Trust me, They didn't nickname Vermont the Green Mountain State simply because they couldn't think of anything else to call it! It's certainly an appropriate name. The state is one green mountain after another - - and I think I may have gotten to know each one of them first hand! Added together, the ascents (and descents) totaled between 14,000 - 15,000 feet - both up and down. That's roughly the equivalent of climbing up (and back down) the Washington Monument once an hour for 30 consecutive hours (plus horizontal movement of nearly 3 1/4 miles each hour).
Well . . . I finished! Not officially - - but I DID finish.
307 slightly warped individuals, started the event and 216 finished before the official 30 hour cut-off time. The other 91 either dropped out along the way either due to exhaustion, injury or not making one of the various cut-off times established for various point along the course.
Going into this adventure I KNEW I could 'go the distance'. But, given the limited time I've been able to devote to training/conditioning this year I just wasn't so sure I could do it within the 30 hour time limit. My fears were well placed. It took me just over 31 hours to drag my fanny through 100 miles of New England wilderness. I don't know my exact time since I forgot to push the stop button on my race watch when I crossed the finish line (and since it was an unofficial finish the race officials didn't record it either). I remembered to stop my watch at just over 31 hours and 5 minutes so I'm guessing my actual time at about 31:03:00.
After the fact I truly believe that I COULD have made it an official finish if things had worked out differently. A properly rested body is much better equipped for this sort of activity than one that has been deprived of proper rest for two days before the event even began.
I planned on leaving Wash., DC around 5:00 - 6:00 PM on Thursday (July 17th) evening and hoped to arrive in Woodstock, Vermont between 1:00 - 2:00 AM and then spend the rest of that night sleeping in the car.
As luck would have it I had a difficult afternoon real estate settlement which never ended until nearly 5:00 PM. On top of that I had a client who found a home she wanted to see that evening. To make a long story short I never got on the road until after 11:30 PM and never arrived in Woodstock until 7:30 AM.
I was too 'juiced' on a gallon or so of coffee (which I drank to stay awake while driving) to even think about sleeping - although I tried. Since I couldn't check into my motel room until 2:00 PM I decided to go to the farm where the race was to begin (and end) to pick up my race packet, get my blood pressure taken and get weighed in. They monitor your weight and BP at various places in these endurance events to be sure you aren't getting too dehydrated (lose more than 5% of body weight and you're given a warning, lose 6% and you get pulled from the race temporarily until your body absorbs some fluids, lose 7% and you're finished), having kidney failure, or other various maladies that can occur in endurance events.
During packet pickup I noticed the sign telling us 'drop bags' (bags containing things we think we may need at various places along the course - meds, bandages, Vaseline, moleskin, changes of clothing, special foods, etc.) had to be left by 6:00 PM. Mine weren't prepared yet since I had planned on dropping them off immediately before the race as I have done in the past. It was raining outside and I had nowhere dry to go so I stood in the rain leaning into the trunk of the car sorting through all my gear to put together three drop bags.
Having accomplished all that I managed about a 30-45 minute nap in the car before going to check into the motel. I unloaded the remainder of my gear and clothing from the car into the motel room and left for the mandatory 3:30 PM pre-race meeting, then sat down for the pre-race dinner at 5:30. I got back to the motel shortly after 7:30 and based on weather conditions, etc. selected my gear and clothing for the start of the race. By the time I finished that and then reloaded the rest of my stuff back in the car (since I was going to spend 30 hours in the woods there was no point keeping the motel room) it was after 9:00 PM.
With the race starting at 4:00 AM I had to set the alarm for 2:15 AM in order to get dressed, eat breakfast and get to the start line on time. That gave me about 5 hours of sleep. By the time the race started I had managed a total of about 6 hours sleep during the preceding 44 hours (!!!) and then planned on spending the next 30 (+/-) hours dragging my body over 100 miles of fairly rugged terrain.
Shortly before Camp 10 Bear Aid Station (44.2 miles) Anna Bradford (Reston Runners President, Team Mother, Ultra Queen and all around Running Babe) caught up with me and surged ahead. Given my lack of rest it's no real wonder that by the time I reached Pinky's (48.7 miles) I first began to give serious consideration to throwing in the towel. From there through the loop back to Camp 10 Bear (68.2 miles this time) it was an 'aid station to aid station' decision about whether to continue or drop out.
By the time I reached Camp 10 Bear I had almost caught up with Anna. When I entered Camp 10 Bear Jim Bradford said Anna was just ready to leave the aid station and would wait for me if I was going to continue. Bless her blistered feet! That's probably the only thing that kept me going! Anna, myself and Andy, her pacer, (They allow runners to have pacers during the latter stages of the race. I assume that's to insure that we don't wander off into the wilderness in our delirium never to be heard from again.) traveled together through the night giving each other encouragement and being entertained by stories from Andy about his hiking of the Appalachian Trail. Andy, also a Reston Runner, started his hike in Georgia on April 1st (perfect start date) and happened to have made it as far as Vermont by last weekend so he took off a couple of days to help his Reston buddies through this event.
Andy left us at 83.4 miles. Anna and I continued on together from there. Somewhere before the 90 mile aid station we concluded that we where not going to make the cut off time at 90 miles so we decided to throw in the towel - - actually even sat down on the grass, leaned back and took a short nap. Soon after we were back on our feet and heading toward the 90 mile aid station a race official came by and radioed ahead to the aid station - - then he told us they would extend the 90 mile cut-off time by 15 minutes if we wanted to try and make it. Anna and I looked at each other somewhat blankly and picked up the pace. We made it to 90 miles with a little time to spare. From there it was a mile by mile struggle. Knowing that the last 4 miles were reported to be some of the most grueling of the entire event we both gave serious consideration to quitting at mile 96 - I actually entered tha aid station and simply said "I'm done - finished!" and sat down. A few people said, "Nobody stops after 96 miles - - you can't quit!" Anna's husband Jim was there and agreed to travel the last 4 miles with her so she decided to press on.
Well, male ego has a very bitter taste and I couldn't swallow mine. If Anna was going to finish - - so was I! Step by step we picked our way through those last few miles. Sure enough - Finish we did. After all those miles traveled together there was only one way to do it; Side by side, hand in hand.
Next on the agenda was assessing the damage we had inflicted on ourselves (in my case only one half dollar sized blister and some REALLY sore quads) and sitting down to the post race meal.
Finally a quick shower and on the road for home. I left Woodstock about 3:30 in the afternoon and quickly fell into a four step regimen which I followed until I arrived at home: Buy a LARGE coffee, Drive for two hours, Sleep for two hours, Pee - - REPEAT.
It was a little disappointing to have gone to all that effort and not have an official finish but a GREAT experience and something for an 'old geezer' to feel pretty good about accomplishing even if he was a little too slow.
That's it! That's my story. I could go on for hours but I can tell from this side of my monitor that you are all bored already - I don't blame you. This is the sort of thing that holds little interest to those not similarly warped - - or 'shrinks' who may have an interest in determining what makes us tick.