Notes
Two Bobs, Two Steves, and One Glenn year number 4! Absolutely brutally hot conditions this year. Everyone trained in spring weather conditions of 50 to 60 degrees. High today was 92 with humidity. Just sitting under the tent in the parking lot was scorching.
I got to the race a little after 5am and met both Bobs and Glenn. Glenn was going first. Then Steve L. Bob A. was going to run the last leg this year but graciously swapped with me because of the heat. I was pretty bummed because I was really looking forward to running in the daylight, but with the heat I would've ended up walking pretty much the whole, which I almost did anyway. Glenn took off and the morning was nice and cool. Bob A. went out on his bike to direct the runners at the end of Homestead. I helped Bob P. set up our area with the picnic table. Usually I go to help set up the Conant aid station, but this year I did the shopping instead. The start finish area was really quiet. Just Bob and I, two other crew people, Val, and Mindy. Bob A came back and Bob P made us some breakfast sandwiches. I had to leave at 7:30am to go read at Judy's funeral. The service was nice and there were lots of people. After going to the cemetery service, I headed back to the Riverlands. Glenn was back and had a really good run. He said you could feel the heat building by the time he got back to Homestead. Steve was out running. Lisa was there too and we sat around under the Glenn's EZ-Up. Cliff Stewart and his wife came to hang out with us and watch Bob start. We watched for Steve's time on the tracker spreadsheet. Lisa, Cliff, and Melinda, headed for Squirrel's singletrack. Lisa texted me when Steve came out onto the ATV. When Steve got back at 3:30pm he was toast. He ran in the hottest part of the day and his long run was only 9 miles. He recovered for a bit and then left. I went home to have something to eat and cool off a little, then came back to watch Bob finish and other Bob start, which was about 7:45pm. Bob A had a great run. Cooler going out to Conant, but hot on the way back. Hung out with Bob and Glenn for awhile and then went to eat my oatmeal and change. I was really sleepy and tried to nap on the couch but didn't really. Headed back to the race around 10:30pm and hung out until 11:30pm. Glenn brought his fire pit, so it was nice sitting around that listening to music. I started getting ready about 11:25pm, eating my Poptarts, packing up my stuff. I got my watch synched in and put my bib on. Put on my head lamp, took off my t-shirt to run in just my TMR tank, then went over to the start line to wait for Bob. He came in pretty much on schedule, 11:45pm. I took the bracelet, started my watch, turned on my headlamp and knuckle light, and jokingly yelled back "see you in 6 hours", pretty prophetic. I took off running and run up the first hill but hiked the rest of the long hill to where it flattens out. My plan was to hike most of the hills on the way out to save my legs for the way back. My back and left hip started complaining almost right away and never really let up. I seem to struggle more with picking my way through the roots and rocks this year with my depth perception and was more cautious and slower. I really didn't want to trip and fall. Made it all the way out to the end of Homestead at a pretty decent pace. Saw a few runners but not a lot. Stopped to pee and then headed for Middle earth. I peed a lot the whole race out and back, which was good, usually I pee once and that's it. But I drank a lot during the day to stay hydrated and focused on drinking from my pack and I think it worked.
Lots of frogs and peepers out at night. Moon was pretty bright which was cool. The temperature was still pretty warm and I was sweating alot right from the first mile. Ran some of the long uphill and hiked the top. Hiked the rocky uphill section on the side I cleared out. Got to Middle Earth in about 50 minutes. Bobs and Glenn did it in about 45 minutes. So for running at night I thought that was decent. My goal was to finish between 4 and 4-1/2 hours. So 2 to 2 hrs 15 mins to Conant was the target. Stopped at the aid station to put some Tailwind in my little bottle and drank a cup of TW then took off. My hip and back were bothering me on and off. Saw quite few runners between here and Conant. Still going slow around the rocks. Had a GU about 1hr 15m in. Energy was still good but didn't want to get behind. Heard some loons which was nice. Felt like I slowed down a lot on the hills, picking my way down the rocky downhills, but I was still moving well. Ran about half of the long uphill towards the last part to Conant. It was so dry none of the usual big puddles had any water. Just before the cement lined stream I caught my left foot under a string like root and down I went. Luckily it was soft mud so I didn't feel it too much. Stopped to wash off my legs and hands in the stream. Picked up the pace and the flat stretch into Conant and got there in 2:15, right on schedule. I figured I'd be a little slower going back so a little longer than 4 hr 30m but not bad considering. I had my pack filled up with water, got some more tailwind in my bottle. Drank another cup, grabbed some Pringles and headed out. Ate the chips as I ran and they were good. A little after that I took 2 S-caps since I was sweating so much. Just before I got to the 12 mile mark, I could feel my IT band start to complain. It got bad fast and soon I was forced to walk. My back was pretty sore too. I had a GU and resolved myself to a walk/run pace for the next 8 miles back. I tried to run as much as I could and walk fast, but there wasn't much running. The longer I went the worse my leg felt. From my hip all the way down to my foot was in pain. It sucked, I thought about never doing this race again. Two years in a row of sucky running.