Hinson Lake 24 Hour Race Report (2015)

I wasn't sure how I was feeling about Hinson Lake 24 Hour, but I decided to go with how I was feeling.

Lately, I've been struggling with some issues unrelated to running, and it's impacting most things, including running. The summer was a blur of busy-ness for Burning Man, including tons and tons of planning for the Burning Man Ultramarathon. In the end, I'm glad of the time I invested, but at the same time, it's a lot of time where my mind can't focus on other things. Like my own personal racing. When life is a constant busy blur, often dominated by unhappiness, it can be very difficult to focus on athletic pursuits...or creative dreams.

I made the decision to do what I could. 50 miles was what I thought I'd do, though maybe just 50k. And if I was killing it, running really well, why, I'd finish the whole damn thing.

And I really lived by that, and didn't feel bad one bit for my decision.

My visits to NC have always been surrounded by my sister, but with her two kids that I'm becoming increasing attached to, it was difficult to leave them and run a race. But I did it, as I'm an ultrarunner.

As I drove to the race, it was pitch black and pouring. Not the best way to approach a race. I had grabbed a random handful of CDs leaving NYC, not even looking at them, and one of them was the Beatles Anthology. "Let It Be" came on and I burst into tears, thinking of how horrible it was that John Lennon was shot and what kind of world we livee in. Um, not the best mood to approach a 24 hour race with.

When I got to the start, it wasn't pouring, but definitely raining. I caught up with old friends, chatted. I told a few people of my intention to "only" run 50k or 50 miles, and many echoed my sentiments. Others applauded me for being in the moment I needed to be in. The kindness of others, like Dan, kept my personal items sheltered from the , and good friends cheered me on the entire time.

And OFF. I felt good, and took off at a decent pace. Not as fast as usual, but GO. I enjoyed the good old Hinson Lake course, and chatted with friends. I thought about how much I loved the ultrarunning community. It was fun.

After about ten miles though, the race felt harder than it should. I knew I wouldn't go 24 hours. 50 miles was all. Maybe even 50k? But not 24 hours.

The course is a loop of abt 1.55 miles, with a few small hills (that feel like mountains after a while). Local running store/club Vac and Dash decorate the course with hilarious signs ("Mt Hinson," "Ooooh we're halfway there ooooh living on a prayer," "98 Miles to South of the Border," "Jerry's Food Castle"), and the vibe is FUN AWESOME PARTY. People may have even been taking shots or drinking beers. It's one of my top three fave races (with obviously the Burning Man Ultramarathon being one, and Vermont 100 being number two).

I decided to have a fun day. I'd catch up to a friend who was walking, or someone who was walking and wanted to chat, and I'd take a break to chat and catch up. I stopped to pee when I needed to. I ate frosted pumpkin cookies and cupcakes and pumpkin chocolate chip bread and potatoes. I laughed. I did the Ray K shuffle with the legend himself. (He'd kill me if he knew I said that.) I had fun.

me and shannon at the start of the race. i'm representing the black rock city 50k!!!

Around mile 25 or so, I ran into my friend Shannon. She was only going to do 50k, so I finished 50k with her. I decided I felt like I could go longer, but I didn't feel like doing 50 miles. So I chose 40 to be my ultimate mileage.

It was great to chat and catch up with Shannon, and she really pushed me. She's an amazing runner (123 miles in 24 hours) and an animal activist (the woman loves and rescues dogs). We caught up on love and life and career and running and community. It was grea.t

Post-Shannon, I ran, I chatted, I walked occasionally, I ate good foods.

And then I finished. 40 miles. I don't remember the time, but really, I don't care. And honestly, I ran more than 40 miles, though I couldn't tell you the exact amount. Who cares? I was there. I ran. I had fun with friends. 

It wasn't my fave Hinson Lake, but it was the one I needed to have.

Umstead 50 (!!!!!!!!!!!!) Race Report

good friends on a nice run in the park

Umstead was to be my comeback race.

Comeback from injury.

Comeback from grief.

I didn't run exceptionally well - but I finished. My morton's neuroma was not really bothering me, except when I felt a few flashes of numbness towards the end, and I simply took some walk breaks. My stomach was off. (Port-a-potty queen!) I ran my slowest Umstead first-50 mile split ever, but WHO CARES? My morton's neuroma was okay!

A few days before the race, Tony and Ray began trying to egg me on to do the 100. I crazily pondered it, but did not. A few reasons:

1. I hadn't trained for a 100 miler. How much would it suck to run and recover if I hadn't trained? Bleh.
2. It was going down to 26 degrees F at night. Ummmmmmm, no.
3. I wanted to spend time with my sister and her family without being out-of-my-mind exhausted. 
4. I was afraid that I could hurt myself. I was really nervous that 50 miles might be doable, but 100 could destroy me. I knew this could be the case, so I stopped at 50.

I began the race in good spirits - I had so many friends that I was chaotically running around like a maniac while saying hi while trying to find moleskin while arranging my stuff while catching up...

Umstead is a 12.5 mile loop course - rolling hills on carriage trails. The hills seem easy the first loop or two, and then, by the end, you are cursing the park. Unfortunately, the temperatures were the coldest I have ever experienced there, and this definitely impacted the runners. The aid stations are well-stocked and the volunteers super friendly.

And then we were off! I began running with Tony and immediately knew I was out of my league. I have only been running slow and short since, ohhhhhh December. And slow like, 10-12 min mile slow. Ha.

But I stuck with him. We had fun, chatting, gossiping, catching up.

On the 3rd lap, I began to feel dizzy and just crap. I told Tony to go ahead; I needed to walk. We were pretty close for a while, but I took my time, stopping to pee, and then, my stomach began to fall apart (I really need to figure this out). I spent some quality time in the port-a-potties over the next two laps.

My sister came around mile 44, and that was nice. I ate some animal crackers and chatted with her.

just behind tony through the chute

As I got closer to the finish, I could ALMOST feel the weirdness w my neuromas...and began walking more. No pain, but that *feeling* that's hard to describe. Walking was fine. I wasn't in a rush.

I finished. 9:38:38. My slowest Umstead, but my neuromas were okay. That was all that mattered! This was huge!

I hung out with some friends, drinking amazing hot cocoa that Brandi made for Bruce and I, and then began to cough. My asthma was not happy. I hopped in my car, and began the perilous drive on the course. I luckily hit no runners, and got to cheer on the friends I had wanted to stay to see in at 50 miles.

Then I got to my sister's, played with her kids, and spent the rest of the time eating, chilling, and snuggling. It was a different Umstead, and a fun one.

Merge 25k: "That's a downhill in the opposite direction."

Superchunk has been one of my favourite bands since high school. When I heard that Merge was having a 25k race in honour of their 25th anniversary, I knew of course that I should go. I really hoped I would see Laura and Mac in sweaty running clothes, and we'd talk about gus and pacing and that twinge in my hamstring. Oh, and my sister was having her second baby right before, so the timing was perfect.

I headed down to NC on Friday to spend some time with my sister and her adorable babes. Saturday found me shivering at the starting line of the Merge 25k with 10 other NBR peeps - yep, 10 of us flew down from NYC. People were baffled by us and our North Brooklyn Runner shirts, "Wait, where are you from? Brooklyn, NY? Really? And you flew down here?"

Yes, Merge Records is awesome and why not fly to run someplace different?

My hamstring was feeling kinda crappy, so I vowed to take it pretty easy. I wanted to keep my pace between 8 and 9 minute miles, and I spent many of the early miles chatting with fellow runners, cursing at the hills, smiling. I was wearing my pink tutu, so I got a lot of cheers for that.

Around mile 8 or 9, my hamstring cursed me out and began to really hurt me. I stopped and stretched but yep, it still hurt. I slowed the pace, tried to smile when inside I hurt. Why is my hamstring not getting better? I have Umstead 100 in two weeks. Eeek!

Oh, and there were approximately a million hills. Steep up, steep down, and some gentle ups and downs too. Fun times. They had signs everyone kilometer, and some of the signs had fun facts about beloved Merge bands like Superchunk and Arcade Fire. The course was full of pretty quiet roads, lots of hills and pretty houses and cheering people here and there.

I finished and felt crappy and went straight to the PT tent. I used the foam roller and felt nothing; then one of the friendly PTs gave me a mini-massage and more info.

I hung out in the sun with everyone from NBR. I watched an amazing performance - a combo of jump-roping and gymnastics. And no one messed up once! I cheered for them.

Mac also was djing at the finish line, and played Pavement. I was walking around, looking for NBR, and I couldn't help by sing along with "Shoot the Singer." I saw some random runner indie-rocker-type singing along too. Awwww. I felt at home.

The bands started. First up was Cosmic Punk and they were INCREDIBLE. I was dancing and so happy to be bopping around. Post-race, awesome music - YES! Bomina and I both wanted to buy their CD only to find out they don't have a CD and they are just in high school. And they're THAT awesome? Yes!

The rest of the day, we hung out, drank, had food, danced, listened to music, spent too long in the sun. It was fun to see a combination of music fans and runners and beer drinkers (sometimes all three were the same!). Also, I stood behind Laura from Superchunk and gawked.

Post race, local ultrarunner Mark Manz showed up and he came with the NBR crew + Ray to get brunch.

Merge, I love you for putting on this super fun race.

Hinson Lake 24 Hour Race Report (or 17.5 Hour Race Report)

You can't always get what you want...or what you train for.

Hinson Lake 24 Hour is one of my favourite races - the people are just wonderful, helpful and energetic. I have never been to a race and met so many new friends. The race entry fee is only $24 ($1 a mile), and the support - the volunteers, the food, etc - is outstanding. You also get a tshirt and a pint glass and sticker. (Pint glasses are good, since our house we break them a lot.)

I was really excited to run here again - it's such a fun race, and I get to combine it with a visit to my baby sister and her absolutely adorable baby. We had a complete blast and her baby is now a toddler and in love with me and she's SO much fun!

I got up at 430am & headed out to drive from my sister's in Raleigh to the race. I freaked out when there was some weird closure and no one had any clue what was going on and we were stopped for over 30 minutes.

The start of the race was a reunion with friends from last year. A lot of people remembered me (my signature buns and pink running skirts) and I was delighted to see my two favourite Hinson-ites, Alyssa and Hailey (sp?), daughters of Joe Fejes and Kelley Wellls (not together - they are daughters of them separately) who are BFF at races and they are super cute and yell, "GO PINK LADY" at me when I run by. They made me a bracelet they presented to me on one of the early loops and I really treasured it. Ultrarunning is really special.

Everyone was chatting and helping each other out. Because I came from NY, instead of having a shade structure and chairs and coolers, I had a bunch of plastic and tote bags. Ghetto fabulous. A random runner (turned out to be women's winner Andrea) invited me into her shade structure and she and her husband were super nice - "Oh, use our cooler if you want." "Sit in the chairs."

After around 30-something miles, I was maintaining a comfortable lead, feeling good. And then, a blister...ouch. I had to stop. I pulled a safety pin out of my bib (ouch, not that hygenic!) and popped my blister. I put moleskin on it and tried to run. Not happening. Kelley, who was not running this year due to injury, duct taped my toe and I must admit, it was better than a band-aid. Maybe she should try this in her role as a nurse? Ha. After a lap, it was still bothering me and I knew what I needed to do: have a Ray K operation performed. Eric, Andrea's husband, cut my shoe for me so there's  nice big hole in the side of the shoe, next to my big toe. Air conditioning! But seriously - it worked and my blister didn't bother me the rest of the race.

I was running pretty solid, chatting with lots of people. I was pushing the pace, but it felt do-able. I ran a 4 hour marathon, 5 hour 50k, and sub 8:30 50 miler...which is pretty freaking good considering my PR for 50 miles is 8:31 at Lake Waramug. I ate a mixture of gus, a few random aid station snacks, and lots and lots of ginger ales.

I kept going. I felt good, but as the sky grew darker, a pain popped up in my groin. A pain that I've never had before. I began to get worried. It hurt too much to walk - and running was hardly pleasant either.

I made a tough decision - having 3 more 24 hour races this season, and 2 marathons, I decided to stop at 17.5 hours. I was sad, and actually cried quite a bit about this. This was after I tried to lie down and couldn't - I was in too much pain. I walked to the car, devastated, but at the same time, hoping I was making the right decision.

After some time off, my groin is totally better. Whew. Was I overcautious? I don't know. But I do know I'm not hurt, which is really huge. So I'm glad that I"m not, but disappointed I didn't get to do the famed banana lap.

Croatan 24 Hour Race Report!

You can't always get what you want...especially in ultrarunning.

What I wanted: to run 120 miles or more (preferably more, a lot more!) in 24 hours. My real goal: qualify for the USA Women's 24 Hour Team. How amazing.

Post-race with my super neat award

I found about Croatan 24 Hour Race - a great-sounding 24 hour race that Ray K. was doing - and close enough to my little sister and her adorable baby that I love to visit. After emailing with the super nice RD Brandon several times and determining the course was indeed certified and should I run 120 miles +, it would qualify me for World Championships. Because it will be held in the Netherlands next year, and Wayne's never been, and because he loves me, he flew down to pace and crew me to try to help me qualify for the championships.

Unfortunately – I had a bad race. I still managed to squeak out a respectable 104.87 miles, and was the first woman – and second overall (5 miles from the winner!). Pretty decent considering I battled dizziness, nausea, deliriousness, and horrific hallucinations. If the federal government knew about the hallucinations in ultrarunning, they’d make the sport illegal.

The race was held on a 1.36975 mile loop that had lots of quick turns, but was mostly flat with some nice bridges and one small hill that could barely be called a hill, but come nighttime, I used it as my walk break. The course was pretty – lovely swamps, nice grass, great sunset, lots of birds, bird feeders, nice sunset and sunrise. A lovely place to run for 24 hours!

The RDs were WONDERFUL. Brandon told me at the start if I needed anything during the race, they'd try to help me however they could b/c they knew I was trying for that 120 miles. It was so well-organized and everyone was so friendly and it was so fun, I definitely would love to go back.

The start/finish/aid station was always full of lots of cheery people and a great assortment of food – including vegetarian food, which can often be a rarity. In fact, I had packed my own bouillon to make broth for myself, as vegetarian broth usually isn’t available. It was really nice to have vegetarian choices. They had all the usual ultra snacks, plus fruit punch which everyone’s hero Mike Morton loves, hot pizza, grits, waffles, burgers, grilled cheeses, and more. Really a wonderful spread and Heather, who was the aid station captain (and Brandon’s wife, I believe) was so absolutely friendly and wonderful I loved seeing her smiling face, even if I didn’t grab anything to eat. Plus they had orange Gatorade, which I actually like so I stopped by a bit so enjoy. Also, a bathroom was RIGHT off the course so you didn’t have to squat in the bush and hope a birdwatcher wasn’t coming by (which has happened at other ultras).

Being the birthday of the Marines, and Veteran’s Day being Monday, the race had a marine ceremony before. Especially interesting was how they sliced cake with their swords, cake they later served at the aid station. I was really nervous beforehand as I watched the ceremony. The first loop started with everyone running together with one colonel running with a flag – but the RD knew of my intentions to qualify for World Championships and told me if I wanted to run ahead on my own I could. He announced that I was doing that and everyone was SUPER nice to me, really encouraging me and offering their help in completing my goal. Not sure if it was a Southerner thing or an ultrarunner thing or just a nice person thing – I was really impressed.

I started out feeling okay. I pounded out a decent pace – as I tried to not get lost (using those informational signs about oak trees and inchworms and something with eternal in the title of the board) – but the course was well-marked with white signs with arrows and lots of glow sticks at night. (Woooohoo it’s like I’m at a rave!) My Garmin tells me I ran 8 and 9 minute miles for much of the beginning. My marathon was 4:20, not bad considering that was my marathon split in a 6 hour a few weeks ago. And tummy troubles led to a bit of a slow down but I still managed a 5:20 50k. Not bad.

My boyfriend was crewing me – his first time crewing me, but he had a lot of love. At times, I just stopped in his arms as he held me, “I know it’s hard, baby, keep going, I love you.” And that was something to push me forward into the land of loops of pain.

50 miles was sub 10 hours – so I wasn’t terribly off but I was landing in a whole giant sufferfest. I knew I couldn’t continue as fast as I had started. I felt so terribly dizzy – my hands were tingling at times – and just like I could not control. I think my caloric intake was low  - maybe I didn’t have enough endurolytes? Also I battled with nausea and a general feeling similar to a piece of crap.

As night fell, I knew Wayne was sleeping in my sister’s tent and some of the saner people were leaving the course for hot showers and nice warm comfy beds. I was running. I was tired and I began hallucinating and it got worse and worse. I asked Heather about animals and she said there were just bobcats and they only went after small children. Apparently she was joking but I spent the next few laps peering around with my headlamp to illuminate the night, terrified I would have to battle it out with a bobcat (who would probably have won, given my state).

Certain logs and trees began different items I hallucinated – they were giant flashlights or bombs or vibrators or tent bags. I can’t remember what else, but everything, every little log and drop in the bushes became something else. It was rather terrifying.

I was running alone when I ran into Ray K. He was peering over the water. I had been hallucinating horribly and it was nice to see a good friend.

“Cherie, the stars…they fell in the water.”

“Oh no,” I replied, not sure if he was hallucinating this or completely out of it. I barely knew my own name.

“Do you think we should go in and get them?”

“No, Ray. We might fall in and drown. We need a lifeguard to do that.”

“Okay, Cherie.”

I ran on as he peered over in the water. I later found out he was lucid but it would have made a very funny story if neither of us were.

I passed someone late in the night, who told me, “I’m so glad you are here. Last time I had to go up this hill, someone tapped me on my shoulder and I saw a ghost.” Hallucinations are scary. (Note, no one was there. He imagined he was tapped on his shoulder.)

I remember friends in college doing acid, how ridiculous they acted and how bizarre their stories were – this was similar. They never made me want to do acid (and I haven’t, so perhaps I should tell you them another time?) but hopefully I am not deterring you from your lifelong dream of becoming a ridiculous ultrarunner? It’s really cool! Honest!

Wayne woke up and approached the aid station as I was scarfing down a winning combination – grilled cheese sandwiches with fruit punch. I mumbled something incomprehensible and he waved and I ran off, stumbling back into the woods over the bridges.

Wayne joined me for some time, cheering me up. He tried pushing me but sometimes, he just couldn’t. At one point, it was in the late eighties or early nineties when I began crying. “I just want to go to sleep. I’m so tired. It hurts so bad. I keep hallucinating. I hate this. I’m delirious.” I wanted to collapse on the trail and refused to move until Wayne promised me I could sit down for five minutes and nap once we got back to the start/finish/aid station.

There, I saw down on the camping chairs my lovely sister had lent me and tried to sleep. And couldn’t. My body was seized up, in excruciating agony. I just wanted to cry. I was cramping up. I was cold. How did people like Ray nap during ultras? I don’t know if I could ever do a multi-day – how could I sleep?

I got up quicker than Wayne expected. “I’m cold. This sucks. I can’t sleep. I’m going.”

But I couldn’t exactly sprint off into the darkness. My legs had cramped. My groin muscles were hurting and I couldn’t stretch them right. All I knew was, everything sucked. It was worse than before. I will never sit in a race for that long again. Bad idea.

But you know what? You push past it and then it’s great. Eventually. You get a second wind, a third wind, a fourth wind. The stagnant painful parts in the middle, just try to push past them.

I’d run up and someone would chat with me. Paula, who was the second place woman, was SO friendly and would always chat with me or have a kind word whenever we saw each other. I’d chat with everyone – I ran with JJ, first place guy for a lap, and we chatted about running, Boulder, life. Ultras are a place where you might run for hours with someone, sharing your intimate life story – but of course neglecting to get their name.

The sun began to rise. I tried to push it. It hurt, yes, but in light, I tend to hallucinate less. The birds began to chirp. People crawled out of tents to do a little bit more running.

The last hour. I ran into Ray and we spent the last bit together, sharing stories of our night, talking like we always do, catching up. We finished together, and then slowed down the pace as we walked in from our “Sucker” lap. Before you go out on your last lap, they give you a “sucker” (or lollypop as I grew up calling them) with your number written on it. When you hear the quacking noise, you stop wherever you are, drop your sucker, and then they measure your distance.

1st woman, 2nd overall.

I changed and had no appetite. I was really excited to win a really neat bird sculpture. Second and third place won owl and duck houses. Everyone was hanging out, smiling, laughing. Race goodies were nice long-sleeved tech shirts and “redneck wine glasses” for everyone.

The "redneck wine glass" - aka a mason jar glued to a candlestick!

We got in the car and I slept for 15 minutes. Wayne got too tired to drive, so I got  in behind the wheel after running almost 105 miles and drove, listening to Martha Stewart on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. And then I proceeded to spend the rest of the day eating, hanging out with my sister and her super-cute baby, and eating.

I still want to get that 120+ mile 24 hour. That goal is still in my vision.

Now where should I go pursue that? I think I’ll eat some roasted banana ice cream and let my legs rest before I run that!