On Saturday, November 9th, I completed my second 100 mile ultramarathon. This is the first race that I signed up for almost a year prior to the race. I had ample time to prepare. I started my year off in January with training for the Bayshore Marathon using the Hanson Method. Starting in January, I received coaching with Zach Bitter. He supported my Hanson Plan(Luke Humphrey Plan) through Bayshore Marathon and then started programming for me. He set my training using hours as the measurement instead of miles with a heavy focus on perceived effort or heart rate training. This was a change of mindset for me that really paid off mentally during the race.
We arrived in Venice, Illinois on Friday afternoon. I was able to get in a run on the trail through the tunnel where Derek and Madde joined me. Then we headed for packet pick up, watched a bit of Camille Herron and her husband, Conner’s presentation. This allowed me time to grab a quick selfie. Then we headed for dinner: I wanted to get back to the airbnb early enough to be in bed by 9:00. I went home took an epsom salt bath and headed to bed. While I slept, part of my crew arrived: Jeff and Chris.
We arrived at the start line about 6:30 a.m. It was around 27 degrees with the forecast of increasing temperatures in the low 50’s during the day and then dropping back into the 30’s. This made planning for clothing a bit difficult because I didn’t want to have to change my clothing. I settled on running shorts, a short sleeve with running sleeves, my Junk Headband, Nathan Hydration Vest and my smart wool mittens. I kept my warm clothes on right until the start of the race. Madde, Derek, Jeff and Chris were there to see me off. Oh before I forget I met the chicken man waiting in line for the outhouse. He had a rubber chicken hooked onto his hydration pack with a sign that read “baby on board”. I introduced myself and squeezed the chicken.
I started the race feeling good about my preparation. I went in with some pretty big goals: personal record from Hennepin (sub 19:34), run in the 16 hours, American Age Group Record (15:12). Zach had advised me to have a few goals during my hundred mile race to keep a purpose and I found that sound advice. He had suggested a time range to strive for (8:53-9:07 mile pace): I loved this idea so I wasn’t stressed if I wasn’t on the dot.
I started out hitting my numbers and feeling good. The nutrition plan was for me to refuel with Tailwind where my crew would meet me about every hour. I had a spare pouch of Tailwind incase my crew wasn’t able to meet. We had spreadsheets and maps to show each aid station and when we would stop. My tactic for this race was to have less stops at aid stations, to keep moving forward (relentless forward progress) and less socializing during the race.
Early in the race, I ran with a couple of guys from Kentucky. This was nice to pass some miles by and keep on pace. There were places on the course that my GPS went haywire and I didn’t know my pace: This was a bit mentally challenging.
My long runs were about 5 hours: At the 5 hour mark I had a bit of a mental dip. I was used to stopping at 5 hours and grabbing Zukey Lake Tavern food, beer, pop and water. That was a bit of a let down, but I got into my runners high shortly after and cruised on to mile 50. At this point, another pacer, Teddy arrived and gave me some words of encouragement and some positive energy when I really needed it.
When I neared 50 miles, I hadn’t really thought about my race standing as I was so focused on my time. Jeff shared at an aid station that I was just passing third place runner. This gave me some energy.
As I was moving into the 50-60 miles, I needed another focus so I started picking people who were supports for me to think of to give me strength to get through the next hour. I started with my dad in mind: He is very proud of my running and I used him to get me through those miles which worked because I slowly dropped my pace back down. Then for the next few sections, I picked different people to focus on to find strength to pull me through: I thought of my brother and a few other friends, my crew members and my coach.
Then, I saw a lady ahead and decided I should focus on her to pull me in. It took some time, but I was able to pass her. When I got into the aid station my crew was excited that I had passed her as they had looked up her running resume and she had quite a resume. I later found out her name is Connie Gardner: She has an impressive list of accomplishments on Wikipedia. When I was getting closer to 60 miles, I moved into second place.
When I noticed the female runner ahead and knew the aid station was near, I dropped my pace and passed her. She stopped for aid and I continued on. I really don’t remember when I moved into first place female.
Around mile 60 I announced to my crew that I wouldn’t need pacers: I was planning to finish solo. I was feeling great and really thought I could do it. I was heading into my last 5 hours which I was thinking, this is just another 5 hour Friday night run. Then the miles from 68 to 76 got tough. I was starting to fatigue and when I came in to about mile 76 it is where the finish line is and you head to the tunnel one last trip. My crew wasn’t supposed to meet there, but lucky for me they knew I needed support. They stopped and Derek handed me some chicken noodle soup: just what I needed. Jeff told me there was someone there for me and next thing I know Camille Herron is hugging me and cheering me on. Her husband Conner handed me the mic asking how I felt, where I confidently responded, “I feel amazing.” Well might have stretched the truth a tiny bit.
At this point I called in back up! Jeff started pacing me. He was so patient with me, but encouraging. The first section he paced was going well so I requested that he continue for the next leg. When something is going well, I don’t want to change it up. Luckily Jeff was willing to continue for another. He was excited that he got the tunnel leg. After we got through the tunnel and grabbed aid we were off to the end of the trail for the turn around. The crew was tracking second place to see how far she was behind me. At that point the estimate was about 40 minutes back. We went to the turn around and headed back to the tunnel, I saw second place female. I knew I needed to stay strong and dig deep. Jeff told me they wouldn’t let me get passed. So I powered through, but my running had slowed and I need more walk breaks then I would have liked. My legs were feeling strong still but I was physically getting exhausted. Looking back, I think I should have increased my calories.
Back at the tunnel Chris took the next leg. It was a longer leg around 7 miles which is really tough when you’re nearing 100 miles. Chris was awesome too she talked to distract me, but when I needed silence she respected that. At this point of my run, listening was taking too much energy. She continued to track second place and we kept forging on.
For my final leg, my daughter, Madde joined me. I was excited for her to finish with me. She was so very caring and patient as she paced me through the last three miles. She talked, was silent, and always encouraging: we were both ecstatic when we saw the finish line! We ran through the line together and I finished first place overall female for Tunnel Hill 2019 with a finish time of 17 hours 21 minutes 56 seconds!
When I finished, I was overwhelmed hearing about all the support I had from friends, family, my running family, and Riley and Madde’s friends on social media. The race tracker had blown up with over 100 comments cheering me on. Additionally my Facebook page had went crazy! I was so honored that so many people had taken time to track me throughout the day: Now that is dedication!
So I ended up getting one of my goals, a personal record by 2 hours 13 minutes over my previous hundred: I also got a bonus, the win which is something I hadn’t really thought about. Each race is a learning experience we carry forward to the next race: I am looking forward to my next race to apply my learning and try for my other two remaining goals!
