My aunt is a cancer survivor and is the captain of a Relay For Life team. Relay For Life raises money for the American Cancer Society. Last year she invited me down to Pennsylvania to be part of the team. Most teams take turns walking, and walk for the 24 hours. My goal was to walk for the entire 24 hours. I did the 5 mile torch relay run, and then walked 40 miles until blisters forced me to drop out. So I completed 45 miles for the day.
This year I had commited to two different things before relizing they were on the same day. So I had karate black belt test at 1pm, at which I was assisting a young man who was testing. Fortunatly my teacher arranged the test to help me get out as early as possible. My legs were still sore from a 5k that I ran a couple days earlier. I spun on my bike for 60 minutes in the morning then we headed off to the black belt test. When that was done, we drove down to Washington, PA for the Relay For Life. My wife drove, and I slept some of the way. We got there about 7pm, and after a bit I started walking. I walked nearly continuously, taking breaks to get food, refill my water bottle (with Pepsi or Diet Pepsi), or to hit the porta johns. Even though they were playing music over the PA system, I mostly listened to my mp3 player. The walk takes place on a high school track. Each time people completed a mile (4 laps), they could get a colored paper clip to hang on a plastic string aroung their neck. You could see how many miles people had done by seeign how many paper clips they had. Last year they had little plastic feet that you got every mile. But they ran out of feet about 9 or 10pm when people apparently were grabbing handfulls. They didn’t run out of the paper clips. My wife went with my aunt and uncle back to their house about 10pm where she got to sleep in a bed. I stayed to walk through the night.
The track was kind of crowded, and I being a relatively fast walker, I was weaving around people. When it started getting dark, they lit the luminaria which are these paper bags with some sand, and a small candle inside. The bags had people’s names on them, and were to remember people who had died from cancer. It was very pretty to see all the glowing bags lining the track. I thought about my mom who died from cancer.
At one point it started raining, and I donned my rain jacket. Fortunatly it didn’t last a long time, and I ditched the jacket back at the tent.
About midnight, the track wasn’t as crowded. I had already walked 15 miles. I changed into my running clothes and started running. I was scheduled run 60-80 minutes in HR zone 1-2. So I ran for 80 minutes trying to keep my HR around 136. I actually ran for 82 minutes, and completed 8 miles. So now I was at 23 miles completed. The running actually felt good.
I changed clothes again, and started walking again. I felt okay, though I was getting kind of sleepy. At about 4am, I decided to take a short nap in my car. I can’t remember how many miles I had completed at this point. I am thinking around 30 miles. I set the alarm on my timex watch to go off in about 30 minutes. I went to sleep. I woke up about 1 1/2 horus later. Either the alarm didn’t go off, or I slept through it. I had never used the alarm function before, so it was probably my goof.
I was already kind of light out, though a little colder, and kind of foggy. I started walking again. Later in the morning, a few people were jogging on the track. I noticed most of them had not very good running form. The best running forms I has seen were from small children. I wasn’t in my running clothes now, but I thought was the heck. I had already completed 41 miles or so, and had a crap load of paper clips hanging around my neck. So I started jogging easy, and noticed the other people then all seemed to stop jogging. Whatever. I jogged for a couple miles, then started walking again. My wife, aunt and uncle showed up at maybe 9:30am and brought me some McDonalds breakfast food! I ate a greasy Steak, Egg and Cheese Bagel. Yum! Then I started walking again. At 10:30 they called for everyone to line up for the final lap. Coincidently I was 1 lap away from 45 miles. So I walked the ‘final lap’ holding hands with my wife and completed 45 miles. After various awards and speeches, it was over. But out of principle, I went out and walked one more lap so as to have beat my distance for last year. This distance is only the laps around the track, and doesn’t include distance walked to and from the tent and car. I think many people thought I was crazy or something. LOL!
My wife drove on the way home, and I got some sleep. When I got home, I jumped on my bike and spun easy for 60 minutes to help loosen up my legs. It helped some.
With the generosity of my friends, I raised $310 to help fight cancer. Thank you guys! The total raised by all the RFL teams at this particular event was over $240,000! Wow!
Next weekend I have a trail marathon, then a 3,5 mile race mid week and a mountain bike race a couple weeks after that. Such fun!
After running my intervals last Monday my foot started hurting just in front of the arch. I started fearing that I had a stress fracture. I managed to do my 15 miles long run on Saturday though my foot was hurting, but in his manageable. Last night I was scheduled to do intervals. My schedule was one easy mile, then 1000m interval, then a 2000 m interval, and then two more 1000 m intervals followed by one easy mile. A total of 5.1 miles. Fearing that the intervals would reinjure my foot, I opted to do five easy miles instead. So I ran 5 miles at eight minutes 34 seconds pace. My foot again was a little sore but less sore than it had been before. Following the run, I iced the foot, and took some ibuprofen. Today my foot feels okay. I’m still wondering what I did to the foot. Maybe it was just some sort of bruise in a joint or something. I don’t know. But I have the Boston Marathon in about six weeks, so I want to get my training in, but I also want to be healthy for the race.
I was scheduled to run 11 miles last night but I had to cut it off the 3 miles because my foot was hurting I had done intervals on Monday running a total of 6 1/2 miles. And my foot was hurting then I iced it after the run and also took ibuprofen I also iced it on Tuesday and again took more ibuprofen so Wednesday evening for my run my foot was actually feeling halfway decent. I ran the warm-up mile at 8:34 minute/mile pace. Then I started the tempo run part, which was running 10 miles at 7:49 minute/mile pace. My foot started aching very quickly. Where it hurts is along the top near and maybe in front of the arch. I am hoping it is not a stress fracture. I have the Boston Marathon in about seven weeks. I have a ton of training to do. So I can’t really afford an injury. And after the Boston Marathon I have the Lake Placid Ironman in July. If worst comes to worst I will shift the focus of my training towards swimming and cycling to let my foot recuperate.
I need to start getting back into my Ironman training. My Ironman is in July, and the Boston Marathon in April. Thus far I have been doing mostly Marathon training. And swimming a little in between. But as of this week, actually last week, my Ironman training schedule started. I need to start ramping up the swimming and biking. I want to try to go swimming two times a week. And a couple spinning sessions per week. Maybe a brick workout or two. It’s still winter here, so I have a real difficult time getting out to do any biking. All my biking will be have to be done on the stationary trainer. Still trying to figure out the scheduling of everything, of how my running biking and swimming will all fit in with my work schedule and my karate schedule. I’ve done it before, so I guess I can do it again.
What is the Damn Wakely Dam Ultra? It is a race along 32.6 miles of rugged technical trail in a remote area of the Adirondack Park Wilderness. There are no crossroads. There are no aid stations. There are no DNF’s unless you are carried. There are 3903 feet of vertical climbing, and 3478 feet of descent.
We stayed at the same inn as last year. It was very convenient, being only a mile or so from the start line. That would allow me to theoretically sleep a little longer. Many other runners camp at the finish, and take a hour and a half bus ride to the start. But I don’t sleep well before most races, and this year’s Wakely Dam Ultra was no exception. I had the alarm set for 5am, but after a fitful sleep, I finally got up at about 4:45 and shut the alarm off.
I went out to the car, and brought in some Pepsi, and a Subway sub. I drank a cold 16oz bottle of Pepsi, and ate almost half the sub. I shoved the other half into my lumbar pack. I had also brought in a 2 liter bottle of defizzed Pepsi, and filled the two 16 oz bottles I would be carrying for the race.
I showered, and shaved. I had set out most of my gear the night before. I got into my running clothes. I wore a cycling jersey named Wage Peace made by Primal Wear. It has a red, white and blue hand making a peace sign on the front. The theme of this year’s race, was the Wakely Peace Rally. I got all my stuff, and we headed downstairs. I had agreed to give another runner, who was also staying at the inn, a ride to the start. We had planned to meet at 5:45, but I was up, and he was already downstairs. We loaded into the car, and headed for the start.
I was again asked to pose giving the “Wakely Salute”. I got in trouble for doing it two years ago, and now I am requested to do it. Go figure. I signed in, and got my number. I pinned it to my shorts. Remembering the black flies from last year, I sprayed myself with bug repellent.
We beat the bus that was bringing many of the other runners to the start. But the bus arrived shortly. I finally got to meet my friend Steve who is a member of the Las Vegas Marathon running club I belong to. My buddy Rick was also on the bus.
There were photos taken, and RDJim made his speech. Then we were off to the start line which is about 100 yards into the woods. At around 6:30am, the race started.
I started off towards the back of the pack this year. My plan was to take it easy. I was going to run an easy pace, hopefully between 9-10 minute miles. And I would run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes.
I skipped my first couple walk breaks as I was running in the middle of a group of people, and the trail was narrow with little place for people the run around me if I slowed to a walk. I managed to pass a few people that were running at a slower pace. Eventually the pack thinned out, and I started my run 3, walk 2 routine.
I ran/walked. I took regular drinks of my defizzed Pepsi. I took a Vanilla-Orange Carboom gel every hour. I listened to my mp3 player which I had loaded with Ben Folds and Talking Heads.
Early on, I passed RD Jim. But then after a while he passed me back. This surprised me. 2 years ago he passed me in the final miles after I had been walking for nearly two hours straight. Last year he passed me in the middle of the course after I bonked, and had been reduced to walking. But this year he passed me early on. I asked him he was running faster this year. He said that he hadn’t hung out at the back of the pack talking with people. He disappeared ahead of me. But I eventually passed him again. He was walking up a hill and since it was one of my 3 minute run periods, I ran up it. One of my goals was to finish ahead of RD Jim.
Due to heavy rains in the days before the race, the course was very muddy. This is a thick heavy black mud. Generally I would try to run around the edges, or step on rocks and branches. But often, my feet would go into the mud anyway. At one point, I stepped in some mud, and my foot sunk halfway to my knee. And it would just stick to your shoes adding a couple pounds. I would rinse them off in a stream when I got a chance. My feet were wet for most of the race, and I felt a blister forming on one of my toes. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I might have other blisters forming as well.
In the early parts of the course there were other runners around me. Since I was doing a run walk routine, I would yo-yo with them. I would pass them when I ran, they would pass me when I walked. Or some people would be behind me. When I walked they would catch up to me, but then I would take off running.
Besides the massive amounts mud, there were the usual obstacles of rocks, roots, and fallen trees. There seemed to be a lot more blow down this year compared to the last two years. Trees are a challenge. Trying to decide whether to go over, under or around the fallen tree.
At one point I was running near a group of other runners. We came to a stream crossing. There were some boards across the stream that were slightly under water. There was also a beaver dam going across the stream. The runners ahead of me walked across the top of the beaver dam. I followed them. Then I heard a loud splash. I turned to see the runner behind me in the water. Actually, all could see were his head and shoulders. Apparently he had attempted to cross the boards, only to find that they were floating in the pool created by the beaver dam.
When I finished my bottles of Pepsi, I filled them with water out of streams. This year instead of using iodine tablets, I used a Steripen. The Steripen is a battery powered UV light that sterilizes the germs. It only takes 45 seconds for 16oz of water. Other than trying it out on some tap water at home to see how it worked, I hadn’t used it in the field. I hoped it really worked. After the water was sterilized, I would dump in some Fruit Punch flavored Gatorade powder that I had stored in 35mm film canisters. BTW, I never got sick, so I am assuming the Steripen did its job.
I had carried my digital camera, but ended up only taking a few pictures along the course. I stopped at the halfway point to take a picture of the sign. I saw a runner go straight passed me. I yelled to him, are you doing Wakely? He said yeah. I told him that he was supposed to turn here instead of going straight. Lucky I stopped here, or he would have run at least a little while before figuring out he was no longer on the blue trail.
I ran ahead of him, and after a bit found the trail disappeared. I backtracked a hundred feet or so, and found the trail had actually gone to the right, and had been blocked by a fallen tree. I made my way around the tree. But by the time I figured out the correct path, he had caught up to me and never encountered the false trail.
Around this point, I encountered a girl runner. I would pass her, and she would pass me. Overall, I was running a little faster than her. I ran for a while, then pulled out my 6 inch Subway sub. It was good. She passed me. When I was done with the sub, I started running again, and eventually passed her again. I told her she was on a very good pace. The fastest woman runner last year finished around 8:45. She was on pace to break 8 hours. But she said there were some other women up ahead somewhere. I continued running, and after a while I lost her. Then I was running alone again. I like running out there by myself. I can run at my own pace without having to worry about other runners around me. It’s peaceful. And I can sing along with my mp3 player! And I do.
When I stopped to refill my water bottle the next time, the girl passed me along with another guy. Might have been the guy I directed at the sign. I never saw either of them again until the finish. Then I was running on my own again. The bug repellent had worn off some, and the bugs were starting to bug me a little.
At about the 26 or 27 mile mark, the course flattens out a little bit. It looks like it was an access road many years ago. It’s overgrown, but it is not the up and down rugged hilly stuff from the middle of the course. I kept up my run/walk. My Sansa Clip mp3 player’s battery died 2 or 3 miles from the finish. Now I know the battery will last close to 7 and a half hours, and probably longer if I turned the volume down. I was pretty tired and just wanted to finish. I had brought another mp3 player as a backup, but I didn’t want to stop and pull it out. Last year, my iPod Shuffle died not far passed the halfway point.
I kept looking behind me expecting people to be catching up to me, but there was no-one there. Then all of a sudden someone would be right behind me. A small number of people passed me in the final miles. I think had slowed down, but I was still able to run/walk. I switched over to a run 4/walk 1. I kept expecting Steve to come running up behind me, or RD Jim. But they never did.
I was very happy to hit the final mile which is on a smooth groomed dirt road. I had one runner pass me in the final mile. I wanted to make sure no one else passed me though. I was on a one minute walk break when I came to a photographer. I asked him to wait for me to start running. He did. Then I started running, and he snapped my picture. I was so tired at this point. I really wanted to finish. I knew I was going to break 8 hours. My previous best time was 8:29. The blister on my toe was pretty painful by now. I was pretty sure it had torn. My feet felt like hamburger.
The last mile is smooth but rolling. I kept thinking, the dam will be over this next hill. Then I crested the final hill and saw the dam. Last year I did a “wazzu” (jumping and clicking my heels together) at the finish line. But this year I was too tired to do a wazzu. When I crossed the dam, I held up peace signs. Then when I crossed the finish line, I did an “RK”. This is down my laying flat on your back as if you have fallen trying to do a wazzu. The photographers got pictures of this. I finished in 7:51:48. I beat my previous best time by over 30 minutes.
Then I got up, kissed my wife, and went down to the lake to wash my feet and legs. They were covered in mud and dirt. RD Jim came in a few minutes after me.
I got changed, and cleaned up. When I took off my shoes, sure enough, there was blister on one of my toes, and it was torn. My wife brought me down a folding chair from the car. It was good to sit. I also got some food, and drank some Pepsi. I hung out waiting for other runners to come in, cheering them on. Another runner I was happy to beat, was the guy who passed me in the last mile last year. I was especially waiting for Steve. I think a few people were a little worried about Steve. You don’t see too many 6’5” guys that are close to 300 pounds running ultramarathons. But he finished a little under 11 hours. We hung out with him for a bit, then we needed to go. It was a long drive home. There was still one runner out on the course. I was hoping she was okay. But I was in no condition to be hiking in. A walk to the car was painful. I found out later that she finished a little over 12 hours.
I let my wife drive, and I slept much of the way home. We did stop at a McDonalds and got some more food.
Here is what the course looks like: