Badger 100 Race Report

No crew. No pacers. No drop bags. No problem. Except wait. That’s not right. Lots of problems. All the problems. 

I knew taking on a hundred miler just after Vol State was going to be a challenge. I figured it would be a physical challenge, that my body would be so run down my legs would give out 10 miles in. Though the reality was that it was much more of a mental challenge with a little bit of physical troubles thrown in. I had 8 days of recovery between my finish at Vol State and the start of Badger.

First of all – the Badger 100 is part of the Ten Junk Miles’ Badger Trail Races. It includes a 100 miler, 100k, 50 miler, 50k, marathon, and half-marathon on a very nice rail trail. It was my very first 50-miler back in 2019 and I did the 100-miler in 2021 with my husband. Each year the race has been different because of various circumstances. 

Year 1: Normal

Year 2: Virtual due to Covid
Year 3: Tunnel detour (the amazing tunnel on the trail had to close due to structural issues, so there is a hilly road section to go around it)
Year 4: Bizarro Badger 

Bizarro Badger was due to a lot of things, but mainly because of the giant road detour that had to happen because 3 weeks prior to the race a truck messed up a bridge on the trail. This necessary detour was painful. Super hilly. As Badger in its normal state is flat, fast, and nice, the long detour of awfulness was in stark contrast to the rest of the trail. As it was unavoidable, no blame rests on the RD Scotty Kummer, but it was a bummer that the bridge couldn’t be repaired in time. I joked that due to the issues on the trail and the speed in which the state is fixing them, next year would be the “Oops! All Detours!” edition. As important as the trail is to the local economy and community, I’m surprised it isn’t better funded by the state. Please Wisconsin, love your trail as much as we do. Except you need to show your love with money.

This is not a dig at Ten Junk Miles Racing or the RD - detours were unavoidable

I signed up for Badger before I even put in for LAVS. It is not just a race, but a homecoming and reunion with my TJM family. It started as a race that my favorite podcast was putting on, but it has become so much more with all of the amazing friends I have made in the community. Since I did it last year, I was eligible for the second year concho (a concho is a circular decoration that can go on a belt, which is an amazing thing and encourages people to come back). Also, this year would have a larger belt buckle for anyone who completes the race in over 30 hours; unlike other races, this one celebrates the back of the pack and those who need more time to complete it.

Pre-Race

I rolled into town around 10:30am and knew that since I was there early enough, I would be able to help with setup. I got to the race’s storage unit in New Glaurus where General Kylia (Scott’s wife) was expertly directing her troop of volunteers to get all of the supplies sorted for the aid stations. We moved coolers, food, supplies, etc from the entrance of the unit into orderly rows and then when the trailer arrived, loaded them into that so they could be dropped at the station. 

After everything had been loaded into the trailers, I went along to the tunnel detour aid station to unload the supplies and set up the tent. It took a bit of figuring out, but we eventually got it. Holly snapped a picture of me with the tent as future reference of how it needed to look, lol.

Since we were done with all of the setup things we could do for the day, Holly and I headed over to New Glaurus Brewing since every time I had come to the area, it had been closed. Before we knew it, it was time to get our stuff together and head to packet pickup.

Thank you Holly for the picture in front of the alphorn players!

Packet pickup is a really special thing for this race. It takes place outside at Dot’s Tavern and serves as a social gathering to talk with friends old and new. The swag, which I did not get a photo of myself so I have stolen the photo from the TJM Racing page, was excellent as always. I love the hat! After I spent way too long there, I headed to the store for dinner, breakfast, and post-race foods.

 

Packet pickup shenanigans

I got to bed much later than I really should have. Added to this, I was tired from the previous night’s sleep (I went to bed at 10pm and had to wake up at 2am to get to the airport for my flight), so in the days before the race, I managed to only get about 9 hours of sleep. Whoopsie. As I set everything out, I realized I made a major mistake in packing. The first is that I brought my headlamp, but forgot the battery pack for it. The second was that I forgot my sparkle skirt. How was I going to race if I didn’t have some sparkle going on?? I posted my stupidity to TJM slack and within 30 seconds Josh H. came into the room with his headlamp (I was crashing on the sofa bed of an Airbnb that he, Meg C., and Ben had reserved). 

Note: This race report is going to be a little more all over the place because I had serious mush brain for soooo many miles. Things may be out of order or stories are dropped into random places. It is not intentional, but that’s how my memory is currently working. 

Aid Stations (this year according to my watch, not regular course mileage):

• Orangeville: start | mile 74
• Town Center Road: mile 7 | mile 68 | mile 80 (water only)
• Monroe: mile 11 | mile 64 | mile 84
• Gutzmer Rd: mile 19 | mile 55 | mile 93
• Hollywood: mile 23 | mile 51 | mile 97
• Tunnel: mile 29 | mile 45 | mile 103
• Belleville: mile 33 | mile 41 | finish at 106 miles
• Dot’s: mile 37 

Race Morning to Mile 20

The Badger has an interesting course, it starts in Orangeville, IL, goes to Basco, WI, back to Orangeville, and then finishes in Belleville, WI. So out, back, and out again (but you don’t go as far as Basco, which is 4.2 miles up the trail from Belleville). Since you are starting 30+ miles away from where you finish, those who don’t have a crew or a ride leave their cars at Belleville and ride busses to the start. It immediately made me think of Vol State, and this wouldn’t be the last time there would be similarities between the two races.

Following the pre-race briefing, Jenna N. came over and said, “I saw your post on slack and I had this at home if you want to wear it,” as she showed me a purple sparkle skirt! SHE GAVE ME HER SPARKLE SKIRT! I am 99% sure I teared up. There really is no better community than the TJM nation with their kindness and generosity.

The race started and we went trotting off on the trail. I planned to run the first twenty miles to bank some time for the naps I knew I would need later. In those first twenty miles I got to run with and have great conversations with several people including: Toots, Finny, Jens, Jada, Sherri, Penny, Lisa, and others. Once I hit 20 miles, I began walking and my feet were MAD. They felt exactly as sore as they had at Vol State (which was really freaking bad). Fortunately, the pain went away or my body tuned out the pain after about 2 hours and they never felt that bad again for the rest of the race. 

Before I get into the suffering and whining, I need to emphasize - I LOVE this race. I love the Badger State Trail. I love the community. And the aid stations? You won't find any better aid stations anywhere else on the planet. I have, and will continue to, encourage everyone I know to do this race.

Mile 20 to Mile 40

Once I started walking I did the worst thing any ultrarunner can do: trail math. I wasn’t even a quarter of the way done and I was already worrying whether it would be possible to finish. You’d think I would start running to mitigate those worries, but I tried and gave up within 30 seconds of a run interval. I just didn’t have it in me mentally to push. It was especially annoying during the 5 miles of heavy mosquitoes after the Gutzmer aid station. I had never been swarmed like that before and running to escape it probably would have helped. 

When I came into Belleville at mile 31, I saw Trena and asked her if I was crazy thinking I could finish at the pace I was going. As always, she was the voice of reason and calmed my worries and I continued on to Dot’s. The biggest issue with my ultra math was that I was thinking in LAVS terms. I had mentally divided the race into three 12-hour segments and it seemed impossible to do 32 miles per segment as I had not been doing that at LAVS. Of course, my brain refused to take into account the other elements of LAVS that makes the miles take longer: the extreme heat, necessary store stops, sleeping because you can’t just burn the bridges in the middle of a long event, etc etc. 

In 2021, I had run The Last Dot Standing 48hr race in which you run from Belleville Community Park to Dot’s Tavern and back. The race has a last man standing event, two 24hr races, and a 48hr race. Over the 48hrs I ran back and forth on those same 4.2 miles for a 100 mile buckle. Getting back onto that section was strolling down memory lane in the biggest way. I saw the cat farm where we counted how many cats were out at any given time, the section where Tiff and I yelled, “FUCK YOU WIND!” and threw up a middle fingers to the sky, the tree where Holly had thrown her ham sandwich at and it stayed nestled in the branches for the entirety of the event, the stretch where Tiff and I sang along to several songs including the Boogie Woogie Woo by ICP in the dead of night, and so many more. 

Dot's 2021

When I got to the aid station at Dot’s, I knew I needed to sit down and stuff my face as much as possible. So far in the race I had been eating plenty, but finding that I was always hungry and on the edge of bonking. I figured it was depletion left over from Vol State even though my crazy appetite afterwards had subsided earlier in the week. At mile 10 I was already sick of eating, but I knew I had to do it and shoved anything that looked remotely okay into my face. I ate two whole packs of nutty bars and some chips, then shoved a granola bar and some candy into my pocket for the road. The need for insane amounts of food and staying hungry lasted for the whole race no matter how many calories I took in. I went out with Toots, Finny, and Jens and saw familiar faces on the way back: Oak, Tursi, Lesa, Eric H., and others. 

 

Getting back into Belleville again, I had even more food and Scotty walked up to ask me and another runner if we had any trouble following the signs on the trail. No, not at all. It was marked just fine. A few minutes down the road I realized that meant that someone had gone off course; he had asked me the same exact question at Sugar Badger in 2021 after someone took off the wrong way despite the presence of signs and markings.

TMI moment - The race’s electrolytes are various flavors of UCAN Hydrate. Rather than bringing my own electrolytes for my front bottle, I used it even though I’m not a huge fan. This is the only thing I can think of that caused the bloating issue that I had. My stomach felt rock hard (not in a cool athletic way) and every few miles I felt a sudden urge to poo. I would take a side trail, be ready to go, and instead let out a giant toot. Luckily on the second day the aid stations had Gatorade instead and I had no stomach issues after making the switch.

Mile 40 to Mile 60

While all of the aid stations are great, Hollywood is the crème de la crème. Holly is a national treasure and knows how to run a super kickass aid station. Anytime there are struggles, the thought is – just make it to Hollywood. It is uplifting, exciting, has amazing food, and so many great friends volunteer there. From Belleville there is a 4ish mile stretch, the tunnel detour aid station run by Nora B., and then another 5-6ish stretch until Hollywood. So anytime I’m struggling, the thought is always, “Just get to Hollywood” because I know that’ll restore my spirits.

Rolling into Hollywood at mile 51 I was feeling bad. I resolved I would put my feet up and let myself rest for a bit. Cobby brought me some tots and a pizza roll to nibble on while I rested and various friends checked in on me to tell me I was a rockstar. I replied that I did not feel like a rockstar. I was seriously contemplating a DNF. While I felt like shit and couldn’t eat enough, I was struggling mentally more than anything. Doing the math is bad. Thinking about how long you’ll be out there is bad. But I was in Hollywood, and there was no way I would drop there. I got myself together and started the trek to Gutzmer.

When I arrived in Gutzmer it was dark. I flashed back to last year when Tom and I ran the race, it was late afternoon and still hot enough that the aid station was serving pink lemonade flavored shaved ice. I would continue to compare last year to this year and feel disappointed with myself that I was reaching aid stations much, much later than before. Which is ridiculous because I'd already planned to take as much time as needed and my aim was to get the over 30hr buckle.

I discovered at LAVS that as soon as full dark came on, I got a huge case of the sleepies. I had decided that rather than try to push through them, I would get the rest I needed and then continue. Matt M., who was part of the World’s Longest Turkey Trot with the previous year, came over to check on me as I settled onto a beautiful piece of cardboard to rest. I took my shoes off, plugged my phone into my battery pack, changed into my long sleeve, and tried to rest. At some point Oak and the gang passed through and snapped this photo.

I heard someone else come through and get offered a burger. Burger?! I perked up and asked for a burger, too. It was amazing and greasy and lovely. I continued to try to nap, and eventually Matt came over to kick me out of the aid station. I asked for and received another burger. I had reached a decision that I was going to DNF the race, but I was told that Gutzmer was no drop (I saw someone else drop there, but I wasn’t going to argue) so I had to either continue on to Monroe (and face the horrible detour) or return back to Hollywood. I knew dropping at Hollywood would be a no go, so I mustered the will to get up and continue on to Monroe so I could drop. It was mainly because I did not know the aid station works there, so I would feel less guilty ending my race there.

Mile 60 to Mile 74

I texted my husband to tell him I was going to DNF. He texted back that I needed to keep going. Get some caffeine, get some food, stay moving, and keep fucking going. I knew to never quit when I was having a low point, which I was, so I did keep moving even through the bullshit detour, which I realized reminded me of Vol State especially when I was warned about a dog that was trying to attack people. I flipped my mood around to positive and then started feeling really happy about quitting. I would get some sleep, be able to see my friends finish throughout the day, and hey, maybe I would have time to take a trip to my favorite coffee roaster (Berres Brothers) that I’ve been wanting to visit. 

I was 100% at peace with my decision. As such, I wanted to let my friends know before word traveled through the grapevine that I had DNF’d, so I posted to TJM slack that I was ending my race in a couple miles once I got to the Monroe aid station. Little did I know that Tursi, Oak, Finny, Toots, Jens, and some others were there. Tursi had read my post and told Oak, who then spoke to one of the aid station workers that if a woman named Shae tried to DNF, she was to wake him up because he was going to talk me out of it. 

I rolled up to the back of the aid station and took my pack off. Said hey to the group there and like a Kelpie emerging from silvery water sprung Oak from an emergency blanket cocoon, “NO! GIVE ME TEN MILES” It did not occur to me until this very moment that we were at a race by a podcast called Ten Junk Miles, so that is pretty amusing. I said no and that I was at total peace with my decision, but that I would wait a little while before I spoke to the AS workers about it. 

While Oak patched up Toots’ feet he handed me the DDB egg. A little backstory on the egg – at the 2021 Badger Suzanne, aka Duck Duck Boobs, was working at the Dot’s aid station. Each time a runner came through she would hand them a plastic egg that had a hand-written note inside and gave us the instructions that when the race got hard, we should open them. I can’t remember if I opened mine during the race or after, but I framed my DDB note in my office and treasure it. Oak saved his though. He said he would only open the note when he really needed it. He has it in his pack for every race no matter what, because who knows when he’ll need it. 

He handed it to me and told me to read it, but not let him know what it said. After reading the note, I burst out crying, knowing that I HAD to continue and I couldn’t let my race end. I think I even exclaimed, “Goddamn it, Suzanne!” Since I was going to keep going, I knew I had to get some caffeine in me. Luckily the aid station had coffee and I had purchased a hot chocolate packet for just this reason – nothing better than a late-night/early morning aid station mocha. 

During the journey to Orangeville, we encountered several of our friends – Jada and Sherri with Chris pacing them, Oscar (who looked like a dog from far away because he was wearing a waist light and it was the way the brain could make sense of it, so I was laughing my butt off), Steph, Trena and Penny, and some others. One guy (Greg?) had a very pronounced lean and said he was going to sleep on the trail, but we were getting close to the Town Center Rd unmanned water station, so when we got there we helped lay out a tarp and gave him a trash bag for a blanket. 

Oscar snapped this photo of us in the early morning hours (I'm holding my hand over my boobs because I'm covering my headlamp which I strapped to my chest)

The distance between Town Center Rd and Orangeville is apparently only 4 miles, but I think there was some type of trickster god manipulating time and mileage, because it seemed to take forever to get there. Oak was excited because he had some funky flavored chips in his drop bag to share with Kat and we were both excited to see Kat, Azam, and Angela. Once you get to Orangeville, you are seriously counting down and each time you see something, it is the last time you’ll see it during the race. No ifs, ands, or buts – if you can make it to Orangeville, you had better turn your ass around and get to the finish.

Mile 74 to Mile 106/Finish

I noticed a mile (or 8 miles or 20 miles or whatever the trickster god decided) from the aid station that I had a blister under the tape on the ball of my foot underneath the big toe. I’d never had one in that exact spot, but I knew it needed to be fixed ASAP or I would be in big trouble. I headed over to a picnic table that had all sorts of good footcare supplies and started examining the blister. It was barely forming, so not giving much to pop, but I kept up with my safety pin until I decided to bug Oak. He stabbed it a few times and then applied a massive amount of pressure to fully get all of the liquid out. It was super painful, but I was glad for it because I would not have been able to cause that much pain to myself to fix the problem.

While there, either Kat or Angela, I can’t remember who, handed me a plastic gingham tablecloth to keep warm. It was cold out (for me, others would say 60℉ is nice, but no). When we left I took the “blanket” with me. At this point we were officially going to be riding the race cut offs and getting to aid stations that were on the verge of closing. I’d never been in this situation before, so it was kind of daunting to know we still had so many hours to go and there was a possibility we could get pulled from the course if we didn’t keep up a good pace. 

As we went through these miles, we attempted to pick up other runners so we had someone else to talk to and could help motivate someone by having others with them, but we weren’t successful for any appreciable amount of time due to pace differences. I barely remember the Monroe aid station except for Oak’s friend Mary kicking us out since we were lingering for no reason. The lingering was likely due to not wanting to do the damned detour again. It was the last time through though and I vow I will never be on those roads ever again in my life. Fuck those roads.

Getting off the detour was a much needed mental boost. All we needed to do was get to Gutzmer, then get to Hollywood and we had it in the bag. The distance between Gutz and Monroe is long; right around 8 miles and it seemed to never end. I swore that the Potawatomi group decided to move their aid station further away just to spite us. I kept looking for the bright blue of the portapotty and finally it was in sight as I saw a 50-mile runner go into it. When we arrived Rachel, who was doing the 50k, was there so we chatted for a bit before she went off. It was then that we discovered that Hollywood was about 4 miles from Gutz, not 6 like we thought! This news instantly cheered us up as we were definitely going to beat the cut offs. 

A short time later Oak and I left the aid station and were Hollywood bound! It wasn’t long before the energy of Gutzmer Rd wore off and I was struck with the mid-afternoon sleepies. I was attempting to do that thing where you keep walking and close your eyes in hopes that you’ll be able to sleep and keep moving at the same time. It never works out. I looked back and Oak looked to be in a similar situation, so I suggested a 10-minute trail nap. He agreed and we each selected a nice section of grass to sleep on. I elected for the side of the trail and he ended up in the middle of the trail. I took off my shoes, threw my bandana over my face and almost instantly passed out. We woke up 10 minutes later to Oak’s alarm, feeling refreshed. Later we would find out that a couple runners went right past us and we had no idea. 

Again, we set out down the trail and after a few miles Hollywood was in our sight and we both got emotional. It was really Hollywood, we were really doing this thing. We were so, so close. We got all the hugs in Hollywood. This was the aid station to treasure and stay at for a bit. Eat some food, share some stories, hang out with everyone. Rachel had been at the aid station for a while, too and we were glad she had waited for us. After 30 minutes we got back on the trail to make our final push to the finish. 

Getting the VIP treatment at Hollywood

Having Rachel with us was amazing. She told us stories of her adventure running that day and what happened the previous day while she was volunteering at Hollywood. We were hiking at a good pace and I know we all felt completely invigorated by each other’s company. Before we knew it, we were approaching the last aid station before the finish. I had some food things while Rachel and Oak talked to Nora Bird, who ran that A/S.

Actual hero, Rachel B.

After leaving and starting the final segment to the end, I really started to struggle. I felt like my feet didn’t want to move, I needed to sit down and just chill, I was starving. Still feeling like crap and simultaneously wanting to finish the race with Oak and Rachel, but also hoping they would leave me to sit down and be miserable for a while. I didn’t let myself do that and kept moving forward. As we neared the finish Oak kept talking about how all of our friends would be there waiting for us. I had doubts because it was so late in the race and I imagine all of them had left to their hotels to sleep. Maybe one or two of them would have stayed behind? 

Oh, how wrong I was. We got into Belleville Community Park and the people at the finish line cheered. Everyone was there. I let Rachel go ahead to get her finish first and Oak let me go ahead. We weren’t quite DFL, but we were close. 

The set of stairs in the park to the finish line

After crossing the finish line and being greeted with a great big hug from Holly, I burst into tears. The next several minutes was hug-a-palooza as all of our friends rushed the finish line to hug. SO MANY HUGS. I could not believe I had done this crazy thing. I finished Vol State and with an eight-day recovery period, turned around and completed another 100-mile event. It would not have been possible without the support of my TJM family and all of the amazing volunteers at the race. I am so, so lucky to know all of these amazing people. 

See you next year at Badger!

My Big Fat Virtual Summer (2 of 3)

This is part 2 of all of the dumb shit I did this summer!

Possum’s Revenge 69mi

Finish Time: 19:32:00

Date: Friday, June 19th

(DNF, Friday June 5th)

This one took two tries, but I got it done! I had long admired the buckle, but thought it would be years before I could work it into my race calendar, but COVID changed that! I signed up for the virtual as soon as it went live and started plotting my route and how I was going to manage it. I did the Sugar Badger 50mi as a training run for this. I did SB50 on the road, but I wanted to do Possum’s Revenge on the trail. One really, really cool thing is that of the trails I run on regularly, if I did an out and back on all of them, it’s 70 miles. So I would be 100% familiar with the trails and what I would need.

Attempt #1

I really hate asking for help, so my plan was to be fully self-supported. I placed a water drop at mile 25 and planned to refill my food at mile 50 (where I parked) before heading out for the last 19 miles. It did not go great. It was an oppressively humid day and at mile 13 I stopped to take off my socks to wring them out. I was soaked from head to toe and didn’t think about bringing a sock change since I didn’t think I would want it until after mile 50.

I got to my turn around point where my water drop was and I had already been running out of water miles before I got to the next water source, so I couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving behind my jug of water after refilling. And it’s exactly where I screwed up – I took the water jug with me. So now I was having to run with a water jug in my hands. By the time it was empty, the damage was done, my running had fallen apart completely, I had pains I’d never felt before (likely from the imbalance of carrying the water) and decided to quit when I was still 3 or so miles from the car so I still had to hobble my way back to it. I was sick of being soaking wet all day and just OVER the whole thing. I went home knowing that if I wanted to finish I would have to ask for help.

Attempt #2:

At the end of my first attempt, I thought I had injured myself, but the next day I was basically fine. It was a relief for sure. I went back and forth on whether I would try again, but when I did, I was prepared. Instead of doing a single water drop and being fully self-supported, I would be partially self-supported with the same water fountains as before and with my truck, but have two crew points in the first 50 miles where there is no water at the trailhead and then pacer help in the last 15 miles.

My brother agreed to meet me at the Pruitt Trailhead, the 25 mile point, with a cooler with cold water, uncrustables, and pedialyte popsicles as well as a full change of clothes. Knowing that I was going to get out of the wet clothing made it much more bearable. I actually beat my brother to the trailhead by about 10 minutes, so I took the time to air out my feet in an attempt to get them dry before wiping them, applying trail toes, and getting changed. The pedialyte pops were the shit! I first heard of them through some ultrarunning friends, and I will use them for hot runs when I can.

I headed on back the way I came from and knew I’d be seeing my brother at the 49th Ave Trailhead (around 35ish miles). Since he had a few hours before seeing me, he went to the grocery store and to grab lunch, so when I saw him I ate a couple of his fries and stole a baggie of frozen strawberries from the giant package he’d purchased. The frozen strawberries were so good and juicy.

I got back to the truck still feeling good and moving pretty well, but as I walked into the bathroom at the trailhead to change my clothes, the weather hit. Not only was it a torrential downpour (the kind that soaks you in two seconds flat and you can’t see more than a couple feet in front of you), the skies opened up with huge cracks of very close lightning. Unfortunately, the rest of the trail was more open than the previous sections. Yes, there are tall trees, but it was going to be a lot of fear. I stayed in the bathroom for about 30 or so minutes trying to figure out my options and looking at the radar.

I decided that instead of being soaking wet, afraid of lightning strikes, and dragging my sister and husband through hours of sogging misery, I would change up the plan and finish my miles on the treadmill in our shed at home. I drove home, changed clothes, socks, got into some road shoes, and set up everything out in the shed. My sister, who was going to pace me, brought a pizza and we happily chatted and ate for about an hour and a half while I walked on the treadmill.

SIDENOTE: #CryClub – so I basically always cry at some point during an ultra. I thought it would be funny if I posted in the TJM Nation facebook group for people to guess what mile I cried at. Well, it happened while we were eating pizza. Laci handed me a slice of pizza, I was hungry, but heat screws with my stomach so I was eating in very slowly and no one brought me a plate. I cried because of that. Mile 54 – cried because I didn’t have a plate for my slice of pizza.

By that point, all I had in me was a walk. Though I think if I was outside I could have motivated myself to run in fits and starts (like from one tree or blaze or the next), but on the dreadmill I was simply slogging through as best I could. I listened to podcasts, watched some shows, and generally suffered until I was done. But then I was DONE and it was great! I was very pumped to earn my lovely buckle!

Troubled Raccoon’s Untrained Ultra Challenge

Distance: 52.7k total (13.1, 15k, 10k, 5k, 1mi)

Dates: July 1 through July 4th

Wednesday 1 mile, Thursday 5k, Friday morning 10k, Friday afternoon 15k, Saturday evening half-marathon

So I had originally planned this to be a big old PR fest and I hoped to smash a couple of my own times on these distances, but the fact of the matter is – the weather was just brutal and I haven’t done speed work in months. I was less than 3 seconds off of my mile time, but all of the other distances I decided to take it easy. I am going to revisit this challenge and/or smashing some PRs next year or during the winter when it is more conducive to running fast.

I like the format of the challenge. All five distances must be done in the span of 5 days or less. Some people chose to do the whole thing in one day, some people spread it out over all five days. You can do it in whatever order you like, too, so there’s so many variations on how to tackle this challenge. I think my most memorable run was my half marathon. I did it on the 4th in the evening after helping Tom complete his Battle Miles virtual race earlier in the day. The weather was gross hot and humid, so I decided to keep it around the 1.8 mile loop around the neighborhood so I could refill my handled with water/electrolytes every loop. It was so rough that that is exactly what I did for the entire half marathon; drinking a full 16oz every 2 miles. The worst parts about that run were that someone threw a firework at me and it was extremely smoky near the end. The best part was that my victory in finishing the challenge was celebrated by everyone in the neighborhood setting of pretty fireworks.

Troubled Raccoon’s 24/7 Challenge

Distance: 24 miles

Dates: Thursday July 9th – Friday July 10th

The 24/7 challenge is to run at least a mile during every hour of the day (24 hours) during the month of July (the 7th month, hence 24/7). Additional challenges were to do it all in the span of a week or a day.

A few weeks before taking this on, I had watched a race play out online that was called the Little Dog, Front Yard Race, and like Big’s Backyard, it is a last person standing style event. Unlike Big’s, which requires participants to go 4.167 miles every hour on the hour, this event was one mile on the hour every hour. I was very intrigued by it and was amazed that the event went on for over 10 days. More of a sleep and self-management challenge than a run challenge for sure. I thought I might be interested in trying something like that in the future, so I figured I would do my 24/7 challenge this way. Some people did the 24/7 challenge where they did two miles with one at the end of an hour and the beginning of another so they had more rest time, but I wanted the Little Dog style challenge.

I started at 11am on Thursday. It was pretty hot and I was sweating a ton by the end of each mile and by about mile/hour 4 or 5 I knew I needed to revise my strategy in how I was dressed. I realized I was going inside and just sitting in a wet shirt for 45-50 mins and it was unbearable. I showered after the 8th hour and then started rotating between two shirts. I would wear shirt 1 for a mile, immediately take it off and then put on shirt 2 right before going out for the next mile. Because of the humidity here in Florida, they never got dry, but they did get slightly less wet.

Through the wee hours of the night I struggled to stay awake and would set my alarm for five minutes before the hour just in case I fell asleep (anytime I did nod off, I would immediately spring back up thinking I had slept through the beginning of the hour). In the last 8 hours the chafing got pretty bad. I had been taking off my shirt, but not my pants, so for the last several hours, I had to air stuff out and I applied desitin to deal with the pain of the chafe.

Since I was only doing one mile in each of the runs and the weather stayed great all night, I was able to do all of them outside around my neighborhood and none on the treadmill. I also kept up a pretty brisk pace for me and my very last mile was my fastest mile. All in all, a really great challenge, but it showed me that I will definitely NOT be participating in a Little Dog Front Yard challenge in the future.

Long Haul 100 Race Report

Where: Cypress Creek Preserve, Land O Lakes, Florida
When: January 18-19, 2020
What: Long Haul 100
Finish Time: 29:17:16
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3026543743/overview

It has now been a little over a week since Long Haul 100 and I think I’m finally ready to put my scrambled thoughts into words. It seems surreal that I completed it, but also the race did not go how I was expecting so it has really thrown me for a loop as far as processing the experience so maybe sorting my thoughts out into a race report will help me figure it out in my own head.


Training:

Training went fairly well. Last year I had it in my mind that I would probably want to do Long Haul and after my 50mi in Wisconsin went well, I was seriously considering signing up. Rather than just jump into 100mi training, I gave myself a test of doing Gate2Jacks; if I survived that and still wanted to run afterwards, I would sign up for Long Haul. The Monday after those races I felt pretty good, so I signed up!

For the training itself, I used the Relentless Forward Progress 50 mile peak plan and the 70 mile peak plan. Someone else suggested combining them so you do a minimum of the 50mpw plan with a maximum of the 70mpw plan so it allowed some flexibility when real life came calling. I mostly hit all of the 70mpw mileage until the TUDC 50mi where the pounding on the road did a number on my ankle and I had to essentially take a full week and some change off of running. In all, there were only two weeks of the entire plan where I did not meet or exceed the mileage, so it was pretty solid training.


About the Race:

The course is made up of ten 10 mile “loops.” They call it a loop, but in reality it is made up of a set of out and back spurs. Spur 1 is 1.5ish miles out, Spur 2 is 2.5ish out, and Spur 3 was 1ish out. It also started with a 1 mile run on pavement from the parking area to the main hub as a way to spread everyone out so the first spur wasn’t too congested.

I added the “ish” to the mileage because the course was long. Spur 3 was eliminated from the last loop about 10 hours into the race (announced via a whiteboard near the timing mat at the start/finish). The timing crew put on their tracking site that the race was 102 miles, I had a final total of 103.79 miles, and I heard others had up to 105 miles, but someone going off trail to visit their tent during the race or going off trail to use the bathroom or even choosing the least efficient line on the course would account for that extra bit.

The cut off for the race is 32 hours, but this year it became qualifier for Western States for 2021 and in order to qualify a person would have to finish under 30 hours. The biggest benefit of the race for me was that I would never be more than 2.5 miles away from my crew and my stuff. Spur 1 turnaround had a hydration and “shot” aid station, Spur 2 turnaround had a full aid station, and Spur 3 had a timing mat at the turnaround.


Weather:

The weather this year ended up being absolute perfection. Last year there was horrible rain in the night and made everything muddy and miserable (so miserable that the RDs changed the race from 12.5 mi loops to cut out areas that were still flooded/super mucked). The weather was in the mid-sixties at the start and only got to about 82 with a heat index of around 86 or so, low humidity, and at night it didn’t get below 60. I changed into a long sleeve when it got dark and then during the coldest part of the night I put on a sweater. I didn’t need the gloves or the heavier sweater that I brought. For people who do not live in the south, it was very hot for them during the day, but it was great for me. Though if the night had been cold, I would have suffered a lot while I’m sure they would have thrived.


Prep & Crew:

For this race, I was going to eat whatever I wanted to and force stuff down even if I didn’t want to. I listened to so many podcasts and kept remembering Scotty Kummer saying something along the lines of, “No one ever complains about eating too much during a 100 miler.” So the goal was to take advantage of the aid stations if the food they had appealed to me and also use what I brought (tailwind, huma gels, GUs, pringles, cookies, and body armor).

My crew consisted of my dad, my fiancé Tom, and later my sister Laci. Laci would pace me from 60-80 and Tom would pace me from 80-100. Tom and dad had a tent and chairs they would set up at the main hub after the race started. In my head, we were Team Keep Fucking Going. Before my mom died, she said to my dad, “Keep fucking going,” and we have held that in our hearts as our family motto. Kyle was able to use my mom’s many notebooks to make her writing into a font and he created the text. Dad has it tattooed on his arm. I made myself a tech shirt and regular cotton shirts for my crew. The shirts were a pretty big hit with other runners even without knowing the emotional significance of it. It was for us, but I’m very glad it helped other people, too!



Miles 1-12ish

Nothing too much during these miles. Just having fun and trying to slow down in the beginning. I worked out a system with my crew that I would have one handheld water bottle and each time I came in from a loop, they would switch it out for a fresh one. They were putting tailwind and water in them and changing out the gels in the front pockets. Also, their placement at the hub was PERFECT and a huge benefit to me. Most of the people who sent up tents at the hub set them up off of the paved section of Spur 2 which required a walk up and down about 5’ of hill/berm. My crew set up along Spur 1 so I never had to go up or down any hill no matter how small and if I needed something I would tell them before I did Spur 1 so they could have it ready by the time I completed it and headed to Spur 2.


Miles 12ish-40ish

Around mile 12ish I started running with a woman named Tammy. She was freaking fantastic! She has done a lot of great races and we talked about everything under the sun. The miles simply flew by and I discovered that during my prep for this race I had read her race report that she did for Long Haul almost a decade ago! Small world!! A woman named Brandy also ran with us for a bit and it was fun cheering each other on. I also got to meet Susan Donnelley and chatted with her a couple times during the race. She is amazing! Around 40 something Tammy and I broke off from each other because her dad had arrived with cake and I wanted to keep going and doing my thing. I felt bad since it was really nice to run with her, but I know you have to run your own race.


Miles 40ish-60ish

I got my waist light from the crew since night would soon be falling. I figured I’d use my waist light for a loop or two and then when it got super dark, I would also use my headlamp.

Sometime around mile 44(?) I realized I may have had an issue brewing. I thought I had something stuck in my shoe, like dirt or sand. Sections of the trail were very dirty/dusty and there was sugar sand in a few spots. I made the grave error of not even thinking to bring or wear my gaiters. This is essentially what took my race from a good fun time to physical torture. In checking my shoe, I didn’t see or feel anything inside of the shoe and realized it was most likely a blister forming on the pad of my foot. Poop.

When I came into my crew after 5th completed loop I was ready for some type of audio distraction. I knew I had an episode of Ten Junk Miles to listen to and funnily enough, Tom already had my headphones out and was turning on my phone because apparently he just *knew* that I needed a distraction. I had one more loop before Laci would be joining me and I was already in distance PR territory, so that felt cool.

During that loop a blister grew, hurt, and popped. The emptying of that blister was such a relief and the pain there was instantly gone. If only that could have happened to my other blisters on both of my foot pads. I think during my 5th or 6th loop I started taking advantage of the libations offered at the “shots” aid station as a sort of pain killer or, as I called it, “Go go juice.” In all, I did do four shots throughout the race and they were very mentally helpful. I also brought beer just in case I had a thirst for one mid-race, but I never did.


Miles 60ish-80ish

I picked up Laci and switched to caffeinated gels. We talked and she got me through the miles. She did exactly what I asked of her (not letting me take breaks I didn’t need to and asking me if I could try running a little bit). I did do some running until the pain from the blisters on my feet really started wrecking me.

Around mile 70 is when the pain hit its stride and I knew there would be zero running from that point on. At mile 75 I took off my shoes and socks, wiped my feet down with baby wipes, then Tom tried to do some taping to hold the skin from my wrecked feet in place, and I changed my socks and went back out. It didn’t help; too little too late. At the aid station on spur 2, the volunteers offered cup noodle and I accepted. They had a kettle and stove there to make hot foods, so I took the cup of soup and went along. We picked up another runner who was also having similar feet problems that I was having and whose headlamp battery was dying. We kept him with us until we got to the main hub. I think I had a quesadilla after that loop or maybe the previous one? Those were my only two hot food items of the whole race.


Miles 80ish-98ish

I drank a cotton candy Bang energy drink once I got back to the crew area and Tom went out with me. He took the rest of the Bang since I wasn’t able to drink the whole thing and we went out at a snail’s pace. My feet were wrecked. Every single step I took was painful. I know people drop out due to pain like this, but (forgive the cliché saying) – I didn’t go that far to only go that far. I was finishing this race and I didn’t care if the last 20 miles took me a billion years.

Many times I begged Tom to let me have a quick little lie down on the trail and he said no. He DID let me take a couple of sitting breaks. During Spur 2 when it gets to the .5 of pavement before the hub, he let me set there for exactly 60 seconds and I am fairly certain I cried with gratitude. I started envisioning finishing the race and as soon as I did I was planning on collapsing on the grass and not moving until someone dragged me away and that was a comforting thought.

As it started to become dawn and we were hitting the 24 hour mark, I was about 89 miles in, so I knew I had about 13ish more miles to go. I told myself I was going to call the Ten Junk Miles bonk line and I pretty much told them they lied about how 100 milers are fun and that I hated them and also loved them? I think? I’m not 100% sure what all I said.

I didn’t get overly tired too much like I expected I would and I definitely did not have hallucinations of any sort. I did get *extremely* emotional though and cried quite a bit. Not full on tears, but just maybe 10-30 seconds of pouting. Tom also told me that during the last 10 miles he would make a face and once I laughed at it, another time I cried at it, and another time I did both. Many times I did say I wanted to quit, but Tom knew I wasn’t serious and I knew I wasn’t serious. There would be no quitting, even if I had to finish on my hands and knees (which, umm, probably not the greatest attitude to have? But I have a desk job so I wasn’t putting my livelihood at stake at all, just my comfort).


98ish-Finish (102 or something like it)

Since we didn’t have to do Spur 3 on the last loop, I came in from Spur 1 and Tom had decided to ask my dad if he wanted to join us for the last 5 miles. My dad has had hip and back pain, so I wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to walk the 5 miles with us, but since I was going at a glacially slow pace, it seemed very do-able for him. It was a long, hard slog and I felt like I was barely moving, but at the same time each step hurt so dang bad that I hesitated every foot placement on the trail. After what seemed like a thousand years we hit the turnaround aid station…and there were no volunteers there. They did leave behind all of the food and water and supplies and another runner had told us to check off our bib# on the sheet to verify we had come through the aid station. Tom and dad let me have a little break here, so I sat in a chair to be sad for a few minutes contemplating if I was going to make it the last 2.5 miles to the finish.

We got up and started our very slow journey to the end. After a thousand years, we reached the road section which was .5 miles from the finish line and it started to sprinkle a bit. Tom asked me if I wanted to try running and I took a couple very painful quick steps and said no, so we plodded along. Laci joined up with us at the juncture of the spurs about 0.1mi from the finish line and with the actual finish line in sight, I was able to run (I felt like I was flying, but I’m sure I wasn’t, lol). Dad handed me the small travel urn of mom’s ashes that he keeps with him and I crossed the finish line with several of the most important people in my life: Tom, Dad, Laci, and Mom.


The aftermath:

My feet were (are?) so, so wrecked. They were still draining blister fluid over two days later and now I am slowly clipping off the super thick dead skin. They were very, very deep blisters. Both of my pinkie toes also blistered fully. I know other people have a problem with this and I’m still unsure of the solution. It’s because my little toe tucks in too much to my foot. It does it when I’m barefoot, so it might just be a thing that happens to me all the time. Most of the time toe socks help it, but maybe it won’t for this distance.

I had ZERO chafing. I used SNB on some parts that usually chafe and reapplied to a couple spots twice, but I think good quality clothing and lack of high temperatures and humidity is what kept me in the clear. The only unknown in the clothing department was my purple shirt I made two days before the run. I bought it on amazon for like $7. I had never, ever run in it before and it worked out great! Other than that, I wore XO Skin socks for the first 75 miles, injinjis for the last 25, HOKA Clifton 1 shoes, a Brooks Juno bra, new balance lasercut underoos, and my absolute favorite Skirtsport Lioness Skirt Capris.

I had Monday off for the MLK Jr holiday and took Tuesday off of work as well. I didn’t run on those days, but Wednesday I ran slowly on the treadmill for about a mile and a half and Friday I did a nice chill 5 miles on the trail. I think I’m mostly back to normal now and have several weeks of rest/no structure until I start training for the Badger 100 in August.


Emotional aftermath:

Going into this race, I had very much expected to find “my highest highs and lowest lows” based on so many stories from other runners. That’s what I was seeking and well...that’s not what happened. I think the main reason I’ve been having trouble processing the whole race is because I thought it would be emotionally and physically different. There was some mild emotional roller coaster bits in the last 30 miles, but not as much as I expected. All of the pain I felt physically from my poor blistered feet still pales in comparison to depths of the pain I’ve felt from my worst flares of endometriosis (pain so severe I could barely even walk or get out of bed). No emotional turmoil during those 100 miles were ever as strong as the depression I’ve experienced throughout my life and the grief over my mom’s death. Basically, I’ve endured worse. I feel mild regret that I didn't push myself harder to run more in those last 30 miles, but it seemed impossible at the time. Maybe that's a bit of the mental game I'm missing, putting the pain out of my mind more than I did.

I’m already signed up for the Badger 100 in August and the experience will be different. Just by the nature of the course, conditions, and tidbits of wisdom I have hopefully gained it will be a whole new experience and I really hope to find something a bit *more* inside of myself.


Some photos courtesy of A1 Ultra Events, some from my dad, and the one of Tammy and me from Susan Donnelly.

Also, I did take some photos of my feet the day after and yesterday (a week and a half later). Small thumbnails so you can avoid them if you like.