An Outsider's Race Report of the Kettle Moraine 100 Mile Endurance Run

Ok, so I feel like this blog is supposed to be all about ME and MY accomplishments, but - of course - I have to write about this one.... Hubby did it!  He pulled off his first 100-mile ultramarathon. There were doubts, there was pain, there was one helluva sleepless night, but he finished the Kettle Moraine 100 in 27 hours, 36 minutes, and he's been convalescing ever since.

I was able to see Hubby and "crew" for him at three different spots on the course.  Here are some of the few pix I got at the event.

Hubby coming in to the County ZZ aid station at Mile 26.  Still a smile on his face although he said his gut had started to bother him....

Heading down the single-track trail leading out of the station.  Getting peeks down these trails intrigued me to such a degree that for the briefest of moments, I thought to myself Maybe I would want to do that. Mental head slap,....Okay, maybe not.

Coming in to the Scuppernong aid station - Mile 31.4.  Gut still bugging him, but we were able to fuel him up and get him on his way.  Already he was falling off his estimated finish time, but he was still going.

Last spot I was able to see Hubby would be here at the Emma Carlin aid station (Mile 47.3).  This is the point on the trail that they pop out of the woods to head to the aid station at the trail head parking lot.  I watched this spot for about an hour waiting for him to appear.

I wasn't the only one.  At any given time, there were friends and families hanging out watching that narrow sliver of trail as well.

Finally, out of the woods he comes!

Tired, hand-flip wave. At this point, he told me if I wanted to join him for any of the run (since I had planned tentatively to join him for the last seven miles or so) he said to do it now, because he wasn't sure he could go much longer.  Apparently, his gut finally settled down - after 20 miles! But then he noticed his whole body hurting.

After a half hour of rest while I fixed him up with some dried mangoes, Mountain Dew, and Advil and resupplied him with stuff from his drop bag, he headed out over the mats.  It was 6 p.m. - 12 hours underway already.  He told me at that point if the hurt didn't go away to some degree, he wouldn't make it to the finish.  With that doubt creeping in and the fact that his time was so off his estimates, we decided I wouldn't try to find him in the final seven miles. It would be too hard to determine when he would be into the final aid station.

So, that's the last I saw of him until the finish.  I spent a semi-sleepless night waking intermittently to check the webcast site to see what aid stations he had passed.  Around 1 a.m. I was heartened to see he had made it to the 100K point earlier in the evening where he would meet our friend D. to pace him.  A check at 4-something a.m. showed that he had made it to the 77-mile point, but there was no update to the 82 mile marker.  That was worrisome given that he should have made that point.  A few minutes later, however, an update showing his arrival at Mile 86 eased my mind.  (They never did update that 82 mile point.)  Then a couple of hours later - a call from D. saying they were eight miles from the finish.  Yeah!  Apparently, the Advil (and the three others he took) did their work.  Those and some coffee later in the night helped get him over the hump of despair, and he was able to keep going.  I know our friend D., who showed up to pace Hubby for the last 38 miles, helped immensely too.

So, finally - the finish. Approaching the finish line at 9:30 a.m. - 27:30 hours after starting this adventure - the kids are excited to run out and meet Daddy and head back over the finish line with him.

Crossing the finish line!

DONE and DONE IN....

I am incredibly proud of Hubby's achievement.  I know this was extremely hard for him, and I don't think he's even begun to process what he has accomplished yet, but he did it!  Out of 244 registered participants, only 118 finished before the cutoff.  And he was one of them.

So, what do I take from this event?  Well, first that it is an amazing race.  I mean, to run 100 miles on flat land would be accomplishment enough, but the KM100 is a hard, hilly course on the Ice Age Trail. Check out the elevation chart....

Source

I was not inspired to try to run one of these one day, however I was inspired to volunteer if I could.  It would be an awesome event to be part of and helping all these amazing runners trying to get through a tough event like this would be very rewarding I believe.

Crewing was fun, too, and I definitely would enjoy doing that again if Hubby ever recovers fully and forgets the pain of this one. Next time, though, I would want to plan on just crewing.  Trying to juggle crewing here and there with entertaining the kiddos elsewhere was a bit too stressful.  I think they would enjoy crewing, too, if their expectations were appropriately set.  Something to think about....

Speaking of the kids,... here's what WE did while Hubby ran for 27 hours....

Two nights of tent camping meant two nearly sleepless nights for all three of us....

It was still fun, though!  Really!  I seriously enjoyed camping and hope to do more of it in the future.  The howls and yips of coyotes aside (and I really shouldn't have read the book Killer Grizzly as a kid), I really thought this was a fun way to spend a couple of days.  What's not to like?  You can get as dirty as you want, eat all the pre-packaged junk you want, and spend all your time outdoors.  It's great!

Although next time I would plan a camping trip that was more kid-friendly.  I am sure it was not quite so much fun for them when the camping trip was kind of shoe-horned around Daddy's race.  Anyhoo...a small park at the campground helped for entertainment - as did having friends along to play with!

Between crewing gigs, a trip to Old World Wisconsin was educational and fun for everyone.  Too bad the kids were so pooped out from a night of little sleep.  They got something out of it, though, I believe.  I have to say I didn't even know this place existed!  However, if you ever have a hankering to experience what life was like for the different ethnic groups who inhabited Wisconsin in the mid-1800s, this is the place to be!

Hands on wheel making for the kids...

Hands on horse feeding...

Hands on school learning....(I have to say the scritch of slate pencil on slate board would have driven me batty 150 years ago.)

Hands on toys and games....

So, that's how we spent our weekend...How about you?

What did you do on your weekend?  Anything fun, educational, challenging, or otherwise a$$ kicking?

The journey of 100 miles begins with a single step - tomorrow!

They say a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.  Well, tomorrow, the journey of 100 miles begins for my Hubby, the guy I like to call Distance Dude on this blog.  He will be toeing the line of his first 100-mile running event.  And, I can't even imagine.

Hubby has run three 50-milers and 21 marathons.  When he first got it in his head to try for 100 miles, I do not exactly know.  But he did get it in his head, and he has worked hard for this.  I can't accompany him on this journey; it's one that he'll have to take on his own - with the help of a friend to pace him in the last 38 miles.

How will he do?  No clue.  Since those first few early races, he has come a long way.  I know he'll give it his all, and whether in the end it turns out to be good, bad, or ugly, I think it is amazing that he is doing it.

Hubby right after his first marathon in 2005

Hubby after his third 50-miler a few weeks ago

The heat wave that wasn't and my training plan revisited

This past Memorial Day weekend, I had my first good, post-race long run, and that made me happy.  This was shoehorned into the middle of a very busy, albeit nothing-special sort of weekend. Oh, we packed a lot in: a race, runs (of course), yardwork, house work, lots of games played, a cookout and visit with the GPs, and even a couple of short bike rides.  But we didn't have any big, huge thing we did for the holiday weekend.  The weather for two of the days could easily be classified as stinking hot, and that - combined with the threat of storms (that never really materialized) - seemed to put the kibosh on any fancy plans.  Anyway, it was good.

As to the long run...

I woke up bright and early Sunday morning with the hopes of at least partially beating the heat.  After all, it was supposed to reach 90 degrees and they had canceled Sunday's Madison Marathon prior because of the forecast.  I thought I was in for a load of hurt.  

I filled up my water bottles, got my Gatorade squared away in little baggies, grabbed my Clif Blocks and a cooling neck thingy that I got for free at the Kazoo expo and had yet to try, and headed out to High Cliff State Park to run a mix of road and trails - hoping once again to maximize the shade potential of the wooded park.

Well, I got to the parking area, got myself ready as best I could before leaving the car, stepped out, and ....  brrrr..... It was CHILLY!  What the ...?  So, in a slightly confused state, I began my thirteen-mile long run.  In the end, I don't know what happened with the weather.  It was never that bad.  Although warm towards the end, the bulk of the run was pleasant with a cooling breeze sweeping through the area.  The shade, of course, helped, but I was out in the open a fair amount, too, trying to add miles by taking advantage of the park's bridle trails, but it never got that bad.  In fact, I never even got the chance to try out that cooling neck thingy.  I guess that will have to wait until later in the summer.

The run itself was great.  It was the first long run I have had since Kalamazoo that actually felt good.  I was a little worried about my achilles, but that hung in there just fine.  In fact, I probably overstressed about it a little too much.  Overall, though, I felt refreshed and ready to run, and that was a good feeling.  So, I am curious what that means.  Does it take me three weeks to really recover from a race, or should I not draw any conclusions from that?  I'll be interested to see exactly how the the next race recovery goes.

I ran five miles on road in my Cortanas, then I switched to the New Balance 101s to run the last eight miles on trail.  I know I am supposed to be wearing mild support, and the NB shoes offer none.  I also know I am supposed to be getting used to lower heel stack height and the NB shoes offer some (14 mm, I think), but they just feel right to me.  The 101s are over a year old, but I love that I can feel the trails under my feet when I run in them.  I probably do need some new trail shoes, but I dread starting the whole shoe buying process again.  Ugh.

My average pace for the run turned out to be 10:50, which I think was just where I needed to be.  I walked the hills for the most part in deference to my achilles, but mostly I felt good.  Around mile 11, I noticed I was getting a little tired, but that's okay.  It was mile 11, after all.  If I can run 11 miles before feeling pooped, I consider that a good thing.  My plan was to eat 3 Cliff Blocks every three miles, and that worked out well.  I don't know if I need that many that often, but it gave me something to do/look forward to.  

A training plan revisited...

As promised, I ran my training plan by Hubby, and I got the seal of approval from him with a couple of tweaks here and there. I am really happy with how this plan looks, so we'll see how it goes.  Generally speaking, I am starting at this point with a long-run base of 13 miles.  I will now start building up two weeks, then step it back one week for the long runs...So:

Week 1 - 13 miles

Week 2 - 14 miles

Week 3 - 7 miles

Week 4 - 15 miles

Week 5 - 16 miles

Week 6 - 8 miles

And so on.  Based on this schedule, I will fit in two 20-mile training runs before the Jungfrau Marathon.  I like this for two reasons: one, it is more advanced than any other schedule I have done, but more importantly it allows me some wiggle room.  If for any reason, things don't go as planned (and that NEVER happens, right?), I can drop one 20 miler and buy myself two weeks of time.

During the week, the schedule will look like this for the most part:

Monday: 6K row

Tuesday: track workout (a class I signed up for)

Wednesday: 4-6 mile group run

Thursday: 6K row

Friday: 6-mile run

Saturday: REST

Sunday: long run

Now, every third week (when I drop the long run mileage in half), I also drop the mid-week workouts to about 70 percent, so hopefully I will get a bit of a break there.  Also, the Friday before my longest long run in any three-week cycle, I will be doing a 3-4 mile walk on the treadmill at incline instead of a run.  These will probably be done at 12-15 percent incline.  Finally, the Fridays before my shortest long run in any three-week cycle will be at an increased mileage - to match the long run.  So, for example, in Week 6 when I run only eight miles on Sunday, I will be running eight miles on Friday, too (instead of the scaled back 4.5).  This is to give me some longer tempo runs, which Hubby deems important.  Yeah, we'll see how that works out for me.  

Changes may come, of course.  Hubby was a little concerned about the track workout Tuesday evenings, followed by a group run Wednesday mornings, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about that a bit, too.  Speed work - after all - seems to be my achilles heel (pun totally intended).  But, I am hoping, that if I take the Wednesday run slowly and not really worry about keeping up with the group - and drop the mileage if I need to - then maybe I'll be able to pull it off.  We'll see. I am ready to ditch this plan for something else at the first sign it isn't working.

Anyway, I am very excited about the training plan, and I hope it goes well.  Don't ask me where the training plan is from, because it is sort of a mix of what our running club does for its summer training runs, what has worked for me in the past, as well as what has worked for Hubby.  

So, that's about it for now.  Beyond my own running, Hubby is about to enter an unknown world as he attempts to run his first 100-mile race event this weekend.  We have a lot of excitement in our household because of that, and I can't wait to see where this adventure leads.    

Some random pix for you to enjoy...

What my kids did over the weekend...

What my feet did over the weekend...gives new meaning to cooling your heels.

What my tummy did for lunch,....the best black bean, corn, sweet potato, kale burrito ever!

Happy Running!

By the way, had to edit this to tell you about a giveaway by Yo Momma, ..... well, not YO momma .... Yo Momma Runs actually.  Check it out for a chance to win a pair of Aspaeris Compression Shorts! I am shouting this out far and wide, because I really want to win.  :)