I would like to start my race report by thanking my awesome Crew of Henry, Zach and my kick ass pacer Darin. Without them this day would not have been possible. They did an amazing job crewing and pacing me at my first 100 miler; my race was truly a success because of them.

Friday Morning

Darin met us at our house at 6:15am and after scurrying around the house for 15 minutes we jump in the car and headed to the airport. Our Flight departs KC and arrives in Houston with no issues. Once we arrived and stepped outside the airport terminal into a freaking sauna Darin and I both start checking the weather to see if the humidity is going to lingering on race day. Looks like it plans to pass but the rain is still in the forecast for the morning.

After picking up the crew rental van and a slight detour, we missed the exit for the highway. Although, I was very impressed the guys actually stopped for directions and Darin did a fine job of interpreting the directions from the Arabic gas station worker. Our next goal was to get a nice lunch someplace, so we cruised the highway until we found an area that had a multiple restaurants to choose from. We ended up eating at BJ’s Brew House, Darin and I ate light and the Henry and Zach both had monster burgers.

Next on the agenda we went to the park to check out the trail. The forest was beautiful and the trees were amazing, absolutely gorgeous! Darin and I walk the tails a little, they were in great shape and the excitement was starting to build. After leaving the park we checked into the La Quinta unpacked and then headed back out to try and get some supplies. Wal-Mart was out of Nutella, seriously did they not know there was an Ultra in town. I guess everyone “beat us to the punch.”

Next was Packet pick-up, so cool to see all the runners and listen to the trail briefing from Joe the Race Director. I got to meet my DM friend John and chat for a bit. I also met Sophia, Tony Hawk, and few other trail nerds and one of Darin’s friends Will and his son Ryan. We left the Park and went to Target for a few more things, and found some Nutella! After that we hooked up with Will and Ryan and headed across the street for dinner at Chili’s.

After a wonderful dinner we all were anxious to get back to the hotel and put our feet up and start winding down. I checked the weather again and mentally prepared myself to run in the rain for most of the morning. After double checking all my gear 100 times, I took a hot shower, stretched lightly and hit the hay and surprisingly went to sleep quickly.

Race morning:

I Woke up at 4:00am to a torrential down pour; checked the weather to see how many hours it was forecasted to rain so I could figure out AGAIN, how to dress! Decided on shorts, short sleeve tech shirt, rainproof jacket, Brooks ASR8’s and drymax trail socks.

After a light breakfast of oatmeal and banana we loaded up the van and headed to the race at 5:00am. Darin and I were already soaked but grinning from ear to ear. This rain was not going to get us down; I just felt bad for my crew and hoped they would stay dry and take shelter in the van.

5:50am – Tummy has butterflies bringing down the house. I’m emotional and reality has set in, I’m going to run 100 miles today! We hooked up with Will and his son, we hoped to run some of the 100 together and his son would hang with my Crew during the day.

6:00am – 406 crazy runner’s lined up in a downpour for the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile trail run and we are off.

The first five miles moved very slowly, it was dark, it was pouring, the trails were single track, and they were sloppy muddy! Will and I decided to just take it easy and go with the flow of the mass of runners and try and make up the time later when the runners thinned out and the sun came up. It was at this point that Coleens words of wisdom rang in my ear,”Stay confident, strong, flexible and enjoy every minute! You only get one "first 100 miler" so take the time to look around and really absorb everything that's going on!” I did what the beautiful and wise Pigtailed Warrior Princess suggested and just savored every minute of the glorious muddy day.

Will and I picked up the pace a little with the light of day and the runners spreading out, but separated about mile 6, when his back was giving him fits and could not tolerate the quicker pace. I gave him a couple ibuprofen in hopes that it would loosen his back muscle and wished him well. From here on out I ran solo and leapfrogged with runners throughout the day.

Once the sun was up and the rain started to lighten up I was able to pick up the pace and hold a pretty steady pace. The trial had some very muddy boggy sections that you had to walk through; otherwise you would lose your shoes in the bog. It was impossible to stay dry with the rain and mud, so I just got muddy and tried to rinse my shoes off in the deeper water when possible. On the sections that were semi dry, I picked up the pace to make up for lost time. I tried to wiz in and out of the aide stations grabbing peanut butter squares and taking a hammer gel every hour. I also ate a small bite of my Ginger LaraBar every 30 minutes to make sure my stomach stayed settled.

Loop 1 – Dog Wood 20 miles, spilt 4:05 Highlights of this loop – The frogs singing by the lake before sunrise, running with Will for a short bit, Seeing Darin, Hal Koerner, and Liza Howard..She’s cute as a bug and tough as nails

The Nature Center /mile 23 – I saw my Crew for the first time at The Nature Center. Damn I’d never been so happy to see their faces. At this crew stop my big concern was my feet; sand had settled in my shoes, permeated my socks and was gathering around and under my toes. Zach removed my shoes and socks and did his best to knock the sand out of my shoes. Henry helped me fill my Hydration pack with water/nuun and reload my gels. Fresh socks, shirt, and semi clean shoes and I was off again after a seven minutes Crew stop. I felt strong and was only slightly behind schedule.

Mile 23 – Nature Center

I left the Nature Center and hit a nasty muddy section, so much for dry clean socks, the bog went up to my ankles. I yelled “Bring it on, Baby.” and 2 runners behind me screamed “Bring it on!” There were lots of chuckles and hoot and hollers from all of us for about 5 minutes! I think it did our hearts some good to laugh at the conditions instead of complaining.

This loop was a rinse and repeat and I was holding a steady pace. I ate peanut butter squares, hammer gels and ginger bars for my fueling. My iPod died after 5 hours so I switched to my backup iPod. The music I loaded was perfect for this loop: Jack Johnson, Imogen Heap, Tracey Chapman, Moby, Enya, Sarah McLachlan, and Matchbox 20. I literally got lost in the beauty of forest, and those amazing trees, and soaked it all in and just listened to my body and ran at a pace that felt comfortable.

The rain had stopped so that was good news; hopefully the trails would dry up a little. My Garmin was having trouble syncing in the forest and the overcast skies. It's difficult to pay attention to a your Garmin anyway when you run trails; you don't want to risk taking your eyes off the trail too much or you will trip on a rock or root or at least I do...lol. So anyway, I decided to just ignore the watch and just check my splits at the aide stations. I felt strong on this loop and ran most of the hills; I was in the zone and again just ran by feel and noticed for the first time the purple flowers on the side of the trail and some yellow flowers that had fallen off a tree that grew over the trail. The birds were singing and the sun was trying to peak out of the clouds; it was very peaceful being out there by myself on the trail.

Loop 2 – Dog Wood 40 miles, split 4:06, total 8:11 Highlights of this loop – The rain stopped, the sun peaked out for a little bit and I Experienced a total runners high and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the forest. I got to see Darin, Hal Koerner, and Liza Howard again.

The Nature Center /mile 43 - I missed my Crew; I was too far ahead of schedule. The Nature Center helped me re-load my hydration pack and gave me a few gels and I was off again. I was worried about all the sand in my shoes causing blisters and not having my headlamp for the night but I felt confident my Crew would catch me in 12 miles at the Park Road Aide Station. My second I-pod died and the last song I heard was “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson, it played in my head for the rest of the night. I really didn’t mind not having the music; I needed to listen to my breathing and check in with my body to make sure everything was alright. Nightfall was approaching and I needed to be 100% focused on the trail.

Mile 55.6 – Park Road Zach ran back on the trail and found me and asked me what I needed, I gave him a list of things so the crew could have everything ready for me. Darin was on the trail too, I had seen him twice before when I was running, but it was so great to see his face again. My big concern was my feet; I did not want to get blisters from the sand. Everyone jumped in and cleaned and checked my feet and gave me fresh socks. My toes were trashed and I could already tell I would lose most of my toenails, but no blisters on the bottom of my feet where the sand had pooled. I lightened the load of my Hydration pack, dumping both iPod’s and one on my pouches and all my gels; I didn’t want to see another gel for the rest of the night. I asked my crew how I was doing on my splits and they told me not to worry, I was kicking ass! I grabbed my headlamp and knuckle light, light jacket and headed out to Dog wood where Darin was going to jump in and run the last 40 with me.

Loop 3 – Dog Wood 60 miles, split 4:10, Total 12:21 Highlights of this loop – I discovered the aide stations had cheese quesadillas; I was still running strong and loving every minute of my adventure. I loved seeing my crew, they are the best!!

Dog Wood mile 60 - The crew was waiting and set up with my night gear. I stripped down, behind a blanket, and put on fresh clothes and re applied Glide. I loved the feeling of a dry sports bra, boy shorts, tights, and long sleeve insulated shirt and clean sand free trail shoes! I ate some roma noodles and a couple cheese quesadillas and Darin and I were off. I felt like I wasted too much time at Park Road and I wanted to get going; all those crew stops add up over time!

Darin had me lead; I was still running strong so the plan was to keep plugging along until my “wheels fell off” and he then would take over and guide me. I ran pretty strong on this loop. I had to jump in the bushes a couple times and Darin and I figured it was just that time of night were it was time to get rid of all the food and gels I had eaten. When we got to DamNation I realized this was more than just a normal thing and told Darin I would take some Imodium if it continued. I have to say, Darin was a gem, I told him months before that my biggest fear of running a 100 was getting the trots during the run when he paced me. He told me not to worry, it happens to the best of us. You just gotta love the openness of Ultra runners! Back to the tummy, I was still running strong but the bush time every 4 miles was annoying, so I decided I better take some Imodium, unfortunately the pills had melted in the pill box I was carrying from the rain and humidity. I would have to wait until park road at mile 75 and get some from the crew…grrrr! We passed through the DamNation aide station again and only had 5 miles to go, “I can do this I said to myself!” I stopped at the port a potty .5 miles away from Park Road, for what I hoped was my last stop of the night, and Darin ran ahead to tell the crew to have Imodium and my gloves ready for the me.

Side note on Imodium: I had read on multiple blogs of Elite Ultra runners to use Imodium at the first sign of intestinal distress, so that’s where I got the idea. I’m kind of a natural girl, and don’t like to take a lot of OTC meds, but when it became clear that my situation was not normal, I’m glad I took the Imodium because it worked like a charm.

Mile 75.6 – Park Road A quick stop to get the Imodium, gloves, huggies, reapply glide, sanitize the hands, and grab a scrumptious cheese quesadilla and we were off again.

Loop 4 – Dog Wood 80 miles, split 4:57, Total 17:19 Highlights of this loop – Having my kick ass pacer keeping me company, the night birds making strange noises in the trees, and fresh clothes and shoes.

The Final loop – It’s a blur

We left Dog Wood and Darin took the wheel, I think I wasted a lot of mental energy focusing on my tummy and I was just spent. I rebooted my brain and said out loud “ It’s a 20 mile training run at Clinton, you got this!” This is about the time I took my first fall near the bridges. I was pretty damn excited I ran over 80 miles before I busting my butt…lol! My handheld was fading and my night vision was sucking wind and I went down like a rock. I totally let out the most pathetic , “Daaaaarrrriiiinnnn, I neeeeed your liiiiight.” Darin rushed back to help my whiny butt up and I whimpered that my handheld was low and I needed him to stay close. I was up and running and a few minutes later, I apologized and laughed on how pathetic I sounded. Damn whiny Chick, I thought to myself! Being the Rock Star pacer he is, he told me I was doing great and we just kept plugging away.

Mile 83.1 – Nature Center Henry was waiting for us, Zach was asleep in the trees in his tent hammock. Henry filled my hydration pack for me and gave me a new knucklelight. I remember telling him everything hurt, I took a drink of sprite, whined a little more and we were off again…only 17 miles to go!

Mile 86.2 – DamNation – A quick stop to grab some roma noodles and we power walked and ate quickly, Darin had CHILI…lol! This is the section we had a contest to see who could stub their big toe the most on the damn roots. I think it was a draw. I asked Darin to tell me when we only had 10 miles left and it was music to my ears when the time came. Another mental reboot, I told myself “you only have a 10 mile training run at SMP left.” We did some bush whacking on this section to try and find a dry path but it was difficult to figure out the best way around the muddy muck in the dark, so we just gave up and went down the middle of the muddy trail! I had one more little fall on this section, but I was up quickly with zero whining! My night vision was not the best at this point and things on the trails started to move a bit. I also felt a little over-hydrated and was peeing a little more than normal, so I asked Darin to make sure I took a few S-caps at DamNation. The loop seemed never ending, and I was so ecstatic to be out of the forest and on the levee.....we were getting closer!

Mile 92.2 DamNation – S-caps, mountain dew and a small bite of something. We had less than 8 miles to go! I was starting to weave a bit so I stayed as close to Darin as I could. We passed a lot of people on this section; it felt good to still be running when everyone else was walking. We power walked the hills and just kept making “relentless forward progress! “

Mile 95.6 Park Road – Henry was waiting for us, I grabbed a small bite of a cheese quesadilla from the aide station and asked him to pack up and meet us at the finish line. Only 4.5 miles to GO! I was going to finish my first 100 mile Ultra! Darin did a great job of keeping me moving, and telling me each section that we had to get through; we power walked the big hill and the heavily rooted sections, since the roots seemed to be bound and determined to trip me! When we got back to the bridge section by the water I could hear the frogs signing. I started to feel overwhelmed with emotions; those frogs sang to me in the morning on my first loop and now they were signing to me on my last loop. THIS is why we run Ultra’s to feel the beauty of the forest embrace us; I was totally an emotional rag-doll.

The last 2 miles…what a rush! Darin kept telling me I was a Badass and I was kicking butt and how proud he was of me. I kept thanking him, but I was thinking what a Badass he was; He just ran 50 miles and then turned around and paced me 40 miles. I was running this 100 for me but damn my heart swelled, my mentor was proud of me! I also thought of all the support he provided me the last 6 months, answering all the novice questions I asked him on a weekly basis, all the miles he ran with me, and finally guiding me through the vital weeks leading up to the race and through the fits of taper insanity! My race day would not been complete without him and I’m so grateful he was there to share it with me.

I thought of my loving husband who never once gave me grief about all the Saturday and Sunday mornings I was off running on the trails, and willingly cooked supper on the weekends when I was worthless and exhausted. I thought of all the weekends he sacrificed to support me at runs, fat ass runs and finally on race day. I know he worried about me all day and my goal was to run strong and make him proud too; the look on his and Zach’s face when I saw them at my crew stops was priceless, better than a new pair of Kicks! My Water Boy is my number one fan and loves me unconditionally, ugly toes and all.

I thought of all the miles I ran with my running buddies in The ORC and Trail Hawks and how much they believed in me, and the rain runs with Jay R and Rich that got my through the morning. I thanked of all my friends and family that were up all night tracking me and sending me "Good Mojo." I thought of Indika and her sweet spirit, Coleen and her beautiful face and sassy pink pigtails, Shelly and her beautiful aura that radiates “love, beauty, and determination!” Gary, with all his wit, knowledge and stories. And my training buddies, Chris Russ and Jay M, who I can’t wait to run with and share ALL the gory details of the day.

AND then there it was, The Finish Line. Darin Screams “224 coming in!” Darin and I lock hands and we cross the finish line together! What a beautiful day of running, I can’t wait to do it again at The Hawk 100!

Mile 100 Split 5:06 Finish time: 22:24:19 Highlights of this loop – No tummy issues, saying goodbye to the dam loop, frogs singing, feeling a blanket of love and support from my family and running friends, and making my mentor proud!

Thanks to Joe and his wife for the sincere congrats and big hugs at the finish line.

Stats: 22:24:19

AG 40-49 - First place

Women – 4^th place

Overall place – 49