The Northface Endurance Challenge D.C.

The Northface Endurance Challenge

Trail Marathon

Washington, D.C.

6.2.13

HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HUMID —– 97F!!!!!!

This is really all I need to say, it was HOT & HUMID record temps for June 2^nd. The week before a cold front brought rain, wind, winter weather but if it was going to be hot why not run a trail marathon in D.C. which is known for its muggy humid weather. Okay enough about the weather I was also sick. The winter front that blew in the week before also brought a ton of pollen. I wasn’t sure if it was an allergy attack that started it all or just being run down from physical activity and lack of sleep or a mixture of both. I lost my voice and coughed for 5 nights straight before the race, barely had any sleep. Night before race I had maybe 2 hrs of sleep, lets just say I felt horrible. The last thing I wanted to do was run 26 miles thru the woods but sometimes a little exercise can make you feel good. I had run an easy 10 miler a couple days before and I didn’t cough, so running didn’t seem that bad.

I was with my coach and two other running friends (Kino the marathon maniac who runs marathons & ultras every weekend and Jess a super rad ultra runner who was attempting her first 50Miler)–  I was the sane one doing ONLY a marathon. HA! I dropped them off at Algonkian Park for their 5am start, and went back to the hotel to try and get some sleep. The marathon didn’t start til 9am – crazy late considering it was so hot but I took advantage of some extra shut eye. Two hours later I felt like I had the flu, my body was weak, my throat hurt, my head hurt and somehow I pulled myself together and made it to the park. I kept telling myself once I start if I still feel that bad I would stop but there was no way I wouldn’t at least attempt to start. Right before the start the RD (race director) would not begin until he saw that every runner had a handheld with water, if they didn’t he gave away free northface bottles and told them to fill er up. Dean Karnazes the “Ultra Marathon Man” is sponsored by Northface and is the “host” at these events. He had been out on the course all morning and also told us be prepared and ready for the temps. I just wanted to start, I was so tired and I still had 26+ miles to run.

And we were off! The course was great! It was nice trail, some technical parts, some climbs, we ran along a river that looked so refreshing to jump in, the trail was wide at some points and super narrow as well. The 50Milers & 50K runners were looping back and I kept a look out for my friends. I had hoped to manage my electrolytes & nutrition well since I had experience with heat stroke at the San Antonio Marathon, I wasn’t going to let that happen again. First aid station was around 5-6 miles and runners were already dousing themselves with buckets of water. I wasn’t coughing so that was a big plus. After the first aid station the next one seemed so far away. It was then I started to feel the heat. It was hard to breathe in the trails, it was like someone had a sheet over your nose & mouth and every few mins I would take a small sip of water, trying not to drink a lot so I would make it to the next aid station. When I finally got to 13 miles I felt like I was going to fall over in heat. My face was prolly bright red as I walked to the shade. I took my endurolytes, ate a gel and started chugging water. I saw a volunteer pouring ice water on runners and I immediately walked over to him. ICE COLD WATER & ICE dumped all over my head. WOW felt so good. Life came right back into me. I glanced at the dude and said Thanks and asked him to do it again. He asked me if was okay and then I realized it was Charlie Engle!!!  Another very well known famous ultrarunner who had just been released from federal prison a few months ago. He served 2 yrs for mortgage fraud, it’s a fascinating story because while he was in prison he of course ran. Ran everyday around the small courtyard. Eventually he got other runners to join him and he had a group of scrappy prisoners running, losing weight and changing their overall diet & lifestyle. He also ran across the Sahara Desert, there is a documentary about it ‘Running the Sahara” and he won the first Racing The Planet 10 yrs ago in the Gobi Desert…..just google his name and you will see. Anyway when I realized it was him- I was like omg hey are you— and before I could say his name he said Yes. Pretty cool, then we chatted for a bit and he saw I was struggling pretty bad but just talking to him made me feel that I could def go on. He doused me one more time with water and gave me a hug and said he would see me at the finish. After that I was on my way. Half way done, going slow, but knew I would push thru this.

 

Somewhere around mile 17—  I think —- I saw my coach heading my way, he was on his last loop and he looked great. He still has a hurt ankle but you wouldn’t have known. We talked for about 5 secs, he asked how I felt and I think I said ‘like shit, sick as a dog’ …. We high fived or shook hands or something silly and off we went. MAN thank gawd I wasn’t doing 50 miles. Back in the trails quite a few people were dropping out, taking breaks, falling over cuz of the heat and some just stopping right there on the trail from exhaustion. We had some stretches in the blazing sun with grass as tall as me. No shade anywhere and then some stretches with no shade along the river, which was harder cuz all I wanted to do was jump in. Before I knew it I was almost at 20 miles and had little a ‘lollipop’ loop as they called it, which was sooooo stupid. I think the 50 milers did it a few times. This dumb little mile circle, it was hard cuz I knew I was close to the end and I didn’t want to go backward and loop back around, but whatever we did and I was nearing 24 miles…..but remember this is a trail run, not a road race, so mileage is not exact. My garmin hit 26 miles and I couldn’t see the finish. Waaaaaaaah I wanted to be done so bad. I had already been running for over 5 hrs. I picked up the pace running with a fellow Brooklyn ultrarunner for the last few miles. We ran in holding hands so happy to be done. I ran 28 miles in 5:51…. Trail races are much slower times and I couldn’t believe I was out there in that heat for almost 6 hrs, how the hell would I run my first 50k in a few weeks???

Post race I couldn’t stop chugging water and eating salt… YES salt straight from those little packets you get at to-go places. I remember when I had heat stroke they kept giving me those salt packets so I decided I would eat that again. Coach finished his 50 Miler in 8.5 hrs, which is pretty fast when you think just a couple yrs ago it took him 12 hrs to finish a 50 miler. But he was dead tired, already on the ground and couldn’t move. We both stayed on the ground in the shade for a couple hours, only moving to get more water. I started to feel horrible again and thought maybe it wasn’t a good idea to run feeling so sick. Like this was terrible, I felt like CRAP. I felt nausea, didn’t want to eat, was so tired, I mean exhausted like ive never felt before. However my legs didn’t feel so bad, it was this overall fatigue feeling like when you have the flu. After a few hours I felt a little normal and walked to the results tent just so I could see how bad I did. Ha ha ha. And what do you know—I placed 3^rd in my age division. . crazy! And Coach placed 2^nd in his Age Div and 17^th overall. Turns out we had awards. Woo hoo. We got another water bottle and some arm socks, ha ha, yeh!

 (with charlie engle)

Kino finished his upteeth 50 Miler and Jess finished her first 50Miler!!!! We were all back together celebrating over cold beer before taking off.

I finally had my first night sleep in a week, and only woke up once to cough but my body was still wiped out for another week. I finally had to go to the doctor for meds to fix this stupid cough. My voice finally came back and my legs still did not feel so bad the next day. My legs were def tired but not sore, if that makes sense. Not how they usually feel after a marathon. This time I was able to walk normal down my stairs after just a couple days.

Overall this race was so much fun. Besides being sick and it being so hot I loved it. I have the FingerLakes 50k coming up July 6^th. My first 50k !!! Im excited and nervous. All I wanna do is finish, I know the course having run the 25k past couple years. Last year after I won my age div coach told me it was time to move up to 50k …. So here I am, a year later, attempting to run with the big dawgs.

Can’t wait!!!