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| On Pea Island |
The Setup
My Graveyard 100 journey began one year ago on the side of NC12 in the darkness, somewhere between the temporary "Lego Bridge" and the village of Rodanthe. I had just told my crew I was dropping out of the 100k event. Somehow Josh and Scott came up with the brilliant idea of a handshake agreement between us that we would run the 100-miler in March 2015. Here I had just utterly failed at running 62.2 miles and the solution to that was to attempt to run 100 miles! It didn't make any sense, but I went ahead and shook hands with them.
Eventually several of us from the Outer Banks Running Club signed up for the 2015 race. We had lots of adventures training and running races together. We all enjoyed the process but never lost sight of the fact that finishing the 100-miler was our ultimate goal.
For me this was one big, hairy goal. As the race date neared, it seemed to take over my entire consciousness. The only time I wasn't thinking about it was when I was at work. In a way I enjoyed having that singular purpose. In another way I found it very disconcerting.
The Course
I don't want to call the Race Director, Brandon Wilson, a genius because he would get a big head, but the way he planned out the 100+ mile course is pretty impressive. I would say the race is designed to be doable, but if you get careless or make a miscalculation you may not finish. This year's DNF rate was 27% so the race isn't a gimme by any means.
Here are some of the factors that you have to plan for or deal with:
The race is held in early March, a time of notoriously unpredictable bad weather on the Outer Banks. Wind speed and direction can pose issues here for runners even during relatively fair weather. The race starts at 5:00 a.m. so most runners are sleep deprived going in. There are an adequate number of water stops, but only four aid stations during the entire 100 miles, so you must plan accordingly.
The first half and the second half are completely different.
During the first 45 or so miles you are running mostly through highly populated areas so you have lots to look at and be distracted by.
Running over the two and a half mile Bonner Bridge can be an adventure in itself because there is no pedestrian walkway and the road is not coned off for the runners. It's just you and whatever vehicular traffic there is on the bridge. I've done it three times now and it doesn't get any easier.
The last 55 miles is like running on the Moon. I call it beautiful desolation. I enjoy running past the giant sand dunes once you get on Pea Island. The inhabited villages are few and far between. You are running at night and temperatures usually drop significantly. If it's overcast, you can't see much further than your headlamp will allow and you start getting tunnel vision on the two lane highway. Runners get spread out and you may not see anyone else for hours. Traffic is often speeding by at 60 or 70 mph, sometimes mere feet or in some cases inches from you! Late at night the traffic that was annoying you suddenly stops. When it's clear you can see the villages and the Hatteras Light for miles and it seems like you will never get there.
The Goal
Since this was my first attempt at 100 miles my goal was to simply finish. Nothing more, nothing less. There was no Plan B.
I decided to not let myself get caught up in any pre-race excitement. Last year I was so hyped up during the race briefing by just sitting at the same table as the Badwater 135 record holder, Valmir Nunes. I was going to try to treat the event as just another long training run.
The Plan
My plan was to alternate running 25 minutes / walking 5 minutes with Laura for at least the first 50 miles. We had recently done the 42.7 mile FCA Light2Light Run together using that approach with good results. Rich was Laura's crew chief and since Laura and I had agreed to run the first 50 together, he was sort of my crew chief by default. Ron agreed to be my crew chief on the bottom half of the course. I knew it was likely that Laura and I would split up eventually. Several people from the Outer Banks Running Club volunteered to pace me once we got over the bridge, where pacing is allowed.
I told myself if I could make it 62 miles to Aid Station #3 in Rodanthe, there was no way I wasn't finishing. I knew I could run, walk or crawl to the finish line from there if I had to.
The Race
Rich picked me up at 3:30 a.m. and then we drove to Laura's house to pick her up. When we arrived at the start area it was 21 degrees. We checked in with race officials and got our gear ready. At 4:55 a.m. ninety runners lined for a very cool electric guitar version of the Star Spangled Banner. Then we heard Thunderstruck by AC/DC start to play. We took a few quick OBRC photos and we were off into the darkness at 5:01. The energy level of everyone was very high. It seemed very surreal to me.
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| OBRC members at the start |
Laura and I ran with Wendy for over ten miles I believe. The sun came up but it was still cold for quite some time. It was fun chatting with and seeing some of the other runners. I was trying to learn all I could by observing how they approached a 100-mile run. Eventually Wendy went on ahead of us.
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| In Duck - Photo Courtesy of Susan Scott |
Before we even made it to the first aid station in Duck, both Laura and I were having issues. Laura was running with a head cold and her knee was starting to bother her. My left hip flexor was bothering me. When we got to the first aid station I took a couple of Tylenols and that seemed to solve my hip flexor pain.
The aid station reminded me of a NASCAR pit stop. We refueled, changed clothes and went to the restroom in about six minutes according to Rich's advice.
Once we made it to the beach road, we started running with a guy named Bryan from Manassas, VA. He said it was his first attempt at 100 too. It was good to have a new person to chat with and it helped to pass the miles. By the time we got to the Epstein St. water stop it had gotten pretty warm. I was wishing I had changed into running shorts.
By the time we reached Aid Station #2 in South Nags Head the temperature had started dropping and the wind picked up. Kathy was there and helped me change socks and worked on my feet and muscles for a few minutes. She used some fancy essential oils which really seemed to help. I had a cup of hot potato soup which really hit the spot. Rich and Kathy told us to get going so we left the AS and headed for the bridge.
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| Surprise support from the bridge catwalk |
Once you leave South Nags Head everything changes. You turn left on NC12 and you leave civilization behind. We made it to the bridge in fairly short order. We ran all the way to the steep part of the bridge and decided to walk the "uphill" part. As we ran to the far end of the bridge we heard people talking. Some of our supporters surprised us by hiding on the catwalk on the other side of the guardrail. It was kind of funny. We had beat the cutoff and were over the bridge with about an hour and half to spare I believe.
Laura picked up her pacer and took off ahead of me. Ron, Deb and others helped me change into warmer clothes and I took off with Robert, my pacer. Robert and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery and a gorgeous sunset that seemed to last for hours.
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| On Pea Island - Photo Courtesy of Susan Scott |
Eventually we made it to AS#3 in Rodanthe. My crew got me some food. I had brief dizzy spell because I had become overheated in the warmth of AS. Once I got out of my hot, damp clothes I recovered almost instantly. Kathy worked on my feet and muscles again with the essential oils.
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| Running with Laura in South Nags Head |
Kathy paced me through the next two water stops. It was nice catching up on what was going on with each other during those miles.
Next Terry, Ron and Deb paced me at various points all of the way to the finish. I enjoyed a cup of hot ramen soup and part of a hamburger at AS#4 at the Hatteras Lighthouse. Those last 13 miles from the lighthouse to the end were a struggle. I was hoping that sunrise would re-energize me but it didn't.
I did get energized once we arrived in Hatteras Village. Dee and Scott drove up in their van and cheered for me and took photos. From there it was a quick jaunt to the finish.
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| OBRC at the finish line |
My official time was 28:37:47. Nothing spectacular, but I did it. I was very conservative with my energy, having never gone that far before. If I was to try it again I think I could cut a couple of hours off of my time. I would be tempted to run it solo next time. My hat is off to anyone attempting it solo. Solo has to be a lot more difficult than running it crewed like I did.
Lessons Learned
1. Tailwind Nutrition worked well.
2. Hokas and Injinji toe socks worked well during the first half. During the second half I switched to regular socks and got big blisters because of it.
3. I was very surprised when my feet and ankles swelled up after the race. I never had that happen before. Maybe I should have worn compression socks?
4. I'm pretty stubborn. There was no point in the race where I thought I wouldn't finish.
It was a great experience. Kudos to Brandon and his family for putting on such a top notch event. I would recommend it to anyone.
