My first ultra: it started off the night before, when I ate half my bodyweight in lasagna, after feeling sick I went to bed, slept horrible & kept waking up, finally I woke up to a horrid noise {Horton singing} ha ha ha. I Got up, ate breakfast started the race at 6:30 and not realizing the miles and emotions to come [probably a good thing] I kept worrying about dehydrating, so I drank a 20oz. Bottle of conquest between every aid station.  After stopping 5 times in the first 12 miles to pee, my brother who was running back with me to help me through the race, took my bottle when he found out how much I had been drinking. We lost track of time, {Josh had the watch} finally near the end of the first loop people began telling us we had 20 minutes left to make it to the 15 mile mark.  We were like “oh no” and began sprinting profusely, holding it until we got there,  having 3 minutes to spare.

Josh told me we had to get serious about things and I agreed, so we started off rough and found a good pace, and after that I was mentally gone between the 15 & 28-mile marker.  Feeling extremely depressed that distance felt like an eternity, I even thought I saw an aid station that turned out to be more trails.  My legs began to get heavy, knees sore, but physically o.k. But mentally destroyed.  I kept thinking about the finish line telling myself I didn’t have a choice but to finish, which helped me to not quit and thinking about finishing and how great I’d feel at the end.  That was 9 miles to the end.  I was happy to see the aid station and grabbed a handful of food and started running again but the happiness quickly wore off, over and over one foot in front of the other, and felt very down.  When I got to my marker “3” and saw the aid station I was as happy as when I started.  The last 3 miles were easy, I knew I would soon be done but when I saw the end and finished I smiled because I thought I was suppose to.  Mentally I felt distraught and overwhelmed, leaving the race I kept wondering why I wasn’t happy, I felt like I had just hurt someone, it was a weird feeling.  That evening I went to bed at 6:30p.m. and didn’t get up until 7:15a.m. only to still be feeling overwhelmed and depressed.  But later on that day it wore off and I felt relief.

Even though I felt great inner challenges during the race, I am looking forward to running many more ultras,  now I know what to expect {at least i think i know}.

                                                                                  John David Read {15 yrs.old}