FANS 24-hour Run, June 5, 2004 Fun at FANS

Very often in ultras what you set out to do and what you end up doing are two different things. Life gets in the way. Or something. I try to set realistic goals, and sometimes come close. For FANS this year, I tried setting my sights low. Some people would say that's sandbagging. You just never know how it'll all turn out. Don and I were supposed to choose one big race for June, not two. We were planning some kind of long, mountain run in July, so we leaned toward running the Bighorn 100 instead of the FANS 24-hour run. The FANS people were disappointed that we weren't going to be there this year, but they understood. Then I asked Don if he had told his family, and instead of that, he came up with cheap airfare to Minneapolis! He thought we could do both. FANS has a 12-hour option, so I could just do that. So, that was settled too. But then when I was filling out the application, I thought about mileage and a few things and decided the 24-hour would be better for me. I could just take it easy during the day, walking and (as I said) making fun of people, and then work on really running at night and staying alert. I felt more night practice would be good for me. And anyway, 85 miles in a 24-hour sounded a lot more respectable than 50 miles (or less!) in a 12-hour. I didn't think I could run fast enough for a good 12 hour time. My 12-hour personal best was 64 miles. So, we were on our way for another nice stay with Don's parents and a visit with his sisters and other family members. Don had convinced his sister Juli and her daughter, Catherine, to participate-they were walking the 12-hour event. Catherine seemed to like the idea of being an ultrawalker. When we arrived in Minneapolis Thursday night, it was late but we were hungry. We hopefully said "Whitecastle," and Don's dad took us there. Good pre- pre-race food. We eventually got to bed, and we were able to sleep in the next morning. The next day was very relaxed, lunch with relatives, dinner with the family. Dinner was a classic pre-race dish, pasta with tomato and sausage sauce. We even got to bed at a reasonable time after. Of course, Don and I had to spend some time on our computers. We are geeks. The morning was easy to deal with. It didn't seem too early really, so I guess we were used to the 2-hour time difference. With everything laid out the night before and tuna sandwiches already made, all I had to do was get my clothes on and wash my face. It was good to be prepared. We threw all kinds of stuff in the car, and arrived at Lake Nokomis. Juli, Don and I had to put up the tent. It was especially important to have a tent this year, because rain was forecast. The latest forecast warned of thunderstorms. The Divine Madness group was there. They had a large tent to support their runners, who were all doing the 12-hour. The group has a reputation for cultish behavior. Who can say? Don and I were familiar with them from running the Across the Years 24-hour race, in December 2000 and 2001. They have some very strong ultrarunners, and seem to be especially good at this race format. We said hi to Brenda, who we knew from Across the Years.

We went to check in. I got a little freaked out about the bugs, worrying that it would be like this when I was running. But they subsided quickly and never returned. I was relieved. I weighed in at 138, which is pretty high. My number was 66 because if I put it on upside down, as I had done in a previous race, then Gordon would get credit for my laps. That was his joke, Mr. 99. FANS gives you tags that you can pin to your shorts, and then you rip off one for each lap and hand it to the lap counters. It's a double-check of the lap counting they are doing. You always have a person assigned to count you. It must have been quite a job for them because things were pretty busy during the day. We gathered for the pre-race talk, and then everyone was off. The first lap is a little out and back, so you actually start the opposite way from the direction you'll be going for the rest of the time. I think this sets it up so that you hit 50 miles in front of the lap counters. I took my time on the out-and-back, which they actually count as a lap. I was pretty near the back and pretty much walking. Danny Ripka was out in front, with his American flag shorts. He is hard to miss. I would see him a lot that day as he flew by. Everyone looked good as they went by me. But I knew I'd be ok. I was in it for the long run, so the slower I could start, the better. We passed through the lap counting area, aid station, tent city, and we were on our first real lap. I started to relax but maintained a slow running pace. I was pretty happy. I think Bob started teasing me already about how slow I was going. I laughed about how fast everyone else was going. Then I actually started looking at my lap times. I was trying to do some bad math about what pace would get 100 miles. The lap is 2.42 miles, so you'd want to figure what your time should be for the lap. Well, I was having trouble even figuring out how many miles were in 200K, so I struggled for a while with these thoughts. It kept my mind occupied though.

My laps seemed reasonable. Then I thought a little pick-me-up would be good. I normally drink coffee almost every day, or a diet coke. So, I took half a caffeine pill and an ibuprofen. Then I forgot about it. About 20 minutes later, I thought, "Man, I feel great, I should run faster." I had the great sense of well-being that caffeine sometimes provides. So I went a little faster. My lap times were going under 30 minutes. I thought that was too fast to maintain an even pace throughout the entire race. But I kept going. I took walking breaks to eat and walked the concrete bridge to try and save my legs. I had half a tuna sandwich. Don's dad said he was going to McDonald's around noon. That sounded good, so I asked for a cheeseburger. Just as I was about to have another tuna sandwich, the cheeseburger was there instead, waiting for me. How exciting! I walked through tent city to eat. Some people there were starting to realize that I was eating a lot. Rosemary, Don's other sister, came by to help out at about 4:30 with our order of steak soft tacos from Taco Bell. More exciting! Now there was a guy in tent city really getting jealous. "What the….?" He couldn't figure where I was getting all this food. Later in the race, pizza was delivered, too. It got to the point where he was really surprised if I wasn't eating food. I had quite a few of the tacos. They worked very well. Don was ahead by a lap. He had figured he would lap me again, but I guess I started to maintain a similar pace to his. My mood was staying high. I started drinking coke every so often, and was very happy to see Diet Coke at the aid stations. That is a good alternative when you feel like the sugar is getting to you.

Bob Metzger did a lap or two with me. I figured I was being so funny when I came through the start/finish area that he just had to run with me. We talked about all kinds of stuff, including one of our favorite topics, running with a significant other. I think I might write a book about that one someday. Don and I have run many races together now. It's usually the races that we are treating as training runs, so there is no worry about the finish time. We have a lot of fun at races we treat that way. Sometimes we have to do our own thing, like at FANS, and that's ok too. Time passed, and I wasn't really sure about my mileage. I just kept going along, feeling good. Bob said, "Hey, you'll have 50 miles on your next lap, and you'll probably hit it just over 10 hours." That sounded good. It sounded really good because I still felt just fine. There was no real fatigue. I found I could go a little faster, maybe some adrenaline about the 50 mile mark, so I did, and I hit it before 10 hours. As I was coming in, I could see Don ahead of me. He had earphones so I don't think he heard me too well, but I started yelling and whooping. Maybe that was the high point for me. At the time I was just happy to be there. I walked for a little after that, and Don went ahead again. I was still smiling and nothing hurt. Well, not really. I wondered if that was an adaptation of pain threshold or the pain was actually not there? I did more bad math, and thought about what my mileage would be at 12 hours-probably something over 60. Quite respectable, after all. But I sure wasn't thinking of stopping. Now I had the magic 100 mile mark clear in my mind. I had a great time talking with people. This was something I barely did at all the year before, so I wanted to make up for it. I said "hi" in passing, or I'd make a dumb joke. I liked looking at all my fellow runners and trying to figure out how they were feeling, how good they looked. I realized I hadn't seen Sue Olsen very much or Elizabeth Fisher Drew, both usually come in first and second in this run. I finally saw Elizabeth moving along. I guess she wasn't having a good day. I didn't see her after that.

We had to weigh in every so often. I think it was supposed to be every six hours, maybe even more often. My weight went down to 135 (I joked that I was losing weight, woohoo) and then up to 138 again, and then stayed down around 134 or 135. Water retention can be weird. It seemed like the weather was holding up pretty well. It was better than expected. But eventually, it turned. Just before the 12-hour run was done, a thunderstorm hit us. I could see the lightning and the thunder got pretty loud. I laughed to myself, thinking about how this could be the one thing that gets the race called off. I'd be having the race of my life and have it suspended. Wouldn't that be ironic? Then the rain came down full force. I didn't have a jacket on, just a little short sleeve top and shorts and a running hat. The rain really came down. The path soon flooded and I was soaked. It didn't matter about avoiding puddles because everything was so wet. I changed my top and picked up my rain jacket when I came around again, but by then the rain was easing off. By the next lap I was able to take off my jacket. The weather had warmed up again. It stayed t-shirt weather through the night. Juli and Catherine had finished their 12-hour race in the rain, both achieving over 31 miles, which was their goal distance. The Divine Madness crew had packed up and gone. As it got darker, I suddenly seemed to require more bathroom stops. It made sense that with the cooler temperature, you wouldn't sweat as much so you'd be peeing out the extra water if you kept drinking the same amount. I kept cutting back on the water, but I still had to go on almost every loop, sometimes even sooner. That was a pain, but I got used to it. At least I wasn't retaining water anymore.

The soft tacos were still good, and the aid station had chicken noodle soup, which was really good. I had quite a bit of soup through the night. I kept drinking Coke or Diet Coke and sometimes I had candy. After I was sure the rain was gone, I changed my socks. Even though I had extra shoes, I wanted to keep the ones that were working for me. I didn't have an extra pair of Kayanos, just other models of Asics. But dry socks seemed to help. I sprayed some Desenex on my feet to dry them out some more. I was happy that I was still running through the night. It's true that it was tougher by then, things hurt, but I still felt good. I could still run, and walking was not bad at all. I compared it to last year, where at this time I was moving very slowly and not wanting to be out there at all. During the night things got quiet. Some runners had obviously taken breaks as there were fewer people out on the course. I was somewhere up there with the lead women I guess. Someone told me I was second, which I didn't believe. I came out of the portapottie to a runner and her two helpers. They were saying to her, don't worry, there's only one woman close to you, and you've got two laps on her. I realized it was Sue Olsen, and I said, "You mean me?" They asked, "Are you number 66?" Yeah, that was me alright. Funny things happen in the dark. Sue is a super strong walker through the night. She kept moving along. The night went on, and I realized that sunrise would be different for me. Usually, I am so sleepy and slow at night that the sunrise gives me a new burst of energy. It was true at Javelina 100. But here, I had good energy all through the night. At sunrise I figured I would just still be tired. There were no saved reserves of energy. And then it would get sunny and hotter. I ended up preferring the night. Bob did a lap with me at sunrise. I liked looking back at the bridge and seeing the sun hit it. Sunrise was pretty. Time seemed to go really fast. Don was encouraging me to catch up to him, but I was lagging, and walking more. My walk was still good though. The 100 mile mark was in front of the far side aid station. I was a little confused about what lap I was on, and if I was actually going to hit it. It always seemed to be at least one or two laps away. Bob convinced me that the lap I was on really was 100 miles. I was happy. That meant when I came back to the start/finish, I was over 100. They had a cow bell they rang for everyone who hit 100. It seemed to ring a lot. The rest of the run was just icing. In the time left I would go past my old personal best (101 miles) easily. And I thought it was neat that I had to ask for extra tags, since I was only expected to go about 86 miles. For the last hour of the run, the runners did "short laps," which were on an out-and-back section that went in front of tent city. I had finished a lap with about an hour to go, so Don and I both started doing short laps. I kind of wanted to just hang out, or even just walk, but I was jogging again. Before I knew it, it was all over. Bob and his wife Chris had helped Heather reach 100 miles during the short laps (I'd talked with Heather earlier). Sue Olsen was still out there, and Jamie finished her last real lap and did short ones with us, too. She was the third woman. Danny Ripka was moving fast during the last short laps. It was a weird little running party.

I was glad when it was over. I was relieved and happy, and proud of myself for getting through the night so much better than last year. We hung around for a bit. I would like to say that I helped take down the tent and gather up all our stuff, but I couldn't. Don's family had it all well in hand. We were all smiles. The breakfast and awards were in a building that was up the hill. We made our way up there (in the car-we'd walked enough!) got food and sat down. It was great to see the awards, and I didn't realize that one of the nice runners on the course was a student who FANS had helped. He had run 100K! That brought on a standing ovation. There is something nice about the giving continuing that way. I got second place woman. Don was 5th place man and together we were the couple with the most mileage (ever). We also got an extra sweatshirt for hitting 100 miles. I felt proud of everyone. I told people when I could get enough energy to do so. Back at the ranch, I wanted to shower and go to bed, but instead I sat in the recliner. Don and his family laughed at my feet twitching in my sleep. I think the nerves were still firing. Showering was painful because of the worst chafing I've ever had. But then, bed was wonderful, and I was asleep in no time. It was so nice to be taken care of. I didn't have to worry about food or driving anywhere or anything. I was very lucky. The next day was relaxing. We went for a walk by the river and looked at scenery. Rosemary was the only one of us walking normally. Don, Juli and I were really slow. But I thought it was good to have a recovery walk. In fact, everything seemed really good. Even though the flight home was delayed, it was good, too.

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