Nice job Krash!

Hope nOOky and Kreeg are having a good weekend.

207 miles in September.  Traveling to the Baltics in a couple weeks, including a trail marathon.  Just have to survive work in the meantime.  

Sorry for the duplicate post.  I didn’t realize it was October and I was posting in the September thread!  For those who didn’t see it, and yes I’m proud to post it twice, here’s my Yeti race recap.

Thanks for all the well wishes.  Short story: I finished Yeti 100 in 25:46:01.

Long story:  Wow, what a crazy almost 26 hours.  Hurricane Ian's remnants headed right for the race course.  The RD decided to make a slight change where we omitted one section that could potentially be dangerous at the top of a mountain if the rain and winds got too bad and instead made us do a little out and back at a lower elevation around mile 80.  This cut the course short by a couple of miles so my final mileage ended up being 97.7.  I did not complain.

The first 50 miles was great.  Nice temps and no rain.  Finished that part under 11 hours.  The next 30 miles was some of the toughest I have ever done.  It consisted of an out and back of a 15 mile gradual uphill and back down.  In normal conditions, not that big of a deal.  But, the skies opened up and it rained like crazy.  The further I got to the top the harder it rained.  The trail turned into a flowing river.  It got colder the higher I got.  By the time I got to the aid station I was ready to drop.  But, there was no cell service on this side of the course.  There were people coming in who looked like they were hypothermic, shaking like crazy.  I had brought a pair of tights with me so I put them on after the AS volunteer told me there was practially no way to drop here.  Then, I headed out back down the mountain.

Another 8 miles down to the next AS and again was ready to drop.  I asked a volunteer at that one if I could and he said yeah but it would be hours before I could get a ride.  There were 6 other people waiting for anyone to take them back.  He told me if I could walk I'd be better off walking the next 7 miles to the AS where I was at the 50 mile mark.  So I headed out again,  (second time denied dropping)

Just before I hit the trail a woman rolled down her window in a big truck and said "hey!"  But, she thought I was someone else.  She asked how I was doing and I told her miserable etc. bc I was soaked and freezing cold and I asked her if I dropped, would she take me to the next AS.  She said her daughter was sleeping in the back seat and didn't have room.  (third time denied dropping now)  She asked me if I needed anything and offered Advil and hand warmers.  I never take Advil or anything during a race but my legs and feet were hurting enough that I said sure.  She gave me some hand warmers and sent me on my way.  In about 30 minutes the Advil kicked in and I was a brand new runner.  Legs no longer hurt, I was running and soon determined to finish.

Once I got back to the midpoint of the course AS and did the out and back to make up some mileage for the course change, I only had 17 miles to go.  There was no way I was dropping.  The rain let up and since I was at lower elevation it was slightly warmer.  I had one last change of clothes in my drop bag and one more pair of shoes and socks.  I took my time to change into all dry clothes besides my shorts and tights.  Then I headed out for another 4 hours or so and made it to the finish around 8:46am.

All four of my 100 mile finishes were tough in their own regard.  This one has a special place because of the conditions of that 30 mile stretch in the night.  According to Ultrasignup, 53 people DNS, 115 DNF and 117 finished.  I'm proud to say I'm a finisher, especially after I tried to drop three times, and also bc I did it solo with no crew or pacer.  Thanks for reading!

Wow, WTG Kreeg!  That sounded pretty gnarly.  Sort of funny that you failed at dropping and succeeded at finishing.

Thanks, all.  It is, indeed, quite funny that I failed at dropping out but succeeded in finishing.  I still can't believe it.  I think back to those hours at night when I was soaked and all I wanted to do was get in my truck and go to sleep and instead, just kept being shuffled down the trail by volunteers who said no, you can't drop here.  I've been saying that in my head like in Forest Gump where the kids on the bus are like, "ya can't sit here" --  "ya can't drop here"

Legs are feeling surprisingly good.  Almost feel like I could run but I'm not going to yet.  Bottoms of feet are still a little sore.  I'll wait until next week probably.

It's funny how you learn things about yourself with every finish.  My finish at Blackbeard's in March taught me that even if you can't run, you can walk and finish if you have the willpower to just keep moving.  I incorporated that in this race thinking I'd have to walk to the end with how bad my legs and feet hurt but the Advil fixed that for a bit and I could run again.

So now the question is, how bad would it be to take ibuprofen during a race if it helps me run?  I seem to be fine for the first 50 miles but then the fatigue and soreness kicks in and I end up having to walk more.  I can see now why they say it's a "performance enhancer."

Do any of you take it?  I rarely take it in normal life, much less a race, so I'm wondering if it'd be ok to do it for the second half just to get me to the finish.  A buddy of mine said it would probably be fine and it likely had that effect on me because I never take it so my body was not accustomed to it.  He said, "imagine if you had taken 4!!"  LOL

good topic for conversation. i have in the past if it was the difference between finishing or not but strictly low dose, i havent done anything in the past year to use it. for me it would be aleve, and just one. naproxen is milder and longer lasting than "vitamin I". i did take one after i hurt my shoulder the other day just to be able to shift my 5 speed to get home safely and very glad i found one!

it's funny all the people out there who are on all kinds of extreme meds and we worry about ibuprofen but i dont like things that are so easy. anything that helps that much must have some yet to be seen drawback, probably on the kidneys but i wouldnt even consider tylenol. it is so hard on your liver it would make me sick. and i would never consider any of these for training.

thinking back to my 100M attempt i didnt carry anything like that for fear i would use it too soon so i used cbd. and ended up with a dnf due to severe depression and gave up. later i discovered that cbd does that to me so if i had ibuprofen or aleve i may have finished and got in the vaunted '100 club' but who knows? still proud of my dnf (not the least of why because some people who would otherwise talk to me dont and that's a gift for me!)

 

 

Do any of you take it?  I rarely take it in normal life, much less a race, so I'm wondering if it'd be ok to do it for the second half just to get me to the finish.  A buddy of mine said it would probably be fine and it likely had that effect on me because I never take it so my body was not accustomed to it.  He said, "imagine if you had taken 4!!"  LOL

I try not to take anything for pain during a race, and if I did, it would be acetaminophen. I tend to get really dehydrated during longer ultras, so I would not want to get rhabdo. Ibuprofen is about the worst thing you can take lol but I guess people do it all the time. Nice job on your 100 miler! I've been there and done that with regards to wanting to drop. I probably would have finished TDS if someone had told me to quit being a wuss and keep going.

I’m the same.  Never touch it during or within 48 hours after a 100 miler.  I have heard too many stories.  I think I would rather DNF than take a 5% chance of ending up in the ER.

Keeg look up "cold-induced diuresis" and see if it fits your situation. I've had the same happen many times, it's annoying.