My road back

My Road Back

To The Pinhoti 100

This year has been a challenging time for me, Earlier this year I had noticed that I was struggling through my runs, it seemed that the more I trained the worse it got, So I assumed that I must be over training and needed a break, well taking a break was hard to do and the breaks I took were too short. I was still entering races and just couldn’t perform and some races I even dropped which I thought I would never do. The thing I noticed the most was that I would get fatigued real fast and my heart rate wouldn’t come down even if I started walking. A lot of my running friends gave me advice like you need to take more time off or you are not hydrating enough or you’re not taking care of your nutrition on the trails, Well it really made me think and I concentrated on those things and still had problems. I talked myself into a run in Pennsylvania the Laurel Highlands 77 mile run in June. I felt good going into the run but still wondered if I was going to have the same problems, One problem I started off with is I had a bad case of poison Ivey, but once I got started it didn’t bother me. Well I started off really good and was told by our crew member that I was going too hard, so I started to cut back my pace to save some energy for later. At almost 30 miles I started having problems with my breathing, it was getting rapid and my legs were locking up, I had to do some walking. I ran into Dreama and told her that I was really hurting and she stayed with me and was helping me to try and recover, she thought that I was dehydrated, but after a long walk and drinking lots of fluids and electrolytes I was getting worse, at one time I didn’t even know what was going on, I was dizzy and confused. I stopped at the next aid station and rested for 30 minutes and took in a lot of food and fluids, I felt a little better so I took off walking and before I knew it I was running again and felt better, but it didn’t last long maybe 5 miles and I was back to the feeling bad, so I decided to try and just keep my feet moving at a slow jog/shuffle but I continued to decline and felt that maybe I should just give up, but I was fighting it hard because I didn’t want to quit. It was starting to get dark and I was out on the trail by myself and things got really bad, I was now getting sick and dry heaving and couldn’t even stand up any more so I laid down and just thought that this might be it and prayed that someone would come by soon . finally someone came and he asked if I was alright and I said that I didn’t think I could make it to the next aid station, Well He was also having some problems too , he said that he was peeing blood and was really weak. He told me to lay flat on the ground and put my legs up on the rock for a few minutes, and after about five minutes I was feeling better. So we both took off in a slow jog to the next aid station which was about 5 miles, about a mile later a couple more people came along and seen how bad we were struggling and they also helped us, we made it to the 65 mile aid station and we both called it quits. That’s when I made a decision to stop running for awhile and get to the doctor to find out what was going on. So after I got back home I made an appointment with my doctor, and had some test done and everything was looking alright. Well I was feeling a lot better and I had signed up for the stage race and stupid me thought why not. I completed the stage race but it still wasn’t pretty and I was still having problems. Finally I went to the doctor and told him of my problems and he recommended I see a cardiologist. So when I went to the heart doctor he did some test and said that everything looked good and wanted to know if I wanted to have a stress test or an arteriogram. I ended up having the arteriogram and they had found two blocked arteries one large area was 100% blocked and a smaller one was 40% blocked. When I woke up in the hospital room I was really surprised to hear the news, but also relieved that they did find the problem. I had to take two weeks off and do nothing and then I had to go to cardio rehab. Well cardio rehab was no joke, they worked you out. After a few visit they started to let me go at my own pace and I was doing great, they said they have never had anyone do as much as I did, they were totally amazed when I had the treadmill at 8 mph@ 5% incline for 25 minutes, I ended up graduating early and my doctor said things look good and I could start picking up on my running but to be cautious. Well it was back to running, but I had noticed that I couldn’t go fast, I had to slow the pace, and then I notice that I was getting a little dizzy on the runs and then found out it was my blood pressure meds. So the doctor took me off the blood pressure med and then I felt fine and my blood pressure was doing good, I was feeling a lot better about my running but decided to skip the stump jump and do some volunteering, I did end up getting some miles in that day, I even ran Dreama in the last 3 miles. And then I decided at the last minute to run the Cumberland trail 50K in Knoxville a couple of weeks later. I felt really good throughout the run, I started out somewhat faster than I wanted to but I was feeling good, but then had to slow the pace later to keep the heart rate down. I finished with a time of 6 hours 43 minutes which wasn’t bad for that course. Now I felt really good and decided to go for my goal and run the Pinhoti 100 on November 6 in Alabama. The Pinhoti 100, I had a plan to go slow and have fun and not worry about my time, just finish. Sarah, Dreama, Carl and I headed to Alabama on Friday afternoon; we got checked in to our rooms early and went out to the starting line to check it out and to see how long it would take us. After that we headed back to the rooms and picked up my drop bags all 6 of them, and then headed to the finish line to pick up our packets and check in. after that we were on our way back to the hotel room and out to eat our pre race dinner, it was a great time so far, We had told the people at the hotel what we were about to do and they were just lost for words and just kept saying good luck with that. We got back to our rooms early so that we could try and get a good night sleep, yeah right! I ended up falling asleep right away but woke up 3 hours later and couldn’t seem to get back to sleep, I laid there until 3 a.m. and then got up to start getting ready. I was watching the weather while getting ready and they said it was 37 degrees, yesterday they said it would be 30 degrees, I can handle 37, they were also saying it was going to get down to 25 tonight while we are running through the night, BRRR. I was hoping that I was prepared for the cold. We left the hotel room at 4:45 a.m. headed for the start. We started at 6:00 am and we had to wear our head lamps for the first 45 minutes or so. We were off and it was a slow start for the first mile or so, it was hard to pass on the single track and people were walking a lot, I was starting to get inpatient and started to pass, I took off and was feeling good. At the first aid station Carl was there and filled up my water bottle and said I was doing well, that was about 7 miles, and I took off and continued the pace until the next aid station which was 13 miles. This time I spent a little extra time at the aid station and ate a pb&j and drank some extra fluids, I believe in eating well early in the races because later in the race it’s harder to put down food. It was turning out to be a great day for running and the colors were magnificent. I ran really good until I started climbing Mt. Cheaha, I decided that I would walk to the top and start running down the boardwalk, I arrived at bald rock aid station ahead of schedule mile 40 and decided to take an extra break and eat good, I had some brownies that were killer and had a protein drink with some chicken noodle soup. I took off in a run and feeling good ready to go down blue hell, It was a fun descent, not really able to run it just kind of shimmy down the boulders, got turned around a couple of times but not too bad. When I got to the bottom I hit the road for awhile and caught up with some runners that thought they were lost but I knew where the turn was and they ran with me to the next aid station which was mile 45. I was glad to see Trey there with one of my protein drinks and my night light; I was worried that I might not make it to my drop bag before dark which was at aid station 55 miles. I hooked up with a group of guys that had pacers and they welcomed me to run with them, we started out at a pretty good pace and then it was slowed down by some hills and then it was a slower pace for awhile, I didn’t really mind because I was having some stomach issue and it felt alright at this pace, We made it to the next aid station which was mile 55 and I had a drop bag and I opted to skip it and keep running, I did stay long enough to eat some soup and crackers. I took off with the group down the dirt roads and they started to walk a lot, well I was feeling better and really wanted to run , but not alone because it was cold and dark, I started to walk really fast until I separated from the group and decided to start running again. When I got to the next aid station about 60 miles I was still feeling good at had some more chicken noodle soup and crackers which hit the spot, I took off to the next aid station which was 65 miles. I kept moving to stay warm, and I was all alone, kind of scary since I’m prone to hypothermia. I made it to the next aid station mile 68 and hooked up with a group of girls from Kentucky and two of them were pacers and wanted to know if I need a pacer, I didn’t hesitate in saying yes. We took off from the aid station with about 50k to go and I started having a problem with my ankle, it started to hurt but as long as I was running it was o.k. We did a lot of running and walking off and on. And then Cynthia the other runner and I were both getting really sick to our stomach but our pacers would not let us stop until we got to the next aid station, where they made sure we ate and drank and we also got some ginger and electrolytes which made me feel better, I don’t remember a lot of the end of the run, I do remember their being 25 miles to go and I was thinking more on the positive side , We kept a slow pace for awhile and I was really cold at this point and I had to stay really focused , my pacer was talking to me the whole time and was really concerned with my ankle and the cold, she offered to wrap my ankle with a bandana, but I just tough it out. With just 5 mile to go, we were all celebrating and got some new life. We had several people finally pass us at the aid station, I told my pacer Kim that I was ready to go and get this over with, it took me some time to get running because the ankle was really bad, but I managed to get some speed up and I didn’t want to stop, I was worried because we were leaving the group, but Kim told me not to worry they will make it, so we took off, When We made it to the road, I think there was 3 miles to go. I stopped just for a minute to catch my breath, and we took off at a pretty good pace, before long we could see the people that passed us earlier and I wanted to catch them and we did and flew right by, we kept going until we got to the stadium, once I hit the track I took off in a sprint and finished strong and was feeling really good. 25 hours 54 minutes, slower than I thought but was happy just to finish, I really thanked my pacers which made a huge difference, I’m not sure it I could have finished that strong without them. I received my belt buckle from Todd and then had to find out where the rest of the group was, I had already known that Sarah had finished and Dreama was behind me. I called Carl and he said where are you and I said at the finish line, well him and Sarah was at the last aid station waiting on me. I finally hooked up with Carl and Sarah and we was going to get something to eat and wait on Dreama. I went and took a shower but didn’t get to eat because the stomach was really hurting, but I did manage to get a protein drink down and fell asleep. It was one great run, at times I was hurting real bad but it was a good type of hurting, like hey you have just ran a lot of miles, I wasn’t hurting like I use to with the rapid heart rate and fatigue, I’m so grateful that I’m back to doing the one thing I love to do running far. I hope to stay healthy and challenge myself to some really long runs. See you on the trails.

A little bit about the gear, I was wearing Lasportiva crosslites and they did really good for 50 miles but then started to hurt my forefoot right below my big toe on both feet, I had a change of shoes brooks cascadia 5 but by the time I got there it was too cold and I couldn’t change out, I couldn’t even stop to tie my shoes at times, I had to wait until I got to the aid station and ask someone to do it, I had a good pair of gloves and my hands were'nt even cold just numb. I also stayed in shorts and three layers up top which included a smart wool long sleeve and then my rock/creek shirt and a nothface jacket. My head was the coldest and my ears, because I was wearing a head band, I seen try at one of the late aid station and he had an extra hat and it made a big difference. I always have drop bags at these runs but I never use them, but I think I’ll keep having them just in case.