20in24 - More about the Race

The first three laps (up to about mile 25) were just fine. Beautiful weather, nice conversation, little to no fatigue.

I found myself walking at first out of the base camp area and in the narrow section along West River Drive and then jogging some until getting close to the medical station where I would try to slow myself down and relax before having to check in (This never worked...my only good readings were on loop 4 when I was walking & talking with another Lone Ranger who was by my side until they slapped the BP cuff on my arm. No time to worry...totally normal BP.) Once clearing the medical tent I always took off jogging and I'd usually jog most of the 4 miles of Kelly Drive -- especially the parts where I was able to run on the soft dirt path that paralleled the sidewalk.

The bottom line was that I was averaging right about a 14 minute mile and that was well within my range of acceptable pace for this event.

Finishing lap 3 was essentially marathon distance and I felt great, not at all like I usually finish at the end of a marathon. It was different physically and emotionally. Really strange to have there be not one bit of fanfare or relief at crossing that distance milestone. I was doing so much more walking than I am used to and my body could really feel it. Tension in my hips and rear end that I never feel when running and SORE TOES that I haven't felt since the long end-to-end hike or my walking marathons.


Food/Hydration/Other Stuff: Between laps I would duck into Lloyd Hall to cool off and refill my bottle with Gatorade. They were serving Gu2o on the course which I thought tasted like poison so I avoided it as much as possible. I also changed socks between each lap. A couple of times I reapplied sunscreen and body glide. (No sunburn or chafe marks at the end of the day, yay!)

I had another Roctane at some point but mostly I was eating small bits of food at Lloyd Hall base camp or at the stocked aid stations. Snacks included soft pretzels, regular pretzels, salty popcorn, peanuts, trail mix, raisins (LOVED the little boxes of raisins) and some bananas.

Video (during Lap 3):

Video (after Lap 3):

Video (start of Lap 4):

20in24: The Night Before / Packing up

The Friday before 20in24 was just plain gross. Super hot, super humid, disgusting haze. We drove downtown to collect our t-shirts and numbers and were surprised that they wanted us to check in with medical.

I was a basket case at this point. Heart Rate was off the charts and of course, my famous white-coat hypertension was in effect. I sat down and they tried to calm me down by telling me that everybody was nervous and was getting abnormally high readings. Perhaps not as crazy high as mine, but still high. They sent me home, told me to get some rest, and to check in again in the morning when it was cooler and when I'd be more relaxed.

I did not relax. Instead I went home to run around like a maniac packing up my junk and fretting about how they might not let me do the race at all. (Which would be sort of awesome and sort of awful.)

We were thinking like relay people and packed A TON of stuff to take with us. Here's what we took and my verdict on if it was a good item or not:

Big cooler with ice (contained Gatorade, diet Coke, Slim Fast and uncrustables). Verdict: Good. We used everything in it, including the ice. The flaw was it's size. We ended up leaving it behind when we drove home because we were too tired to lug it up the hill to our car.

AeroBed/blanket/pillows Verdict: Bad. Ours didn't inflate but even if it did we probably wouldn't have used it. Only good for relay teams or those truly planning to stay at LLoyd Hall all night.

Sleeping Bag Verdict: Good. Opened this up and used it as a big cushy beach blanket. A nice place to sit in between laps.

Beach Chair Verdict: Good. Who doesn't like a chair? Especially after 50 miles!

Changes of Clothes Verdict: Mixed. We brought changes for each lap. This was because our experience for this event was 2008's 100 degree day. This year was cooler and breezy and we were not as disgusting as in years past. I changed my socks between each lap, so that I'd do again. I changed my entire outfit after 4 laps (about 33 miles) but I don't think I'd need more than one complete change of clothes.

Extra shoes Verdict: Good. I changed from old shoes after 2 laps and wore newer shoes last three laps. I think my feet were happy with that.

Extra Food Verdict: Bad. We had pretzels, cheetoes, and pop-tarts but didn't open any of it. There was plenty of food on the course and at Lloyd Hall. We didn't need this stuff.

Medical Stuff Verdict: Good. Used glide, sunscreen, a couple of band-aids and Tylenol. Didn't need most of the other stuff but it was good to have it handy just in case.

Baby Wipes Verdict: Mixed. Not really needed but nice to have anyway.

Towels Verdict: Mixed. Big beach towel not necessary because small hand towel would get the job done. Was nice to wash face a couple of times and to dry off.

Camera Verdict: Good! Used it to take some photos and to record video.


Here's a video from the night before. I look pretty tired and miserable and be warned, it's an extreme closeup!

20in24 Lone Ranger. Pre Race Plans

Before the Race

I didn't post much about this here on the blog but I did my first real ultra event this past weekend at the Back on my Feet 20in24 event. Last year I did this event as part of a 5 person relay team and had a great time but in 2009 my sister and I decided to enter as Lone Rangers. What does that mean? It means we agreed to do as many loops of the 8.4 mile course as we could in 24 hours.

I've had a really spotty training plan this year. I never quite got it together to train properly for the Seattle Rock'N'Roll marathon (which was great, by the way, and I nearly ran a PR) and therefore never trained properly for the Lone Ranger. As race day approached I was surprisingly not worried. I think I decided that I was so ill prepared that I would set a few goals and just take it as easy as I had to in order to accomplish those goals.

Goal #1: Complete marathon distance (no reason at all why I couldn't do this)
Goal #2: Go farther than I've done in one day, so that meant 35 or more more miles
Goal #3: Finish 50 miles (6 loops of the course)

I knew that goal #1 and goal #2 were manageable, even if the weather was bad, but I really didn't know if I'd be able to get to 50 miles.