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| Sunday, April 01, 2007 Running Umstead 100 mile
race ...... Early this morning at 4:11 am I completed my very 1st 100 mile race. And i'm feeling it, my right shin is killing me, making it hard to walk. I always wanted to see if I could run a 100 mile race and to see if I could push my body to see what I was made of. so Sat (march 31st) I was up @ 4:30 am to get ready for my Race. got to the race site around 5ish got my gear , many water bottles ready. Jessica said a prayer for me before she took off for work! Race started @ 6am in the dark. We had to run 8 laps of 12.5 miles to get the 100 miles in. The Cannon goes off right @ 6am. I was doing my very best to start out slow and run no faster than a 10 min mile pace. ran a few miles w/a buddy who also was doing the race. I felt pretty good starting off, it was nice a cool out about 50F. i completed my 1st lap in 2:06:53/10:09 pace. 2nd lap it was already daylight and was still feeling pretty good. there where some lil pop hills on the course. my 2nd lap was my quickest , ran it in 2:03:53/10:02 pace. it was starting to get a lil warm around lap 2-3. on the backside of my 2nd lap i ran into a fellow running buddy Dennis from the running store we run w/. it was nice to see him out there. we ran together for a few miles. which helped pass the time and lifted my spirits! By the start of the 3rd lap, i was hurting a lil but not that bad. and when I was around mile 3ish I ran into a very good friend from church. it was good to see Josh. He was out mountain biking the trails. talk w/ him for a few mins. and ask if he could pray that I will be able to complete the race. He said he would!! Sweet! thanks Josh. pace for that lap was a 2:18:33/10:23 min per mile When I started Lap 4 it was very warm out, almost lil to warm. I was hurting, running low, didn't really eat lunch, it was around 1pm when I was hurting. Then another fellow runner Bill saw I was hurting , so He offered some ginger root (help my upset stomach) and some S-caps (electrolyte replacement) which did help, and pigged out at the next aid station to get the food I so needed. When I completed mile 50, I took a 10 min break to rest up and eat. Tried to stretch!! I was sore and lil tight. pace for lap 4 was 2:54:29/11:17 min per mile Lap 5 wasn't too bad. I was just kind of running/walking a lot by this point. Plus I was feeling pretty good, since I was past the halfway point and it wasn't 6pm yet. So I knew I was close to getting a sub 24hr run, but didn't know by how much. still had a lot of miles to cover. lap 5 was a 3:06:20/12 min per mile Lap 6, started it around 6:30ish and was happy since I was ready to have a few friends pace me. I started lap 6 out w/ Rachel pacing me. She brought some Starbucks frappuccino!! man it tasted so good!!!! She helped me out during a part of the course I really disliked w/ a passion. around mile 66 my shins were killing me bad!! and that's the only thing that was hurting. I still felt pretty strong, legs felt good. Still keeping a 12:20 min mile pace. when I got to the aid station, I had to ice them down and took 3 painkillers. By this time it's already dark. really didn't need a light since it was a full moon and it made it easy to see. so after I finished icing my shins. we took off to finish lap 6. w/ in a few mins I was feelin better and able to run again. around mile 69-70 I ran into my girl Jessica (whom just worked a 12 hrs shift at the Police station) and Her friend Martina. Seeing them really lifted my spirits! or was it the kiss I got from Jessica?!?? so after that I found myself getting, I don't know 5-6 wind? and I was pushing it pretty good to get that lap done!! it took me 3:12:21 to knock out lap 6. Lap 7 Jessica keep running w/ me (so hot and sweet for her to do that) for about 4 miles. which again she helped me during the part of the course I loathed. So I found myself alone in the dark running after she took off to go home. around mile 83ish I was really hurt. My L/achilles tendon was on fire. It was hurting bad! so bad I found myself running flat footed or a shuffle ,and my r/ foot kept on slapping the ground when I would walk. but I wasn't giving up, since I had one more lap!! lap 7 was a 3:14:28/ 13:00 min per mile LAST LAP. I was happy to see my Adventure racing teamates waiting for me when I was finishing up lap 7. before we took off, I downed the Starbucks Mocha Ice Coffee that Jessica left me, iced my tendons and took 3 more painkillers. and we were off, at this point it's about 1am. and I was still feeling strong! Of course I loathed the 1st 4 miles, but after that I was walking and running a lot to get the race over. I was still hurting but that didn't matter I was w/ in 12 miles of the finish. When I had about 4 miles left I ran into two good friends from church who came out to help me . It was so good to see Delinda and Meredith! They where so pumped when they saw me, and i was glad to see them! At this point I was tryin to run, but was afaid the fruit I ate at the aid station would come back up. When I was w/ in 1 1/2 miles of the finish I dropped the hammer. I know i was well below a 9/8 min mile pace maybe faster. I was hammering it to get the race done. I crossed the line in 22hrs 11 mins 27 secs!!! Praise the Lord I was able to remain that strong and not have any major problems. Got to give Him all the praise and thanks for this. He helped me out and provided me w/ some great help along the way. I ate a lot while on this run, ate baked potatoes, oranges, hot dogs, ham sandwich, dried fruit, and fresh fruit, a lot of gatorade was consumed, and Jessica hooked me up w/ some sweet drink. which had like 2,000 calories per bottle. drink about 3 of those! a lot of water , many gu energy gels, and coffee, mt dew, pretzels. and I worn my heart rate monitor , I had a avg HR of 126 beats per min/65% , maxed out at 163 bpm/84%. and I burned 14,776 calories! ya so im going to eat alot!!! and my last 2 laps where only about 2 off from each other. they where 3:14:28 & 3:14:30. I placed 24th overall. not sure how many finished, there was still many runners out when I left the park this morning. Will I do this again???? I really dont know. I will have to see how well I recover and how i feel. I did achieve my goal of running a sub 24 hr 100 mile race. and would feel fine w/ never running another. but then again i could try to get a sub 21:30 maybe?? Thanks again to all whom came out and help me during the race, Curtis, Allison, Josh, Dennis, Rachel, Delinda, Meredith, Martina, and my Girl Jessica. thank you so much for your help!! you're too sweet!! couldn't had done it w/ out you. and thanks for all your prayers!!! sore uncle Joe
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