First 70-miler...

On Sunday, August 9th, I completed my first 70-mile run. I started the run at 12:30 p.m. and ended at 11:30 p.m. I was only intending to go 50 miles, but I felt relatively good and with nothing pressing on the day's agenda, I went for it.

Well, I can tell you there is a huge difference between 50 and 70-miles. By mile 60, I felt drunk from the accumulation of lactic acid in my body and probably lack of glucose to my brain. My motor and cognitive reaction times were significantly slower, and I was more than a little concerned about driving the 15 miles from Monterey to my home in Carmel after the run.

At mile 65, I began to see Christmas trees in the road, likely an artifact of car tail lights, slow-motion vision, and lactic acid intoxication. But as one friend reminded me, at least the mirage was something familiar and friendly and not menancing like say...terradactyls!

When I finally made it back to the car, I felt dizzy, light-headed, and sick to my stomach and had the now all-too familiar acidic, sweet reflux of a peptic ulcer. I braced myself for the worst, but fortunately, nothing happened.

Despite eating along the run, I was so hungry that I proceeded directly to the first (and only, at that hour) source of food - McDonalds. Disclaimer: I do NOT eat fast food and was probably a teenager last time I frequented McDonalds. I ordered a medium fries, and had about 10 before heaving all of it up, as if I needed a reason to avoid McDonalds for another 25 years!

When I arrived home, I was too exhausted to even shower. Fortunately, I sleep alone and even my cat was disgusted. I fell asleep in a nanosecond. Surprisingly, with the exception of a (still) very upset stomach and urge to nap every 4 hours, I felt fine the next day. Very little leg pain, no blisters, or blackened toenails.

I think back and it wasn't that bad, overall. "The Wall" came at mile 60. After that, I literally checked my brain out and just went on autopilot, like sleepwalking. At the end point, I would still have the equivalent of a 50K run left for the "real" run. Can I do it? You bet! I ran this alone, with no support crew. Were they present, I likely would've finished in a much better state.

August 27, 2009: 100-miles... BRING IT!

Happy running.

Cher