Notes
Brazen Racing – Dirty Dozen
July 9th, 2016
What part of your body shuts down first when you run/walk farther than you ever have before? I've had foot pain be a limiting factor (probable Morton's Neuroma). I've had my thigh muscles knot up. Would my joints give out on me? These are my thoughts a few moments before the 7am(-ish) start of the Dirty Dozen 12-hour run at Point Pinole in San Pablo (east bay).
My sister Teresa joined me doing the (merely!) 6-hour version or Half Dozen, planning to walk non-stop. We started together but she'd finish at 1pm while I'd attempt to go on to 7pm. This is the same run I did last year (where I ran the 6-hour), each “big loop” is stated as 3.37 miles through mostly dirt trails with frequent but manageable hills. The last hour of the run a 0.6 “small loop” option opens up. You only get credit for completed loops. The weather was perfect, sunny with cool breezes.
Four weeks prior I ran the farthest and furthest I had ever gone in a training run – 30 miles in a little under 6 hours. I walked about every ½ mile and managed 12 min/miles including aid station stops without much duress. My thinking was that 12 min/miles might be a bit aggressive for 12 hours, so the plan was to stay a bit over that. A sweet finishing distance would be 55 miles. However I would be satisfied with 50 miles, which would be a significant “bucket list” item for me.
This first couple of laps were relatively congested as the ~400 runners were feeling good. This included the relay teams which would frequently pass quickly in the later loops. I would pass and be passed by the same people repeatedly as we leapfrogged each other because of our out-of-sync walking breaks. The mentally toughest walking break I took was before the first mile as no one else had stopped to walk yet – the ego is a fragile thing.
Despite telling myself repeatedly to “take it easy”, my pace stayed under 12 min/mile for the first several loops. I slowed with each loop after those, but by 6 hours I had covered over 30 miles in 9 loops. I passed Teresa twice during this time as her pace was just faster than 18 min/miles (impressive walking speed on a hilly course). She covered over 20 miles in 6 hours and fully met her goal (yay Teresa!).
Each loop got slower as I walked more frequently and also had to slow my pace. I had negligible foot and joint pain, and my thighs were mostly cooperating. At some point near 40 miles I started having difficulties. It was nothing specific, but it just started getting tough. After finishing each loop, it took a certain amount of mental fortitude to begin the next one. I was eating boiled potatoes with salt and orange slices each loop, and GU's every other loop with watermelon chunks when I could get them. This worked fine for 7 or 8 hours, but then the GU and orange juice became unappealing, and eventually I just got “potato-ed out”.
After completing loop 14 (47-ish miles), Elyse offered to join me for a lap. This was no trivial feat as I don't think she'd ever run 2 miles before. At this point with all the walking and slow pace, I was definitely holding her back. Right about here is where my foot pain came back and sent shooting pains up my toes whenever my left foot stepped on a rock. But it was very welcome to have Elyse to talk to and also have her share with me my accomplishment of completing 50 miles before the end of that loop. It was almost exactly 10.5 hours in the run so we calculated that I only needed 18 min/miles from here on out to complete 55 miles. I mentally relaxed at this point knowing that I could almost walk the rest of the way and meet my goal.
I completed my 16th “big loop” to get to nearly 54 miles and then did a “small loop” of 0.6 miles with Helen and then another with Elyse to get to my official 55.12 miles. I actually had another 14 minutes left on the clock to complete a 3rd “small loop”, but 55.72 miles doesn't sound any better than 55.12 miles, so I called it a day.
To answer the question stated in my first sentence, I'd have to say that I'm just not sure. I kept slowing and walking more because I thought I might collapse if I tried to push the pace. This may well be true, or perhaps it's a mental limitation. I don't have any great desire to sign up for a 100 mile run, and may never. I might try a 50 miler at some point though. I've got four new blisters and an chafing abrasion to take care of first though.
Final stats: 13th overall (out of 148), 10th male (out of 65), 1st in M55-59 age group (out of 8). Interesting side note: Teresa was 1st in her F55-59 age group (out of 8) also.
Loop splits (3.37 mi):
1: 38:55
2: 38:28
3: 39:28
4: 39:20
5: 39:54
6: 39:45
7: 39:53
8: 41:13
9: 41:04
10: 42:59
11: 43:56
12: 43:55
13: 46:55
14: 49:36
15: 50:05
16: 51:05
plus two 0.6 mi loops.