Subject: Umstead Report - longish Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 10:03:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Randy Schmitz Thought I come out of the lurking shadows and give my report of my first 100 miler attempt (and finish!). Let me preface this whole story by telling everyone what a great resource this ULTRA list has been. Everyone of you made my finish possible and enjoyable. My wife (greatest crew ever), I and our 3 dogs left Greensboro, NC made it to umstead friday afternoon to set up the tent at the campground, headed out to find a disposable camera, and were then on to the pre-race briefing. Pre-race supper was delicious and afterwards went back to my tent with a full stomach and thoughts of an early bedtime as the morning would come all too soon. I was pretty much asleep by 9:30 and woke right on schedule at about 4:45. Felt rested and ready to go in the morning. It was already fairly warm by 5 a.m. so I decided to go with only the shorts and t-shirt. Shoe selection was based upon my earlier training run on the course. I knew the little rocks would get tiresome, so I decided to start the race in my lighter Brooks Talon and reassess the foot situation every lap on whether to chage into a shoe with a beefier sole. Felt I was well prepared for this venture. Since January I've run a 40 miler and 2 50k races with at least 5 other runs between 20-30. Let me start by prefacing this story by stating that I wanted to use this race to "figure out" the 100 mile distance. I'm planning on running Massanutten this year and thought this race would be a good chance to try the distance without the hazard of rough trail. Hoping 5 weeks is enough recovery time. Thought I'd try to run a steady 25 hour time which I thought would be running steadily without killing me for the next race. Off without a hitch at 6 a.m. The guy playing the bagpipes was a nice touch. Made a decision at the start to try to get through 3-26 oz bottles of fluid every 10 miles. Knew it was going to get warm soon and did not want to get into trouble early. First lap was very enjoyable, settling into a rhythm, chatting with others, watching the sun rise, etc.. Finished the first lap a little under 2 hours. Stuck really well to my game plan of walking the uphills, and running the downhills and whatever little level terrrain there was. Little faster than I wanted, but I felt good and thought I could maintain this pace. Next 4 laps went by relatively well. Kept to my run/walk plan and hydration plan (it got rather warm by early afternoon). Finished 50 in just over 10 hours. At this point my feet were really beginning to feel the rocks so I decided to switch to my Montrail Juras (which are my favorite trail shoes ever). By this time they also said that the storms were on there way so I headed out with my gore-tex running jacket (best decision all race). Within several miles all hell broke loose. The wind kicked up, the rain came pouring down (or should I say came sideways), and the temp rapidly dropped. The jacket wasn't fool-proof but it did keep my body temp from falling too much. At the end of 60 (last lap was about 2:05). I had to go inside to warm up and put on more clothes. My wife did a great job keeping my eating at this point. The Burger, chicken, and soup really hit the spot. Anyway, I put on a pair of light weight tights, thermal shirt, jacket and gloves and headed once again out into the rain. This was a 15 minute stop, but in hindsight worth every minute to get warm and fed. It was beginning to get dark this lap so I decided to take my headlamp with a small photon light as a backup. Really didn't need either as the low rain cloulds reflected the ambient light downward on the course. 7th lap passed in a little over 2 hours (I think). By seventy miles I was still handling fluids really well (still peeing 3x lap), but not really hungry anymore. By this time it had stopped raining and really began cooling off so I got out of all my wet clothes and put on fresh shorts, socks, shoes (montrail vitessse), tights, thermal shirt, and fleece shell. I was maybe too warm but after hearing they had to pull several people off the course due to hypothermia, better safe than sorry. 70-90 miles went by in about 4:20. With my wet feet earlier I had developed a small hot spot on the ball of my foot. I disregarded it as minor - but lesson learned the hard way. By this time it was throbbing. I'll know for the next one, take the time, address the feet and I'll feel better later on. Wasn't eating very much at this time and came in a little disoriented at 90 miles. Luckily my wife knew I had not been eating much. So she force fed me 2 cups of soup, a piece of lasagna, and some fruit. Headed out after a 5 minute rest and not feeling well at all. More than anything I wanted to vomit. Well by 94 miles the nausea had passed and the food was kicking in. Stopped at the last aid station to refill my bottle, get a cup of soup and hit the last few miles. Even after walking a majority of miles 90-94, I finished the last lap in 2:01. Felt relatively strong at the end running most of the last 3 miles. Finished in 21:07.44. Elated with this time as a felt like there was even a little left in the gas tank. After a hot shower I got back into the tent at about 4:00 am and slept to about 9:00. Woke feeling PAIN in my feet and legs. Luckily it has gotten better every day this week and actually my legs and feet feel pretty good. Still don't feel right though. Have had a hard time stabilizing my body temp (especially the first few days after). Think the endocrine system takes a pretty good hit after these. Is this normal? Looking forward to resuming running this weekend. Thanks again to everyone on the list who has shared their insights over this past year. I'll see you all at Massanutten. Randy