For those interested in only the race portion, feel free to skip the first few paragraphs and find yourself to the section titled, "Start to Noon". For those who don't know any better and want to read EVERYTHING... you asked for it!
Since the failed attempt at making a new PR in my race early in January of this year, I've been wanting a good comeback race where I would bring my body and mind to a whole new level. At first, I thought it was going to be at Cruel Jewel. In preparation, I ran the Pistol 100km and won that. I continued training and a week before a 6 hour race, I was sidelined by a turned rib. With a miraculous recovery by falling mid-race, I was able to salvage some of the training, but not enough. I then decided to make my goal at Cruel Jewel one that of survival. MAKE IT TO THE END! The new goal was North Coast 24, the USA 24 Hour National Championships. Here, I was going to set a new Personal Best, do well in the standings, and finish the year strong.
I spent a good portion of the summer practicing how to run slowly and as July turned into August, I reached my peak mileage of just under 100 miles in a week and began my tapering process. It was time to get ready. However, there was one thing I began to worry about. I had added a little bit of sauna training to get use to the heat, but it immediately drained me of my energy the next day. I was in trouble. If the race was hot, I was not going to do well.... so I cut my mileage and added a little sauna training, but not enough time passed and before I knew it, there was only a week remaining until THE race... and forecast said it was going to be a hot one. Crap....
The Course:
Located by Lake Erie, Edgewater Park hosts this race on an 8' wide asphalt track which goes around in a .8822 mile loop with minor elevation changes. As a relatively flat course, it gives the individual racing the opportunity to go around with ease and therefore, high mileage is a high possibility! However, as the day progresses, it's good to know that those minor elevation changes will turn into huge hills, so be aware! The course is also fairly open and so should the sun shine down, you will be taking the brunt of its rays until night falls. Once the night falls, I'd say about 80% of the course is well lit (and the unlit part is the running crew area) so it's a course where light is not needed.
My Gear:
2 pairs of Topo Ultrafly 2
1 pair of Topo Phantom
1 pair of Topo Zephyr
1 pair of Stoke Signal Socks
3 pairs of back-up generic socks
KT Tape and blister prevention/treatment tapes
KT Muscle Recovery+ and Chafe Safe Gel Stick
Squirrel's Nut Butter (new friend from Cruel Jewel gave me some!)
SAAX Compression Shorts
Nike Combat Compression Shorts as backup
Underarmour shorts
Backup shorts
Underarmour compression shirts (backup)
Topo shirt (made by Sugoi)
Topo jersey (made by Sugoi)
Topo long sleeved shirt (made by Sugoi)
OrangeMud endurance pack (in case crew got sleepy)
SWORD (berry flavored, duh)
Coca-Cola
Red Bull (for emergencies)
Peanut Butter Crackers
Pickle Juice
Topo Buff and Sleeves (in case of cold)
iPod shuffle with headphones
Coros Apex
Vitamin B
The Crew:A few months back, I tried to see if my sisters were able to come but due to their busy work schedules, I was unable to get them to agree on making a trip up to Cleveland, OH but fortunately, I asked Christiann if he could come and be my sole crew member for this trip. He agreed despite knowing that he'd be doing it solo and so I had no worries. This was going to be a cake walk. He's crewed me a few times so I knew I could trust him with my life when it came down to racing. He had a good balance of sarcasm and truth telling as well as caring for the individual but not too much. He would end up doing the driving to and from TN to OH which was a 14 hour round trip.
We were fortunate to be friends with Olaf (who was also running) and James who invited us to place our crew area right beside them, so now it was even better as our crew had the option of working together... isn't the ultra running community amazing?
The Plan:
Starting by running each lap in 8:00 for two hours, each two hours, I would slow down by 5 seconds, or if it was too much work. In doing that, I was planning on never running any faster than a 9:00/mile pace. Every lap, I'd be drinking a little swig of SWORD and coca-cola while every other lap, I would eat a few peanut butter crackers. Every hour, I would be drinking a little pickle juice instead, and then get back to the usual drinks. Switching shoes would happen only when I felt like it.
As the day goes on, I would little by little slow down, and in doing so, ideally slow faster than I tire and if I feel good enough at the end, I would hold onto a pace. It was a rather simple plan and it seemed very doable, as most of my training has me running faster than a 9 minute mile. If I need an energy boost, level 1 is vitamin B, level 2 is Red Bull and level 3 is music.
All that being said, my number one goal was to have the most fun through all of the race and see if I could stay awake the whole 24 hours without becoming too exhausted. I also had a secondary goal of making a PB and ideally reaching above 130 miles. Capable of more, I figured I could aim lower and be okay with going faster at the end if everything worked out.
Pre-Race:
Friday, Christiann and I drove up from Nashville to Brunswick and stay the night over at Pete Kostelnick's house. Awesome guy! Super glad he was there. Arriving at 9:00pm, we only had a little time before I had to sleep, but it was easy. I had everything planned and had it all packed the way I wanted it. All I had to do was wake up, take a cold shower, and put on my clothes and go. Saturday morning came and I woke up after having a decent night's rest and I did just as I planned and we drove the rest of the way to the park. Having a lot of stuff, we dropped it off at the curb and proceeded to bit by bit bring it to the northern end where we would meet up with Olaf and James and prepare our home base. I put my KT tape on the bottom of my feet and put on my socks, then put on my Zephyrs and put the Chafe Safe Gel Stick and Squirrel's Nut Butter where it needed to go, and then rubbed my quads and calves with the Muscle Recovery+. Didn't have time to eat breakfast as I totally forgot, but eh, it's alright. Things happen. Race was starting in 5 minutes, so had to go!
Start to NoonWhen we started, I did as I always did. Jumped up and ran smoothly, putting myself out in first. It wasn't a statement, but more or less that I needed to stretch out my legs before I calmed down and got into a good pace. As I was the only one that did that, I laughed and asked if anyone would like to run and talk with me, and one brave soul did. We had a nice conversation for a lap and then I figured out what my pace would be and at my station, I stopped and walked a little bit before going on the run again. It would be a run walk kind of day. It was nice to be out there. A beautiful day... a beautiful sunny day... a sunny day... a hot sunny day... wait... it was getting hot. I wasn't liking it. My body was sweating. I was feeling a little tired and thirsty despite drinking every .8822 miles... oh crap. I'm in trouble. 3 hours into the race and I knew something was wrong. I was about 18 miles in and already in bad shape.
Noon to 5:00
At around noon, my heart rate was going up to 170-180 bpm, which is high for running at a 9 minute pace. I was following my plan carefully, but with this, my plan would have to fall into pieces one way or another. I could either push through the heat and hopefully survive or have to stop/walk and do my best to recover and hope the change of pace meant I would be able to run in the evening with the same speed I originally planned on using. It took me less than a lap to figure out what I was going to do. I took a risk. I bet that I would be able to make a comeback after taking an extremely long walking break. With a lot on the line, I chose to walk. At this point I was 4th place, so all of a sudden taking a walk would impact my standing rapidly, and it did. I'm glad I wasn't paying any attention to my ranking because that would have sucked a lot. Instead, I used my walk to try to figure out what to do and how I was going to do it. Walking doesn't change how hot everything was. It allowed me to use less energy and I wasn't heating up as much, but I needed something to cool me down.
At first, I had my bandana dipped in ice cold water so my head would be cold. Then I got my cold towel and had that submerged in the water and wrapped around my neck, but it wasn't enough. I was still having a pretty bad day. I stopped by the medic tent and chatted a good bit with Dr Leah Frank and her team of medical students and they told me that I needed to stop drinking coca-cola and continue to drink SWORD. Feeling a little better, I attempted a little jog, but my heart rate went crazy high again and I was like, 'nope, not this time' and went back to a decent paced walk. I stopped by the medic tent and Dr Lovy was there, who promptly told me I was having a potassium deficiency and needed more bananas in my life, so I took some in.
As I continued on walking towards my goal, Harvey, who was leading the race let me know that I was making a good move, but also gave me some tips and asked if I wanted an ice-bandana. I said yes, and he said he'd tell his crew to get it to me, so I was relieved. The ultra running community really is the best place. When I finished my lap, I got the ice pack and WOW that felt great. I also started wearing the long sleeved Topo shirt so I wouldn't be directly getting hit by the sun and heating up. I put that on and instantly felt so much better, I knew I could recover with this as long as I didn't do anything stupid and start running earlier than I needed to. Good thing I had goal number 1. Have the most fun. I would be cheering on people as they passed me and encourage them as they were doing their best. It would be fun. I would tell them that they're looking great and that after the sun went down, I'd be running with them so wait for me until that happened. (I also ate a ton of Skittles, Twizzlers, and gummy bears... weird things to eat, I know)
As I was still feeling better, I began planning. What did I need to do? How could I make a comeback? How were my legs feeling? How was I going to survive the night? When the plan was somewhat summarized, I began to have even more fun. I had a direction, a path I could take to get me to the next level. I continued on encouraging those that were running that they were looking break and letting the ones walking that the temperature would start dropping soon. It was nice. At this point of the race, I was getting to know people and enjoying my time. This wasn't all part of the original plan, but I was still going to have a lot of fun and help as many as I could with their goals.
5:00 to 9:00As 5:00 pm rolled around, the temperature had already gone some. I wasn't sure when exactly I would go run, but it was soon. I itched for a run, but had to make sure I was ready. I had to listen to my body and make sure that it was ready for some continuous running, and I also needed to know if it was sore from the hours of walking. All I know is that after mile 40 around 9 hours after the race started, I decided to ease into my running and began running half a lap and see how I was doing. It felt good. I figured another would be okay... and it felt good as well. My legs were recovered and not feeling well, I had enough potassium in me for the rest of the day. My water level was good. The ice-bandana would remain on me to keep my body from heating up. I felt ready.
And so I ran.
Between 6:00 and 7:00, Christiann later told me I was 18th place or something but at 7:00pm, I was for sure in 16th place. I knew it was going to happen. I told Christiann, "You're about to see the biggest comeback ever." and he responded, "You got this bro!" (or something like that) and off I went. Not too fast, but fast enough where I was comfortable. It was going to be a smooth sailing til 9:00pm where he would tell me what place I was and who was in front of me. Right now, it was all about getting to the starting line. I was moving fast and passing people and enjoying the journey. Most people were surprised to see me running and I was happy to surprise them. I had finished about 57-58 miles by this time. I needed to do the same number of miles on the flip side... could I do it? I don't know... but I did know one thing.
I was back!
9:00 to 3:00
Finally, arriving at my crew, I was told my place. I was 6th place. I wasn't too far behind. The next person was only a few miles in front of me. I could definitely catch them. The heat had zapped all of us, and those that recovered were pulling ahead. The people ahead of me were going to be harder to catch. Not sure if it was possible, but you never know til you try. I still had 12 hours and that was more than enough time to reach them. As I continued to run at a controlled speed, I began to pick off people and wasn't feeling too exhausted from the running. I was given Ramen Noodles, and that was a life saver. I needed more energy and the sugar was killing me. It was taking a while to catch people and so I needed to continue to fuel myself as I continued to bit by bit chisel down the distance in front of me. It was a lot easier to aim at the people in front of me rather than a number.
Harvey, Robert, Gabe, Kristy, Olaf. The kill list... okay, that was way dark... but it was night time, and I needed a good game to play. I was hurting a little by then and needed to fake it til I make it (my motto). If I could catch them, that would be fun. Competition to help me run the best I could. I knew (or knew of) all of them so it was going to be a fun run. I hardly saw Harvey as he and I were running at about the same pace (though he was 14-15 miles ahead of me) but I did randomly see the others. I just needed my crew to let me know how close I was so I could count.
I kept running at a controlled pace and did my best to have fun as I went round and round in circles... I mean, even writing about it is an ultra-marathon sometimes. I kept coming up to the crew pit stop but not much has changed. They were a few miles ahead and just lapping them once isn't good enough. Unfortunately, I did see Olaf not doing well, as the heat had taken it's toll on him. I wanted him to be well, but the sun had done its damage. Right around the time I passed him for 5th place, he announced his retirement from the race. With the way things were going, I didn't like it, but it was for the best. I still have 4 people to go after. Kristy, I could tell because of her hair, Robert because of his running form, and Gabe because of his neon shirt. When I was out running, I was always looking for those three because worrying about trying to catch Harvey... extremely unlikely.
As I continued on, I managed to catch Kristy (where? I have no clue, it was a long night, forgive my lack of memory). I only had 3 people ahead of me, only 2-3 laps ahead of me. Definitely doable, but I needed to calm down. I've been known to go too fast and blow up. This would be the worst possible thing to do. Go get them, get ahead, blow up, have them pass me. This was a competition against myself and them. I did have one goal though. I wanted to be the second person to get 100 miles. With that deadline, I planned that I would overtake them sometime before 3 in the morning, and so I kept that in mind and continued to search for them as I ran along.
Except I didn't see them for some time. I had no clue where they were. For a little bit, I had lost sight of them. Did they speed up? Did I slow down? I started to get worried. I thought I was in 3rd and 2nd was in front of me but I was unsure what was going on. What was my pace again? 2:30 am isn't the best time to solve world problems or personal problems. Fortunately, I had a crew that knew what was up. Christiann was asleep for a little bit so James had taken up Christiann's position as my lead man, and so tired ol' me begged him, "Where's second place? I need to catch him."
James said, "You're never going to catch 2nd place Sho..."
"What?!?" said Sho, appalled and in shock.
"You're 2nd place, Sho." replied James with a grin.
Oh crap, this isn't a dialogue in a novel... well I was happy and angry with him but was pleased. I had 6.5 hours to catch up with Harvey....did some quick math, and basically, I needed to lap him once every 20 minutes in order to beat him.
That was practically impossible.
But I'm also kinda stupid.
So I went for it to see if it was possible.
After chugging a Red Bull, for the next 2ish miles, I burned rubber and ran without stopping. I ran my fastest lap 93 miles into the race just to see if I could catch Harvey. Obviously, I couldn't, but hey, I did have to try right? It was rough, but it was fun. I was playing leap frog with Gabe who was 3rd and in doing a 2 mile speed drill in the middle of the race, I got myself 4-5 laps ahead of him. I didn't need to worry too much about placing, but I did need to survive for the last 6 hours if I wanted to stay 2nd place. Well, I guess I'll have to go for that 100 mile and then see how much I could do after that.
With Harvey far ahead of me and my PB was also at a point where I would be unable to reach, there was considerably less stress and I just had to continue to press on and enjoy as much as I could, but it was harder to do so. I chatted with people for a bit, but everyone has their own pace. My walking pace is toooooosloooooowww and my running pace is decently fast (but not as fast as Harvey now). I guess I could do some visits and then run... and so I did. It wasn't too bad, and I was able to run with quite a few people, from an 8 year old who ran 40 miles up to an 84 year old who ran 50.
Ultramarathon running is amazing. Ultramarathon running is fun. As the sun came up, I ran/walked with Harvey for the last hour, and for the last partial lap, Gabe joined us. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, all together. It was one heck of a race. Filled with so much going on. I made a lot of friends, hopefully no enemies, and had a lot of fun. So many people were filled with smiles as the closing horn sounded and we placed our flags down. I finished 114 miles for the day, my 3rd best 24 hour distance, but at this prestigious race, my best ranking. Obviously, I'm going to forget bits and pieces of what went on, but I enjoyed my time here and had a great time with great people.
Photo Acknowledgements:
Lets give credit to the photographers for their amazing shots. Hannah Kasamias (clementinephoto.smugmug.com) for the awesome mid course shots. James Suh for the extra wide shots. Christiann for the other shots.
Acknowledgements:First of all, I could never do this without the head honcho, my bro, my best friend Christiann. He stayed up almost all night to take care of my every need. He let me know who was cheering for me and what they said. He drove all the way up and back so I wouldn't stress out from the drive. He dealt with me, the bratty prince that I am in the race. Always wanting this and that, and taking care of everything to the best of his knowledge. He kept things in stock and made sure I was alright. Thanks a bunch.
Secondly, I gotta thank all the runners on the course. Despite all of us suffering, people still had time to encourage me and some even gave me smiles. Harvey gave me his ice bandana and told me how I should wear a long sleeved shirt to protect me from the sun. Thirdly, I'd like to thank the medical staff for their support and knowledge. They not only helped me with my issues during the race, but even after the race. Brian Polen was also one of the best directors, having energy wanting to help, just BEING there for the runners. He's such a great guy. The aid station people were also the bomb. They had EVERYTHING!
Final Acknowledgements:
Thank you for everyone who supported me that weren't in the race. I had such a huge amount of support from all over the world (LITERALLY) that were sending me messages of encouragements. If you weren't there, I'd have an extremely lonely night and it would've been a harder race than it was. Thank you for cheering and sending powerful words that cheered me up, pushed me forward, and supported me to being my best. I'm looking forward to our next adventure together.
