Delano
My alarm sounded at 3:30 am. Nearly four hours of sleep to rest before the big day. Before rising from bed I took a moment to think: I'm awake earlier than I ever have been for any previous race, it's cold, wet, and gross outside, and I'm about to run for over a quarter of a day on a 1 mile loop...
Bring it.
I've never been a huge fan of courses that consist of loops. Like Dizzy Fifties was pretty rough for me mainly cause I hated a good 6 miles of that 10 mile loop I had to do 5 times. But Delano was nothing like Dizzy. It wasn't on a trail and the loop was significantly smaller, 1 mile in fact. But Delano was a certified course and no 19 year old had been dumb enough to run it to set a 50 mile state record.
So this March 13th I found myself at the starting line of this loopy course. The first fifth of the run I spent the time finding some friends and chatting the time away with them, catching up with some folks I hadn't seen in a while. I was doing my best to run even splits but it didn't really happen very well. I felt like I was going a little too fast, but I was able to hold a somewhat steady pace at for at least 20 miles. Interestingly the monotony of the same scenery didn't wear on me like the 10 mile loop up at Monte Sano. The aid station was well stocked and they put up little signs notifying the runners that a new snack was available. At one point they brought out some strawberries and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Those were the best. I think the honey they used was comb honey. I swore I could feel the pieces of comb as I chomped away at them. I had brought my own bag along as well, well stocked with S! caps and Mountain Dew code red, among other things. I was easily able to regulate what I took in, unlike many trail races where I just consumed stuff as I feel I need to.
26 miles down and I was still feeling pretty good. Since this course was so flat, I found it pretty easy to just keep on running. I actually didn't take a walk break of over a quarter mile until about mile 34-35.
At mile 33, my garmin's batteries had had it, and I had to take it off. I now had to count the miles in my head. Lets hope I didn't loose count. 15 miles left. My ipod was jammin away. I was starting to have a lot of ups and downs. Especially since the weather was so inconsistent. One minute it would be dark, overcast and raining, the next a few rays of sunshine would actually make it through. I only had a short sleeve shirt and shorts on with a hat so those cold rainy moments weren't too fun. My hand dexterity came in and out as the temperature continued to fluctuate. Round about mile 40, I really got that feeling like I was ready to be done. I started comparing the distance I had left to distance of other races and routes I've done before. I had to stop that. Be dumb. Just run. I had to. My brain was mostly shut off most of the time anyway to ignore the boringness of my task.
I saw 1SGT V from JROTC, for the first time in a while, several times throughout the day. His wife was running today. He provided me with a smile and a thumbs up whenever I needed it. Around mile 41 I saw him with his RANGER shirt on which motivated me a little more.
15k left. I was ready to get this thing done. Earlier in the day I was trying to be as conservative as possible so I would have enough in the tank left for a kick during the last 10 miles. Sure enough, with between 8 and 9 miles left, the clouds opened up and my ipod playlist was hittin some awesome songs. I felt the Holy Spirit inside me tell me everything was indeed going to be alright. I picked up my pace for the next 4 miles until it started raining again. From then I was just trying to hang on.
My parents showed up with 2 laps to go. The distance of a pt test run. That's it. I had my playlist arranged so that I would be listening to my all time favorite song to bring me across that line for the final time.
Sprinting through the cones to the finish, I got plenty of hoops and hollars from on lookers. Overjoyed to be done, really not too worried about my time at this point, I grabbed my chocolate milk from my cooler and went over to the timing booth to see how I did. As I walked over, I had this sinking feeling that maybe I had in fact lost count of my laps and I still had one to go. But no worries. My goal was somewhere between 7:20-8:20. I wasn't too sure how I would really do. When I was told that I finished just under 7:23, (placing 3rd overall for 50 mile finishers by the way) I was more than satisfied. Thanking God for helping me through, my parents drove me home while I took a much needed nap in the car.
I really surprised myself by how long of periods of time I was able to keep my legs runnin. Of the 50 miles I completed, I only walked about 2 miles of that, if even that much. Props to those guys who stayed on that course for the full 12 hours, and especially to Mr. John Nevels who stay on that sucker for a full day. As for me, that will probably be the last time I ever set eyes on that course. Then again, there's always the state record for the Age 20 group. hmmm...
Bring it.
I've never been a huge fan of courses that consist of loops. Like Dizzy Fifties was pretty rough for me mainly cause I hated a good 6 miles of that 10 mile loop I had to do 5 times. But Delano was nothing like Dizzy. It wasn't on a trail and the loop was significantly smaller, 1 mile in fact. But Delano was a certified course and no 19 year old had been dumb enough to run it to set a 50 mile state record.
So this March 13th I found myself at the starting line of this loopy course. The first fifth of the run I spent the time finding some friends and chatting the time away with them, catching up with some folks I hadn't seen in a while. I was doing my best to run even splits but it didn't really happen very well. I felt like I was going a little too fast, but I was able to hold a somewhat steady pace at for at least 20 miles. Interestingly the monotony of the same scenery didn't wear on me like the 10 mile loop up at Monte Sano. The aid station was well stocked and they put up little signs notifying the runners that a new snack was available. At one point they brought out some strawberries and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Those were the best. I think the honey they used was comb honey. I swore I could feel the pieces of comb as I chomped away at them. I had brought my own bag along as well, well stocked with S! caps and Mountain Dew code red, among other things. I was easily able to regulate what I took in, unlike many trail races where I just consumed stuff as I feel I need to.
26 miles down and I was still feeling pretty good. Since this course was so flat, I found it pretty easy to just keep on running. I actually didn't take a walk break of over a quarter mile until about mile 34-35.
At mile 33, my garmin's batteries had had it, and I had to take it off. I now had to count the miles in my head. Lets hope I didn't loose count. 15 miles left. My ipod was jammin away. I was starting to have a lot of ups and downs. Especially since the weather was so inconsistent. One minute it would be dark, overcast and raining, the next a few rays of sunshine would actually make it through. I only had a short sleeve shirt and shorts on with a hat so those cold rainy moments weren't too fun. My hand dexterity came in and out as the temperature continued to fluctuate. Round about mile 40, I really got that feeling like I was ready to be done. I started comparing the distance I had left to distance of other races and routes I've done before. I had to stop that. Be dumb. Just run. I had to. My brain was mostly shut off most of the time anyway to ignore the boringness of my task.
I saw 1SGT V from JROTC, for the first time in a while, several times throughout the day. His wife was running today. He provided me with a smile and a thumbs up whenever I needed it. Around mile 41 I saw him with his RANGER shirt on which motivated me a little more.
15k left. I was ready to get this thing done. Earlier in the day I was trying to be as conservative as possible so I would have enough in the tank left for a kick during the last 10 miles. Sure enough, with between 8 and 9 miles left, the clouds opened up and my ipod playlist was hittin some awesome songs. I felt the Holy Spirit inside me tell me everything was indeed going to be alright. I picked up my pace for the next 4 miles until it started raining again. From then I was just trying to hang on.
My parents showed up with 2 laps to go. The distance of a pt test run. That's it. I had my playlist arranged so that I would be listening to my all time favorite song to bring me across that line for the final time.
Sprinting through the cones to the finish, I got plenty of hoops and hollars from on lookers. Overjoyed to be done, really not too worried about my time at this point, I grabbed my chocolate milk from my cooler and went over to the timing booth to see how I did. As I walked over, I had this sinking feeling that maybe I had in fact lost count of my laps and I still had one to go. But no worries. My goal was somewhere between 7:20-8:20. I wasn't too sure how I would really do. When I was told that I finished just under 7:23, (placing 3rd overall for 50 mile finishers by the way) I was more than satisfied. Thanking God for helping me through, my parents drove me home while I took a much needed nap in the car.
I really surprised myself by how long of periods of time I was able to keep my legs runnin. Of the 50 miles I completed, I only walked about 2 miles of that, if even that much. Props to those guys who stayed on that course for the full 12 hours, and especially to Mr. John Nevels who stay on that sucker for a full day. As for me, that will probably be the last time I ever set eyes on that course. Then again, there's always the state record for the Age 20 group. hmmm...
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