Friday before the race:
Kristina and I got to the Key Largo to get ready for the Keys100 on Friday afternoon. The hotel (Ramada) was OK, and the weather looked as I expected - hot and sticky. I was very sad to see that one of my favorite restaurants was no longer there, no Conch Salad for me at the Crack'd Conch (now Puerta Vallarta?), so we had lunch at The Fish House (I had Mahi Mahi Matacumbe style). That afternoon I packed my drop bags and got ready for the race meeting
The drop bags - as this was my first self-supported race I learned some lessons from the way I put the drop bags together:
1 - a realistic expectation of times is imperative in getting the right stuff in the bags
2 - make sure you know what is in each bag before you get to the aid station (Joe, I know you told me this, but I guess I had to learn the hard way)
3 - although very difficult, planning for the unforeseen is key
4 - using the same bag type for each location was good, I didn't have a problem locating my bags
Also, I learned that you should bring everything you need for the race... As I was running the list in my head, I realized I hadn't grabbed a few things I had intended to, such as disposable panchos, etc., etc, but then I realized I had left my two square 32oz water bottles at home. These weren't things I thought would be helpful, these were things I absolutely needed! After a few minutes of freaking out, Kristina calmed me down and said we would find something which would work, at worst I could use some regular water bottles. We went to Winn-Dixie to pick up some things I needed (oranges, peanut butter, bread), but they didn't have any good replacements. Then, we went to Publix and walked around trying to find something which would work. I turned the corner on one of the aisles, and promptly disappeared from Kristina's sight. I had run down to the storage section because they had the exact Rubbermaid containers I had picked up at (and overpaid for) at the Container Store in Austin!!! This may not seem like a big deal, but it was a minor miracle in my book.
Around 6:45 PM I went to the race meeting to pick up my packet, drop off my drop bags, and listen to the Race Director (RD) Bob Becker speak. The location was nice, but it was super crowded and it was hard to find a parking spot. I picked up my packet and was talked in to carrying my phone by the person who helped me (this was a good thing). They had everything laid out very well, the drop boxes for the bags were in sequential mile marker and ready to be filled. One note - everything in the keys is located by mile marker, which counts down as you go south. I know this caused some confusion with others who put their bags in the wrong boxes thinking they were for miles ran (i.e. 75 was at mm75 (25 miles ran) not mm25 (75 miles ran)). After dropping off my bags, I found a seat to listen to the Race Meeting. Bob did a great job going over the route, we heard from one of the people who is working to get the Overseas Trail completed (approx 70 of the 100 miles this year weren't on the road itself, but on parts of the trail). After the race meeting, I went back to get dinner with Kristina. That was when I found out that my other favorite restaurant in Key Largo was gone as well, the Italian Fisherman has been replaced by some place owned by a former football player... With no other choices for pasta evident, we walked over to Coconuts and had a loud but adequate dinner. We went back to the hotel and I tried to get some sleep, but 4:30 AM found me quickly after a night filled with lots of waking (nerves, and some very loud people holding an apparent party in the hallway).
Race day:
I got up at 4:30 AM to make sure I had plenty of time to eat, shower and mentally prepare. I took a shower relishing the clean feeling knowing that I wouldn't have that for a long time! I had a breakfast of oatmeal and some coffee, and got dressed for the race. I started off w/my usual running wear (shorts, t-shirt) and added calf-sleeves for sun protection as much as anything else, and my now trusty Tilley hat (thanks for the tip, Joe!). I woke Kristina up at 5:15 or so so she could get ready, as she was kindly driving me to the start line. The start line was just a little way up US-1 from the hotel in the Tradewinds shopping center, and it was a zoo! We parked and I checked in to make sure they knew I was there. I also learned that I could have dropped off my bags that morning, so I took a look in the boxes just to make sure my stuff was still in there. I spoke with the RD for a few minutes (of course, he knows Joe!), thanked him for organizing the race, and Kristina and I took a little walk around the parking lot.
One thing which hit me was the quantity of relay teams which were participating. There seemed to be many more relay vehicles there than individual runner vehicles. A couple of the teams had funny outfits and slogans, which were good for a laugh in the pre-race darkness. Kristina and I settled in the car for a while, I think she was more nervous than I was, and then I gave her a kiss and we said goodbye. She wished me luck and drove off, although I don't know how she got out of that parking lot, it was packed. Around this time, the RD was walking around with a bullhorn calling for individual racers to get ready to move to the start line. Similar to the Pied Piper, we all shuffled off following him down the side of US-1 in the dark, not sure where we were going. I hadn't noticed the start line when we drove up so I was a bit surprised at how far it was from the shopping center. I asked someone next to me if we were going to the start line, or just having a warm-up! Nervous laughter all around...
I started off running with just a handheld, knowing that in 10 miles my drop bag had a second handheld and my Nathan pack w/an empty 32 ounce water bottle in it. This turned out to be a bit sketchy, but it worked out OK. The pack spread out pretty quickly, and I was continually amazed by the number of support vehicles I saw on the road. I don't think I saw a non-support vehicle in that first 10 miles... We continued on the sidewalk for about a mile until we went in front of my hotel (Kristina watched from the window but I didn't see her) and shortly thereafter made our first of six crossings of US-1. This crossing was needed as there was construction blocking the way on the ocean side of the highway. It lightened up quickly so the RD was right, no illumination was needed.
The first 10 miles rolled off well. I was running 25 minutes and walking 5 to try and ensure I had enough in the tank for the whole thing. My stomach was happy from the oatmeal and my legs felt fine. But, it started to feel hot even without the sun being up. I got to the first un-crewed check in at approx mm90 in a couple of hours. I grabbed my pack, the very friendly volunteers put some ice in my bottles and I filled up with water. I had drank all of my water before I got to the check-in, so I gulped down a bottle just to make sure I was getting enough hydration. A few minutes later I was back on US-1 heading south. By now the sun was fully up, but we had some cloud cover so it wasn't beating us up too badly yet.
As I ran along, I noticed that my legs weren't 100%. I was feeling a bit tired already. I also noticed that my back was getting crazy wet, and there was water dripping out of my pack. I swung it off and realized that one of the 32oz bottles had opened up and some of that gloriously cold water had soaked me and the bag. No big deal, I closed it up and moved on. It was a short while (1/2 mile or so) later that I realized I had dropped my new camera when I swung my pack off! CRAP! I turned around and started running back to hopefully pick it up. I asked the first runner I saw if they had seen a camera on the side of the road, and amazingly enough he had not only had seen it, he had picked it up and handed it off to his support crew. So, I started running with him to meet up with his crew. The runner's name is Rafael and he was trying his first 100 as well. Rafael's an interesting person - competitive tennis player, professor at NMSU, and decided to run the Bataan Death March in the heavy division as his first marathon (if you are unfamiliar with this race, look it up, it is pretty intense). We cruised along running and walking until we met up with his crew (his Brother) who had my camera. It was unscathed and I was very happy to see it again. Rafael joked that he probably wouldn't have had the energy to turn around and run back to find it, but I told him that w/all of the money I had spent to get to this race, Kristina would have skewered me if I lost that camera as well...
My legs were getting more and more tired, so I was walking more. After mm85 or so I ran occasionally and resigned myself to a nice long walk in the Keys. Such a beautiful place. As far as the running surface, so far I had been on sidewalks, highway shoulder, side streets and paved asphalt bike paths. I took the occasional foray in to the grass on the shoulder of some of the roads to get some relief from the pounding, but almost the whole way is on pavement.
A very nice thing the RD did was to provide a .pdf with maps for each segment of the race. It showed where the bridges were, where you needed to cross, on which part of the road to run, which stores were open and had a list of open/accessible restrooms. I took this and printed it in a smaller scale on waterproof paper, so I had a pocket-sized pamphlet with all of this data. It served me immensely throughout the race and was very very handy.
It started getting hot during this leg. I have heard people later say that due to the overcast skies, and occasional breeze, this year was better than it has been in the past, but it felt pretty hot to me. It was during this leg that I realized I had my first problem - I couldn't eat. I tried nibbling at things, but I just couldn't get anything down. I had packed a lot of good food and it was all stuff I liked, but I could barely get anything down. The only nutritional bright spot in the day was oranges, thanks to Allen for that tip!
At the mm80 check-in I committed my first big error of the day; perhaps the game changer - I didn't get everything I needed out of my drop bag. I am not sure how this happened, but I didn't get my sleeves, or my back-up MP3 player. Thinking back on it I could swear they weren't in there, but when I examined the bag in Key West later there they sat. I will discuss further why these two items were of such importance, but for now remember one of the drop bag rules I laid out above - "make sure you know what is in each bag before you get to the aid station". Because my list of items in each drop bag was incorrect (I made some, OK lots of, last minute adjustments when I packed the bags and didn't update my list) I didn't double check to see if this stuff was in there. Also, I have the habit of trying to get out of the aid station as soon as I can, so I can easily miss items if I don't know they are supposed to be there. Craptacular.
So around this time I was walking, albeit at a pretty good clip, and just trying to deal with the heat. I spoke to a couple of other racers and it seems we all had the same idea - try to make it through the heat of the day with some energy in tact and make up some time after nightfall. Five miles later I was at the mandatory 25 mile check-in. At this stop everyone, including crewed, un-crewed and relay runners, had to check-in. They noted my bib number and offered me some water. I didn't drop bags at the mm75 and mm25 check-ins as I thought every 10 miles to be enough. I think this decision was fine. I took a quick break, refilled my water and moved on. While at the check-in I heard them reporting times and reporting some of the DNFs of those racers who had to drop by the 25th mile. It was getting tough out there. My official time at the check-in was 6:10:38, so it was just after noon local time. Time for lunch...
I had gotten a peanut butter sandwich out of my 80mm check-in bag, and was trying to eat it, but the best I could do was an occasional nibble. I was worrying about my lack of calories and also started worrying about the effects of the sun. Since I didn't have my sleeves my arms were fully exposed. I had walked out of the hotel that morning w/o applying sunscreen (I realized it as we left the hotel but didn't want to go back). I knew I had some sunscreen in my mm70 bag so I tried to stay in shadows and keep out of the sun as much as possible.
I got to the mm70 check-in and grabbed two things I was really looking forward to - an orange and my sunscreen! Of course, the sunscreen wouldn't spray, but that orange was delicious. I went in to the convenience store which was hosting the check-in and bought a lemonade (I hoped the sugar would kick-start my stomach) and some replacement SPF50 sunscreen. The cashier accepted my soggy money with a smile, and I went on with the race. Oh yeah, at this stop I saw two of the other guys I had been talking to throughout the day - San Francisco and Philly. They were looking strong and waiting through the heat of the day as well. I heard them talking about their bags, and they had gotten the mm70 and 70 mile thing confused, so their bags were in backwards order. The excellent volunteers were quickly on the phone arranging for someone to pick up the bags and get them sorted. I hope everything worked out for them.
Shortly thereafter was the first LONG bridge, somewhere around 2 miles. Fortunately there was a pedestrian/fishing bridge parallel to the vehicle bridge, so we were able to walk without worry. There were lots of people out on the bridge fishing, but I didn't see anyone reeling in anything.
Until mm60 it was mostly bridges with a few pieces of land in between. Around this time I ran in to Ironman (I call him that 'cause he had the Ironman tattoo on his leg). We chatted for a while about the race, he was using Perpetuem and was doing pretty well with it. I don't think it would have worked out for me as I've had some issues with it in the past, plus in the heat I doubt it lasts very long. We parted ways before the last bridge before the mm60 check-in. This check-in was at the head of Marathon (heh) and was tantalizingly close to the mm50 check-in and thus the 7 mile bridge. The next 10 miles included a lot of time on a bike path on the bay side of the highway, both sides of which were blocked by foliage. There was an occasional break in the foliage which let some breeze through, but mostly it was just plain old hot. Kinda like an oven. Around this time I first saw Letha whom I would be seeing a lot for the rest of my race.
It was during this section that I really noticed some discomfort in my left heel. The ball of my left foot and my left heel had been bugging me for a bit, but I thought it was just the socks I had put on at the mm70 check-in. I sat down on a convenient bench and took off my shoe. BLISTERS. I haven't had to deal with blisters before during a run. Not once. But I had a huge ugly blister on the back of my left heel which needed some tending. Although I hadn't had blister issues before, I was prepared with a foot kit. I wiped it down w/alcohol, took out a lancet and popped the blister (yuck); a small puddle of fluids collected in the sand (sorry if that is too graphic) and I covered the whole thing with some moleskin. After some adjustment I got the moleskin in the right place and moved on. I ran my hand over the ball of my left foot but didn't feel anything - mistake number two. Always take care of your feet, this didn't end my race, but it didn't help either.
Eventually I came across the Marathon airport, which offered Bi-Plane rides. This unto itself wasn't that interesting, but it said the rides were for two people. I only saw two seats on the thing, so I was wondering who flew it... Remote control?
At the end of the airport was a very welcome site - the mm50 check-in. Halfway through. Time - 12:42:45 so it was almost 7:00 PM local time. I took off my gear and laid down on a stone picnic bench for a few minutes = total bliss. A few miles back my MP3 player had died (see mistake number one above) and I had taken it out of my pocket to ensure I remembered to put it in my drop bag. Well, I guess I left it at the picnic table 'cause it wasn't there when I checked in Key Largo. Huge thanks to the RD and the Finish Line Manager for tracking down the player and mailing it to me! Can you believe it?
After my relaxation I sat in a chair in the shade and got to work with my drop bag. I changed socks, shoes and my shirt. My feet were the same, I felt the balls of both feet and they still felt OK. I need to learn how to tell if I have blisters, because I did on the balls of both feet as well as both heels. I grabbed another orange and replaced the food I had and grabbed another foot kit. I also put on the night-gear I had been carrying in my pocket for the last 10 miles. Remember the note above about realistic expectations for check-ins? I guess I'd rather carry the stuff for 10 miles than wish I had it for 10 miles. My night-gear consisted of two flashing lights, a headlamp, a flashlight and a Nathan reflective vest covering my front and over my Nathan pack. This last bit becomes important later. After gearing up I started on my way toward the 7 mile bridge. I still had aspirations of a morning finish at this point.
As I was walking I caught up with LA. He was doing his first 100, and if I remember right he had done a marathon before this. He was looking good and we talked a while about running, LA and seeing TV shows live. I kept going when he stopped to meet up with his crew as I was getting nervous about it getting dark before the bridge.
We had been running on the Bay side of US-1 this whole way, and you knew you were getting to the bridge when you had to cross over to the Ocean side to face traffic. I got there. It was a little intimidating as I have crossed this bridge many times in a car and knew how long it felt when driving. Although I was excited to cross it on foot, I was (yes I'll admit it) scared as well. I made mistake number three here. In my desire to get across the bridge, I didn't refill my handheld. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but I had 7 miles to go on a small shoulder along a busy two-lane bridge and I had put my reflective vest across the back of my pack. To refill my bottle I would have had to:
- take off my reflective vest
- swing off my pack
- refill the bottle
- put my pack back on
- put the vest back on and hope it was visible from the back
- this last piece was trickier than expected, I had asked a support person with whom I had been joking all day to check me earlier, and he had to fix the back of the vest; later after I did these same steps it took me a few minutes to get the damn thing on right
Lesson learned - think about how all of your gear works in conjunction with each other. I had originally planned to drop my pack at the mm50 check-in and run w/just handhelds to the mm40 check-in, but I was consuming far too much water to do that.
On to the bridge. It was dusk, so I didn't turn on my flashlight yet. I wasn't wearing the headlamp as I still had on the Tilley to keep my head cool. The shoulder is probably 4 feet or so, and the left side (closest to the water) has drain holes made of PVC and a sloping cutout which measure probably 6 inches or so, so the runners had approximately 3'6" to run on. I may be miscalculating that, but it felt like 2' to me. The cars were passing at a high rate of speed, I'd guess around 120mph (just kidding) but it wasn't too bad yet. It got more challenging for me when the sun went down. I kept on my sunglasses (yellow lenses) to keep the glare from the headlights from being too bad and turned on my flashlight. The light was adequate and I was able to see pretty well when there weren't cars barreling down on me. I may be selling the cars thing a little hard, that wasn't really the cause of my discomfort. I have a bit of claustrophobia and the fact that I had nowhere to go but forwards or backwards on this little patch of pavement kind of freaked me out. Then, I started seeing weird shadows and lights behind me and thought I heard someone, but they didn't announce themselves. Little rule people - if you are going to pass someone in the dark on a 7 mile bridge, let the person know you are there!!! :) Anyway, it was Letha and I pulled as far to the left as I could and said something about feel free to pass on the right. She did and moved on. I got passed again by a runner and his pacer. They didn't announce themselves either, but I heard them coming as they were chatting with each other. The runner, amazingly enough, was on the outside closest to traffic and was wearing shorts with a glow stick stuck in the waistband! I really hope he made it OK, he looked good, but that was scary to me.
Progress was being made, I saw some lights ahead. As there were no lights on the bridge, I assumed they marked the end. Almost two hours after I started, I was off the bridge. WHEW. I took a seat on the ground and dropped my pack to relax for a bit. I knew the mm40 check-in was just ahead, but I needed to calm down, get some water and get back to good. I did this, refilled my water, drank a bunch of water (I ran out with about 20 minutes left on the bridge) and put my pack back on. After futzing with the reflective vest to get it over the pack I moved on to the check-in.
There was a minivan parked on the side of the road facing me, and they flashed their lights when I got in to view. So, naturally I asked "is this the check-in"? No, was the reply. I guess they were checking to see if I was their runner. I walked a little bit longer and came to the check-in. My bag was the big one - I had a different pack holding my jacket and such. I sat in a chair (luxury!), got my stuff together, and listened to one of the volunteers lay out some of the course ahead. They were locals so they knew the bridges and topography pretty well, it helped flesh out the map. Like I said, I had my larger pack at this check-in, and it has reflective striping on it, so I was able to wear the reflective vest underneath it. Much better. I also picked up my first Coke of the night. I had bought these in Largo and had opened them the night before so they weren't crazy carbonated. I'm convinced these helped me stay up and alert through the night (thanks for the tip Janette!). My legs hurt, and my feet hurt, but I was feeling OK. I had run 61 miles, which is 11 miles further than I had ever gone, and I had run across the 7 mile bridge! The after effects of the stress of the bridge were evident in my right arm which had held the flashlight and my upper back which is where I carry my tension. I tried to relax this away, but it was just another bodily gripe on top of the others.
I think it was close to 10PM by then. I had taken off the Tilley and ran bare headed with the headlamp for a while. It was a nice change, but I did notice that my neck started to get tense after a while as I was trying to hold the light still... Also, my foot situation had gotten a bit more hmm, shall we say weird? I felt the apparent blister on the ball of my left foot migrate to the front of the foot - very odd and painful sensation. But after it moved, it didn't really bother me anymore so I figured everything was OK.
Marching through the night I spoke with Letha a little bit - she was trying to finish her 21st 100 miler! The way she was going I had no doubt she would finish. I was starting to doubt whether I would. The backs of my thighs were really hurting, I had very little energy, and my feet were messed up. And, I didn't have any music to distract me!! I know this is a semi-controversial subject, but I like to have music when I race. It helps me by allowing my mind to focus on something other than my discomfort. If I had found my backup MP3 player, I don't know that I would have absolutely finished, but it could have been a factor. But, since I didn't, I spent the hours thinking, talking to myself (not in a crazy way) and analyzing my status.
I used the porta-john after the Bahia Honda bridge and saw that I was dehydrated. Not good. I drank a bunch of water and focused on drinking at regular intervals. This seemed to work 'cause a couple of hours later I had to use the restroom again. I still wasn't able to eat, I pulled out delicious little treats and at best was able to nibble at them. The best I did was to eat about 1/10 of a packet of Smoked Salmon Sticks (think fish Slim Jims), they were tasty, but I couldn't chow down. Doing the math later, I think I consumed around 1200 calories all told - not nearly enough.
By the time I got to the mm30 check-in I was not in a good place. Mentally I was OK, but my legs had been getting worse and I was now soaking wet. Yes, Florida wouldn't let me get by w/o raining on me. As I was crossing the bridge in to Big Pine Key it started sprinkling. Hmm, I thought, that feels kind of nice. I didn't get out my jacket and Tilley which were in my pack as I liked the coolness the drizzle brought. Minutes later that drizzle turned in to a downpour! Cars were whizzing by me kicking up additional rain, and I got soaked. Still, it felt pretty nice; until the rain stopped that is. After the rain slowed I started to get really, really cold. In fact, I was shivering which was using some of my scant energy. Not good at all. And, my shoes and socks got soaked which did nothing positive for my foot situation. Ah well, Florida will be Florida. I kept on through the occasional rain and on to Big Pine Key. On this Key lives the mysterious Key Deer. There are all kinds of signs about slowing down (no problem for me) and about deer crossings, but I had never seen one before. Since it was the middle of the night, the deer were actually out! I saw a few of them, and the look like most other deer just smaller. I tried to take some pictures, but between the dark and the rain I didn't get any which were usable. Who knew, the Key Deer actually exist!
I was considering dropping at the mm30 check-in. I don't think I have emphasized why I was considering this, perhaps by reading this you are thinking - hey you sound like you were doing OK. I was mentally OK, but my legs HURT. I kept asking myself if they hurt worse than the 10 miles before, and kept answering in the negative, so I kept moving. At mm30 I answered yes, they hurt worse. But, the volunteer at the check-in told me a story about crewing a runner at last year's Keys100 and the guy gutted it out doing 30 minute miles and only succeeded through mental toughness. Damn. Of course I couldn't drop after that story. So, I got a fresh Coke out of my bag, refilled my water bottles, put on my jacket and trudged on into the night.
The next five miles (remember there is a mandatory check-in at mm25) covered a lot of bridges, none of which had pedestrian/fishing bridges to use to cross. They did; however, have wider shoulders than the 7 mile bridge, so it was a nicer experience crossing them. One thing you get used to in this run is bridges. By now, Letha and I were leapfrogging each other, but the only way I passed her was when she was asleep. She has this amazing ability to lay down and fall asleep just to wake up again in five minutes. Although I wasn't feeling very sleepy, I am pretty sure if I fell asleep I wouldn't wake up in five minutes, but some time in the morning when the sun hit me. Crazy.
At the mm25 check-in I was feeling OK, perhaps a bit punchy. I remember making a joke about how everything hurt, but I bet my hair looked great. Ha! I laid down for a bit to stretch my back, refilled my water, and moved on. Time - 21:26 so it was about 3:30 AM local time. I am amazed at the volunteers for this race, they were out at all hours of the night, and everyone had a great attitude. Nothing but smiles, offers of assistance, and general good cheer. My hats off to them all.
I moved on after Letha did, and I didn't see her again. She was moving with a lot of determination and I was just moving. After each sit-down, it took a few minutes for me to be able to walk with any speed. After the m25 check-in it took longer. Probably 10 minutes later I noticed a clicking in my knee. Well, I thought, that is odd. The clicking eventually turned in to pain which caused me to slow down quite a bit. I had been averaging 16 minute miles up until this point (a great thing about US-1 is there is a mile marker at each mile, so you can easily time your splits), but this caused me to eventually slow to 25 minute miles. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
I had heard that the hours between 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM are the hardest. I didn't experience this, I felt mentally fine through this time. The part that was weird for me was the optical illusions you get at night in the dark on the road by yourself. A couple of examples:
- There is a species of tree alongside US-1 which when poorly lit looks as if it is constructed out of brown paper bags
- There was a point when I saw what looked to be a racoon sitting on his hindquarters next to a Deer - kinda Bambi-esque; of course these were just weeds
I knew they weren't real, I wasn't that bad off, and it made me laugh to see it. I did question myself as I was coming up to the mm25 check-in as to whether the people I thought I saw ahead were people or more illusions, but I was right on that one - it was people.
As I said above - my situation deteriorated in the next 5 miles. It took over 1.5 hours to cover that distance and I was progressively slowing down during that time. My knee was hurting, the backs of my legs were hurting and my feet were uncomfortable. I made the call when I still had about a mile to go. Here was my rationale:
- I was making about 25 minute miles and it was close to 5:00 AM
- If I was able to continue at this pace I still had around 8 hours of walking to do = 1:00 PM finish
- I did not feel confident that I would be able to keep up the 25 minute miles and I had degraded so quickly over the past five miles so I questioned whether I would make the cutoff or not
- I was concerned about my knee and how badly my legs felt
- I called it as I still have 8 to 10 hours of walking to do, and I was afraid I would either injure myself or not make the cutoff
So, I called Kristina as I was approaching the mm20 check-in. She was in Key West and answered on the first ring... She left the hotel to come and get me, and I sat down at the check-in and chatted with the volunteers. It was now around 5:15 AM local time. I couldn't believe how chipper and upbeat they were at this time of the day considering they were close to ending their shift. We chatted for a while while waiting for Kristina to make her way up the Keys. They told me that Letha had left a bit before I came in, so she was still going strong. The volunteers logged me in and noted my DNF, my first DNF ever. As I was sitting there, I realized how far I had come, and how little comparatively I had left. But, as Kristina and I drove down to Key West I was shocked at how long it took. In my condition I am fairly certain I wouldn't have made it. My legs continued to cramp up, and for a while my left heel felt like someone was slicing it with a razor - ouch!
We got to the hotel (Eden House, I highly recommend it) and I made my way, slowly, up the stairs, took a shower and got ready for bed. Kristina had to help me get my pajamas on, I couldn't work that one out for myself. I laid down and it took me a while, but I fell asleep. When I woke up a couple of hours later I felt refreshed, but my legs and feet were seriously messed up. It wasn't until Wednesday (4 days later) that I was able to walk normally. And, as I write this my left knee is still bothering me 1.5 weeks later. All in all I think I made the right call to stop when I did, it could have gotten uglier than it did.
To sum up my experience; this race is very tough, in fact I think it is tougher than I am. The scenery was beautiful, the racers and volunteers were great, the RD was super and I wish I had finished. That 19 miles will haunt me, but I went 31 miles further than I had gone before, and I feel OK with it. I want to go back and complete my "unfinished symphony", but I have to convince Kristina first. Not having much luck there.
If you do this one, uncrewed is worth the challenge. It will show you what you are made of. Be prepared for the heat, be prepared for the pounding your legs will take over the pavement, be prepared to see some crazy stuff at 3:00 AM, but most of all be prepared to be tough.
