Tremendous Success at Umstead 100: Sub-28 hours!

With a bunch of my friends before the race looking fresh, happy and ready for our 100 mile journey (note everyone in this picture finished, some with minimal damage and some less so...I think I would give Bob-red shirt on my left the award for awfulest running induced injury with blood seeping out of his shoes at mile 99--eek!)

Right after the start (at the airport loop), Gilligan decided to join the race for just a brief moment. Sadly while he is a big dog, he can't run with the big dogs, so bailed after just a few more steps.

With Tristan and Gilligan just past the second aid station I think about mile 20 in the race. Gilligan is a smart dog so tends to not run the race but hangs out by the aid station (just after in fact). There is plenty of discarded food for him to partake in (because he eats like an ultra-runner)

With my excellent pacer team: Tristan and Cindy as well as the race director, Blake Norwood about mile 58.

Taking some time for some "preventative maintenance": changing out my sneakers and drymax socks at mile 62.5 (the start of lap 5). By doing this I can happily report I have no blisters on my feet now (and ended the race with only a few small blisters). In fact other then troubles with getting up, walking stairs or moving very quickly, I am doing very well. I would equate my pain to be significantly less than my previous 100 milers and last night was in some discomfort, but not excrutiating pain:-)

I will write more later and include several of my over 350 pictures, however, I just wanted to report that I finished Umstead 100 mile race in under 28 hours (word on the street--as per Anthony's blog my time is 27:46:48!!!). Sadly I do not know my exact time (it's definitely under 27:56, but how much is up for debate). This means at Umstead I have a 29+ hour, 28+ hour and 27+ hour finish. Since last year my time was 28:52, I may have PR'd by a full hour (like I said I have no idea what my finish was after "sub-28 hours".

As a brief summary, my first 5 laps were uneventful and I was running a little over 3 hour 12.5 mile loops. My 6th loop I slowed a bit to 3:30 (and had a shoe change). My second to last lap I really started walking a bit more and was closer to 4 hours. And finally my 7th lap was well over 4 hours. But my last lap may have been about 2.5 hours for the first 7 miles, then I just decided I wanted to break 28 hours, so I put the pedal to the metal for the last 5.5 miles which took me just a little less than 2 hours. In fact in the last 5 miles, I was tending to run about 16 minute miles (as per my garmin) to ensure I broke 28 hours, which I did.

Of course this accomplishment is thanks to my pacers: Tristan my great husband, and Cindy my sister, Pacer Deb, the AWESOME race volunteers and organizers, all my wonderful fellow runners/friends on the course!

Congratulations to all finishers!

Last Minute Preparations for Umstead 100 mile 2009: And a few more pictures from 2007

Tristan and Gilligan at Umstead in 2007. Gilligan you can observe was ensuring he stayed off his feet in preparation of doing about 100 meters on Saturday (actually Tristan and Gilligan went hiking somewhere but I still have no idea where it was)

Before the race, with the sign. I was really nervous because in 2006 this was my first 100. Now I am really nervous because I know what to expect and what can go wrong!

With my friend Mike L who I had met during the 24 hour Race Around the Lake the summer of 2006. He is really nice. We saw each other earlier this year at Fla. during the Disney Marathon

With Sally, the main aid station captain. She is really nice and very encouraging!

Late in the afternoon the first day. By this time I was starting to get a bit tired and because it was during a significant drought I was getting dusty and dirty. For those of you who read my blog last Aug/Sept, you will recall I REALLY hate dirt (to the extent that it took me 20 minutes in a transition area in a triathlon to clean up my feet--and I see nothing wrong with this by the way!)

The Umstead 100 mile endurance run is just 3 days away. Today is my last run before the race. Then I get a few days off (Wahoo!). It is a beautiful sunny spring day here in the suburbs of DC. The tree's, flowers and shrubs are starting to bloom.

I have trained pretty hard for Umstead this year. I ran 8 marathons since the start of the year. Most of these events I extended by a few miles after I finish to build up my mileage. I also tried to run at least 4 or 5 days a week, typically around 50 or so miles. Many weeks I also did hillwork as well as walks and hikes to extend my time on feet.

I am looking forward to Umstead because I will get to see lots of friends including: Emmy (Umstead 2008 & VT100 2008, 24 hour race around the lake 2006 and 2007), Frankie (Rocky Raccoon 50), Rob (VT100 and Umstead 2007 & 2008), Kris W (Umstead 2007 and VT100 '08), Anthony (RR100, VT100 and Umstead), Frank (VT100, 24 hour race around the lake), Angela (many marathons), as well as many others.

The weather looks perfect for this weekend at Umstead (low/mid-70's and sunny). And my pacers are sort of lined up (and of course I will partake in volunteer pacers). Cindy, my sister might pace me my 5th lap (mile 50-62.5) and Tristan, my husband is looking to pace me my 8th lap (mile 88-100), although he may have Cindy be his back up if his leg/knee acts up. As long as the weather prediction continues to be good, Gilligan, our dog is looking forward to spectating on occasion throughout the race.

I know it will be tough to run and complete Umstead 100, but I know what it takes to finish it and be happy at the finish. I just need to run (or shuffle, at the end) smart and focus on staying happy and healthy throughout my ~30 hour journey.

Umstead 100: One week to go Random Musings and a few pictures from 2007

The Umstead 100 mile race has a special place in my heart. It was my first 100 mile event and while throughout the race I was not sure I was going to finish in the alotted amount of time, I knew I was going to try my hardest.

I ended up finishing dead last for 2007 in 29 hours and 36 minutes (24 minutes ahead of the 30 hour deadline). By the finish I was completely exhausted, in more pain then I have ever been in before or since and ready to sign up for the next year (okay, I'll be honest that took me about 4 hours post race to achieve!)

I learned alot about myself during the race and was really proud of this achievement. To this day I always wear my 100 miler pendant with pride. The only times I have removed this is when my initial necklace broke (but some string saved the day), and recently when I had my thyroid scan. I would conjecture in life the only two items I really would be distressed about losing are my wedding ring and my Umstead necklace. Since April 1, 2006, my necklace has taken the same journey in life I have experiencing both the ups and down. Of course my engagement ring has been a "hitchhiker" since June 2000. We too, have had some good times--and one brief separation due to my apparent inability to treat jewelry gently (in my defense I kind of mangle my body just as bad with stumbles, falls and ripping somewhat essential pieces off through no fault of their own...for example, I curently have only half a thumbnail thanks to a recaltratant door that refused to open without being turned first...how outrageous eh??).

Well, back to positive thoughts. Below you can see some pictures from 2007. Sadly in 2008 because of the 24 hours of rain (out of 28.5 hours on the course), I have very few pictures and the few I do have are of very poor quality! But alas, luckily in 2007, the weather was perfect in my world. Close to 80 and Sunny.

About to finish my first 100 mile. Boy do I look tired! And of course in my husband tradition of snapping pictures with exposed undergarments, you can actually get a quick peak at my Moving Comfort Seamless Underpants above my skirt and below my sparkeley waterbottle...Tristan really needs to take a glance at the scene he is photographing because I just don't think people want to see my unmentionables.

Gilligan and Tristan greeting me at the second aid station. This picture provides a typical view of the course surface. It is pretty wide and very groomed. Thus you can sort of close your eyes at night and just try to run straight. Seriously I ran many miles with one or the other (or sometimes both) eyes shut.

A sign my friend Julie made that I could see 2 times every lap. It was really nice of her to make it and nice of my husband to put it out. I became slightly famous during the race because I had my name on my shirt and this sign. Thus people rightly guessed it was for me. This sign made me really happy. It provided encouragement for the entire race and was so colorful, vibrant and energetic, which is exactly what I needed during my last several laps late at night and early the next morning.

It is less than 7 days until Umstead 100 mile. I am really nervous but know I have done the best training I could do considering my professional life, personal life and even the weather.

I have been starting to pack including for pre-race, post race and of course drop bags. I have several pacers/crew/chaffeurs arranged including my husband, my sister and hopefully a friend from the statistics workshop I am arranging.

Tristan, my husband continues to fight a nagging knee injury/pain so may not even pace me a full lap, Cindy, my sister has committed to a full lap. Tristan of course will be driving me to the race and home after the race. Thursday night we will continue our tradition of staying with his father in Richmond and Friday we will stay at the LaQuinta. So far the weather is looking good, so we likely will be taking Gilligan with us.

As I get ready for the race, here is some advice I would share with others who are going to be running a 100 mile. My biggest advice is:

1) DON'T read the ZODIAC killer on the trip to the race...seriously it is not a good motivational pre-read (well unless you want to scare the crap out of yourself in the middle of the woods about 2 in the morning!)

2) Make sure your pacer is appropriately dressed. If they do not have on adequate layers or raingear you either will have to share your gear with them (and perhaps be cold/wet yourself) or else they might want to make you go fast to get warm.

3) Make sure your crew knows explicitly what gear you need. Having recieved "flip flops" at mile 98 during my first Umstead 100 miler when I wanted Teva Support Sandals (which then I foolishly put on from mile 98 to mile 98.1) I now know to make sure items are clearly marked (oh yeah and now my husband knows the difference between flip flops, sandals and other items...I also have taught him that magenta and fuscia are two different colors, my helpful advice know no bounds!)

4) Take care of your feet before small problems become HUGE problems. This year my goal is to change out my shoes at mile 62 and my socks at mile 88. Of course this timing is very flexible, which leads to my final advice:

5) Have a plan for your race (figure out your needs, the logical timing of these needs and plan accordingly). I have an EXCEL spreadsheet that lists out what I might need at various times (shoes, socks, gaiters for shoe change time; sunglasses, baseball cap during the day and thermal pants, shirts, jackets, headlamps and flashlights at night) and each of these items are available within ziplocs in my drop bags.

Good luck to all who are competing in Umstead 100...now it's time to cram (or is it taper?...I can never get them right, aarggh:-)