Back-on-Your-Feet 24-hour Lone Ranger ultramarathon

In lieu of a more-complete race report, here is a collection of FB postings from the race [along with some additional commentary]

Saturday July 18
Weather forecast was for low-to-mid 80sF, 40-50% humidity, mostly sunny, slight breeze.
4:02am Has his sunscreen on and his rice bagged. [I decided to put out some FB postings as a quick way to communicate my status to others. I turned the phone off in-between times so that the battery wouldn't die before I was done - it won't last a whole day otherwise. Some people were wondering why I didn't respond to their FB posts re: my comments - that's why, I never saw them. I just powered on, put my post in, and powered off again]

4:05am Is on the road to the Philly Back-on-my-Feet 24hr Run. [later than planned, but with some time to spare]

6:48am I'm at the race site in Philadelphia, an hour early. [ahhhh - ahead of schedule! time to exhale and read my copy of "The Lore of Running"]

8:15am I'm chilling, waiting for the pre-race briefing. [got a great looking red technical shirt and a hat]

9:42am Pre-race briefing is complete, 15 minutes to the start. [nutshell version of briefing: thank you for coming. stay on the path. drink a lot of liquids. avoid moving objects coming at you on the path. play nice with others. have a wonderful time]
r>11:29am Almost at mile 6. A bit ahead of plan. Lovely day, sunny & clear, low humidity. Lots of Philadelphians running around. [I chose to run on dirt/grass versus run on asphalt through about mile 40. the difference is that my shoes swung through the tops of the grass, requiring more energy to run. It may not seem like much, but over 40 miles it is a lot. I should have stayed on the asphalt and just kept at it] [Fairmont Park where this was held is this huge green space and it is just gorgeous. A great location for the race. Lots of active people exercising on a Saturday morning]

12:17pm First lap down, feeling fine. Met Larry Solomon (wearing a Team Accenture shirt) who was running the relay event. On to lap 2. [all sorts of people are into running!] [I felt great here, but of course everyone feels great after 8.5 miles of a long long race]

12:54pm Mile 11. Sometimes a runner will pass me who is built like an inverted pyramid - broad wide shoulders - and I can't help but think "You're a born swimmer with that awesome arm leverage. I hope you are training for a tri." [sometimes I think of the most interesting things while I am running]

2:38pm Lap 3. Wiped all the crud from my legs. Reapplied sunscreen "liberally" & somewhat sloppily everywhere. Ate some more rice (Josh) and back on the road again. Thinking about a deliverable walkthru next week. [wiping the crud and putting on more sunscreen, while good intentions, i think just cost me time in the final analysis without providing me any benefits]

2:40pm This lap will be half as fast as the last. Heat of the day. [this really was a good time for me to walk]

4:46pm Mile 24. I've kept to my pace plan and I feel good. The temp has dropped a lot and a gentle breeze has kicked in. The skin on the backs of my calves are red-blotchy, I attribute to either heat rash or something in the road dust here my skin doesn't like. They have Philly soft pretzels which are wonderfully salty even if they are a little hard. [the second coating of sunscreen i put on didn't stick, apparently. I was hot and sweaty and the sweat apparently just washed it away. so the backs of my calves are sunburned.] [the road dust/dirt was a problem. the insides of my ankles are bruised from it being kicked up by the other foot]

6:34pm Mile 30. The sun is sinking, and my legs are tired. I ate too much carbs at once at the end of the last loop, and they are sitting in my stomach. The good news is my weight is neutral since the start of the race, which means I'm not dehydrated on a net basis. Continuing to walk as planned should clear my stomach and leave me able to run later. [a very nice breeze came up about now. I had changed into a singlet from my short sleeved shirt and the air was wonderfully chilly against my skin. But the temp was still about 82F, so the message in that was I am not drinking enough] [i realized when i was in the staging area that I was spending too long there. I easily blew a half hour there. I just could not get myself together and get out the door! It also took time to download my race data from my watch onto my laptop - a requirement b/c I track my running and the log space was filling up - and a foggy mind is no match for technology]

8:41pm Lap 5. Despite my efforts I am still down almost a gallon of fluids. I'm going to have to force more fluids into me this lap [hydration is a serious problem for me. I was drinking a ton (GU2O and water with the odd splash of Gatorade), urinating a lot [good because it meant fluids were still being absorbed vs. either pooling in my body cells or being all lost by sweating] but I was not retaining the water. It just went on out. I needed it to stay around inside longer]

[I should have made a habit of posting every mile or every hour or something. It would have provided me with another game to play and distracted me from my hurting feet]

[after the race i compared the shoes I wore with my old shoes, because my feet hurt sooo much and are marked and red all over. Did you know, the new shoes have laces that are several inches shorter? So to tie them, I had to make the shoe tighter. No wonder my feet hurt so much. Am I annoyed at not finding that earlier!]

Sunday
1:36am Mile 53. I am so very tired. Wonder if I'll get a second wind? Trying to find something else to think about [I was not a happy camper and the negative talk was getting me down. I turned the conversation around shortly thereafter] [At the second aid station they asked "what do you need?" and I said "a pep talk" and the answer the guy gave me was sooo weak. I went to another lady, whom I had talked with on all prior laps, with the same interaction and she said "well, i'm going to be here as long as you are, so I don't know what to say" with a tentative look on her face. I replied "so I guess the pep talk there is that the sooner I finish the sooner you can go home, right?" We chuckled and I went on my way]

1:52am -You're never going to make 100 miles so you might as well quit. +but I've been going faster and I might make up time. +besides, everyone expects me to finish. -your body hurts. +yes, but it will hurt tomorrow whether I stop or not. +besides, a lot of the places that used to hurt don't anymore. =and so it goes. [My intention here was to provide my non-runner friends with an idea of what conversations go through a runner's mind during a long endurance event. The "negative talk" is part of the mind game and it can make you stop or give you a straw man to punch at. I choose the latter]

2:22am Thank goodness for Jeff Galloway & his run/walk. I think it's gonna get me through. [I should have started this a lap earlier than I did. I didn't make enough progress on the first half of the race. While simplistic and having many critics, the Galloway Method does an excellent job at keeping me going during tough times]

3:48am Mile 60. Nauseated. Nothing spoils a run like an upset tummy. Luckily I packed Pepto Bismol. [those little pink tablets just do wonders, besides turning your tongue black] [they had all sorts of eats on the course: water, GU2O, GU gels, turkey sandwiches, ham sandwiches, PBJ sandwiches, M&Ms plain and peanut, Enteman's doughnuts, Phila. soft pretzels, gummy bears, GU Shot Blox, cookies, muffins, mini muffins, potato chips, pizza, granola, trail mix, peanuts, mixed candy, and the list goes on. They also had washcloths soaked in ice water for an instant cool-off]

8:38am Some kind soul persuaded me to just "rest for fifteen minutes", and three hours later it was 8am. I admit to being a willing participant in that scam. Even now I could get out there and capture a few more miles, I've chosen not to. 67.65 miles is enough for this run.
[I was at the point where mathematically I could not complete 100 miles, which was my only race goal. Faced with that, I decided to call it a completed race]

[Statistics:
* I finished 67.648 miles in 19:37 for an average pace of 17.4 minutes per mile. I didn't turn the timer off at any time, so that includes the various stops I made.
* I finished 12th out of 24 men+women who finished with the same distance.
* I finished 44th out of 115 men.
* I finished 61st out of 163 overall.
* The overall winner was Serge Aronba who finished 146 miles in 24 hours.
I wonder what he eats while he runs?]