was going to hurt, but we also knew that we get to stop right after that finish line and that it wouldn't hurt anymore (as much). Look up Lance Armstrong's quote "Pain is temporary", you'll understand what I'm saying. Coming up to the finish line we see Mark waiting there for us and join up with him. It was an idea we had from the beginning to raise each other's hand as we finish. We started to, but at the last second I let go. They pulled me through that race like champs and I couldn't get myself to finish with them as equals. Instead, I held back a second as if they were also pulling me through the chute.
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| Katie in there after her marathon |
***A Sidenote To Marty and Mark: No, that wasn't as we had joked about early in the race...that was me being thankful to have you two around the entire race, if not...I highly doubt I would have finished.***
It was great to finish not only to feel that relief of pain, but to greet all of our friends that were there a day early for their own races including Katie who finished the marathon on a really tough course. It's instant elation to finish a long race and to be among friends afterwards. A beer was in order so when we finished up at the race site we headed out to celebrate the finish and to make sure our friends that were racing the next morning were all fueled up. Finally, we got to the hotel, washed up and decided to relax in the hot tub while sipping on some champagne (I prefer beer, I'm sure Katie will punch me for this lol). Although, sitting in a hot tub isn't the best thing to do after a long race, it sure did relieve the pain for the rest of the evening!
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| Andy beasting the half |
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| Dean!! |
Wow, it was tough getting out of bed! We still had to wake up early to watch the rest of the races and just getting around the room was painful, but we managed of course. It was a cooler morning along with some rain, but I heard it wasn't bad to race in. The races started from longest to shortest and Marty, Mark, and I watched as our friends started their races. While waiting for Dan to start his 5k we actually got a chance to go over and chat with Dean Karnazes. He was as down to earth as I guess a superhuman such as himself could be. He spoke to us as if we were his pals and I commend him for doing so since I've noticed otherwise from other various pro athletes. He had us laughing when we mentioned him doing Ragnar by himself, normally a 12 person 200mi relay race, and telling us "I couldn't find 11 friends!" Cool guy, we're glad we got a chance to speak with him. Shortly after, Dan started his race and the three of us went to sit in the car for a bit.
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| Nice job Karina! |
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| Alyssa after her race |
It was time to go watch the finish line so we headed over and got our cameras out. Everyone finished strong, and I'm proud of all of them. Running on trails, up and down hills, over rocks and roots, through rain and shine, everyone crossed the finish line. So, congrats are in order to all of you! Marty and Mark for running the 50miler, Katie for conquering the marathon, Karina, Andy, and Chris for killing that half marathon, Stacie for an awesome first 10k, Dan for blazing through his 5k, and Alyssa for a great 1k run with the kids! Nice job everyone, thanks coming out and making it a great weekend runcation. Until the next race!
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| The power couple! |
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| Dan starting the 5k |
So, that's the new goal ad we're pretty excited. Another thing we're excited about is the growth of our fitness group, Fit Lifestyle. We now have regular Tuesday night fun runs that anyone in the group can enjoy no matter what level of runner they are. Many times we hang out for a beer or two afterwards. Sometimes just 3 or 4 of us, other times we had groups of 20+!! There haven't been as many races as last year but when there were there was sure to be a good group of us there. Most notably was this year's Ragnar Chicago where we had 2 teams this time...tons of fun! The next big group event seems to be The North Face Challenge. It's the race Marty and I will do the 50 miler at, but there are races of every distance with start times on both Saturday 9/14 and Sunday 9/15. Katie signed up for the 50k! 
