vermont 100 update - DNF

what a major funk i'm in right now. i DNFed yesterday afternoon at mile 47.2, camp ten bear, and even though i had to, under the circumstances, this lousy feeling will stick with me for a long time. i don't mind a DNF if it's unavoidable - but having to take one because of carelessness and poor execution really hurts!

when i got into camp ten bear it was via walking. chafing, of all things, undermined my race. what made this worse was that i could have changed into dry clothes at mile 21, pretty house aid station, and didn't because it at that time the chafing wasn't much of an issue - and i had more dry clothes at ten bear. ugh - what dumb decision! and, for the next 15+ miles it really wasn't a big deal.

in fact, my major concern during that stretch was sun. despite plenty of fluids and food at the aid stations, i could feel the heat wear me down. then in the late 30's we got the first rain of the day and things cooled off a bit (only to have the humidity spike back up within a half hour after the rain stopped). but now i was completely soaked yet again, first from the constant sweating, and now from the rain.

so by the early 40's the wheels began to fall off my bus. the chafing got more and more painful - to the point were i was alternating between running and walking in pain. discomfort i didn't mind - but this was bad enought to alter my running mechanics to the point where i looked - charitably speaking - as if i was a runnign orangutan! add to that mess the lightheadedness that crept up on me along the stretch of highway in the bright sun, and i started to count myself out.

amazingly, i rallied back from the sun and lightheadness with a couple of succeed tablets given to me by a fellow runner. but as i got closer to ten bear i was finally reduced to a crawl - a painful one at that. that's when i told emmy i might have to drop. i didn't want to jeopardize her race at all (we had ran the entire race together so far). that thought process only made me feel lousier under the circumstances because she'd still have to go on for 20 miles before hooking up with rob, who would meet us at mile 70 and pace us to the finish.

well emmy ran on ahead to camp ten bear and told pat and katie i was struggling. when i got to ten bear saw a few familiar faces - but the medical crew was more concerned about how i looked! since i had only lost 4 pounds (162 versus 166 at the start) weight loss wasn't an issue. i sat down and was about to change into dry clothes when the rains came down again - and fell for a good 10-15 minutes. the medical crew gave me balm for the chaffing - which was really raw and painful by that point.

they cleared me to keep going, but had serious doubts about whether i could keep moving forward. i changed into dry clothes, but the damage was done. it was impossible for me to walk without wincing. i walked up and down the hill a few times to see if i could get past the pain - hoping that my thighs would just go numb - but no such luck. i had to confront the painful reality that even with almost 18 hours left on the clock, i wouldn't be able to finish the remaining 53 miles at the crawl i was tooling around ten bear.

so that was that - race over.

the only good new to report is emmy finished in 25 hours! and wayne finished too! i just got off the phone emmy and an so proud of her pushing on - through additional rain storms, meeting up with rob, dealing with a lost drop bag (which contained her headlamp), managing to borrow one from a fellow runner - and getting to the finish line in style! woo hoo!

here is link to my race day photos.

here is link to my pre-race photos.