The Vermont 100 Endurance Run has ended and I have returned home to Maine to consider myself privileged to have run 100 miles in the beautiful Vermont countryside. I did it. 100 miles, on foot, in 20 hours, 27 minutes! My "A" goal for the race was a sub-20 hour finish, but I am ecstatic with the additional 27 minutes. Check out the Vermont 100 website for official results(www.vermont100.com). I got to enjoy on the trail with my friends. My buddies James (with whom I shared the first 40 miles) and Jamie both achieved their goals and went home a with a belt buckle to match mine.
The trails, countryside, and people of Vermont are absolutely terrific. The Ultrarunning community, of which I now consider myself a bonafide member, proved themselves to be the best of all running fanatics. I met so many new people on the trail, all of whom I consider a buddy within minutes of meeting them. Some I spent hours with and we carried on excellent conversations to pass the time. I can honestly say, every mile of this hundred was an absolute pleasure.
The race itself went fantastic for me. Other than a little stomach nauseousness between miles 70 and 85 (thanks for the Tums, Georgia guy) and severely swollen ankles and knees the day after, I am in fantastic shape. No blisters, and I am happy to report to my coworkers, no toenails were lost in this race! I will post a more complete race report on the Maine Multisports website soon (www.memultisports.com).
Lastly, I have to give a shout out to my crew: my wife, Kelly, and friends Renie Allen and Brian Manson. These guys drove over 120 miles to meet me alongside the course for the entire 20+ hours. This was the first time for all of us at a hundred miler and I would love to think they would come back to crew for me at the next 100! Especially great was the last 4.5 mile I got to spend with Kelly as she paced me to the finish line. This was, unfortunately for her, when I got my fourth and best second wind and held my best pace of the day, in the dark over single track trail that had been essentially roto-tilled by the horses that had preceded us (and we did pass 2 horses at mile 98). It is an awesome experience racing alongside horses for 100 miles - if you haven't done it yet (who has), sign up for next year's VT 100. It is the last 100 to share a course with these outstanding athlete-animals.
That's it for now. I am off to ice my knees and ankles in hopes of getting back on the road with my running buddies in a couple days.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Vermont 100 Finisher
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4 comments:
Fantastic showing for your first 100 miler. And glad to hear the Injinji socks worked out well for you. I also wore them while pacing Jamie. No blisters. Yeah!
And sorry I did not hook up with you during the race. You kids must have already been fast asleep when Jamie and I rolled in.
Let's catch some trails soon.
Great work! I saw the picture of you three with your belt buckles; you all looked quite happy and in good condition!
Just looking at the official results. Nice pace. That would be about my goal pace using my back of the envelope handicap for long races (Marathon pace of 7:30 plus 1 min for trail, 1 minute for each multiple of the marathon distance, minus :30 for extra incentive.
You three were awesome.
P.S.
Blaine, where did you see the pix? I keep checking the Spectrum and Flickr site, but have not seen anything yet.
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