Hallucination DNF

Well I was putting off writing this and even thinking about not writing anything but I decided that I should. Although I am bummed about a DNF, I am not totally put off on thinking about my next possible 100 attempt. Being a Ultarunner you have to be mentally and physically tough, but you also have to be smart and know when enough is enough and being able to live to fight another day. Sometimes you just have to come to terms that every race will not always go well and even possibly they will go horribly wrong as it did for me. Dont get me wrong, I dont want any pity cause I know most of what happen was because of me. Now that its over and I had my day to be pissy and ticked off, I can go over some stuff that I believe led to my dismise this past weekend. Ill go over that in a bit but Ill go over the part of the race that I did get through.

The race started at 4PM on Friday afternoon. Getting to the start line about 30 min early, I started to see a few familiar faces which calmed the nerves alittle. Darris, Todd and Emily were some of those faces, so we made small talk. After about 10 min of that the race was about to begin and we all got quiet. As they race started it began as a slow "jaunt" through some rolling trails. A small pack of us (Jonathan Clinthorne-eventually the winner, Marc Melville- CR holder and then me) were running together. I was feeling pretty good but I knew the pace we were going at was quicker than I wanted and actually I think both of those guys said that as well. But never the less we kept the same pace and conversed with eachother. Aid stations went smoothly and I just kept getting my water bottle refilled with watered down Gatorade. I was also going with my plan on taking Gu's every 30 min but I was alittle weiry about this plan as I never consumed this much before. But for the first lap evcerything seemed to go as planned. Coming through the first lap (16.6miles) I was just behind Jon and Marc at 2hr and 30min. This was about 45 min faster than I really planned on coming through. YIKES!! Saw Jessica and the gang at the aid station which gave me a little boost of energy. As I left the aid station I made sure I grabbed my headlamp as I went out for my second lap. Jon and Marc got a little further ahead of me as I took my time in the aid station but I honestly didnt care. Headed out I was all alone and it was that way the whole time. About a mile into this lap my stomach was talking back to me. There was def some grumbleing and bubbling going on down there. I figured it was still just some nervousness and that it would pass. I couldnt have been more WRONG. After taking a few more gu's they started to come back up. Got through the next aid station where I grabbed some Coke and a PB&J sandwich but that didnt help either. Everything I was putting into me was coming right back out! Got to the last aid station before lap ended and I was VIOLENTLY throwing up. I knew it was bad when the aid station volunteer looked at me in horror when I was bent over tossing everything up. I took a seat and everything got blurry and I was dizzy. The volunteer looked at me and said you dont look so good. I told her I was done and I wouldnt go any further. This was only 30 miles in and I couldnt imagine doing another 70 miles in this condition. I pondered on just sittin at that aid station for 30-60 min to see if anything felt better but I figured I didnt want to continue on like that.

Just like any competitive person, I hated to DNF but I figured it was my best option at that time. But Im forced to look back at my training to see what I could have done differently. First thing I looked back on was my running itself and I believe I did enough to get me through this race. The only thing I think I should have done differently is that I could have had my 50 mile race alittle closer to the 100 miler. Being that my 50 was 2 months before, it pobably didnt help alot. But the main thing I think I did wrong was deciding to go on a vegetarian diet 2 months out. I figured I try it for a month and see how my running went and actually it went suprisingly well! But being new to that I wasnt eating the proper foods to give me the nutrients that I needed for running so much. I think my 30 mile run 2 weeks out was a tell tale sign that I wasnt getting enough calories or the right type of foods. So 2 weeks out I went back to eating chicken which messed with my stomach alittle. I just think I did to much too differently too close to to race day. This is something I should know NOT to do but I somehow ended up doing it.

Overall it was a disappointing race but something to think about and learn on. I promised myself to not let this get me down and I wont let it! Time to move on!