Snowdrop 55 Hr: Loopity Loop Loop

     Over the holidays I was fortunate enough to run the Snowdrop 55Hr Solo event in Sugarland, TX.   The race started on Dec 30th and ran through Jan 1st.  I ended up with 100 miles and a sweet buckle in about 35 hours. At .74 miles per loop, it took 134 loops to make 100 miles.

     The buckle is pretty sweet.  I'd been saying for at least 3 weeks I didn't really want to run the event.  My training had been slipping since early November, so I was feeling fat and out of shape.  I felt good skinning up the mountain up in Steamboat over Christmas, but I wasn't feeling running around in circles for two and a half days.
     Originally, when I signed up, I thought I could run 200 miles. That was back in August or September.  Little did I know I'd be faced with some work issues.  In early November my employer laid off a number of folks.  Two from my team.  Some guys I'd known my whole career.  One was my old boss who I'd worked for directly for eight years.  I guess I took it a bit hard.
     My flight back from Colorado was cancelled early Monday the 28th of December after being delayed for about 8 hours.  I wasn't able to leave CO until Tuesday afternoon the 29th.  Once I arrived in San Antonio I had to pack, load up the dogs and drive to Houston Hobby Airport and pick up Gina which happened to be about 1AM the 30th of December.  About 6 hours before the race started.
     We arrived at the race venue about 0330.  Thankfully Vincent from Trail Toes had already set up the tent for us.  We knocked off a few hours and woke up to start the race with everyone at 0700.  After about 2 hours, I stopped to send a few work emails and take a nap.  Around 1130 I got back out on the course.
     Being totally tired did not help my disposition.  In the afternoon, I thought that since I had plenty of time I should go ahead and finish the book I was reading on my Kindle. I was reading The Revenant.  The movie comes out tomorrow night! I've already bought my ticket.  By dark I wasn't quite done with the book.  I'd gotten over the fact that I didn't want to be at the race, and decided I should run a bit.
     Through the night I slept two different times for about 4 hours total. I spent time running with Vincent, Dimitry, Kelley, and Will.  I spoke to Matt a bit about his upcoming attempt on the TIR 200 solo.  Also, Gina ran/walked a few laps.  The night drug on and on.  But finally the night yielded to the day.  I pulled the Kindle back out and finished my book.  Once it was done, I picked back up with Catch-22 but didn't finish reading that book.  Pretty hilarious book about military life.
     I had another book on my Kindle called "How to Run Faster with Less Effort" .  I joked with some folks, saying I'm reading this book so that I can learn some stuff. :)  I wasn't really reading it though.  I got a few laughs from folks with that joke.
     Finally the total number of loops reached 110, so only 24 more to go.  I ran a few fast ones with Joe Fejes, who set a 48 hr age group record and reached  250 total miles in 55 hours.  He's the real deal. The RD Kevin Kline is a great guy and made a big spectacle for everyone who reached 100 miles.  He spared no expense whooping everyone up when I finished my 100 miles.  Here is a pic of us with the buckle.

     All in all, Kevin puts on a world class event.  I had a great time.  The food was delicious, hot chow, and ultra food.  A nice warming tent with TV's playing football games.  I think that I will be back next year.  Nice place to chill and celebrate the running lifestyle I guess I've been living for some years now. Life could be worse. :)  I feel like I crossed another mental hurdle with this event.  One of just accepting and getting shit done.  Whether it be on a boring .74 mile loop or not.  Thankfully I had Gina to make sammiches and I didn't have any blisters or ball chaffing.
     

    

What Does Infinity Mean to You?

     The Infinitus 888K is over and I only made 403 miles. At the end of 8 days I was sitting at 393, so one could say I averaged 50 miles a day or so. The course was not accurately measured but the general consensus was that the top loop of the figure 8 was about 9.5 miles and the bottom was 16.5 miles making it a 26 mile figure 8. Or some would call it a marathon per figure 8.  Or 26.25 per loop. All of these distances were generally accepted.  Regardless of the exact distance, the idea was that one was required to complete 21 figure 8 loops in 10 days, 240 hours.  
      To complete the loops, one needed to run two figure 8 per day for 8 of the days and then 2 days where you would need to run 2.5 loops. So 8 days of 52 miles, 1 day of 61.5 miles, and 1 day of 68.5 miles.  The top loop completion pace ranged from 2:15 to 4:00 hrs, and the bottom loop completion pace ranged from 4:15 to 6:30.  The average being some where around 2:45 and 5:00 hours. With stops in between at the ski lodge, you were looking at 8 to 8:30 per loop, or 16 to 17 hours per day if all went well. If things didn't go well for you each day, you could be looking at up to 19 hours or more. To complete the course a day or two days early is a pretty monumental undertaking, but it could be done. I think the winner and only finisher finished at least 24 hours before the 240 hour cut off or a bit faster. 
      I went into the event expecting to be on my feet at least 15 hours, up to 18 hours per day, so to fully realize that this was the case was not a big shocker or a let down. It was expected. The plan was simple.  Complete 2 loops, and then sleep.  Day 1, the 21st of May started at 0808 and I completed the first day by 2205.  About 14 hours because it was Day 1. I was in bed by 2300 and slept until 0400 the 22nd.  Five hours sleep was good!  I had budgeted 1 hour in the AM to get ready and 1 hour in the PM to eat, wash up, foam roll, prepare for the next day etc...  It turned out I didn't need an hour because of Gina and her crewing skills. Really if you got off your ass each AM/PM you only needed 30 minutes if you weren't battling blisters or nut sack chaffing.
     Day 2 through 5 went by okay with Day 3 I did 2.5 loops or 61.5 miles and didn't sleep well going into Day 4.  Maybe 2 hours of sleep.  End of Day 5 my feet were swelling really bad, but I didn't realize this was what the problem was.  Day 1 and 2 were the same pair of Hokas, Day 3 and 4 were a different pair, Day 5 back to the original, and Day 6 I moved into the NB Leadville.  All size 10.5. At the end of Day 6 or sometime during day 7, I bummed a pair of worn out Brooks Cascadia from Gary size 11.5, but the damage was done. Day 6 - 8 I think I only completed 1.5 loops per day, not sure if I went: 1.5,1.5,1.5  or 1,1.5,2.  I don't recall.  But by 0808 on Friday I was at 15 loops completed.  Day 9 I didn't run any and drank beer.  Day 10 I just did the top loop to get over 400 miles. Feet hurt so bad I had to lay down all day on Day 9, sitting caused them to feel like they had their own heart beat.  It was not in my interest to ruin my liver on Aspirin or Advil. I like to save the liver ruining for alcohol. I never took more than the max recommend dosage, but to do so for days 6 - 10 I feel would have been ill-considered.  By day 8 I was really chewing them up. 
     There was quite a bit of mud and moisture on the course in various places, not to mention the mosquitoes.  They really put a damper on things.  I didn't concern myself with, OMG, what if I get blisters, because I had a shit ton of Trail Toes.  Eight jars to be exact. The big jars.  I used at least a half a jar per day on my feet and groin area.  This product works great. I didn't have any blisters.  However, I knew it would also be irresponsible to go sloshing around in the mud all day.  My original plan for this whole race was to use trekking poles and I brought two pair.  A 120cm pair and a 110cm pair.  Using the poles I was able to vault over mud obstacles, pivot around obstacles, and generally helped keep my balance. Additionally, I was able to keep my glutes in the proper position with my torso upright.  Only once during the whole 10 days did I get my feet wet and that was on one day where we received a ton of rain and I could not cross the creek hopping on rocks b/c the level was way too high. 
     I had a pair of gloves on almost the whole race. Some cheap fingerless weight lifting gloves to protect my hands, because of the poles. I broke one of the 120cm poles on day 2, so I was stuck with the 110cm and I finally made my peace with those poles.  I did not think the 110cm were long enough, even for my height. I did spend about 3 half-loops running with Will and one half loop running with Joel.  Also, Gina went with me for a total of 4 figure eights. For the most part I ran by myself about 10 full figure eights, or 5 of the running days. Lot's of time alone.  I had a ton of sinus drainage which caused me to hack and cough constantly with a hoarse voice. Not sure where it came from, but I had been that way for about 2 weeks prior to the race.  It sucked because I couldn't sing very well to my music. Luckily I had a bunch of buffs which I attached to my UD Krupicka pack and was able to blow my nose a bunch.
     Regarding the two different sized loops, this made us employ a different strategy on each half of the figure 8.  The top loop had water at mile 7.  So only 7 miles before water re-supply and only 9.5 miles total.  The bottom loop of about 16.5 miles had water at mile 3 and mile 10 or 11, the same spot.  This loop was like a lolly pop and water was at the bottom of the pop.  So we had 10 - 11 miles we needed water for, we were forced to take along more calories.  Rarely did we ever catch a break on the bottom loop with wind or with the bugs.  No wind, lots of bugs.  The two instances where we had shitty weather, the snow/cold front and the heavy rains, I was sleeping.  I was really lucky. 
     Gina did fabulous job crewing.  We have worked together on 4 other events, so we get along pretty good.  She made the food, ran to town to purchase more supplies, etc...  Also she asked her friend Erin to bring out the pop up camper which was a godsend.  Gina's mom also let us borrow her car, fixed up a cooked ham for us and numerous other cool things that I probably don't have a clue about. We had to reach out to our Phone-a-Friend resource a few times by calling Vincent.  He sent more Tailwind and more Trail Toes.  This was an added bonus.  Also, we went to Amazon and ordered two more jugs of CarboPro for overnight delivery. The most important achievement of all was that I did not yell and was not a dick to her.  It's really easy to be all pissed off and treat your crew like shit when your blood sugar is 60 and you haven't slept, but you should refrain from those actions. If you finish your event and treat your crew like shit, they should take away your swag and you should kick your own ass.  Without her logistical problem solving, commitment to my success, and general badassery then I wouldn't have been able to accomplish much.  This event was 50% logistics/mgmt and 50% running.  So half of the success she was responsible for. 
      The course, in general, was easy.  I have described the length of the loops, etc...  There was a nice climb on the top loop, but nothing crazy.  The bottom loop along Chandler ridge sucked, but there was no crazy climbing.  Had I not been there to run for 10 days, the whole course was runnable.  However that climb on the top loop woulda kicked my ass had a tried to run the whole thing.  In essence, the 50ish miles a day is really achievable on the course.  It really was only in the mind, had you prepared properly physically, that you find your defeat.
     What was I doing there?  Man, I don't really know.  Andy had sent me a message asking if I wanted to come and run the Peak 500 back in  January of 2014.  I happened to be in Brazil at the time and had just completed the Brazil 135.  I was getting ready to run Hardrock last year so I had to politely decline, but made a commitment to run the Peak 500 in 2015.  I'm not sure why I made that commitment.  Maybe I need to get my head checked.  I followed with great interest the post on FB last year during the Peak 500 and was like, "Man, maybe I should have went.  I wonder what it's like?"  Because of Andy's reputation from the folks I knew that knew him, I could not say no when he and Jack founded the Endurance Society and presented the Infinitus 888K last October 2014.  I signed up right away.
     January of 2015 came fast. I was just off my 100K PR of 9:46:xx at the Houston Running Festival, a DNF at Bandera 100K, and was bummed that I didn't even make any wait list or anything for Barkley. I figured I should now turn my attention to Infinitus. I thought, "John you have been ultrarunning for 7 going on 8 years, you have a TM that goes to 40% incline, a hypoxic machince, and every other freaking BS thing out there, so let's make a plan and stick to it for real."  I came up with this elaborate 17 week plan and sent it over to my friend and mentor Joe P.  He sends me back a terse reply, "I was thinking  F/SA/SU - 50/50/50 and then M/T off, W 5, TH off."  Oh really? 155 miles a week, huh?  My first problem was I can't run 150 miles a week. And 50 miles a day 3 days in a row, that is absurd.  That's when it hit me, if I can't run 50 miles a day for 3 days, what makes me think I can do it for 10?
      So I revised my plan.  I spent 8 weeks or so building up to 125 to 135 miles, since I was easily running 75 to 80 mile weeks for over a year.  This was about 10% per week.  Then I went for the 50/50/50, week on, week off for a 6 week cycle.  Never hit the 150 miles+ in a week but I tried and learned a lot. Great training.  Even pulled two tires along the freeway for 25 miles which took me 9 hours.  Looking back, I would have done 50/50/50 for 6 weeks in a row but did more walking and would have ensured that I only received 4 hours of sleep Friday and Saturday night. Basically wake up Friday morning and run 30 miles before work, 5 to 10 and lunch and 20 to 30 after work. Sleep 4 hours, get up on Saturday and stay on my feet until about 11PM, sleep 4 hours and do the same again Sunday.  That would have been a bit more realistic.  I could run/walk/pull tires, anything. Road or Trail.  The big key is getting used to the time and the lack of sleep. 
     What did I learn?  Lot's of stuff.  Mostly that it's not too hard to run all day, especially if you have a baby sitter.  I like how lots of folks daydream about a "running lifestyle" or the "born to run" Christopher McDougall bullshit (that guy don't know shit about running), or say things like, "I wish I could quit my job and just run all the time."  Those are all bullshit statements. I say to them, "Have you ever tried to run all day, for 10 days?"  That shit ain't as easy as you think.  Try it. You are most likely better off keeping your job, and just running an hour a day as a hobby.  I'd rather run a 100 miler any day.  That shit is easy, in comparison. You might have some ups/downs but you'll typically be done in 24 to 35 hours.  How would you like have those ups and downs for 168 hours or for the whole 240?  How would you like to to look at the board that marks your progress and after 5 days of 18 hour days only be half way?  If that sounds like your idea of being a badass, then by all means sign up and let's get after it. 
      I also learned that this bullshit you hear from yoga practitioners and wanna-be Buddists (who don't really understand what they hell they are talking about) telling you to "stay present", that is a crock of shit.  Stay in the present moment and you wont have the foresight to tell your crew, "Hey pack me extra CarboPro for the bottom loop, last time I ran out of calories and bonked." That simple statement involves both the past and the future.  It involves forward planning and learning from experience. If you are "present" in the "now" you can't actually make a statement like this.  This bullshit about "just be present" and everything will be okay, is nonsense.  You're just trying to deny reality.  Look, your feet hurt and there ain't shit you can do about it, but denying it won't solve your problem.  Human beings are goal oriented beings who act.  Ludwig von Mises has many quotes regarding this: "Human action is purposeful behavior" ; "Action is an attempt to substitute a more satisfactory state of affairs for a less satisfactory one." ; "Most actions do not aim at anybody’s defeat or loss. They aim at an improvement in conditions." ; "The vigorous man industriously striving for the improvement of his condition acts neither more nor less than the lethargic man who sluggishly takes things as they come. For to do nothing and to be idle are also action, they too determine the course of events." I really like Mises, so I felt like throwing his quotes into the report.
     I learned that you should preview every song, speech, or any thing you put on your music player.  Don't just randomly grab whole records and throw them on your player.  Some asshole put together a  Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits and I pulled that off the 500G drive I have.  I'll tell you, everyone of those songs sucked ass and I know a lot of Willie songs.  I could not believe it. What a crock of shit.  If I didn't know already, Martin Luther King Jr. was a great orator.  Way better than Churchill. Kennedy was pretty good as well.
     I should have known but I'll not soon forget the lesson in foot swelling.  Dammit. Once I realized that screwed up my whole race because my shoe choices, I felt like this starting about 1:50:

   Also that even though I brought 2 jugs of CarboPro and 2 bags of Tailwind, that wasn't enough for 10 days.  I like grilled cheese with shit tons of butter.  They are even better when you dip them in Miracle Whip.  There are lots of folks claiming miracles in this world, but Miracle Whip is the true miracle.  It's trans-fat free with lots of sodium and vitamin K, for whatever that's worth. I almost regretted all the times I talked shit to the Germans when I was stationed there about dipping their french fries (pommes frites) into mayonnaise, but I stopped just short of regret.  Plus it ensures that the bread is moist so that you don't cut up the inside of your mouth.  I still hate ramen.  Spam got old after day one. Olive oil is still good to drink.
     What does infinity mean?   As one of the signs on the course said, "We think of infinity as a really big number, but it’s not. It’s endlessness."  And even though the Infinitus 888K did come to an end eventually, while we were in the whirlwind, we couldn't fathom it. Why is the infinity symbol shaped like an eight that is just laying on the ground?  Eat shit, John Wallis.  While I'm no Carl Jung and don't profess to know anything special about "Man and His Symbols" the sleeping eight did come to represent something for me.  I came to view each end of the 8 where one end of the ellipse is representing human suffering and the other is representing the human will. As long as man exists, there will always be both. Which one will conquer the other? Who are you?  

An Elliptical Revolution - 100K in 2 Mile Loops

     Vincent and I were out at the Houston Running Festival on Saturday.  This event has a half-marathon, marathon, 50K, 50M, 100K, 100M, 12HR, or 24HR categories.  I was signed up for the 100K and Vincent the 50K.  The course is a 2 mile loop in Bear Creek Park on the westside of Houston.  
      My goal last year in 2013 was to run this 100K in 10hrs30min so that I could qualify for Spartathlon.  However I ended up getting the flu on Christmas day and was unable to make it.  No so this year.  I've been training very consistently since August of 2013.  I have been averaging about 136 heart rate at a 8:49 pace so I thought if all went well, my chances for a qualifying time were pretty good. Based on the new qualifying standards, I just barely qualified.  I may have to wait through a lottery process.  Which is fine for me.  No worries.   
     This course is a two mile looped course.  Logistics are easy if you can get over the fact that you are spending nine to ten hours running around in circles and with very tight margins of time. There would be little to no walking for me.  I put about two and a half scoops of a mixture of tailwind/carbopro/skratch in my hand held bottles.  I had eight, sixteen ounce Ultimate direction bottles all lined up for nutrition, and also about 4 gels at the ready.  My plan was one bottle per hour.
      Nothing ever goes according to plan.  The day started overcast at 70 degress with 100% humidity.  What a bunch of bullshit.  That went on for 4 hours.  My water usage rate went up quite a bit, but was still manageable.  After four hours the cold front blew in and cooled things off but, it rained quite a bit as well.  So it got pretty dammed cold.  My 50K split was about 4:30, which I figured for me to make a nine hour 100K would be almost impossible.
     At mile 38 my Garmin died and you can see from my results, my pace immediately started slowing down and from mile 48/50 on I was averaging about 10 minute miles.  Oh well.  Isn't that how it goes some times?  I ended up running a 9:45:58 according to these results.  I was first in the 100K which was nice, but I do not think the other competitors were there to tear up the course.  This event was really low key. 
     Why a revolution?   This is huge advancement for me in terms of total running, blocking out boredom, the elements, and managing my race nutrition.  I've never actually run that many miles in a race, ever.  All total I ran at least 61 miles of the 62.  My energy levels felt great most of the race.  I didn't let the weather get to me, and generally ran my ass off.  What a huge confidence booster for me.  I really hit a tough spot between miles 40 to 50, but was able to push through that mental barrier.  The last 12 miles were basically run at a 10min pace.  I'll take that. 
     I have some pain on the inside of my left knee and my right achilles is a bit tight.  I've been icing the knee and did some foam rolling last night and this morning.  I should be good to go by Friday.  I even have very little muscle soreness, as compared to previous events.  I really do feel like I hit this one out of the park, even though I was 46 minutes over the time I was trying to run.
     If you are reading this, thanks for indulging me and allowing me to gloat.  Let's go for a run!!!

Measured Indifference: A Backyard Odyssey

     What is an odyssey?  Webster's Online says: a series of experiences that give knowledge or understanding to someone.   The Big Backyard Ultra was such an experience.  The Ultrasign up description says, "The concept is brutally simple. Race until every runner, save one, surrenders." And you can click on the link above for the rest of the details.
     Even though Doug told me about the event back at Hardrock, I didn't sign up or make any plans for this event until the Barkley Fall Classic.  Gina and I were having a smoke with Gary after packet pickup closed and he mentioned it.  Once I got back home I signed up on the wait list and Gina and I made our flight arrangements.  We were not sure I'd be able to run, but figured if not, we'd get drunk and party. 
     Lo and behold, I made it off the wait list.  Yippie!  I get to run 4.166 mile loops till I die.  Great.  We arrived in Nashville the Friday before the race, picked up supplies, and headed to Bell Buckle.  The race venue was laid back.  We checked in with Laz and tried to make friends with Big.  Charlie Engle was there which was cool because I had seen his movie, Running the Sahara, and hoped I'd get a chance to meet him one day!  We talked a bit and headed back into town for some pizza and beer.
     At dinner we meet up with Mike, Kelly,  and also Joe Fejes the American 6 day record holder.  Stories were told and a few beers consumed in the typical ultrarunning fashion.  Always wanting one more, but knowing we have work in the AM, we paid the tab and headed back to our tent at Gary's house.
     We got off to an easy start at 7AM.  No worries, 4.16 miles and an hour to do it in. Listening to advice from Mike, Marcy, and Kelly I made a mental note of waypoints on the course and at what minute of the hour I hit them.  As we completed the first loop at about 55 minutes, I mentioned to Marcy how it seemed a bit stressful that at 57 minutes Laz blew the whistle 3 times, at 58 - 2 times, and at 59 minutes 1 time and at the top of the hour he rang the bell.  Marcy casually replied, "It's only stressful if you make it."  Great advice Marcy.
     Gina crewed the shit out of me.  She had all the right things I needed at all the right times.  She alleviated the boredom between loops by swapping stories and jokes with Mike, Mike, and Gary.   She had her bikini top on with her cowboy boots!  Of course!
     We went round-n-round every hour, on the hour.  At hour 12 it was the last loop on trail before we moved to the road, but you hit night time during this loop.  A few drops were expected.  I'm not sure how many there were.  However we hit the next 12 road loops with about 20 or so runners, maybe just 16 but I don't know for sure.  While some folks, mostly Kelly, said I was real talkative, I actually felt like I didn't talk much at all.  Her and I did talk on loop 2 and maybe 3.
     In the middle of the night, probably loop 20 I really wanted to quit.  Gina urged me to go on, and I kinda knew I would not quit at that time, but got dammed, I wanted too.  I kept saying, okay dammit one more loop.  And plus there were 16 people left on the course. Geeze, I can't quit now!  
     This is where the poker game started.  Okay, how many folks can drop before me.  :)  Each loop I was like, "Got dammit, I hope one of these fuckers quit!!!!"  But they just didn't quit.  On loop 25 we moved back onto the trail.  A few drops were expected on this loop and the odds makers were not let down.  At loop 27 there were 6 runners left.
     After loop 29 I dropped. Runner 6.  By loop 32 there were only 3 men standing.  Loop 37, 2 men remained, and after loop 48 the last two men both stopped.  What a chivalrous end too an epic adventure.
     I stopped after loop 29 for one reason.  I took the pain personal.  I ran the short road section, before we hit the trail portion of the loop and the pain really grabbed me.  I had been having this conversation over the last two loops as the pain would torment me, "Okay John, think about something else right now."  This strategy was effective.  I'd been using it since loop 20.  I even thought to myself. "Imagine this is the last loop, of the last race, you'd ever run in your life, would the pain be so personal then? Would it matter how bad it hurt if you knew in 10 minutes you'd never run again?"
     I knew the answer to the question already, "No, the pain would not matter."  However this still did not stop the pain from overwhelming my mental capacity to push it away. It's as if you need to view yourself at point A and the pain at point B.  You are not the pain and the pain is not you.  You exist and the pain exists, but the pain isn't taking this out on you like a school yard bully.  To love the pain or to hate the pain  is to acknowledge the pain and let it control you a bit.  If you consider the pain with a "measured indifference" then it becomes manageable, controllable. 
     So thank you to Laz and the volunteers and especially to my crew chief Gina for providing the venue and support that helped me learn this valuable lesson.  When Epictetus wrote his Enchridion, he could have just entitled it, "Measured Indifference" .  The path to realizing the principles of the chief philosophy which I espouse, has just become more clear.
    

Hardrock 2014 Race Report - Esse Quam Videri

      This year was my 4th time to stand on the start line since 2009 and I had never been more prepared.  If you are friends with me on Facebook then you know that I have been training seriously since October 2013.   You can see my training log here: JOHNSHARPTRAINIG
      The pre-race hiking and acclimatization days went well as I used some of these times to help me feel confident about what splits were achievable and about what type of shape I was in.  This year was pretty special, some days I hiked alone and some days I went with friends.  My "parents" came and stayed the first week and on 3 July Samantha and Tony showed up. The 4th of July was epic with a 2nd place finish in the beer mile in 10:08 at 9,300ft elevation. 

      Also I got to carry the Hardrock banner in the parade. Scott and Melanie threw a tent up in the yard of the house we rented and it started feeling like Sturgis.   
     One of the biggest changes this year was having a crew and more pacers.  Before, Joyce would crew because Joe and I would be about the same speed and in 2012 Brian Ricketts paced me.  However, this year I had Joe as my main crew with Samantha O'Brien and then three pacers: Brooks Williams, Tony Russ, and Gina Chupka.  Additionally, after consultation with a 9 time Hardrock finisher Billy Simpson, I decided to cut my water in half.  The 3 previous starts, I started with about 110oz.  This year 52oz.  This made a big difference.  I had a pretty solid fueling strategy with Tailwind and VFUEL.  Lastly, even with the late snow melt and predicted rain, I knew my feet would be bullet proof because I was using Trail Toes anti-chafing/anti-blister cream.
     On the Wednesday before the race,  I sat down with Joe and based on some guessing we planned a 33:30 finish time using splits from Billy's 2012 round.  See the link for our mockup: HARDROCK_SPLITS.  This has my 2014 actual splits as well.  This 33:30 guess was also based on conversations and feedback from Billy.  The race check-in went well.  I packed drop bags and we waited.
     Race morning I got dressed and went over to the gym and started working on my video:

     At this point there is nothing to be worried about, just go run and have fun.  The early miles went as expected.  Strong climbs up to Grant Pass and Oscars.  Got some pretty good rain coming into Telluride, but I never slowed down.  As necessary I would drink water from the streams when my water would run out. My first bit of struggle was going up to Kroger's Canteen aid station out of Telluride.
     Before I cleared timberline I had to stop and throw up a few times.  I didn't know why at the time but I was mixing my Tailwind too strong.  I was putting 2 scoops per 16oz in my chest bottles.  After 8 hours I am guessing this was too much on the stomach.  I just wanted to try and get 300 calories an hour.  So I'd drink a bottle and take a gel.  I reached Kroger's pretty low so Roch and Megan gave me an O'Doul's to drink and some soda.

    Since I had low blood sugar, going down the 3 pitches to the road was slower than expected, but by the time I hit the road I felt much better and I hauled ass all the way to Ouray. 
      In Ouray I met my crew the second time, pretty pumped up.  I got to wear my sombrero I picked up at Clines Corners. 

    The crew fed me grilled cheese and chicken soup. I picked up Tony as my first pacer and we reached the Grizzly bear mine before we had to pull out our head lamps.  It started raining again when the sun went down, but by the time we reached Engineer aid station it stopped.  Tony was soaking wet because his jacket was shitty, but I was good.  We peaked and hit the road to Grouse Gulch aid station.  About a mile out, my IT band on my right knee was killing me.  Turns out my Hokas were causing me to pronate excessively and making my IT band hurt.  Paul Schmidt came to the rescue with his piece of panty hose trick.
     Here I picked up Brooks and we high tailed it up to the top of Handies Peak.  We made this section in 2hr50min and in the pre-hiking I made it in 2hr30min so I felt pretty good about how things were going.  I did push a bit going up, so the going down took a tad longer than I expected.  However, once we hit Burrows Park we hauled ass into Sherman and passed a few runners.
     Basically, everything went as planned until about 2 miles out of Pole Creek aid station.  I didn't have a hat or a buff to protect me from the sun.  Dammit.  I basically got overheated and my body started slowing down.  Looking back I should have laid in a stream for 5 minutes, got chilled and got my butt up and start running my tail off.  It's always a double edged sword though.  What if you got wet and chilled and a storm blows in?  We got in and out of Maggie's and made our way to Cunningham.  At the top of the first climb out of Maggie's we ran into a bit of sleet and hail, but nothing major.  It was a God send because it cooled me off and I was able to function a bit more efficiently.
     Brooks was doing a great job keeping me moving, taking selfies, regular pics, and throwing up!

     As we rolled into Cunningham, I was okay but pretty exhausted.  I knew that sub 35 at this point could be attainable, but I'd have to work really, really hard.  My first goal of finishing in the day light, I knew I would make.  I decided I'd take my time getting to the finish.  Does it really matter?   Yea, it does to some extent, but I was happy and satisfied. 
     I picked up Gina as my last pacer and we climbed up to the top of the final climb.  We got a bit of hail on us, but nothing to write home about.  Just kind of cooled us off.  Once we started heading downhill, the last seven or so miles into town I sat down on a rock.  I get a bit nostalgic at the end of events sometimes.  All this struggle, the labor, it will be over soon.  I wanted to hold on to it a bit longer.  Scotty Mills and his pacer went by.  I figured I should get moving.  We walked it in to town.
     As we approached the ski lodge, Bill Dooper met us.  That was a real treat.  He is ultrarunning's biggest fan and I enjoy seeing him at the races and chatting.  Coming down the final stretch on Reese Street,  I could see my crew standing in the middle of the road. For some reason Joe was walking Samantha's dog.  It was comical.  Here is us at the rock:

Reflections: Mostly I feel grateful and thankful.  For standing at the start line 4 times, for my friends who were there crewing me, pacing me, and bringing me to the finish line.  For a great mentor, coach, and friend who's made these Hardrock finishes possible. For the race itself.  That there is an event which demands all you've got.  For the ability to endure.  


               Esse quam videri  - To be, rather than to seem to be".

200 Miles Under The Texas Sun: My Search for a Lost Pony

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    Once, on a hot afternoon in June of 2008, we'd just left the Dry Fork aid station headed down to Cow Camp.  The Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming are pretty nice in early June, notwithstanding the mud.  Joe and I were having a chat about running.  I felt pretty good, being 15 miles into my first 100 mile trail run.  I says, "Man Joe, I'll tell you what, man!  I wanta run that Texas Independence Relay as a Solo run.  Yea man, wouldn't that be bad ass?"  Ole Joe just kinda grunted a bit and said, "Johnny, why don't we talk about this tomorrow?" 
     Way leads on to way, things come and go.  Dreams fade, shit happens, life happens.  I was 30 years old back then and had just run my first marathon in November of 2007.  In the intervening years between then and now lots of things happened.  No I didn't get married or divorced or have any kids.  My career has been stable.  I kept on ultra running.  A little here, a lot there.  Over the years I DNF (did not finish) nine 100 mile races and finished about seven 100 mile races.  I remember each year when TIR time would roll around or sometimes 6 months out, I'd start talking about running the TIR 200 Solo!  I talked about it so much that I am very certain that my ultra running acquaintances would think to themselves, "Yea, sure bud. Let me know when you're not just jaw-jackin."  I went through all the running fads.  Garmins, HR monitors, introspection, reading running books, hurraches, minimalist shoes, hydration packs, race fueling strategy, bought every running movie I could find, etc....  
     One of my ultra running mentors, Allen Wrinkle, ran the TIR Solo in 2009.  That year I ran on a team with Tony Boatman, Mark Richards, and Alan Tanner among others.  In 2010 I helped crew my buddy Dmitiry on his solo attempt, on day one.  He was ultimately unsuccessful.  In 2012 I ran on a team with my friend Kelli Newlon, Team Asics.
     I'm 36 years old now.  I've dealt with a lot of issues that folks deal with when the start running.  Those issues are always the same.  Some childhood problem, your mommy didn't buy you that pony,  bad marriage, overweight, low self-esteem, rape, molestation, beating your spouse, alcoholic, drug user, killed a man, etc.., etc......     My personal issues were alcoholism, low self-esteem, and fear of abandonment and acceptance.  I got it.  It took me a while, and lots of running.  I ran much, early on, as a teleological endeavor.  Where can running get me too?  Nice car, eh!  But I'm trying to get to California.  I had a firm grasp on my "issues" by 2011.  That took about three years of running.  Then I spent a bit of time really ramping up my quality in late 2011 early 2012, only to fall back into an abyss.  Spent most of  Q3 2012 to end of Q2 2013 in a big ass hole I dug for myself.
     I was very fortunate in 2013 to have a close friend in Samantha O'Brien.  She would text me, check on me.   It was always, "Hey Cowboy, what's going on?"  I was pretty down due to some issues with my professional work.  After 14 years, I'm sure that you can't always ride a cresting wave, but being down in a trough ain't no bueno.  Another buddy Isaiah Vidal would hit me up to train, along with Johnson Cruz from Nicaragua. I got a bit motivated and did a few workouts with them.  They totally kicked the shit out of me.  I even went back to CrossFit but that didn't stick.  Isaiah convinced me to run the Spartan Beast out in Monterrey, CA in August of 2013.  In May I was all in and we made our plans.  In August I backed out.  I had not trained at all.  I had run the Leadville Marathon in July with my buddy Wade Wilson.  At 195lbs I suffered in the altitude and dammed near died (kinda). Isaiah really wanted me to run the Spartan Beast.  I think he knew it would help me out.  But, I backed out.  
     Isaiah went on to Monterrey.  He did well and was challenged to ride a bicycle from Texas to Vermont for the Spartan Championships.  What a tough MF'er.  He inspired me. That first week in August of 2013 I went out for my first, "training run" in about a year.  I said, "Johnny, you can't control what folks think about you, but you can control what you think about you."  This is Stoicism 101, but when you're in a hole, you don't want to give up all that hard work you spent digging.
     That first day back was tuff.  100 degree,Texas afternoon in August of 2013, out on a four mile run.  I had to walk a mile of it.  But, I went out the next day and did it again.  And then the next, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one.  Until it wasn't a big deal anymore.  It was just a part of my life.  I didn't worry to much if work was gonna miss me.  I ran, and then I ran some more and then a bit more.  August was a good month.  
     I ran the Bear 100 in late September on 8 weeks of training.   I continued to train and ran my first Spartan Beast in December in Texas.  I went down to Brazil in January 2014 and ran the Brazil 135.   Ran sub 35 hours.  I called Jay the RD of the TIR and told him I want to make a bid for the Solo in 2014!!  He was receptive.  
      In August of 2013 I had finally reached the point where I was either going to become a master at this craft and quit bullshitting, or I was going to walk away from running.  I mean if you're going to spend your time doing something, then it's worth doing well.  Doing that thing to the best of your abilities.  If not, you're really just pissing in the wind, and then you end up with piss all over you.  So towards the last part of 2013 I became a student of running.  When you first start running, you just go out there. You have some success.  Maybe get that half-marathon completed or a full marathon.   Then you think you know it all.  Run an ultra or two, maybe a 100 miler.  Boom, you are a expert.  I spent time really thinking about running.  Form, technique, energy systems, etc....  Reading every article I could find on running, strengthening, sprints, running drills, you name it.  Evaluating my weaknesses and looking for areas where I need to improve.  Besides increasing volume and frequency, I focused on quality and specificity.   Threw in a glute and core routine with some foam rolling and everything really started to come together.  Bullet proof!  Was I spending 4 hours a day training?  Yea, but what else do I have going on? 
     So why the Texas Independence Relay? Why 200 miles?  From even back in 2008, I just felt drawn to this idea.  Basically this event loosely follows Sam Houston's retreat from Gonzales known as the Runaway Scrape.  I'm at least a 4th generation Texan, maybe 5th on both sides.  One set of grandparents, the Dreyer's  lived in Gonzales.  I learned how to swim in their pool out at Shady Oaks neighborhood.  In October of every year we'd go to the Come and Take It parade and annual festival.  I spent my junior high and high school years going to school in Yoakum.  I'd played football in almost every town along the early part of the route.  If not football, we'd drank beer and cruised back roads on quite a few of the back roads in the first 50 miles of the race!! I bought my first car in Eagle Lake, one of the towns we pass through. A 1983 Camaro I purchased in 1995, thank God I didn't have a mullet! My mom lives just across the bayou from the San Jacinto Monument, in the Highlands.  This monument, this obelisk, is the tallest in the world.  Taller than the Washington Monument.  It was built in the art deco architectural style which is my favorite style.  Art deco, let's bring that back!  Texas is known for doing things bigger.  It's people are typically larger than life, gregarious and outgoing.  I feel like I embody this quality.  When I'm in a foreign country and people ask me where I'm from I don't say USA or America.  I tell folks, I'm from Texas.   The distance, to run it in one go, is unfathomable for most people.  Hell it was for me, but what a big ole dream.  For all of these reasons, I knew that one day I'd run this event.  
      Running 200 miles is pretty simple.  You just put one foot in front of the other for 200 miles.  I mean, hell that's so easy a cave man can do it.  However, the real crux of the problem of running 200 miles is logistics. The second salient issue is crew harmony.  Who do you pick?  Why do you pick them?  Will they jive with the other two members?  How many crew?  Thankfully between talking with Joe and Vincent, crew organization, shifts, etc.. was pretty simple.  Two 3 man crews that work twelve hour shifts.  Joe has run Badwater and Vincent has crewed there.  Successful Badwater crews over the years have developed best practices which relate directly to this event.  It's basically a Badwater style road race with support crew.  No sense going around and trying to re-invent wheels.  
     I sent this message out to a number of probable friends that I thought would be willing to support me on February 11th, "Men/women wanted for hazardous journey. No wages, stifling heat, long hours of complete boredom. Safe return probable. Honour and recognition in event of success."  Along with other information about the TIR.   By early March I had the crews picked out.  Vincent, Gina, and Samantha would be Crew 1 (Day) starting from Gonzales and Allen, Mom, and Jaime would be Crew 2 (Night) coming out of Houston.  Below are the instructions I sent out to the crew members on the 20th of March:

    
General Plan: Run from Gonzales, TX to La Porte, TX loosely following Hwy90 and I-10. Have fun, be pretty dammed tired, try not to piss each other off, have some beers, and stuff. 

Specific Plan: Load up Vincent's truck which will act as the crew vehicle for the duration of the race on Thursday 27, March. Friday morning at 0430 we will leave with Crew1 from San Antonio in the crew vehicle bound for the start line in Gonzales. I will ride with Bill Conway in my car. Start the race at 0600 on Friday 28, March. The crew will leap frog me along the course providing aide such as food, water, coke and helping to navigate the course. It's important that the crew vehicle is never more than 2 miles away from me. I plan to employ a run/walk strategy where I run about 2 miles and meet the crew truck. Break to a walk and the crew hands me food, water, etc... Spend about 5 minutes walking and then pick up the running again for 2 miles for as long as this can be maintained.
Crew2 should try to meet and travel to where we will be on the course in Houston late Friday night, avoiding afternoon traffic. Maybe about 10PM. Once Crew2 reaches Crew1 on the course they will spend 20 minutes discussing their roles and responsibilities and conduct a hand off such that from my perspective it's a seamless transition. Crew1 will use the vehicle that Crew2 drove from Houston to leave the course and grab a hotel room along the course and rest up. Once they are fully rested say 8 to 10 AM on Saturday, they will come back on shift and relive Crew2. Crew2 then of course will do the same, grabbing a hotel room up along the course.Each crew will rotate in this manner until we reach the San Jacinto Monument!During each crew relief, the on coming crew will need to call ahead and see if anything needs to be brought in for their shift. Maybe ice, cokes, or new legs. Maybe some hot Hooters chicks. We will have a SPOT GPS tracker in the crew vehicle and you can see that tracker at the website below with 5 minute location updates. Each crew when they arrive on shift will need to change batteries in this device and verify that the location is still working. This will be used so that the RD Jay Hilscher and the Crews will know how to find us and can track status.

     Crew selection was probably the most critical decision, even outside of nutrition/hydration strategies.  Each member of the crew brought specific personality traits, prior experience, knowledge, commitment levels, and motivations with them to this event. In total, these 3 men and 3 women were the chief and direct cause of my success in completing this event. From having crewed at big events, to having run numerous races, run this distance before, local knowledge of the city and course, demeanor, availability, etc....  This list could go on for days.  It's out of the scope of this report to identify each and every reason I picked each of my crew members, but please know and understand that crew will make or break you.  Not only does one have to consider how you feel about the member you have selected, but must consider how that person feels about being there.  Additionally, you have to look at how member one will interact with each of the other members, etc...  Basically 30 separate relationships, if my math is right.  (it probably is not)
     So what did we do for nutrition/hydration?  I went to HEB the Sunday before the race.  I bought about 230$ worth of food and drinks.  Cinnamon rolls, apple turnovers, Mexican wedding cookies, donuts, chocolate chip cookies, sandwich spread, rye bread, peanut butter, jelly, chips, spaghetti-o, chicken noodle soup, ramen, ready to eat packaged chicken, grapefruit soda, coca-cola, Starbucks espresso drinks, butter tortillas, grits, corn bread, Velveeta shells and cheese, Gatorade, apple juice, bananas, peaches, nectarines, Coors Light, and I don't remember what else.  We had a bunch of food.  I vaguely remember eating or trying to eat a bit of each of it. I did eat lots of corn bread and shells and cheese.
     SPOT tracker and social media.  Yes, why not. It's a big deal for me, let's get folks involved.  Each crew had a designated position for pacer/social media. In reality Samantha did a bang up job with the social media.  It does seem a little self-serving and it is. With the SPOT tracker, the RD could keep tabs on us without having to bug him.  Also it enabled the crews to be able to find each other when they needed to make crew changes.  Additionally, if anyone wanted to meet me on the course and ride or run a bit, that option was open as well.  Gordon and Robert came out!  Through Facebook we sent out the link to my SPOT shared page and let folks know I would be running this event.  I also sent the link out to some of my co-workers.  It is pretty exciting because the SPOT is set to send an update every 5 minutes.  You can view these updates via satellite view and can essentially see what I was seeing.  The terrain and topography, foliage, barns, stores, city etc... It was a real opportunity for  anyone who was interested to really get involved.  Maybe live a bit vicariously, maybe be inspired.  For me, I got a bit motivated reading the Facebook comments.  It's probably too much disclosure, but I only read comments while I was in the port-o-johnny!  If anyone was inspired, I just think that is great.  Inspired to do anything, achieve some goal however small or large through watching me via Facebook and SPOT then what a great ancillary benefit.  While it was not my primary intention, being a part of helping people achieve something is pretty dammed hoooaaah!  A lot of time when someone does some running event, they do a charity fundraiser or run for some cause.  I did not.  I ran purely for personal achievement.

Here is the link to the interactive course map which you may find will come in handy to get a sense of refrence while reading the rest of the report:

http://texasindependencerelay.com/interactive-course-map/

       We arrived in Gonzales about 5:40 AM on Friday the 28th of March.  There was not much to do but take some pictures and start running.  My aunt Linda met us at the start line and that was a good thing.  I had a little rumbling down below in the GI area, if you know what I mean.  She swung me by her house and I was able to take care of bizness.  Vincent, Gina, Samantha, Bill, and aunt Linda and I took some pictures and we started.  So typical of an ultra-run start there wasn't any fan fare.  I just looked at my watch and said, "Okay it's 6AM, see you guys in one mile."  Vincent and Gina ran the first mile with me.  Gina and Bill partied pretty hard the day before so she had a nice whiskey hangover and ran the mile in cowboy boots.   Running in cowboy boots was fitting, in the grand scheme of things.

     The prologue is just a one mile loop around the courthouse, downtown and back to the start line.  Once this was done, the crew started doing their crew thing and I eased on up the road.  At the first big intersection were these signs. Like political yard signs with all kinds of motivational statements and my name on them.  Wow!  Really!  Gina had this idea to have these made up.  That was pretty cool.  We had to run a bit along the shoulder of highway 90.  This sucked because it was 0700 and there were lots of 18 wheeler trucks because of all of the oil field traffic in the Eagle-Ford shale formation.   The RD did a good job of keeping us out of the way of the trucks between Gonzales and Flatonia.  Most all of this section was back roads.  Gravel roads that are maintained at the county level.  This section was beautiful and reminded me of the Brazil 135. At exchange 2, the Sam Houston Oak Tree, my buddy Bill had followed the crew vehicle after picking up tacos at Buccees.  We had a quick "gun show" contest to see who's got the biggest arms.  I'm not doing bad for not lifting serious weights in 10 years.

     Between Exchange 2 and 3 we take a hard right turn onto CR 354.   This is where I showcased one of my hidden talents of "cow whisperer" .

     At exchange 4 I told the girls to head on back down to Shiner and do a brewery tour.  And also asked them to pick me up a double meat, double cheese bacon burger from Friday's!!

     Dammed good burger.  I figured it would take me three hours to get to Flatonia at exchange 7, so told them don't rush.  Here was exchange 4 with Vincent and I.

     The miles between exchange 4 and 7 were okay.  Just Vincent and I talking.  All that, "Hey Vincent, you know that if I can keep up this pace, I'll go 48 hours talk!" I was taking it really easy, but that kind of talk always gets you into trouble.  At one point a nice dog started running with me for a mile or so.  I thought maybe we'd just take the dog with us.  Like a mascot, but she turned back.  Luckily by this time, all of the porta-johnnies were being dropped into place.   In Old Moulton I took my first "break" which worked out good because this is where Vincent gave me a pair of running tights to wear.  I typically never wear these, but I was kinda having some minor irritation from the shorts I was wearing. So, having these tights saved my race. 
     In Flatonia at exchange 7 we met back up with the girls.  I munched on the burger as I walked while drinking a Coors Light, walking right past the police station of course.

      A local guy had put my name and other solo guy's name on the marquee of the local theater.

     At some point between Flatonia and Schulenburg, Gina got out and did some pacing for me.  It was pretty hot this afternoon so we were trying to keep it going easy and not getting too excited.  In Schulenburg I stopped at the exchange 9 and did some foam rolling.  This was about 49 miles into the race. Vincent cut up some avocado and was stuffing food down me.  Here I changed socks, applied more Trail Toes, and put on my Hokas.  Previously I was running in New Balance 980.
     Just before exchange 10 we come down a small hill and cross underneath I-10.  I'd been dreaming about this particular spot on the course for years.  You can always see this section when you're going back and forth between Houston and San Antonio.  I'd always think, "I can't wait, one day I'll be running down that hill on my TIR Solo run."  Today was that day.  I stopped at the port-o-johnny here.  Then a big as storm blew right across the front of us.  Luckily we were far enough behind it we did not get rained or hailed on, but we got the cool breeze. 
      At Borden, exchange 12, Vincent had me stop and get some food.  They pulled out the table and chairs for me.  I was doing okay, but was going downhill.

     This was about mile 61.  The next section I almost quit.  Between exchange 12 and 13 things got really bad mentally for me. Mile 61 to 65.  I was hurting everywhere, but especially in the tendon behind my left knee and my left calf.  It was about 9:30 PM maybe.  I wanted to quit so bad.  I started making up all sorts of reasons.  I swore I'd quit and never run Hardrock again.  I'd back out of India, La Ultra - The High. Maybe Rajat would give me some sort of refund.  I said, "I need to tell Vincent to call Mom, Allen, and Jaime and tell them not to come."  No sense in wasting their time.  My patellar tendon on my left knee was hurting like hell as well.  Generally I just felt exhausted.  I thought of how dumb it was to have run two 50K and a 100K+ race this month.  Really, why didn't I freakin taper?  I figured I could quit and, you know, everything would be okay. It's not that big of a deal.
     Then a thought occurred to me.  I typically drink 6 to 10 shots of espresso everyday. I had not had any coffee yet.  Yea, hell yea!  That's it. I need some got dammed coffee.  I hadn't mentioned to any of the crew what was going through my head during that time, but Vincent made me some coffee and Gina got out and started running with me again.  We covered that six miles between exchange 13 and 14 pretty quickly, just over an hour or so.  In Columbus I told the team that I was going to quit earlier but, I'm good to go now.  Whooooooooooo!  Man that was a bad patch, real bad.
     In Columbus the crews did the first crew change.  Mom, Allen, and Jaime had arrived from Houston.  I asked Samantha to pick me up some coffee at Whataburger.  I told everyone hello but kept on running, hiking. From downtown Columbus to Altair is almost 11 miles.  Somewhere I heard it was like 3 miles and kept keying on that and was just getting frustrated.  I could see these radio tower lights and at this time Allen had gotten out to pace.  He mentions, "Yea, those towers, that's where we turn at Altair." Really, really, bro?  WTF.  Arrrrghghghghg!.  After what seemed liked forever we reach exchange 16 in Altair.  This was mile 82.46.  I changed my socks here and applied more Trail Toes cream on my feet.   I never changed shoes or socks again.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it! 
     We made our way into Eagle Lake, TX which rounds out to mile 92.  It was about 3 or 4 in the morning.  The witching hour in ultra running.  When shit just goes down hill.  Allen was still moving forward with me.  We stopped at Buccees and I laid out on some bags of deer corn they had stacked up outside.  I didn't realize it before but my Mom had stuffed my little sister in the truck.  I didn't even know she was there.  Mom went in and got me a taquito and a cherry, vanilla coke and some more coffee.  I'm sure other stuff happened here but I started moving forward again. On out of town headed to the big grain elevator down the road at the next exchange. 
     The road in the area was narrow with no shoulders, a really shitty place to run.  Jaime ran with me during most of this section.  The grain elevator at exchange 19 was reached about 7:30 in the morning, mile 99.  Not too bad.  I started getting pretty cold and wasn't moving well.  I took on some calories here, but was cold so wrapped myself in a blanket and continued to make forward progress, now that the halfway point, 100 miles had been reached.  I know I told some joke or two, but don't remember what they were.

     We arrived in Wallis, exchange 21 about 10 or 10:30 in the morning and we met back up with Crew 1.  Vincent, Gina, and Samantha.  I was struggling and not doing well. Exhausted.  I asked Samantha to go to Subway and get me a sandwich.  She asked, "What do you want, what kind?"  I told her, "Turkey and avocado" but in my mind I told her to get me "turkey, cheese, cucumbers, mayo, and avocado".  So of course when she got back with my sandwich, I was like (in my mind), dammed this ain't what I want.  I didn't verbalize anything because I knew I didn't say what I wanted. I laid in the camper, eating the sandwich.

     After leaving Wallis, we got a nice surprise because Thomas Orf showed up on the course!   Thomas and I have been friends since Bandera 100K 2009.  We spent some time together that day.  He's one hellva runner.  It really was nice seeing him out there.

     Thomas took all of the above photos while he was on the course.  I'll be honest and say that I could only think of getting to Cinco Ranch.   I just wanted to get off of the highway.  The trucks and cars were really starting to get to me.  In between exchange 22 and 23, I started to throw up a little bit. 
     From Wallis to the approach to Simonton, Vincent was feeding me a half a cup of grits and cornbread or velveta noodles with cheese every mile. I'd had just enough fuel for about 9/10th of a mile and start crashing.  Just depleted.  Gina started pacing with me again about 3 miles out of Simonton.  We passed a statue of what looked like Alexander the Great on riding his horse Bucephalus.  How fitting.  I'm a lover of Greek history and know the story well.
     At the church in town, Vincent says, "Johnny, you gotta get some sleep, you need to sleep."  Okay bro.  I knew it I guess.  He put ice packs on my knees, feed me food and a coke and I slept for 30 minutes.

     I took a chance to read some Facebook posts, but kinda passed out on the blue tarp.  Gina and I made our way up to Fulshear once I woke up from the nap.  The traffic was really getting to me.  The cars, the trucks, the motorcycles.  Just nerve racking.  In Fulshear at exchange 24, mile 123 Samantha hooks us up with espresso shots from the local coffee place.  Finally, civilization.  As we turned into Cross Creek ranch subdivision, Vincent and Samantha pulled the campers into the grassy area at the front of the subdivision entrance.  They got lots of stares and middle fingers, but I got a beer.  Gina and I started going through the neighborhood and stopped at the school at exchange 25. There was some sort of fundraiser going on at the school.  As I laid on the sidewalk, little kids with their parents gave us stares.  Samantha said in a mocking voice of some little kid, "Hey dad, why is that man laying on the sidewalk, eating chips and crying?" 
     In the next section we met up with Rob Goyen.  He took a video and said he'd see us later on that night to help out crewing.  Cool bro!  Finally we reached Luke's Locker in Cinco Ranch.  Luck's is the best running store chain in Texas and this was a real milestone for me.  At about 37 hours we finally made exchange 26 and mile 133.  This was almost further than I've ever run before. Earlier in the year I ran the Brazil 135 in 34.5 hours, so I figured I was not doing bad and had paced myself pretty good, being as how I was in the general area of my last attempt at this distance.
     Vincent had planned a rest stop for some sleep at this time, it was about 7 PM once we arrived. I didn't argue.  I ate the soup, which Vincent burned his hand on.  Drank a beer while sitting on the cot and had something else, which I cannot remember.

     I was being treated like royalty.  The funny part was this was Saturday night and this is a pretty nice shopping area with some restaurants.  Folks were all dressed up, going out. Some douchebag and his wife were in "biker gear" just idling their motorcycle looking for a parking spot just behind me in the picture.  I gave them the "look" and an aggressive wave as I lay on the cot, covered up with a blankie.  Intimidating, I know!  Don't make me got up off the cot, I'll whip that ass.  Sleeping was not going well, but I needed the break to let the food do it's magic.  I left just after dark and headed on down the course.
     In between exchange 26 and 27, Gordon Montgomery shows up out of no where.  Really?  Wow, this is out of control.  Gordon and I have know each other for six years.  He's from Ireland, and I'm half Irish.  We both have pretty quirky personalities.  He's been sidelined from running for a bit because of a hip injury, but he brought his mountain bike.  It turns out that he could not have showed up at a better time.  We were about to enter the George Bush Park through Terry Hershey Park area which is about 18 miles total where the crew can only meet  you at the exchanges which were six miles apart.

    At exchange 27, Crew 1 were about to go off shift.  They loaded Gordon up with some food and water for me.  Exchange 27 to 28 were really nice. I knew this section well.  I think I ran it one year when I did the relay, or maybe I didn't.  Gordon and I talked about presence, being, acceptance, life, goals, meaning, value and general conversation that two men can have when both aren't worried about egos.  We've studied some of the same philosophical/psychological material in our spare time and we agree on a number of items and part ways on some as well.  Running and walking, we made good time.  Allen came forward from exchange 28 and met us, about 2 miles in front of the exchange. I'd wanted to stop and rest but there were mosquitoes everywhere and I could not sit down without getting 500 bites.

     At exchange 28, Rob Goyen and Jeremy Hanson show up with Crew 2.  Crew 2 consists of my mom, Jaime and Allen.  I ask Rob to take Gordon and his bike back to his car and that was no problem.  Jaime and I take off through Terry Hershey Park. This section was nice because the trail is undulating which made it easier to plan the run/walk.  I sat down on a bench and pulled a rock out of my shoe.  Actually it was a tiny, tiny pebble but a good excuse.  During this section Jaime did his best to keep me occupied with questions, but I was bit tired of talking.  However we did spend some time drawing parallels between Christians and vegans/buy local/organic/save the planet folks.  In as far as each group tries to make you feel moral/ethical guilt for not buying into their bullshit, then they are the same. 
     Between exchange 29 and 30, Allen started running with me.  We kept ourselves entertained with telling various stories and jokes about our past loves that can not be repeated here. :)  We stood  underneath this sign for pictures

Jaime was trying to take a photo of us and after like 5 minutes of, "oh shit, let me try again". We gave up.  I looked at Allen and said, "Gee bud, It sure was nice hugging you under this sing for the last five minutes.  Too bad we don't have a pic."  Somewhere around this time, the first relay teams passed me.  I really wanted to be in downtown before this happened, but it was not to be.  Around 4 in the morning, I asked my crew to pull out the cot, cause I needed sleep again.  I slept for 30 minutes.  I sat up from the cot, stood up and rolled on down the road. 
     Jaime and I showed up in Memorial park as the sun came up.  Earlier in the night, after I asked my crew to make me some ramen, I waved Rob up.  I leaned into his window like a prostitute after I saw a Whataburger sign. "Hey Rob, you wanta make a girl happy?  How bout a sausage, egg, and cheese tauquito?"  He had picked up some fresh coffee earlier from the sketchy Waffle House. I never ate that ramen. Going into Memorial Park, Rob had picked me up a quad espresso from Starbucks.  I drank about half as Jaime and I made fun of passersby. "Hey runner, elbows down, elbows down, I yelled." 
     We reached downtown about nine o'clock in the morning.  Allen was running with me from Memorial Park.  On our way there, Allen would entertain us with telling passing runners, who may or may not have been in the event, about how I was running 200 miles.  Most didn't give to shits, which was pretty funny.  One lady was like, "Oh really? What's your cause?"  I says, "My cause? WTF?"  She says, "Yea what charity or reason are you running for?"  I kinda looked at her sideways and said, "Personal achievement, I don't run for charity." 
     In downtown at exchange 32, I met up with Kelli Newlon and her team.  We've been great friends for a few years and as I mentioned earlier, I ran on her team in 2012.  She gave me a big ole hug.  Of course I took the liberty of giving her a big ole butt squeeze, cause that's how I roll.  She was waiting to start her leg but I had to keep on rolling.  Just before we took a hard right  to head out of downtown to Herman Park, Kelli passed me. I was toast.  Stopping here, I had about 35 miles to go, just over a 50K.  Vincent gave me some aspirin  He'd been tracking this and as a PA he was very conscious about dosage, timing etc..  I don't want my knees to hurt, but I dont want to be on dialysis either.  He did a great job and what I realized is that the recommended dosages and timing are pretty true, don't exceed them.  I filled up on shells and cheese and cornbread and coke.

     As I eased into Herman Park I crossed under the "arc de Sam Houston".  Wow.  Just pissed, hot, and frustrated.   I sat down on a bench at the end of the reflecting pool, before the exchange.  I asked Vincent to get me the book.

     The book had the legs, the distances, the maps in it.  The crew had purposely been less than forthcoming with the book, but I had to see it.  I looked back and see Jaime with the book.  I yell, "Bring me the dammed book." Jaime. At this point I'd lost track of the course, the mileage, and felt like I was running into oblivion.  I needed to ground myself into what was left, regardless.  At this point I had really lost my sense of humor and this wasn't fun anymore.  I knew I couldn't quit now and didn't want to, but jeeze this really was sucking. 
     After looking at the book and getting out of Herman Park, Allen and I met back with the crew.  Jaime says, "How bout some Wendy's?"  Yea, bro, "Double Baconator!"   When we reached McGregor Park we had less than a marathon to go!

     As you can see in the lower left quarter of the pic above, you'll see the smiling face of Wendy.  I think I drank a beer here as well. This hamburger really helped out. I needed real food and stole some of Jaime's fries.  I started feeling really good rather quickly.  Tony Boatman was at this exchange, exchange 34.  We talked a bit. It was good to see him.  He was the team captain when I ran this as part of a relay team in 2009.  He remembered when I started talking about running this solo back then.  Also I started quoting this line from one of Jimmy Fallon's skits.  Where he is playing Vladimir Putin.  In my best Russian accent I would say,  "I play new game on iPhone, Candy Crush.  I take the candy and I "crush" it!"  I really got a kick out of this.
     Allen, Gina, and myself left McGregor Park in good spirits and it lasted through exchange 35.  At one point I really picked up the pace, maybe eight minute mile pace for a bit. It really felt good to run, really run since I had been shuffling for so long.  This did not last for more than a half mile.  It was very irresponsible, but it was fun. 
     Somewhere after exchange 35, probably just after we crossed Reveille street I stopped to take a break.  I would lay with my back flat in the chair with my legs propped up against the truck, hips bent at 90 degrees.  This helped to make my feet feel better, but as I was trying to get up, I started cramping really, really bad in my upper left abdominal muscle.  This hurt so bad.  I leaned backwards against the truck trying to stretch and open my abdominals and you could see this muscle protruding through my shirt.  I would not release.  At day three, in the heat of the afternoon, I almost broke down.  I just wanted this shit to be over with, but still had 17 or 18 miles to go.  I moved to the tailgate and laid down on there, so I could get flat. Finally the muscle released.  I did the deep breathing technique I learned in kung-fu a few years back. I asked Vincent to give me the salt shaker.  I poured a heaping tablespoon into my hand and ate it, washing it down with a big drink of water.
     I started running again.  In less than a quarter mile I was up to nine minute pace or faster.  Gina and Allen were running with me but It almost felt like I was having an out of body experience.  I was breathing deeply and calmly, holing back tears.  We reached the pedestrian bridge where you cross over I-45 which has some "uphill" where normally anyone at mile 186 would walk, I never slowed down.  Gina kept trying to run right beside me, but I waved her back to get her out of my peripheral vision. Up the bridge, across, down the other side.  I blew threw exchange 36 waving Vincent off. I hadn't had any water or anything since I started running after the cramp, but I could not stop.  I dropped Allen here.  He jumped in the camper with Samantha.  I knew what I was doing was foolish and was getting a bit upset cause he was certain there would be an epic blow up, 10 miles from the finish.  I started running faster, maybe around 8 minute pace up until the point where Allendale Road crosses Richey Street about a mile in front of exchange 37.   I stopped, my legs were getting tired and I knew I needed water.  I asked for some beer, water, and Vincent gave me some more Wendy's baconator.  This was about two-thirty in the afternoon and I had about a half-marathon left. 

     You never realize how much reserve you really have.  There was no way I should have been able to run like that for over an hour at this point, but it happened.  If you dig down really, really deep you can do anything you make up your mind to do.  It was just like my mom had always told me since I was kid, "Son, you can do anything you want to, if you want to."
     At this point there was no doubt that I would finish.  Amazingly nothing was "messed up".  My knees hurt and my feet were tired, but nothing debilitating.  Around this time, between exchange 37 and 38, my mom had arrived back on the course with my oldest sister, a niece, a nephew, and my little sister in addition to my friend Bill in my car. There were four vehicles on the course now.  Samantha's camper, Vincent's truck, my car and mom's Expedition. I though of  the Van Morrison song, Caravan.  "And the caravan is on its way, I can hear the merry gypsies play."  Jaime, Allen, and Gina were running with me.  They ran with me the whole last half marathon.  Around exchange 39 I asked Vincent to round up all of the Trail Toes shirts he could find so we could finish wearing our sponsor's gear, last leg.
     It's strange that as you are approaching a 567ft monument across an open plain, you never see that dammed oblesik until you are about 3 or 4 miles away.  We stopped on the overpass of Pasadena Freeway to have a real good look at the monument still two and a half miles away.  Was this really real?  Am I here?  Yea bud, you are.  My nephew started running me, along with Gina, Allen, and Jaime.  One last stop for the crews and support vehicles on Independence Parkway.  Everyone put on the Trail Toes shirts, so we could rep our sponsor at the finish! 

     That last two miles took forever.  One always thinks how at the very end, you'd just be so ecstatic that you could run 6 min miles to the end.  Not me.  I walked and shuffled a bit, stopped.  My knees hurt.  Just before we turned off the main road into the park, with about a mile to go, Samantha took this photo.

     I think the picture says it all.  Pure exhaustion.  We turned into the park and Allen mused about what type of grandiose speech I'd make or what meaningful statement I'd make.  I was just quoting lines from Good Will Hunting.  "I was just hoping you might give me some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the southern colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War, the economic modalities, especially in the southern colonies, could be most aptly described as agrarian pre-capitalist."  or  "What am I, fuckin' sandwich welfare? I think you should establish a good line of credit." or "Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples"  Pretty nonsensical I guess you could say, but it was my finish and fitting.  How absurd it is to run 200 miles and equally absurd to quote movies lines at the conclusion of such a monumental undertaking.  In keeping with the spirit of the event, we laughed until the end. 
     We were the last finishers of the day, all the other teams had completed their relay.  Some of the teams cheered us on as we approached the parking lot of the monument.  I told Gina, Allen, and Jaime, "Hey watch this, and I broke into a semi-sprint."  It was a joke, it didn't last long.  We did it.

     Jay greeted us at the finish line.  Allen and Bill got the blue Solo cups out and filled up beer for everyone.  Samantha made a video at the finish asking me for a statement.  I said, "If anyone comes to you and says, lets run 200 miles. Don't do it."  The race photographer took a ton of photos for us.  Jay an I chatted for a minute or two.  I completed the run in 59 hours and 57 minutes beating the course record by eight hours or so.  I say "I completed"  but that is not really the case.  We completed the run.  My crew and I.  Vincent, Allen, and Jaime had to pack up and get headed home.  As I lay on the sidewalk talking with Jay's former running coach, Samantha snapped this photo of me by my pizza.  It was further edited.

 

     My family, Bill, Gina, and Samantha head over to mom's house, just across the bayou.  She was already making the pork chop celebration dinner. We opened beers and sat around, everyone was exhausted.  Wow, it really did happen.  Six years later, I crossed that line.

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     Takeaways? Lessons learned?  I never did find that pony, but I guess I never was looking for a pony.  The idea of a lost pony is just a metaphor/allegory for the answer to the question, "Why do we run?"  Why do we run 5K, 10K, half-marathon, 50miles, 100miles or 200 miles.  No one, to my knowledge, has ever given the correct answer to this question.  The question "Why do we run?" may as well be just a rhetorical question.   For me it is a rhetorical question, similar to, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"  Nobody knows.  It's okay to not know, be okay with that.
     Don't be afraid to ask for help.  The immature will tell you, they did something all by themselves, but they didn't.  Life does not happen in a vacuum. It was hard for me to ask 6 people to commit a weekend of their life to my goal.  I did it anyway and could not have done it without them.  When you ask for help, let people help you.  This really just revolves around control and trust.  If you've assembled the right team, delegate and don't micro manage.  This is Leadership 101.  You'll be surprised by the initiative and ingenuity of your team members.  Give a bird room to flap it's wings.
     If you have a goal or a dream, regardless of how long it takes you to achieve it, get started on it. If it takes six months or six years, that time will pass regardless.  The longer you wait, the longer it will take.  Do set some goal for yourself that enhances your life and challenges your known limits. 
     Be gracious and magnanimous.  Be kind.  When Vincent and I talked about how to set up the crews he relayed to me, numerous times, a story of when he was crewing out at Badwater.   The runner he crewed was very rude, basically an asshole.  I didn't want to be this runner.  I wanted to keep my friends once I was done.  One of of my goals was to treat my friends helping me as best as I possible could.  I think that goal was achieved and it makes the running of 200 miles mean that much more.
     Don't try to short circuit stuff.  Pay your dues and put in your work.  Find a mentor, ask questions, and always be a student.  I could have tried to run this event 3 years ago, 2 years ago, last year and I know that I would not have been successful.  When you are out doing some thing, enjoy it. Don't lament the fact that you did not do this X years earlier.  When you are doing whatever it is you are doing, it's always the right time.   All the DNF, all the finishes, every person I've meet in running led me to the start line on March 28th.  The accumulated knowledge of my crew and myself got me to the finish line 60 hours later.
     Finally, believe in yourself.  You can achieve anything you put your mind too. Don't let anyone keep you in a mental cage of self-doubt.  Use goal setting, backwards planning, long range planning, visualization, or any other technique to help you achieve success.  It may be the case that we have more than one life, but we'd never know it if we did.  All we have have is this life, right now.  Go on out there, be audacious.