Umstead 100 miler: Getting to the Race Friday

With Tristan at the main race headquarters. Tristan is my chauffer. Pretty much every other task related to ultramarathoning I have had to outsource from him: pacing, crewing, cheerleading etc. But he is a good chauffer.

Tristan is really sweet though. At most of my recent ultra's he has asked my friends for e-mail messages to cheer me on. These give me lots of energy and are definitely a highlight of my race.

I think Tristan is also starting to like the pre-race dinners because he is starting to know more and more of my ultra running friends...if you ever meet him please introduce yourself.

And if you are a mountaineer or a climber, please feel free to talk at length with him. He is quite an accomplished mountaineer including summitting Mt Rainier, Mt Hood, Mt Whitney, Mt Shasta, Mt Baker, Mt. St Helens, Mt Washington, among others.
With my ultra running friend JoJoJogger. She came up to me while I was volunteering and introduced herself. Umstead was her first 50 miler and she did GREAT finishing in 11:17.

Way to go Jan!

It was really nice to meet a fellow blogger. I really love to meet others who are reading my blog and be introduced in person. It is really fun to meet others who have commented so I can put a name with a face. Of course make sure you know I take lots of pictures and might just snap one with you!

With my friend Emmy.

Emmy and I have run many, many ultra's together. We first met about 4 or 5 years ago at the 24 hour race around the lake in MA. Since then we have met up at a bunch of ultra's including: the 24 hour race around the lake in Massachussetts, VT100 and Umstead 100 as well as JFK50 miler.

Emmy is always so sweet and is really fast. She consistently runs 100 milers in about 24 hours which I find amazing.

With my friend Steve T. Steve has run many marathons and a handful of ultra's.

Both Steve and I ran the VT50, 50 km race this past Sept and if I am not mistaken he was the final male and I was the final female. It was in EPIC conditions!

Steve also drove me to the Self Transcendence Marathon around Rockland Lake NY this past August (and hopefully will drive me this Aug:-). He lives a few towns over from where my dad lives (who I was staying with during that race) and did not have to go too far out of his way to pick me up.

Steve has run several 50 milers, a bunch of 50 kms and many marathons. This was his second attempt at the 100 miler distance, although he did not finish the 100 mile, he did complete 100 km and finished the first 50 miles in a PR...go STEVE!
Here I am with my friend Vinnie. Two years ago (during the rainy year), Vinnie and I ran many miles overnight together. Vinnie is really nice, has many stories and has run 100's of ultra's including many different 100 milers.

Last year Vinnie ran Umstead in under 24 hours; however due to a trip to Cambodia in the winter including acquiring some third world issues, he had less training and was still a bit weak.

But maybe next year both Vinnie and I will have a strong day and he can show me how to run a sub 24 hour Umstead.

Getting to the Umstead 100 miler endurance run my husband and I continued our ritual of staying at his father’s house in Richmond Virginia. I also got my haircut and styled which is my pre-race ritual. Any extra bit of weight which I can eliminate is great. And who needs split ends?!

After a pleasant visit with Tristan's dad Thursday night including a nice dinner at Carraba's carbo loading, we continued our southerly drive to Raleigh Friday morning. It was quite stormy and rainy so our trip took a bit longer than expected but we finally arrived at the race headquarters. As I have done for the past 2 years, I volunteered for a few hours. This year I was lucky enough to work with Elizabeth A, Barbara and Linda D. I have worked with Elizabeth and Linda before and it was a real treat to work with both again. They both are so sweet!

While volunteering I was lucky enough to see and briefly catch up with lots of friends: Emmy, Tony, Steve, Monica, Jenny, Nathan,… and so many others.

After volunteering it was time for the pre-race briefing and dinner. Each year Umstead seems to get bigger and bigger (I think folks bring bigger crew’s) so it was very crowded in the lodge. But this was good in my opinion because I was cold so a crowded room typically is warmer. Tristan and I ultimately headed to the car so I could get a jacket. This worked out perfectly because my friends Bill and Luanne T and my friend Chito arrived right while we were walking to get an extra layer. After getting my jacket we headed back and had a very nice dinner. Then Tristan and I headed to the hotel for my last nights sleep for a day or two