Looking back over the last year and a half, I
think I may have jumped into this running thing a
tad too quickly . . . I think it might have been
wise to let my body get more comfortable at the
marathon distance - shoot, maybe even the
half-marathon distance, before trying a 50K and
then a 50-miler and then maybe trying a nice flat
24H run - I think I almost did this in reverse?
:) Oh well, too late for that now . . . besides
I had that goal - to qualify for WS100 - which I
did at the 24H; but I wanted to on trail as well
. . . why, I don't know?

Mt. Masochist - my second 50 miler+. The name
tells it all for me . . . not being someone who
does well on hills the name of this race should
have had me quivering in my boots - instead,
after all my miserable tummy and intestinal
problems at the Vermont 50 (a.k.a. death march) a
few weeks ago - I forgot to worry about the hills
and instead focused on what I could eat or drink.

My morning started out fairly normal - had a lite
breakfast and dressed as warmly as possible . . .
lost my breakfast immediately after arriving at
the start - curvy road to the race/ugh, car sick!
Oh well, it was bound to happen at some point
that day - can't worry about it yet . . . took
Greg Loomis' advice and started to eat my candy
of choice (sour skittles and lemonheads) - this
made me feel better instantly . . . drank a
bottle of Clip and then we were off in the dark
on a road for 7 or so miles . . . chatted with a
fellow New Englander, Steve J, for a few and
resisted the impulse to keep up . . . I took this
part real slow, since I think some of my problems
at the VT50 came from trying to keep up with
speedier folk - so here, I tried to just focus on
myself and go slower than was comfortable until I
warmed up and we hit some softer trail. Well, we
never hit softer trail - gravel, gravel
everywhere - or if we did it was too late for my
feet, wearing lightweight road shoes - I waited
patiently for my feet to go numb - was grateful
for GL's other blister-free, double-sock advice
and thought how much I respected the AT100 folks
for going 100 miles on what appeared to be mostly
gravel. I stand in awe.

In the first trail part, I immediately started to
hike the ups - probably too slowly for me; but I
was still pretty scared of getting sick. Deb
Reno came up on me in the first quarter, looking
incredibly strong having dealt with her leg
cramps with some thoughtful slow-down! Good job
Deb - she took the time to introduce me to Martha
who I was able to chat with for a bit. This was
perfect since it prevented me from acting on
another fleeting thought of - hey, I'll try and
stick with Deb - NOT!

Once the sun came up, it warmed up fairly
quickly, GL was waiting at one of the early ASs
and was able to take my long sleeve, fill my
bottle and be encouraging - wow, it's cool to
have crew . . . since, it looked like it would be
warmer than VT50, I was real concerned about
getting dehydrated, again - so I did as I was
told and took many, many small sips as frequently
as possible. I continued to walk the ups and fly
past people on the downs - got lots of cautions
from folks and I just responded with "I'm a New
Englander, we live for these downs" . . .
sooooooooooooo fun!!!!!

I continued to stop at every AS and topped off my
bottle with a weak mix of electrolyte and water.
On the way up, up, up to the Rocky aid station -
I realized that I might be able to "manage" the
tummy and gut with the candy and small sips, then
I started to think about the course. It really
was beautiful to be there at the peak of the
foliage; but, boy, it just seemed to keep going
up, up, up??? I conversationally remarked to one
of my fellow "hill-hikers" that I was surprised
how hilly this course was, he responded with
"what about the words 'mount' and 'masochist'
didn't you understand"? - ooops

I got another bottle of Clip from GL as I came
out of the 5-mile loop and a hat. I decided to
give up on eating solid food other than candy as
I speed hiked the ups. This might just be my
strategy for the future - Clip and sour candy . .
. works for me! Felt pretty good from there on
out and continued to speed-hike the ups and fly
down the hills - I felt so good in the second
half that I was able to to skip my way through
huge piles of fiery, autumn leaves, caught a
bunch of them as they'd swirl around with every
slight breeze - how cool was that!

Then came the best part - I started to feel even
better and just skipped and ran the downs fast!
My uphill hiking got super comfortable and fast -
I felt like I was just warming up in those last
15 miles - what a great feeling! Then, I spotted
the 1 mile to go sign and thought - great, I'm
feeling fine; I'll just crank it up and speed in
- NOT - more road . . . I couldn't believe that I
had to stop and walk it - well, until I saw the
finish line and started to run . . .

I've learned so much in these last few months
about what it takes to start running more than
the marathon distance . . . for me it's been many
lessons in being patient with my body in many,
many ways. Ultrarunning is so much more than
running. You've really got to love being outside
and the feeling of exertion at this level in
order to even want to deal with tummy,
intestinal, muscle and foot problems as patiently
as we all seem to do - it's really not about
running . . . I hope that someday I'll have other
"speed-type" goals on these courses; but for now
it is so much more than achieving a goal - it's
the absolute enjoyment of the woods, environment,
the physical output and the community . . .
thanks to all who I have the priviledge of
running with, the volunteers and the race
directors - thanks for the experience - it's
awesome . . . oh, and if I believe all the
mileage jokes about this race - I guess I'll go
ahead and give myself that sub-10H finish in my
head - turn in that WS100 app for the lottery and
wait and see what happens next year. Geez, if I
get in the lottery - does that mean I should
instantly try and Grand Slam?????

Missy - ;)

=====
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing,
but in rising up every time we fail."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson