When the gun sounded I was ready to go. No doubt about it, I was gonna make this a good day. I was shooting for 9 hours and 30 minutes overall, but I was secretly hoping that maybe I could break 9 hours. As we ran across the start line, it seemed crowded, so Hilton and I ran out to the right to get around the crowd. As soon as we got onto the trails we tried our best to get past people when we could. The first loop was pretty good...we felt strong, our pace was good. According to my Garmin, we were keeping a good low 9 minute pace. That was my goal. The out-and-back on the clay road seemed to be the hardest part for us. I had been expecting that. It's mostly uphill for 1.7 miles and then mostly downhill on the way back. We saw Fit on her out-and-back as well. Lots of smiles and cheers. My nutrition was going according to plan and we had no trouble keeping to our pace. When we joined the 50Kers, there were alot of people going in both directions, it held us back a bit. It actually got annoying cuz we couldn't get thru. We saw the girls out on the course...and we whoop whooped of course! But we finally did get thru and came back into the start/finish area at around 1:53 on the clock...we were early! Aaron, Andrew, and Chris were there waiting for us. We went and tripped the lap counter at the finish line and headed back to get some nutrition. I got to my bag and loaded up with the stuff I needed for lap 2. I picked up my water bottle of Accelerade.

The second lap was just about as easy as the first. Notable events...I tripped without falling once, tripped and fell twice, and Hilton had his share of trips. At around Mile 17, I needed to hit the porta-potty and I thought we'd gone way off our pace as a bunch of runners passed us. But around Mile 22, we had passed all of them back. I had been sipping on my Accelerade thru the run. I love what that stuff does for me. I was happy to see that we came back to the start/finish area at 3:50 on the clock. We were far enough ahead that I didn't have to rush through getting my lap 3 special needs. I took the supplements I needed, drank some chicken broth, took some Tylenol and put on some Biofreeze. I truly think that the Tylenol and Biofreeze had loads to do with my success. Hilton took some Tylenol too. He also needed food so he took care of that. Then I refilled my Accelerade. Once we were all set, we headed back out. Our elapsed time was 3:57.

Lap 3. We crossed the marathon mark at 4:06:54. Not bad for what we'd gone thru so far. We were still passing other runners and moving up through the field. The clay road was very difficult this time and we could feel ourselves slowing down. But we still held up a 10:30 pace. My plan had been to walk 3 minutes of every half hour. We decided that we wouldn't walk unless it was totally necessary. Just a way that Hilton pushes himself past his sticking point. And it was a good thing too, cuz it kept us going as we ran thru the pain. I'm happy we decided on that strategy. I totally would have walked if it wasn't for Hilton's insistence on keeping up the pace. It really taught me that I can push past what I think my limits are. He totally rocks. Our third loop was pretty uneventful on the trip and fall side of things...we really enjoyed the back 4 miles, it was quiet (we didn't talk much) and it gave us time to just try to recover as we ran. The Tylenol and Biofreeze wore off here though. It was good to see the aid station at 2.8 miles before the loop finish. Here is where I really started to need more nutrition. But once we got some food in us, we hightailed it back to the start/finish area, feeling good. We saw Kenny here, and he wasn't feeling great. But we wished him luck and kept going. We tripped the clock for lap 3 at 5:59 and change. As we were still ahead of my 9:30 goal, I decided to take my time at my bag and make sure I had everything I needed for lap 4. Hilton told me that if we got back to the bags by 6 hours, he was gonna do all he could to get me a sub-9. I told him that's great but don't expect it. I only wanna go 9:30 and I don't wanna hurt myself. I took more Tylenol, drank more chicken broth and cola, drank more Gatorade, and refilled my Accelerade for the last time. More Biofreeze on my legs too. They were hurtin'.

On the last lap I could feel myself becoming more sluggish. I could see that Hilton wanted to surge ahead so I told him to go. My pace slowed to about 12:30 per mile. I finally caught up with Hilton at the aid station at the top of the clay road, just past Mile 40. We talked a bit, I grabbed a drink and a cookie and we headed off together. We ran about a 9:30 pace to the bottom of the clay road, past the next aid station and then I told him not to wait for me. I was gonna get my sub-9 so I wanted him to have the best race he could. He took off!!! Within 4 minutes or so, I couldn't even see him anymore! What an awesome run he was having! My pace stayed around 11 minutes per mile, but I felt like I couldn't go any faster. I told myself that as long as I get to the aid station by the dam at 7:30 on the clock, I'd be fine for 9 hours. I got there at 7:09. This station signalled the 4 mile long stretch of no aid. Here I thanked all the aid station volunteers, since they'd seen me 4 times...I hadn't stopped 4 times at every aid station...this one and the one at 2.8 miles to go were the only ones I hit every loop. I made sure to fill my Accelerade bottle up (with Powerade) so I had at least something to keep me going. I also took a gel and chased it with water. I realized I'd never eaten my gel on lap 3. No wonder I wasn't feeling great. After I thanked the volunteers, I headed down the path. As I began that long stretch I tried not to think about it. But I kept thinking, "damn, this is gonna be a long hour". Fortunately, I broke the stretch up into parts and that made it go by a lot faster. Soon I was at the stretch of boardwalks. That was only about a mile from the 2.8-to-go aid station and I was only at 7:53. I only took a small swig of water with a gel, and one of Mountain Dew. I was sooooooo ready to be done!! And at just under 8 hours on the clock, I thought, if you run at a decent pace for these last 2.8 miles, you won't only break 9, you'll break 8:30!! That gave me all the motivation I needed. I started out passing everyone on the course, most were walking. I was running around 8:45's at this point. I kept going, ignoring the hills and roots that were trying to slow me down. People were congratulating me left and right. I saw Chippy on the course and I cheered as I went past! She was happy to see me on my last loop! I ran up the hill and was only about a mile and a quarter from the finish. It was at 8:08 on the clock. I ran that last mile as hard as I could...I ran the hills leading up to the finish line and I ran all the way in. I saw Aaron with his camera about a tenth of a mile from the finish, and then I saw the rest of the group cheering me in from the BT aid location. Trix, Jess, Andrew, Bill, Shannon, and Chris were all there screaming for me. They screamed "AMERICA..." and I answered "FUCK YEAH!!!" as I went by! As I approached the arch, there was Hilton with his arm extended waiting for me to run past! I slapped his hand and ran under the arch at 8:18:08. I was absolutely blown away at how I'd done! I definitely wouldn't have done so well if it wasn't for Hilton. He was my hero!

Absolutely positively NOTHING!!!

After the race I needed to calm down, dry off, etc. I was chafed in places boys shouldn't chafe so I needed to take care of that. Plus I needed food. We waited for Chippy to finish, and she did soon after I got in. Then I went to get some food with Hilton and Jess. Jess had been feeling stiff and yucky but once we got some food she felt better. Then we went to go look at results. I had gotten third in my age group!!! And Hilton got second! So Jess and I ran to tell him but he was in bad shape, almost collapsing from dehydration. Into medical he went. I claimed my trophy and his and went to get see him in medical where I presented him with his second place trophy! We slapped hands. After a while he felt better and we all headed back to the BT area where we waited for Kenny to come in. What a great day it was for all of us!!


Nothing. NOTHING AT ALL.


Sunmart is world-class ultrarunning at its finest. The BEST schwag, the BEST pre-race food, the BEST post-race food, the BEST organization...everything is awesome here. I will do this race every year until my knees fall off.