24 Hour Equalizer Endurance Run 2015.....3rd times a charm!!!

My fascination with the Equalizer Endurance Run is no secret. I LOVE THIS RACE!!!! The race director has become a great friend of mine over the past few years and is just an amazing person...no...my blog has not been taken over by Chris Zepp :)....This year was no different. I had a confidence in me that I've never had going into a race. Not necessarily confidence in my training, as that was chaos as you'll soon find out. My confidence came from knowing that the goal of 100 miles that has evaded me at the last 2 attempts at this race was entirely possible.

Training leading up to the race was pretty...well...blah. Having moved into a new home a little more than 3 months ago, a lot of the lead up to the race was spent doing stuff around the house when I should/could have been training. The one positive about the location of our new home though is that even if I don't have my beloved "Gravel Grinder" to train on, I have a paved bike path that's roughly 1/4 of a mile from my front door that goes nearly 40 miles either way I go. For a race like the Equalizer, this proved to be a great thing.

With a couple of 50k run days (most had to be split into morning and evening runs), most of my training this time around was spent around getting some of my speed up. Long runs are incredibly important, but for someone who has never been "fast", I wanted to spend some time on that for a change. Changing my emphasis during this training block, I assumed, would only help on this course because of how AMAZINGLY flat the loops are. I had spent so much time prepping for Booneville by doing a lot of hill repeats and gravel runs that with a flat fast course I needed to make sure I had some strength in my legs and lungs that comes from higher intensity training.

As race day approached, I felt a really weird calm about the race. I found myself overdosing on vitamin C in an attempt to ward off a cold (which eventually hit me in full force 2 days out), not fretting over packing my gear, trying to get some needed sleep and spend some more time with my family. We went on a family run/ride together and just hung out. It was so nice to not be in my head so much like I typically am going into most events. Now, don't let me mislead you to think that I didn't have my gear packed up about a week before hand. I am me after all :)

Love rocking UVU Racing kit, HOKA Stinson ATR's, Nuun trucker hat and representing Fitness Sports and RunIowa Podcast

Just some of the nutrition and hydration. Thanks Nuun Hydration and Honey Stinger

 

As usual, the night before the Equalizer I helped to organize a meal for all participants who wanted to attend. Since a lot of the people who are coming to the race were from out of town I like to get people to a place that they may not have been to. Our pre-race meal this time around was at Gusto Pizza Co and was INCREDIBLE. We had some amazing pizza, great conversation, a beer and everyone parted ways. It has become a great tradition and great way to unwind the night before the race.

Because of what happened at the 2013 version of this race, and my neurosis about hurting myself the night before or day of the race, all of my gear was packed in my car as of Thursday night so that all I had to do was literally sleep the night before...and that's what I did. Because of my cold and my inferior nasal system that literally tries to kill me every time I get a cold, it was such a blessing to be able to fall asleep and stay asleep for more than 45 minutes. 

As I awoke from a beautiful slumber, I checked the weather and this is what I saw.......GULP.........this was going to be a rough day.....

Although the wind was going to be relentless, the 0% chance of precipitation was the best news...at least I thought....

I got down to the start/finish line around 6:30 with an 8:00 race start time. I like to get down there early to get my stuff set up, do some pre-race "prep" work and just chat with the other competitors. For me, this is one of my favorite times of the race. One of the things I love about this race is the fact that it does draw people back year after year. You feel like everyone around you is a family member and you can't believe you haven't seen each other since last year.

With the wind starting to pick up, the plan for the start was to begin with my Equalizer hoody on and strip down to my UVU kit after a lap or two once I had a chance to warm up a bit. As we stood at the start listening to our final instruction and prayer from Chris I started to realize how cold I actually was getting. The start line is on the NW corner of Gray's Lake and even with a small tree line is somewhat exposed with the right wind. As we got started I ran at a comfortable pace. I stuck with Britt and Wendy for the majority of the first 4-5 laps. These are both ladies who I have huge respect for. Last year I saw Britt battle through some REALLY low points (at one point falling asleep on a bench for a couple of hours) to knock out 60+ miles. Wendy is an absolute rock star and just came in 3rd female at the Hennepin 100 just A MONTH BEFORE!!!! It was really cool to catch up with her, chat for a few laps and just pick her brain a little bit. 

About 5 laps in, I started to notice that I was already getting a hot spot on one of my toes which is weird because I wear Injinji socks and have not gotten a blister in between my toes in years. As we came into the start/finish I told Wendy to go ahead and I would catch up later as I had to tend to my foot. As I took off my sock, there it was. Under a little piece of tape that I hat put on my big toe, due to a weird rubbing from my shoe on the medial side, was a MASSIVE blood blister.  Dang!!!!! This was going to be bad. I popped it, threw some Body Glide on it and got back on the trail.

The next 20 miles or so where pretty uneventful. I would stop every lap, eat something, check my bottle of Nuun or water and just "watched" my stomach. This stretch of time was tough because I was running well when the wind was at my back, but the crosswind on the bridge and the headwind on the the North side of the lake was unreal. I've run in 115F temps and -40F temps with and without wind. This day was mid-50's but the 20+ mph winds were just taking everything that I had and zapping my energy.

50k into the race I was starting to feel the effects of the wind. When it was at my back, it was penetrating every layer that I was wearing. When I was running into it, the wind was cooling me WAY down. I had brought a lot of cold weather gear, but at 6-7 hours into the race I didn't want to start putting it on so that I could save it until later in the race. I was hydrating well and sweating but the wind was cooling me down to the point where I kept cramping up. I upped my sodium intake by quitting the alternating between one bottle of nuun and one bottle of water to drinking straight nuun for every bottle. 

I was joined shortly after 55k or so by my friend Amber. I felt bad because she showed up to run, but the wind was killing any energy that I had and I didn't want to start taking in caffeine this early into the race so that I could make it work for me later. This section was doing some VERY fast walking just trying to keep an even pace that would be faster than 4 mph. We did a really good job of it as I had changed my watch to display current pace only so that I could keep an eye on it. Amber was with me for about 14 miles and I was so thankful to have her there. 

Because this race is so family friendly and every participant I have gotten to know pretty well over the last couple of years, I found myself checking on Dan, Will, Rob, Britt, Troy, and Britt every lap. Coming into the race there were a lot of names I knew and some I didn't. One person that I was really excited who had decided to take a dive into the 24 hour event was Kaitlin. I know her through a co-worker, and I'll be very honest, she might be one of the baddest runners I've ever met. She's tough as nails, runs amazing on every surface and at all distances but today she was an absolute metronome. She would stop every lap for a drink, maybe something to eat and be gone in less than 20 seconds. It was CRAZY to witness. I ran with her for a bit about 8 hours in and just kept asking questions. She was cruising right along, but as we ran I could tell something was wrong with her gait. She was dealing with some hip flexor problems and I gave her some friendly advice on how to deal with them (not sure if she used it, but I gave it to her). 

I was back to running a bit when my family showed up. I'll be honest, when my family shows up at a race I ALWAYS start crying. I love my wife and kids and it always brightens my life when they show up. Since we had just gotten a jogging stroller it was really cool to have them with me for a couple of laps. We chatted, walked fast, watched Mini Me ride ahead on her bike and just kept my mind on moving. I really wasn't having stomach "problems" because I was eating turkey wraps, jerkey, chips, honey stinger chews and some other items, but I just felt that I wasn't getting the energy boost from eating. It was like the food was sitting in my stomach and not processing. I decided to throw in a Honey Stinger gel to see if I could "kick start" my stomach and BOY did that do the trick. It was like it weighed the food down just enough to where my stomach would start digesting again. I was rocking and rolling again!!!

Who is the dude with the sexy shorts on the right?? :)

As I made a couple of laps with my family, night started to creep in. I knew that as soon as the sun went down it was going to get COLD!!!!! Lucky for us though, the wind had died down to a manageable 10-15 mph but I still really just wanted to get warm. As my family waited for me, I made the decision to change and get some warm dry clothes on. Still not wanting to overdress, I threw on my UVU 3/4 tights, lighter long sleeve shirt and light jacket to get me by for a little bit. In retrospect, I am glad that I "underdressed" for the next segment as it left me some warmer, drier clothes for deep into the night. 

As nightfall came, my family and I were joined by my friend Jim and his wife Jen. I was really happy to see them there as they are both stellar athletes and I knew Jim was going to try and test my mental state. That is just the way Jim is and I LOVED having him give me the "all clear" that I seemed good in the head....because God knows that what I was doing wasn't smart :)

After a couple of laps with my family, I bid them adieu until the morning and kept on my way. I knew I was behind what my schedule was so I started running again and my walk during the day plan was working. Because the wind was so bad, I made the decision early on to walk as much as possible until the wind died down and conserve some energy for the night section. I was back to running and making up a lot of time. I was no where near the plan of hitting 100 by 4:00 but I was close. 

I was really bummed out around 12 hours in to find out that Kaitlin, after THROWING DOWN 67 miles in 12 hours had called it quits. Having never run longer than 50k, I was so proud of her for giving all she had. Shortly after finding out that she was done, I came across Britt who was just at an emotional crossroads. She had been training for this race for the past year to have a good showing, but a bum shin and not being able to keep food down was forcing her to make a tough call. I sat down with her, chatted for a bit and just urged her to call it a day. I felt so bad for her and really wish that I wouldn't have had to help her make that call, but not being able to keep down any food for the previous few hours and throwing up so early in the race was not going to make for a pleasant rest of the day.

During this next segment I was joined by my great friend Sara, her friend Megan, Jared, Nathan and a couple of others who stopped out to show their support and go a lap or two with me. I knew that they had all just come off of the marathon the weekend before so I walked for a bit to try and take it easy on them :) They all kept me moving, eating, drinking and talking until just past 68 miles. The thing that I love about them all is that they kept me laughing. Right around 65 miles was the only point that I REALLY had an upset stomach, but knew from the past that if I took some ginger and slowly ate some dense food that it would turn around. My buddy Chris had stopped and gotten me a cheeseburger a few hours before and at the time it sounded great, but when I picked it up and got a whif of the burger I knew it wasn't going to happen (I still owe him $1 for it). For the first time in the race, I actually gagged a little bit, but no throw up. SUCCESS!!!!

I said goodbye to this large crew of people, threw on the iPod for the first time and that's when I was back to running again. For those who know me know that I am a big music fan. I spend a good majority of my day listening to music and can get down to anything from gangsta rap, to country, to blues, to Christian metal. I love it all. Because I about killed off my iPod nano in a bag of my own sweat (story for another time) I was using my middle daughters iPod shuffle that has some of the worst music on it ever, but at this moment I needed to just take my mind off of the clock for a little while and just run.....and dance a little bit.

About 1:30 in the morning I was joined by my friends Brian and Ann. They are such wonderful people who knew that really late into the night I was going to need some help and boy did they bring it. I felt so fortunate to have both of them there seeing that they had just come from a bachelor party, which lead to some interesting conversations :)

We just kept moving with them switching out to go sleep every 1 1/2 hours or so. They are both super athletes and both coming off of some injuries so I was almost more concerned about their well being than my own. This is the weird part about pacers and the ONE thing that I don't like. I tend to focus on their comfort, their running/walking, their "race" than my own. Sometimes for me, it's just good to worry about my own race, but at the same time it's nice to have someone just to talk to. It's an interesting dichotomy. 

Around midnight was my first real bout with the things I like to call "The Sleepies". I try to avoid caffeine as long as I can just to make sure that if I have coffee or any sort of caffeine it will really do it's magic to wake me up. I like to buy the small cans of Red Bull as a back up to caffeinated Nuun because I don't really know how tired I really am going to be. Because of the cold that I had all week leading up to the race, "the sleepies" hit me HARD and the only thing that was going to pull me out of it was that small can in my bag of tricks. I emptied my water bottle and poured that sugary goodness into the bottle and sipped on it for the next hour. Luckily my great friends Corey & Melissa had shown up for a very short period of time from their date night to bring me a McDonald's breakfast burrito to get me some good fats, carbs and cholesterol. They are such great friends and always make time to come out and support me whenever I do this event.

After some long stints of running/walking with Brian and Ann, Chris pulled me aside and handed me a sheet of paper. On the paper were some scribbles with miles and times. I knew that I would be cutting the 100 miles close at the rate I was going, but he had it calculated out as to what I needed to do to make sure that it didn't get away from me for a 3rd straight year. He had faith in me, but my own faith in my ability was starting to slip away. He had it calculated out based on the previous couple of laps that I had done. If we would make the next 8 laps at a rate of 21:00-24:00 per lap I would have 49 minutes to do one additional mile to get an even 100 miles. I had the time, but did I have the energy?

Brian and I came up with a strategy of running the bridge every single lap, walk up a slight incline, run 1/2 mile, walk 1/4 mile, run 1/2 mile and just repeat until the end. I liked the strategy, but "the sleepies" were coming back and making every single step more and more difficult. I was still eating, hydrating, stopping eery lap to roll out my legs for 30-45 seconds and honestly my body felt good, but the sleep deprivation was really hitting hard now that the Red Bull I had drank 5 hours earlier had completely worn off. 

After one lap, I just needed to melt down a little bit. I laid down on the cement in front of the tent and had a little pity party. Looking back on it, I have to laugh because I was such a baby, but at the moment I needed to just feel bad for myself if only for a little bit. After 2-3 minutes, Chris came over and asked if I was done feeling sorry for myself. He started to recite some scripture (which I love about him) give me his football coach half-time, "win one for the Gipper" speeches, helped me up and pushed me off. He knew how badly I wanted this, and he knew all of the right things to say to get me off of the ground.

Around 5:00 am (21 hours into the race), I made a strategic decision to open another Red Bull and just sip as we ran. It took some time to kick in, but when it did WOOOOOOOO did it kick in!!!! At one point I looked down at my watch and we had an average pace of 9:00/mile for the sections that we were running.

Loop after loop. Mile after mile. I kept telling myself and Brian or Ann, "This is going to happen. I can't believe this is going to happen" and I would get so emotional. I was thinking/talking about my kids, my wife, my disgust over the weight problem in society, my problem with kids and video games, my problem with the laziness of our country and my desire to show people that we are capable of incredible things as long as we bust our asses to get it. It was such an emotional time that I couldn't stop.

During one of the last laps around the lake, Brian and I were coming to the end of the bridge (roughly 92 miles in) and I felt a POP in my foot that made me jump. I was ABSOLUTELY certain that I had just broken my foot. It hurt so bad, but at this point there was nothing that was going to stop me. I asked Brian to run ahead and grab me a couple of things that I thought would help. I prayed so much during this stretch to the end of the lap because I was certain my day was over. 

As I came into the aid station, Brian grabbed my arch wraps and suggested that I change out shoes just to get some different pressure on different parts of my feet. I agreed and threw on my HOKA Challenger ATR's that I brought just as a back up. I really hadn't planned on using them but am now glad that I had brought them along. I had come so far, I really couldn't afford to not try anything.

Each lap we made, the more excited I became. We kept counting down how many more times we would go across the bridge. 4 more times, 3 more times, 2 more times, 1 MORE TIME!!!!! Coming into the final lap, Brian had told me that he was going to go wake Ann up so that she could be with us on the last lap. The closer we got to the start/finish area, the more I began to think about the fact that the last lap was going to be "for me." I had nearly 1:15 left to go and absolutely knew that 100 was going to become a reality. I told Brian that I was going to take the last lap by myself and he graciously agreed that I should take it alone. I am a pretty social person and love to be around people. However, I do most of my training alone and this was going to be a great way to cap off the day. 

Coming away from the start/finish area I didn't stop for a single thing. This was of the only times this happened all day. I knew I had the time, but wanted to waste none of it. By 7:00am as I crested the bridge for the last time, the sun had started to peak out a bit. It was getting lighter out and I got an overwhelming sense of victory. Not that I was going to win the event, but victory over my past mistakes at this race. I had such a grudge with this course because of how much it beats you up, that this last lap, for me, became a victory lap of sorts. It was a victory 10 years in the making. 

After my last cross of the bridge, I didn't run a single step back to the start/finish. This was me time and I took every step of it in. 

On the north side of the lake, the start/finish was in view and I could hear the cheers. Once I crossed that line, I had four 1/4 miles to go. I crossed the line, threw my bottle with my stuff, went to the cone 1/8 mile out and ran back. 1 down...3 to go. I checked with Brian and Ann to see if my family had shown up yet, and headed back out to the 1/8 turn. 2 down...2 to go. Saw my family pulling in but wanting to keep moving I got right back to the cone and back. 3 down...1 to go!!!!! As my family approached, I lost it once again. I love them so much and for them to be at the finish line of the events is the best feeling in the world. It validates my thought of working hard and finishing whatever you attempt. As we met, I had 35 minutes to do 1/4 mile before the final buzzer went off. With one kid in a stroller, two at my sides, my wife, Brian and Ann in tow, we all made the final 1/4 mile trek. It was a slow walk, but AWESOME nonetheless. 

As we crossed the finish line, I let out the biggest scream of my life. There was a group of runners who were standing a few dozen yards away that had no idea what was going on and got really scared. I even saw one jump as I screamed in excitement. I had finally done it. 3 attempts, two prior 100 mile runs this year, fighting crazy wind and a small dose of sleep deprivation, I had finally done what had evaded my grasp. 100 miles. 23:35 and good enough for 3rd place Overall (with Equalized factor) and 2nd most miles. 

As I crossed the finish line, I said a prayer, thanked all of those around me, handed out free hugs to everyone and sat down to drink some coffee and a beer. What an amazing experience. 

We spent the next 20 minutes or so chatting, getting our awards and pictures taken and gathering our things. As with tradition, we as a family went out for something to eat at the Cracker Barrell where I jokingly asked the "not so impressed by my joke" waitress for "all of the food", spent some time finding out how the night was with my family and headed home. 

I was incredibly tired when I got home to the point of falling asleep in the bathtub while doing an Epsom soak :) I threw on my compression socks, laid down for a couple of hours, got up, went to a soccer game and just hung out with my family for the rest of the night. It was a great way to cap off an amazing weekend.

As crazy as it seems and with not having the exact race that I had hoped for, my body wasn't nearly as wrecked as it had been in years past. I feel like I had made some great decisions in regard to food, hydration, stretching during the race, rolling out my legs, and my shoe choice. Obviously I had some soreness and my left foot was still in a lot of pain from the popping (which has gotten better in the past 8 days) and going up/down stairs was uncomfortable, but overall I felt really good. No additional blisters, no severe aches and pains. Nothing. Weird.

I love to analyze things after a race just to see what I could have done better. For this race, I really can't say that there was a lot of things I would have done differently given the same conditions and physical state of my body. I feel that my strategy of more real food during the race suited me very well. I drank nearly 4 gallons of water/nuun and when the sweet flavors of the nuun were too much to take, I switched to S Caps. I ate well. I paced myself well for the most part and just enjoyed the experience. 

Now, for my reflection....I am so amazed by this gift of life that God has granted me. He has given me a body that may not be the epitome of health and fitness, but one that I can use to show people around the world that even "regular people" are capable of AMAZING things. 23:35 for 100 miles may not seem like a great time, but for me it's about experiencing life and always pushing your body that is the real test of the kind of athlete you are. 

As always, I want to thank my beautiful bride and our 3 amazing little girls. I hope that reading this you will see no matter what life throws at you, you can keep pushing through and do great things. I thank Chris and all of the volunteers who were there that day. All of the other competitors, you guys ROCK!!! To all of my friends and family for sending me text messages and tweets during the event, they really helped.

To all who read this report, thank you for reading. For me, it is a great way to remember the good, bad and ugly things that I've gone through during events to show you guys what it takes to do the things I do. I am far from a talented athlete, but I know how to push and hope that you can learn from my experiences.

To the companies that have shown their belief in me. I thank you!!!

UVU Racing - You have been such a great part of my successes in the past year. The athletes that you've assembled to be the UVU Racing Panthers are some of the best in the world and I continue to learn so much from all of them. I ran this one for all of you and Basti!!!!!

Nuun Hydration - Thank you for making an amazing set of products that keep me hydrated and able to keep moving. The NuunBassador program has been a great experience this past year.

Honey Stinger - Thank you for making the best nutrition products out there. They're such good, clean energy sources and keep my tummy satisfied in training and racing. The Hive program is so great and I love every product you offer!!!

Things I used at the 2015 24 Hour Equalizer Endurance Run

UVU Vim Race Tee

UVU Brio Vest and Jacket

UVU Stamina Jacket

UVU Race Shorts

UVU Full Length and 3/4 Tights 
HOKA ONE ONE Stinson ATR 3 (94 miles)

HOKA ONE ONE Challenger ATR (6 miles)

Injinji Performance Run 2.0 No Show (One pair)
Mobeben Arm Sleeves (provided to me by the one and only Shannon Farrar-Griefer)

CEP All sports Compression Calf Sleeves 2.0
Nuun Hydration (15 tabs)   
Honey Stinger gels (3 gels) and Chews (5 packs)

Suunto Ambit 2R (Used for the whole race and had 62% battery remaining)

Better View of the map :)