What a day! After a long cold spring the PNW , the weather man told us we were to have a heat wave, not exactly good news for me ,the Italian born who prefers to run in the rain! The Watershed is a beautiful forest preserve just 20 minutes from my home , in fact shame on me for not having discovered it sooner and taken the kids for an outing! The course consisted in a long loop of about 5.3 miles and a shorter one of .72 both of them in pretty good condition just a few roots and stones to watch out for, lots of ups and downs but no major steep hills. The start is at 7 , Jon is there and I also see other familiar faces from my one and only other ultra last month. Off we go into the woods where, for at least a couple of loops, the tree coverage keeps us sheltered from the rising heat. As I plod along at my slow cruising pace , what a treat getting to chat with fellow runners, some of them going for just a few loops, others in for the whole day, crossing paths with Tet going in the opposite direction then, catching up again and getting to run together for a bit, even stopping for a photo or two! After a few hours the heat starts to make the going quite difficult, particularly in those open stretches of path exposed to the sunshine. An angel at the aid station, each and everytime I go by, hoses me down with ice cold water, so off I go again, hair and clothes dripping wet, a reprieve that lasts only a few minutes. When I find myself running alone for too long my legs ,with a will of their own, sometimes slow down to a walk and then pick up again the moment I find a companion to run with or a faster runner to follow. I must have saved a lot of energy that way because ,after the first 10 hours ,when I switch to running only the 0.72 miles loop, my legs feel great and I managed to put in a lot more miles than I would have believed possible, passing many runners and feeling very energized, if felt as if the narrow winding path was all down hill( which was not) and only after I tripped on a root and had a close call to a fall I decided to slow down and pay more attention not to risk spoiling a wonderful day with a tumble in the last half hour of the race. Bottom line : 8 long loops plus 11 short ones for a total of 50.91 miles in 12 hours. The RD told us the temps reached 95 at the aid station , 86 in the forest where we ran where humidity was considerably higher. Incredible!! It was an amaizing experience. The comraderie, the volunteers, the hard conditions made it a day I won't easily forget. DH showed up 1/2 hour later with wine and cake for a toast with Jon on the double occasion of his recent B'day and the accomplishement of us both finishing the deed!! DH forgot my camera but Jon had his handy, so it should be documented! What I learnt about myself is that I need a running buddy, any volonteers out there..??!! .....20th Century 100K in 2 weeks, still plenty of time to sign up...!!! Thank you for reading this! Francesca

Impressive Francesca! I would say yes absolutely I would love to be your running buddy....except I live too far away and more importantly, I would need to go horizontal after a few hours. You rock! Thanks for sharing this and it sounds like it was a great experience! Karin/CNYrunner

Awesome job. You ultra runners are amazing!!!

Very impressive, especially w/ the heat. I also like cook temps and the first couple of weeks above 75 just knock me down. I can't imagine gutting out 12 hours straight in suddenly summer temps. You're really tough.

Twelve. Hours. I'm sorry, my mind can't comprehend running for that length of time! Wow, great job! The next time I complain about running a couple of miles in the heat, I will think of you and stop immediately.

What a very hard core event!!! Holy smokes, thanks for the RR

Great Job, You certainly held your own in that kinda of heat very well. I'm the same way on running with a friend, you just don't notice the pain as much. Good luck on the 100k. jjj

Add me to the list of those who can't fathom racing for 12 hours straight! Doing that, especially in high heat and humidity, and still be standing at the end is incredible. Congratulations on your amazing accomplishment. Jay