I was at first a little taken aback by the people; mostly dressed in running type clothing and running shoes all camped out in the staging area.. especially since this was the night before the race! I guess though for someone traveling from out of town its more convenient and cheaper to camp at the race??? It looked like a lot of people were doing it so maybe this is part of the experience. Anyways, we checked it out, got his packet, ate dinner and listened to a guy who was speaking about running. He was actually a guy we had read a book about so it was interesting to see him. Oh, FYI.. it was freezing there! After that we headed home to Dave's parents house for the night.
Up EARLY to get a start for the day. Think we got up maybe around 4.. I can't quite remember but I know it was early. Dave and I and his mom headed out and got a parking spot. Once we were there we checked in and wandered a little bit before the race finally started. Dave got geared up and headed to the start area. Its not the same as a shorter distance road race where people line up and take off when the gun goes off. Here people get close to the starting line but aren't really lined up and jockeying for position and its not so frenzied when the gun goes off..you just start running at a normal pace. I guess when you know you'll be out there for over 24 hours you figure there is no rush. After they left, Dave's parents and I headed over to our 2 cars to set up camp. We snagged a great parking spot with Dave's car right near where the runners come in on every other lap and head out on every other lap so it was great! We made a mini base camp of sorts right out the back of Dave's car with portable tables and chairs and table cloths and coolers.
Around the time we expected Dave to come in we headed over to the start area and the side of the trail that he'd be coming in on. For the first lap he came in, replenished some drink had a light snack and took off again for another 15 mile loop but in the opposite direction. That means at basecamp we were in for probably another 3 hours of hanging out before he'd be back in. So we snacked and read and killed time. Then we saw him come in on lap 2 right near our set-up. He checked in, came back to us, changed some clothing and ate some before heading back out for another 15. Repeat Repeat until after he finished 60 miles on his own. Then it was my turn to 'pace' him which at this point meant walk with him and keep him company.
At first I'm thinking..this is kind of fun. We're walking and occasionally jogging and a decent pace. Hey I could totally do this. I wonder if I would be up for doing 100 miles myself. So far so good. Fast forward to mile 10 of my lap and I'm getting bored and looking at my watch for how long we have left of my lap. Ok, scratch that whole idea of me doing 100.. I just don't have the desire or the attention span really! Of course, I can't say anything to a guy who is 70 miles to my 10 miles that I'm bored! Kind of funny; on this lap we passed a girl going the opposite way of us (meaning she was 1 lap ahead) who was bawling! Not a weepy cry or whimper.. this is a full on sob. C'mon you know what I mean. The only reason its funny is that Dave said that everytime he passed her she was one of the few people that always said hi or some upbeat comment so you know she just got to that emotional breaking point and had a -lost all control sob-... you can't do anything else buy cry sobs but at some point soon she'd get it back together again. Girl..more power to you if you made it to mile like 85 before crying. I KNOW I would have been sobbing my ass off around 26.3 :) We keep trucking along until we reach base and I get to hand him off to his brother! Then I got to nap some in the back of the car until they came back around again and it was my turn to 'pace' with him on his last lap of roughly 9 miles. Yeehaw. At this point the laps have been taking progressively longer so I know its going to be a long 9 miles.
This time it was all walking and me trying to be motivating while not pushing too hard and also remembering I'm not allowed to complain! It seemed like it took forever to me (again.. couldn't complain since Dave was on mile 95 or something and I had done a total of 20) but it was getting old. I kept looking at my watch and he called me on it at one point and I actually got irritated with him.. too funny. So we make it to within probably 0.2 miles of the finish line and Dave suddenly decides its time to sprint to the finish and get it over with. So I'm like...'yeah, c'mon.. let's go.. we're almost there'. Then he was going really fast and I couldnt' really keep up anymore so I pulled the ol 'I'm going to let you finish it on your own...its your race'. So that I could stop and walk. Holy jeesus he was going fast. I caught my breath and met him after he finished. Woohoo! It was somewhere in the 27 hour range. Then we quickly packed up and headed out of there. Dave swiftly fell asleep on the way home!
Of course once we got home I took the opportunity to hit the sack too. Why not. So we all napped a while and then went out for mexican. Dave was sore but not debilitated like I thought he'd be. Not too bad. Of course his legs were pretty out of commission for the next few days but he got it back pretty quick.
I think this means he'll want to do another one and being the good wife I am I'll be there to support him. But I wonder if I can bring my cell phone next time and make some calls while we're walking to kill the time. I'm sure he wouldn't mind, right?
