Wow, what a weekend! I’ll cut to the chase and tell you that Alan did finish his first 100 miler. Incredible!! From what I could figure from the results 121 finished the 100 mile race, and 108 DNF (did not finish). Alan finished 87th in that event.
We camped at the event’s location. Even though we were camping, we did not miss out on a carb loading pre-race pasta dinner.
The race day started out early, at 5am. I didn’t quite wake up fully to send him off, but I did mumble something about good luck, and snapped this picture of him in the camper while I was laying in bed 🙂 He’s good to go!
We saw him after he made his first loop back to the campground, around mile 27. He was looking all bright and clean still! It was going well, but a bit hot in the sun. It was around 83 degrees. Luckily a lot of the race was in the woods, which helped.
We did visit him at another aid station early on. There is a party atmosphere in the aid stations and everyone is super helpful for the runners. They treat them like rockstars!
The next time we saw him was at the next loop around, about 7pm. He was getting ready to go into the evening hours, so he geared up with his headlamp. Last year his headlamp was not great, so he got this Petzl one for his birthday and it can blind you at a distance. No kidding, it’s awesome.
But the best part was that he was getting a pacer for the 3rd and 4th (final) loops! It wasn’t planned ahead of time, but there was a local runner who was going to pace someone else but wasn’t needed so he offered to run with Alan. I’m not sure if Alan was more excited about this development or me, because for me in meant that I had peace of mind that he was going to be well taken care of.
I got updates along the way via text letting me know when he stopped at aid stations so I could have a better idea of when he’d be back around to the campground again. The 3rd loop brought him back at 2:45am. I definitely didn’t want to miss seeing him again, so I got up at 1:50am and went to the aid station. I was very happy to learn that things were still going well after 70 miles. He was sounding positive, and looking good.
The last loop went a bit slower, partially due to some painful feet. I have taken the liberty of reducing the size of this picture, but if you are curious please click on it to see it bigger! He had already popped the blood blisters at least twice during the race. The big toes had blisters underneath his toenails – the toenails that were still trying to grow back. Ooooooouch!
He crossed the finish line after 30 hrs, 37 mins and 35 seconds. Still, incredible to even think about that distance and amount of constant motion for that many hours.
He got the coveted belt buckle…
They had some medical people at the finish line helping out with foot care. Alan got his feet fixed up.
Soon, it was time to just relax. Well, try to relax when the pain is hitting you hard!
Since it was Father’s Day, I made sure we were extra super helpful to Alan and we packed up the camper on our own (mostly). I even learned how to dump out the sewage. Yippie! Yes, it was as fun as it sounds. I also drove the truck home. I typically never drive the truck, so pulling a popup camper was even more different for me, but I did great 🙂
After we got home around 7:30 pm, Alan crawled into bed, and didn’t get up until Monday morning. I have to say, those ultra runners are a tough crowd. If it was me, I would have been bawling from the pain or the blisters. Apparently there is no crying in ultra running. Kudos to everyone who was out there at Mohican!
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Q: What races to you have on your bucket list? Any ultras?
After seeing the marathoners run this race, I would be interested in that distance – but the 50 mile distance doesn’t quite interest me.
Q: Have you ever had a pacer?
Q: Ever run a night race?
INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! The pics actually made me tear up and it’s not even 8am! What are you doing to me?! haha What an amazing, amazing accomplishment! Congrats Alan!
And congrats to you too for pulling the camper! 🙂
It was very emotional to see the runners during the race, and especially at the end. Heartbreaking to see people having to drop out!
AMAZING! Congratulations Alan! Can not imagine running for 30 hours.
I’d like to try a 50k some day, but I need to get a lot more comfortable with the marathon first.
I felt like my 50K went on *forever*, and that was “only” 6.5 hours! I can’t imagine 30 hours either! It takes a lot more determination than I have.
Saying GOOD JOB ALAN doesn’t seem to quite cut it for this amazing accomplishment! I hope he is basking in his post race glory! I thought he had run a 100 before! Of course I clicked on the foot picture. Ugh. That looks so painful, his feet just look raw! How does he feel this morning??? Aches, pains, strains??? Ultra runners fascinate me because they never seem to get injured! Maybe we should all be running 100s to keep our body injury free hehehe. You are such a supportive wife to crew for Alan and his ultra dreams!
His pain in decreasing, but he’s still pretty darn sore! I think his feet will need about a week to repair. Amazing he’s not injured though – just really sore. I totally would have twisted my ankle!
I have no desire to run further than 26.2 miles and even that takes some persuading. I have a friend who did the Badwater 135 a few years ago. 135 miles across Death Valley. In July. With a mountain at the end. Only two races that I still have on the bucket list are Marine Corps, since my son was a Marine, and Tokyo since it would be my last Major. I have never had much luck with pacers. I am better off just running my own race using my Garmin to stay on pace. The only nighttime run I have done was the Madison-Chicago relay. It was kind of disorienting at first, but I got accustomed to it after a mile or so. Not something I would want to do often. I like being able to see my feet.
So cool that you have run that many of the Majors. Yes, you definitely have to get that Tokyo race completed!! It would be quite the interesting destination race.
Thanks everyone, that was actually the first 100 miler I completed. Last year I tried the same race but had to drop out around mile 73. It rained for 12 hours straight and the course was a muddy mess, ended up rolling my ankle and after 18 more miles I was done. This year the trail was in great shape, a lot warmer than I would have liked, but it beat the rain & mud by far.
Lisa and the kids were a great crew and not sure I would have made it without my pacer. If you ever do something like this, trust me – get a pacer!!
Wow huge congrats to Alan! (And to you for cleaning up the sewage LOL!). What an incredible experience! (The race not the sewage ha 😉 )
Yea, the sewage was not the best, but not as bad as I expected. He did awesome at the race. 100 miles is sooooo very far!!