Short version: I shuffled my feet for 32 miles. Long version: I had soooooo many concerns going into this race. What am I thinking? Is my goal of 31 miles out of reach? How will my stomach handle having to eat while running? Did I seriously sign up for an ultra when the most I've ever raced is a 5k? Will I break down mentally? What am I thinking? What if the weather is bad? Can I run a 1-mile loop over and over again all day without getting bored? WHAT AM I THINKING? The Delano 12 is a 12-hour event on a certified 1-mile loop course. You run the circle as many times as you can. It's a perfect venue for someone like myself to try something a bit more "challenging" than I'm used to. Aid is available every mile. If for some reason I feel I can't go on, my car is literally right there where the aid is. Perfect. Plus, all my buddies were doing it. So it was like social hour X 12. Even better. The event really began when FRB's very own, John Nevels, started running at 6PM on Friday night in an attempt to run 100 miles in 24 hours or less. My buddies and I went over to cheer him on for his first mile and then went to a lovely little pasta dinner that was being put on by the RD's. I had a goal of being in a drug-induced coma (tylenol pm) by 9PM Friday night. Well, I finally took the drugs about 10:30PM and still really couldn't sleep. I would think about John or what I was getting myself into in a few hours or how I was absolutely nuts, etc.... not a good night of sleep. My alarm went off at 4:04AM on Saturday and I grabbed a quick shower and was then on my way to Decatur. After about an hour or so drive I arrive at Delano Park approx 40 minutes prior to the start. The place is already packed. People are unloading tents to prepare for the long day and all that goes with them: chairs, blankets, aid, drinks, tables, heaters, tarps, coolers, etc. At this point, John is still running circles. Crazy! It's 6AM and we're off! My plan for the entire day was to do a run/walk combo, as I knew I was in way over my head on the whole running thing. So when my friend Brandi asked me to run the first 2 miles with her I had a real internal struggle. Brandi was on a relay team and is just returning from an injury. She has run a total of 10ish miles since being cleared by the doctor to run again. I didn't want to mess up my "plan" but thought that it would be nice to run with her for a few miles to get warmed up. So, from the very beginning I screwed the plan and just went on how I felt. After my 2 miles with Brandi I thought I'd go back to my original plan, which was to run 5/1's (run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute) for as long as I could. Well, I don't mind running them with a group... but they are pure torture to run alone. That didn't last 30ish minutes and then I went to running landmarks. For the remainder of the day (and it was a long day) I ran the "zig-zag section" and from the "water fountain" to the "75" marker. Then I ran the final stretch from "the tree" through the "finish line" on every single lap for the rest of the day. I know that means nothing to you unless you were there. But mentally, this was huge for me. I knew where I had to run and where I got to walk on every lap and it was awesome. I loved it. It basically equaled me running about 1/2 mile and walking about 1/2 mile for the entire course. It worked really well for me. I stopped to call my mom at a half marathon and give her an update. I changed socks at this time too and put band-aid's on my feet as I could already feel the blisters forming. This was a nice little break. I didn't really have any pain issues until mile 20ish. About that time my hips really started to hurt and my feet... Oh my pitiful feet. They were killing me. At a marathon I took off my old shoes (with no inserts - probably where the pain is from) and put on my trail shoes. I wore my old shoes for the day because I didn't want to get my new shoes muddy and ruin them. At that point my feet were already swollen and very much in pain. So, the trail shoes just hurt them in different areas. No biggie. I had 5 laps to go and I was going to get to 31 miles even if I had to crawl. After I reached a marathon I slowed down considerably. I stopped to stretch my hips some and just took it easy chatting with some of my friends that had already quit for the day. I knew I had enough time to finish and I just relaxed a bit. About this time I rested for a few extra minutes to watch John finish up his 100-mile feat in a huge PR for him of 19:42:53. Awesome! I was so proud of him! The last 6 miles (I did an extra mile just for good measure) were torture. That darn foot pain. I can tell you that looking at my feet right now I have huge bruises on them. How did that happen? My buddy Joey started running again after a 2ish hour break on mile 30 with me. I was glad to have him there on my last 2 laps. We crossed the finish/start line with 14ish minutes left on the clock until it hit 9 hours. I told him that I wanted to get one more mile in by that time and for him to push me as my pace had slowed considerably. We did my first normal walk break but skipped the other one. He had me going at like a 9:00 pace. It was hurting badly that late in the day. We were already running quickly as we approached "the tree" where I would normally start running for the final stretch. At that point I started to sprint I was so relieved to be done. The end was in sight. It was an absolutely fantastic feeling. We made 9 hours with a little bit of time to spare. I was thrilled.  Joey pushing me on my final lap. Contrary to what this picture may make you believe, I do, in fact, have a neck...
I sat down in a lovely little chair by a heater after that and cheered on my crazy friends that still ran for the next 3 hours. I know that a 9-hour 50k is nothing to write home about to all your "serious runners" but I could not be more proud of myself. I thought that a 50k was somewhat doable in 12; I never in a million years thought that I'd get it in 9. Fantastic!!! Now 24+ hours and 2 gruesome ice baths later I can honestly say that I feel pretty good. My feet are still killing me. Other than that, I have no muscle or joint issues to speak of. My IT band isn't bothering me; nor my hips. I am glad that my feet are my only issue and I hope they are feeling better tomorrow, as I have to run with a training group... Oh boy! On second thought, I might just walk it... To address the concerns I had prior to the race, I thought I'd give you a little break down: Is my goal of 31 miles out of reach? 31 miles definitely wasn't a ludicrous goal like I had originally though it would be. If I had really wanted to torture myself I think I could've made 40. I don't regret my decision to call it a day at 32 one bit, though. How will my stomach handle having to eat while running? I probably ate less than most of the other folks out there, but it was A LOT for me. I had 3-4 bottles of water throughout the 9 hours, some chocolate chip cookies, and a little individual package of nuts. Oh, and a piece of pizza after mile 20. No stomach issues whatsoever. I was pleasantly surprised. Did I seriously sign up for an ultra when the most I've ever raced is a 5k? Yep. I sure did. It was a bit out of my box. I have only raced (slowly) one 5k and the most I'd ever run in a day was 9 miles. That was back in January when I hurt my IT band. A friend really encouraged me to do it; without him I probably would've just sat home all day. I am eternally grateful that he pestered me about it until I registered. Will I break down mentally? I was really worried about breaking down mentally. I prepared my iPod with lots of good songs incase I needed it. I never once faltered or doubted myself the entire race, which was a fantastic feeling. If anything, I would think about the pain towards the end. At that point I would just say to myself "suck it up Kristen... only 4 miles to go..." I just kept repeating those words in my head. If I was feeling crappy towards the finish line I just kept on moving right past the aid station without even saying hello to my friends. They were a bit worried about me. I was simply "in the zone". I didn't use my iPod either. I enjoyed looking around and listening to people as they passed and would've missed all that had I been jammin' in my own little world. What if the weather is bad? The weather. Oh my. Well, Delano isn't known for falling on nice weather days. They've had snow and torrential rains the past few years. This year was no different. It was sprinkling when I left the house about 4:30am and it was pouring on much of my drive. That was not a good feeling. It had let up by the time I arrived at Delano Park. It was sprinkling at the 6am start time; nothing too bad though. The first few miles were fine. Then it started to rain harder. Everything felt fine except for my hands. They were like ice-cubes. It was horrible. I had on gloves but they weren't helping any. I did have another pair but I hated to get them out less than 10 miles into the race if it was going to be like this all day. So I toughed it out and the rain let up. The sun even came out for a few minutes; just enough to dry us off a bit. Then the rain started again. It was like this all day long. Rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, sun. Oh, and throw in a 10-15 minute hailstorm right in the middle. That was fun (and extremely painful). I was running next to a guy that had just ditched his shirt at that time and he was not a happy camper. I zipped my jacket all the way up, popped my collar, and ran with my head down. The hail really hurt when it hit my neck! The course did get quite muddy with 200 feet trampling it for hours on end. I, personally, thought it was fun. In one particular section you have to make a sharp turn in what is probably the muddiest portion of the course and people kept swinging out wider and wider. This amused me for some reason. I just plowed right through it every time. That mud wasn't making me slower to go through it and it wasn't making them faster to go around it. Can I run a 1-mile loop over and over again all day without getting bored? I can honestly say that with 32 miles I didn't get bored once. Had I, I would've gotten out my iPod. I had it charged and ready to go, just incase. I loved this race. After the race, the RD's had another pasta dinner for all the participants and crew and volunteers and spectators and families. It was nice to sit down and chat with everyone and recap the day. After that some of us headed to a local bar for a few beers. It was a good ending to a lovely day. I couldn't be happier. Great day. Great race. I look forward to doing it again.
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