100 Miles, Baby! Woodstock Hallucination Race Report

Woohoo, I finally finished 100 miles; did it in 24:30.

The course was 6 loops of 16.6 miles and I think I liked it that way for a 100 miler. You could put one drop bag at the start/finish area and one at the 8 miler aid station. The majority of the course was flat with just a handful of hills that you could walk up without too much pain. I was surprised at how much of the race we actually ran. We probably ran 46 or 47 out of the first 50 miles and then a good bit of the last half, too.

Also, the course was surprisingly easier than all of the other races I was used to- nothing too technical or hilly like Mohican, the DWD races, or the Buckeye/Run for Regis run, and no water crossings. It was weird not seeing deep scratches and wounds on my thighs with thorns sticking out of them after the race.

I ran the whole race with Bill. He was so nice to have stayed with me the whole time, especially the last 2 loops when I was struggling and not talking much- just grunting. He somehow still had this super fast energy in him at the end and would run up ahead and then wait for me to catch up.

We ran a few loops with a fast runner and fellow Hoosier, Bernie, who was sneaky and stopped after 4 loops without telling us he was even struggling. It was actually smart of him because then he didn't have to listen to us trying to guilt him into finishing it out. Too bad, though. Next time! I also met Melissa from OH and James from IL.

So my feet...they started to hurt a little bit with just 8 miles into it. I did not want to get screwed again by dang blisters so I ended up switching out my socks 1-2 times each loop and then I switched my shoes about 4 different times. Only on loop 5 did I start to feel some blisters form but I kept on truckin, taped the toes at the end of the loop, took meds, and finished out fine. I think I'll actually keep my toenails this time. Awesome!

The ultimate problem has to be that my feet aren't used to running on trails, moving in different angles and stuff all the time. A couple weeks ago I ran 31 miles on flat pavement in the same pair of socks/shoes and had no problems...but when I go to trail, I have problems after just 8 miles. Hmm.

Let's see....I made it the whole way with just my handheld water bottle and Nathan vest- no heavy CamelBak. Thankfully the food situation was fine. I never had to force myself to suck down another turkey sandwich or anything. I ate and ate and felt fine. But uhhh, how did I burn around 10,000 calories but the scale now says a couple pounds more? Something's wrong. I wasn't eating donuts and drinking sugar water out there. And no, it's not a swollen body or water weight that's making the scale say what it does. I'd like to be like Mikey and get sick and lose 12 pounds after a 100 miler. Joke.

Overall it was a good experience and I never thought of quitting. I knew I came to run 100 miles and I was gonna do it. Right when I finished the race I said that I probably wouldn't do another one- anything over 12 hours is a lonnng time to be running and it gets kind of old. But---yesterday and today I'm reconsidering. Who knows what's next- maybe Burning River.

Enjoy the choppy video below and the bloopers at the end while my husband videotapes.