I know I’m missing a few posts. I had a few races. I had some personal and “professional” life things I should have been sharing. I’ll tell you: I was sweating THIS race! You see, I’m pretty spoiled. I’ve hardly had to earn anything in my life. Hard work? Struggle? That’s for suckas.

Well, you just can’t charm a country road. The sun doesn’t care how nice or funny you are. Someone posted a meme: The hill doesn’t care about your feelings!

Lol

We start out in a beautiful lakeside park shelter. It’s a race, so of course we have to be there at 5 a.m. to check in. This race is unique in the fact that it’s 99.69% crew/self supported. There are some ice and water refill stops, but mainly, it’s you, the road, and your crew. So the organizers demand your crew carry 30 lbs of ice, 12 gallons of water. I don’t know the international conversion of that. It’s a lot of ice and water.

They had a “runner’s church” set up, and one of the race officials held a little service. I’m not a person of faith, but I REALLY dogged my training for this one. If I ever needed god on my side, it was now! Haha!

The first part of the race goes through Cheney state park for a couple of miles. It’s a beautiful run around a lake at dawn. Then I hook up with the world’s greatest crew and head out onto the roads of King’s county. The long, long roads.

The plan (lol) was to meet the crew every 4 miles. That was the advice Sydney (HBIC) was given by some veterans of this race. That is a great plan, and I still believe the better distance. We had to change it to 3 miles. My water bottles just couldn’t quite get me to 4. During the hotter parts of the day, they barely got me to 3! (I kept making the crew check for leaks. There are no leaks.)

Things go really well for about 25 miles. I’m keeping a steady pace. Fuelling really well. Everybody is having fun! The only guy on the crew, Jeff, “Heffay,” had to leave. Real work is the worst! He was a champion and tremendous help!

There was one little incident. I kept passing other runners’ crew vehicles and wondering, where’s the WGC? After what must have been (felt like) 15 miles (like, not even a mile), I start to panic. I text Syd asking where they are. She says they’re right there. I don’t see them! If I had been swimming, this moment would be where I drowned. When, like an angel from heaven, our girl Kirby roared up in her charger! Vroom!

She handed me cold water and drove alongside, blasting classic rock and encouragement through her window. I saw the crew ahead, so I tossed her my vest and shirt and told her to go ahead. I picked it up and chugged into them, shirtless, at a sub 8:00 pace!

Then there it was. Just that road. For miles and miles. And miles. And miles. I wrote it that way on purpose. And miles. The description said 32 miles. My garmin said 33 miles. Still going. One road. Straight ahead. For miles. And miles. I asked, “When we get to turn?” This course was supposed to be rectangular. Our girl Erin “p-quad (p4)” let me in on the detail of “it’s at the t intersection. When the road ends, don’t keep going. That’s not the road.” Sage advice, indeed. Erin was hilarious! She was scheduled to pace with me but showed up early to help the crew. She brought a megaphone, some wisdom, some experience (she’s familiar with the area in general, and this race in particular) and just a badass attitude that fits the WGC perfectly.

I stopped using electrolytes after my upset stomach at Prairie Spirit. I was fueling with just water and salt tabs and gel and chews… and fruit snacks and granola bars…and sandwiches and chips and melon. I was starting to get a little concerned because I had not peed yet. I had a pickle and cut the salt tabs for a stop, and that got the flow going.

Food was starting to sound gross. My appetite was gone. That happens, I just need to force food down, but nothing substantial was working. I think it was mainly because of mild dehydration, but I’m no doctor. I just know that when I would eat a corner sandwich, I would gag. We got a bit down when they threw out the bread. And some beef jerky Kirby picked up at the gas station was alright 👍, but granola bars, gels, and chews weren’t happening. This would continue for a while.

I finally got to the turn! It felt amazing! The crew was playing our theme: “I’m sexy and I know it,” and I couldn’t help but dance!

Also, there was another runner that finally caught up with and passed me at that point. Grr! J/k, it’s not that kind of race for me. I’m just trying to 1. Finish 2. Survive.

One thing we were all looking forward to was “the oasis,” a love’s truck stop around mile 45. I was really looking for it, because I’ve had to poo since mile 35!

I don’t like to bring these types of things up, but if you’re out there for 24+ hours, cramming garbage in your face and churning your guts, things will happen. Things that will not be ignored. If you’re lucky, you can handle this business in a little, stinky, hot plastic box. If you’re really lucky, a park shelter with a tiny window. If you’re REALLY, REALLY lucky, an air-conditioned semi-private room with hand washing facilities. But, usually, it’s just…the ground. Sorry. Running is gross. Also, I was unlucky twice on this run, but never in my shorts! (Not to brag.)

After Love’s, it was on to the church! The church was where the 50 milers (53 milers) ended their race, and the hundred milers can start using pacers. There’s a 16-hour cutoff to get to the church, but I was way ahead of pace all day. The church was very cool! It’s a tiny little speck of a town, and all the crews were there, along with some spectators and a dog!

Gay Ann was my first pacer, after crewing all day. After arriving in town late the night before. She’s amazing! And an infuriatingly fast walker! She inspired me to jog some mainly by eliminating the difference between walking and jogging. It was awesome! She kept me moving until David took over around midnight?

David “Bootsy” had signed up as soon as he could to pace me through the very tough overnight hours. I was very excited to run with him. I’m very impressed with David! He ran a full marathon distance at argo. He’s a triathlete and a power lifter. He’s an engineering student and professional. And a great pacer. We walked for quite a bit of the night. The temperature barely dropped, the humidity went up. It was country dark out there. David never complained, and never called me out when I whined and whinged. We managed some shorter intervals sometimes, but mainly, it was: leave the crew, wait for Rex to pee, hike a mile, look for the crew.

In the meantime, the World’s Greatest Crew was lighting up the night! We had Jamie, Sherri, Gay Ann, and, of course, Sydney, all working to make sure all I had to do was move forward through the night. They fought off exhaustion, bugs, and other crews threats on our mascot to keep David and I upright, fuelled, hydrated, and moving. We could spot them from what seemed like forever away, with the lights and the jumping around. It was beautiful!

I was zombie walking. David asked about hallucinations (I think) and I could describe it really well. Because it was happening at that moment. I had to sit. I was a fall risk. Sweet Sydney let me sit in the vehicle with the air on. I managed a three minute cat nap before anxiety got me moving again. I kind of ruined her seat with sweat, but she told me it was endearing. She takes such great care of me! And everyone else! She really is the H.B.I.C. and the brain and heart of this outfit.

About this time, we’re starting to leapfrog other groups. One guy seemed like he was fueling his entire run with beer! Normally, I’m all for that, but I didn’t think my stomach could take it. I did get some calories in the form of a hammer brand recovery drink. That drink, plus the sunrise, really turned me back on!

Bootsy had to get home in time for church, so after driving 2 hours and running all night, he left to drive another couple of hours. Stud!

Gay Ann took over pacing again, and we really capitalized on the morning momentum. She still hiked very, very fast, but now she stopped to take more pictures and I was feeling a bit better.

Erin “P4” came back and took over pacing duties right around the 85th mile (? Mileage gets sketchy around here. My garmin died in the overnight hours. It’s a fine watch, I’m just not fast enough, I guess.)

Erin is an experienced pacer, regularly pacing a half marathon in Wichita. And she’s local. She knows the area really well. And she’s a hasher, so she’s used to seeing grown-ups act like fussy little babies.

I was over this race! I’ve had it with the road, the hills, the corn…I was done.with.it! But Erin pointed at a field and said, “Check out my llama, I left it here while we do this,” and totally changed the mood.

There was, in fact, a Llama. There was so much animal life on this route! Horses (we say a baby horse!) Cows, armadillo, raccoon, skunk, so many snakes! The crew found a baby frog! A lot of the animals were roadkill, sure, but I’m counting them.

After the third meet-up with the crew telling me we’re in the home stretch they decide to give some real numbers: we’re 2 and a half miles from the finish. It’s right there! I asked what time it was and it was a bit after 10 a.m.

In my mind, I was like, “Awesome! We can beat the noon cut off!” The World’s Greatest Crew didn’t remind me the actual cut off time was 6 p.m., because they’re the “world’s greatest” crew, not the “tell you the truth no matter what” crew, and I love them for it! We churn down this road, over this highway, up this road, me complaining the whole time: “oh, gee. Another hill? Let me guess, up? Whaa whaa whaa” all the way to the park. Inside the park, the little jaunt out turned into the world’s longest park road. But it was downhill the entire way, so we kept jogging it. We got to the end and there was everyone cheering and clanging cowbell! I ran down and bopped the finish cone, gave our mascot a big kiss, and went over to get the prettiest buckle/medal I’ve ever gotten. Of course I fell apart. I get very emotional. Sydney was right there for me. She put me in a chair to get myself together.

As I sat there, reflecting on my adventure. The struggles, the challenges, the whole endeavor seeming huge, I got to watch as a stroke survivor that fueled his race with beer finished just some minutes behind me. So perspective is a thing. Lol!

In the end, this was a great race and an awesome time. I couldn’t have done it without the crew and the pacers.

I’m leaving a LOT out of this recap. Some things are just for me. I hope everyone enjoys reading these because I’m really enjoying writing them!