The run that almost wasn't

There were plans amidst for group run starting at 9pm from Happy Day's Visitor's Center and running the last 31 miles of the Burning River 100 course. I was planning to run 10-15 miles in the morning and then follow that up with the 31 miles at night.

The ring-leader of the group rightly decided to contact the metro parks that we would be running through to let them know what was up. Well, it turns out that the parks close at 11pm unless you have a special events permit. Run through and face getting a ticket.

Needless to say this prompted a flurry of emails about how to rearrange the run. Two groups were formed. The first group would start at 3:30pm at Happy Days and then meet the second group at 7pm at the covered bridge. We would all run to the finish together and the second group would car-pool back to Happy Days to finish the run to the Covered Bridge. Got all of that?

I decided to skip my early morning run and just run with the first group. The idea of running for 20 miles, riding in a car for a while and then running 10 more, did not sound too good to me. I met Kurt and Melissa at the finish line and we headed back up to Happy Days in Kurt's truck. Kurt wanted to drop some water at two places along the trail as we went north. We dropped a cooler of water at Bath Road and at the Covered Bridge. We were a few minutes late getting to Happy Days and the group had already left! We asked some walkers if they had seen a group of runners and they said, "They are just a couple of minutes ahead."

Kurt and Melissa had already run 22 miles earlier that day so trying to 'speed up' to catch the others was not an option. We decided to skip the Pine Grove section of the route to save a mile and hopefully put us ahead of the group. We figured with our slower pace, they would catch up anyways.

Kurt, Melissa, and I kept running and stopped a few times to pick some black raspberries along the trail. They are just starting to ripen and are really sweet this year. A nice free energy boost!
We made it to the covered bridge without seeing or hearing the group behind us. We kept going to the Perkins Horse Trail which will probably be the hardest section of the race. It is a pretty technical trail with mud, roots, steep hills, rocks, and MUD! Plus we will see this section after 80 miles of running and it will be at night! Sounds like fun huh?

The trail wasn't too muddy and just as we returned to the covered bridge, the group caught us! Mike and Brandon from the 7 pm start group were there and they were waiting for the others. We raided the cooler that we dropped earlier for water and Kurt, Melissa, and I started off again, knowing that the complete group would soon catch us. We entered O'Neil woods metro park and started climbing again. I just mentioned to Kurt that I kept expecting to see the parking lot when we heard voices from the others, except that they were crossing the trail in front of us! We had missed a turn and made up for the mile that we short-cutted earlier that day.

We all continued down the trail together and hit the tow-path. Night was falling and it was getting near time to turn on the head-lamps. The bugs were not too bad and the temperatures were dropping enough that we could see our breath! I am sure that August will not be like this...

We took a small break at Memorial Parkway and then it happened; Rich yawned! You know how contagious a yawn is, and that started it for me. I tried to not think about it but it did not work. You are probably trying to stifle a yawn right now just reading about it... Anyways, the urge left as we entered another park and turned at the Signal Tree. The group was starting to get quiet as everyone was getting a bit tired. The trail was following a quiet lake with houses on top of the ridge above us. Suddenly someone at a house set off a large string of firecrackers! Needless to say that woke everyone up. We all had a good laugh and continued on to the Gorge.

We exited the Gorge parkway and jogged the last bit to the Sheraton where we said good bye to the 7pm group as they climbed into cars for the drive north to Happy Days. Kurt, Melissa, and I continued across the road to the race finish line and I tried to imagine what it will feel like on August 3rd when I cross this for real. Tonight was a simple 31 mile, 6.5 hour run. I wonder what I'll feel like after 100 miles and 26+ hours???

Kurt and I piled into my car and we picked up the coolers on our way back to Happy Days. I dropped Kurt off and made it home just a bit after midnight. A good day/night in the woods.

Nutrition
Some people have asked what I eat during these training runs. Last night I consumed 4 power bars, 1 PureFuel bar, and probably 200 oz of water. My goal for race day is to consume 250-300 calories/hour between food, gels, fluids. I want to mix up the food between bars, PBJ, nuts, and other things that will be at the aid stations. I will not and do not what to eat the same thing for 26-30 hours; that will get old real fast. One challenge that I will have to face is to keep eating. Experience has shown me that I have to force myself to eat after 5-6 hours. Nothing really sounds good but I know that I need the calories in order to keep moving. Just like you have to keep putting gasoline into your car, I will need to keep eating to keep moving.

I started the run with one 22 oz bottle of water and one 22 oz bottle of 1/2 water 1/2 Gatorade. I polished off the gatorade pretty fast and drank water the rest of the night. I did get 22 oz of HEED at the Merriman Road stop. Bill had water, HEED, and Pure Fuel bars for us. Lots of people do not like HEED, but I do like it and it does work well for me. I did not use any Gu or gels and I did not have to break into the 'emergency Gummy-bear' stash. This means that my nutrition was pretty good last night. If I need to hit the gummy bears, things are going down-hill fast.

Well, this was a long post. I'll stop and make another one about today's activities.