From owner-ultra@caligari.Dartmouth.EDU Fri Jun 6 07:25:33 1997 From: "STEWART, ANDREA D" To: "'ultra@caligari.dartmouth.edu'" , "'ius-l@american.edu'" Subject: Old Dominion - Long (XP) Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 10:22:39 -0400 Hi All, Just thought I'd give my account of OD. Hope you find some of the info useful. OD was my second attempt at 100, having dropped at 80 at Umstead in April with blisters. I did lots of research on what went wrong and tried to prevent/correct problems. We drove half the distance to Woodstock on Thursday nite. The only prep I did on Thursday nite was clip my toenails and rub off the rough skin on my feet with a pumice stone. We checked in Friday afternoon at the fairgrounds. Mike Robertson advised me to change my clothes, since I was wearing heavy clogs. I figured I shouldn't argue with the experts, so I went back to the hotel and changed into my running stuff. Quick nap. Back for the roll call and race briefing at 5:00, then on to dinner at an Italian place. Had a wonderful dinner of salad, chicken cacciatore, spaghetti, bread, glass of chianti. Water, water, water. Totally stuffed. Back to the hotel for the taping of the feet. I brought with me a file I had compiled on blister posts from the list. My main source was a post from Ivy Franklin instructing me how to apply duct tape. I combined this info with other posts from Will Brown and Damon Lease, as well as things I learned from my wonderful father-in-law, athlete extraordinaire. Thanks to all these people for helping me out! Here's what I did: Showered and rubbed my feet with a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol. I applied tincture of benzoin to my feet and toes to help the tape stick. Then I applied duct tape in crosswise strips to the bottoms of my feet, coming up about an inch onto the top of the foot. I started at the toes and went to the heel. then an additional piece all around the foot and the back of the heel to hold all the ends in place. I decided not to tape all of my toes, but instead taped the big and small toes, since those are the ones I normally have trouble with. I also put a piece of that foam tubing around my little toe (under the tape), since that toe curls under, to keep it spaced. I used waterproof sports tape on the toes, but next time I will probably use duct tape on those instead. 10:00 pm to bed. 3:15 wake up call. Lubed the feet all over with Sportslick, then over that thin socks. I recently switched to thin socks, and they work so much better. Ate a salami & cheese sandwich and an orange. Took a Karl King capsule (I took one every hour until the afternoon, then every 30 minutes) and drank 2 bottles of SUCCEED! Ultra. 4:00 start. I carried a flashlight but didn't need it, as the start is asphalt and packed dirt. Started out conservatively, walking a lot. Also had to pee a lot the whole time. Met some great folks on the walk up Woodstock Gap. Bill, Ben, Karston, a girl (I didn't catch her name) running her 1st 100. 2nd aid station (I think) no water. Took 1/2 bottle of proformance. Crossed back to the same aid station, no water. Split 1/2 bottle of water with Al Montgomery. 5 miles to the next aid. Ahh, water. I got to 20 miles in 4 hours. Perfect. Met Pat who was crewing for me. Feet feel and look good. I had 2 packets of Succeed in my pack. Still full b/c of the water snafu. For some reason, Pat took them out and replaced them with 2 new packets which did not seal. Powder all over the place! My hands were a mess and so was my pack. Yuck. 29 miles, projectile vomiting. Bananas, oranges, gu, in a lovely green solution. Had to be the Proformance drink that messed me up. Feel great now! 32 miles, weigh in, lost 1/2 pound. Not bad, considering the hurling. Peanut butter sandwich, slim jim, oranges, grab 2 bottles of succeed. Photo op, I'm on my way. Al Montgomery is right with me. Pat snaps his photo, too. Up the trail (FINALLY some trial!), down the road, then back into the trail to Duncan Hollow. No water again. I drink a Dr. Pepper and eat some hammer gel (I alternated b/w gu and hammer gel). Despite the lack of water, I'm feeling great. Still making sure to walk a lot so I don't trash my quads. 50 miles. I need a small repair to my duct tape on the heel, but one of my crew tears off the whole thing. This stresses me out, b/c it takes awhile to fix it. A well-meaning woman stops by and proceeds to tell us how we should do it next time. I want to tell her to get lost, but I smile and thank her. I eat pizza, cheddar cheese, slim jim, drink a V-8, outta there. Meet up for the second time with Mickey Jones, whom I met at Uwharrie. We walk, run, chat, make some pit stops. 57 miles. I know I'm going to make it and Pat knows it, too. This was the best aid station, everyone whooping and hollering. Anstr is there, and I see Bill, the guy I met at the start, and James and Rebecca from Umstead. I head up the ATV (awright, more trail!) trail. 65 miles. I come up behind Pat Botts. She doesn't look too good. I ask her if she needs salt. Her companion screams at me not to give her any salt. I apologize and move on. I pop a small blister on my toe, change my socks and lube my feet for the 4th and last time, eat some cheddar chesse, drink a V-8, grab some hard candy, get my flashlight and go. Pat Botts blows through the aid station without stopping; I am concerned for her. I pass her on the hill and she wishes me well. I'm picking up the pace, and cruise to 70, passing people all along the way. I get to 70 at around 8:40. I meet up with a guy, who has no flashlight. It gets dark. It's hard for 2 people to run on one flashlight, so we have to walk. During our conversation, we discover we met at my very first ultra, Bob Boeder's 50k in Fayetteville. Small world!! At 73-ish, we find another guy, literally sitting in the woods in the dark (and, boy, is it dark!). He had gotten off the trail and there were not very many chemlites. We pick him up and off we go. We can't run at all now with 3 people, and I have to keep swinging the light back so we can all see. 75, finally. I bid the fellas good nite and meet up with Pat, who will pace me. He is not ready and I get a little impatient. I am feeling great. I weigh in and have gained 3 pounds! Everyone laughs. A guy keeps calling me "Duct Tape". I tell him to keep laughing, but it's working! I eat some pizza and we head out. I get a slight rash and have to remove my underwear. I pick my way up Sherman's Gap (rocks, rocks, rocks) and start to get a little low on steam. Pat has water but he can't give it to me. I keep trying to look up the trail and it seems like it will never end. It finally does, and the folks at the bottom of the hill give me cookies, snickers, water and a quick leg stretch! Ahh luxury! We head up the hill to the next aid station, the balls of my feet are starting to hurt under my toes. Not from blisters, but all the pounding from the roads. The hard pack dirt might as well be asphalt. We climb up Veach's. 2 miles up and 2 down they tell me. I doubt it!! Who measured this thing? It takes forever. I see why they allow companion runners at this stage, a sheer drop off is to the left. 86 miles. They tell me I'm last at the aid station. They were joking, but I don't find this out until after the race is over. Pat and I say goodbye and he cheers me on. I have headlamp with the big battery pack, and it impedes my running b/c the weight is off and my pack keeps spinning around my waist. This pisses me off. I see Pat at 90 and get the other light. Much better. I discover my underwear is still hanging from my water belt! This makes me and Pat laugh and I hand them to him. The aid station people give us strange looks. I am peeing about every 15 minutes. Feet are sore. 93 miles, top of the mountain! Get some coke and move on. Not much running going on due to the sore feet, but mentally I'm still going strong. 100 miles I can't believe it! Good god, 27 hours! 2 hours longer than I had planned, but I don't care. I am elated. Pat is ecstatic!! He snaps photos. I look so pretty. :O) I have to sit down, then lie down. Aftermath: No blisters, no soreness. Feet are barely swollen. Just the sensation that my tendons have not sprung back to their normal positions. 1st run scheduled for Saturday am! Thanks to all who helped me, I couldn't have done it without you!