Then and Now

Thought folks might get a kick out of the old photo. Believe it or not I was a sophmore in high school in the 1973 pic. A strapping 4'11". I know, I know... I used to be really cute and now I'm just old and scrawny (or so says my wife).

Mount Mitchell Challenge/Umstead

Mount Mitchell Challenge = YES

Umstead 100 = NO

Got lucky and was selected in the lottery to run the 2012 Mount Mitchell Challenge (40 miles up to the highest peak east of the Mississippi)

Not so lucky with systems error in speed registering for the Umstead 100.

Back Pain and Iron Mountain Trail Run

The weekend before the Iron Mountain Trail Run I planned on doing back to back long runs. I ended up doing a nice solid 22 mile run on Saturday, although hot and humid I had no issues. On Sunday morning I drove up to Pilot Mountain to do my 4 hour loop but shortly after beginning the run my lower back began to stiffen. I didn't think much of it... figuring it would loosen up and was maybe just stiff from the drive up to Pilot Mtn. It got worse and worse as the run progressed so I ended up turning back early and did an extremely slow walk/shuffle back to car. I still got in over 3 hours but quite slow. For the next 4 days I didn't run a step. It was hard to even walk on Monday. I was lined up for the Iron Mountain Trail Run 30 mile option and really didn't want to miss it but also wanted to be smart about things. The back got a little better each day and by Friday I was able to do a slow 50 min. jog. I figured I'd head up to Damascus and just play it by ear. If it bothered me too much I could always turn back early, DNF and walk/jog back to town.

I arrived at the Damascus Town Park in the pre dawn darkness... legs feeling rested but still not sure what to think. It was hot already and likely to be mid 80's during the day late in the run. Didn't get much visiting done prior to the race but did get to see Rick and Tammy Gray (Tammy volunteering) and Jenny Nichols who was loading up the SUV with supplies for the Rowland Falls Aid Station which I would miss because I was only running 30 miles (I hoped). My back was okay and was just glad to be in the race as I got one of the last available slots.

Slurping down a gel prior to the IMTR start


The race started at 7 a.m. and obviously my legs felt good (4 days of rest will do that to ya) and my back was okay. The first 5 miles are run along the Creeper Trail, so smooth and easy. Some will call me dumb but I really wasn't sure how far I'd be able to run and since I was feeling fine and the terrain was easy I decided to pick it up and catch up to Eric Grossman, the elite ultra runner from Emory, VA and founder of the IMTR race. He was just catching up to Shawn Pope, the younster from Ohio... one of the two of them were very likely going to win the 50 mile race. One of Eric's friends had a Garmin and after catching them he said to Eric "that was a 7:05". Yikes that was probably a sub 7 min mile for me. Still feeling fine I figued what the heck I'm only running 30 miles today.

I was in and out of the 5 mile Aid Station pretty quickly after a hand held bottle fill up by Jenny and a shout out from friend Beth Minnick. There were several runners ahead of me but I wasn't sure who was running the 16 mi race, the 30 mi race and the 50 mi race. I figured out pretty quickly that I could run w/ Eric on the Creeper but heading up the mountain over the steep, single track wasn't going to last very long. I passed a couple of runners and a couple passed me but we settled into the real mountain running portion of the course. Lot's of climbing and technical single track but also many portions that were quite runnable and I tried to make good time when I could. A pattern was set for the next 25 miles. Eric's high school friend, David Lawhorn from Kentucky, would catch up to me on the downhill sections, then I'd pull away from him on the climbing. I always say I'm a good uphill runner but I never knew if that was true or I was just better at uphill as compared to my weak technical downhill running.

Amazing how short a 30 mile race feels when your mind is wrapped around 50 and 100 miles efforts. We went through the FS 90 Aid Station manned by JJ Jessee and Tammy then to the Skulls Gap Aid Station and the 30 mile turnaround. I was informed that I was in second place at the turnaround. I was out ahead of David and was just happy to realize that all was okay physically and I'd be okay heading down the mountain. A couple of miles into the return trip a runner caught me. I joked with the person behind me thinking it was David saying you caught me fast. The response came from a womans voice. OHHHH okay I finally can finish a race as the first 50+ yr old and I still get chicked. We talked a bit and she was on down the trail (both runners ahead of me were over 20 yrs younger so I shouldn't feel so bad right??). There was so much down hill over the last handful of miles I was sure David would beat me into Damascus but coming into the FS 90 AS on the way back David was limping really bad and was muttering something about leg cramps. I almost waited but JJ and Tammy were there to tend to him. Okay now I'll certainly finish before David, dude was barely walking. Well with a couple of miles to go here comes David and this time flew by me on a rocky downhill. He said "I came back to life and that lady up at the last Aid Station is tough! I was saying stuff to her that indicated I might be considering dropping when she gave me a kick in the butt and said you've been here long enough now get moving!" I asked if it was the woman with the long dark hair and he said yea that was her. I think I laughed loudly as I thought Tammy only treated her husband Rick that way. Rick assured me she is "tough" when she needs to be and has been a great help to many an ultra runner that just needed that nudge to keep moving down the trail. I resigned myself to 4th place unless there was an unexpected uphill in the last mile or so. Not so fast David... after David disappeared out of sight for a bit, there he was again walking and limping. He was okay, just kicked a rock/turned an ankle. It gave me enough of a cushion and when we hit the paved road in Damascus I pushed it on in since I'd literally been slightly ahead of him for over 5 hours (except about a 1/2 mi section).

At the finish (no I didn't have to crawl up those steps)

I've looked worse but still a rough looking finisher taking a dip in the cold mountain stream

I ended up in 3rd place overall in 5:12. It was really hot and I didn't drink enough but all in all a good day. I used only 1 hand held bottle but in addition to filling it at the Aid Stations I should have downed a bunch before I went back out. Lessons learned. I also did 6 gels but that was pretty much it. I felt a bit nauseous while soaking in the creek and cramped up a bit but all was fine after downing many bottles of water with Nuun tablets to get re-hydrated. I wore my New Balance 101's with Dry Max- Maximum Protection socks. Really love the 101's. Can't wait for the NB 110's to come out in 2012 (unfortunately not in time to wear at Mountain Masochist).

Sara and I headed back home to watch the LSU football game with family but was sorry to rush off and not hang around w/ friends and see Eric Grossman set a new course record in the 50 mile race.

9 Weeks of Base Work

I am fairly pleased with how my training has progressed. For the past 9 weeks I've had between 70-90 miles per week. Several of the weeks have been over 80. I haven't taken a real serious systematic approach to the training just trying to run a lot of miles. It's been nice to just get a good solid base without scripting each day or each week. Most of my runs have been 10 miles or more, my friends Chuck and Tom like to go a little further on Wednesday mornings (12-14 miles) and then go longer and get some trail running on the weekends. During my base work phase I've been able to do some mountain running on 6 occasions. I did two runs on the AT from Elk Garden up to the Mt. Rogers summit and one of Kevin Townsends training runs on the IMT from Skulls Gap, 2 runs on the AT south of the Smokies and a Pilot Mtn run.

Not sure why this photo is so small but this is the raggedy looking group after 23 or 24 miles (well Kevin, Rick and I look raggedy, Kathleen and Jenny still looking good)


Enjoyed the IMT run a bunch. Great visits with Jenny, Rick and got to meet Kathleen Cusick. Nice dip in the waterfall on the second half was nice on a hot day.

On weekends that I didn't make it to a mountain run I've done a bunch of miles at Salem Lake as usual. The closest spot that I can get off the roads. Major Dam repairs are in progress at Salem Lake and the majority of the lake has been drained so it's not as pretty as usual but still a nice 7+ mile loop on dirt.

Before my older son went back to college this month I was able to get both my boys out for a night of music listening. We drove down to Lexington, NC to hear one of my favorite North Carolina bands Big Daddy Love.

Daniel Justin Smith doing his thing

Big Daddy Love @ High Rock Outfitters in Lexington, NC (the 5 a.m. run the next morning was tough)


In August had two good mountain weekends. Was a finish line volunteer at Jenny Nichols race, the Christopher Todd Richardson Memorial 10k (in memory of her brother). Let's just say... Jenny does things right. Highly recommend this race! And more important then the running and the good times, the entry fee and sponsorship money goes to college scholarships for deserving students. Two of the scholarship winners were present and that really showed what the event is all about. The next morning I had a nice run up Mt Rogers with Jenny and Ginger. A perfect cool VA morning.

With Jenny and Ginger the morning after the CTR 10k

Relaxin w/ the girls on the AT


The weekend after CTR I was able to visit my Mom in Hendersonville and then head to the Nantahala Outdoor Center for some white water rafting. Had lots of fun on the river but as soon as I was dry and fed I jumped on the AT and headed north for 6 miles of climbing up 3000 ft and back down to Nantahala Gorge. The next morning it was southbound on the AT for another 2 hour run. On Sunday at home it was 3 hours @ Salem Lake (7.5 hours of running in 3 days.) This weekend it was back to back 3 hour runs.

AT heading southbound out of Wesser, NC


I'm now ready to get a little more serious and begin MMTR training which will include the IMTR 30 mile race this weekend and New River 50k in Oct.

Fueling and Minimal from 1948

While I was running with the Iron Mtn crowd on July 4th, my wife bought me a nice little book called "Walking With Spring" by Earl Shaffer. Earl was the first known person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in 1948. (124 days- unaided) It was a great read... enjoyed the descriptions of the parts of the trail I have hiked (and run) and imagining the sections I have yet to hike.

A couple of things jumped out at me as I read his account from 63 years ago:

Fueling-
He wrote this after eating a big meal: "Almost instantly my legs lost that 'leaden' feeling and I felt like hiking again. Despite no unusual sensation of hunger my legs felt better after eating. From that point on my strength increased and so did my food bill."
I wonder how long it took for exercise physiologists, coaches, distance runners, marathoners, ultra runners to figure out our legs need calories even when we're not tired or hungry.... Ole Earl had it figured out in 1948.

Minimalism-
Somewhere in Southwest Virginia the soles of his shoes had worn thin and he found a cobbler to resole his boots: "He half-soled my boots while I lunched on cookies and milk obtained at the grocery counter . I wanted to try walking without heels like the Indians did, so told him not to replace them. He finally agreed but joined the growing list of people who doubted my sanity."

I thought it was pretty cool how Earl was certainly ahead of his time. I was halfway waiting for him to say he needed to "Oil the Machine" with some Udo's 3-6-9 blend!!

Recovery, Shakori, Phish, IMTR

Shortly after finishing the Umstead 100 and feeling pretty good about myself I came across these quotes from legendary Boston Marathon character Billy Squires who was talking about marathon runners running too many miles in training:
"He must love seeing the birds and squirrels and all that crap."
and
"Your wasting shoe leather. It's a game of speed. Now if you want to do 50-milers or 100-milers, which nobody does, and get your little medal you bought, fine. But when the gun goes off in the marathon, it's the fastest they give the awards to, not who can run all day."


I stand guilty on both counts! The recovery from my first 100 miler has been slow... aches, pains, lethargy, work pressures, family schedules, a weekend at the Shakori Hills Music Festival, bringing my younger son to his first Phish show... I just couldn't seem to get back on track until the past few weeks.

That brings me to last weekends 4th of July holiday. I felt something pulling me to head to the mountains, so I took Friday afternoon off and my wife, Sara, and I drove up to Pilot Mtn and did a 2 1/2 hour hike around and over Pilot(after a 10 mi run that morning.) I was still feeling like I needed more mtn trails so I shot Beth Minnick of Abingdon, VA a message to see if she was doing a weekend trail run. She invited me to join her Iron Mountain Trail Runners (IMTR) group on a run 4th of July morning beginning at the Elk Garden trail. I quickly did an internet search and found a room at a reasonably priced Inn in Damascus. I'd not really been to Damascus since 1978 when a friend and I hiked 722 miles of the AT as 19 yr old college students. I was all smiles as I got into town mid day Sunday remembering those hiking days so long ago. Damascus has changed a bit over the years thanks to the Creeper Trail. More eateries, bike shops and such. In 1978 there was one diner with one heck of a juke box. Before leaving home I found an old scrap book my mother kept with photos and letters I wrote home from the trail... letters? no blogging in 1978? I found a photo of me taken outside the back porch of the AT Hostel. Sara took another pic of me at the same spot this weekend. Below are photos from 1978 of me outside the hostel, a group of us below Fontana Dam, and the envelope postmarked June 14, 1978, Damascus VA (postage was .15!)

How do you like those suspenders and short shorts?!? (notice the return address... my college running nickname was "Lazlo")

Okay, now getting to the running part. Beth suggested she and JJ would pick me up in Damascus on the way to the Elk Garden meeting spot. So good to meet JJJ who I had only seen in photos and mentions in other blogs. JJ is a true mountain man with beard, ponytail and kilt to prove it!

JJ doing some pre-run activities. He fed the IMTR runners his lentil/couscous mush in a similar fashion along the trail


There were 8 of us in all... great to see Tammy and Rick G, and meet new trail running friends Sean D, Donna B, Mike D and of course JJ and Beth. This is starting to sound like the numerous AA meetings I've attended. "Hi, my name is Rob, I'm a trail runner" "Hi Rob!"

We were off on our run around 7:30 a.m. with nice temps and gentle breezes as we headed up the AT northbound (I think) with Rick leading the way.

We headed up single file as the grassy area quickly changed to wooded and here and there we all seemed to comment on the sweet smells of the changing environment. We stopped now and then to re-group, and keep us all on the planned route. If I wasn't talking and remembering races run and races missed, getting to know my new friends... I was concentrating on the trail and feeling really good inside because I was with friends once again moving my way along the appalachian trail. We turned off the AT onto the Mt Rogers trail and several others as we made our way up towards the summit of Mt. Rogers (the highest peak in Virginia.) It was great to have JJ with us to give wisdom, feed us, confirm what trail we were on, which trail we should take, and where to find water to refill drying water bottles. JJ truly knows the land and mountains so well and is at home. We were hoping Tammy and Donna would find their way when all of a sudden there they were looking strong making their way up an alternate trail to our location in a grassy bald. They headed on down while the rest of took a side trail to a water source, then decided we had to head to the summit. Very cool to be on top of Virginia in a thick wooded stand of trees, cool and damp.

We got to see plenty of ponies feeding and roaming and after a break on the summit we headed down. Beth led the way followed by Sean and then Rick and I. Beth lived up to her reputation of being a speedy downhill technical runner but I thought I did a pretty good job keeping up with Beth's 30 yr old legs using my almost 53 yr old legs... and Rick behind me with 50 yr old legs. I backed off just a bit in the last mile as I didn't quite have my trail legs back and was feeling a little fatigue and didn't want that to cause a crash. When we hit the "Sound of Music" type meadow at the bottom Rick picked it up and caught up with Beth and Sean as they hit the parking lot with me a few strides behind. The strong duo of Tammy and Donna beat us back to Elk Garden after our diversions and then Mike and JJ made it in and we were done! We all began to clean up, re-fueled and enjoyed that after run buzz and the company of old and new friends.

After run treats provided by Beth! There were a couple of red white and blue (PBR) beers under the melon and in the old days I would have pushed the melon aside to get at some brews but I settled for water, watermelon and a slushy grape drink.


Beth says Sean and I are now members of the IMTR crew but Rick says we still have to do the 42 mile night run to gain membership. Thank you so much Beth for inviting me to join you and your friends.

Umstead 100! 19:45:27

As the certificate that I received a week or so ago says: "Having exhibited the courage to try, the will to persevere, and the heart to endure, Rob French has successfully completed the Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run and is hereby granted entry into the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Hundred Milers"

I'm finally sitting down at a computer long enough to write my Umstead 100 Race Report. As I approached my first 100 miler, I had 3 goals. To finish 100 miles on foot, finish under 24 hours, and if all went well I thought I might have a chance to break 20 hours. So much uncharted territory, fear of the unknown, overwhelmed at the enormity of it all....

My training generally went pretty well. I began training for Umstead in earnest the first week in January. I spent 8 weeks averaging 85 miles per week. About as much volume as I can handle. I wish I had done more "long" long runs but with kids sports, family and work obligations it was tough to schedule everything perfectly and weeks when I couldn't run for 5+ hours on the weekend I just ran a little more volume during the week. I was able to run two 50k races, 3 runs of 4+ hours over Pilot Mtn., a 4 hour "night" run, and two runs at Salem Lake over 5 hours.

On Friday, April 1st, I worked a half day and headed over to Raleigh around noon. Checked into the Hampton Inn and went over to Umstead late afternoon. I got my packet, milled around a bit nervously then sat down for the pre race briefing. The race headquarters was in a nice lodge type structure built by the CCC back in the 30's. I sat with my friend Rick Gray from TN, his wife Tammy and a few of Rick's friends. Rick was full of his usual positive enthusiasm... complete with bear hug when he saw me. The info at the briefing was helpful, paticularly for first timers. All the newbies had to stand and repeat loudly: "drink before your thirsty, eat before your hungry and walk before your tired!" I discussed a little race strategy with Rick... do I wear a headlamp the first loop? (nah), we both planned for 12.5 mi loops of around 2:05-2:15 and complete the first 50 mi's in around 9 hours (giving us a 2 hour cushion for sub 20 hrs.) As a first time 100 mile attempt it was hard to plan too much... it was hard to fathom making it the whole way. I didn't really have a full time crew... my friend Tom was driving over and would meet me in the morning and be in and out throughout the day/night (he has a daughter living close by in Raleigh), my wife (Sara) and 2 kids (Kane and Patrick)would be over late afternoon, and possibly neighbor and running partner Chuck coming over late. Kane, Tom, and Chuck all hoped to run a loop with me but no real "plan" of who was running when. I felt pretty confident I could run 100k, but the final 37.5 miles was a complete unknown. The spaghetti dinner was tasty but I felt like I didn't eat enough so stopped at an Italian Resturaunt on the way back to the hotel and got another pasta bowl to go.

On Saturday morning I headed over to Umstead before 5 a.m. to be sure I was parked and situated for the 6 a.m. start. I drank coffee, ate some final carbs, laid my bag of gear (numerous clothing options, gels, Perpetuem, Heed, extra shoes, socks, hats, headlamps, Clif Shots, bananas)out in the lodge and visited with Tom, who was intrigued by the scene. Precisely at 6 we were off into the darkness.

Umstead is a loop course, 8 - 12.5 mile loops with 1,000 feet of vertical each loop. I carried one hand held bottle the first 6 loops and had running shorts with pockets for my gels. Plan was to ingest a gel every 20-25 minutes. The first loop was uneventful (it better have been right?) It was a bit more hilly then I expected. Maybe it felt that way since most of the major hills were in the last 5 miles of the loop. I ran much of the first two loops (off and on) with a young guy from SC and Michael Patton from Ohio. It was important, at least for me, to run with others and talk so I would keep my mind off how much of the race remained.

At mile 34 or so (3rd loop) with Michael not far behind


At the 10 mile mark I was at 1:34, so a little under 9:30 pace and the first loop was in 1:58. So a little faster then planned but everything felt fine. I attempted to slow some and go easy the 2nd loop but I actually ran a min or so faster then the first loop so I passed 25 miles in 3:56. Tom met me after the first loop and seemed more concerned then I was with being under 2 hours. He helped me grab gels and fill my bottles. I stripped off layers the first few loops. I didn't have the most efficient transitions with no real crew and having to run up into the building each loop to find my bags. I'll set up a little differently next time.

Temps were nearly perfect for me the entire 19+ hours. 41F at the start, 60's during the day and then down in the 30's Sat. night/Sun. morning. I slowed a bit on the 3rd loop but not much. I think it was the 4th loop, approaching halfway I ended up hooking up with two guys running together. One was Timothy from Long Island, NY and Jason from Georgia. They appeared to be running together and I asked if was cool if I went along with them. Timothy said it was more then cool if I joined them. It was a new person for them to talk to and keep their minds occupied (just as I wanted).... Without a huge amount of detail... having a guy from Long Island running along with you during a 100 mile event can be pretty entertaining. "F bombs" were dropped, crude descriptive language, entertaining stories, comments like quit "busting my chops" rob from north carolina. I lost contact with Timothy and Jason when I made a pit stop and hated to lose them to run along with AND keep me entertained!

Me in the middle, Timothy on left, and Jason in the "Umstead Bitches" shirt
Come on now, how could you not want to run with these guys (by the way, they both kicked my ass)

After losing contact with my entertainment I ran the 5th loop entirely alone. But before that I hit 37.5 miles in 6:10 and 50 miles in 8:38. I was encouraged by setting a PR for 50 miles and feeling really good. Although the 5th loop alone was tough mentally, I actually ran the 5th loop slightly faster then loop 4. A very good sign. I got to the 100k mark in 11:06 and was now in new territory. I had at least run as far as I had ever run before. Another plus during those middle miles when you are thinking there is no way it would be possible to finish was seeing my sister Eileen and her husband Gregg at mile 34 or so and then again on the next loop (big thanks to Eileen for taking all the photos I'm using... she's a talented photographer. Check her stuff out at eileenfrancis.com)

Again, I really had no specific plan for pacers but when I finished loop 5, the family was there to meet me at the headquarters/start/finish. That was nice! I knew it would be close to dark when I finished loop 6 so I grabbed a long sleeve shirt and my 19 yr old son Kane and I headed out. I can't tell you how cool and inspiring it was to have my son running with me for 12.5 miles. At a point in the race when I didn't see how I could really finish, he kept me moving, made me run when I wanted to walk, encouraged me to eat, held my water bottle when I grew tired of it, and generally he just believed in me and knew I would make it. Kane and I finished our loop and I had now completed 75 miles. That sounded cool telling my wife "it's 75 miles now!" I really really slowed that loop and I think it was more from the intimidation of knowing I would still have 25 miles remaining then from exhaustion or pain. Don't get me wrong... I was tired, my legs hurt with every step but I could keep moving and so I did.

As I was grabbing gels, bottles, putting on more layers, grabbing a head lamp, my friend Tom came rushing in with his "gym bag" ready to do his pacing duties. Super! If Tom hadn't come storming in it would have been so easy to cozy up by the fireplace and be happy with 75 miles. Tom was ready to roll. There is a little out and back section at the beginning of the loop so Kane had the idea that he'd run that with us along with my younger son Patrick (Kane is 19 and Patrick 12).... what a great idea. So Tom, Kane, Patrick and the old, skinny guy shuffling along headed out once again for more.

On the way back from the out and back section along came Sara hoping to jog along with us some as well! That was a special moment. I'm in a bit of a blur on the 7th loop as I was becoming a little delirius. Tom helped enormously. It was hard at this point to just keep moving but he didn't push me too hard but was encouraging and kept it light. We talked about all sorts of things. The gels were getting hard to get down and I told him they were getting harder and harder to swallow but he kept reminding me to try another and sure enough I was able to. I don't know how many gels I did but probably close to 40. Tom assured me that Chuck was on his way from outside Charlotte (his super star running daughter had a track meet.)

The 6th and 7th loops were so darned slow but I completed them and then I knew I'd make it even if I just walked the final 12.5 miles. Chuck was there to greet me, strap on a head lamp, slip gels in his pockets and ready to pace me the last loop. The final loop was my slowest. I just tried to keep moving but we did some calculating and I knew I could get under 20 hours so I ran/jogged when I felt I was able, walked when I wanted and just kept moving. I know I was talking nonsense by this point. But when I walked I was walking fast.... any faster and we'd have to break into a jog. The last loop was the only time I allowed myself to look at the mile markers and think about how far I had gone and how much was left. It was one hell of a feeling to say in my head, 94 miles, 6 to go. What a shock when I got to the aid station at the 7 mile mark of the final loop and there was my sister and brother in law again at 12:30 a.m. We visited some, Gregg helped fill my bottle (now using a waist belt), and I was off once again for those final hills. Chuck and I jogged along the last mile or so and it was hard to hold my emotions inside. On a funny note we actually failed to bear left with a half mile to go and temporarily got off course (so officially I ran 100 miles plus 100 yards or so), but we got back on course and then after passing the 12 mile mark my knee began to hurt big time.... Chuck said well your knees can hold up for 99.5 miles but not 100 (99 1/2 won't do!) Chuck was pretty patient with me... all my repeating questions, making sure he was calculating right and I'd get under 20 hours, just general nonsense talk and slow going. I crossed the line in 19 hrs 45 min 27 sec. Sara and Kane were there to embrace me (Patrick had fallen asleep in the car) and Blake Norwood, the RD, presented me with my sub 24 hour belt buckle and I was done.

Filling up a bottle for the final time at the 94.5 mile mark

On a loop course and running my first 100, it was so important for me to have my pacers. I can't thank Tom, Chuck, Kane, Patrick and Sara enough for running with me. Sharing this with them was special. There were many inspirational moments over the Umstead weekend but none more then the woman who was setting up her gear beside me in the headquarters building. It was Betty Smith from MD, our paths would cross a few times. As we headed out at the start we wished each other luck and she said, I know I can't go 100 miles in the 30 hour time limit but I think I'll win my age group, I'm 70 years old (with a big smile.) Looking back at the results Betty had completed 25 miles when I was halfway. She was in good spirits. When I was finished my 100 miles, she was back in the headquarters putting on layers..... she had finished 50 miles and by this time it was after 2 a.m. and she said "I'm heading back out" One of the race volunteers was looking for a volunteer pacer to head out with Betty. It was really emotional the next day to look at the results and sure enough Ms. Betty Smith had completed "one more loop" and finished her day/night/day with 62.5 miles!

I'll do another post on how I felt after and my recovery. Since we keep track of such things, I got chicked by two and two 50 yr olds were ahead of me but no one my age or older in front of me (speaking of 50+ year olds, what an amazing run by Will Jorgensen!) I'm taking it pretty slow and not rushing the recovery at all. Below is a link to an article the local Greensboro paper did on my race.

http://www.news-record.com/blog/64298/entry/115183



Thanks again to all that helped me, encouraged me, to Rick and Tammy Gray who gave me some gels out on loop 4 when I forgot to grab them at my bag, and to the volunteers who did an amazing job assisting us for such a very long day/night/day. I think maybe I found a distance that suits me!