This isn't a story about an average joe, but it's close. It's a story about the struggles of your typical slower back-of-the-pack runner trying to stay active. I know I'm not alone - aren't a lot of us out there an "Active Joe"?
We had our frank discussion ahead of time and had agreed to start together and just go from there. If one left the other, it was okay, no hard feelings, we would still be friends in the end. A lot can happen in 50 miles - that's a long day. We didn't imagine we would stick together for the full duration.
50 Mile Party Time
But we did stay together all 50 miles. And not to mince words, we rocked that race - her to a 46 minute PR, and me to a 1 hour 12 minute PR, with a finish time of 12 hours 35 minutes 30 seconds! I attribute part of that to how well we ran together. We know each other so well that when one became a zombie, the other one led the charge to keep moving forward. We chatted a lot of the time and when one didn't want to talk, the other knew it and respected that.
I have a full recap coming, forming in my head. But we spent a lot of the time having a blast and frankly entertaining the hell out of ourselves, and sometimes a few people around us. So I thought I'd dedicate this to just some of the goofy fun things that happened in our running bubble through the day. These things were repeated over and over and over again, and the more tired you get, the funnier they seem to you and you don't realize how often you are saying or doing the same thing again.
"Wheeeeeeeeeee!" For the first 40 miles, we gave a big "Wheeeeeeeee!" with every downhill we encountered. This got a lot of laughs from the runners we shared the trail with. Both of us are quad-dominant and adore a good downhill. This then led to our jokes that we're 98% sure that the elites obviously do this too. Specifically Kilian Jornet who runs down full-out mountains at break-neck speed. Then leading to the phrase "If a Kilian wheeeeeeeeeees on a mountain and no one is there to hear it, does he still wheeeeeeeeeee?" Yes, we're absurd.
"Just get to Suann." Suann, Martin, and Chris were all friends of ours working the Damnation aid station that's 6.2 and 8.87 miles into each 16.67 mile loop. They were taking time out of their day to be there to help all the runners, and I hope all 3 of them know how much it meant to see their faces when we would come into the aid station. So a few miles from the aid station, just getting to our very good friend Suann kept us pushing, and we would make "Just Get To Suann" a mantra over and over again, and trade in Martin and Chris' names too.
Suann, totally awesome runner and friend, who sadly sprained her ankle a week before Rocky.
"UGH" complete with karate chop: On the drive down to Huntsville, we'd enjoyed the song "Want You Back" from Cher Lloyd. There's a good amount of growls and grunts in the song, which of course we then added our best Power Ranger karate-like moves too. So on the trail, there MIGHT have been small empowerment and confidence exercises, i.e. a good grunt complete Power Ranger move, or a whole singing of the chorus of the song to go with said grunts.
"Just get to the pillows. I WANT MY PILLOWS." Not actually about pillows, this was us in the second half of our second loop (miles 24ish to 33), wanting to get back to base camp so we could change into our cushiony road shoes we'd planned for the 3rd loop. 50 miles is a beating no matter the training, and Lesley and I are particular tenderfoots. The foot pain is one of the worst parts of that distance for me. But I always know I'll get a few miles of mental boost and lighter than air feeling, like running on pillows, once I can change shoes.
"Where are "our boys"? I could really use a sighting about now." This refers to our friends Josh and Reece. With so much out-and-back, you could really run into friends. Josh and Reece have a special place in our hearts because they would always greet us with a smile and, while they are extremely fast sub-24 hour 100-milers, they always treat us like we're running out there just as fast as they are. We saw them a few times, and it perked us up each time to see good friends. So in a low point, we would lament that it would be good to see them. Luckily, we'd usually run into someone else we knew about then to perk us back up too.
Last May - me, Reece, coach Jeremy, Josh
"Yay, 40 Mile Dance Party." Now my second time to dance with Lesley at mile 40 (she paced my last loop of my first 50 miler). We dance at mile 40 because there's only single digits left of the race. It's a great mental boost. I did a little jig, mostly arms since legs were dead, and Lesley did something resembling a broken sprinkler. This point is just beyond Damnation aid station on the 3rd loop.
No picture this time. At Woostock 50M, we snapped a picture at mile 40 to go with the dance!
"That would make a good name for a band. I'd totally listen to their music. Wouldn't you buy an album by that band?" Babble babble babble toward the end of the second loop from me as Lesley was taking her turn in zombie mode for a second. We can't even remember what the fake band name from a phrase right before that was. But I was just being ridiculous.
An actual real race report coming soon, but now you know some of the stupid crazy going on out on the trail.
