hazazzz...

First, the ugly:

My usual last place position was brought to a halt this time by RD Jim Davis who drove up in his truck at about the 90 mile point and said the cut off at the next aid station is 8:30 a. m. Since it was approximately 8:28 and "no" came out of my mouth when he asked if I could run, followed by, "my feet are fried, I should've worn road shoes, can I hitch a ride with you then?"

Well, what could he say, so I got in. (he's probably febrezing his truck right now) Somewhere deep down I couldn't believe I was dropping with 10 miles to go, especially since I felt fine and could still move. The next guy we came to had leapfrogged with me all night. He had been lying along the road, asleep, apparently, so he got in the truck too.

Then we came upon Rich Limacher, "The Troubadour." Jim mentioned the cut off. Rich brayed," Naaaaaaah, that's not right. (or something like that) It's 9:20!! I have the information sheet right here!" (at that point I wanted to shoot myself. I could've made that. Jim apologized for the mistake and Rich was on his way. The sleepy guy and I were transported to that aid station and dropped off. The volunteers were busy breaking down the station, stopped to tuck us in with blankets and solicit other needs, then went back to business.

9; 20 arrived, Rich marched right on by exactly on schedule.

Cell coverage was spotty and I couldn't immediately get through to my husband to come and get me so I tried texting. I thought that didn't work either so I settled into the chair and closed my eyes. Eventually somebody would haul us in.. and then there was my husband, so I hobbled over, and my brain must've been more addled than I realized because I asked one of the aid station volunteers if we could take the other guy with us. LOL! The "other guy" was Ed somebody from Missouri. We drove back to the community center to look for my drop bags. One of them was not to be found and we had to get going, tight schedule issues. (RD Randy Albrecht said he'd found it and would mail it. No it's not a 50 lb Sunmart bag! I felt bad thought that we didn't have more time b/c I was confident it would turn up and they have enough to do obviously, already).

The Bad:

I thought a lot about Barefoot Ted. I myself don't think the hiking boots I wore to the Grand Canyon would've minimized the agony of one sharp, pointy boulder after another pulverizing what used to be my feet. Of course I'll be back next year with my cushy road shoes to finish this..

It's windy in Kansas. But I knew that. A couple of times I stopped to use the porta potty and was sure the thing would blow over with me in it. What ended up happening was worse however. I only peed once all day while the sun was up and was convinced my kidneys had shut down. As soon as sunset hit, I started peeing like a race horse. So frequently that I had to stop between aid stations. Luckily it was dark b/c there is no cover anywhere. Not that anybody was around, I usually end up enjoying the bulk of every race alone. So I looked all around, dropped my running skirt and happily whizzed for what seemed like an eternity. Started pulling up my britches and realized I'd peed all over them!!!

The biggest disappointed of all came early in the race. I'd brought my i pod shuffle and was looking forward to slogging along these country roads, admiring cows with all the great music I'd uploaded. But wth? I noticed I was hearing the same 5 songs over and over. What happened to the other 12+ hours of music I'd painstakenly selected... crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrap.. that really.. well, never mind, just ditch the dang thing and keep running..

I noticed late last night that I left my phone charger at the hotel. Whoops.

The good:

No IBS, no GI problem, no nausea, no vomiting. I was able to keep the nutrition/hydration/electrolyte game balanced. I felt like I'd planned my drop bags well and they were all reasonably sized. I had 5 drop bags, 3 were small padded lunch pails my kids used at school, 1 was a small rectangular plastic shoe box sized container and the other was slightly larger, square, plastic bin from Wally world. That one had a change of clothes, an extra jacket, socks, running shoes.

They all had Amino, Clip, gels, clif shots, chocolate Glucerna, Starbucks doubleshots, granola type bars.. I didn't use all of my stuff. I ate snack items at the aid stations and ate larger portions at would've been a regular meal time I guess, soup and sandwiches.

Next time I'm going to take no doz and Advil and cut back on the coffee. I had brought road shoes, intending to change at the Matfield Green aid station but I took the shoes out at the last minute b/c another runner didn't have her stuff, her bag was lost at some airport. She did go back later and get her bag, it came in on another flight. If that had happened to me I probably wouldn't want to run 100 miles using borrowed gear but she came all that way.. what a lot of stress.. in hindsight I should've told my husband when he called to bring those shoes to the next aid station. Anyway it all takes a lot of thought and planning, I can't think of anything else that allows such painstaking self absorption..

The night before we left we got a call from the small hotel in Cassoday saying they had a cancellation and did we want the room. Holy cow, does a bear,, I called the other hotel in El Dorado and cancelled the reservation and reserved the room in Cassoday. It's about a 1/4 mile from the start and the original res was 22 miles.. wow, I was stoked. The frequently travelled train track right outside the door didn't keep me from getting enough rest either, amazingly. The whistle sounded like it was coming right through the door.. seriously though I went into this race more relaxed, rested and ready to roll than any other race I've ever been in.

The race itself:

Well organized, incredible volunteers. A couple of the aid stations where I was grazing from the well stocked goodies, a volunteer appeared with my drop bag. I never get service like that anywhere. The stations are all about 5-6.5 miles apart with unmanned stations in between. I think they are perfectly spaced, I was glad to see every one. When my husband and I couldn't find one of my drop bags, a volunteer offered to go check the start/finish area which she did and returned emptyhanded. She had other stuff going on and stopped what she was doing to help me. I wanted to tell her no, we could go look ourselves, but my brain wasn't processing the thought to my lips anymore and I think I just stood there like a tired 2 yr old wondering how I was going to take a nap without my blankie..

Great pre race grub, followed by a drawing. People on both sides of me won a big jug of Heed. (for good luck sit by me).

Okay this has turned into a sequel to War and Peace so thasss all folks. Great race, had a good time, plan to go back. Now I'm off to steam clean the upstairs carpet. It's full of puppy pee from the latest varmint my daughter snuck in while we were gone..

Lynnor Matheney Houston 24 days to Mother Road