Subject: Rocky Racoon 100 (Long Post) Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 11:11:39 EST From: RicNoRocke@aol.com Getting to The Coon: Friday morning, took a cab to the airport nice and early so I could start my adventure with as little stress as possible. Flight went well, picked up my rent-a-car and had 2hrs. to get to Huntsville State Park. Luckily I was told about the 610 Loop & a Toll Road which got me to the pre-race meeting about 5 minutes after it started. Talked with people & enjoyed a light meal. Mickey serenaded us on his Guitar while eating. Headed back to Motel 6 to get my drop bag ready. My plan was to park close to the start/finish line and use my trunk as an Aid Station since I wasn't sure if it would be raining. Race Morning: Got to the parking lot nice & early and got a space about 100 ft. from the start. Went inside & let Mickey know I was there ready to go, check in complete. Had a cup of coffee and talked with Rod Hammons & a few other people I met the night before. Looked like the rain was holding off, but for 5:30 AM was already getting hot & humid. 1st Loop: Started right a 6 AM decided to use a small AA Mini Mag Light since I new it would only be about an hour before sunrise & would try to stay in the pack with the people who new where they were going. Having no Idea what to expect, never running down here in Texas. Running thru the woods for a couple of miles or so we eventually came out onto a sandy dirt service road, turning left we were headed for the 1st aid station. Running just a little faster than a nice easy pace was my goal for the first loop, sipping on my Champion Cocktail. Coming into the 1st aid station, pored in my pre measured pack of mix from my waist pack, had my bottle filled with water, and was off back up the road. Ran up the road past where we came in, then back into the woods. Wasn't to long before we were back onto what seemed to be another service road, this time being more of an over grown grassy type. Ran for a while till we got to the turn around point, thought someone was going to be there, but you just ran to the plates & looped around. Back on the same road till ya came to a left back into the woods expecting to see aid station #3 pretty soon. There it was, filled my bottle again grabbed a little food & was off again, this section had some interesting wooden bridges & swampy terrain, something I've never ran in being from So. California. Came into Aid station # 4 filled my bottle with my mix and was off. Was real pleased with my time so far & was feeling great. This next area got a little confusing with an out and back along with a couple cross overs before we got back on the trail which would lead us to the start/finish line. I was having a blast still running with a pack of people. In my dream scenario 4 hrs. Would have been perfect, crossed the line looked at my watch and 4:00 hrs to the minute, WOW I DID IT!!! Looked right ahead of me and saw my friend Diane, who I used to work with & her son Zac who drove from Austin just to cheer me on & they were wearing GO RICK T-shirts, man I felt like a Million Dollars!!! Got weighed in & only lost 2 lbs. so I was hydrating about right, the guy in front of me had lost 8lbs. in the 1st loop, they held him there to eat & drink for a minute. Zac & I ran to my car, grabbed my next 5 bags of Champion Cocktail, another flask of Grade B Maple Syrup, which I forgot to mention I was taking a shot of every Hr. Spent about 10 minutes up to that point, gave those guys a hug for coming by & cheering me on, ran off to start my 2nd Loop. 2nd Loop: Was really Charged Up seeing my friends with GO RICK T-shirts & was off to have a great 2nd loop & this time kinda knowing what to expect. Everything was going good, sun was out, not to hot, but was a lot more humid than I would have ever dreamed. My other observation is they should have called this Rooty Racoon cuz of all the Tree Roots, continued picking my way along the trails, then it happened. I tripped on a root and BAM hit the ground, landing on my right arm & side. Was really upset with myself, I had seen someone fall about a hr. earlier & really felt for them & hopped it wouldn't happen to me. Got up brushed my self off & luckily didn't hit to hard, Oh Well, now I Really have to be careful, I was lucky I didn't get hurt. By the time I finished this Loop I would see 3 more people fall. I new how they felt. At about mile 35 I felt a Hot Spot developing on my little toe I had problems with on a training run about a month prior. So at #4 Aid Station I decided to tape it up with Duck Tape before it got to bad. Came running into the Start/Finish with a time of 4:50, ten minutes ahead of my plan. I was trying for 4, 5, 6, 6, & 6 hr, loops, got weight in, weight was the same, stopped at the car & grabbed my next 5 packs of mix, flask of Grade B but this time took my New Petzel Headlamp figuring it would be getting dark in a hr. or two. Made up the 10 minutes from my 1st stop & was right on schedule, feeling great. 3rd Loop: Started off this loop wondering how these Rooty trails were going to be at night, started running more alone now & really concentrating on my footing, didn't want anymore falls. The main thing I noticed about the headlamp was I felt like I had an old diving mask on, seeing black sides that weren't there when I felt my face. Pulled out my little AA Mag & the extra light helped out the problem a little. Now the problems start, 1st my stomach started churning with all the mix I was drinking, but it was giving me the liquid energy I needed. Luckily I had 2 packets of Imodium AD for my stomach & took some Tums at aid stations. Backed off the mix for a Hour or so & concentrated on eating foods to soak up the fluids. Then I started feeling hot spots on both balls of my feet, thought to myself, this is not good. Even though I was wearing Gaiters I could feel some sand from all the mud we were running thru & decided to put on clean dry socks & my other pair of trail shoes at the end of the 3rd loop. Came running into the Start/Finish at 9PM, a 6hr Loop, slowing, but still on schedule, if I can just keep up this pace it'll be a 27hr. 100 miler, not to bad for my 1st real attempt being properly trained. The year prior I tried Kettle Moraine, but didn't train hard enough & found out the week before my Cancer was back & I was anemic, kinda took the wind out of my sails. But this time was different, My Coach, SCOTT WEBER had helped me get strong & helped give me the confidence I needed to Finish. He had me drinking Champion Cocktail (Liquid Food) that would get into my system faster & give me the energy so I wouldn't Bonk. Plus knowing I had the Coaching of someone of his caliber, helped my confidence. It was now Up To Me. When I took off my shoes after being weighted I couldn't believe what I saw, white soggy water logged blister about the size of a silver dollar, I was not ready for this. I was going to duck tape them up but the Medical people said it would just rip off the skin, they suggested I slather my feet with Vaseline, put on clean dry socks & go for it. 4th Loop: I picked up my supplies at the car, & grabbed my DD Ray-O-Vac Flashlight, along with some new batteries for my headlamp. Running was more painful than I had ever felt in my entire life, but I just kept going, after a while as long as I kept running it hurt LESS then if I tried to walk fast. This is the loop to when I felt as if I was sleep running around 1:30 AM. I couldn't stop yawning for about 30 minutes & was almost falling asleep running. Occasionally being startled back to reality by Racoons or Armadillos, shining my flashlight just to see glowing eyes & scratchy noisy animals. I made it to the Start/Finish line at 4 AM, 7hrs., not to happy about that but I still was 2 hrs ahead of the final cutoff & had 8 hrs. to finish. Weight about the same, now time to deal with the feet. Sat down after getting my somewhat dried trail shoes & a clean pair of Coolmax sock liners & socks, was going for the little extra padding because of the pain. Peeled off my wet socks and my feet were even worse than before, someone said, "looks like your not going to be able to go on" I snapped back, NO, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, I HAVE TO FINISH, EVEN IF I HAVE TO CRAWL." So I covered my feet with Vaseline, put on my socks & forced my swollen feet into my shoes. When I stood up to go to my car to get my last group of supplies, I could barely walk. They said it didn't look good, so I started slowly running to my car, grabbed my stuff & was off into the night, they didn't stop me, Thank God. Last Loop: I forced myself to keep some type of a shuffle going & was waiting for my feet hopefully to go numb. It was now I thought of the stories my Friend & Trainer @ Gold Gym, CATHY SASSIN had told me about when she raced The Raid Gauloises and The Eco-Challenge. Going when you Thought you couldn't go anymore, Just to Keep Pushing, It'll Pass & Get Better. I kept hearing her telling me these thing & her happy smiling face, with her also Determined look in her Always Upbeat Voice I had known from all our session where I learned How & What to EAT and had seen in many videos & a movie premier I went to showing this years Raid just a few months ago. I kept thinking I wish I had Team Members to pull me thru this bad spot. I did & I called on the Ultimate Team Captain, "GOD" he gave me the Strength & Drive I needed to continue, We Push On. Then I got to Aid Station #1, I've almost forgot to mention, the WONDERFUL PEOPLE working at ALL the Aid Stations, they treated you like a King, Helpful, Kind, Genuinely concerned people, THE BEST!!! But this one guy in particular, help me get pumped up & feel better. Then at Aid Station #2 there he was again, walking out a few hundred feet, giving me a drink, getting me a coffee to go & sending me on my way. My prayers were being answered with living Guardian Angeles. Making it to Aid Station #3 got what I needed & was off, but to my dismay, someone had ripped down all the yellow ribbons from the trees. I knew it was late, but I still had 3 HRS. I feared I was lost till I found tracks in the mud I recognized from John, a guy I was running with off and on with from England, I remembered his shoe prints, that's how I found my way to Aid Station #4. After 25hrs plus of running it all looked the same. At Aid Station #4 is where I met SCOTT EPPLEMAN, I expressed how pissed & worried I was about getting lost with no markers & getting close to the cut off and that out & back area with crossovers really had me worried. Without even hesitating he offered to run (shuffle) with me to the Finish. He wasn't dressed to Pace, he had clean clothes on & I'm sure had no plans of running the last 4 or so miles of the course with some slow guy he didn't even know. But he was ready to help & we were of with no delay. He kept me moving forward faster than I would have gone on my own & I didn't have to worry about getting lost. I was able to enjoy the end of the race. Thanks Scott!!! And when we got close to the finish line & he said "Can ya Smell the Finish" he let out a loud yell so people new I was coming in. I got a run going about the pace I started with 29 plus hrs. earlier & crossed the FINISH!!! A feeling came over me I will never forget!!! 29:30 to Finish my 1st 100 MILER. No record time, but when I was finishing a year a Chemo Therapy early last year & New Treatments as late as 2 weeks ago at The John Wayne Cancer Institute this was a Dream and now It was Reality. The way I figure it, If I can run 100 Miles I can deal with whatever I have to, To Beat Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and if I can deal with this Cancer thing, I can run any race I put my mind to, Providing I Do The Training & Keep the Faith!!! Post Race: Friday Morning here at work, still limping around, but that's OK. When I go to The John Wayne Cancer Institute in 2 weeks for another treatment of Rituxan, I'm gonna be wearing my Rocky Racoon Shirt & Belt Buckle and have a great story to tell my Doctor, Nurses & patients while I get my drip, ya got Hours to kill while it drips in ya. THANKS TO EVERYBODY who helped me Achieve my Goal, you know who you are. :-) Rick Nawrocki Venice, Ca.